My next-door-neighbor is about to have her third child — I will make sure that Coconut Girl knows about Whitney and her blog — and remember to still be a helper past the early weeks of a new baby next door.

Coconut girl song video

Food Within Reach

The Other Baby Bump

Sit Mommy

a.m. & p.m.

Here’s the video from the featured blog and here’s my final Blog of the Week segment on CBS-19.

Farewell TV land!

For about a year now, I’ve been providing a community service — not to work off any convictions, just out of the goodness of my little blogger heart. Many of you are aware of my weekly appearance on WCAV CBS-19 where I’ve provided the extremely popular Blog of the Week segment.

Once I got over my shock that there WOULD NOT be a private, fully furnished trailer with my name on the door and that there WOULD NOT be a hair and makeup team, I settled into a weekly routine that went something like this:

Tuesday, 5pm – stop working, sprint upstairs and put on TV-worthy clothes. Slather on more makeup. Fret over hair. Add more powder. Change top again. 5:45pm, get in car, drive to station. 6:30pm, start paying attention to what’s going on behind the door at The Newsplex. 6:40ish – enter studio, take seat, and provide LIVE commentary on a featured local blog.  6:55pm, call home to see what they want for dinner. 7:15pm, pick up dinner. 8pm, arrive home, watch video clip of segment. Fret over hair. Start thinking about featured blogger for the next week.

I really loved every minute of it. I loved being recognized by people all over town. I loved that my far-flung family and friends could watch the video clips no matter where they are. I loved the chance to improve my live TV broadcast skills and to have the opportunity to get better with each week. But mainly, I loved that the segment gave a well-deserved focus on local bloggers, many of whom are friends or became friends through the Blog of the Week.

Past tense, eh?

Yes. I’m hanging up my Blog of the Week TV hat — I will provide one more week of Blog of the Week coverage and then the segment will live on with two very worthy replacements, Jason Hull of OpenSource Connections and Amy Eastlack of SuzySaid Cville. I want to thank everyone who was featured in this segment, who watched it on TV or online and who helped promote the segment via their blogs, Facebook and Twitter. It’s been a great ride.

All the videos are view-able on the Newsplex Web site and if you’re really nostalgic, you can read all the Blog of the Week posts on STLWorkingMom.

I will miss the many friends I’ve made at The Newsplex; Dan Schutte, Sara Ross, Travis Koshko, Brantley Ussery, Jim Hanchett, Brad Ramsey, John Rogers, Mark Tenia, that guy that always opens the door for me, Cheryn Stone, Jennifer Black , Tim Free, Tom La and Liz Palka just to name a few (gosh, I hope I haven’t left anyone out). Beth Duffy was my friend even before the TV segment, and I enjoyed having the chance to see her every week.

I’m taking the step back from TV to get some time back to focus on My Gift of a Year and to better accommodate my full-time day job at Standing Partnership, which has added a lot of travel into my schedule for 2010. (Also? I’m running out of fabulous TV outfits and do not want to do any repeats).

Also? It’s time to let someone else sweat under the lights of live, weekly, local television.  I’ve had my 15 minutes. Now if Oprah’s people call, that will be another story entirely.

And now, here’s some link love for all of the Blog of the Week’s I covered in 2009 and a few from 2010.

Dream House Blog http://www.dreamhouseblog.com/

www.cvillenews.com and www.cvilleblogs.com

The Children’s Book Garden http://thebookgarden.wordpress.com/

Life in Sugar Hollow http://lifeinsugarhollow.blogspot.com/

Vale of Evening Fog http://valeofeveningfog.blogspot.com/

Dried Figs and Wooden Spools http://driedfigsandwoodenspools.blogspot.com/

The blog of Encyclopedia Virginia http://blog.encyclopediavirginia.org/

NailGun Media http://www.nailgunmedia.com/blog/

Bella Eats http://bellaeats.com/

Amy’s Yard http://www.amysyard.com/

Polly Vous Francais http://pollyvousfrancais.blogspot.com/

Suzy Said Charlottesville http://suzysaid.com/charlottesville

Small and Chic in C’ville http://www.smallchic.blogspot.com/

Run Molly Run! http://runmollyrun.wordpress.com/

The 2.0 Life (which is now Digitizd) http://www.digitizd.com/

Edible C’ville http://ediblecville.blogspot.com/

Crown of Corn http://crownofcorn.blogspot.com/

A Life Less Ordinary http://elenadoodle.blogspot.com/

A Day’s Outing http://adaysouting.com/

Charlottesville Sports and Social Club blog http://www.cvillesocial.com/

Sara’s Era http://www.sarasera.com/

C’ville Entremom http://cvilleentremom.com/

Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA blog http://www.caspca.org/

