Saturday, May 30, 2009

What do you Miss Most in Alabama?

I'm an extraordinarily sentimental person. I love being able to re-visit the same places year after year. So when something changes or gets rebuilt or closes, I just hate it. Even if I didn't like it THAT much, after it's closed, I sure convince myself that I did!

I guess it's that whole "you want what you can't have" thing.

What's worse is that my husband and I seem to have a curse: all places important to us close. For instance: Sarris' Steakhouse, the location of our wedding rehearsal dinner, is now the ever-so-very-classy "Love Stuff".

I wrote this post about our sad, but yet oddly humorous curse.

So, my question is: What do you miss most that is no longer around, or just different than it used to be? Feel free to link in if you have a post about your favorite memories, or comment in your favorite places that are no longer around.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Best Post of the Week

This is a weekly column idea I had - please feel free to tell me if you think it's a great idea or a horrible one.

(Which, I suppose, your involvement or lack thereof will also communicate that.)

If you're like me, you write a bunch of posts a week, and some are better than others. And, you read a lot of blogs per week.

So I thought that one way we could make it easier to keep up with each other's blogs is to have a "Best Post of the Week" link-in at the end of each week, so that even if we don't have time to read all 88 (so far!!) Alabama Blogger blogs every day, at least we get the week's highlights.

So, link up, and let's start reading! And remember - the best way to get new blogging friends is to comment on other people's posts, so be sure to say "hi" to your neighbors when you visit!

p.s. - please feel free to interpret "this week" as loosely as you like, especially since this is our first week - I won't complain if you link a post in from last month.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Dining Spotlight: Scottsboro - The Blue Willow

This post was contributed by Leigh, who blogs at Tales from Bloggeritaville , Plates and Places , as well as Photographic Memories .

I was in Scottsboro, Alabama this past weekend visiting family members in the area. For lunch, my cousin Beckie took my mother and I to eat at the Blue Willow.

The Blue Willow is actually a house converted into a "tea room" of sorts. The home was built as a Victorian style in 1890 by Mr. J.D. Snodgrass, for his wife Hattie May Brown, and they lived in the home until their deaths.

The Blue Willow Restaurant, as it is today, is a truly eclectic mix of styles and tastes . There are many rooms in which to dine, and on the walls are artwork and antiques for sale. You can literally shop the walls while you eat. But the eating at the Blue Willow was certainly the best part. The menu offered a variety of dishes, including sandwiches, cheeseburgers and specialty salads. My mother, cousin Beckie and I opted for the Blue Willow Sampler, despite the 100 places brochures recommendation of Sweet Tomatoe Pie .

While waiting for our plates to be prepared, we shopped the wall art and had a fun time as our eyes wandered the room as well as the yard outside the window, which was also full of items for sale. The Blue Willow carries unusual gifts, including hand painted Russian jewelry and nesting eggs, as well as painting and crafts by local artist, antiques and much, much, MUCH more.

The waitress brought our sweet tea as well as a basket full of fresh yeast rolls and the restaurant specialty "world famous" bourbon butter. The rolls were warm and as I spread the bourbon butter it melted instantly. The bourbon butter made the rolls. It was not what I had expected to taste~ a shot of bourbon, I never detected, but instead was sweet and had a distinct and wonderful flavor.

Our meals arrived in a timely manner. The Sampler had generous portions of the Willows fresh homemade chicken salad and was also served with pasta salad, congealed pretzel salad, fresh fruit and two little mini carrot or spice cake muffins. It was alot to eat.

The pasta salad was a tri-colored mix of pasta in a creamy Italian and honey mustard dressing with black olives and smaller vegetables throughout. The chicken salad was fresh, and actually even more than what appears on the plate. The fruit was fresh and contained grapes, strawberries, pineapple, watermelon and kiwi. If you order the sampler, my recommendation would be to save the pretzel salad for last. It will serve as a dessert. It was perfect and delicious, with a crisp pretzel bottom layer and a sweet cream cheese layer followed by cherry jello. It was my favorite of all the sampler.

