Thursday Tours: Social Media Favorites

One of my favorite things about the blogging and social media world is the people you can meet and the connections formed.

Meredith and I met through a blogger brunch hosted by mutual friend and blogger Rachel of Love, Rachel, who I had met after stalking her on Instagram for a few months. I found my now good friend Meg of LandingStanding via a Portland Blogger Facebook group when she announced she was moving to Portland after a year of global travels. I was so fascinated in her year abroad, Brice and I invited her and her husband to dinner. Fortunately Meg and Tony were cool enough to ignore my creepiness and say yes, and now we’re real life friends too.

Then there are the friends who I’ve yet to meet in person. Amanda of The Happy Little Apron is one of those folks. I love her Instagram account. She has gorgeous photos and some incredible looking dishes. She recently started a blog to share the delicious recipes she posts photos of. While we have not made the leap from the virtual world yet, we pass comments and recommendations back and forth via social media. It’s the 21st century unknown pen pal relationship.

I’ve found that I get the best tips of where to eat and things to do while traveling from social media. If you don’t do that yet, for your next trip, search for hashtag + blank city + eats (eg: #PDXeats), and you’re likely to get some great local finds. I definitely did a lot of that for my current Europe trip. That is the beauty of this technological day and age.

So with all of that being said, for this #ThursdayToursPDX edition, we are mixing it up a bit and having Amanda and Megan of Fox and Briar over on Martha Chartreuse share their favorite social media crushes. Enjoy!

Social Media Favorites by Amanda of The Happy Little Apron

Hi hi! My name is Amanda from @thehappylittleapron. I am thrilled to be asked to share some of my favorite follows on Instagram, and I’m especially honored to have been asked by this lovely lady who is already one of my favorite accounts to stalk get inspiration from. When I started jotting a few names down earlier this week I realized that it was going to be a harder task than I thought. There are so many great accounts out there that deserve your attention, but I tried to pick a few that you might not have heard of. My goal was to help you explore a bit off the main foodie path and hopefully share some of my inspiration spots to get your own creative juices flowing.

bakeritablog – I’ve been following @bakeritablog for quite some time now. As someone who often tries to tweak recipes to be a healthier version, this account is great inspiration. Often you’ll see words like gluten free, grain free, sugar-free, naturally sweetened, paleo, vegan, etc. It’s a great follow if you 1. Are looking to make any of these changes yourself, or 2. Have any friends that fall into these categories so you can get tips and recipes to make when they come over, or 3. Just want to drool over amazing looking desserts that you cannot believe are healthy based on the saucy chocolatey drizzled picture. OMWord.

sprinklefingers – Jami Curl of QUIN candy is located on Instagram as the glorious @sprinklefingers. Sometimes you can get a peek at whatever candy she’s currently working on, but more than that I love her account for her honest wisdom on what it’s like being a single mom. Her humor, her witty stories about her son theocurl (I only say his name as one word after following her account), and yes the candy, the magic, and the greatest looking apple pancake you can ever imagine. It’s an overall story of someone who is making the life they’ve dreamed of and IS ROCKING IT.

wearepicr – This one might seem like a selfish plug of mine, but I love following the instagram account of my day job company, Picr. Picr.com is a new online platform designed to make it easy to find a quality local photographer for any type of situation you need. Similar to airBNB, you can search, browse, find the person who best fits your style, and book a photo session right there. As someone who is fairly new to phototography, I really enjoy seeing the featured images from their local photographers; it’s a cool way to view a varity of artistic styles and get inspired to try new techniques.

marybelmartin – I follow a few different types of makers and creators that inspire me with their art, and several of them are from the Portland area. One of my very favorite is @marybelmartin. Her work is clever, simple, insightful, feminist, delicate, stretching, challenging, inspiring, truthful, and often reminds me to give myself grace. Her work has touched on things like depression, self-esteem, baggage, prejudices–really deep issues that she presents in a format that’s simple and touching. I am constantly on her Etsy page, and I am fortunate to own one of her original pieces about fear. #hellno

wellfedfarm – Last but not least I love following Aaren @wellfedfarm. In the same way as several of the other accounts, there’s really a sense of story behind her feed and a glimpse of her entire life through her photos. Her farm life is about long days, hard work, while taking the time to live more deliberately. Amidst all of that, you get a true sense that they take time to enjoy their family and make dinners and ice cream and popcorn for sharing in the evening. Depending on how far you want to search, she also shares her killer giant popover recipe hidden in there. It’s a life I’m not sure I could handle, but she makes it look so enchanting and effortless.

There are dozens of other accounts I’d love to plug as well… @reneedenise (minimal food), @thekitchenmccabe (amazing dark shots, complex layouts), @girl.living.life (bright, lifestyle, honest, inspiring, thriving through chemo), @castironmike (PDX maker extraordinaire of FINEX), and on and on and on. If you’d like to check out my food-ventures, you can follow me @thehappylittleapron on Instagram or follow my just starting blog at thehappylittleapron.com. Thanks for allowing me to share today! #hugs

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#ThursdayToursPDX is a collaborative series between Portland, OR bloggers {Erin} Bakery Bingo + {Meredith} Martha Chartreuse. In a city filled with amazing restaurants, artisan experiences, and fantastic tastemakers the inside scoop is a must. We will be asking our friends and fellow bloggers for their recommendations and tips for all the City of Roses has to offer.