Family Hack http://www.familyhack.com/

Late Bloomer Bride http://latebloomerbride.com/

Traveling with Baby http://travelingwithbaby.wordpress.com/

Locallectual http://blog.locallectual.com/

C’ville Words http://cvillewords.com/

The United States of Jamerica http://usjamerica.wordpress.com/

Sweet Pea Photoblog http://www.sweet-pea-photoblog.com/

Jen on the Edge http://jenontheedge.com/

Shawn & Gwenn. A Boy. A Girl. A Virus.  http://www.shawnandgwenn.com/category/blog/

Real Central VA http://www.realcentralva.com/

Living United http://livingunited.typepad.com/

The Food Geek http://thefoodgeek.com/

Bonus: Video segment with Zoe Krylova

There are very few bloggers I know in the Charlottesville community that have been blogging as long, or longer than I have. Zoe Krylova’s personal blog, Vale of Evening Fog is one I’ve followed since I moved here four years ago. I’ve watched her daughter Tashi grow up on her blog. I’ve followed Zoe’s pregnancy with Tristan and the birth of that precious boy. I’ve gotten to know Zoe through her blog and feel as if I have another friend in this community because of that.

Zoe’s blog is just that: a personal blog of her journey through life, which sometimes includes travel stories, crafts she’s working on and lots and lots of chai (Zoe’s favorite drink). A recent post facinated me and I thought that new moms wondering how to work with a small baby in tow would benefit from it; Zoe knows how to do this and seeing that would help another mom figure it out, too.

I admire Zoe for continuing to write regularly, for her beautiful language and use of photography. I called her a “blogging celebrity” on TV because she is; I remember clearly the day I saw her with Tashi downtown (I was too shy to say hi) thinking, “Oh my gosh! Thas’t Zoe!”

I’m grateful to Zoe for sharing her life in this way, and for being the Charlottesville Blog of the Week.

Excerpts from my exchange with Zoe Krylova:

What inspired you to start a blog?

I had been keeping journals for years and thought I would start making use of this new form — the blog — as a way to maintain a writing habit. It was very slow going in the beginning, but when we decided to move from Ann Arbor to Charlottesville, I started writing more regularly as a way to share my observations of our new town. Once I had a digital camera the landscape of blogging really opened up for me. It is both a travelogue and a domestic record: A way to share my family, our adventures at home and on the road, our creativity, cooking and crafting, and the stunning pastoral surround of Albemarle county. Keeping a blog opens my eyes to the details, to the magic in both the exceptional and the mundane. I enjoy sharing those details with friends, family and community.

What has been the most significant experience related to the blog?

I have had a wonderful time meeting other bloggers — both online and in person, near and far — forming friendships with those people, but also learning from them and finding inspiration through what they too have to share.

Who reads your blog?

I’m not much of tracker, so I’m not entirely sure! Aside from friends and family, it seems like I might have a small audience of mothers and crafters who read my blog.

Are there any travels in your future?

My husband and I are pretty nomadic at heart, so I sure hope so! My brother-in-law is leaving for India soon to teach radio broadcasting to Tibetan youth in Dharamsala, where we once spent a year. Perhaps that will give us an excuse to visit, though we have a twelve year old daughter and a baby boy to consider! I was born in Cyprus and have family overseas, so surely we will pay them a visit at some point. In the meantime, we love to take weekend drives in beautiful Virginia!

Gillian Grimm proved a lovely subject for this week’s featured blog. Check out the segment’s teaser piece.

