• Extensive Veggie Garden Resource: Dave’s Garden
• Local Cheer!: West Barnstable’s Yummy Goods studio on the cover of Cloth Paper Scissors’ annual Studios magazine
• New Yoga Studios: Blooming Lotus Yoga Studio in Falmouth and The Sanctuary in Sandwich
• Great New Dog Supply: New site, MollyMutt, produces dog beds with great style and great eco-consciousness!
• New Farm & CSA: Cape Cod Organic Farm

I now follow and share with people who live on Cape Cod, work in my marketing or PR space, practice yoga, enjoy photography, care about the environment and local eating, or just love dogs! I also follow Barack Obama, Dave Matthews, Coldplay, Brett Dennen, A Fine Frenzy, Jimmy Fallon, Lance Armstrong, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Home Depot, CNN, NPR, the Cape Cod Times and more.

It’s kinda like changing your Facebook status, but to a wider audience. Why would you want to do that? Well, for one, my Twitter friends post extremely valuable and relevant links that I want to check out – and the reason the links are so relevant is because I already CHOSE these people based on their interests or expertise. Did ya catch how that happened?

Second, I have the opportunity to draw people to things that are important to me – an article about caring for dogs in the cold weather, a photo of the incredible scene I just biked through, a great marketing quote, even my own new blog post.

So this brings me to my last few weeks. You’ll have your “Twitter friends”, and there will be a “TweetUp” (Twitter MeetUp) (as in, meeting up with your friends) (behold the terminology!) here and there, but the whole stranger-danger thing might hold you back. Well you know what? Thanks to one of my real-life friends who set up the first “date”, I’ve recently made some excellent real-life connections with the people I had only known on Twitter. These women are some of the most hysterical and REAL women I’ve ever known! Not to mention the excellent cooking skills and insider knowledge of some of the Cape’s five-star dog parks.

I look forward to many more connections and business opportunities to come through my Twitter connections!

Reading through Melissa’s blog gives you a glimpse into the life of having a passion and igniting it to start your own business. It reminds me that I have too many passions that change in the breeze… I want to own a doggy daycare, I want to start a B&B, I want to be a known pet-photographer, I want to master an international lifestyle…

I “need” a new bike, I’m ready for new skis, I gotta focus on my yoga, that other camera lens would be perfect, I’m going to bake my own bread, I suddenly want to sew every single gift I give for Christmas in four weeks!

Two winters ago it was knitting, but I can’t remember where I was in the pattern to finish the hat I started. Was it even a hat, or was it a scarf?

Wordle.com

I started blogging in June 2006. Actually, it all begain with our wedding website a year prior. We had a place where guests could go to hear what we were up to and find details about the big day. After the wedding, the site remained and collected photos from the wedding and new home. Eventually, it became very obvious that blogging would be a much easier and FREE way to keep a site going.

So here we are.

In recent days I’ve found some really cool blogs. Blogs about paper goods, blogs about cool shopping finds, blogs about deals and coupons. There are blogs about music, photography, dogs, renewable energy, running and more. Some people write while on an extended trip. Many moms blog about motherhood, obviously, and now “mommy-bloggers” have become an entire customer demographic of companies large and small.

Think about it. What would YOU write about if you were to pick a topic? C’mon, you don’t have to actually do it, and you don’t even have to tell me your topic, but it’s fun to think about! There are bloggers out there who live off the sole income of adverstising on their very popular blogs. Wouldn’t that be nice?

I’ll admit, I don’t have a great topic – it’s just our life. Let’s test out a few:

• D.I.N.K.s doing their best to stay D.I.N.K.s
• Being the humans of two lunatic adopted dogs
• The quest for a more appropriate boat name
• The blessings of dual-climate control
• An experiment: Is Cape Cod the “other” Vermont?

I don’t know if you ever checked out WhiteHouse.gov… but, um, this one’s kinda different.

Change.gov continues the unprecedented social outreach of the Obama/Biden campaign. It includes a blog, a cell or e-mail sign-up, video discussions and even a “Share Your Vision” section…

They’ve coined it “Open Government”:

It’s your America. Share your ideas. The story of the campaign and this historic moment has been your story. Share your story and your ideas, and be part of bringing positive lasting change to this country.

Now really, after all that…. does Obama really have to give up his BlackBerry??

Just click on the “Subscribe” button to the right, and expand it if you don’t see your favorite site there. Many of you have a personalized Google, Yahoo or MSN page, so that’s probably the easiest option for you. These options will also take you to where you can have my blog notes come directly to your e-mail.

Note that you can do this with any blog, but sometimes it isn’t so obvious. Many of my friends have a Blogger blog, and at the bottom you’ll find the words “Subscribe to Posts”. Click on that link and it brings you to a more simple format of the blog. You can at least use the drop-down menu here to add to your Google or Yahoo.

On other blogs, just look for the orange box or the words RSS, and you might need to manually grab the feed’s web address and plug it in to your aggregator of choice. I can go into more detail if needed, but I think I’ve covered the needs of our friends and family. Enjoy!

This video left me with tears streaming down my cheeks… kudos to Verizon for picking up on the greatest trend in marketing!

Verizon Wireless Surprises Customer – Watch more free videos

I’m kidding, I kid…. !!I’m a fan of YOUR babies too. Check out this shopping site from my cousin Kate!

http://www.kateoconnell.babyonthegoathome.com/

So this led me to CNBC’s Power Lunch segment. Of COURSE I tried TLC, E! and others first – including a cooking channel I’m researching for work. But somehow here I am back in business.

The point of my post… Best Buy is whopping Circuit City’s toosh this holiday season. Now I was literally just at Best Buy this morning and I don’t get it. I wanted to tap on the shoulders of everyone there. As you know, I’ve been working to build my new camera system, and I really wanted to snag an external flash before this weekend’s holiday festivities. They’re charging $50 more for one flash than Amazon is, and $150 more for another flash! I think I pretty much will never walk into Best Buy again… I give up. I heart Amazon.

And to keep in line with the power of blogging and the uber-transparent sharing of customer opinion… You MUST visit Siena (Italian Grill & Bar) in Mashpee Commons, Mashpee, MA. They have an amazing $25 four-course dinner menu Sunday through Thursday. Full portion apps, salads, soups, entrees, desserts… Fair wine prices, great ambiance. We had a wonderful time last night with friends.

Off to CT tomorrow – MERRY CHRISTMAS!