Reader

I don’t have much time to read books these days (although somehow I managed to read TWO full-length grown-up books** today!) but I do read things in my RSS reader. A few people have asked what blogs I read on a regular basis so I thought I’d do a rundown here.

** Today I read Torn by Justin Lee and Help. Thanks. Wow. by Anne Lamott. Lamott’s book was beautifully written (as usual) and though I didn’t agree with all of her theology (as usual) I did find a great deal of what she wrote about prayer interesting and/or helpful. As for Torn, well, if you are even remotely – I mean the tiniest bit – interested in the relationship between homosexuality and the Christian church today, read this book. It is gentle, kind, and a very important book for people to read on both sides of the issue.

Now, on to blogs! I read a lot of blogs about doula stuff but I’m not going to include that because I doubt that many people are super into reading about the latest breastfeeding statistics in third-world countries. Except for me and a couple of my doula & midwife friends, and they probably already read them. But I’m including five blogs from all of my other categories.

Parenting

Ask Moxie: There is lots of great reader input on this blog about all sorts of parenting things, from transitioning to Daylight Saving Time, to sleep regression, to picky eaters, to anger issues. Moxie is one of my go-to sites for anything related to parenting.
Rookie Moms: Whitney and Heather run this blog that aims to help parents figure out what to do with their babies – and themselves – all day long. They’re hilarious and have lots of good things to say.
Postpartum Progress: FRIENDS. If you know a new mom, whether she’s just had her first child or her fifth, please, please tell her about this web community. If you know a dad whose partner is a new mom, please, please tell him about it. Katherine Stone runs this nonprofit that focuses on postpartum mood disorders, and I cannot stress enough how helpful this website was for me. Postpartum Progress saves lives: seriously.
Simple Mom: Tsh “my first name is not a typo” Oxenreider writes this “productivity blog for home managers.” She has a lot of great tips about how to simplify things as a parent, at home, and in life in general.
Crappy Pictures: The best – and worst – of life as a parent, as illustrated in Paint. Funny stuff here.

Fun

Kid President: This kid is awesome. Seriously. If you haven’t seen his pep talk yet, click on that link and do it right this second.
22 Words: Super random, very entertaining videos, comics, stories – all kinds of things. I get a kick out of nearly everything on 22 Words.
Maddie the Coonhound: A photographer named Theron Humphrey travels around the country taking pictures of his awesome coonhound in seemingly impossible places. Cute and fun.
Archie McPhee’s Endless Geyser of Awesome: The name says it all.
Mental Floss: A website full of random information and trivia, from the creators of the Mental Floss magazine (which is great fun to read offline).

Art & Design

Beautiful/Decay: Their focus is on experimental and groundbreaking art, which means LOTS of weird stuff but also some really interesting new ideas.
Colossal: This is a blog about “art and visual ingenuity,” and based on what I’ve seen from them over the past year or so, it really is. I see some of the coolest art pieces on this site.
Design Taxi: The Taxi Daily News has a lot of variety on it. From architecture and typography to graphic design and advertising, there will likely be something here for you if you are a visual type.
Daily Dishonesty: Typographical representations of lies we tell ourselves. I laugh a lot at these. And they’re so pretty!
House of Turquoise: Okay, so this blog is about interior design, but I still think it counts. It’s focused on beautiful rooms that incorporate the color turquoise in some way. There are fantastic spaces here; if you are, like me, the type who gets the Restoration Hardware catalogs just to drool over, then check out this blog.

Photography

You Are My Wild: Fourteen photographers each pick one image per week to represent how they see their child(ren). I’ve really enjoyed this site for the past couple of months.
Continental Breakfasts: Two photographers, one on each coast, each take one daily picture and post them here: they’re currently in year three of this! It’s really quite impressive and there is lots of good stuff here.
Hanna Mac Photography: Johanna is a tremendous portrait photographer in Texas. I found her randomly – not sure how – but loved her work, even more so because we were pregnant at the same time and I felt some sort of kinship with her. She blogs here and at Mia Daily.
Honey & Salt Studios: These Indianapolis wedding photographers take bee-yoo-ti-ful pictures. They did engagement and wedding photos for a friend of mine, and I’ve been following them online ever since. Really amazing pictures.
Beautiful Beginnings Birth Photography: I love the pictures that these two ladies take of births and newborns. They do an incredible job of capturing every moment of a birth.