I asked Gillian to tell us a little bit about her blog:

This week’s Blog of the Week is the blog that accompanies the project. Got that? The blog is this: http://blog.encyclopediavirginia.org/ an entirely separate publication from the encyclopedia itself.

I’m fascinated by the project in and of itself, but what I wish to celebrate this week is the all-important blog that helps serve several critical purposes in support of the Encyclopedia Virginia project.

1. The blog helps to market the project — a regularly updated blog is the single, best way to enhance your Web site’s search engine optimization. If you have a Web presence at all, it serves you well to have a blog to share your story: search engines like blogs and without one, your audience may not find your content.

2. Transparency is a social media-era buzzword, but an appreciated and ever-rising way of doing business and serving one’s community. It’s sharing the good alongside the bad — and addressing the bad to make it right is the new, respected way of providing good customer service. The blog (any blog, really) allows the project managers to share the good feedback along with the negative, and to address the negative feedback in a public way, sometimes generating some thought provoking conversation.

3.  Cross-promotion – and Brendan Wolfe illustrates this more fully below but in the case of any blog that accompanies a larger Web presence, it’s a way to link, link, link to other related news and information about your organization. See my post about repurposing content – this is a good example of that practice.

4. Building Community and yes, I intentionally left that C capitalized — this is the future, folks — we’ve all started talking about our “audiences” as communities and the new PR job will be a “Community Manager” starting now. Yes, this blog, and all the others I’ve featured on Blog of the Week have Communities and that is a group of people who share a common interest — even if that common interest is so narrow as to attract a very small number of people. As an example, I blogged once upon a time about a significant and rare medical issue we went through with my daughter. Once in a blue moon another parent searches online and we, those one in a million parents are brought together through a common experience and feel better for it and THAT, my friends, is why building community is important.

In summary, I want to applaud the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities for being a forward-thinking organization — and the people involved in the Encyclopedia Virginia project for “getting it” and realizing the value of their blog and keeping it going for the students, educators, history buffs and blog fans out there who they serve every day with their online presence. Way to go, VFH!

Excerpts from my e-mail interview with Brendan Wolfe, associate editor for the project:

HISTORY OF ENCYCLOPEDIA VIRGINIA

Encyclopedia Virginia is a multi-year project under the auspices of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. In 2001, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded VFH a $50,000 grant to study the feasibility of creating a comprehensive online resource focused on the culture and heritage of Virginia. From this planning process, VFH learned it was well suited to bring together the agencies, resources, content, and technology to make EV a reality. The Virginia General Assembly and organizations such as the Virginia Cultural Network, the Virginia Historical Society, and the Library of Virginia have endorsed the project, which is made possible in part by VFH’s amazing ability to foster collaboration among institutions and individuals.

In 2004-2005, VFH garnered $400,000 in seed money to support the planning and early implementation of the project through an appropriation from the Virginia General Assembly and a gift from a friend. Since that time, the General Assembly has increased its financial support for the project and, in 2007, the Dominion Foundation awarded a two-year $100,000 gift to bolster EV’s progress.

We have a staff of five, including a managing editor (Matthew Gibson), associate editor (Brendan Wolfe), assistant editor (Tori Talbot), programmer (Peter Hedlund), and media editor (Donna Lucey). We are also overseen by editorial and technical advisory boards.

We create the site by sections — so far, we’ve nearly completed all of literature, twentieth-century history, and the American Civil War. And we are beginning work on pre-colonial and colonial Virginia history, as well as folklife.

IDEA BEHIND THE BLOG

Marketing — It’s a venue for us to explain what we’re doing with the encyclopedia and point people to particular entries. Here’s an example:

http://blog.encyclopediavirginia.org/2009/06/02/spotlight-george-b-mcclellan/

Transparency — The blog can be used to illuminate some of our processes. We use the blog to print any feedback we receive about the encyclopedia — both good and bad, and where appropriate, explain the thinking behind some of the decisions that we make. Here’s an example:

http://blog.encyclopediavirginia.org/2009/06/24/waiting-for-lee/

Cross-Promotion — It’s a means of reminding readers that we are plugged into other things going on at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and indeed the entire Virginia humanities community. We’ve done a lot of posts on the VFH radio show BackStory with the American History Guys.
We’ve also posted video from the VFH Folklife Showcase and a remembrance of Mike Seeger by VFH Folklife director Jon Lohman. Here are some examples:

http://blog.encyclopediavirginia.org/2009/05/21/the-new-masters/

http://blog.encyclopediavirginia.org/2009/08/10/remembering-mike-seeger/

http://blog.encyclopediavirginia.org/2009/06/16/the-great-mans-dirty-linen-contd/

