Blogs I Like

A year ago I don't think I'd ever read a single blog. What a difference a year makes. I now have a list of reading material as long as my arm, and it keeps growing day by day. It's tough to find time to write a blog when I have so many fantastic ones to read.

It all began with The Pioneer Woman.

Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, is a blogging phenomenon. Daughter Farida turned me on to her site, after her sister-in-law Courtenay told her about it. To me, Courtenay--a worldly Los Angeles-based actress--would have been the last person I could imagine being a fan of a blogger located on a cattle ranch in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma.

But that's the way it's gone over the years since Ree started her site in 2006--as a way to keep in contact with friends and family. She's gone way beyond friends and family as her readership has grown exponentially, mostly by word-of-mouth, over the years. Some of her posts garner over 20,000 comments. The mother of 4 young punks (as she calls them), she homeschools, cooks, takes photos and blogs on a very regular basis.

Her "confession," "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels," chronicles the chance meeting and resulting romance with the rough-hewn cowboy who stole her heart and dragged her off to the wilds of rural Oklahoma.It's a kick-and-a-half, and she's now revamping it into an honest-to-goodness book.

Her recipes are admittedly not waist-friendly, but they have so many fans that she's produced a cookbook, for which she's done book signings from coast to coast. Some of the signings have caused lineups as long as five hours just to get an autograph and a few words with her. Although I've never tried any of her recipes, Farida is a big fan and often makes her chicken spaghetti, chicken scallopini and enchiladas.

She was chosen as No. 22 of Time's 25 Best Blogs of 2009. She's made her blog into a more-than-thriving business.

The "homeiness" of her blog immediately made me a fan, and I've followed it ever since. And reading the comments to her blog have led me to other sites that I follow regularly. Many of them are the same homespun type as Pioneerwoman:  Granny Mountain and Going Country, to name two. Others:

• Rocks in my Dryer
• The NieNie Dialogues - will uplift your soul and break your heart, all at the same time
• Livin' Louisiana

In addition to the country-lovin' blogs, I also follow a number of photography blogs. My favorite in this category is Jasmine Star's. Again Farida introduced me to this site. Jasmine is an Orange-County-based wedding photographer who more than willingly shares her insights and is absolutely up for helping new photographers achieve success. Her site is inspirational even to those of us who are photo neophytes and total amateurs. Reading her blog comments has also led to a number of other sites.

• Jessica Claire
• Sylvia Cook - I *love* her baby photos!
• Zack Arias - he's the newest of my faves, and if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have discovered the killer Kelby Training annual subscription deal. Kelby Training does the absolute best training videos on Photoshop, Lightroom, Dreamweaver and other Adobe products. That's the gift I gave Farida and me for Christmas this year. Jason may just enjoy it, too.
• G. Dan Mitchell - great Yosemite and Eastern Sierra photos. He, of course, doesn't know it, but he jumpstarted my love affair with Photoshop because he gave a tiny tutorial about making photo frames--something I'd tried to figure out on my own with no success. I felt great when I could pass a bit of his tutorial on to Farida. It's not often that I've figured out something she doesn't know.
  
• Niebrugge Photos - Alaska images par excellance as well as other nature shots
• Michael Frye - again, awesome Yosemite images
  
• The Strobist - great lighting information, which I sorely need
  

I have to quit the photo list now, because I'll keep finding more and more that I just have to share. If you're interested, explore these on your own, which will lead you endlessly to other intriguing and educational sites.


Pioneerwoman and Jasmine Star "must-reads" every day, and if there's no new post on either one of them, I'm down in the dumps for the day.

Whew. I've taken three hours to write this post, because I had to examine each and every one of these blog sites, just to capture their URL's and make sure they're the ones I really want to share, for now.

It's a beautiful sunny day outside (miracle of miracles), and I really NEED to get out there and RAKE SOME LEAVES.

Happy reading, y'all. (And let me know of your own favorite blogs, as well!)