Blog Business

I've been so busy organizing upcoming posts for my Birthday Giveaway Week that I haven't acknowledged some lovely awards that have been bestowed on my blog lately. Bear with me, this is a long post and includes questions for all of you, as well as information on giveaways sponsored by other sites!

Carolyn, the Harbor Hon from Baltimore has graciously declared my blog to be a place that gives her peace. Not my intention, but a positive outcome just the same!

Bridget @ My Silly Blog has put together a full story about her blogging friends, Red Carpet Divas!She has Photoshopped us into gorgeous outfits, and tells all sorts of funny behind the scenes tales about the Divas.

Karla from Another Road to Ramble has a great book blog with reviews and recommendations on both adult and young adult books. She has presented me with the Share the Love Award, created by Crystal at >Memoirs of a Mommy in honor of the donor family who saved her baby son Noah's life with the donation of their child's heart. The award encourages us to share the love. The rules for this award are to pass it along to some people whose blogs you love. They make you laugh, smile, leave encouraging comments on your blog. You would like to share some love with them because they have uplifted, inspired, encouraged or prayed for you. Please include this paragraph with the link to Memoirs of a Mommy so that everyone know where this award originated. As the recipient of a bone marrow donation, of course I think this is a great message to spread around.

Ronda, that generous, big-hearted reader from Ronda's Rants has honored me with the PROXIMIDADE award. Translating from Portuguese to English, it means, "This blog invests and believes, the proximity," meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy. I have taken this to mean a feeling of community. I get to pass the award on to up to eight other blogs, so I am going to choose very carefully. There are many great people blogging, but these are actively working to build a sense of community in the blogging world. I am passing it on to:

Meghan @ AllMediocre

Debbie @ Blog Around the World

Vicki @ Best Post of the Week

Heather & Tiffany @ The Secret is in the Sauce

They all have great community building blogs that support link sharing and comment love!

On another topic, is anyone having trouble with the Followers widget from Blogger? When I visit a site that has a Followers widget, I am unable to click on it to become a Follower. I have to return to my Dashboard and enter the URL there. The same thing happened when I put up my own widget. Just wondering if it's me, Blogger, or maybe just a quirk. Please let me know what I might be doing wrong! Regarding Following and Blogrolls, I've decided to Follow blogs I enjoy reading, but the authors don't seem to visit me, due to no comments or not having me on their blog roll. My blog roll will be shorter, making it easier for others who want to check out some of the sites.

Have you ever participated in any of the blogland swaps? I have done several, all with different themes and I've met some great people and received some wonderful gifts. The neat thing about a swap is that you are communicating with one person and then putting together a package for her or him, based on the theme as well as what you have learned. You're guaranteed to get something back, too, which makes waiting for the mail a lot of fun! MommyHolly is sponsoring a Snowflakes & Sparkle Christmas Swap, which is right up my alley! I love anything that sparkles, and I am very into snowflakes, snowmen, Christmas, etc., so I am all revved up! I've already got 3 cool things that are seasonal and sparkly put aside for when I am assigned my partner! Sign up is until October 24 if you are interested in participating.

Here are some giveaways that might interest you.

Joanne @ My Little Cottage in the Making has a beach-themed giveaway going on through October 6.

CanCan @ Mom Most Traveled has a giveaway for a Sesame Street Kid KNEX set that will end October 8.

Maricritas from Zen Ventures is giving away a pair of earrings to giveaway until October 15.

PJ from Many Children, Many Hugs is having a giveaway for 3 bars of goat milk soap in your choice of scents, ending October 15.

Sally @ Book Critiques has a book giveaway ending October 20.

Be sure to come back Sunday to learn about the giveaways I am having here next week!