I may have been raised in Ontario, but I was born in rural Saskatchewan and I am, therefore, very familiar with the teenage dairy pastime of cow-tipping. When Ascender Rises Above left me a note to say I was the most recent recipient of some blog-tipping on her part I was worried, to say the least. Even to those who have never heard of cow-tipping must agree it cannot be a pleasant experience for the poor cow, so I held my breath, steeled myself and followed the link.

To my delighted surprise I found the experience to be much less unsettling than would a overturned cow. Blog-tipping is closer to hat-tipping than cow-tipping. Ascender makes it a habit of giving a “shout out” and awarding a Thinking Blogger award to three blogs each month that have caught her eye and I was fortunate enough to be one of them. As Ascender explains, according to Business Blogwire, “Blogtipping is where you publish a blog post in which you link to three blogs that make you think.” Apparently, you also get a link in Business Blogwire if you let them know about it.

The rules for blogtipping and a thinking blogger award are (summarized): 1. When you get tagged, write a post with links to 3 blogs that make you think 2. Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to this post so that people can easily find the origin of the blog that you enjoy. Easy enough, here we go:

1. The Bleacher Life, by Brian DeWagner. “It’s clearly a box-seat world, and I’m living the bleacher life.” – BMD

Yes, I know him in real life but it is not cheating because Brian really does make you think, all the time. He has the ability to turn deciding to order a pizza into a philosophical debate and you won’t notice until later when your stomach is rumbling from neglected pizza cravings that you have strayed far from the road and enjoyed every minute of it. He is a true writer with the ability to capture and sway the most apathetic among us. The Bleacher Life is about just that, the bleachers of the parks and the games that he loves as a sports writer, and the life that results from having a passion for such things. He doesn’t hold back and I find myself fascinated with every post even though I don’t know half the players he writes about. And Brian is the only man I know that can turn choosing a best man into a 64-bracket playoff scuffle. I think the cat won.

2. Moth to Flame, Deborah Gwinn Scott

This blog fascinates me for two reasons. Most obviously, her art is fantastic. The medium is so unique and the detail so refined that I find myself going to her Etsy store just to stare at them often. The moths are my favorite. She has also opened a second Etsy store, Moth to Flame Studios, for her papercrafts which are quite brilliant as well. The second reason the blog fascinates me is the style of the page itself. An obvious master of web design, the blog is soothing and interesting, and the colours of the blog highlight her art so well. She has also taken it upon herself to post update the GIGANTIC Etsy sellers blog list with requests she gets and ones that come through my blog (I have it posted here too since the list was born out of a marriage of our two lists, with a lot of manual cross-checking on her part). How awesome is that?

3. Wonderday.ca, by Brandon, Marisa, Adam, Evan, Carly, Kristin & Brett.

Wonderday.ca is a group affair, the official blog of the brand new production company Wonderday. Yes, I know that the Adam listed up there as one of the authors is my husband, but that is not why I picked it. What do you care, it’s my award, I’ll give it to whoever I want. I like the Wonderday blog because it really doesn’t have any fences. They blog posts include movie reviews by the members, “music you wouldn’t normally listen to,” Wonderday video premieres, Much Music First Spins, concert info, entertainment info from favorite websites and blogs, books (even Harry Potter) and websites, photos of recent events and, most importantly, upcoming Wonderday-sponsored events. They aren’t trying to make a name, just have some fun and it is obvious in their posts. They all have a “day job” – Adam, Brandon and Evan at Much Music on Queen & John – and Wonderday is an outlet for them, so they don’t have to be too rigid or serious. The group of them turn every party, every meeting into a huge event, with names and sponsors and huge ideas. It is inspiring to be around them and I read the blog because it energizes me to be inside the brains of such a creative and full-of-life group of people. Every now and then a Sixth & Elm post will get up there, but Adam gave me a log in name and logs in under that and posts stuff from my blog. I told him not to, but I don’t really care. And Adam designed the webpage… isn’t he talented?

So these are my blogtips. Thanks to Ascender for showing me what blog tipping is… happy reading!