I recently checked “Form a workplace with people I love” off my Life List. Now, every day until Valentine’s Day, I’m saying thanks to someone whose work online has inspired me. Today’s crush is Holly Burns of Nothing but Bonfires.

Photo source

I first heard Holly’s name through another blogger, who said, “Do you know about Holly Burns? She’s this gorgeous world traveler with a British Accent. I thought she was fictional until I met her.” I met her myself a few months later, she was a travel writer at the time, and fell for her self-deprecating wit and penchant for doing things just-so. She’s a girl after my own particular heart.

HOLLY BURNS is beloved because:

– Holly is one of the best storytellers I know, and she conceives of the world as a narrative arc. For example, she met her husband Sean on the beach when she was sixteen. She was on a mission to meet an American boy, and he happened to be a sailor in the U.S. Navy. I could hear the story a million times, there’s always a new detail.

– Holly likes a solid checklist. I told her I was doing The Big Eat, and she was not only enthusiastic about hitting five restaurants in a single night with me, she made a map.

– Holly loves her family. Loves them as a defining characteristic of her being. As in, they have sing alongs at Christmas while her brother plays guitar, she goes to pub trivia nights with her father, and talks about how much she misses all of them when they’re not visiting. It’s pretty winning.

From Nothing but Bonfires:

“No photographic evidence ever exists of [our family sing alongs], because it would be too easy for other people to use it as blackmail material. One year we took a video of us doing the Twelve Days of Christmas—complete with actions—and now none of us can ever run for public office.”

“The first time I laid eyes on Sean, I was sitting cross-legged in the parking lot of that beach in my JC Penney jeans. He rode up on a bicycle and started playing hackeysack. Ah, the nineties: simpler times. Times when a girl could like a boy who played hackeysack and not be ridiculed for it.”

In addition to being a great writer, Holly is also pretty darn crafty. Have a look at her Home DIYs. They will make you feel suitably inferior.

My Crush series is part of RedEnvelope’s Crush on You initiative, which is about showing gratitude to the people who make your life better.

I recently checked “Form a workplace with people I love” off my Life List. Now, every day until Valentine’s Day, I’m saying thanks to someone whose work online has inspired me. Today’s crush is Erin Loechner.

Erin and I met at the very first ALT Summit, which is where I’ll be later today. She had long hair back then, and was wearing her grandmother’s boots. (Right Flickr? Right.) A couple years later, we spoke at ALT together.

ERIN LOECHNER is beloved because:

• She listens. Erin is paying attention. She’s especially attuned to the people around her, always asking a followup question and checking in.
• She’s tough. Erin leads with sunshine, and she has a lot of it in her, so everyone thinks of her as a kid sister. But try messing with her or someone she loves. Erin can be a mama bear when the situation calls for it.
• She embodies my version of feminism. I don’t know quite how to put this, but to me feminism isn’t the rejection of girly things. It’s the assertion that feminine pursuits are no less valid than traditionally masculine interests. Erin leads with femininity, inclusion, warmth, a passion for beautiful, shiny, fluffy, vivacious, intelligent things. And she is crushing it in business. Crushing it. Go sis.

From Design for Mankind:

The Rebirth of Slow Blogging (and a New Direction)

“We live in a world of more; this much is obvious. More things, more information. More time-saving tricks we use to find the time to uncover even more time-saving tricks. We live in a world of Pinterest, where visual images shoot out like firehoses of pretty, manifesting themselves in the parts of our brain we reserve for planning elaborate feasts and fetes. We have hundreds of RSS subscriptions to blogs creating amazing tablescapes and Halloween costumes and DIY floor lamps. And we take it all in, bookmarking each project for future use when “someday” is finally today.

Yet friends, I fear that someday will never come. Because there will continually be more to do, to see, to buy. And our someday file will slowly become outdated with a new sea of ideas and thoughts promising to fulfill our lives in ways we never dreamed possible… read more.

My Crush series is part of RedEnvelope’s Crush on You initiative, which is about showing gratitude to the people who make your life better.

“Form a workplace with people I love” is a goal so huge and subjective, it’s been difficult to decide whether it was finally time to check it off. While I thought it over, I remembered the hundreds of interesting people I’ve met in the last decade. Makers who love being online, both because we always have a project to share, and because the Web helped us form our teams… Read more on Go Mighty.

I’m teaching at ALT Summit this week, and I can’t wait to see the gang. Woot. If you’re coming, Go Mighty is throwing a Crush on You Party with RedEnvelope Friday night, which means Laura Mayes will be checking something off her Life List while we’re there. The party is a love letter to online doers, and you can read more about it on Amber and Sarah’s Life Lists as well. I’ll also be hosting two sessions Saturday, so please come say hi.

(Image of Amber Marlow at Camp Mighty was snapped by the talented Leslie Fandrich, who is always the girl to whom you should hand your cell phone when you’re looking for something iconic.)

I recently checked “Form a workplace with people I love” off my Life List. Now, every day until Valentine’s Day, I’m saying thanks to someone whose work online has inspired me. Today’s crush is Rebecca Woolf.

I met Rebecca when we were filming Momversation videos. Remember those?

REBECCA WOOLF is beloved because:

She’s a wit. Have a glass of wine with Rebecca, and you’ll swear someone is feeding the woman lines. The awful puns, the sideways glances, I’ve begun to laugh even when I see photos of her.

She’s a sister. Rebecca just roots for people. Wherever you turn your attention, she does her best to get behind you.

She’s resilient. This girl is a mother of

four

. The first baby a surprise, which led to an unexpected marriage, then another baby, and why not go for one more? Finish up the baby having when you’re young? Except Rebecca and Hal got twins. Of course. And damned if she hasn’t rolled with every new challenge. Rebecca does not waste energy fighting the current, but if you try to swim upstream, she’ll wait for you on the bank with a cigarette.

From Girl’s Gone Child:

Sex, WTF/FTW
“Once upon a time before I was married I used to say things like, “Well, when I get married I’m still going to have sex all the time because I’m so into sex and sexsexsexsex I’m so sexual!” Because in those days, I had no idea what the hell I was talking about… read more.”

My Crush series is part of RedEnvelope’s Crush on You initiative, which is about showing gratitude to the people who make your life better.

I recently checked “Form a workplace with people I love” off my Life List. Now, every day until Valentine’s Day, I’m saying thanks to someone whose work online has inspired me. Today’s crush is Jordan Ferney.

The above quote is one Jordan’s mom cited to remind her kids to keep their eyes on the prize. Image by Mai Le of Fashioni.st

JORDAN FERNEY is beloved because:

• She’s a striver. We once went to a Sephora, where she sat down at the makeup counter and said, “teach me something.” When we met she had a whole list of things she wanted to apprentice for a year: paper art, floral design, bookbinding.
• She’s a fan of the impossible plan. Buy an enormous letterpress and learn to make stationery? Sure. Move her family of four to Paris with a new baby? Done.
• She helps out. In fact, she’s one of the most generous, helpful people I’ve ever come across.

From Jordan’s site Oh Happy Day:

Pop-Up Dinner Party Underneath the Golden Gate Bridge

Miss Jordan, you are a peach.

My Crush series is part of RedEnvelope’s Crush on You initiative, which is about showing gratitude to the people who make your life better.