She liked it, she really, really liked it.

Okay, I love Amanda. I gave her an Epiphany Award last month, and look what she gave me.

See? I told you she rocks!

Don’t forget to get your entries in for the February Epiphany Awards.

Here’s the way it works:
1. Find me some, but largely unrecognized brilliant work. By that I mean blogs that average less than 20 comments per post. We all have highs and lows, but we’re pretty much looking for brilliant, but largely unknown work.

2. E-mail me the link [fandpinlv (at) gmail (dot) com] to your favorite blog from the month by the Feb. 26. You can send me a link to your favorite post for that month, or you can nominate the blog in general.

3. Let your awardee know they’ve been nominated by contacting them directly and posting your nomination between March 1-3. I will post all of the nominees/awardees on the last day of the month. Ask your nominee to post some sort of recognition of their nod on the first of the next month.

So, in the case of January, send me your nods by Wed., Jan. 28 to fandpinlv (at) gmail (dot) com. Post about your nominations between the 28th and 31st. of Jan. I will post the comprehensive list of nods on the 31st. All of the nominees should make their acceptance speeches on or about Feb 1.

What are the criteria?

1. Again, we’re looking for blogs that average less than 20 comments per post.

2. Blogs that are well-written, thoughtful, funny and keep you coming back for more.

3. Blog topics don’t matter. It can be about parenting, knitting, politics, music…whatever blows your skirt up. Just remember that it is a quasi-family show around here, so let’s keep the porn, hate speech, and other nasty stuff to a minimum, m’kay?

My January Epiphany

Things have been a little nuts, so I had to post the Epiphany Awards list without my own “woo hoo” post for my awardee, Amanda from BlabberMouse.

I”ve been a BlabberMouse fan for as long as I can remember. I can’t even remember how I found her. But she’s definitely in my “must read” pile of my Google Reader for posts like this one (for which I am sure to go to hell for commenting on), this one and this one. Of course, you can’t miss one of my favorite posts of all time — you see we’re in related fields of work and I think I’ve had this same conversation (although not quite in the same way) more ways that I can count. In a world of verbose people (like me), its refreshing to read someone who can go from zero to hilarious in 500 words or less.

If you don’t have BlabberMouse in your reader, I’m sorry you’re a tool idiot blind ignorant missing out. Do yourself a favor and go fix that, would ya?

So, I’m saving her the headache of hiring a stylist, sampling designer gowns, hiring bodyguards to keep her Harry Winston lenders safe. She can accept her award in her jammies if she wants in her morning video blog, if she so chooses. Just don’t ask her for a spinach salad. Trust me, you’ll regret it.

So, go check her out, worship at her hilarious altar and tell her she’s fabulous.

Then go find another blogger that meets these criteria and send them to me by the deadline to get them on next month’s list.

Epiphany Awards – January 2009

What happened is you created an award and nobody came?

Well, the Epiphany Awards are starting off much like the 2008 Golden Globes. Not exactly the gala event I was planning for, but a meaningful honor nonetheless.

For those of you who missed it, the Epiphany Awards were created to recognize the lesser-known bloggers who should have their doors beat down with readers because their stuff is THAT good.

So this month’s nominators and recipients are:
Fear and Parenting in Las Vegas awards Blabbermouse
Syzdekistan awards A Blog from Another Dimension
Tiny Tyrant awards Life According to…
Utimate Steve awards Reality Bitchslap

Do yourself a favor and check out the recipients as well as the cool folks who took the time to nominate them. There’s some great stuff there that deserves to be seen and shared.

Next month

Start keeping an eye out for more great stuff for the next month. You don’t have to wait until the end of the month to throw your envelope in, the sooner the better. Here’s how it works:

1. Find me some, but largely unrecognized brilliant work. By that I mean blogs that average less than 20 comments per post. We all have highs and lows, but we’re pretty much looking for brilliant, but largely unknown work.

2. E-mail me the link [fandpinlv (at) gmail (dot) com] to your favorite blog from the month by the Feb. 26. You can send me a link to your favorite post for that month, or you can nominate the blog in general.

3. Let your awardee know they’ve been nominated by contacting them directly and posting your nomination between March 1-3. I will post all of the nominees/awardees on the last day of the month. Ask your nominee to post some sort of recognition of their nod on the first of the next month.

So, in the case of January, send me your nods by Wed., Jan. 28 to fandpinlv (at) gmail (dot) com. Post about your nominations between the 28th and 31st. of Jan. I will post the comprehensive list of nods on the 31st. All of the nominees should make their acceptance speeches on or about Feb 1.

What are the criteria?

1. Again, we’re looking for blogs that average less than 20 comments per post.

2. Blogs that are well-written, thoughtful, funny and keep you coming back for more.

3. Blog topics don’t matter. It can be about parenting, knitting, politics, music…whatever blows your skirt up. Just remember that it is a quasi-family show around here, so let’s keep the porn, hate speech, and other nasty stuff to a minimum, m’kay?

Thanks and congrats to our winners for January! Please feel free to post your acceptance speeches and/or “Why the hell didn’t I win?” rant-sesssions below.

Thursday 13: 13 Things I’m doing differently in 2009

Okay, okay. I know what day it is. I realize that resolutions were due like more than two weeks ago. Truth is, I had other, more pressing things to talk about, like this and this. And hey. It IS still January and it’s MY Blog, so I’m doing things the way I want to. M’kay?

So here are 13 things that I’m doing differently in 2009.

