Sharing a Little Blogger Love

Happy Valentine's Day Ladies! I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend with your sweet, precious spouses, families, kids, friends and/or loves!

Yesterday, I was thinking back to a special moment many years ago. My dad (whom I'm very close with) did such a sweet thing for me one Valentine's Day. I was single, had broken up with a long term boyfriend and most certainly wasn't expecting anything, especially not flowers from anyone. My dad knew it would be a rather uneventful day for me and surprised me by popping over to the house with some pink sweetheart roses for me. It was a reminder that sometimes the best thing you can do on Valentine's day is brighten the day for someone who may not experience all of the giddy love and celebration that others are enjoying.

I wanted to share a little love with you all today, blogger style. I thought I'd share with you my top 5 Favorite go-to blogs. These are the five blogs that I read and visit nearly every single day. I hope you will check them out and may enjoy them as much as I have.

My Favorite Blogs:

1. Young House Love- I heart this blog! Why? Because,Sherry and John are a young couple who purchased a charming, older home in Virginia and blog every single day (sometimes multiple times per day) on the ins and outs of decor, their home renovation projects, their new baby nursery for their little 'beanette' on the way and their cute little pup named 'burger'. Oh, and they have some pretty sweet giveaways too. If you love do-it-youself decor projects and witty humor you'll love Young House Love!

2. Fashion Under $100- May of you have been asking for more fashion posts via the blog poll in my sidebar. One site I'm loving right now for great outfits under $100, celebrity wardrobe requests on a dime and fab finds under fifty dollars is this one. You might remember how I dedicated a whole fall fashion post to it HERE. You can even write in with your requests for reunion attire, what to wear on your next hot date, etc.

3. Rare & Beautiful Treasures-Erin is a sweet gal who like the Young House Love couple, is also pregnant, blogging about baby treasures, the wondeful celebrations and details in everyday life as well as some stunning inspirational decor images too! Erin writes beautiful and inspirational posts that always pull on my heart and make me reflect.

4. Copy Cat Chic- If you love great home design but can't afford the designer price tags, then this blog is for you! Reichel takes finds from Potterybarn, Restoration Hardware, Horchow and the like and shows you (in most cases) a great knock off for a fraction of the price! She too will take on reader requests so send her some furniture or accessories you love (but can't afford) and she'll do the rest!

5. Closet Cooking- You may remember me featuring Kevin's blog on my Fabulous Fare post. I stumbled across this blog completely by accident many months ago and was delighted to find so many creative and delicious-looking recipes. I also thought it was neat that he's a blogger from my hometown. :) You will have a blast whipping up some fun, new recipes after visiting this blog. Over 2300 followers can't be wrong!

How about you? Do you have a favorite blog that you'd like to share with us? Let's continue to share the love. Have a wonderful long weekend!

1-Year Blogiversary & 100th Post!

Wow! One full year already? Well, you know what they say, "Time flies when you're having fun!".

I have SO enjoyed receiving all of your questions, reading your comments and meeting all of you here in the blogosphere! As I mentioned in last week's post, we now have readers in 87 countries and I love that I can reach (and hopefully inspire) so many of you from this little blog of mine.

Not only is today exactly one year from the day I began blogging, but it's also our 100th Post! Wow, I had a lot to say, didn't I? As promised in my post on my 2010 goals, I hope to bring that number to over 250 this year. Look out blog world! ;)

I've decided to celebrate with a big cupcake! I have a favorite little shop named 'Sweet' close to my house so that is where I'll pick up my delicious, celebratory banana cupcake treat. YUM! They have some of the best tart yogurt I've ever tasted too.

This next year will be filled with a lot of fresh, new ideas, inspiring decor, fun fashion and the goods on modern manners and everyday etiquette as you all have requested and shared on our current blog poll. We will begin having regular giveaways too and will continue to answer your reader requests, so keep those questions coming!

As a way to kick off Year 2 of blogging, tomorrow I'll be posting our very first giveaway of 2010! Be sure to check back and enter for your chance to win, it's a great prize you won't want to miss!

Thank you for following me and checking in each day for the latest and greatest on being a Classy and Fabulous woman!

xoxo

Blog Poll: Need Your Feedback!

Okay, so this post has nothing to do with Christmas cartoons, but I did think it was an interesting image to post since we are less than 3 months away from Christmas! Today's post is however about polls.

I would love for you all to vote on the latest poll 'I Want to Read More Classy Posts About....' in the left hand sidebar which is located directly below the 'Leave a Comment' blinkie.

I am asking for your feedback on blog post topics-What are your favorites to read and what do you want to see more of in future?

It was 8 months ago that I began this little Classy blog and I want to continue it by posting on topics that you are most curious to know about, learn about and those that are inspiring and perhaps thought-provoking.

Oh, and if you haven't had a chance to vote on our other blog poll 'What Does CLASSY Mean to You?' you can vote on this one as well, this will be an ongoing poll so you can see how others' views compare with yours.

A few cool tools have been added for your convenience. See others' comments on recent blog posts under our Recent Reader Comment list and join the conversation! Now you can easily share us with tyour friends with the Facebook and Twitter links too. Also added was a search bar at the top of the page so you can quickly and easily search for topics that are of interest to you.

I can't wait to see what you all have to say!

Blogging or Venting?

Over the past few months I've come across some really interesting, entertaining, well-written, beautifully designed and informative blogs. I love seeing each person's individual writing style shine through and the great perspective that others often provide through their blog pages. I often feel inspired to use a new painting technique, try a new recipe, or just do something different. This is one of the reasons I start my day by spending about 10 minutes browsing through my favorite blogs before I begin work, because it makes me feel good.

On the contrary, I have also come across several blogs that look like an excuse for the writer to vent or get a lot of negative things off of their chest. These blogs range from personal to political and are not shy when it comes to controversy. While everyone is entitled to freedom of speech and stating their opinion, I'll be honest, these are the blogs I try to avoid. We all have many things that we deal with in a day, some good, some not so favorable and I'm not interested in the burden of someone else's drama. My hubby's motto is: 'Show me your friends and I'll show you your future'. I have to agree with it wholeheartedly, as I even noted most of the blogs that these venters followed were equally as negative and dramatic. I suppose misery loves company.

As a rule of thumb, even if girlfriends are not around to discuss the details or a significant other is unavailable, posting such information in the form of a blog, facebook, twitter or myspace is not proper etiquette and is really very unclassy. If there is an issue with someone, the best thing to do is take it up with the other person/people face to face and then move forward leaving the past in the past, with a clear mind to focus on the positives!

I want everyone to feel comfortable when they visit 'Classy & Fabulous!' and I am committed to keeping this a drama-free zone both in content and comments. I hope you find this to be an informative, sometimes funny and most of the time inspiring blog where you can relax.

So, what are your favorite and most inspiring blogs? Leave us a comment and share the URL so everyone can enjoy it too! :)

Have a wonderful weekend!