Monday, April 12, 2010

Blog Envy

I've had a post in mind for a while, actually. Maybe even a month. In addition to the inanity that tends to clog up the blogosphere (and I cannot, in good conscience and all humility, separate myself completely from such drivel) there happens, every once in a while, to be a diamond in the rough (diamond in the...diamond in the...diamond in the rough...).

There is the niche of the 15 and 16 year old British girl. They many populate tumblr.com, rather than blogspot, because tumblr is more suited to picture postings. These girls love Zooey Deschanel, Harry Potter, cupcakes, and Chanel, and post pictures that generally take my breath away. Not only do I not have enough time in the day to surf the internet for beautiful images, I wouldn't even know where to begin searching...

Then we have the foodies. The best known, of course, are smitten and orangette. There are others, however, that seem to fill every nook and cranny imaginable in the food pyramid and kitchen cupboard as well.

Finally, we have the fashion blogs (okay, so I know this isn't actually finally, and that there are, in fact, many many other blogs and blog themes and trends. But for my intents, it's 'finally'). From the Sartorialist to Tavi (a 13 year old girl who gets flown to Paris for fashion week because she kicks that much ass) to some girl in Kansas who just likes finding fun things in thrift stores, there is a fashion blog, quite literally, for everyone.

Caught amongst these facets of the blogging world, I found myself unsure who I envied most. Do I wish I had innumerable hours to stare at pretty things all day? Or would I prefer to have clothing websites send me hundreds of dollars worth of merch, just because I have a virtual following? Perhaps it would be best if I had the time and money to make stilton cheese and chanterelle galettes, paired with an arugula and pear salad?

As we know, I am incapable, for some odd reason, of writing a food blog. And a blog merely full of pictures would deprive my readers of scathing humor and titillating wit. And a fashion blog? I am rather fashionable. It's been said. But, I mean, every second I did not spend in a swimsuit yesterday was spent in workout clothes that I gleaned from Ross and hand-me-downs from a sister. Somehow, I don't think modcloth.com would come running to sponsor me.

But at some point recently, probably while waiting for dirtyprettything to load after checking out Betty's latest outfit, I realized I don't want a themed blog. I don't want to be stuck in a niche where I feel guilty and am unable to blog if I haven't eaten anything more interesting than spaghetti with salt, pepper, and romano cheese for the past week. And believe me, based on smitten's regular apologia, I would be.

Despite the apparent narcissism of creating a blog where the only theme is ME, I enjoy the variety. The ability to write a post about stolen bagels, or a botched trip to Lisbon. I might envy fashion bloggers their impeccable style and seemingly endless clothes budgets, and I still might kill for smitten's set of knives, but I don't envy their monotony. Because seriously, there aren't that many words for "heels", and there aren't nearly enough different ways to eloquently describe minced garlic.

3 comments:

Yellow said...

My favorite blogs are the ones curated by curiosities that can only be found in the random twists of interest. I like that your space is a little bit of everything, it surprises me each time I visit.

Ardith said...

Themed blogs are great, if that's what one is passionate about. But you've seen my blog-- it's a mish-mash of life and ADD and cupcakes. There is no theme. Maybe the theme is life-related chaos.

On that note, get on the "20SB"andwagon. We're all randoms. Especially the "Blogging for the Helluvit" or whatever group.

Chelsea said...

Themed blogs ARE constraining. Sometimes, I can't blog because I feel like my blog should reveal something about Scotland...when actually Scotland is a lot like Bellingham on a day to day basis.