I opened this blog in December 2008. When I first started it was a blogspot.com free blog. I ignored it for MONTHS. I opened it at first to just have a place to vent. I’d been a part of a mom type message board that was private/paid and at the time I was going through PPD and emotional and financial hell. I was attacked in that place. I started the blog to have my own space. It was even less private and my stalker still followed me. In fact she is probably reading this right now. She’s waiting for me to cry and whine and say I have no money and I am begging for stuff. Well too bad for her because I don’t do that. Anyway moving on!

It was last summer when I was entering online sweepstakes that I came across a couple that were held on blogs. I thought it was interesting. Then I got stuck, literally, for a week just reading blogs. There were so many different kinds! I naturally flocked to mommy blogs. There were blogs with kid stories, blogs with photos, blogs with recipes!

The first blog I flocked to was Mommy’s Quiet Time. It just so happened that I clicked a link that day where Stefanie was having a webshow on Stickham during Blogher. It was for the people who didn’t go and Stef was just a natural. She is a wonderful spirit. Her kids have special needs and this woman fights HARD for them. Stefanie also does a lot of graphics works and helps many bloggers get facelifts. She is a gem. And her writing is from the heart! It was she who uttered the name of a site that changed my blogging life. She told me about Momdot.com.

Momdot.com is a blog but its more than that its a community. I listened to a couple of Trisha’s friday night shows and begged her to let me join and she did. Holy cow was it eye opening and empowering. There were so many very very helpful links and resources to bloggers. For me I was just getting into product reviews and there are a ton of articles about how to do it. The community that Trisha (with some help from awesome friends and bloggers) created is like family to me. We have heartaches, we all feel them. When we have wonderful news, we all praise. Its warm and inviting and I love it. Next to being a mom, wife and college student, most of my time is spent on the forum at momdot.com.

It was through momdot.com that I met some great and powerfully influential bloggers. The kind of girls I wanted to be like someday as far as my blog. I enjoy product reviews and Cat from 3kidsandus.com has a GREAT blog. Its always easy to read and beautifully laid out. Her trick is that she actually does her own stuff. She switches bloggers who want to go from blogger to wordpress platforms. She is fast and she is GOOD. Her product reviews are so very thorough too. She is one of the most helpful bloggers I have ever met. She is a great writer as well. I enjoy her articles. She doesn’t know why she gets so many visitors but I know. Its because she ROCKS.

I switched to wordpress in September and everything, I mean right down to how to make my comments be numbered for giveaways and the like, was found on Kim’s site, What’s That Smell? She has funy tidbits along with her enourmous wealth of Worpress coding knowledge. She can pretty much make templates from scratch. I don’t think I can recall her ever giving up on a coding problem. She does a LOT of behind the scenes at the momdot forum too. She calls into Trisha’s show and has the sweetest voice. She may be a little out there with her love of X-Files but if that is her worst feature I will take it!

Then I found some bloggers that just speak their minds all the time and I love it. They don’t really answer to anyone. They give you a real dose of reality when you need it. Sheila’s blog, Sheilacakes, Lee’s Blog, My Sentiment Exactlee, and my dear spoon friend Shan from Last Shreds of Sanity are some of the most raw blogs I have read. I love them all!

Then you have your niche blogs. These blogs are standouts for me because they really focus on one thing and go fot it. Much like my blog, studiousmommy.com focuses on photography as a student, these blogs stand out for me as the unique factor to round out the most influential blogs for me:

Letters to Breathe: GENIUS. She publishes anonymouse letters people write but never sent. I have been caught on her site reading for hours.

Ms.Wonka.com: Laura’s blog is newer to me but she had me at the word chocolate. I always crave it when I go to her blog. She is a chocoholic and isn’t afraid to say it. Anything choco related this girl has it!

Princesshairstyles.com: Another GENIUS idea. If you have a little girl and love doing her hair then this is the blog for you. TONS of cute ideas.

I really could go on and on and list twenty more blogs that influence me but it still wouldn’t be enough. I went from nothing to a pretty good review blogger in a span of about 5 months and it was with the help and resourses and ideas from the bloggers listed here. Annie for MamaDweeb.com is my soul sister. We’re both mommy bloggers which is a hard niche to get yourself known. This girl put herself out there and is having a very successful cloth diaper giveaway event right now. A few months ago she had never even had a giveaway. We are pretty much at the same level just trying to get ourselves heard. Jabberingjessi.com is another one that is new to the blogging scene but she is really trying hard to get herself out there. She is putting a LOT of work into her blog and it shows.

I couldn’t close this post without naming a couple more people. Being a mom I look at mommy reviews of baby products (my toddler is 16 months) and Candace from DelectibleMommies.com is my goto girl for reviews on baby and kid stuffs. The girl is awesome at what she does. Another fantastic reviewer and social guru is Karen from 3garnets2sapphires.com. Karen is a fantastic review blogger but she is also number one at getting people in touch with other people. She works her butt off keeping contact with companies and she shares much of her knowledge with newbies when they need help pitching a company. LOVE HER. And shopwithmemama.com, this girl has really fun giveaways and also resources for momprenuers. Ridingwithjessica.com is quickly becoming a favorite read of mine because this girl has older kids, teenagers and she tells it like it is. Maybe it helps to know what I am in for since my oldest is going to be a teen this year!

Lastly in closing I want to say thanks to the one girl who influenced me the most. Because she told me to get out of the box I kept myself in and just go for it, my blog really took off. Shellie from blog4mom.com.

These women really helped influence the blogger I am and the blogger I want to be and I am proud to be called their friend!