Building Community — The blog can create a community of readers who can then become a community of encyclopedia users. Beyond that, though, the blog can be good as a community of ideas and discussion, both in terms of the encyclopedia, but also in terms of Virginia history and culture.
See the last link above for an example of that kind of discussion.
Anything we’ve run related to Sally Hemings has generated (relatively speaking, of course!) a firestorm for us.

VISITOR BASE FOR SITE/BLOG

EV is still in its infancy in terms of the amount of content we have up.
Most of our visitors will come from people using search engines to find text or images. (For instance, someone looking for information on Massive Resistance or Edgar Allan Poe are likely to stumble upon our
site.) Those “searchers” are already coming from all over the country and the world — a testament to how rich Virginia’s history and culture are.

We hope that a large part of our audience will eventually be students and educators. (To some extent, they already are. Our numbers drop off noticeably when the school year ends.) No resource quite like ours exists in Virginia, and we think that teachers, especially, will find EV really useful when preparing lessons on Virginia history. We’ve spent a lot of time talking to teachers and have some interesting ideas about how to tweak the site to make it more useful for them.

WHO THE BLOG ATTRACTS

The blog is eclectic, sometimes a little brainy, sometimes a little confrontational. We hope that it attracts anyone interested in Virginia history and culture — everyone who might want to use the encyclopedia and more.

My interview with Andrea Hubbell, author of Bella Eats, appears below:

When did you begin Bella Eats?

I’ve learned so much since starting Bella Eats – about photography, writing, cooking and baking.  I have no formal training in any of these areas and have certainly had my share of disasters over the last year, but have found that there is no better way to learn than to practice.  The food blog community is strong and supportive and I’ve “met” some really amazing people through our blogs.  People who are happy to answer questions about camera technology or the amount of tapioca you should use in a fruit pie filling.  There is an amazing amount of knowledge out there to tap into, and I’m excited to be providing a fraction of it to my readers.

Video of interview with Andrea Hubbell.

For more Francophile blogs, check out Polly’s blogroll on http://pollyvousfrancais.blogspot.com

Here’s my interview with Amy Eastlack of SuzySaid C’ville:

How did you get involved with SuzySaid?

SuzySaid was started by a childhood friend of mine (and no her name isn’t Suzy). We went to K – 12 together in Minnesota. We had lost touch over the years (I’ve moved around a lot) but reconnected on Facebook. When I saw SuzySaid on her FB page I immediately wanted to know more. It was EXACTLY what I had been dreaming about doing but hadn’t been able to get the concept from my brain to the computer. Lucky for me she happened to not just work for the company but OWN it! I called her the next day and we quickly agreed that Charlottesville was a perfect market. The Charlottesville Edition was up and running within a couple of months! It was a dream come true for me.

Is it a franchise? How does it work?

No – it’s not a franchise. It truly is a girlfriends network. The women who write the local editions are friends or friends of friends that got involved that way. SuzySaid’s original Fairfield, CT edition launched in March of 2007 when my friend and her girlfriend (see, I told you it was a girlfriend network!) saw there was a void of a “go-to” kind of place for information that was updated daily in their community that specifically targeted their demographic (25-55). While most of our readers are moms, not all are. I personally strive to ensure that my content has something for everyone – so while it can be little mom-centric (I’m a mother of two
girls) it definitely isn’t just about that. We also combine the local info with stuff that Suzy (and her friends) love (which are actually quite often one and the same – a fave AND local).
The concept is built on the basis that word of mouth recommendations trump all else. Women especially go to their girlfriends when they want or need something. So while Suzy is a fictional character- she’s actually a little bit of all of us. She’s all the different girlfriends you go to when you need info., advice and guidance – but she’s all of those girls wrapped up into one – and accessible 24/7.
While it’s a little different than a typical blog it essentially runs the same way. As the “editors” of the local editions we have control over
what we write, when we write it and how we do it. Most of the other local editions are actually a duo or trio, which makes keeping the site constantly updated much easier. I am currently working solo, but that could change over time. There isn’t a set rule about how much you write or how often you update, but we all know what makes the site work. If you’re not updating you’re not accomplishing what you set out to do, really.
One unwritten rule that we have is that we focus on the positive. That isn’t to say that we lie – that’s absolutely not allowed – but if we have a bad/negative experience with a product, business, restaurant, etc we just don’t write it. There are plenty of other sites out there for that kind of stuff – it’s just not what we’re about. We are NOT paid to write articles about anything.

