an aggregate of all things Johnson

I almost can’t believe it, but over 100,000 swaps have been hosted on Swap-bot! Travis and I have been running the site for almost six years and we have over 40,000 members. It is a lot of fun, a lot of work, and a little bit of craziness, but I am very happy to be managing the ‘bot as my full-time job.

To celebrate the big milestone, I am hosting a special 100,000th Swap. It is a really easy swap that everyone can join — you simply send one piece of Swap-bot-themed postal mail to your one partner. It can be a postcard, a letter, an ATC, an inchie, anything! The only strict requirement is that your item go through the postal mail and that it has some sort of Swap-bot decoration on it. Come join us and celebrate Swap-bot!

In other business news:

– Jessica and I launched our first Ace Expert Interview today on Ace Department. It is a discussion with Certified Health & Nutrition Counselor, Andrea Moss of MossWellness.com about transitioning to a healthier lifestyle for fall. She gives some easy and practical tips.

– I am feeling energized to post more often one this personal blog (Rachel & the city/RLJart.com). I want to do shorter daily posts that can act as a record of what I am working on and enjoying. I am also excited because I was recently invited to be a part of my friend Crissy’s new CleverChicks.com blog round up. I am happy to be a part of a community of female bloggers. It may mean a bit more traffic, but really this blog is not about traffic… it’s more about meeting people online and having an outlet to share a bit about my life.

Related posts:

1. guess who this letter is from!!!
2. swap mail
3. i’m hosting a christmas matchbox swap!

I have a double-header day today! Right now I am thrilled to be at the Lucky Fashion and Beauty Blogging Conference. (In the photo above is Brandon Holley, editor of Lucky Magazine, Kerry Diamond from Lancome, Mallory Andrews from Bergdorf Goodman, and David Duplantis from Coach.) I am not technically a 100% fashion blogger, but I would like to bring more focus to this blog and I love fashion and beauty… We’ll see how today goes. If you want to “attend” the conference, too, check out the live stream here.

In the afternoon, I am headed to Etsy for the Etsy Success SYmposium. Swap-bot (i.e. me) is hosting an in-person swap at the end of the day with the attendees. I am excited to meet all of the Etsy sellers! (You can also watch the Success Symposium live on the web here.)

Related posts:

1. february fatigue
2. blog, baby, blog!
3. Etsy Craft Night

loving… The Hairpin – A recently launched “ladies website.” It is basically a general-interest blog that links to everything from politics to beauty articles and provides clever and lol-funny commentary. It is a tiny bit snarky and a little obscene, but I can’t get enough of it!

watching & reading… The Walking Dead – I read the first three trade paperbacks of the comics and I am pretty pumped about the tv series. The first few episodes had me worried (some lame dialog, heavy-hitting lessons in humanity), but this Sunday’s episode was pretty awesome with the zombie attack at the end. I’m a fan.

thinking… about my maternal grandparents. I watched 1952′s Room For One More over the weekend and it reminded me of them. It was made before my mom was born, and all of the 1950s style — the clothing, the way of talking, the large families and stay-at-home moms in dresses — made me think of my mother’s family growing up. Cary Grant is skinny, and tall, and dark like my grandfather was, and Betsy Drake plays the caring mother of five (my grandmother had six). It is funny how much style and society can change in a little over 50 years…

worrying over… whether to just go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1) without any prep, or to re-read the books and/or re-watch the movies again before hand. I feel like I’ve been away from it for too long…

Related posts:

1. procreation deterant
2. jibber jabber

I know, I know… you are most likely sick of hearing about the lady blogging conference. I apologize for being so single-minded lately, but I feel like I need to write down all of the good info I picked up at BlogHer before it slips out of my mind and is lost forever! Wow. That sounds dramatic! I better get to it.

Today, I have a list of all my favorite new websites that I learned about over the weekend. Hopefully, you will like some of them as well…

Crafty Blogs & Sites:

• Handmade Detroit – If you are in Michigan, this site is for you. And even if you’re not, the blog has lots of great crafty content.
• Tonya Staab – This and That – Tonya was on the Etsy blogging panel with me and she is fantastic. Her blog covers just about everything – including cupcakes!
• DIY Buiness Association – A new blog and organization from Amy Schroeder, Founder of Venus Zine and venuszine.com.
• Teen Angster – The personal blog of Allison, one of the authors of the amazing Etsy blog.
• The Creative Empire – You already know about Tara Gentile from ScoutieGirl and Megan Auman from Crafting an MBA because I link to their great sites all of the time. The Creative Empire is their new project – a community built to help web entrepreneurs.
• The Honey Pie Tree – A hand-crafted toy designer’s blog.
• The Studio Creations – A very pretty art blog by Thais, a Brazilian living in NY.
• Louise Gale – An artist who hosts the The Creative Color Challenge.
• Kipiboo – A blog of art and inspiration from a Brooklyn artist.
• Design Mom – Gabrielle is one of the founders of Kirtsy, a designer, and a mom of six.

