webpages I suddenly cannot live without

I spend a fair amount of time online - as you would expect, what with me writing articles on hubpages. I am constantly referring people to this website or that website - so here is a list of websites off the top of my head that I love, and will always refer to.

Sparkpeople - this is an amazing site with millions of members. It's totally FREE to sign up, and once you do...you will be blown away. It is HEALTHY LIVING related - anything to do with that topic! Fitness, nutrition - you name it, it's on sparkpeople. Some of my favorite features include nutrition trackers (where you can keep track of your own nutritional goals) fitness trackers (for cardio and strength), sparkteams (groups of people reaching team goals and supporting each other in similarities), sparkpoints (earn points for posting messages, blogs, updating status', tracking food and exercise, etc. You earn points for everything, and your points earn you "trophies" and the ability to send other members "goodies"), exercise demos (videos you can watch online that will lead you through new exercises and workouts), and a huge huge huge community feeling. It's a little overwhelming at first, but what I suggest is that you sign up, and use it for one or two of it's features until you feel like assimilating a little more. It's an amazing site, and probably my favorite at the moment. It's not just food/exercise, but also about setting and reaching your goals, and creating a lifestyle that you want to have. A-MAZING!

Livejournal - this is my blog of choice, probably because I have had it for so many years. I think I've been blogging since I was 11 or 12, and livejournal was where I started. I still have my original blog, in all of it's wonderful cryptic glory. For those not familiar, you get your own username and write in your own "journal" - which you can set so your friends can read it. You can collect all of your friends' entries on one page, so you can scroll down and read all of their entries. You can update photos, videos, links from other things too, although I must admit that since I've had this journal for so long, I haven't explored many of the bells and whistles. I use it for writing, and keeping track of my old friends.

blogspot - one of my newest blogs, I love the layout of it. It's bright, it's open, it's crisp and clean. I started my blogspot to write about my handmade items and ever-expanding lifestyle of self-sufficiency, but of course, as blogs will, it morphs into just about everything. Blogspot is a lot like livejournal, except it feels newer. Many new bloggers are on there, and you can again, link to other folks and read their updates in one place also. You can also have more than one blog on blogspot, and you can control all of them from one place (your "dashboard"). I use mine for more photos and to talk about knitting, gardening, cooking, etc.

stumbleupon - I need to use this site more, but to be honest, I haven't had the time to get sucked into it lately, and it is something that is totally absorbing if you get into it! You make a profile with your interests and hobbies, and hit "stumbleupon" and the site will take you to other sites, random sites, and that... is pretty much that! I have had so many people send me sites of things they found interesting from stumbleupon, because they thought I'd be interested.

postsecret - oh this website. It's really very beautiful. Once a week postsecret updates their entries. People from all over the world have sent postcards with a secret on it, to postsecret. You read horrendous, dispicable things, in addition to sad and morbid things, and also sweet and beautiful things. It's fascinating. It's a glimpse into people's lives that you would never get except for the high level of anonimity. It is still intensely personal, for all you have no idea who has sent these postcards.

magpo - short for magnetic poetry! It's a site for selling the item, of course, but they do have a section where you get to play! Pick a magpo set and then move the pieces around the board to create your own magnetic poetry! It's wonderful when you can't cart your whole refridgerator places!

facebook, twitter, and myspace - yes, I have one of each of these. Most of you will already know more about them than I do, but I needed to post them because they are on my list! I use facebook the most. I once was only willing to use myspace, but somewhere along the way I became a facebook convert. I like playing Scramble (fb's version of boggle), I post photos, I update my status, but I especially love the fact that I have had relatives of mine from Spain, German, all over the place - find me and keep in touch. I love that you can feel involved with people's lives who you would ordinarily not get to really see. I love it, I really do. Myspace has fallen to the wayside for me, because facebook does everything myspace did, but does it with more people networking. Twitter, on the other hand, is very odd to me, and I can't quite remember to use it. I like posting links to sites and photos of things I am working on, and I love reading Nathan Fillion's updates, but other than that, it doesn't hold my attention well.

etsy - this phenomenal website is for people to buy and sell handmade items. It's humongous - thousands of very talented people post photos of their wares every day - knitted, crocheted, painted, built, molded, torched, sewn - all sorts of methods for all sorts of items. Every piece is unique because they are made by the people selling them. It's a great place to go for gifts - you just need to shop in time to get the items mailed to you! Whenever I have free time I love to go "window shopping" through the etsy treasuries. Mmmmmmm.

ravelry - This is another social networking site slash project site. It's for knitters, crocheters, and other textile artists. Once you've been accepted to the site, you can create your own "notebook" with information about your projects, your yarn stash, and your future ideas. There are teams to join, forums to post in, and the best part? Endless numbers of patterns (many for free) to add to your list of one-day-projects. Yum yum yum.

So hopefully there are some new sites mixed in there with the old and familiar. If you have any other sites that you love and go to a lot, please leave them in a comment so I can check them out for myself!