Brin's Top Five Bloggers

I'm telling you, blogs are amazing. Aren't they? The next time I come down with a monster illness of some sort I'm going to defrost a mixing bowl full of homemade chicken soup and pile up in bed and read blogs all day. Maybe I should just rush out and get a flu shot this week. Seems as though the years I get one I always get violently sick. Sicker than the years I don't.

Where was I? Oh. Blogs. Gosh they're cool. I thought today I'd talk up a few of my favorites. (And invite you to share a few favorites of your own.) Sound cool? Cool.

A few weeks ago I got an email from a lady who said she took two days off and read my blog from start to finish. (That means she read 540-something posts in 48 hours. Wow.) Goes to show you that blogs can really suck you in. I don't know about you, but there are a few bloggers who I would love to meet. Seriously, if any of these people ever invited me for coffee or paintball-ing I would never ask for anything for Christmas ever again. A few of these people, in no particular order, are:

1. Gayla Trail. Author, gardener and blogger Gayla Trail. That's her, above, with the garlic. She's a countless source of inspiration and encouragement to gardening girls like myself. Gayla's the one who taught me that tomatoes dig milk. She's the one who taught me how to recycle toilet paper holders to start squash seeds. Short of my Dad, she knows more about gardening than anyone I know. (Except maybe Neil Sperry. I used to anchor the news breaks on Sundays during his show in Dallas. Whenever I think of Santa Claus and the nicest "old" man ever, I think of Neil Sperry.) But Gayla. I could spend two days reading her blog. She's impossibly cool.

2. Alicia Paulson. I know many of you read her blog as well. Like her legions of other fans, I adore Alicia. While I may disagree with her on what makes a good lasagna... and while I couldn't see copying her beautifully eclectic style in my own home, I find myself enamored with Alicia's life and home. One day I'm going to Portland and stalking the fabric stores until I run into her.

3. Lisa Fain. The Homesick Texan. That's her picture of her Wacky Cake, above. While I sometimes get lost in the recipes of folks up north (Lobster Pot Pie, Corned Beef, Clam Stew, New England Boiled Dinner), I can always count on Lisa to set things "right". From homemade biscuits and chocolate pie to beef jerky and pico de gallo, Lisa's recipes call to mind a southern Sunday pot luck or the spread at our family reunions. Only better.

4. Donald Miller. And not just because I've read Blue Like Jazz three times or recently got upset with a Barnes and Noble employee over my $39.99 mis-ordered copy of Through Painted Deserts. No, I'm crazy about Donald Miller because his faith (and subsequent practice thereof) is real. He questions. He doubts. He walked away from his Christianity only to return - more convicted and more convinced. He's edgy. He's impassioned. He's disrespectful. (He's also campaigning for Obama and doing some light railing against conservative Christian Republicans [that's me], which shocks me and makes me cringe... but also makes me grudgingly respect him all the more.) I'm going to a meeting with Donald Miller in a few weeks, and jokingly stole a classic Tom Hanks line and told a friend that if Mr. Miller is half as attractive as a mailbox I could want to marry him. My friend rolled her eyes and said, "I've heard he's crazy. And I think he smokes. There's a picture online of him smoking." And I thought for a minute and said, "Huh-uh," and then followed that up after another minute with: "So. So what? "

5. While I'm talking about guys, here's my final blogger: Chris Weisinger, the founder of Southern Bulb Company. (Southern Living did a great piece on him here.) While at Texas A&M, Chris and a buddy did a class business model that centered around locating, propagating and marketing bulbs unique to the southern climate. It must have been a winner. Once Chris graduated he and some friends began their company (about an hour from Freeman House, no less), and now sell heirloom bulbs to gardeners across the south. Chris is passionate about his business - about preserving native southern flowering bulbs and educating gardeners - and honest in his faith (he's also a Christian). His blog is journal-like and it has videos. I like the videos...

So there you have five of my favorite bloggers. Hope you aren't bored to tears. And hey... how about a few of yours? Which blogs do you get lost in every week? I'd sure hate to miss out.... -Brin