I want to make mention that the owner told of some pork loins that would be served for the nightly menu. He said it was a specialty and that it would be worth the trip back. Lunch and Supper is served at the Willow. Call for hours.

The Blue Willow is a place you will want to return to for a delicious meal with friends.

The Blue Willow
303 East Willow Street
Scottsboro, AL. 35768
(256) 259-3462

Hours: Thurs-Sunday 11-2 Fri & Sat nights 6-8:30
The Blue Willow Caters and Delivers

*Leigh is a full time mother, a part time photographer and writer. Her photography and written work is featured in several professional business and local publications. She owns her own photography business, Photographic Memories. Leigh resides in the Alabama with her three children and husband "Big Daddy". You can read more of Leigh's daily adventures by visiting any of her three blogs: Tales from Bloggeritaville , Plates and Places , as well as Photographic Memories

If you would like to contribute to Alabama Bloggers about any subject, please email me! I would love to have your contributions, whether original or pre-published on your blog.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

The Quirks of Our Dear State

I wrote a blog post yesterday called The Unfortunate Case of Frog Duck-Butt, talking about this colorful character on the Galleria Carousel:
And it got me thinking: there are so many quirks, oddities, and unusual things in our state.

For instance: Did you know that there are at least two statues of Jesus encased in glass boxes in our state? I blogged about the one in Birmingham last year, and then my good bloggy friend Lianne (who had been reading my blog for a while but had never read my Jesus in a Box post) ran across one near Tuscaloosa. She obviously saw this a bloggable item, and for pre-blog research, she googled the term "Jesus in a Box" and, of the whole entire world wide web, I was her first search result.

Seriously. What ARE the chances??

So, that being said, surely most of you have blogged about at least one odd item in our state at some point.

So, think hard - I KNOW you've got to have an Alabama quirk post in your archives somewhere. And if you don't, well, get to work! Write one about your favorite local quirk! Or, if you're feeling lazy, feel free to comment it in on this post.

Link your post in below. Or, if Mister Linky is still having issues and a link box doesn't show up below this line (he's been quite infirm of late - be sure to send him a "Get Well Soon" card), leave the link to your post in the comments.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

How Did Alabama Get the Short End of the Beach Stick?

There is nothing I love better than going to the beach, and I especially love that I can go to the beach and still be loyal to my wonderful state at the same time.

However, Have you noticed that someone is a bit of a hog down there?

I mean COME ON - Florida has a completely three-sided peninsula with thousands of miles of coastline that is in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, but they still HAD to come across Georgia and steal most of our beach too!?!?!?

Here's the stats, as well as I could find with the help of Google:

Florida has over 2,200 miles of coastline.

Do you know how many miles Alabama has? 60.

Our border with Florida is over 150 miles long. If you figure in the curves and dips and squigglies of the coastline, that's AT LEAST 200 miles of coastline.

Stolen.

Before our very eyes!

I can see Florida getting their slickest Politician Salesman with the greasy hair and the fancy suit to come offer to do us a favor: "We want to be good neighbors. That land over there? The nasty sandy land? It's eat up with crabs and sharks and hurricanes!! We'll take the responsibility of that awful land so that you don't have to suffer from all of those ailments."

How do YOU think it happened?

And how can we take them back?

I know it CAN happen, because several years ago when the Perdido Bridge was built, Florida "gave" Alabama an extra mile or so if we agreed to build the bridge. So we ARE taking it back, one mile at a time!

At any rate, here's my proposal, Florida. Take it or leave it (funny, I think I know the answer to that option).

(While we're at it, maybe we can be good neighbors and retrieve Georgia's for them as well.)

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Favorite Dining in Alabama

I hope that one of the ways this blog will be valuable is to share information about all of our favorite places to go to in Alabama. This will be especially useful if we're out of OUR neck of the woods and into YOURS. So this post, like the Alabama Bloggers Directory, will have it's own sidebar link for easy reference in the future.

The question for this post is: What are your favorite Alabama restaurants and why?

You can either linky a post (or multiple posts) that you've written in the past (or the present) about your favorite restaurants, or you can comment on this post and tell us about them.

