Blogging Etiquette: What Would You Do?

Recently, The Vegetable Assassin had a post that got me thinking...

What do you do when a blog you're following has taken on a different style? Let's just use my blog for example.

Let's say you joined my blog early on, when all I wrote about was food and restaurants. Maybe you're a foodie or whatever. So as time goes on, my post topics change to House Hunters, and endometriosis, and poop. And you think to yourself "I'm not into this shit anymore."

Do you unfollow the blog? Is that bad blogging etiquette?

I mean, I could totally unfollow someone's blog and not think twice because the chances of ever running into a fellow blogger IRL is like negative. But is that actually considered poor form? It shouldn't be, right?

I know some bloggers might be offended. I know because I've been there. But seriously, people stop following for a number of reasons and it shouldn't be the scandal of the century to UNfollow someone. What does it matter if I don't care what you wore today or how you choose to raise your kid? Or my favorite blog type of all- the ones where people constantly post NOT ironic duckface? You might be a cool person, but I'm just not super interested in your blog topic.

I mean seriously, see how silly you look...?

Anyway.

We read stories we're interested in. If we're not interested, why read?

So, follow or unfollow: What would YOU do?

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I'm Running Out of Time.

The title of this post makes me think of those emails you get from that Nigerian Prince you never met who needs your "asistanse" getting you that large inheritance from his independently wealthy uncle who just died and has no other heirs to give it to. (What?) And since those emails always have complete success, I'm only assuming the same thing will happen with this blog.

Anyway.

Time has been going by so fast lately.

I'm in a little bit of a routine. I don't really mind it. Because it's a good routine that keeps me busy and entertained. But it just seems like there are things I want to do, stories I want to write, accomplishments I want to make. And there's not enough time.

Sometimes I'm not sure if I want to speed things up and see what's in my future. Or if I want to slow things down and stop to smell the flowers. I guess I'm a little like that crazy bitch Jesse Spano when she took some stupid caffeine pills and started dancing around, singing The Pointer Sisters. "No time! Never any time!!!"



Maybe it's the time of year? School just started (not that it makes any difference to me), holidays are around the corner. The next couple of months are going to fly by, and before you know it, it'll be 2012.

Maybe it's my age? Everyone around me is starting (or continuing) to grow a family. They're doing special "parenty" events like taking their babies to the pumpkin patch and planning birthday parties and posting on Facebook about first teeth and first steps. Yeah. This kind of stuff bums my shit out.

Maybe it's my new job? Did I tell you about that? My new job? I'M GETTING PAID TO WRITE. Crazy shit, right? Anyway, I LOVE everything about my new job. Really, everything. But considering I'd been totally used to working from home for the past year (and by "working from home", I really mean blogging and watching The People's Court), I guess it's possible that actually GETTING UP and going INTO work might be making me feel like my days are slipping by, like the sands of time on the opening credits of Days of Our Lives.

Does this feeling ever slow down? Or have I reached a point of no return because I'm all old and shit and soon I'll be lecturing teenagers with anecdotes that start out with "When I was your age..."?

I don't really know where I'm going with this post. I just thought I'd share.


Oh- and mega thanks to those who commented on my last post about Kids: Yay or Nay? I'd still love to hear all of your thoughts on the topic, guys especially. There's no right or wrong answer, so don't worry, I'm not going to bash you for saying babies suck and they ruin everything.

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Since It's Almost Halloween, Here's Something Scary to Think About.

It has to do with babies.

Hopefully, I didn't lose any male readers right there because I would actually love to get all kinds of perspectives on this- males and females, with/ without kids.

The other day, a male friend and I were talking about babies.

He mentioned something about how getting pregnant just messes up the girl's body and basically ruins the guy's life.

This statement really made an impression on me because I guess I just never thought of it as such a DIRE situation.

Am I disillusioned because I'm at a point in my life where every fucking person I know is getting pregnant/ having kids (and posting their every fucking move on Facebook) (ignore my passive-aggressiveness- I'd probably be doing the same thing) and I'm not in the same babyboat because my stupid insides have taken a long walk off a short pier? Pretty much everything baby-related looks like roses from where I stand.

I mean, I'm not dumb. I know it's not always like this:


In fact, it's usually a lot more like this:


But there has to be a fair amount of Kodak moments... And they eventually grow out of the goofy alien stage and turn into a cool kid (depending on the parents, I guess). That probably has some fun stuff involved, right??

What do you guys think? I'd like to hear every and all sides of the topic.

Aaaaaaaand go.

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Homemade Chili.

Remember that one time I went on a diet?

That was cute when I did that.

Anyway.

