I received an award!!

Sorry, I'm a bit late posting today!  I took a much needed blog break this weekend...but I did do some fun stuff that I'll talk about more this week! :)

Ok, so remember on Friday I told you I would be posting about my really, really, big, whopper sized, super duper exciting news today!!

Well, with all last weeks hoopla over Halloween I didn't want this post to get lost, so I held off.  But....I won an award!!!  My first blog award!!!  I mean, yeah, pretty flippin' excited doesn't even begin to describe it! :)

Martha at A Real (Upstate) NY Housewife bestowed on me the "Life is Good" award! 

Martha is an extremely kind woman with a very heartfelt blog!!  I adore our exchanges!  So, please take time to go check her out!!!

Thank you so much Martha...I truly feel honored!!!

But here's the even better part...I get to pass it onto six other people!!!!!

And I have to tell you it was really hard to choose only six blogs!  There are so many wonderful and deserving blogs that I read everyday!  But there have been a few people, like Martha, who have eithered inspired me, I have 'clicked' with, helped me with my blog or touched me in some way.

Ok, so here's the criteria:

To accept the award you must link back and thank the person who gave you the Life is Good award. Answer the 10 questions below and then pass it along to 6 other blogs of your choice.

Here Are The 10 Questions:

1. If you blog anonymously are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?

I blog as who I am. I truly am as transparent online as I am in person. I use my daughter’s nickname on my blog, but mostly because I think it’s cute, and it's what I call her at home. :) I always want to ‘keep it real’ in person, as well as online!

I am one of those people, who I am, is pretty much always who you will get – well, except online I control my f-bombs. (WHAT!?! I was in the Navy for over 8 years – ever hear “cusses like a sailor”? It came from somewhere! LOL).

2.Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side.

Hmmm, stubborn? Not me! Ok, fine. Just one? Really? Ok, read this story of how we got Simba, our Leopard Gecko. ;)

3.What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?

When I look in the mirror I see a fairly attractive, 20-something woman who could stand to lose 20 or so pounds, cute hair, accessorizes with style, with a great sense of humor and heart that would love to save the world…with a slight tinge of road rage.

Now...when I look at a picture, I see the real me.  A could-be fairly attractive, mid-30’s woman who could stand to lose about 90 pounds, who seriously needs a haircut in every picture, accessorizes with style, with a great sense of humor and heart that would love to save the world…with extreme road rage and apologizes to God, oh, about every 30 seconds, while listening to the Christian radio station on her way to and from work, for using the f-bomb!
 
Why are we so shocked when we look at pictures and we look NOTHING like we THINK we look in the mirror??? It’s like “Wow…who IS that extremely overweight marshmallow fluff?? And why is she in all my family pictures?? And what did they do ME??” LOL Ok, maybe that's just me? ;)

4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?

My favorite summer time drink would be Sweet Tea!!

5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

SHOP!!! There’s not a doubt in the world about that one! Now, where depends on my mood. Some days its perusing antique shops or thrift stores, other days it’s the craft stores and places like Home Goods.

But I hardly ever step foot in the mall anymore. ‘Cause, let’s be honest, you go to the mall for either Yankee candles or clothes. I’m too cheap to buy Yankee candles anymore (is that something that gets worse with age?) and I’m too fat to enjoy clothes shopping at the moment. ;)

6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?

Oh goodness gracious, do you have all day?? When we stop dreaming we stop living! Accomplishments are just dreams achieved aren’t they?

If so, then here’s just a brief list:

I want to own my own home décor boutique!

I’d love to decorate a bakery! (Is that weird? I always thought it would be neat to have a boutique/bakery combo…make it a super special place to visit!...have fabulous cookies in a environment that was warm and inviting…and you could shop and take a piece of it home with you.)

I want to travel back to Italy, where I lived for 2 years!

I want to get back to my goal weight with Weight Watchers and my Lifetime status!

I want to be able to be with the man I love, without worry or grief for either of us (long story!)

I want to have my home paid off before I’m 50!

I want to have free time to volunteer at the women’s homeless shelter!

I want to be a foster parent someday when my daughter is old enough to not be traumatized by the constant change and hardships these poor children are enduring!

I could go on and on I suppose…but those are the ones I think about all the time!

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever , the shy person, or always ditching?