If you linky it in, be sure to put in your link title where the restaurant is located so that if someone is looking for good food in a particular area, they can find it easily.

Sound like fun? I can't wait to find out where to eat all around Alabama!

Also let me know of other topics that you'd like to compile blogger opinion on!

Saturday, May 23, 2009

"The List"


This is a regionally organized list of all of the Alabama Bloggers who choose to participate in this site. It will help in organizing events, and it will have its own sidebar button so that anyone can go to it to find a list of bloggers in their region. Of course, it will ALWAYS be a work in progress and updated continually.

I tried to section you off regionally as best as I could, and if I was unsure, I left you in the "Somewhere in Alabama" category, in which anyone is welcome to hang out that would prefer to have their location vague and fuzzy.

If you want ANYTHING about your listing changed, please let me know and I'll fix it right up. I can also add categories if need be.

And if you're NOT on the list and you want to be, by all means let me know that and I'll get you on right away!

So, here we are, in all of our glory, so far:


Somewhere in Alabama:


Jo @ ...And a Cherry on Top
Morgan @ A Buggie Full of Beans
Michelle @ Grace, Love and Laundry Piles
Belinda @ A Simple Life
Marie @ All Access Pass To Jack and Putting My Thoughts on Paper
Lu @ Avery Tales
Mama Bear @ Bears at Home
Emily @ Being Me
Rhonda @ Blue Creek Home
Jamie @ Brown Paper and Strings
Collier @ Building Content
Christi at Butterbean and Peanut
Danielle @ Changing Lanes 
Rhonda @ ChiggerBytes
Chris Rainey
Connect to Your Coast
Couponing to Disney
Crunchy In Alabama
Emily @ Crunchy(ish) Mama
Kenn @ Dairy of a Madman
DBH @ DBH Dance Party
Dino's Deliberations 
Danny @ Doc's Political Parlor & Home of Lawn Mower Repair
Duckbutt
Erin @ Dwell and Tell
Bridget @ Fit Past Forty
Griff's Politicalman 
Groone's World
Half Baked
Hands Free Mama
Jen at Hey Y'all!
fjlanders @ Home of Owl
Kimberly @ Got Blog?
Ailsa @ Guilt-Free Cuisine
Janice @ In this Southern life
Jason Knight
Joey at Joey Kennedy's Blog and Column
B at just call me B
Kenny @ Kenny Smith
Konabarbie
Liz @ Lazy Liz on Less
Legal Schnauzer
DaisyGirl @ Letting Go, Letting God
Maggie @ Life According to Maggie
Bridgette @ Life's a Beach
Amanda @ Lovin' the Beast
Magnolia Mom
Mary Albrethson @ Mary's Rose Cottage
Melanie @ Melanie Elissa. . .A Glimpse in My Life
Jerri @ Mom-E-Centric 

Birmingham Area:


Trav @ {Head}:sub/head "all things book" (Twitter: tsutrav)
Robyn @ 3 Girls Mom
Paul @ Affluent Student (Twitter: PWMcGuire)
Alabama Social Media Association (Twitter: ALsocme)
Alabama Yesterdays
Rebekah at A New Song to Sing
Randall @ Alabama Geneology and Ramblings (Twitter: Randall_D)
Alice @ Alice Allen. . . Try Saying That Five Times Fast
Amie Beth Shaver
Robert @ Arcane Code
Shermika and Tamika @ ArtBLT
Amber @ Bamber's Blessings
Brittany @ Southern Beauty
BHAM.FM (Twitter: bhamdotfm)
Bham Bride
Virginia at Birmingham Alabama Daily Photo
Birmingham Appraisal Blog
Wade @ Birmingham Blogging Academy (Twitter: WadeOnTweets)
Brian @ Birmingham Entrepeneur
Birmingham Mom
Angie and Trish @ BirminghamMommy (Twitter: BirminghamMommy)
Birmingham Restaurants
Susan @ Blackberry Creek
Virginia @ blackflipflops (Twitter: blackflipflops)
Nicki @ Birthplace of The Process of Illogical Logic
BooMama @ BooMama
Jamie @ Brown Paper and Strings
Bryants of Bham
Karla @ Casual Bedlam 
Cathy @ cathyreisenwitz.com
Cheri @ Chez Cheri
Christy @ Christys Crafts 
Cindy @ Cindy M Jones and Cahaba Christian Writers
D$ @ Clouds in My Coffee
Country-Fried Mama @ Country-Fried Mama (Twitter: CountryFried)
Taren @ Craggyosaurus (Twitter: Craggyosaurus)
Kelly @ Dash, Pinch, Smidgen (Twitter: @KellyMerrill)
Nicole @ Destination Unknown
Deb @ Deb's Garden
Shea @ Dixie Chik Cooks
Erin @ Gold Shoe Blog (Twitter: erinshawstreet)
Anna at Recipes for Newlyweds
Traylor @ Reflections of a Ragamuffin (Twitter: tlovvorn)
Clementine @ Restless and Roaming Returns to the Roost
Kelli at Restore Interiors
Heather @ Saving Money and Living Life
David @ Schablog (Twitter: ScottSchablow)
Hannnah at Simply Add Coffee
Brandi @ Small Town Famous (Go Where You've Never Been)
Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality (Twitter: Rhoda_SouthernH)
Courtney at Southern Soiree
Bethany Herrington @ So I Don't Forget...