Boyfriend and I made chili last weekend and it was off the chain delicious. And considering how easy it was to make, I think we were both surprised by how great it turned out.

CHILI (adapted from Anyone Can Cook magazine)

INGREDIENTS

1 lb of lean ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 15-oz can of tomato sauce
1 15-oz can of red kidney beans, undrained
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 heaping teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
cheddar cheese, grated (optional)
sour cream (optional)
avocado, sliced (optional)
margaritas (not optional)



DIRECTIONS

In a 3-qt saucepan cook ground beef, bell pepper, onion, and garlic all together over medium heat until meat is browned and onion is tender. Drain fat.



Throw in the rest of the ingredients- tomato sauce, beans, tomatoes, chili powder, salt, basil, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.



Top each serving with cheddar, sour cream, avocado, or whatever you feel like. It's also great served with cornbread muffins.



Also, eat it with a margarita. It's perfect, actually.

Also-also, this is perfect "Sunday" food. It goes with football AND bridal marathons.

Boner'ppetite.

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TILTE's Panzanella Salad.

This is a recipe for something healthy I ate.

I figured I should share it with you right away because I'm probably going to fall off the wagon before the week is over (I've already fallen off several times, actually) and I'd like to look back on this glorious moment and feel all nostalgic about that one time I became super healthy and fit.

Important Note: If you omit the chicken from this recipe, it is TOTALLY SUITABLE FOR VEGETARIANS AND VEGANS!!!

TILTE's Panzanella Salad

INGREDIENTS

- Italian Bread
- Italian seasoning
- olive oil
- 20 cherry tomatoes, halved
- red onion, sliced into thin strips (however much you like)
- 8 leaves fresh basil, chiffonade'ed
- 1 avocado, sliced into wedges or cubes
- 1 chicken breast (we cooked extra, but all you need for this recipe is one)
- 3 white potatoes
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- romaine lettuce

Missing from this picture: Italian seasoning, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Sprinkle salt, pepper, and onion powder on both sides of chicken breasts. Place in a shallow baking dish that's been coated with olive oil. Cook for roughly 25 minutes at 400- or until juices run clear.



Slice bread into cubes and place on a cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and Italian seasoning. Throw it in the oven for 15 minutes. Or until they're toasted the way you like it.



Boil whole potatoes until you can easily stick a fork in them.



Once chicken is done cooking, cut into cubes. Throw chicken, tomatoes, onion, basil, potatoes, avocado, croutons, and lettuce into a large bowl.



In a screw-top jar (or one of those "make your own salad dressing" containers), combine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Shake that shit up. Pour over salad.

Eat it.


This salad is perfect for people who are NOT very "salady". The ingredients are hearty and filling and the dressing is full of flavor. I will definitely keep this on my regular dinner rotation.

Anyone out there willing to try it, let me know what you think!!

Boner'ppetite.

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I'm Going to End Up Eating Kibble When No One's Looking.

I'm sure everyone* (*no one) has been majorly concerned about my whereabouts lately and wondering why my posts have been so few and far between.

So I'm here to tell you all* (*mom) not to worry, everything is going great. And by "great", I mean "fat". And before you embarrass yourself and ask if I'm pregnant, let me say No, I am not pregnant. So when you see me out at happy hour, don't be worried that I'm damaging my unborn baby. There's no baby. It's just waffles.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way.

I have something to share with you today. It's something that I'm pretty fucking excited about, but I realize that you probably won't give a shit about it. That's totally fine. Based on my analytics, I've come to accept the fact that our friendship "honeymoon" may have come to an end.

Alright, so the big topic of discussion is... my diet.

My diet is shit and I'm gaining weight and I'm not looking good.



With that said, I'm taking a stand against my chins and butts, y'all.

And I'm inviting YOU to stand against my chins and butts with me. (I know what I said.)

I created an account on DailyBurn to track everything I eat. With every item I track, my counter updates and lets me know how many calories, grams of fat, grams of protein, and grams of carbs I have left in the day in order to stay within my "lose weight" range.

If you're interested in making a DailyBurn account to track your food, let me know and we can be buddies! We can totally keep each other motivated AND get ideas from each other for healthy meals. And don't worry- nobody can see your private details (weight). And if we become buddies and it turns out you actually CAN see my weight details, you better fucking pretend like you never saw that shit.
Disclaimer: If you're one of those super competitive people and you have no problem going all anorexic and shit, we can't be friends.

And to get the ball rolling on this bitch, I'm even going to share my digits for today:

See that exclamation point in the "Fat" category? That means I did an OUTSTANDING job at overeating fat today. Also- it looks like someone needs to drink more water.

So... Who's in???

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