Back to Blogging with SITS - My First Blog Post Evah

One of my favorite blogging communities that I belong to is SITS - The Secret is in the Sauce.  It is a fantastically supportive community with just tons of amazing bloggers.  SITS is running a fun blog prompt exercise this week with some amazing prizes so check it out! 

Thelma and Louise are devestatingly beautiful ... sigh ... front end loaders and TEAL ... and I think I would move my house just to have room for them!  And the blog prompts are fun!

Here are the topics:

Monday, September 13: Re-upload the first post you ever wrote on your blog. If interested, re-write that post, showing us a before and after look at the piece.

Tuesday, September 14: Re-upload a post you wish more people had read and explain why it was important to you.

Wednesday, September 15: Re-upload a post with a title that you are particularly proud of and explain why.

Thursday, September 16: Write a new post about a woman who inspires you.  (As an example, you can see Mama Kat’s recent Women Who Inspire post here.)

Friday, September 17: As your last assignment to jump start your return to blogging, write about what blogging means to you. Why do you blog? What purpose does it serve you and how have you benefited from sharing a piece of yourself online this way?
And here are Thelma and Louise ... sighhhhhhhh ...

You can thank the awesome sponsors of Thelma & Louise here:  Standards of Excellence, Westar Kitchen and Bath, and Florida Builder Appliances.  Truly - SPONSORS ROCK!

So get over to SITS - check out the rules and get your blog on!

Now to get MY blog on ... I went back and scavenged for the first post I ever made into the official blogosphere ... and it is almost five years ago!  Beehive Blog was my new blog for Utah that I started in Fall of 2009 although it now contains posts from my London Yankee blog that started in 2007 which I began when I moved to London.  Funny enough, my blogs are very place oriented and in that vein ... my first public blog post was about moving to Arizona in October of 2005 from Florida.  I set the blog up to keep in touch with family and friends.

Dated October 26, 2005:   

Big Hello from the Land of Cactus and Coyotes!

One week after arrival I am still assimilating the new environment! And watching with no small amount of nausea what happened in Florida... Hurricane Wilma left her category 3 mark... I have not heard from anyone except my parents and that was bad enough.  What divine forces were at work that we got out of there 4 days before she rolled in?

Here in Arizona, I am working on firsts! And they are cool (I think) and very foreign (to this East Coast chickie)...

Saw my FIRST saguaro Cactus and they are HUGE!

Heard Coyotes Howling in time with the fire sirens - HA!

I watch the sun set behind the White Tank Mountains - every evening! and then the STARS! WOW...

Hiked in the White Tanks and actually bought a pair of hiking boots!

Enjoying the dipping temps (who would have thought?!?!) - it was 56F this morning!

SO...suffice to say...I am settling in...Job in Florida is so totally on hold as they have NO communication at all and the office was almost completely destroyed so I am job searching and just booked my third interview...

I think I might like it here! More Later.........HI TO EVERYONE!!!!!!! And please please please Pray for everyone in Florida!

Phoenix

Fast Forward to Present Day ... and some of my thoughts on this post ...


There are a bunch of things that are bittersweet about this post.  Hurricane Katrina had just hit a few months prior which was the impetus for this move to Arizona where my brother and his family lived.  I picked a date out of thin air in the beginning of September and it turned out that my son and I left Florida only four days before Hurricane Wilma devastated South Florida.  My Mom and Dad were there for Wilma and it was horrific.  The house we had rented lost most of its roof so divine intervention was at play for sure.

I loved seeing the pics again, especially now that my son (standing with me in the middle pic) is 13 and taller than me.  Phoenix was good to us and my love of Utah is in part because it has some of the things I really loved about Arizona - the friendly people, the western sentiment, the DRY, and the mountains.

I wished there were some more details in the post and that the pictures were better but honestly, blogs are blogs and we capture that moment ... and it is very evocative for me. 

OK SITS Chicks and other blogsters - What was your first blog post evah?  Leave me a comment so I can check it out!   

PhotoQuest - 5 Favorite Photos

I have been a passionate amateur photographer for several years and via my vox community and flickr, there are occasionally some super fun photoquests and photo duels that I like to participate in so I thought I would share my entry into the most recent!


The task was to submit your 5 favorite photos that you had taken ... not quite as easy as it sounds but here are my submissions - What do you think?

  "Beachcombing" - This photo is of my niece looking for seashells on the beach in Boca Raton, Florida.  It was actually a runner up for the Fodor's Florida photo contest for Palm Beach County.  I like the simplicity and timeless feel - I remember doing the same thing when I was her age.

"LIBRA" - orchids are one of my passions - photographing them, not growing them because I have a black thumb and it would be unfair to commit orchicide.  So I admire them and photograph them.  When I lived in Florida, I was a few minutes from the American Orchid Society headquarters and I spent many hours in the gardens and hothouse.  I am in awe of the perfection of all varieties of orchids.  this is a slipper orchid - they are like ballet slippers for fairies!

Following close in my passion for my family and orchids are dragonflies.  I am a dragonfly stalker and I have photo documented over 26 kinds.  My photo community calls me the dragonfly whisperer - lol and me?  well, I just love them.  They are amazing to observe!  This is a Halloween Pennant taking a sip on a grass stalk in South Florida.

"The Eyes Have It" - burrowing owls reside in South Florida and I had a chance to sit in complete delight outside of one of their burrows as they popped in and out. 

"Utah Does Good Moon" - Moon rise over the Wasatch Peaks - my favorite!

Here is a mosaic of a few more favorites and please check out my flickr if you would like to see more - What are your favorite pictures that you have taken?  Pop a link into comments and share!

South Florida Re-Entry

I have not decided if I am having culture shock on reentry to the United States or if it is just because I am in the Land of OZ aka South Florida.  It's not like South Florida is such a good barometer of what is normal elsewhere in the US and some things never change here - like old people stopping dead in the middle of the highway because they suddenly forgot where they are driving or being unable to ask questions in a store or restaurant because no one actually speaks English.  Then again - some of the good things have not changed either, like the beach and the interesting weather (when it is not hurricane pending) and, of course, the awesome food!  I already have 2 lobsters under my belt and lots of yummy fish is coming tonight!
I have noticed that people seem louder but South Florida has always been a cacophony.  People are definitely more chatty here than in England, just in general, but they are also ruder and more vocal about said rudeness but that is a SO Flo thing for sure. 
At any rate - seeing my family and the beach is all worth any type of culture bumps and my tummy does not mind the seafood a bit!  Next on the list - REAL black beans and rice!