Central Alabama (Montgomery, Auburn, etc):

Meg @ Auburn - Lake Martin
Bama Planter
Nick @ Cupboards
Nancy @ Faith, Family and Friends & Heartstrings
Deb @ He Gave Me a Dream
Vanessa @ God, Me and a Cup of Coffee
Judy @ Gracious Southern Living
Green Door Girl at Green Door Designs
Just Vintage
Karen (Still Magnolias) @ Karen's Korner
Amy @ Ordinarily Extraordinary (Twitter: AmyKiane)
Hannah at Peggy Ann Design
Trina @ Random Thoughts From Trina
Rambling Round @ Selma Daily Photo
Katie @ The Dyer Family
Mary Frances @ The Stanfords
Christen @ The Uncontainable Truth 
Amy@ Wade's World


North Alabama (Huntsville, Decatur, Gadsden, The Shoals, etc):

Debbie @ A Bama Mom
Hope @ A Little Hope...Amidst the Chaos
Gina @ Blessed Lane (Twitter: gina7477)
Bo Williams
c.a. Marks @ Carol Marks Online and Girl Gad About
Channel Huntsville
Kelli @ Diva Do's
Tarin at Frost Family Farm
Karla @ Gathering Life
Huntsville PR
Myra @ Happy Housewife Living Life
Laura @ Gasp!
Russell @ Geek Palaver
Sanda @ Halcyon Days
Jason @ Homesteading at Crowsonshire (Twitter: @Crowson2000)
Donna @ Is This Load Bearing?
Amanda @ Kevin and Amanda
Liz @ Lazy Liz on Less
Lynda @ Life on the Farmlet
The Brown Recluse @ Margaret's Musings and Head Noise
Lorie @ MeMe Lorie's
Merrimack Hall Performing Arts Center (Twitter: merrimackhall)
Carrie @ Missing Montana and The 3 Wilsons
Nichole at Nakins Goes Blogging
Brian Schweighardt @ OB's Corner
Anke @ Our Little Piece of Heaven
Laura @ Owl Tell You All About It and earphoria
Dr. Dean @ Pediatric Dentistry (Twitter: matrixband)
Rosedale Gardens
Jerri @ Simply Sweet Home
David @ Stories in my Pocket
Kathryn @ Successful Freelance Writer
kelley blake @ The Eclectic Owl
Tonya @ The Traveling Praters
Kristin @ Tips From the Disney Diva
Sweetie @ Walking out this blended family life
Kelli @ YelliKelli


South Alabama (Mobile, Orange Beach, etc):