Other Blogs:

• The Token Fat Girl – Lorrie writes about her weight loss adventures, plus lots of other stuff like fashion and recipes. I hung out with her a bit at the conference and she is really sweet and multi-talented.
• The Bloggess – This is a “famous” blog that I had read in the past, but somehow lost track of. It is super-funny.
• Pine Creek Cottage – Marcy’s sweet blog.
• Zipbag of Bones – Funny. And a little inappropriate. But mostly funny.
• Mama’s Keeper – A work at home caregiver’s journey.
• Just a Girl in the World – Adventures of a southern girl, sometimes traveling the world.
• One Bored Mommy – A mom of four blogs daily.
• Little Tech Girl – A tech geek blog written by a mom of two set of twins!
• You Can’t Call It “It” – A hip baby names blog.
• Things of Random Coolness – A blog of very cool design-y things.

Other Cool Websites:

• Indie Biz Chicks – I’ve already linked to this site a couple times, but Crissy’s website is an excellent resource for small business owners.
• Reware Vintage – a vintage clothing shop and blog.
• Food on the Table – A meal planning tool. Amanda, the rep, was super-sweet!
• Cake Lab – The most beautiful and delicious mini cupcakes. I had them at Etsy.
• Girlfriend Circles – A community that matches up online friends for real world get togethers.
• Graph Jam – A funny graph builder.

Whew! That is a long list of websites… and the thing is, I am sure I left off some good ones. Please add more of your favorite links from the conference (or just in general) in the comments…

Related posts:

1. BlogHer 2010 – day 1
2. check out some new blogs
3. BlogHer. wow.

I am sure you are already aware (especially if you follow my Twitter account – hello, too many tweets!), but I attended my first BlogHer conference this weekend. Since it was held in NYC this year and I didn’t need to buy plane tickets, I thought I should give it a try. Man, was it a packed two days of sensory overload! I am still processing the experience and am really not prepared to write a comprehensive post with all of the links and blogging info that I picked up, but I wanted to get down some of my preliminary impressions on my favorite experiences from the weekend…

Unfortunately, I neglected to take any great photos, so I am stuck sharing the few iffy ones I did snap. Above is a photo of the final keynote on Saturday, which was one of the most inspiring parts of the entire conference. It consisted of four amazing women (“Need to Know PBS anchor Alison Stewart moderates a powerhouse panel: Marie Wilson, Founder and President of The White House Project and creator of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, author and activist Gloria Feldt from Heartfeldt Politics and P. Simran Sethi, Emmy Award-winning journalist, blogger and environmentalist.”) pretty much just having a conversation about how women can use their blogging voice to make change in the world. They inspired me to take myself more seriously and make a commitment to talking about more “important’ issues, both online and in real life.

I went to four different “sessions” or classes over the course of the two days: one on using your passion, one on intellectual property law, one on WordPress theme creation, and one on good blog design. The blurry photo above is from the design session, and you can see Grace Bonney from Design*Sponge on the far left of the three-woman panel. I was excited to hear her speak and she did an excellent job. She showed us a lot of examples of great blog design and even shared a sneak peek of the new re-design of her own site that will be released soon. All three panelists were very informative and realistic about what it takes to create a well-designed blog. They stressed the importance of being extremely descriptive and clear when working with a designer, and that it can cost many $1,000s of dollars for a truly professionally designed site.

What was my favorite part of the whole conference? Definitely the Etsy Crafty Blogging panel that I participated in on Thursday. I guess technically it wasn’t a part of BlogHer, but it was hosted to line up with the conference. I am so excited that Crissy from IndieBizChicks.com invited me to participate. I immensely enjoyed meeting her and the other speakers (Tonya Staab, Amy Schroeder – creator of Venus Zine, and the Handmade Detroit girls, Lish Dorset and Bethany Nixon). We had great questions from the audience and I think/hope we all gave some good suggestions and tips. Danielle and all of Etsy were such great hosts. They provided awesome snacks and drinks, and there was even a DJ! I had so much fun with the other panelists that I basically forced myself upon them and hung out with them throughout the conference. Above is a photo of me and Lish late last night… Thanks for adopting me, Michigan girls!

To end out the conference last night, I attended the Sparklecorn party hosted by MamaPop. I had no idea what to expect from an “official” BlogHer party, but I was blown away by the craziness that was Sparklecorn! My original twitter description: “So great. It’s like a mom rave with a unicorn cake and poprocks.” Exactly. There were glow sticks and lollipops and giant pretzels and Chex Mix and random movie posters from the 80s and the amazing unicorn cake. It was all extremely silly, but totally cool. I only stayed for a short time and did NOT hit the dance floor, but if I ever host a massive party, I hope that it is exactly like Sparklecorn.

So… overall, BlogHer was a pretty awesome experience. …and I haven’t even given you any of the good blogging info I picked up or talked about the MOUNDS of swag that I took home. I’ll have to get to that tomorrow. Two days of lady blogging hoopla wiped me out! Gotta go watch some tv and veg out…

Related posts:

1. BlogHer 2010 – day 1
2. blog, baby, blog!
3. my calendar is filling up!