<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Irresistibly Fish]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://brettfish.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[brettfish]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://brettfish.wordpress.com/author/brettfish/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[You&#8217;re bacon me crazy: a guest post by the creator of the blog &#8216;365 Days of Bacon&#8217;&#8230; 6 months&nbsp;in.]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>those of you who know me, know that i appreciate a little bit of bacon from time to time [oh, behave!] and so stumbling upon a blog page called &#8216;365 Days of Bacon&#8217;was clearly going to be a treat, and when on a whim i decided to email and ask if the creator would do a guest post for me and she said, &#8220;Absolutely!&#8221; despite being totally busy, i was even more bouyed and so thank you, thank you, thank you and here it is&#8230; [chocolate roses!!!]</p>
<p><a href="http://365daysofbacon.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2013bacon.png"><img alt="2013: Year of Bacon" src="https://365daysofbacon.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/2013bacon.png?w=400&#038;h=300" width="400" height="300" /></a></p>
<p>I&#8217;m so honored to share this REFLECTIONS ON BACON guest post for the friendly, intellectual, spiritual, bacon-loving Brett from <a title="Irresistibly Fish" href="https://brettfish.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Irresistibly Fish</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;line-height:1.625;">It just so happens that June is my 6-month </span><a style="font-size:14px;line-height:1.625;" href="http://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">365DaysofBacon</a><span style="font-size:14px;line-height:1.625;"> blog-aversary. What a great time to pause and reflect on my bacon-blog relationship!</span></p>
<p>As you might know, I wasn&#8217;t always a bacon lover. For the first 27 years of my life I didn&#8217;t care about bacon. At some point, I vehemently opposed its taste, smell, and general presence in the world.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I had a bacon &#8220;accident.&#8221; Or perhaps it was divine intervention. One day I was conversing over a salad, distractedly chewing, and there it was! That small, sneaky, thick-cut, hickory-smoked, crunchy bacon crumble in my mouth. AND I LOVED IT.</p>
<p>The rest, of course, is history. Several truckloads of bacon and one silly New Year&#8217;s resolution later, I found myself in the midst of <a href="http://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com/">http://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com</a>. Now I can viably dream, cook, eat, write, and share my bacon love.</p>
<blockquote><p>But don&#8217;t be fooled. It&#8217;s not all meat candy and crunchy bacon sprinkles.</p></blockquote>
<p>It is work. Producing a post a day and having a full-time job is &#8230; demanding. Will I make it another 6 months? I&#8217;ll try.  🙂</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14px;line-height:1.625;">The UPs and DOWNs of Bacon Blogging</span></p>
<p>SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Excuses for Eating Bacon:</strong> <em>Up</em></li>
<li><strong style="font-size:1em;line-height:1.625;">Personal Bacon Consumption</strong><span style="font-size:1em;line-height:1.625;">: </span><em style="font-size:1em;line-height:1.625;">Up</em></li>
<li><strong style="font-size:1em;line-height:1.625;">Worldwide Bacon Consumption:</strong><span style="font-size:1em;line-height:1.625;"> </span><em style="font-size:1em;line-height:1.625;">Up</em></li>
<li><strong>Cult Popularity of Bacon:</strong><em> Up</em></li>
</ul>
<p><em><span style="font-size:14px;line-height:1.625;">(Ahem, could there be a coincidence here?)</span></em></p>
<p>PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:1em;line-height:1.625;"><strong>Creative Satisfaction:</strong> <em>Up</em> </span></li>
<li><strong>Boredom time:</strong> <em>Down</em></li>
<li><strong>Available Free-time:</strong> <em>Down</em></li>
<li><em></em><strong>Hours of Sleep:</strong> <em>Down</em></li>
</ul>
<p><em>(satisfaction comes with sacrifice, apparently)</em></p>
<p>SOCIAL IMPACT</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:1em;line-height:1.625;"><strong>New friends made (because of bacon):</strong> <em>Up</em></span></li>
<li><strong>Conversation topics to fill social situations:</strong> <em>Up</em></li>
<li><strong>People who think I&#8217;m crazy:</strong> <em>Up</em></li>
<li><strong>Times neighbors have heard my smoke detectors:</strong> <em>Up</em></li>
<li><strong>Chance someone will throw me in Bacon Rehab:</strong> <em>Up</em></li>
</ul>
<p><em>(social normality is overrated. and who defines &#8220;normal,&#8221; anyway?)</em></p>
<p>OTHER IMPACT</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Personal love of bacon:</strong> <em>Up!Up!Up!</em></li>
</ul>
<blockquote><p>Gosh. Even after 6 months, I can still manage to make myself hungry for bacon.</p></blockquote>
<p>Anyway, here are my top 5 fav bacon experiments:</p>
<p><a title="How to Make Chocolate Bacon Roses" href="http://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/how-to-make-chocolate-bacon-roses/" target="_blank"> </a></p>
<div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_551" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/how-to-make-chocolate-bacon-roses/"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-551" alt="Chocolate Bacon Roses" src="https://365daysofbacon.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/wpid-img_20130204_212355.jpg?w=300&#038;h=300" width="300" height="300" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-551" class="wp-caption-text">Chocolate Bacon Roses</p></div>
<div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_656" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/bacon-fatty-for-fat-tuesday/"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-656" alt="Bacon Fatty" src="https://365daysofbacon.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/wpid-img_20130211_181253.jpg?w=300&#038;h=300" width="300" height="300" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-656" class="wp-caption-text">Bacon Fatty</p></div>
<div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_401" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/bacon-chocolate-reeses-cups/"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-401" alt="Bacon Reeses Chocolate Cups" src="https://365daysofbacon.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/wpid-img_20130126_221159.jpg?w=300&#038;h=300" width="300" height="300" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-401" class="wp-caption-text">Bacon Reeses Chocolate Cups</p></div>
<div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1635" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/bacon-chocolate-hazelnutella/"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1635" alt="Bacon Chocolate HazelNutella" src="https://365daysofbacon.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/wpid-img_20130421_180500.jpg?w=300&#038;h=300" width="300" height="300" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-1635" class="wp-caption-text">Bacon Chocolate HazelNutella</p></div>
<div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_1801" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><a href="http://365daysofbacon.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/manbacons-bacon-pancakes/"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1801" alt="Bacon Pancakes" src="https://365daysofbacon.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/wpid-img_20130505_190450.jpg?w=300&#038;h=300" width="300" height="300" /></a><p id="caption-attachment-1801" class="wp-caption-text">Bacon Pancakes</p></div>
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