Cooking

Culinary Concoctions by Peabody: I’ve been reading this blog longer than any of the others in this entire list, I think. I might should (yes, I’m from Texas, so I can say things like “might should” despite being a grammar snob) move her to the “friends I’ve never met” category. In any case, she makes lots of delicious baked goods and she’s very funny.
Smitten Kitchen: Beautiful photography and incredible food. Everything I’ve ever tasted from this website has been delectable.
Joy the Baker: More really awesome photography and tasty treats.
Closet Cooking: This website has lots of variety in the recipes and has the added bonus of being geared toward people (like me) who aren’t necessarily the best of cooks: simple ingredients, simple recipes, and good final results.
Two Peas & Their Pod: A husband and wife duo come up with these recipes that are family-friendly, kid-approved, and pretty easy to boot. I’ve made several things from this site and all were delicious.

News & Technology

Gizmodo: For all of your technological, gadgety needs, Gizmodo is there. Reading this feed makes me think “THAT IS SO COOL” over and over again.
GOOD: I love reading the magazine that this digital community comes out of, and the website is right along the same lines. Basically it’s all good news, all the time: but actual good news, not those fluff pieces at the end of newscasts. They find inspiring people doing world-changing things, write about them, and then encourage readers to get involved as well.
The Consumerist: This is an offshoot of Consumer Reports. They do a lot of expose-type things about various consumer products, and do it with a large dose of humor. Lots of laughing and learning here.
BBC News: Usually if there’s a big news story, I find out about it via friends on Facebook and then I go read about it. Other than that, I get most of my world news from the BBC.
Parents on the Huffington Post: Don’t worry, I don’t take any parenting advice from the HuffPost. (Or, really, any advice about anything from the HuffPost.) Their parenting section just does a good job of compiling various family-related news stories and blog posts from around the web.

Friends I’ve Never Met

(Most of these blogs could also fit under “parenting,” as the majority of them have small children; but I consider them friends instead of “experts,” so they’re here.)

Rachel Held Evans: Rachel is the author of two books, and her blog is full of great stuff. She puts up link lists every week, does running series posts (like “Ask A…” wherein readers get to ask a [atheist, pacifist, funeral director, liberation theologian, stay-at-home dad, Wiccan] questions – so cool!), and writes about the intersection of the Christian faith and life. I don’t always agree with her but I do always appreciate what she has to say.
Glennon Doyle: Glennon often writes about parenting and the like, but she’s also started a group of people called The Monkees who do really incredible things. Like today they raised $85,000 in five and a half hours to provide housing, food, childcare, job classes, and mentoring for a teen mom for a year – and no one was allowed to give more than $25. She believes in having small things make a big difference, and proves it every day. Lots of really incredible things happen on this blog.
Katie Stratton: I could just as easily have put Katie’s blog in the “art, design, & photography” category, as it would fit quite well there. She has a fabulous eye for things and basically I sometimes wish my life was as pretty as hers.
Linn & her family: Linn has twelve kids, nine of whom are adopted. She writes beautifully about their family life and their collective heart for the orphan. Get ready to fall in love with some pretty great kids!
Sarah Bessey: Sarah writes posts about life with her three kids, life as a writer, and life as a Christian. I find a lot of blogs to read based on her recommendations.

Friends from Real Life

Holly K-N: My friend Holly lives in Singapore now with her husband, and writes all about life over there as an American, as a runner, and as a foodie. Any recipes she suggests, just go ahead and make them because they will be delicious. I promise.
Nic: My friend Nic is living and working in Japan for a year. He mentioned on Facebook the other day that apparently there are people back in the States who sit around just waiting for him to post on his blog. I HAD NO IDEA WHO HE COULD BE TALKING ABOUT. Seriously, though, I laugh so hard reading about Nic’s adventures. Love him. (That is both a statement of my feelings and a command for you.)
Dr. Jacobs: AJ’s Tumblr is a fascinating place. He finds really random things about academia, literature, science, history, learning – you name it. He writes for both The American Conservative and The Atlantic, and often links here to his columns there.
Prof. Wright: DW was one of my professors at Wheaton as well and puts up poetry and sundry related cool things on this blog. (He wrote the most beautiful poem for Eli.)
Brett: Brett is a film critic and author with whom I went to college. Great guy, superb writer.