My days are filled with doing many things over and over day in and day out and I bet yours are too. Because of the everyday, over-and-again I fear falling into a rut. I am allergic to the thought of being bored, in fact as a child I was not permitted to whine of boredom. “If you are bored,” Mom would say, “it is your OWN fault.” I remember rolling my eyes just like my children do these days when I feed them that same line, whose truth I have come to believe heartily.
To combat brain boredom (because there is no lack of things for my hands to stay busy about) I do little things which help to inspire, to spark imagination, or to simply give me something to think about while browning the beef on any given night. Reading books and listening to podcasts is one of the things which I think helps keep my mind fresh, but so does stopping by a few of my favorite blogs to see what my peers are up to as they live out their every days.
The BooMama Blog always makes me grin. Creator Sophie Hudson (author of one of my favorite laugh out loud books) is a Southern lady who is the kind of football fan whose enthusiasm and loyalty for her Mississippi State Bulldogs made me a fan of her team too which is handy this year as they are on FIRE! Sophie writes from a Christian perspective about all kinds of fun things but she especially excels in finding the very best snack crackers and sharing with you just which dip each cracker needs to reach its fullest potential.
Sophie has a buddy in the blogging world named Melanie Shankle who I have written about a time or two because of her heartwarming and chuckle-inducing books also has a blog “Big Mama” which has been hailed as “The Seinfeld of Blogs” because it is a blog about nothing in particular and everything under the son, except on Fridays which are Fashion Fridays. I make sure to keep up Melanie and her fashion finds each week so that I am at least familiar with the latest trends, otherwise I tend toward the style of the Amish!
When I am in need of some deep nourishment I turn to Ann Voskamp and her A Holy Experience blog. Ann posts nearly every day and her words are filled with beauty and her photography is just warm and inviting. Ann is the author of one of my all-time favorite books “One Thousand Gifts” and her blog is full of the same deep faith. (Ann has a beautiful new book for children to celebrate Christmas, Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas. We have recently added it to our shelves and cannot wait to include it in to our Morning Time when December 1st arrives.)
I am not a decorator AT ALL. I have many empty walls in my home because I simply do not know where to begin and I do not want to make a mistake. The author of the decorating book and blog the Nesting Place, Myquillin Smith, is attempting to fix my issues with her rallying cry“It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.”There just might be hope for me yet!
Tsh Oxenrider is a blogger whose dream was for her family to travel around the world for a year. Right now they are about two months into their journey which Tsh is documenting on her blog, The Art of Simple Travel (she is best known for her blog The Art of Simple which is a great one too). Her 9 year-old daughter has written the latest post about what it's like for a kid to travel. These posts are worth going back through the shallow archives to see just how this family of five packed in one backpack each for the YEAR of travel.
There are so many food blogs which light my fire and since I am all about family meals at home I need many food blogs to keep nutritious tasty interesting meals coming to a table near me!
Dinner: A Love Story is an intelligently written blog about a family and its dedication to family dinner. A bonus, the wife/husband team who write the blog and their two daughters are all readers and share really great kids book recommendations as well as yummy dinner ideas and recipes. Two cookbooks have sprung from this blog: Dinner: A Love Story (have it, love it) and just out, Dinner: The Playbook (just arrived on my doorstep, looks good, haven't read it yet.)
The Smitten Kitchen has the best named food blog ever. Deb Perelman writes with a voice that makes you feel like she is a comfortable friend who is at your elbow coaching you through each step of the recipes she is attempting to teach you. Oh and the recipes! I purchased the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook when it was hot off of the press a few years ago hoping it would be half as fun and inspiring as her blog. It delivered, the pages are full of recipes that quickly became part of our regular rotation. The photography on the blog is wonderful and the recipes are just different enough to be unique while still using normal ingredients. Do scroll through her pages if only to admire her originality and photography skills. One of my favorite recipes is here.
Pastry Affair is my favorite baking blog. Again, killer pictures with literary quotes to add even more bling to the already gorgeous food. This blog will make you hungry, and I suspect you will find yourself returning again and again just to see what is in the oven.
I could write on and on about blogs. They are to me a perfect quick visit with like-minded souls. I can glance at a blog post for a quick mini-break in the day and get ideas for nourishing my home, my heart, and my table. I hope you find something you enjoy in the suggestions above too!
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