Hello there. Remember when I had a blog? I vaguely do. I’d like to think that I was not posting because I didn't have anything important to say and that today, I finally do, but to be honest, this blog had never been about important things, so you're still going to get the my random inner monologue.
Okay, so maybe deep, down inside, I stopped blogging for a few legit reasons. I've been contemplating how incredibly vain we are as a society right now, with me at the top of this list. Facebook is the perfect storm for this. We want to be friends with who we want to be friends with. We want to post everything flattering about us. We really, really want to be liked and affirmed, and for some reason, we get that from people liking funny status updates and commenting on pictures. But we also want to do all of this from the comfort of home in our pajamas with holes in them that no one on facebook will ever really see.
Blogs are even worse. I have often written on here how much I enjoy "bad blogs". It's kinda of like that needy friend you have on facebook who posts WAAAAY too much information, but like a good sale on Jcrew.com, you just can't stop looking at it. But the heart of blogs are good, I believe, because they are based on something we all love: sharing.
The very best blogs that are hard to not love (for example, Pioneer Woman) have a few things in common, that most bloggers try to copy but usually are not successful. The blogger has a gift that they are aware of and comfortable with (ie: photography, writing, parenting, cooking, eye makeup application). They don't take themselves too seriously, and they are the first to point out funny mistakes or flaws they make, without making you feel bad for them. And they share this gift through a beautiful story. Who doesn’t love a great story? And oh yeah, it helps if they post great pictures of things too. You can't be a blogger today and take crappy pictures. That's it. Their readers will hang on every word and check their google reader every chance they get, because we love seeing someone good at something that is also good at sharing it.
It's why we love pinterest. And because of pinterest, every middle class home in America will slowly begin to look identical: pops of yellow with chevron stripes somewhere (I'm guilty). We love being inspired, but most of us are too lazy so we simply copy. But that's okay. Every great make up tip, recipe, or decorating idea I have ever gotten was stolen from someone who was willing to share it with me. And I have benefited greatly from that.
This week when my family was all together for Christmas, we had a "World Famous" themed dinner, where everyone had to make their dish that is "world famous" in their world. My sister-in-law made an amazing pudding dessert, one brother will made a savory mac-n-cheese that put us all into a food coma, another made roasted broccoli stems (my personal fav) and I made some world famous chicken that I learned how to make at a pot luck in college, from a girl willing to share it with me. And I bet as we go back home from Christmas, we'll all end up emailing each other our recipes.
Sharing is a beautiful thing.