Tony @ [Lapse...Brain Dead]
Adam and Wendy @ A&W
Rhonda @ Abide At Home
Rhonda @ A GRITS Life
Andrea @
A Modern Hippie
Becca @ A Southern Garden by Becca
BeachnRiver @ Beach'N'River's Excellent Adventures (Twitter: beachnriver)
Beverly at Beverly's Photo For The Day
Sandra Fikes @ Camera's Eye
Linda @ Coastal Charm
Jim Holmes @ Coffee With Jim Holmes (Twitter: @CoffeeWithJim )
Hope at Crafty Hope
JD @ Croweblog
Jennifer @ Deep South Dixie Couponers
Aubrey @ Eastern Shore Mom
Leslie Anne @ Fairhope Supply

Christine @ Fly Fish Chick
Lori @ Just Pure Lovely
Doc at Mod Mobilian
Dave @ On the Road With Dave (Twitter: DaveRobison)
Ryan @ Ryan Duclos
Jenny @ Strickly Strickland's
Sunny Day @ Sunny's Days
David @ The David Sullivan
Erica @ The Gut Bucket
James @ The Fairhope Times
Christen @ The Uncontainable Truth
Dirt Princess @ Trials and Tribulations of a Southern Gardener
Heather @ Wigen Out Isn't All That Bad

West Alabama (Tuscaloosa, Jasper etc):


Cherry Berry @ Cherishing Every Second
David @ DSmithImages
Tammy @ Greek GRITS (Girl Raised in the South)
Leslie @ Alabamenagerie
Mr. Macabre @ Mr. Macabre
Derek @ Randomness
Lianne @ Socks are NOT the enemy.
Shawn @ Tales From Street Road
Alana @ The Karl Family 
Carly @ The Edwards
Brent and Christen @ The Freeman Blog
Tina @ The Story of Us
Mary Kathryn @ The Mathews Family Happenings
Daphne @ The Williamson Family

East Alabama:

Robin @ Alabama Slacker Mama
bfarr @ Chattahoochee Valley Daily
Micha @ Cookin' Mimi and Small Town Pilgrim
Nathan @ Geek Alabama
Karen at Karen's Korner
Swampgirl @ Swampgirl
Sandra @ A Groovy Kind of Girl
Jenifer @ Parris Ponderings

Alabama Ex-Pats:

Carolyn @ Sweet Home and Garden Chicago
Jamie @ Follow the Lines Going South
Marion @ Gumbo and Grits (Louisiana)
Julie at Just Say Julie (Texas)
Patti @ Patti's Peach Basket (Atlanta)

Inactive Alabama Blogs:

