she who blogs

Bleeding Espresso is up for Best European Blog 2009

Bleeding Espresso has been named a finalist in the 2009 Bloggies for Best European Weblog:

Vote for Bleeding Espresso here!

I am truly humbled and honored to represent the Bel Paese this year, and I thank all of you who nominated me from the bottom of my cuore.

We’re up against fabulous blogs Scaryduck, Iceland Weather Report, Bitchy Jones’s Diary, and one of my very favorites, last year’s winner, and perpetual finalist Chocolate & Zucchini, so it’ll be an uphill battle to win, but as the cliché goes, it truly is an honor just being nominated.

I congratulate all the finalists in this year’s Bloggies, especially my friends at Thursday Night Smackdown (Best-Kept Secret Weblog), Travellious (Best Travel Weblog), and Secret Agent Mama (Best Photography of a Weblog).

For those who are visiting here for the first time, a warm welcome from sunny southern Italy:

The best place to start learning about me and the blog is in the About section, which also includes links to more of my writing, and through my favorite posts, hand-selected and provided for you in the “Best of” tab above.

If you are so inclined, please vote for Bleeding Espresso at the 2009 Bloggies by February 2…just in time for World Nutella Day on February 5th!

The Good Medicine Project

  At the coffeehouse yesterday I decided to open a package I had received from Japan.  I settled at a table with my friend, Amy, to tear away the brown paper wrapping.  I knew she would want to see the treasure it held, because Amy had followed with delight last year as I collected colorful “granny squares” from around the world to make afghans for children with cancer.

 

“Oh,” Amy gasped, as I unfolded a delicate purple crocheted bag.  “That’s beautiful!  What are you going to do with it?  Is it for the kids with cancer?”

 

“Yes,” I replied with a grin.  “We are making ‘medicine bags’ for the children at Camp Sanguinity this year and putting three lucky charms in each bag.  They can put their own charms inside, too.  Many Native American tribes carried bags that held ‘good medicine,’ and I thought kids might like it.  It’s our way of wishing those children a little luck.”

 

“How do these people who make the bags find you?” Amy asked.

 

“On the internet!  Other bloggers who like the project direct people to me.  I couldn’t do it without their help,” I said. 

 

Amy shook her head in amazement, and she is not the first person I have seen do that in the last few years.  Folks who don’t have a blog never seem to realize that bloggers can harness incredible volunteer power.

 

Last summer, more than 400 people from around the world sent me more than 10,000 squares for the “Share A Square” program.  We were able to provide blankets of love for the 140 children with cancer (and their siblings) who attend summer camp at Camp Sanguinity and make 80 more blankets to deliver at Cooks Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth!

 

Quite truthfully, that project buried me with work (and afghan squares).  This year, I decided I could handle medicine bags (you can see pictures of them on my Flickr page): they are approximately 4 inches x 4 inches in size and designed to hang around the neck.  Inside will be tiny “charms” sent from people around the world.  The charms (which can be anything from a polished stone or an arrowhead to a miniature angel to a lucky coin) were my way of trying to involve folks who don’t do “crafty” things.  We decided to call the endeavor “The Good Medicine Project.”

 

I’d love to tell you that this project has been the huge success that Share A Square was, but I would be lying.  I had hoped to have charms and bags from many different states, and many different countries.  To date, I have received 44 bags (many of them with charms) --- but they were just made by nine different people.  I’ve received packages containing just charms from two different people.

 

Now, I could make the rest of the bags, if no one else will help.  But, that’s not the point.  I want these children to know that hundreds of people support them in their fight against cancer.

So, I’m begging my blogging sisters to help me out.  If this project appeals to you, would you consider giving it a little bit of space on your blog?  Send your readers to the first post about the project if you would like.  It explains what I request, and gives my address.  If you have questions, you can e-mail me at:

shelly {dot} tucker {at} gmail{dot} com

 

I’d love to see a flood of donations.  But, you might be asking the same question my friend Amy asked, “What if you get too many?”

 

Unfortunately, there is a continuous supply of children with cancer.  Until the day comes that this disease is just a memory, I hope to do my small part of trying to send those children some love.  I’ll find another cancer camp to supply if volunteers overwhelm me with donations.

 

Visit my blog: This Eclectic Life
http://thiseclecticlife.com

Or, my work website: Spin Me A Yarn
http://spinmeayarn.com

"Cogito ergo cogito sum - I think; therefore, I think I am."  Ambrose Bierce

Birthday Bash 2009

 

To celebrate my birthday (actual date is January 24), I decided to do a giveaway for a whole week. I've never celebrated it before, not in any big way. Mostly I ignored the day. But this year, I thought it would be nice to actually celebrate it. Starting January 24 through January 31, I will be giving away one item(s) per day. What I'm giving away? Why, books of cause, but there a few other items as well. Visit "leftover reveries" for full details.

