Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch changes

A change to the blog worth noting -- I've added two sidebars. The first is a "Books, Not Blogs" list of what I've been reading or am reading or will be reading. I couldn't decide whether to do it as a linked list or regular list, but for now I'm going with this so you can read about the book on BN's website even if I don't write about. The second is a short list of blogs I read daily or weekly. In order, they are:

• Ramblings -- My younger sister's blog about life in (now) Savannah, Georgia. Enjoy posts about her husband's job as a nurse and love of hunting, her own beagle Remington, and her forays into Southern living.
• I Once Was HP -- A friend from Charlottesville's blog about her life as a mother of three, wife of a neonatologist, friend to many, but more importantly, just a smart woman with diverse interests. Enjoy posts about what she's reading, what's blooming in her yards, and the antics of her funny dog, White Dragon.
• Trixie in Transit -- A woman whom I've never met and only know from her blog, which I linked to from Sarabeth's. Random connections -- she lives near Atlanta, just like my parents, and she and her husband have visited Chicago since I moved here. Read about her house, her job, and most importantly (here and on her other blog) her ongoing adoption saga...which hopefully will come to fruition in the new few weeks (pray, pray!).
• A Little Pregnant -- No, I'm not. This is a woman, also whom I've never met and whose blog I found who knows how, who has battled infertility and now has one son named Charlie. She writes really well and passionately about something facing a lot of women.
• Helen of Niles -- A blog devoted primarily to the life and times of the daugher of former Davidson classmates of mine. Helen's dad was a pretty good friend through all four years at Davidson, and we were abroad in Germany together for a year. His wife is a brilliant and well-read English PhD who had the wonderful fortune to marry this great and very tall (it can't be left unsaid) man and who now is a witty, well-written, and wise mother to their most adorable daughter.
• Question Air -- A very old friend, in duration not age. I just today got the link for this blog, and I'm so excited to start reading it. This is a friend whom I met at Governor's School after my junior year of high school. She attended UNC-Chapel Hill (which I don't hold against her), later got her MFA, has taught school, and writes beautiful poetry. Most importantly, she is one of the five most genuinely kind and wonderful women I know.

Read and enjoy. You too can form a kindred friendship with people you've never met.