Monday, September 5, 2011

These are a Few of My Favorite Blogs

Today I am linking up with Kelly to share with you some of my very favorite blogs. I have been reading blogs for years now and only ventured into bloggy world when we started on our big adventure to the Netherlands. I honestly read more blogs of people I've never met, than those I do know in real life.

I have found a lot of the blogs I enjoy reading just by "worm holing" (as Jay calls it). Keep on clicking and who knows where you'll end up! The ones I return to again and again are all written by women (not intentional, I just tend to prefer women authors), and none of them seem to be trying too hard to make their life or topic seem a particular way. Some of my favorites are linked on the right side of this page, but my very favorites are listed below. Go visit them!

1. Kelly's Korner Blog  This was the first blog I started reading regularly. I don't even remember how I came across it. Kelly is so real, and I feel like she's honest and open about where she is in her life right now. She is the mom to two precious girls, and she never misses a chance to glorify God. She's wildly popular, and I can totally understand why.

2. Baby Isaacson My dear friend Elise just had a baby, and this has been so fun to keep up with her pregnancy. Now, I'm excited to follow it and "get to know" Audrey.

3. Blue-Eyed Bride This is a blog I only recently found. Erin is the mom to two boys, and I love her straight forward, no nonsense approach to life. She is so real, and I would like to think we would be friends in real life if we met.

4. The Schmidt Family Stories This is my cousin Britany's blog. I use it to keep up with her two daughters, and I always end up laughing out loud at the stories she tells. She is funny and her blogs are too!

5. Jamie the Very Worst Missionary I am always super excited when Jamie has a new post. She and her family are missionaries in Costa Rica, and she is hil.ar.i.ous. She is not in any way, shape, or form what you would expect when you hear the word missionary, and I think it's great. She is so real. So real about who she is, who she was, and who God is forming her to be. I love reading her posts and always leave the site laughing and thinking about what she's written about.

Those are my five favorites. Go visit them. What about you? Do you have favorite blogs you read?

Stateside

Last Sunday morning I woke up in a hotel in Amsterdam and went to sleep at my grandma's house in Iowa. It felt really nice to land on American soil again, but it was bittersweet because Jay still isn't here. It was also bittersweet because neither one of my suitcases made it! (They did get here on Tuesday, though {all in one piece} so I'm thankful for that).

My day Sunday looked like this:

Up at hotel: 6 am (11 pm Central time in US on Saturday night)
To airport: 7:30 am
Flight to Dublin: 9:30 am (2:30 am Central time, Sunday morning)
Flight to Chicago: 12:50 (6:50 am Central time)
Flight to Cedar Rapids: 5:50 pm Central time (12:50 am in the Netherlands)
Arrive at Grandma's house: 8 pm Central time (3 am Monday in the Netherlands)

It was a long day.

As I was being herded onto and off of and onto more airplanes, I had the chance to notice some very interesting behaviors of my fellow fliers. Originally, I had planned a snarky post, but I waited too long and I've caught up on my rest and binged on Diet Dr. Pepper, and my feelings aren't quite as strong as they were a week ago. These two stuck, though.
Two pieces of advice/information that all travelers should follow:

1. If you need a cart to lug your CARRY ON luggage around the airport, perhaps you should check it. Seriously. If it's too heavy and cumbersome for you to manage between gates, save yourself (and everyone else around you) the trouble, and just pay the $25 to check it. This also applies to being able to lift your luggage. You shouldn't depend on other people to put your luggage in the overhead compartment for you. Nor should others be whacked in the head and/or shoulders because you can't get your bag down in a controlled manor.

2. Be prepared. It is NOT a new rule that you have to take laptops out of bags before being scanned. It is NOT a new rule that there are liquid/gel restrictions. You will NOT be allowed to board a flight from Chicago to Cedar Rapids with a boarding pass from your previous flight. You WILL have to take off your shoes in the US to get through security. Please don't act surprised or indignant about any of these things. They are not going to change the rules for you. You will end up looking foolish, and you are slowing things down for everyone else.

Whew. Getting that off my chest and getting fueled with my DDP, makes me feel so much better. Glad to be back in my homeland! Ready for Jay to be here too!