i don’t know if you’re familiar with the nifty blog design sponge, but you have to check it out. 

so many times i have to explain in my business what a blog is (which is understandable, and if you don’t know, you are reading one right now) or exactly how popular blogging is.  now most blogs start out for non-commercial reasons.  but the reason is key.  it’s about passion.  you simply can not blog about something you’re not passionate about.  come on now, what would the purpose be?  just like any written word or story – if the writer knows what they are doing, then the inspiration or thought or simply appreciation comes across to the reader.

so now that it is properly introduced is grace bonney.  the girl behind the book and the blog that went over quite well.  her passion must have been portrayed wonderfully!  to get an idea of her, check out her video:

so that is grace.  here are some super fantastic things from her blog that can be found here.

she does “sneak peeks” at people’s houses all over the country.  you can search even by state or country.  so cool.  found a neighbor practically featured in here!

design sponge also is about entertaining and you can sort by holiday or food group.  many are guest recipes.

she has great “before & after” ideas like:

and even some inspiring biz ladies articles that can be found here:

this one in particular resonated with me:

MYTH 3: I do not need to make more money because I love what I do.

We’ve all said it. “I love this so much, I wouldn’t even need to get paid!” What comes easy to us — what is beautiful and fun — is downright ugly to someone else. What comes easy to you often represents the most valuable skill you bring to the world.

Your time, energy and circumstances (hello, work-from-home moms!) do not reduce the value of what you do or produce. Value is value. It’s your job to better understand the value of your work to your customers and clients and then constantly improve on how that value is perceived so that you can truly make (lots of) money beautifully.

What is the return on time or energy that your customers experience because of purchasing your product or services? What tangible results do your customers experience, and what financial worth does that have for them over time?

hope you appreciate design sponge as much as i do!