The Dorks and the Popular Girls

This blogging thing has become a surprisingly integral part of my life. I enjoy writing about our life but I also love all of the blogs I stalk on a regular basis. There are the Mommy Blogs (stories, rants and laughs about raising kids), Fashion Blogs (pictures of the latest handbags), Foodie Blogs (recipes and beautiful pictures of food), TV Blogs (running commentary on tv shows) and Decorating Blogs (beautiful homes with decorating tips).

The part of all of this that I find most fascinating is the peer culture that develops within these blogging communities. It is quite a bit like high school. Most of the bloggers stick to their own and you can see the influence they have on one another. I would call it peer pressure but I think it is actually peer influence. We gravitate to those that are like us or are the way we want to be.

Here is why I know that blogging has changed my perspective in so many ways. I discovered this blog Thrifty Chick several weeks ago. My sister also checked it out and we simultaneously committed to the same window covering project (this isn't unheard of, my sister and I tend to do a lot of things simultaneously). Here is where the dorkiness comes in. Somehow, Thrifty Chick found my sister's blog and actually commented on one of her posts. My sister immediately texted me. I immediately went to read the comment and texted back "Wow! Why do I feel like you just met a celebrity and not some mom with a blog? And why am I jealous."

I haven't jumped into the blogging social scene, I'm still lurking. I feel like the kid at school who watches the popular kids and imitates them. I suddenly want to paint everything black! I want to take my kids outside to explore the Fall colors (except it is still 88 degrees here and most of the trees are still green). I want to live life.

This type of imitation isn't the crazy pegged pants, high bangs imitation. This is the good for your soul imitation that challenges you to be a better human, wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend.

Since starting my own blog and reading a lot of Mommy Blogs I have slowed it down a lot. I know that I still work way too much and I forget to take time for myself but my baby steps have made a HUGE difference in my overall disposition. I will never have the kind of time required to take the blogging world by storm (or bake bread everyday), but I will keep blogging as long as it makes my husband laugh out loud.

And I am going to decorate my laundry room.... (Even the dorks need to have inside jokes)