Beth from I Should be Folding Laundry has an excellent, eloquent post on leaving comments when you make your blog rounds. It's very well put and I can't agree with her more (and yes, I did leave her a comment telling her so).

After poking around her site more I added her to my blogroll. And that got me thinking (SO dangerous): When I add a site to my blogroll should I tell the host? Is it tacky to do so?

When I do tell someone I've added them to my reader it's in a "hey, I like you and I want to know more" way and not a "tit for tat" way.

I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to capitalize on their fan base by making them link to me. I think every blog I read has been around for awhile and I can tell they've worked very hard to establish a core following.

I don't want them to think that because I've linked to them now they have to link back to me out of courtesy though I certainly wouldn't say no.

What if they stop by here and don't like me? I'm assuming if someone came here, thought I was full of crap and wanted nothing to do with me they'd say so and ask me to take their site off my list. Which I would do. I think.

For me, when I visit other blogs, their blogroll is an extension of them. Those other hosts are people they identify with, have a common bond with, the same sense of humor, taste in clothes, hatred of all things green or whatever.

My roll is the same. I wouldn't link to someone I don't "connect" with. And the hosts on my list are places I visit (or try to) every day. I feel it's another way for readers to get to know me. Like looking in my purse or underwear drawer. The things you surround yourself with are a reflection of you. IMHO.

So, if someone wanted me to remove them from their list, don't I have the right to say no because I still feel I have something in common with them and I want others to know that too?

Am I reading WAY too much into this?

Family Time

Another thing I've really enjoyed about being on holiday is the time we get to spend together doing family type things. I run around like a crazy person and do the cleaning/shopping/grunt work during the week so we can relax together.


Saturday we went downtown to the Red Bull Air Races for the qualifying races. Holy schnikes! Those pilots have cajones of steel. Or maybe platinum. What's a really strong material? Anyway, you get the point. We'd never been before and it was a packed! We had to sit on the water side of the sea wall, which was actually kind of cool, because of the crowds.

Then we took DS to Ocean Beach. OB has a reputation for being the hippy, pot smoking, laid waaaay back surf community of San Diego. And it is. DH and I lived there and LOVED it! (Not for the pot smoking, we don't do that) I moved there back in college and had several roommates until DH moved back from Italy and into my life again (hmm, that may be a topic for another day. let me marinate on it).

At times we really miss it and wish we hadn't done the responsible grown up thing by moving away when I got pregnant. So whenever we happen to be down south we try to stop by some of our old haunts. It was fun to show DS the apartment complex we lived in and the restaurants we went to. I was craving a burger from Hodads (the BEST burger in San Diego! photo from flickr) but since DS doesn't eat burgers we went to our other fave, Nati's, for Mexican.


Oh, it was fried, cheesy, beany heaven! Since I wasn't driving I indulged in a strawberry margie. DH was very diplomatic in saying, "If I remember, they do mix them pretty strong here" when I mentioned feeling a little loopy.

Good food, fast planes, a little play time in the sand. This is what living in California is all about!

Sunday I went to the Carlsbad Street Fair. I'm a sucker for almost all things handmade. DH hates to shop and hates crowds so I got to go alone. I definitely made up for only going walking once last week. I went down every side street.



I bought my Mother's Day presents, a ring and two glass pendants. I'll post photos under my new section What I Find later (still a work in progress, stay tuned). All in all it was a good weekend and a good reminder to not let the jobless thing bog me down and keep me from enjoying the here and now.