Seven Links, Five Great Blogs No Partridge or Pear Tree

from Istock, I don't have that much free time.

In the early days of this blog, I read a post on a friend’s well-established blog (AKA as blog people actually read and enjoy) about meeting some of her blogging friends. At that point blog friends was as foreign a concept as having a blog people actually read. After a year and 10 months, no need to age the blog prematurely, I have a blog that some people seem to enjoy and as of a week ago I also have blog friends. These friends aren’t just virtual friends, we met face to face. Ameena of Fancy This Fancy That, Sam of Mom at the Barre and I had lunch at Candle 79 and I’m now convinced that in this world of screens you can meet lovely, smart people.

I was flattered when Sam nominated me for 7 links.  I hadn’t heard of 7 links before but have loved reading some of my favorite blogs 7 links.  To quote Sam:

The "My Seven Links" project has been going pretty strong for the past week or so. In a nutshell, its goal is to unite bloggers from all sectors in an endeavor to create a bank of posts that deserve to be re-read.

Rules are as follows: Blogger is nominated. Blogger publishes his or her 7 links on his or her blog. Blogger then nominates five more bloggers to take part. And the cycle continues.

On the 7 links website it advises participants “don’t overthink”.  There’s no way that was going to happen. I found it interesting to go back and read old posts. There were posts I’d love to edit, posts I forgot I wrote and a good year of posts I’m fairly certain nobody else read. So here it goes:

My most beautiful post-some of my best ideas come from my clients who I see in our Foodtrainers offices each week. I have fantastic clients some of whom I've known for a long time. This was a post I wrote about one of my favorite clients and the special gift she gave me at a hard time in her life.  

My most popular post-was a recent post. It was viewed a lot though readers did not necessarily agree with me.  I realized with this post and a few others that it’s much more fun to receive comments where readers disagree with me and make me think than when they say “loved this.” It's still totally fine to say "loved this." I never take comments personally and love nothing more than a good debate (well I may love a good massage a little more).  If you haven’t read this, see what you think- and feel free to let me have it.

My most controversial post may have been the post above but this one was controversial for its subject matter. I have no issue talking about bowel movements or any bodily functions but this was me writing about it. Since then I wrote another Potty Talk post as well.  

My most helpful post- is a hard one to pick. There are a lot of food situations that trip us all up. In this post I responded to a clients hysterical 911 email from a bachelorette party. My advice holds for any food situation involving peer pressure

Post whose success surprised me- this is a post people always comment on. I hate fast food but found myself in a blizzard on an interstate with two hungry children and an exhausted husband and food supply. I caved and wasn’t happy about it. No fast food since (it was 2009) or hopefully ever again because, as I described, it makes me feel so ill.

Post that didn’t get the attention it deserved- it’s hard to give something attention when you don’t know what the thing is. So while I’ll single out one post, there were about a year’s worth that went unread or were only read by about five of my dearest friends. And of those posts, after rereading them, there are many that don’t deserve your attention.  There’s one, however, I think you should know about and that’s TIDEI. TIDEI stands for Tweet It Don’t Eat It. Clients email us all the time seeking our help and this extends our reach to twitter. Simply tweet @Foodtrainers I’m walking by the Mr Softee truck trying to ignore it #TIDEI.  We’ll respond with advice as needed. It’s fun, try it.

Post I’m most proud of- professionally I take pride in helping people make important changes in their lives; however, I’m most proud of my family (so sappy I know). I ‘ve talked about my boys and Marc but wrote a post for each of my boys. This technically makes 8 links (and yes I overthought that) but here was the one I wrote Weston last year and this year for Myles.

And my nominees are:

Camille and Sarah @ Svelte Gourmand

Lauren @ Running Dialog

Andy @Small Bites

Dr Ayala @ Herbal Water

Shari @ My Judy The Foodie

I should mention I've also met the adorable Erica Sara through this blog. I am wear my 26.2 "race bling" she designs with pride. 

What’s the strangest place you’ve ever made a friend? Do you have any posts you’ve especially liked or disliked on this blog?  Did you read any of my 7 links? Be honest.