1. I’m prioritizing in my Google Reader. I love you all, but 100+posts a day? c’mon folks, you’re killing me here. There’s so much good stuff and not enough of me to go around. And no, I’m not telling you who’s in “must read,” “want to read”, and “when I have time.”
2. I’m responding to commenters via email whenever I possibly can. So far, this has yielded some really great follow-up discussions and, while this may seem contrary to the “community discussion” philosophy of the blogosphere, I know that I appreciate hearing back from bloggers that I comment on. It makes me feel heard and valued. And trust me folks, I hear you and value you.
3. Reading those who read me. Granted, I don’t have a huge readership that comments, but I do try to keep up on what my commenters are writing about. After all, the blogosphere is more than shouting from my personal mountaintop. It’s community and sometimes it’s just fun to show up on your neighbor’s doorstep with a loaf of commenty goodness.
4. Blog 365. Yes, short of my New Year’s backposting, I’ve posted every day here at FandP. I’ve gotta tell you, it’s killing me. But, I’m doing my best to keep the hits coming.
5. I’m trying to keep up. I’m supposed to be posting three times a week over at Savvy Source Las Vegas. That kind of fell apart over the holidays. If I keep it up, there may be new opportunties that may come my way, but doing the research, interviews and writing is a lot more work than I orignially planned for. I’ve got to figure out a way to manage things better. Stay tuned.
6. I’m adding some sauce to the blog. Yep. See that little button on the left? The secret IS in the sauce. Check it out if you want some. I’ve stumbled on some really great bloggers that I probably would have never found otherwise.
7. I’m opening the doors to advertising. Yep. See that little link on the top left? More on that later.
8. I’m bringing in the givewaways. Hang on to your hats, folks. Cool swag (and probably some useless crapola) is coming soon!
9. I’m going to BlogHer. Cool, but that’s not really news.
10. The Ephiphany Awards. Don’t forget to get me your nominees.
11. I’m making the move to being a self-hosted site. You probably won’t even notice, but it helps me do some stuff behind the scenes.
12. I’m inviting guests. I love having other folks in my space to share with you. First up will (hopefully) be a batch of Vegas parents this weekend who’ll keep the heat on and feed the cats while I’m out of town (litter box cleaning optional, but much appreciated). If you’d like to guest post, please let me know.
13. I’m asking questions. Last year, I did Citizen of the Month’s interview chain and met one of the most amazing moms ever. I participated in Maria’s Interview Project this year and many of you are continuing the chain. I want to keep it up, so I’m going to be hitting up folks to let me interview them and post their responses here. Some of them you may recognize as regular commenters, some may be new. Please help me welcome them with open arms.

So, in the immortal words of Margo…

Looking for Stars

Grab the totes and start packin’. Today’s Epiphany and at that means I can finally pack up my holiday decorations and restore my house back to it’s hum drum, but fairly well-organized state.

As I start pulling wreaths off the walls and wrapping up ornaments, I start to think about what the day really means. For those of you who missed catechism, Epiphany marks the day that the wise men showed up for a post-delivery baby shower complete with gold, frankincense, and myrrh (if I were Mary, I would have held out for a casserole and diapers). Contrary to most nativity scenes we see on the 25th, these guys didn’t show up on the night of the birth, they had the decency to let the new mom recover for a few weeks before showing up, camels and all.

So what’s the big deal? Well, this was the first time, allegedly, that the Christ child, a natural-born Jew, was visited by gentiles. For gentiles to recognize and pay homage to a Jewish king was a pretty big deal back then, hence why good old King Herod was not too thrilled to see some rich dudes passing him by for the new kid in town.

Not much has changed. Being recognized and acknowledged by others really means something. Whether you’re a people without a country or just a lonely blogger wondering if anyone is out there listening, a little credit goes a long way.

So, in 2009, I want to recognize the bloggers out there that are pouring their hearts and souls into their pages week after week, but somehow go largely unnoticed. Hey, it’s a big world out there and we all can’t be her or her or him (and that’s okay). That’s why I’m proud to announce the 2009 Epiphany Awards.

Here’s how it works:

1. Find me some, but largely unrecognized brilliant work. By that I mean blogs that average less than 20 comments per post. We all have highs and lows, but we’re pretty much looking for brilliant, but largely unknown work.

2. E-mail me the link to your favorite blog from the month by the 28th. You can send me a link to your favorite post for that month, or you can nominate the blog in general.

3. Let your awardee know they’ve been nominated by contacting them directly and posting your nomination between the 29th and 31st of the month. I will post all of the nominees/awardees on the last day of the month. Ask your nominee to post some sort of recognition of their nod on the first of the next month.

So, in the case of January, send me your nods by Wed., Jan. 28 to fandpinlv (at) gmail (dot) com. Post about your nominations between the 28th and 31st. of Jan. I will post the comprehensive list of nods on the 31st. All of the nominees should make their acceptance speeches on or about Feb 1.

What are the criteria?

1. Again, I’m looking for blogs that average less than 20 comments per post.

2. Blogs that are well-written, thoughtful, funny and keep you coming back for more.

3. Blog topics don’t matter. It can be about parenting, knitting, politics, music…whatever blows your skirt up. Just remember that it is a quasi-family show around here, so let’s keep the porn, hate speech, and other nasty stuff to a minimum, m’kay?

You’ll have to stay tuned for the award widget. It’s in progress, but it’ll be really cool. I promise. So, keep an eye out for the stars out there in the blogospheric sky and let me know about your nominees no later than Wed., Jan 28.