I'm so excited!!

Photo courtesy Webshots

I know... 2 posts in one day, but I wanted to get the one about swap bot by itself and now I want to do some more links!! Yes LINKS. As you may have noticed in previous posts, I could not link to anyone except in my blogroll. This was due to me having Safari on my Mac. Now I like my Mac but Safari was lacking in some major things.... so I downloaded Firefox last night and it is awesome!! I now have color, and size, bold, italics, center, bullets, quotes, eraser and LINKS. None of which I had before. It is also so much better in Ebay and now I can add color and size and format my listings so much better. So I am psyched!!

So to celebrate, I am going to make a bunch of links of some of my favourite places to visit each morning.

First is Pioneer Woman
If you have not visited here let me introduce you to Ree, transformed city dweller to a rancher's wife with 4 kids. She homeschools, "helps" out on the ranch, cleans the house and goes into Starbucks withdrawals. She posts every day which I love - and there is always an interesting story about the kids, or the cows, horses, or a great recipe! And always superb photos - she's a nut for photoshop and that's not the only nut around. ( You'll have to check it out to see what I mean!)Also, she has frequent "Name this photo" contests with awesome prizes. No.... I haven't won.

Artsy Mama

Here's where I go to get inspired. Kari also posts most days and always a bunch of eye candy - either swaps she's in and received or her decorating around the house and her own artwork. I have really noticed a change since the start of her blog and it is great! It seems she is coming into her own - if you know what I mean. She always has great ideas for contests and swaps and I always like participating. She is always very encouraging.

OneWoman's Cottage Life

This is a blog about a woman and her trials and victories with her house! She and her husband are in the middle of renovating and she shows all the steps along with her choices and her all of her flea market and thrift store purchase that match perfectly! I look forward to see more of her house renovations since I am in the middle of it too.

Cherry Hill Cottage

Tina just started her blog in January and I just recently found it, but it is great! Speaking of thrift store finds - she is an expert! I am amazed at what she finds and then how she uses it in her Cherry cottage. Since I love thrifting too, this is a no brainer for me!

Adventures of Elizabeth

This is blog about a store owner - Elizabeth. She has a store in St. Louis and a part of one in Chicago. The products are very cool, she designs her own line of bedding and she also does awesome photography. Understandably she is very busy, so the posts are when she can, but they are worth it. Very knowledgeable and very good ideas and advice for anyone wanting to own a business - which I do - I would love a store like hers and it is in the works!

Another blog that is very informative for retailer is Diva Deb

Deb is a professional designer that sets up retail displays. The information in this blog is great and it's neat to realize how the little things make a difference!

Now I am interested in painting and I love the idea of the Daily Painters

These are a group of daily painters that sell their small painting (8x8) on ebay or through their sites. Another daily painter I like as well is Jelaine Faunce
She shows how the painting evolves which is really interesting.

Kelly Rae is another painter I enjoy although it is a different medium. She sells originals and prints at her etsy shop and to read through her blog is to see an artist come out of her cocoon. So cool to see and now she has a book deal!!

My Marrakesh

This blog is from Morocco. Which makes it cool in itself but then you read Maryam's writing and realize this is a special place. They are building a house there and hope to make guest houses too. I love seeing all things morocco and the progress of the house is very neat!!

No Impact Man

Last but not least for today... This is a blog about Colin and his family in New York City and they are in the midst of a year long project and experiment to see if they can live without a lot of the "modern" conveniences. Like cars, TV, and toilet paper!! They are not allowed to buy anything new either except food and it has to be organic with no packaging. Remember this is in New York- not on a farm in the heartland! I like reading the comments almost as much as the blog, since this raising a lot of questions and debate. He is just hoping to raise awareness about the condition of the Earth and the danger we are in and I think he is succeeding. Very thought provoking p0sts and one I look forward to each day.


Whew! That was a long post. I was so excited about being able to share these places I visit. I visit SO many more, but this is a good cross section. There are also many craft and art blogs, but a lot of them already have a large following and have tons of links to them.

I have been thinking lately of how I can make THIS blog more focused... more of a niche, since so many others are one thing - like painting, crafts, decorating, politics, art, business, and I seem to jump all over willy nilly. But I realized as I was doing this, that is me! I am all over the place a lot of the time in my interests, my books, my travels, my art and to be just centered on one thing would just drive me insane!


So I guess I leave it willy nilly and just hope some people would like to join the ride!