Jennifer @ Southern Fried Stretchmarks
Tiffany @ Lil Red Bird Big Deals
Danielle @ Musings from the Fern
Joseph @ Joseph's Blog-O-Log
Rebecca @ Seeking Him In A Crazy World
Jan @ Inspiring Your Everyday Life
Thagood @ The Red Mountain Blogger
Ashley @ Motherhood Naked
Lindley @ An Agnostic and a Christian Walk Into a Bar
Apollo @ Apollo Rock It
Jules @ Dump The Rump
Jennifer @ Happiness is brilliant
Awdrey @ Home Sweet Home
J.E.M. Business Solutions
Melinda @ Just Stuff!
Kassia @ Kassia's Family Life and Kassia's Blog
Brittany @ Latte Love Mommy
Amy @ Living In Harmony
Giggles @ Me and the Mercedes...Marathon
Carol King @ Mocha Bay Sistahhood Cafe
Donya at My Beautiful Life
Meg at My Fuller Life
Tania @ My Little Life
Adrienne @ Pampered by Adrienne
Suzi at Sheer Fab Junk in my Trunk
Cassie@ Southern Domestic Goddess (Twitter: keithcs)
Southern Femme @ Southern Femme
Strange Kid at Strange Kids Club
Tammy @ The Single Girl Diaries
Heather St. Clair @ The St. Clair's
Jennifer @ These Small Hours and Peace of Life
Mark @ The Bull Speaks
Lisa @ Through the Eyes of a Fat Chick
Brandi @ Will Blog For Shoes
Ashley @ Wheeler-isms
Ainsley @ Where there is Love, There is Art
Sherry @ Your Never Alone
Courtney @ A Day in the Life of a Housewife
Beermingham 
Christie @ Blue Chicken Dinners
Chris Davis at Dad Creates
Dennis @ DennisPillion.com
David @ David's Drive-In
Christopher at dZine
Edwards @ EdwardsTheGreat
Freddy @ fear and loathing
Melissa @ Images by Missy and Little Things In Life
Lori @ Hotfoot Lori's Nascar Blog (Twitter: BamaTweetBird)
Shannon @ Great Homes Alabama
Angie @ Life Through a Pink Lens
B. Russell @ Modern Birmingham Bride
Curtis @ Musings on Birmingham
Amanda @ Mommy Working for the Weekend
Oh! Eco Me!
Rachel @ Rambling Robinsons (Twitter: rachel9334)
Kristen @ Southern Web Girl
Stay at Home Mommy "Wannabe" @ Stay at Home Mommy "Wannabe"
Gina @ Storms and Sunshine amongst Life's Uncertainties
Gigi @ Take With Food (Twitter: gdouban)
Beth @ The ALCAZAR Alca-Blog
Josh @ The Horse and The Wedding PhotogBlog
Bettina @ The Intercultural Post and Lessons from an 80's Alumna
Liz @ These are the Moments
Tonya @ There Is A Season (Twitter: forthegirls)
Jim @ This is Alabama
Bama Belle @ Thoughts of a Bama Belle
Abbie @ The Basket Hound
Kate Adams @ The Brooklyn Dodger
Rallenac @ Urbane Wonderings
Mary @ Paint.
Colleen @ Random Bits of Randomness
Tracy @ Show Me...State Of Mind
Kristen @ The Cunningham Family
Mama Bear @ Bears In Exile
EG @ Engineered Garden
K.L. Smith @ Football, Politics, and Church
Brian @ Flashpoint
Heather @ Heather Lynn Road
Amy @ Living in Harmony
Jennifer Weldon @ Southern Fried Stretch Marks
Awdrey @ Sweet Art
Mark Burhop @ Virtually 3D
Ashley @ Three Carrs'
Ann @ Women of God Art Retreat
Tonja @ Gatherings
Alan @ Move Beyond Church (Twitter: movebyondchurch)
Renee @ See Mobile Alabama
Allison @ Sweet (New) Home, Alabama
The City of Mobile City Hall Insider (Twitter: CityOfMobile)
Captain Chris Nelson at The Kayak Captain
William Bruce at The William Bruce Discussion
Amy @ Those Funny Little Girls
Marilyn @ Wheelchair Gardener
Mandy @ However Although Thus Several Several
Karl @ Noneya
Elizabeth @ The Art of Country Living
Sabrina @ The Crazy Mixed up Life of a Single Mom
Susan @ Three Girls and a Guy
Phillip at Florida Life (Florida)



Be sure and go meet your blogging neighbors!!!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Do You Twitter?

If so, link your Twitter account up here!

Also - we have our first Alabama Bloggers get-together / tweet-up scheduled!! @thereisaseason (aka Tonya) is organizing it for us!

The details: June 18th, 11:30am, Jason's Deli at Brookwood Mall. Mark it on your calendar now!! Let us know if you'll be able to come!

Also let me know if you would like to schedule a meet up in your area.

Back to Twitter Link up:

In your Mister Linky name, let me know your blog name also so that I match them up with the blog list that I'm compiling.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

How YOU Can Contribute To Alabama Bloggers!

So obviously, I do not want to be writing every post for this blog.

Frankly, that would be silly.

The point of this blog is to be a conglomerate of all Alabama Bloggers.

One of the things that I want to accomplish with Alabama Bloggers is to introduce us all to each other. I want us to get to know each other, find like-minded bloggers that we can bond with, and be entertained by each other.

So I want to spend a couple of posts per week allowing you to introduce yourself to the rest of Alabama's Bloggers. What I have in mind right now is doing three types of posts: Profile Posts, Spotlight Posts, and regular contributors.

A profile post is your opportunity to introduce yourself on a deeper level to us. Answer any or all of the following questions, or make up your own!

Who are you?
Where do you live and what are you involved in?
Where are your favorite places in Alabama?
Why do you blog?
How long have you been blogging / how many times a week do you blog?
What do you think your style of blogging is?
Who are your favorite bloggers?
What kind of blogs do you like reading?
What are some links to your best posts?

