2013 Flashforward: 3 Blogs That Should Be On Your Radar

Closer to the end of the year, I was spring-cleaning my Google Reader and realized I had several hundred blogs on my reader. I’d say 99% of the new ones were referred by current blogs I already read.

I thought it’d be fun to highlight three blogs that were new to me in 2012, and that I’d share with you, dear readers.

In no particular order… here they are:

Making It Lovely

I learned about Nicole Balch really really really late this year. Like, December 31, 2012, making it the last new blog I added to my reader! I think I found her through a link through a link from Apartment Therapy. I tend to read the “About” section first (after the targeted blog post), and Nicole’s said she had a “handyman background.” SOLD! This lady was going to show me how to make things for my imaginary house and SHE was going to do it. Not some guy (or her husband), but HER. She writes about her life in Illinois, her fashion style, work stuff, sponsored stuff, and design stuff. Best of all, she does her own DIY!

I love her before/after photos of her home renovation projects. Especially her kitchen. I’m surprised she hasn’t been pinned to death yet. But maybe she has. Oh wait, she has.

Cuddlebuggery

Now this book blog is fantastic! I learned about this blog because there were a ton of book bloggers who wrote about book-bullying on GoodReads.com or something. The gist of it is that a bunch of writers, bloggers, GoodReads users created a “no bullying” website and began to bully some of the bloggers on THIS blog. WTF. That’s called bullying, you halftwits.

Whatever. Thanks to the cyber bullying site, I found Cuddlebuggery and have been a fan. I think Kat and the rest of the gang are usually on-the-money with their reviews. Kat was their public enemy #1, but I really don’t see how her reviews should be singled out in a anti-bullying website. She’s witty, honest, and it’s her opinion. If you don’t like it, move on. You don’t have to like her reviews. Find book bloggers whose sensibilities are the same as yours then.

I highly recommend you DON’T succumb to the drama and just enjoy this blog about YA novels.

The Demure Muse

I think it’s hard to find Asian women bloggers who write about fashion. Correction. It’s hard for me to find Asian women fashion bloggers who don’t look frail and weak. I don’t want to read about any Asian blogger who looks like they’ve got zero muscle tone and could use a tan. (That’s probably why I tend to veer towards plus-size fashion bloggers – they actually look like real people, and they also look like they can punch a rapist if necessary.)

Cut to Katrina – not a plus-size blogger. I don’t remember how I found Katrina’s blog, but I’m glad I did. She’s a Canadian and new-ish transplant to Seattle, and writes not only about fashion but about life in Seattle. I think her fashion is really cute, and while I can’t wear a cat-eared hat without looking like a dork, she can pull them off, and she’s soo cute. (Run-on sentence, I know.) If I wore glasses, I’d wear the ones she’s wearing.

Like Nicole, I like Katrina’s easy style and enthusiasm for fashion. You know that you too could pull her outfits off. Plus she loves Hello Kitty even more than I do. I think she might love Target more than I do too.

So there you have it. Three new blogs I found in 2012, and three new blogs I’d recommend you add to your reader.

Do you have a list of blogs you’ve discovered in 2012 you’d like to share?