150 Posts and A Few Favorite Blogs

Woohoo! rickandkathy.com turns 150 posts old today!

Forget about number of page views, subscribers, bounce rate, or any other supposedly revealing social media ROI metric.

We now have 150 separate memory-jogging gems on topics that we’ve experienced, thought, seen, sung, played, endured, painted, cooked, eaten, and photographed in the past 16 months. It’s a permanent record of what we’ve wondered about, chuckled over, or railed against, together. And it’s a wonderful record of how we’ve grown as individuals, as a couple, and as even as a community of returning readers who are gradually getting to know one another through the comments you leave behind. We’ve learned in new ways how to collaborate on a joint project that combines our collective writing, photographic, painting, web, and social-media savvy skills. The exciting part is that it leaves room for our individual styles while resulting in a single, consistent voice.  Now that‘s a return on investment worth getting excited about!

So, in celebration of having hung in there this long and all the lessons we’ve learned along the way, we thought we’d share with y’all a few of our own favorite blogs.

This is a blog I discovered this week that went straight to the Top Ten on the hit parade, with a bullet.

Okay, so we were a little late to the party known as Zen Habits, and they had run out of the cocktail sausages by the time we got there. However, there is still some excellent chill-out refreshment, thought-provoking ideas, and interesting experiments in human interaction available for late arrivals.

In his own words:

It also happens to be one of the Top 100 blogs in the world, with about 190K readers, is uncopyrighted, and goes well with anything chocolate. Zen Habits features three powerful articles a week on: simplicity, health & fitness, motivation and inspiration, frugality, family life, happiness, goals, getting great things done, and living in the moment.

And it’s all ad-free, with no cookies, Flash or spam.

I love that last line. What would that have even meant a generation ago? But I also love what it means about Lou’s take on blogging: it’s as simple and accessible and innovative as is his approach to life.


Loved her.

Then wanted to pinch her head.

And now I’m back to appreciating much about Ree Drummond, aka “The Pioneer Woman.”

The pinching thing was just part of my own growing pains as a blogger. She makes it seems so dang easy and fun, and the worst part, daily. Curses! As a blogger role model, she sets an impossibly high bar for frequency, quality, and the ferocious loyalty and rush to comment of her millions of readers.

However, as a first-person writer and fabulous photographer, she’s predictably humorous, sweet yet authentic, and blissfully uncontentious. There’s no bellyaching or political debate, but rather a guaranteed ray of daily sunshine. And some days, it’s great to know where to go to get a little.

Penelope Trunk has Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism where the person has a high IQ and virtually no social filters, and writes a blog that self-describes as “advice at the intersection of work and life.”

The result is writing that is breathtakingly, even shockingly, honest. For that reason alone, it’s incredibly interesting to read her perspectives on life and career. She writes exactly as she sees things. Ironically, her “disability” enables her to approach her craft with an authenticity that eludes most of the rest of us. Trust me: you’ve never read anybody who writes like this.

Three random titles of her posts should about sum up my fascination with her:

4 Weight-loss tips from my month in the mental ward
Lessons from a French chicken farm
My financial history, and stop whining about your job

Dushka Zapata is Penelope Trunk without the Asperger’s.

Kate is the Martha Stewart/Mother Theresa incarnation of The Pioneer Woman, but without the budget or babies.

Yet.

No matter how many great blogs we come across, though, this one remains our favorite.

Having our blog frames the happenings, vignettes, and vistas of our days as precious elements in the story of us that’s unfolding. It motivates us to capture and preserve what’s important, hilarious, beautiful, or delightful in our life together. And it gives us a vehicle to share those moments with family, friends, and welcomed strangers who wander in through the side gate to our garden party.

Thanks for being here.

12 thoughts on “150 Posts and A Few Favorite Blogs

  1. Ronda

    Okay, I just subscribed. After browsing through your favorite entries, I’m hooked. Love your style. I have toyed with blogging, but I have a lot to learn, notably photography. Your beautiful photos are a lot of what makes yours so much fun, though of course you can’t build a blog on just that. Like I said, your writing is excellent, and I am loving it.

    What’s funny is that I got here through someone’s link on Facebook to the Surprised by Mennonites post. The funny part? I know those people! The guy is my husband’s cousin. Small world. And I loved the post–so cute! Your people-watching photos are extremely fun. How many times have the people in question found your blog I wonder?

  2. Sue

    Kudos my friends. May there be many more egg dishes, wine, champers, love, and magical pictures.
    xoxo

  3. Charlie

    Thank you so much for brightening my days, giving me inspiration, and sharing your life – love you both!!!

  4. keith

    Congrats on the 150th! It’s been a real joy watching this blog get off the ground and sharing your experiences, thoughts and incredible photography. The quality meter is pegged whenever I’m around you two.
    Looking forward to many more post…..good, good, good!

  5. Jose M. Blanco

    How is it that we forget ourselves, that we lose who we are along the way, and it takes constant reminders to tell us to smile, breathe, and go slowly? I am glad I subscribed to your blog. Thank you for the reminder. I admire you two, the tone you project and your writing. Oh, yes, and I did bake your Strawberry Creek Inn’s Herb-Baked Eggs. They were delicious! Thank you again, and I am happy to be among your subscribers.

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