Archive for the ‘blogging’ Category
if the blog’s a rockin’ (and a random photo!)
I’m honored to announce that I have been named a Rockin’ Girl Blogger by Grace at Sandier Pastures. I just stumbled across this Dubai-based blog recently, and I’ve been a faithful reader ever since.
Grazie mille Grace!
Update: Just after I posted this, I saw that JennieBoo had tagged me too, so thanks JennieBoo (with a button coming back at you)!
And in all of life’s irony, I’m also choosing today to announce that blogging will likely be slowing down a bit around here as we slide deeper into the summer schedule. P and I are moving down to his house (about a minute walk away) over the next couple months–there’s quite a bit of work on his house to be done so it’ll be in stages. Lots o’ work ahead my friends.
In fact, I spent much of this weekend (when I wasn’t hanging out with Cherrye!) packing and also trying to fix up the Photobucket fiasco in which most of my blog’s photos were replaced with “bandwidth exceeded” messages. I’m almost there, but not quite, so bear with me.
Anyway, now I will pass along the Rockin’ Girl Blogger title–first to all my fellow She Who Blogs members, and also to five worthy girl bloggers (although there are many, many more on my sidebar–if you’re there, I think you’re rockin’ too!).
In no particular order:
1. -R- of And You Know What Else whose latest post ends like this:
When we went to Target today, I was wearing a new t-shirt from Target, a new skirt from Target, and gold sandals from Target. For some reason, I am self-conscious when I wear an all Target ensemble to Target (or an all The Gap ensemble to The Gap, for example). Like someone will notice and think, Try shopping somewhere else for once, you freak!
2. Stefanie of Stefanie Says, who wrote in a recent post about home breathalyzer tests:
I won’t go into the details (because I’m not entirely clear on them myself and also because it’s not my story to tell), but I will say that she ended up missing that party I hosted recently not because she flaked out, fell asleep, or got a better offer, but because while I was mixing mojitos with my new muddler, she was bonding with prostitutes and drunkards in a city jail. Good times.
3. Somepinkflowers who recently shared with us a lovely Tourist Tuesday through St. Augustine, Florida:
Today’s Tourist Tuesday posting is brought to you by Our Lady of the Looking Up. Her prayer is not to stop and smell the roses; her prayer is to stop and stretch your neck, chin held high, and look around. See there what you have been missing.
4. Wanderlust Scarlett of From the Shores of Introspect and Retrospect, a fellow dreamer who recently wrote:
Sometimes following our dreams takes more bravery than we think we can muster, but once in a blue moon we find ourselves face to face with the opportunity to reach that far off neverland, where the fantasy becomes reality. It takes a very special and true kind of courage to step up to fate, close your eyes, and step off the ledge to discover that you can indeed fly.
5. Cherrye of My Bella Vita my kindred spirit here in Calabria who wrote about not being able to hold a grudge:
When I was younger I would forget I was supposed to be mad at someone, see them, and smile or wave. Then . . . dang! You just can’t go back after that and say you forgot! That negates everything.
Blog on girlfriends!
Ah, and here’s something I found while going through folders for Operation Photo Replacement. This was taken outside of Catanzaro a few months ago from a moving car, showing that sometimes it really is better to be lucky than good.
P.S. Sarala, I’m on that meme!
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[tags]rockin’ girl blogger award[/tags]
italy bloggers rock (or at least we like free stuff)
I saw this yesterday at Aimee (Roo)’s and then at An Island Life and Sandier Pastures. Once I got thinking, it was too much fun to pass up, so I’m going to play too.
Author Rosina Lippi is having a meme contest to get the word out about the upcoming release date for Tied to the Tracks (more information below). The theme is: Five Reasons the Best [Writers, Bloggers] Come From [a geographical space, real or imaginary] and the prizes are (1) a $100 Amazon gift certificate and (2) a pile o’ books, including some of Lippi’s, signed.
Pretty cool huh? If you want to enter, you have until July 3rd, so get moving!
Here’s my entry:
Five Reasons the Best Bloggers Come From the Bel Paese (
1. Consonants are cool, but everyone knows that vowels make the world go round. We use more of them in Italy than you ever thought possible. Just a small example: “Ciaoooooooo!”
2. Inspiration abounds in our rolling hills, gorgeous lakes, pristine seas, Renaissance art, wine (ah il vino!), and even the mozzarella–especially when it goes funny.
3. We’ll never let you go home hungry, even encouraging you to take that third helping of pasta because (get this!) “you’re too thin!”
4. You want history, culture, and traces of ancient civilization? We got your history, culture, and traces of ancient civilization right here pal.
5. Everyone loves Italia! You don’t *have* to, of course, but if you don’t, we’ll find you. We know people.
Tied to the Tracks by Rosina Lippi. July 3, 2007. ISBN: 0425215326
“[This] is a hilarious, smart, sexy novel with a heart of gold.” — Susan Wiggs
“[Lippi] turns her buoyant creative talents to the romantic comedy genre with an effervescent tale of a trio of offbeat Yankee filmmakers plunked down deep in the heart of Dixie.” — Booklist
Read an excerpt. (Adobe Reader required)| Watch the book trailer
You can find Tied to the Tracks at Amazon , Barnes & Nobel, Borders, Powells, or at your local independent bookseller.