The best way to get people to read your blog is to be interesting (duh!), so tell us all the interesting, quirky, silly dirt on yourself!!

But don't get craaaaaazy - (i.e. - keep it G-Rated, people!!!)

A spotlight post will have a short (2-3 sentence) introduction of you, and then the rest of the post will be a normal blog post of your choice. It can be previously published on your blog or it can be original - just give us your best!!

If you're interested in being featured, please email me! Feel free to submit either type of the above posts or both! Or you can submit multiple links to posts on your blog as possible spotlight posts.

Also, I definitely need some regular contributors. If you're interested in contributing once a week, every two weeks, once a month, or more or less (I'm really flexible, can you tell??), please email me or comment on this post and let me know.

If you have a specific topic you'd like to do a regular column about, that would be great. Or if you just know that you'd like to write and have different things you'd like to write about, that would be great also. Just let me know your ideas and let's see if we can work something out!

But have mercy on me - I'm juggling a lot, so I might need a little bit of time to get back to your emails.

And, comment on this post what YOU'D like to know about other bloggers. What are some great questions that they could answer?

And especially, what other kinds of guest posts/recurring columns would you be interested in reading?

The bottom line is, I need all of you to contribute to make this blog work!

Thanks in advance!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Giveaway for One of Three Amazing Alabama Coffee Table Books!!

I have had the pleasure of working with Turner Publishing for a couple of giveaways on my own blog, and they are top notch. Their books are so classy, so well done, so ENGAGING. So when I was thinking about what giveaway would best personify the beginning of Alabama Bloggers, they were the first company that crossed my mind.

I'm not usually a history buff by any stretch, but the moment I opened up Historic Photos of Birmingham, I couldn't put it down until I had looked at every picture and read every caption in the entire book. My husband had the same exact response. There's just something completely magical about seeing 100+ year old photos of your own city - it gives me such a yearning to experience life at that time.

Well, experience it for an hour or so.

Then I want my computer, cell phone, car with air conditioning, and the social freedom to wear blue jeans back.

However, the books are FASCINATING. The timelines. . . seeing things change before your eyes. . .seeing the phases of history that our state went through. . . seeing what my city looked like when my grandparents were teenagers, then when my parents were teenagers. . . seeing all of the crazy men in 5 piece suits and top hats and ladies in 10 feet-in-diameter dresses and hats in the dead heat of Alabama Summer. . . the experience is simply indescribable.

So, the fine folks at Turner Publishing have given me THREE books to give away to you!! They are each valued at $40, and these books are pure artwork.

I have:

1. Historic Photos of Birmingham
2. Historic Photos of Mobile
3. Historic Photos of HuntsvilleIf you're not from one of these three cities, this is an extensive series - they also have similar books on quite a few other cities. Check to see if your city is on the list here.

To enter to win one of these three books, comment on this post. Somewhere in your comment, let me know which book you would prefer if you were a winner. I can't make any guarantees, but I will try to match up the winners with their preferred book.

You may have extra entries for each of the following items:
1. If you are a follower of Alabama Bloggers
2. If you subscribe to the feed of Alabama Bloggers
3. If you follow @AlabamaBloggers on Twitter
4. If you Tweet about this contest
5. If you blog about this contest and Alabama Bloggers
6. If you put the Alabama Bloggers button on your blog

BE SURE TO WRITE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH OF YOUR ENTRIES.

This contest will be open until Monday, June 8th. The three winners will be chosen randomly and announced on Tuesday, June 9th.

Good luck!!!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Your Best Foot Forward.

First of all, thank you all SO much for your help in getting the word out about Alabama Bloggers!! I already have my first giveaway lined up (stay tuned later this week), so please keep up the good press, give me some feedback and ideas, and let's together help this site be all that it can be!

Without making it join the Army, of course.

So anyway.

Have you ever had a new visitor come to your site and groan inside and think, "Why did they have to come TODAY?? With THAT post up?? Why couldn't they have come another day, when a better post was up?"

