Bloggerific

     If you are like me, you have hours and hours of free time to surf the web, reading all the great blogs that interest you.  (This is where we need a sarcasm font.)

    Okay, I barely have time to proofread what I write, much less read other blogs.  However, there are a few that I follow, and I'd like to share them with you.  These are all by local authors.  I find that what interests me most when I'm reading blogs is a connection to community (which is why I was so excited to begin this SWAT blog!).  They all have way cooler blog designs than I do, since I am lazy and technologically inept.

     The first blog, This Healthy Girl, is by my friend Jen, a Kalamazoo native.  That link will take you to one of my favorite entries.  Jen is an avid runner and has been featured in the Kalamazoo Gazette writing about her sugar-free life.  She blogs about fitness, nutrition, recipes, motivation - you name it.  She has not always been a runner; she only started about five years ago.  Since then, she has completed a marathon, won her age group in many local races, and branched out to doing triathlons.  She focuses on transforming yourself not only physically (which she has done - she is trim and muscular, and she swears her healthy eating is responsible for clearing up her skin), but mentally as well. 

     My friend Laura writes Librarian Running.  Laura is our school librarian, and she just took up running (betcha didn't guess that from the title, didja?).  Through the Borgess Run Camp, she has found a community of runners who cheer her on and recognize her achievements.  Even though she could barely run a quarter of a mile at a time just a few months ago, she has built up to over five miles now and plans to run the Detroit half marathon in October!!!  Wowza!  It's an amazing journey she's on, and she is an inspiration.

     The next blog is by one of my high school friends, Hope, who lives in metro Detroit.  It's called A Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Adventures and has all kinds of recipes for - you guessed it - your slow cooker.  She began this blog when she and her husband had just had their first baby, were working full time as music teachers, and were completing their graduate degrees.  Her goal was to use the slow cooker for an entire year to cook dinner.  She met that goal and has kept up the blog for an additional couple years since then!  I have had some delicious meals from this blog (try the Tropical Pork with Sweet Potatoes).  Not all of the entries are low-calorie, but there are plenty of healthy options.  I love having dinner waiting for us in the slow cooker when I get home!

     The last blog I read really has nothing to do with fitness or nutrition, but it really speaks to my heart as a parent.  It is called ...love, this little family, and it is by my friend Nancy, one of the most eloquent, expressive writers I know.  Her most recent post reminded me of my own Mom Guilt post.  Check out the poem she wrote for her son when he turned one - parents will read it and nod their heads with tears in their eyes.  There are lots of "mom blogs" out there, but again, the local connection is important to me.  Plus, Nancy just has a way of putting things into words that make me think, "Yup, that's exactly how I feel but would never have known how to say it."

     Do you have any blogs you follow?  Please share!!