Happy! Happy! Happy! and all that jazz!!!

Well, howdy y'all.  Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannakah!  Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays...Just Happy! Happy! Happy!

I must say that I am glad the season is over!  So many services..not enough time to catch my breath.  I am just beginning to feel somewhat normal...Epiphany is here...and soon Lent will be upon us!

Anywho...I just wanted to pop in to say hello and to wish you all the best year ever!  My kids and I will be attending the Inauguration and while I doubt that we will be anywhere near enough to see, I hope to get some pics.  It is a moment in time that I just want to be a part of.  (even though I am a little leery of crowds of that magnitude).

I bring you good wishes from Shanel, who is in Africa now.  She has no wireless internet capabilities and I believe she makes a trip somewhere to use a computer.  She is doing well and doing fantastic work over there.   She says:  " <em>Please give my regards to all the women at she who blogs</em>".  Soon's I fall into some extra money, I plan on visiting her, and Imbi in the Netherlands....(one of these days)...sigh!

My health is fine (knock on wood), and my daughter and I are healing our relationship.  I am amazed at her.  I'll post something from her as soon as it is published in our church newsletter.  I thank God for this second chance for a real mother/daughter relationship.

My son is doing better.  Grades are where they should be, just keeping my fingers crossed that he is consistent.

Well...that's about it from me.  What's going on with you?

Visit Andrena at Getting a Grip on Grace

Combined Forces

I love blogging.  Love everything about it.  Meeting new people, having an outlet to share my thoughts, feelings, and trivial tidbits with all of you, love the comments (few and far between that I receive, they are still always appreciated and valued), love the relationships that are formed, and the way it allows me to be creative.

I love blogging so much that at one point I realized having just one blog wasn't going to suit me any longer, because I wanted to be able to spread my wings a bit.  

Candid Karina has always been my main blog, the one I use for my personal tales of woe or funny circumstance.  Here at Candid Karina is where you get to know the real me.  

But the real me is a writer, a poet, and at times a photographer, so I branched out and started posting at Creative Karina as well.  There I would share with you my prose, my photography, and other muse inspired works.

The real me is also a bit of a pop culture junkie, so I opened up Cafe Karina, and served up a weekly fare of television show recaps, book and movie reviews, and other random fare.

This was all working beautifully, until suddenly my real life caught up to me, and blogging time was cut shorter, and shorter and shorter.

Suddenly, I could barely keep up with one blog, never mind three.  Not even mentioning my guest writing appearances on blogs such as SheWhoBlogs and Inspired Bliss.  

All this going on and suddenly I found myself overwhelmed and practically ready to throw in the towel.  Was I ready to give up blogging forever?

The answer to that question is a resounding NO.  Of course not.  The thought of giving up blogging makes my heart beat fast and my palms get sweaty.  That is simply not an option.

But what was I to do?  Because although I blog for me, more so than for anyone else, I also realized that the quality of my blog posts were deteriorating.  I just wasn't feeling the love anymore, and therefore wasn't giving my all.  And because of this, I'm sure you, my dear readers, were also losing a bit of the love.  (It's okay, I get it, I wasn't really producing praiseworthy content here).

I want to keep doing this blogging thing, but I want to bring back the level of blogging I was proud to present to you during my "peak".  I want to look back on my blog posts and be able to think "Yes, that was worthy of pushing the "publish post" button".

So, what to do?

And then it hit me.  I'm going back to the beginning.  One blog.  One place where I share my thoughts, be they personal, creative, or pop culture related.  One single venue, all efforts combined.

As of this moment, Creative Karina and Cafe Karina are merging with this blog, Candid Karina.  They are not closed, they're simply moving in.  You can now find all your Karina content in one location, how handy is that?

Let's see how this works, but I for one am excited to be back to focusing on what's important, which is the writing, the sharing, and the relationships.  Hope you enjoy the changes as well.

As for Inspired Bliss and SheWhoBlogs?  I'll continue to post there as well...but I'll let you know here whenever any of those posts are up.

So, first up here at Candid Karina?  Come on back tomorrow night for the next installment of Cafe Karina's Bachelor Recap.

  

Visit Candid

 

Writing a Novel in a Year

Okay, 11 months anyway since January is almost flying by. This is a challenge from Geraldine at My Poetic Path. Read about it here and here.

I decided I won't be doing NaNo this year so I might as well do this instead. Maybe I can do this since it's not one month and I won't try to keep word count.

And I will still be posting at just writing words. I don't think I could be writing the novel without writing something else. It doesn't mean I will finish. Nothing is certain when it comes to writing and in particular when you're writing a novel.

Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don't fight them. Just find a different way to stand. - Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), O Magazine, October 2002