No?

Oh.

Well, I guess I'm the only overly obsessive-compulsive one around here. Because I do it ALL the time. Which is why I have a section at the very top of my sidebar of my most popular posts, just begging new readers to not just judge me on whatever's at the top of my blog at that moment.

Okay, yes, I need to work on my concern about appearances.

However, I thought it might be a fun way to further get to know each other if we linked in our most favorite post ever.

Of our own, of course - not someone else's.

And if you can't choose, take two linkies - I'm generous like that!

I have people ask me all the time how to link one post into Mister Linky (i.e. a Permalink), so here's a quick lesson: Find the post you want to link in, and then click on the title of it. That should pull up just that ONE post (and all of it's comments). Then, you'll notice at the top of your screen that the web address will be specific - it will have your blog URL, then it will have the specific address of that post. Copy (CTRL-C) the whole thing, and then paste (CTRL-V) it into the second box on Mister Linky below. And be sure and let me know if you have any trouble with it!

And remember - there's no better way to get to know people and to get visitors at your blog than to go to someone else's blog and comment. So be sure to visit some people's favorite posts - and comment!! You never know when you might meet your new bloggy best friend. . .

Monday, May 18, 2009

Welcome to Alabama Bloggers!!

Hello!

My name is Rachel, I live in Birmingham, and I stay busy blogging at Grasping for Objectivity in my Subjective Life. I love blogging and getting to know other bloggers by reading their blogs. However, I have discovered a major gap in blog interaction: There is no blog networking site for Alabama!

Every day I am amazed when I run into another awesome Alabama blogger - you are innumerable, and I want to know you!

So I created this site. It will have a LONG way to grow, but you have to start somewhere, right?

Here are some of the things that I hope to accomplish at Alabama Bloggers:
  • First and foremost, I see this as a place for Alabama bloggers to convene, meet like-minded bloggers, find blogging friends, be entertained, and ultimately be a centralized meeting place for all of us.

  • There will be local interest posts, reviews of events, and opportunities to link up your blog posts on events and places around Alabama.

  • You will have the opportunity to have your blog posts featured here, or even be a recurring contributor.

  • There will be local contests and giveaways. Which, of course, means that if you have a local (or non-local) product, you can donate items to be featured and given away and benefit from the amazing the win/win/win of blog advertising!

  • There is "The List", which groups all Alabama Bloggers that have joined the site by cities and regions in Alabama.

  • And there will definitely be blogger meet-ups and parties!
However, today is just a start. And to start it off, let's have an introduction time.

You know, one of those uncomfortable, cheesy, "go around the room and introduce yourself" moments.

I'm going to put a Mister Linky on here to link up your blog to make visiting easy, but also be sure and leave a comment on this post and tell us about who you are .

I'll start us off:

As I said, I'm Rachel of Grasping for Objectivity in my Subjective Life. I post there at least once a day, but I also put my "seconds" on a blog called B-Sides. I also have a weekly column at 5 Minutes for Parenting called A Dose of Humor.

My main goal in blogging is to document our lives (and anything else that pops into my head) in the most entertaining, and hopefully even humorous, way possible.

Besides my blogging, I am 27 years old, a wife to my wonderful husband, and mother to a precious two year old daughter, Ali. I stay at home with her, but during her naptimes, work at home for two companies - doing accounting and human resources.

So now, please introduce yourself!! Also, please feel free to share any ideas you have for this site, any participation you would like to offer, or pretty much anything else!! I will need all of your help in turning this into the community that it has potential to be!

As you add your comments and linkies, I will add you to the "The List", which is grouped by area and available on the sidebar.

Also, PLEASE spread the word! Tweet, Blog, Facebook, Digg, Stumble, Kirtsy, whatever you use, let's get the word out that there's a new place for Alabama Bloggers to hang out!!

Be sure to visit the other bloggers who have introduced themselves - there's no better way to network than to reach out!

Also, please be sure to follow by clicking the button on the left, and subscribe if you use a reader. There will be much more going on here soon!

I look forward to visiting your blogs!
If you haven't linked up and introduced yourself yet, be sure to go here to do so!