I never really thought I'd do it

I unsubscribed from Weddingbee on my Google Reader.

I love Weddingbee. I've gobbled up every post since I got engaged in June of 2008. I love the women that blog there, the inspiration, and I'm crazy-in-love with weddings.

So why did I cut my ties?

It just felt like it was time. All of the Bees that were planning and actually getting married while I was planning and getting married are mostly gone off the site. A few still have recaps left, but for the most part, my "favorites" are gone...(This is not to say that the current Bees are sub-par. I think I just had a closer affinity to the Bees going through the same things I was...and now that I'm not submerged in hair trials and dress fittings, I can't relate to the Bees as well...)

Venues, honeymoons, guest list drama and make-up tips are just not a part of my daily life anymore. I hate to unsubscribe because I still gain loads of inspiration from the design posts, particularly if there are paper products involved, but it's wading through the rest of the entries that is starting to get to me. If I could stay subscribed just to the design-related stuff, I'd be in heaven!

I've noticed over the past several weeks that my reading habits have changed. I tend to wait until I'm done reading all of the other blogs on my reader before scrolling down to Weddingbee and power-navigating through the posts to get my unread count to zero (which rarely happens these days). I find myself trudging through the entries, rather than constantly hitting refresh to make the next post load more quickly. At almost 150 posts/week, that's a lot to scroll unenthusiastically through...

At this realization, I decided that today would be the day I'd cut my Google Reader ties with my former bff, the 'Bee. It does feel a little bit like I'm leaving an old friend. It does feel a little bit like I'm betraying someone close to me. But just like real-life friendships, some ties must weaken in order for others to strengthen. While I don't feel as drawn to update my reader to catch up on Weddingbee, I do hit refresh to catch up on some of my new favorite blogs.

A few of those blogs belong to Bees who have left the hive, as their weddings are over and so are their recaps. Some of them belong to dear friends I've made in bloggy world (or that I've made in real life and carried over into bloggy world). And sometimes a girl just loves to stalk peoples lives who are interesting.

So, today I hit "unsubscribe." I make no promises that I will never return to the 'Bee. I've yet to determine if that lovely community called the Hive is something I can live without. But at least for today, I can.

Have you ever unsubscribed from a once-favorite blog? Did you have the same "losing my best friend" feelings I do? Or am I just crazy and in serious need of a life and less free-time? (did you say free time? what's that?)