This meme has been entered in the Tied to the Tracks contest, originating on Rosina Lippi’s Storytelling2 weblog. If you’d like to enter the BUCKS & BOOKS meme contest, get the rules here.
the business of blogging
Let me get right to the point:
Today I have posted over at She Who Blogs, so do head over there and check me out, would you?My post is called Five Reasons Why I Blog and is in response to a tag for a meme by our What’s Cooking Wednesday founder Shannon, and I thought, where better to blog about why I blog than on my new group blog, She Who Blogs?
Too much “blog” in one sentence?
That’s because we gotta lotta bloggin’ goin’ on!
I briefly mentioned She Who Blogs the other day in my post about Luna Balloona, but let me expand a bit.
She Who Blogs is the brainchild of Frances of Blogjem, Blogforth, Photostroll, and The Meme Section (don’t worry for her–she owns her blog addiction). It started as a Yahoo discussion group and has now grown into its own blog.I couldn’t have described our rather unique (and growing!) group any better than Joy at A Spot of T already has, so I won’t even try:
It’s a new group to be sure, but I’ve been reading blog after blog of the 12 women and a more eclectic group of women you will never find. I feel at home amongst them and do you know why? Because we’re all so different yet all so accepting of each other. Exactly the kind of women I have been searching for. Now if I could get them all to move closer to me so we could visit each other monthly for some great conversation, I would really appreciate it. You might want to get on that ladies. Thanks.
Like Joy, I’m not much of a group joiner, but I’m so glad I took a chance on this one. It’s been a true pleasure getting to know wonderful women bloggers that I otherwise may have never come across; I hope that some of my faithful readers will be inspired to join as well.
Joy has a fantastic, informative list of all the member blogs (as I type this, of course–we’re multiplying like gremlins hit with water), so I won’t repeat that here either–go see for yourself!
And if you’d like to join the group, get in touch with Frances through any of her Internethomes.
Hope to see you all around She Who Blogs soon!
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[tags]she who blogs[/tags]
feeling needy
I’ve seen this idea floating around the blogosphere for a while, but now that my good friend goodthomas has done it, I want to play too.
Here is some old-fashioned, Google-driven fun that entails typing your name and the word “needs” in quotes into the search engine feature. So, for example, I typed in “michelle needs,” being that “sognatrice needs” wasn’t going to get me very far.
Here are my 10 favorite results followed by my comments in brackets:
(1) michelle needs a family that will be patient, consistent, kind, loving [yes, yes I do; thank you for taking my needs into consideration]
(2) michelle needs to exercise her right to shut the f**k up [ouch, *somebody* needs anger management]
(3) michelle needs to move on with someone else since Tony’s no longer around [so long sucker!]
(4) michelle needs to just shut up [all right already!]
(5) michelle needs money so she can travel to Canada and the US to meet bloggers [well I don’t know if I would’ve phrased it that way, but sure, I’ll accept donations for an international blog tour, and I’d even make time for my patient, consistent, kind, loving family]
(6) michelle needs to come out and be our studio manager [not such a good idea since I don’t even know what that is]
(7) michelle needs help (no, literally) [as opposed to the figurative help I’m always whining about]
(8) michelle needs to clear and vacuum her cluttered bedroom [get out of my house freak!]
(9) michelle needs your votes now! [yeah! free espresso for all!]
(10) michelle needs to stop the madness and eat a hamburger or something [if you insist]
If you decide to do this, come back here and put up your link in the comments; and for anyone who doesn’t have a blog, feel free to paste the results right in a comment.
Buon weekend a tutti!
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[tags]memes[/tags]
i’ve "bean" interviewed
Today I am the subject of an interview by Ally Bean of Crazy Dust In My Coffee. Ally had been questioned by J of Thinking About… and then as part of “The Interview Meme,” she offered to send questions others if they chose to accept the challenge.
I did, and here are Ally’s questions and my responses:
Question: What part of your day do you enjoy the most?
The early morning. If you would’ve told me five years ago that I’d respond as such, I would’ve thought you’d been hitting the sauce, but I’ve come to love the fresh morning air, the silence, the hope and potential that each day holds. And of course my morning routine and, these days, my iced coffee.
Question: What is your opinion of the color yellow?
I love it in all shades, but not for all purposes. I’m not fond of any shade of yellow for a car, but my house is pale yellow, which I find charming on a home. I don’t wear much yellow, and if I do, it’s also of the pale persuasion (like me), and I *love* yellow legal pads. If I had my druthers, I’d have the walls of my (as yet to be developed) home office painted yellow. It’s in discussion.
Question: What is the dumbest pair of shoes that you’ve ever worn out in public?
Anything with the slightest heel in my hilly village full of cobblestone streets.
Question: Just how creative are you?
Sooooo creative? I do think outside the box, and I’m decent at most artsy type things like drawing, painting, music, etc., but I’d love to be much better at all of them. My to-learn/to-improve list is a long one.
Question: What quotation(s) and/or motivational phrase(s) do you live by?
Two major ones: (1) Everything happens for a reason. My grandmother told me this when I was very young, and it’s gotten me through many a tough time; and (2) Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Doesn’t get more simple and true than that.
Now here are the rules of this interview meme:
1. Leave me a comment saying “Interview me.” (If you don’t feel comfortable putting your e-mail address in the comments, please directly send me a message to the address on my sidebar.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
Come on, you know you want to play!
And now some entirely unrelated photos.
P happens to be painting the school where I work, but he’s in a part of it that I had never seen before–this place is huge with dormitories and everything.
So the other day I embarrassed P to no end casually took some shots around his work area this week.
Buon weekend!
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[tags]memes, interviews, soverato, calabria, ionian sea[/tags]
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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