Soak it Up: An Online Version of a Southern Front Porch

Meeting fellow bloggers is always an eye-opening



Claudia and husband, Mike, on her grandfather's
farm in college

and fun experience. I particularly love it when a

writer is willing to open up a bit about their blog practices and inspirations. I met Claudia D'Avanzo last year at a PR gathering and started reading her blog shortly after. Similar to my blogging practices, she aims to keep friends and family updated on her life and projects. She also aims to give readers a place to stop by, read a little, smile, laugh a little and go on about their day. As she so eloquently stated, "it’s the online equivalent of southern front porch, where friends stop by, have a chat, swap stories, and then head on into town. Even if no one reads it, it’s just so relaxing to post ideas, experiences and materials, and it takes me away from the harried life of a being a 'mom-preneur' for little awhile."  

Claudia's blog, Our Green Acres, includes stories and adventures of renovating a family farm in Alabama alongside tid-bits and information about life in Atlanta as a PR practitioner, mom and overall happy Southerner. I've been compelled by the similarities in our blogs, despite the differences in our geographic locations and daily lives. Here's a bit more about Claudia, her travels and her blog - I encourage you to check it out when you have a moment:



Claudia's Green Acre


Overview:

Our Green Acres, written by Claudia Brooks D'Avanzo, chronicles the D'Avanzo family's weekend adventures in rural Alabama, where they bought and are renovating their very first farm. Our Green Acres is a "feel-good life blog," where Claudia not only talks about her experiences and the contrasts between city and country living, but she also tries to share positive aspects of simpler living. Claudia and her husband spent over 20 years traveling the U.S. and the world for work at an incredibly, and sometimes unhealthy fast pace--not unlike many others. Now, they try to live more slowly and soak up each day's beautiful moments.

Traveler:

Claudia's boys at their family farm

Claudia and her husband Mike have traveled to almost every state in the union, and have loved almost every place they've been to. In her own words, "I adore being in a new place and immersing myself (even if just for a little while) in local places and culture. Also I've traveled to 17 European countries, Thailand, Canada, the Caribbean but there are sooooo many more places we hope to get to, still.

And, of course, my traveler questionnaire -

Top International Travel Destination?:
Bangkok has been the most exciting and exotic

Favorite U.S. spots?
Montana, NYC, SanFran, Seattle, New Orleans and the Florida Keys.  And Georgia and Alabama. We love big cities and small towns. And we love the country. High-brow to honky-tonk is perfectly fine by me.

Family Travel Memory?
Mike (my husband) worked for a Japanese company for 9 years and often traveled to Japan for work, where he would spend 2-3 weeks there at a time. He fell in love with the country and two years ago, he took our son, Adrian, to Japan for a “boys trip” that they still talk about. It was a fantastic adventure for them, hop-scotching through Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka and the countryside.



Some of the beauty of the countryside