I went to a small country school in central Florida…where people DO NOT vacation. LOL So, it was a ‘we all knew each other our whole lives’ kind of place…except me. We’ve moved there when my mom got really bad with her cancer, in 5th grade. So, friendships had mostly been made and then my mom died right after we moved, so kids really didn't know how to treat me...it felt like I remained somewhat of an outcast. 

With that said, I don’t think I was any of the above. I was a solid A/B student, I didn’t develop my sense of humor until later in life when I became secure with who I was, never a ditcher, and I guess at times I could have been classified as shy. It wasn’t as much that I was shy, as I was extremely insecure.

But don’t worry…I made up for all things I missed out on when I joined the Navy…and then some. ;)

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment of your life what would you see?

Ok, so when I read this question I had to keep coming back to it. Poignant means ‘life changing, right? I have so many poignant moments that I’m not sure that one is more changing than the other.  Each moment weaves together to make 'our life'.

The day my daughter was born was absolutely the most POSITIVE moment of my life!! Those first few moments are still so clear!

Being woke up in my aunt and uncles trailer where we’d been staying, at 10-years old, to hear my mom had finally died…I mean, how completely life changing!

Or the day we arrived in Rota, Spain to spend a week inspecting a squadron…when my Chief knocked on my door to tell me he had just received a Red Cross message that I was needed at home in the states – my dad had been hospitalized and they were pretty sure it was cancer…or those last precious days I got to spend with him while he was in the hospital…or the night I got the call in Naples, Italy that he died from said cancer.

Of course, joining the Navy!! I remember that first night that I arrived by train to start boot camp! That’s an experience you can never forget!

Or going on my first deployment, having no one there to wish me off, and feeling so completely and utterly lonely, that no one was there that was going to miss ME. And yet, crying as I watched families hugging each other and little kids hugging their Daddy or Mommy goodbye having no clue how long six to seven months was…or the baby’s and knowing their dad would probably miss their first word and first step!

Or the day I decided I had to divorce my husband after almost 10 years together, the father of my daughter…life has certainly never been the same since then (and not all in a bad way!)

The first kiss from the man I would tell you was, and is, my true love!! I can see that scene and feel the butterflies so vividly…and that was 13 years ago.

And I will tell you that I am so extremely blessed to experience each and every one of these ‘poignant moments’ in my life!! How could I know how lucky I am without them?

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?

 

Um….in case you haven’t figured this out yet…I’m a talker! I’m equally comfortable talking about you, me, the weather…just about anything, anyone, any topic…you name it. :)

 

10. If you had the choice to sit down and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

 

Read!!! This may seem strange coming from a talker, but I HATE talking on the phone! Because I can’t really do anything else because I have to hold the phone and listen to the other person when I COULD be doing other things. It frustrates me! I don’t have a lot of free time in my life as it is…don’t take what little time I do have talking about yourself and your drama you brought on your self…or your job! I hate mine and don’t want to talk about it…why would I want to hear about yours for an entire hour?!?

 

I think I just figured out my problem!! LOL Obviously I hate the phone because the people that call me to talk the most, talk non-stop about themselves and I only say about 2 words in a whole conversation. No wonder I think “I could be doing other things right now!” I can easily talk to my step-mom for an hour…because we talk about things I care about! Family!  And it's a TWO WAY conversation! ;)

Hmmmm…..that was cleansing. LOL

Ok, so now comes the part where I pass this award on to 6 others!

So, I am passing on this "Life is Good" award to the following people:

Melissa at Kaufman's Cottage

Tammy at Life is Not Just Paper and Glue  

Adrienne at La Vie Quotidienne
Sunny at Life in Rehab
Tara at Junk Restore

Carol at The Polka Dot Closet

Melissa has become a great friend and confidant!  Tammy has been a huge help with my blog and brought light to my spiritual life!  Adrienne takes and posts the most stunning garden pictures and they always bring serenity and a smile to my heart!  Sunny cracks me up on a regular basis and can easily make me laugh!  Tara, I feel like we are both on a journey of a similar path!  Carol has inspired me and pushed me to finally take steps to make my dream of opening a booth at the antique mall a reality!

Thank you to all you ladies!!  You each have talent that should be shared with the world!! 

Now, go check out each of these ladies blogs!! 

Until next time....