Favorite Blogs

As I promised in my latest Sunday Currently, I'd like to share with you a few of my favorite blogs and daily reads. One of the best parts about blogging, I think, is being surrounded by so much inspiration and creativity and artistry, and so many interesting women! The list of blogs I follow is too long to count but here's a sampling of the ones that I really look forward to reading each day. I hope perhaps you will discover a new blog or two (or ten!) that will become part of your list of daily reads.

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Joanna Hyatt
I really like Joanna's blog because she regularly posts about important topics (marriage, sex, love) that aren't always easy to talk about. More importantly, she isn't afraid to move against the grain a little bit, and her posts always impress me with their honesty and straightforwardness. She's a lady to be admired! I hope you'll check out her writing.

Not Without Salt
This is an exquisite food and cooking blog, with the most amazing recipes and tantalizing photos and an occasional cooking video. But it's more than that--Ashley has a wonderful way of mixing life into her food and recipe musings, and I especially love her Dating My Husband series. Ashley and her husband have weekly date nights centered around great home-cooked food and intimate conversation and alone time, and the way she writes about these nights is so beautifully sweet and romantic. And she recently announced that she is working on a book! I can't wait.

String of Pearls
It's always fun to have a personal connection to another blogger, isn't it? While I haven't met the wonderful woman behind this blog, I know three of her five sons (!) from college and my husband and I think the world of these guys. It's been so much fun to get to know their mother a little bit through her lovely blog, which is sometimes funny, sometimes sweet, and always bursting with love for her family and her faith. She's quite a gifted writer--as further evidence, Mrs. Pearl also recently wrote a novel! 

Like Ordinary Life
What I love most about Tina's blog is her poetic way with words. She tells stories about life, about struggles, and joys, and through it all runs this beautiful, whimsical thread. I think she could easily write fiction if she wanted to. It's also been fun for us to discover that we have similar hopes and yearnings for our futures, and it's always nice to connect with like-minded women. Do pay her a visit.

The Small Things Blog
Not only does Kate have a lovely name, she also has a lovely approach to the world of fashion and beauty. Most of her posts are light-hearted--a fun new hair tutorial, a guide to the best makeup products, a homemade foot scrub--and she has a way of infusing these posts with grace and femininity and a true love of what it means to be a woman. She occasionally writes more serious posts, and each time she does I'm really amazed by her faith and her desire to do God's work in all that she does. Also--she's seriously funny.

In Honor of Design
Anna's posts are a perfect mix of family life, faith, personal stories, design tips, fashion shoots, and DIY projects. It's truly a "lifestyle" blog and I just love the artful photos she posts of her sweet family. She's currently expecting her third baby and she has the most adorable way of dressing up that baby bump! I will certainly be using her as inspiration in that department someday.

The Lettered Cottage
This is a husband-and-wife blog and the two of them couldn't be cuter. Their blog mainly centers around their home renovations--design, decorating, labor--and they are always posting really helpful "how-to" tips, along with paint color ideas, flea market finds, and before and after photos (with some humor and bits of their love story sprinkled in along the way). They are based in Montgomery and it's nice for me to know that there are other Alabama bloggers out there!

Loverly She
I was thrilled to find Katie's blog! She's a pianist, a Christian, and a young wife, so we have quite a bit in common. She's so stylish and chic and puts together the best outfits (and she's looking cuter by the day--she's expecting her first baby!) and she also writes very thoughtfully and honestly about issues that concern us as women. I love her blog and look forward to each new post.

Betsy Transatlantically
Betsy has a very sweet way about her and she's currently in a phase of life that all of us women get excited about--wedding planning! It's been fun to follow her progress as she anticipates her big day and her marriage. Additionally, Betsy loves Bach (here's a beautiful post she wrote on him) and she lives in Washington, D.C. (which is where my parents just moved) so we've been able to connect on a few levels. I really enjoy her spirited posts!

Smitten Kitchen
I think Smitten Kitchen takes the award as the first blog I ever really followed religiously. I discovered it at a time when I couldn't get enough of cooking, new ingredients, new recipes, new cookbooks. I had just moved into my first apartment after college and had my first full-time job, and I was loving being an adult in the real world. I would plan what I was going to make for dinner while I was at work, then on my walk home I would shop for the necessary ingredients. I think most of my pay check went towards things like fresh hunks of parmesan and white pepper kernels and fancy olives. Cooking up a gourmet dinner after work was my relaxation. I will always associate Smitten Kitchen with this period in my life, and I think that a lot of what I know about cooking comes from Deb.

I hope you'll pay some of these wonderful blogs a visit!