Roll o' blog

It's been a long time since I gave due props to some of my favourite blogs and their writers, so I think I'll do it again. They're (mostly) over there in the sidebar links, but you might not click them without a little prodding.

Prod, prod. Here you go...

I mentioned A Girl and a Boy last time, but I thought you should know that Leah (not her real name) has just had a new, once-again-adorable, baby boy known bloggily as Fox. Her elder offspring is just a month older than my Mabel, and even more precocious (as if that were possible). She's married to the dashing and handsome Simon, they all live in the Bay Area, she's both arty and crafty, she takes lovely photos, and she's a book editor. Obviously, I want to be her when I grow up. (Though I suppose I'll keep my own precocious poppets.)

A Half-Baked Life is new to my roll, though for a long time I'd just click over to JeCaThRe's blog and read her from the link there. Then I met Justine in person, and it occured to me that I should do her the justice of giving her a link myself. Her posts are thoughtful, beautifully written, and almost always come with a delicious recipe.

Oh, but Bread, Wine, Salt wasn't in my list before either, probably because that list came before my friend JeCaThRe divulged to me that she had a blog. And as I could have predicted, it was impeccably designed and written, and filled with fascinating food and thought-provoking contemplation. Sometimes I get to taste-test this food in person, which I have to admit is a bonus of telling your friends about your blog just in case they have one too. (Her blogroll is also a fount of foodie and other goodness.)

Bethany Actually is a friend of Secret Agent Josephine, whom I have been reading for a long time, since her daughter, Bug, was born. When Bethany moved out this way and Brenda (SAJ) came to see her and hosted a teeny tiny blog meetup, I went nervously along. They were both so nice and so welcoming and I'm flattered to say that Bethany has been reading and commenting on my blog ever since. Bethany moves cross-country at the drop of a hat, homeschools an eight-year-old while pursuing a toddler, takes photographs with a big-ass camera, and  paints pottery with custom patterns and Firefly quotes. What else is there?

Damien Owens was at one time my flatmate, as a result of being a co-worker who needed a place to live when I needed a person to move into the other bedroom. Then he wrote a novel, sold it, gave up the day job and bought his very own apartment, leaving me bereft. (No, actually my best friend was in a position to move in then, so it worked out nicely.) But he's still a damn funny Irish guy, and best of all, he's now a famous screenwriter. The second season of his series Trivia is about to air on Irish TV. If you're there, I recommend it. If you're not, at least you can read his blog. (And follow his tweets, which I think are pretty amusing. But don't tell him I said so.)

I started reading Erin J. Shea's blog back when it was "Lose the Bhudda", during my voyeuristic foray into weight-loss blogs. (I say voyeuristic because I had no notion of losing weight myself. I just wasn't reading parenting blogs yet.) Since then she got married, had a baby, and is still writing compellingly about mindful eating and exercise as well as being a working parent and a thoughtful mother.

Stacey at Is There Any Mommy Out There is one of the quieter heroes of mommyblogging. (I think. Maybe everyone knew her but me, but it took me a while to notice this blog that every now and then people would link to.) She describes life with four children and an enormous dog in beautiful, vivid, sometimes gut-wrenching, prose.

The thing about coming out to people you know in real life as a blogger is that sometimes they are too. My Thoughts Exactly and Thrift Store Mama are both written by local friends to whom I'm grateful for making my real and online lives intersect.

But then. Recently, through a link in The Irish Times (I think it was an article on placentas, but maybe it was something else), I finally found the blogs I knew must be out there but I'd never been able to find - a rich seam of Irish parenting blogs with an AP/pro-breastfeeding sort of leaning. There really are crunchy mamas over there too.

So without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to Áine (pronounced Awnya) at and my baby, Ciara [keera] at Ouch My Fanny Hurts (which is much a ruder thing to say in Ireland than it is in the US), and Mind The Baby - three informative, entertaining, and lovely blogs that I will be reading a lot more of in the future, as well as further exploring the blogrolls of. I'm so happy to find my people. (My other people, I mean.) (You're all my people.) (Group hug.)

Finally, if you have no intention of reading Fifty Shades of Grey but you'd like to better take the piss out of it, go here, and enjoy: Red Lemonade. Just don't say I didn't warn you.