Dine and Dish

A little under a year ago I started this blog, Dine and Dish. Just a couple of months prior to starting my blog, I clearly remember sitting around with a group of girlfriends and talking about blogging. We just did not get it. "What is the point of blogging?" we asked? I could understand the need for some blogs, like media and corporate blogs, but personal blogs were new to me and I was not sure why just a plain old person would blog.

I do not know what finally got me interested in starting my own blog. My youngest daughter was just about six months old and my parents had lived nearby all summer. When they left to go back to their "winter home" in South Padre, Texas, I decided to start a family blog to keep them informed of life in our world while they were away. Soon after that, a thought crossed my mind to start what was going to be a blog focused on food and entertaining. Hence, Dine and Dish was born and Dishing It Up Family Style became my family blog. 

I remember those first few months of navigating the food blogging world. I remember how excited I was to have the first non-family member comment on my blog. Then, I started getting opportunities to review products from my blog. Fast forward even more and job offers came my way because of the connections I had made through my blog. Friendships have been formed, life has been documented and I am loving every minute of it.

Which brings me to...."Adopt a Food Blogger". At Dine and Dish, I have never hosted an event, and I think that it is time I do so. What I would like to do is have those of us "Veteran" food bloggers adopt a "Newbie" food blogger. A newbie can be anyone who has had their blog up and running for a year or less. If you have had your blog for less than a year, but feel like you are more of a "veteran" blogger, let me know.  Maybe your blog has been inactive for awhile and you'd like to get it started back up again. You can decide if you want to be a veteran or a newbie.

So - what does this require?

• If you are interested in participating, leave a comment after this post, indicating if you are a "newbie" or a "veteran". Please make sure to include a link to your blog. I will then match up the "newbie's" with a "veteran" blogger. If your blog has a speciality of any kind (vegan, diabetic, cupcakes, etc) let me know and I will attempt to match common interests.
  
• Then what?
  

1.  The Veteran blogger will put a link to their adopted bloggers blog on their own blog. The newbie will do the same
2. The Veteran blogger will visit and support the newbie blogger's site on a regular basis. The newbie will do the same.
3. The Veteran blogger will do at least one post on their blog about their adopted newbie. The newbie will do the same. The post can be about a recipe the blog featured, a promotional post or anything you like...as long as it promotes the blogs in one way or another, that is fine.

The whole idea of this is to encourage new bloggers, support others with like minded interests, and hopefully build friendships within the food blogging community.

If you are interested in participating, leave your comment after this post by no later than Friday, December 7th. I will then go through the adoption process and match everyone up with a partner. You will be notified via e-mail of your partnership.

On a side note, thank you to all who have supported Dine and Dish over the past year. It has been such a pleasure rekindling my passion for writing and my love for food. I look forward to going through the adoption process with you!

Kristen