A lot of folks have taken to Tumblr or WordPress in the last year or so to establish their prowess personal presence on the internet. This includes yours truly. My site launched just a few short months ago. Feels like I’ve been going on and on forever, no?

My personal favorites are usually humorous with a dollop of reality, but I also enjoy a healthy helping of sincerity and the occasional blatant soul-bearing.

What follows is a “Best Of” list of the blogs I’ve been reading this past year. These aren’t the only ones I read, but they are the ones I look forward to most. Perhaps that’s because they belong to folks I know personally.

Hitchdied
Robin began as a wedding blogger, but boy howdy did she branch out from there. Her movie reviews are spectacular, whether you’re a bride-to-be or a regular ol’ Joe. She may not know this, but she was a HUGE inspiration in my decision to start blogging on the regular. You can thank/blame her personally over at Hitchdied.com.

LizLabz
Liz’s site was launched fairly recently, but it was looong anticipated. She is certainly not new to writing. In fact, she inspired this list with her very own “Best Of” (which I recommend checking out). One of Liz’s best qualities is that she can form an argument to rival Christopher Hitchens. And she would, because she hated that guy. (He said women aren’t funny.)

Unskroupulous
Jackie is brilliant and has gone through some major sh*t in the last year, including losing her job. No matter how bad it gets, her humor always kicks *ss. It also helps that her kids are a laugh-riot. Jackie, you should blog more. Kay?

Jive Turkey
I don’t know JT that well, but our circles tend to overlap. (Sounds sexy, huh?) Tales about her beautiful daughter, her obsession with whipped cream, and her first time getting naked in front of a live audience will no doubt hook you.

Living Lindsay
Lindsay is a college pal of mine who went through an amazing health & fitness transformation. I typically get eye-rolly over people who advertise their weight loss online (Suzie lost 1.7358 pounds doing the dishes!), but Lindsay is encouraging and nurturing and always positive. She’s not a fat girl anymore, but she still remembers what it’s like to be one. She is the complete opposite of all those things that annoy the sh*t out of me when I think of Jillian Michaels. Good on’ya, Linny.

What about you? What’s in your Google Reader? Have you considered blogging?