Blog-a-Roll

In my initial post I mentioned that I read all kinds of blogs every day. I also said I would share good finds from these blogs. Well, I lied. I haven't done it yet. And instead of making all these little notes of funny/cool/interesting/good deal type of stuff as I browse throughout the day, I thought I'd, instead, share a list, with some description/opinion, of some of my favorite blogs. I'll group them in different categories, so if you are into one, skip to the next, duh.  Here we go...

Everyday Stuff (mostly girly):

Booking It On The N- Obviously I have to start with the blog I first mentioned. This is the book review blog that my college roommate runs. She is a great writer and very informative. She reviews all different types of books and before any long vacations, I'd suggest checking her site out to get some ideas for relaxing reads on your trip. I have a list of 5 books right now from her blog alone.

Everyday Ellis- This blog is by a high school classmate of my sister. It covers everyday life, recipes, a little fashion, and lots of do-it-yourself projects. I like this blog because it fuels my ambition to do more crafty things like cooking from scratch and decorative projects for my condo. The Wino Wednesday is also helpful!

Life with the Barlows- This blog follows the life of a college classmate of mine. We were not close friends, but she played volleyball at Fordham, and through her blog I have realized we had similar experiences in NYC. It's fun to watch someone tackle "growing up" and "the real world," as I do the same. (Although she is married and expecting now, which could not be farther from my life, but she is still very creative with her layout and entertaining with her stories.)

Loving Wings- This blog is by a former colleague of mine and she is incredibly talented. She posts recipes and stories, but her specialty is definitely photography. She shares a lot of the photo shoots she does, and not only are the pictures exceptional, she is also very original.

Those are the sort of everyday life blogs I like to read. The next category of blogs is health and fitness. For allll of that, I go to Shape.com. It started when another college classmate of mine (Us Fordham alumni are just so damn talented!) started a blog on the Shape magazine website (she was an assistant editor at the magazine) called "Shaping up with Jenna." I loved the way Jenna took readers along on her journeys to accomplish goals. She was always in some kind of training program and it was nice to see someone else accomplish goals and work through injuries or struggles. Unfortunately, Jenna (but fortunately for her) moved over to Fitness magazine and is a Fitness Editor now, thus ending her Shape blog. I didn't have to look far though to find great replacements. Below are a few Shape blogs that are both extremely helpful and, as always, entertaining.

Health & Fitness: No description is really needed, one is nutritional, one focuses on workout tips and one is about fashion. If you can't figure out which is which by the title, you probably shouldn't cook, workout, or worry about your look because you have much bigger problems to deal with.

Fit Foodies
Working it Out
Style Diary

The next category is Current Events--mostly daily news, but also some rumor based information, and places to get my political junkie fix.

Current Events:

Drudge Report- This is my go to site for news outside of Twitter, where I follow all the major news outlets (like Fox News, CNN, etc). In the political world news generally leaks before it is actually reported on, and I have a rule, "If it is not on Drudge, it is not confirmed." haaa. I'm probably gonna take flack for that statement, but more times than not, it’s true, so back off.

Real Clear Politics- This is a good source of National political news. Lots of numbers and polling, but also pretty accurate.

Texas Political Info Blogs:
RightSideAustin- This is run by a former colleague, and while it is mostly cut and paste articles from other blogs/news sites, it's full of good information.

Willisms: This is also a former colleague. I like this blog/site because he goes beyond Texas, and beyond politics, at times and it is very well done. Lots of social media/marketing information here too.

PerryvsWorld: This blogs covers many of the rumors that fly around. Sometimes it's just the author’s opinion on such rumors, and sometimes it's proving/disproving them. Good stuff.

Statesman.com:
The Austin Newspaper site has several blogs that are helpful and/or entertaining each day.

First Reading: This is a local reporter that does a whole lot of cutting and pasting, but also links his daily articles from the print in his posts too.
Burka Blog: This is purely for entertainment value, unless you are a wako left winger. Most of his posts are angry rants, but since I've had the privilege of working with many conservative elected officials, including the Governor, it is fun to read his bogus/often incorrect/hilarious write ups.

Finally are my guilty pleasure blogs with celebrity gossip and reality TV info:

TMZ.com- Ridiculous, I know, but it's got alll the breaking news and mug shots of celebrities you could ever want. And while I don't care even a little bit about Lindsay Lohan (I assume California just let the girl self destruct rather than try and reform her), it is fun to read about Charlie Sheen's crazy "winning" and who the latest make ups and break ups are in Hollywood.

Jay Mohr's Real Housewives of New Jersey Blog- I know what you are thinking; "Ok now she's lost it." But this guy is hilarious. And after living in NYC for 5 years and actually attending college with two of the kids on the show, it's entertaining. Much like Jersey Shore. I lived among those crazy people and it’s fun to take a stroll down memory lane watching those crazy Italians stumble through life. Anyway, Jay Mohr's blog is so funny, even if you don't watch the show; you'll still laugh at his analogies and commentary.

That's it! Well actually, it's not, I could list even more (RedState, The Fix, Hot Air, Inside the Pink, etc) but this is already the longest post ever, so I'll stop before I lose even more readers. If you don't read blogs, other than this one obviously, try a few of these out, I promise you'll enjoy at least one of them, if not all. And if you do read blogs, add some, or one, or all of these to your rotation. If you are disappointed, fine, clearly we don't have the same taste, but if you do enjoy them, damn you have a great eye for talent.

xoxo Sara Marie