Tea, Anyone? {Thoughts about Blogs}

I've decided that since it's the beginning of a brand new year, I should try to start tidying up and organizing around here before moving on to more house projects, especially after SO much seemed to pile up during last month's room renovation.  {Oh my - it's pretty bad around here right now. Why am I just sitting down?!  Ah.  Why not. :) } While I *do* need to some major cleaning and decluttering around the house like I did a while back in the kitchen...

Whew! 

...what I also really need to work on is blog reading organization.  

Back in the day when I began blogging, there were very few house blogs out there, and I remember searching and searching for other cottage or farmhouse lifestyle blogs, but I couldn't find any.  I know there had to be a few out there, but I was just unsuccessful at locating them.  Now, there are so many wonderful and inspiring blogs!  It's a beautiful thing! 

However, as our last project showed me {again}, I get overwhelmed very easily and have a tendency to become paralyzed, not knowing where to start first.  I don't even have a method for keeping up with blog subscriptions and today, for the first time in forever, I explored Google Reader.  It looks like it should be a great way to keep up with favorite blogs and to find new ones.  But somehow, it had oodles and oodles of blog subscriptions in it, I suppose from my years and years of subscribing to various blogs through Blogger.   {Have I mentioned how much Google, with all it's acquisitions and partnerships with other sites, completely confuses me?} Anyway, there were 1000+ unread updates in my Google Reader.  Ugh.  

I would really like to get back to keeping up with old friends {old as in...well...you know what I mean, right?} and subscribing to blogs that truly make my heart smile.  A post written recently by Angela of Cottage Magpie really got me thinking. We all blog and read blogs for very different reasons and that's okay.  Here's a snippet of a comment that I left on Angela's blog the other day...

" I think a lot of readers do appreciate simple, ‘no bells and whistles’ blogs because it DOES feel like visiting with a friend over a cup of tea as opposed to maybe visiting a friend that is hosting a large party where there is lots going on. There is nothing wrong with either atmosphere, it’s just that we all have our preferences, both as bloggers and blog readers."

What I'd  personally love to have in my tidied up, newly organized Google Reader is a list of blogs in which I feel that I am truly "visiting" with friends over a cup of tea - catching up with their thoughts, ideas, projects, and so on.   Does that make any sense? I hope so. 

So, that being said, I'd love any of your recommendations, your personal blog favorites.  Are there ones that just make you feel good when you visit?  Ones that especially inspire you or make you think about something deep or make you happy? Or if you have thoughts about blogging in general, the kinds of blogs you enjoy, or what you look for in a blog before you 'subscribe', please share!   

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend, friends. :)  Hopefully I'll get around to attacking some more literal post-project-piles around here - but it's probably not going to happen today!