Gainesville's Best Blogs

Saturday, 31 October 2009 19:00

Lately, with the creation of INsite’s own behind-the-scenes blog, we’ve been spending a lot of time online. But we’re not the only ones who constantly update with local events coverage, fashion commentary, food reviews and around-town photos. Gainesville is home to a number of great local bloggers, all with their own take on fashion, food, fun—or whatever their specialty may be. Here are some of our favorites.

By Amelia Harnish

Center For Art Lovers
Blogger: Rusty Hammer

Rusty Hammer dreams of one day opening a physical Gainesville art center, but until then, the virtual Center For Art Lovers works just as well.

Rusty, who has a bachelor’s degree in arts management from the University of Massachusetts and has worked all over the country organizing arts festivals and managing symphonies, has been updating at www.centerforartlovers.com for nearly two years. He keeps an updated list of all exhibits around town and often visits showings to photograph the artists with their work. “Gainesville is not a regular art town, because we don’t really have galleries,” he says. “But, hopefully, because of the blog, more people can find showings.”

Rusty says he doesn’t have a favorite place to see art or even a favorite local artist—just enjoys promoting the thriving art scene here in the ’ville.

College Food Experiments
Blogger: Alyse Yacovone

Busy UF student Alyse Yacovone likes to unwind in the kitchen, so she sees blogging about it as an outlet for self-expression.

“It’s not graded,” she says. “It’s my time to be creative.”

Alyse thinks of her site, Collegefoodexperiments.blogspot.com, as a sort of virtual cookbook she can easily share with friends. Usually once a week, she uploads a recipe she tried recently with pictures of the final dish and a description of any modifications or trouble she had. She started in July 2008 when she was first teaching herself to cook.

“It’s really a record of how far I’ve come,” she says.

One of her favorite things to blog about is Girls’ Night, when she and a few friends get together to cook, watch movies and de-stress.

The Sassy Crafter
Blogger: Kim Taylor

Kim Taylor’s favorite projects are always those that involve something someone threw away.

“I was always interested in making old things new,” she says. “I like to take things from thrift stores or the trash and turn it into something fun and useful.”

Once, she transformed a bunch of old hand-mixer beaters into a funky atomic-era clock, garnering attention from Thekitchn.com, a well-known cooking web site. Her craft ideas have also been featured in Sweater Surgery, a DIY book by Stefanie Girard. She even sells her handmade creations on Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade crafts.

Kim’s day job is writing for the University of Florida’s Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology, but outside of work, she’s known as the Sassy Crafter. She started writing a monthly DIY column for The Satellite in 2005, and in 2007, she began her blog. But it’s just a hobby, she says.

“Maybe one day, I’ll be able to transition into a full-time sassy crafter.”

The Tonnish Touch
Bloggers: Leah Southers and Flavia Cervantes

Leah Southers and Flavia Cervantes found the name for their blog, The Tonnish Touch, in a thesaurus.

“There’s just so many blogs using the word ‘style’ in the name,” Leah says. She explains that “tonnish” is just a more interesting way to say “high fashion” or “style.”

Leah and Flavia, who are UF students and best friends, started broadcasting their tonnish touch into the blogosphere about a year ago. They focus less on trends and more on their own experience of fashion.

Flavia says the blog serves as more of an “inspiration blog” rather than just covering what people are wearing.

“I really do love the look-of-the-day blogs, but we wanted to take it in another direction,” Flavia says. “We focus on do-it-yourself and interesting combinations and places to shop instead.”

Gville.info
Blogger: Eric Matzner

Eric Matzner played with his idea for Gville.info for a year before he actually started blogging this summer. What started as a site about local businesses and things to do in Gainesville is quickly turning into a network of student bloggers.

“I’m trying to bring a new and exciting site to Gainesville,” Eric says. “I’d hear ‘Gainesville is boring;’ but after being here for four years, I’m still learning about places that are awesome, and I want to tell people about it.”

While he updates regularly with photos from last night, event information and coverage of anything campus-related, he’s also hired other student bloggers to join his network. He recently launched a campus fashion section and a Gainesville “Texts From Last Night” to keep content constantly flowing.

Gator Tailgating
Bloggers: Rusty Thompson and Mike Herchel

When Rusty Thompson set out for the UF v. LSU game two years ago, they didn’t have much room in their car for tailgating equipment.

“Maybe a cooler,” says Rusty, a lifelong Gator fan. And once in Baton Rouge, they couldn’t find any fellow Gators to party with before the game.

“We ended up tailgating in some Frenchman’s backyard surrounded by Tigers,” he says. “There had to be a better way to tailgate for away games.”

So on the long ride back, Rusty got the idea for GatorTailgating.com, a Web site that serves as a forum for Gator fans to come together and make plans for game day. At first, the site was only a message board, but after Rusty found Web designer Mike Herchel, the site grew into a place for Gator football news, tailgating photos, recipes–a fully functional online magazine devoted to planning game day festivities.

The site is only in its second football season, but it’s quickly turning into a business after starting to sell advertising.

This year at LSU, GatorTailgating.com hosted its first signature event with a Friday night welcome party in Baton Rouge on their reserved RV lot, complete with live music and a Cajun buffet.

“I knew it was going to be a success because I believed in it,” Rusty says, “but it’s amazing how fast it’s grown.”