What can area businesses do to be part of the SuzySaid network?
We are, of course, always looking for paid advertisers, but most importantly we’re looking for information on what’s going on around town – who’s out there and what they’re doing. One of the reasons I got so excited about doing this in Charlottesville was that this town embraced the “Buy Local” thing long before it was a trendy. People here truly believe in supporting local businesses and therefore the local economy.
That’s what I’m all about – supporting Charlottesville by getting the information out to the public about all the amazing opportunities we have in our town. There are some things that nearly everyone knows about and I love writing about those, but there are also a lot of things happening that some of us have no idea about. I LOVE when I write a story and hear “I had no idea we had that here” from a reader.
I welcome contact from local businesses!
One of the most highly read sections of the site is actually the Calendar, where we list events that are happening in the community. The beautiful thing about this is that businesses/organizations can enter their event directly from the site. It comes to me for approval/editing and is live within 24 hours. I also love getting press releases, but those usually take 48-72 hours for updating just due to my schedule.
I’m also hosting a once a month event that is open to the public as a way to 1) let people know who I am and what I’m about and 2) mostly to bring women together to build a network of friends and contacts. It’s not about networking from the business-building perspective necessarily (although that happens too) but about going new places, meeting new people and just having a good time! Those events are posted on the site, on our Facebook Fan Page and are always tweeted about in the week leading up to them.

What kind of feedback are you getting from the site?
The feedback has been fabulous! The site design is fun (I can say that because I didn’t do that part) and that seems to draw people in. I really try to keep the articles short and point the reader in the right direction if they want/need more information because, let’s face it, we’re all really busy. We want a place to quickly get the info we need and move on. That’s what people are telling me they like about it so I feel like I’m accomplishing my goals!

What can we expect to see in future months?
I’m so excited about all the great things coming up with SuzySaid!

To begin with you will start to see more “guest writers” – local experts, business owners, personalities, etc. who will be helping me expand what the site has to offer (as I am definitely not an expert on all things!).
Examples of this will be Jenee Libby of EdibleCville filling us in on the best eats in Cville, Kira Sullivan of Stroller Fit offering her health and fitness expertise to new moms, we’ll be working with ACAC on a few really cool things and (on a less healthy note) we’ll be doing a “Winery of the Week” focusing on local wine in addition to working with a local wine shop to beef up our “Wine of the Week” which I, surprisingly, do not drink enough wine to keep up with on my own! This is a partial list – there are so many great things coming up!

We recently launched a weekly feature called “Women at Work” that highlights a local woman entrepreneur.  I am floored by the number of absolutely amazing women in Charlottesville! We will be expanding this feature to include not just business owners, but local women who inspire us.

Additionally, we will continue to work closely with area non-profits in our GIVE section. We will be ramping up our coverage so that we are highlighting a new local organization each week. This is a big part of what we’re all about – helping others – so we’re going to work with organizations to help them get their name out there – find volunteers or whatever their needs are. We will also be teaming up at an even deeper level with a few local women’s organizations – as women are our demographic at SuzySaid (and it’s something I personally feel very strongly about helping with).

The last thing that I want to make sure people know that is coming up is a “Local Gift Buying Guide” that will be coming out prior to the holidays.  This will be a special e-newsletter that will focus completely on the amazing, unique shops, businesses, organizations and restaurants we have in Charlottesville and surrounding areas.

