You Need to Know

If you live in the Twin Cities area, then you need to know about the Pot O Gold that poured itself at my feet while blog hopping a few weeks ago.

Uniquely Attainable is a mobile thrift store.

That's right- a moving bargain mobile. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR, right!

We rode to school on a bus as children. We rode to the club on a bus as hard partying college kids. Why would we not ride on a bus as penny pinching adults?!

Also, while we're on the topic of blog hopping-- SWEET JEEBUS, have I been a Pregnant Lady After Pickles fiend lately!

It all began about a month ago when my favorite blogger-- the blogger that introduced me to the beautiful black hole of personal weblogs-- sold out. I'm not talking little Google AdSense ads in the side margins of her site. Oh no, I am talking footnotes to every single post that began with the phrase "this post sponsored by."

Half of the posts turned into product and business links (aka CASH MONEY for blogger). I became disillusioned the way that I did when Kim Kardashian packaged up our sweet Minnesotan homeboy, Kris Humphries, and Bennifered the shit out of him. Only to turn around and sell the whole appalling mockery of marriage for about fifteen mil.

As in One-Five-Million-Dollars.

I know celebrities do it all the time, as do bloggers, but the one-two punch of these women shamelessly putting a dollar amount not only on matters of the 9 to 5 business variety, but on the entirety of their lives, left me feeling sour towards the self marketing madness of our Me-Me-Me World.

So I gave up on reading the same handful of blogs I have always read and instead began trolling through the smaller Mom and Pop sites listed on their blogrolls. And the blogrolls of the blogrolled. That makes perfect sense when I think about it though. Because I hate Macy's but I sure like that Peruvian woman on Etsy who makes scarves out of repurposed grain sacks.

You can always view MY blogroll, of course, but I have to give a shout out to a few in particular. So here's to the few and far between; the Radioheads of the Blogosphere; me and my growing carpal tunnel syndrome salute you. You and your uniqueness is so.. well... rare.

Uniquely Minnesota. Speaks for itself. 'Nuff said.

Now. I'm a little upset about this one because it sort of takes my creativity quotient down a notch. But I didn't know of this woman's existence until about 36 hours ago. Ironically, she, too, is a Minnesota girl with a sick sense of style and an appreciation of all things colored by the procreation of blue and green. Behold, my secret blog cousin, House of Turqoise.

Erin Gates is such a style smartie, but she also gets my respect for always giving credit to every single person on the planet that inspires her. It's also worth noting that she is so perfectly polished that you may feel tempted to backhand the skank, but just when you think she cannot be anymore pristine, she'll hit you with a sobering reality check post.

Green and Natural Parenting. I know you knew it was coming, but herein I plug my belief in minimizing exposure to chemicals, hormonally altered, and otherwise unnatural elements. This is something my parents and I differ on, but god dangit-- my kids, my rules, my way! When they are 27, they, too, can decide whether or not Fruity Pebbles poured in Mountain Dew is okay or not. For now, however, we go reasonably green.

This post brought to you by me, myself, and I. And for the record, it is sponsored by no one. Unless you'd like to click one of those little ad banners to your right. (imagine flight attendant finger directions). In which case, thank you for contributing to.. well... mostly Google. Because my share of that is pennies. Literally. So this post is brought to you by nothing but me and my desire to share what I think is delicious and wonderful about life, mmkay?