Friday, April 20, 2012

Why I Love Bloggers

This post is a long time coming.

I first discovered the world of what I refer to as "Indie Girl Bloggers" through Elsie of A Beautiful Mess. I probably sat there that first day and went back to read every single post she had written (which, in 2008, was still quite a bit!). At that point, I had just spent six years in the military, so uncovering this world of creativity and loveliness kind of changed my life. I enrolled in her Tell Your Story art journal e-course she hosted with Rachel of Smile and Wave and my life--seriously--was never the same!
Bloggers change lives. This is a community of creativity and inspiration; from craft projects to recipes to decor to fashion, bloggers reach out to others and touch them. I love that about bloggers.

Another thing I love? I just had the opportunity to meet Elsie and tell her these things--and she was just as wonderful and sweet (and really freakin' adorable) in person. Bloggers are real people who voluntarily share the best parts of themselves.

One of my earliest posts was of a narwhal I purchased from Katie of Skunkboy Creatures. She then blew my mind when she contacted me and asked if she could use the images for her blog.
This is a world where the people who inspire you actually reach out and interact with you. They respond to your e-mails or your tweets (sometimes they retweet them!), they follow you on instagram and like your photos. As an actor, I would never even hope to hear from Natalie Portman, but the blogging community maintains a genuine closeness that I find so enriching.
Images courtesy of pinksuedeshoe
And probably my favorite thing about the blogging community is that it is a place to meet like-minded people. Erika from pinksuedeshoe reached out to me early in my blogging adventure. Her blog kills me with its love and craftiness. She is such an inspiring mother, wife, crafter, blogger, and person. We had the chance to meet in person a few weeks ago and it was the best lunch date.

Like, ever.

I had so much fun talking about blogs, which really have become quite a passion for me, with someone who got it. Plus I got to squeal over her thrifted dress and ModCloth locket designed by Elsie (I have been properly lusting over it ever since...).
At the end of our lunch date, I asked if it would be okay if I got some Instax photos--and she whipped out her own Instax. Then we instagrammed. It was the first time I didn't have to apologize for holding up activities to photograph them--it was just obvious that that's part of the activity.

Bloggers bring inspiration and beauty into my life; I am so very thankful I found my way into this amazing community of people. Thank you so much to everyone who supports my own little blog--your comments and support mean more to me than I can say. I love interacting with you.

And thank you so much to the "Indie Girl Bloggers" out there posting content and making the world brighter with every post.

♥ Shannon

9 comments:

  1. I so agree...bloggers are amazing. I've had the extremely awesome opportunity to meet several of the Portland area bloggers and we have so much fun together! Also, oh my dear... you met Elsie?!? I'd love to meet her. She is so inspiring!

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    1. She was working at the merchandise booth for Sucre. My sister talked me into introducing myself--I was all nervous! She was as sweet as can be.

      Portland is good about blogger meet-ups, right? I'm always reading about them. Time for Los Angeles to have one!

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  2. I love this post. Bloggers rock.

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    1. Thank you! I completely agree--bloggers do rock.

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  3. This post really speaks to me as blogging has had a huge impact on my life too. I can't imagine a day going by and not interacting with a fellow blogger in some way, even if it's not a day I"m posting myself. Every day it helps to give me the confidence to be creative and I value that so much! I have met so many amazing women and it has hugely broadened the horizons of my friendships. I find it really affirming that there are so many creative, kind, generous and inspiring people out there just a click away!

    I think I may just have to turn this comment into a blog post! ;)

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  4. I'm so excited because I get to meet some of my very first, as well as a few new, blogger friends very soon :)

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  5. I couldn't agree more about the blogging community. I work in an industry and a company that brings each other down. We literally will have meetings discussing what went wrong. What about what went right? I started blogging not thinking it would go this far but I truly loving meeting others, sharing my knowledge with others, and learning others' knowledge. It's such a wonderful feeling to receive an email from a woman in Australia just giving thanks :)

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  6. I have tears in my eyes. This was just what I needed to perk this not quite awesome Monday right up. Thank you sweet friend.

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