A few things I’d really like people to know about 1) Our twice a week e-newsletter (Monday’s focuses on the week – Friday’s is weekend news) is a quick and easy way to see what is coming up around town. You can subscribe from the site by clicking on the “Subscribe” icon. (and we do NOT sell the info). 2) In addition to the newsletter I update our Facebook Fan Page daily and try to tweet about happenings on Twitter too  3) I LOVE to hear suggestions from readers on what they’d like to see – great deals they’ve gotten – favorite places to eat/go. etc. They can click on “Ask Tell Suzy” icon to share. They can also e-mail me at amy@suzysaid.com. 4) I have a few “Have You Heard What SuzySaid?” T-shirts left that I am selling for $10 and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to PACEM through the Cville PieFest.

The Blog of the Week is Run, Molly, Run by Molly Fulton. My interview with Molly appears below:

What inspired you to blog about running?

Running actually inspired me to write again. I had put a lot of myself on hold – that is to say, I had buried a lot of the real me under 100 extra lbs of weight, children, responsibility, life’s disappointments, etc. As I ran, I was writing in my head, and as I gained confidence and a clearer sense of myself again, I thought I could be writing for a slightly bigger audience. It just struck me as so funny and unlikely that I should become a running enthusiast, that I figured I could get some real entertainment mileage out of just telling my experiences. I am almost always writing in my head while running, so blogging is the perfect outlet to try and capture some of those thoughts.

What has running done for you? How is blogging connected to that?

Running has certainly made a big difference in my physical health and appearance, for which I am predictably pleased. But running is such an apt metaphor for managing the race of life. Everything about running speaks to the way I want to run my life: the courage to start, the desire to reach a goal, the discipline to work towards that goal, managing pain and disappointment, soldiering on with perseverance and endurance, knowing when I need to push harder and when I need to rest, how to pace myself to go the distance, and above all, figuring out how to run my own race and not anyone else’s. I explore all of these ideas in my blog in the context of running, but I hope that I and others will see the broader applications. I blog out of gratitude for the peace, joy and satisfaction I am enjoying now.

How did you do in the Women’s Four Miler?

The race was awesome as always. I spent most of this year preparing others to run or walk it for the first time, so I wasn’t sure how I’d do meeting my own goal. I set a time goal that was a challenge, that didn’t give me much room for error. I’m happy to say I made my goal with 30 seconds to spare, and that is the real beauty of running for me. I may never be the fastest, but I can set measurable goals of incremental improvement. If we could just do that in every area of our lives that we want to see change, how powerfully rewarding would that be?

Who is reading your blog, and who SHOULD read it?

My dad is big fan! Actually, my mom told me he was reading it and was inspired to run again. When he finally confessed to me he was following it and actually quoted back passages that he used to get through his own runs – I mean, that was a big wow moment for me. I do have a few other readers – my W4MTP ladies have been reading it. I try to provide some practical training tips and resources for them, but mostly I think they like my “real woman” vs elite runner point of view – and the humor. It was so great to hear women along the race course yell “Run, Molly, run!” and tell me how much they enjoyed my writing. As for who SHOULD read it? I always say, if I can do this, ANYONE can do this. I am not special. I am not genetically gifted nor do I have some powerful story of extraordinary anything. I think anyone who needs a little help finding some faith in themselves to leave fear behind and move purposefully towards what they want may find a little friendly encouragement in my blog. I’ve had so much support and encouragement on my journey. I just want to pay it forward.

This week’s CBS-19 Blog of the Week is The 2.0 Life — How to Thrive in a Digital World. I was particularly excited about this blog because it provides so much value to its audience. Blogger David Pierce, a fourth year student at the University of Virginia began the blog when one of his peers (yes, a 20-something year old) said he didn’t know what GoogleDocs was. (Not to mention, all the people who still haven’t adapted to using an RSS reader, or know how to use Twitter, etc.) Thus, David was inspired to go forth and educate the masses on all topics social media; and he’s doing a really fantastic job with it, too.

I’ll be sending more people David’s way to learn from his “grandma-tested” content.