A few of my favorite things

One of my favorite things - the color turquoise.  Mis Papelicos share-in-style posted the fashion prompt calendar for the next six months and January's prompt is "favorite color."  Since I have already posted purple in purple-royale and the Pantone color of the year of radiant orchid in mad-for-plaid, turquoise it is!

 The entire outfit is thrifted from the

hairclip to the glasses, the earrings and the necklace,

the shirt, jacket and skirt.

The shoes were retail and yes, the heel of the shoe sunk into the ground.

The gang at We Work for Cheese back-by-popular-demand is launching into the Third Second Annual 30 Minus Two Days of Writing for February.  This no-rules writing challenge is one of the blogging highlights for my year and counts as another of my favorite things.

A ton of b***ching and moaning goes on with these prompts and well, see for yourself.
here-we-go-again

Now that we’ve got all that out of the way, here are the themes:

1. Gouda
2. It was no accident
3. Temporary insanity
4. When Hell freezes over
5. The empty bottle
6. Scatterbrained
7. Hint, hint
8. Damn
9. Dylan
10. Zombies
11. Succubus
12. One bite
13. Incommunicado
14. It has to be aliens
15. My ears are ringing
16. Shakespearean English
17. I faked it
18. Liars
19. Tastes like chicken
20. Chaos
21. Yes, I made that
22. It’s only a dream
23. There are things
24. And then she said
25. Social media
26. Naked and lost
27. How did you find out?
28. And then my brain exploded

"Yes, that really is the list. No, I’m not joking. You should have seen the ones we ruled out.

Oh, and I’d just like to mention that this is a challenge and not a competition. No, seriously. It’s not. Seriously. Nobody is going to be evaluating your work, meticulously grading every single line and compiling the results in a spreadsheet to determine your literary worthiness. Really."  

I am also linking up with Patti at Not Dead Yet Style.  A favorite fashion linkup.


Anne at SpyGirl for the 52-pick-me-up-10s-1910s-or-2010s prompt of 2010, turquoise being that year's Pantone Color of the Year.  Fashion linkup that makes you think of colors and patterns from a different perspective.  Fav fav fav!

Day 11 - Come up with 10 post ideas - I've listed hops and challenges.

Day 11 - Come up with 10 post ideas.  While I have never been at a loss as to what to post, something always comes to mind.  Most hops have a theme.  Only once have I been kicked off of a blog hop for "not following the rules."  I especially like the writing and photography challenges.  I have also found unique link ins such as:

No. 1:  The upcoming Mad Tea Party post with Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist on July 13th.

No. 2:  Le Mysterieux Carnival.  This group is quiescent all year long with the exception of October or All Hallows Eve.

Those two sites require some creative photography and highlight some truly inspired bloggers.

I also keep an eye out for blog hops, in particular hops that I have not participated in before.  If you just hop around with the same group of people, you will never encounter new blogs and potential new readers.

No. 3:  I'll be joining a no-rules blog hop monday-mingle with Tough Cookie Mommy.

No. 4:  I glommed onto sarahsblogoffun.com - this gal has THREE blog hops coming up.  One this month for the new and timid blog hopper.



No. 5:  No-rules blog hops are the best.  There is one every weekend at Sincerely, Paula



No. 6:  Low pressure participation hops such as Unknown Mami

The idea is that you enjoy your city (or suburb or town), take pictures, and then share them with your bloggy friends and family.

If your “Sunday” happens on a Friday, that’s fine, just post the pictures on Sunday. If you live in a suburb instead of a city, I don’t care; I still want to see it. If it’s raining and you’re stuck inside, take a picture of the view outside your home. You can even cheat and take pictures one Sunday and post them the next Sunday.

No. 7:  At the beginning of the year Vicki-2bagsfull will host the Grow Your Blog hop - tons of participants!

No. 8:  How could I forget the annual http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/?  That is the best challenge of all and is scheduled every April.  Those posts practically write themselves *chorkles to self.*

No. 9:  I am thinking Nicky and Mike, the duo behind We Work For Cheese, will be hosting some type of month-long writing or photography challenge (fingers crossed). 

No. 10:  When all else fails, there is Pinterest.  What I mean is that bloggers cross-post on Pinterest any challenges or events.  It never hurts to look there for inspiration.  As long as you don't get sucked into looking at all the pretty pictures (guilty as charged).

"Beverage" Day 11 of the 30 day photo challenge and a crooked picture post

I'll begin with the beverage I enjoyed at La Bonne Soup Cafe, satisfying my photo challenge topic of the day.

I enjoyed a fresh baked french roll with Florida blue crab and melted provolone cheese (sorry foodies, no pic of that).  But then, I saw this ~

It is a crooked picture.  I thought of Nicky at We Work for Cheese (she is much, much prettier) and her hilarious crooked picture post.  Nicky, this one's for you!