I learned about Babble.com’s Top 50 Mommy Bloggers list when fellow Silicon Valley Moms Blog network member Jessica Gottlieb was named to it (she’s part of the LA Moms Blog, I’m part of the DC Metro Moms Blog). In fact, the original Silicon Valley Moms Blog made the cut as well (congratulations, Jill!) There are a lot of other familiar names on the list, blogs I have been reading and some of them are women I’ve met at BlogHer or traded tweets with on Twitter. But there are also some I didn’t know — and that’s what I love about the blogosphere — when you accidentally bump into another kindred spirit out in cyberspace.
Babble recognizes that although the Top 50 are certainly noteworthy, that there are a lot of terrific bloggers out there, and they are letting readers nominate them, and then give a “thumbs up” if someone has already nominated a favorite. I think that’s pretty darned cool! So often you see the same names rise to the top (with good reason), and this is a nice effort to broaden the horizons.
A lot of the names on that list are already some of my favorite blogs, and some are going to become new favorites. Amongst some of my current favorites are Sarah and the Goon Squad, Toddler Planet, Jodifur, and Wife And Mommy all of whom I have the pleasure of having met in person as well as reading their blogs and they are terrific women as well as terrific writers. As I scroll through the list, I see more that look intriguing and I’m going to find some time to check them out and you should, too! (Not that I want you to stop reading here, of course!)
And yes, I’m thrilled that not only did someone include Caffeine And a Prayer, but people other than my husband and mother-in-law gave it a thumbs up! Thank you! It means a lot! If you feel strongly enough about Caffeine and a Prayer to add a thumbs up, it may encourage others to check it out.
In the meantime, I recommend checking out both the Top 50 list and the reader-nominated list — there are a lot of fantastic writers out there worth reading! One of these days I’ll get around to updating my blogroll…
I admit I’m terrible about remembering names when I’m first introduced to people, but I’m a real stickler for learning whether a William is a Bill, Billie, Will, Willie or the full William. I cringed when I realized that at a conference this past week I called a Katherine, “Kathy” by mistake — it had been a few months since I had seen her and I only knew her amidst a sea of other Junior League officers, but I’m sure she hates being called Kathy as much as I hate when someone calls me by my full first name instead of calling me J.J.
You can read more about my weird hang-ups about the importance of getting people’s names right in my latest post at DC Metro Moms Blog: What’s In a Name? Everything.
Photo credit: © istockphoto.com/Jill Fromer
Motherhood isn’t all Jell-O and cute drawings on the fridge you know… it’s fraught with a lot of don’t-go-there thoughts. Especially for someone who not only watches lots of crime TV but has been a crime reporter and has seen some of the worst humanity can do.
You can get a glimpse of the dark corners or my maternal mind in my latest DC Metro Moms post, “Not on the School Supply List” today.
A slightly less dark and twisty post is my rant about DCMM post on Sunday about HOV lane cheaters.
Silicon Valley Moms Group and Yahoo! are piloting a new web video series called A Byte Out of Life and I’m in the first episode (webisode) – Are You a Compulsive Blogger?
You can see the other ones at: http://svmomblog.typepad.com/abyteoutoflife/ There will be a new one each Monday. A second one about kids and technology is already up!
Do you consider yourself a compulsive blogger? Let me know why and where you blog in the comments section below. Or… tell me if you would watch a video series online.
My friends are divided roughly in half by those who are rabid tech users and those who barely check their emails. I consider it an extreme compliment when the non-email-checkers tell me they’ve actually read my blog (or “blob” as some say, which I actually kind of like.) So when discussions about social media and [...]
Like a good sermon, sometimes you find a blog post that just keeps going through your mind, the key points tumbing over and over in your mind.
It was a simple tweet that brought this treasure to me. I’d recommend reading it in full, but the quick summary is that as this mother of two kids who are less than a year apart starts getting rid of the baby things, she realized she also needed to get rid of what she called her “two under two” shoes — those comfy mommy-on-the-run shoes many of us take to wearing when we leave behind our corporate looks and become part of the playgroup set.
Wow.
I’ve been getting rid of a lot of baby and toddler gear over the past year and while a recent trip to a conference did prompt me to update my wardrobe some (long overdue), I hadn’t thought about how much I needed to revisit my own mommy self-image. Sure, I am still down on the ground with the kids a lot, and walking in the woods, and getting into paints, etc. but they aren’t spitting up on me or expelling bodily fluids on me (much…) They still run me ragged, but I’m not zombie-sleep-deprived like I used to be. And I can wear jewelry again without fear of having my earlobes ripped or my neck strangled.
In other words, it’s time for me to stop feeling like I’m just the kid carrier and start remembering the woman I used to be — the one who actually had a smidgen of fashion sense and didn’t see clothes as merely a way to shield the body from the elements, pointing fingers and indecency laws. It’s time for a new attitude!
Well, it’s going to take a little time, and a little work. I’m still growing out a haircut I HATED. And there’s that walking program I mentioned a few posts ago. But at least I did finally buy some cute shoes (which is not to say you won’t still see me in sneakers on the playground…) But I’m working my way back to fashion plate. Watch out JavaDad, your closet space may be in danger!
I apologize for careening back and forth between the PBS track and the recession track — I’ve had certain deadlines to meet with the recession stories — however, both discussion threads are germane to raising children, so hopefully it hasn’t been too jarring.
Back to the wonders of Super Why! For today’s activities, you will need:
When Angela Santomero was a little girl, she’d lean into the TV set and she just
knew she was special, because
Mr. Rogers told her she was. And so did I. And I’m willing to bet, so did you.
We are the generation who learned our ABCs on PBS, and now our children are too, but they are learning so much more, so much faster, and Angela Santomero is one of the reasons why.
Maybe you don’t recognize her name… unless you happen to pay close attention to the credits of your children’s favorite shows. She is creator of Nick Jr.’s Blue’s Clues and creator, executive producer, and head writer of the award-winning PBS show, Super WHY! She has the Midas touch of children’s programming, so I jumped at the opportunity to peel back the layers at PBS headquarters May 6 and find out just what goes into putting together a show like Super WHY!
As if I didn’t have enough to do… as if I weren’t still recovering from the project of reviewing all my photos of 2008 in order to put together the Christmas newsletter… along comes Project 365 to pique my interest! Project 365 itself is actually not new, I’ve learned, but I hadn’t heard of it [...]
