Awards!

I've been lucky enough to get a few bloggerific awards lately.  I contend that I haven't been slacking in posting about them...just waiting until the right time.  You believe me, right?!

This one comes from Nola and her mom.  Nola looks very much like a young version of Meadow! Her fur-siblings minions are pretty darn cute too. Thanks, Nola and the momma!

The rules are pretty straight forward: Thank the blogger(s) who gave you the award and link back to them. Done. Share 7 things about yourself.

1. I have to renew my license this year...and visions of the DMV are already making me not like my birthday.
2. It may not seem like it - but I'm REALLY shy.
3. My cell phone ringtone is currently the minions from Despicable Me singing "Copa Cabana".
4. I'm happiest at home, on the couch, knitting with my pups cuddling me & watching a movie.
5. I'll be one of the first to offer you my help, but tell me what to do and all bets are off!  Oh...and I don't ask for help either. Someone needs to offer - and even then, I'll probably tell you that "I'm fine".
6. I'm probably a little more addicted to caffeine than I should be.  Pass the Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and MaryLou's News!
7. I can't imagine life without my dogs!  They are AWESOME!

Nominate 15 or fewer bloggers:
Lorenza
Mrs. Jones
Puddles
Kristine
Sara
Sara
Sonya
Jennifer
Jessica
Andrea
Celia
Nora B. Webster



The second award is from the lovely Kristine!  She shares a love of dachshunds and is overall a really cool lady!  Thanks, love!

Here are the rules of this award:

*Include the awards logo in a post or on your blog

*Share the love and link the person who awarded you

*Tell us 7 facts about yourself

*Nominate 7 other fabulous bloggers

*Link your nominees to your post and leave them a comment on their blog, letting them know they've won! (OK...I'm cheating on this one. I'll get to as many blogs as I can, but you may get a tweet from me instead!)

1. The summer is my least favorite season.  As a girl with asthma - humidity SUCKS!
2. I used to LOVE wind chimes.  Now I'm surrounded by neighbors that have them...and the love has worn off.
3. I could probably eat the BBQ steak pizza from the pizzeria by my house every night for a week.
4. I have a really hard time saying "no" to people.
5. I love airplanes and roller coasters...but am PETRIFIED of heights.
6. I keep a list of all the things I'd do & people I'd help if I won the lottery.
7. I have this weird obsession with flavored seltzer water.  It was the only way I could give up soda (yes, I still cheat out at restaurants).

Nominate 7 bloggers:
Nola
Mrs. Smith
Shelley
Preppy Girl Meets World
Michelle
Beach Bum & Baby
Brittany

The last award is from Jaimie!  She's one of the lovelies that links up her recipes for Tuesday at the Table.  Thank you, Jaimie!!!!

Because I've already shared a whole bunch of facts - I'm going to rebel and not share 7 more facts.  I'm also going to tag ALL my Tuesdays at the Table folks for this award.  :-)

 If your interested...I'll be blogging here from time to time too. I linked you to my first post. You all know I'd do anything for a dog, especially a dachshund!

Award Time!

The fabulous Kathie has tagged me with two awards.  I'm so lucky that she so sweet, even though I missed her birthday earlier this week!  Stop on by and wish her a happy belated birthday.  :-)

To accept the "Scoop of Daily Chaos" award I need to tag some eight awesome bloggers and answer the following questions.

What is your signature color?
Hmm... My favorite colors are pink and green, but the the largest percentage of my clothes are black. I dislike oranges and purples.

What is your most embarrasing moment?
Oh, I do embarrasing things like walk into walls every.single.day. however, my single most embarrasing moment was caught on film.  The summer I turned 16 - I did a two and a half week tour of England, Scotland and Wales with my grandma, mom, brother and one of my cousins.  During this tour, we went to the Scottish Tattoo - and absolutely AMAZING festival of music and dancing and some historical stuff.  Well...you know what lines are like at the bathrooms of events.  I HAD to pee and used the men's room (in my defense - I was FAR from the only lady doing that) - and my lovely mom decided that she should capture the moment for posterity...or blackmail.  Yeah, definitely blackmail. :-)

Would you ever get anything pierced other than your ears. If so, what?
Um...no.  Just my ears, thanks!!

Are you a social butterfly or a homebody?
A little of both.  I really enjoy going out and having fun with my friends.  Just not to clubs, and most bars.  (What? I'm shy...) At the same time, a night on the couch with my pups, the DVR, a glass of wine and my knitting is my idea of a good time.  I'm easily entertained.

Are you done having babies or do you want more?
Done?!?!  I haven't even started.  But I want to find a good guy and get married first. Good guys are hard to find, ladies!

Are you loyal to your hairstylist or do you try every salon in town?
I love, love, loved my hairstylist and went to him for over a decade.  But, Ed decided to retire about 3 months ago.  I've gone to one of his collegues once and she did a good job...but I'm still exploring my options before I commit to a new stylist.

How many times have you moved in your life?
Including moving in and out for college - 4 times.

If you could plan your vacation with just you and your love where would it be?

Um...no "love".  See the "baby" question for further explanation.  :-)  However... I have a good list of places I'd like to visit: Alaska, Hawaii, Cuba (I know, I'm weird!), Aruba, Egypt, Italy, Thailand and Spain.

For the "Versatile Blogger" award I need to link back and thank the blogger that tagged me (THANK YOU again, Kathie!) tell you all 7 things about myself and tag 15 wonderful bloggers.

1. I'm a shutter-bug.  I LOVE taking pictures.
2. I'm am WAY into FrontierVille on FaceBook.
3. There are stacks of books that surround me, but I can't keep myself from buying more books.
4. I hate that I have insomnia...but I'm so much more productive because of it. I get soooo much done while others are sleeping.
5. My work BFF makes me laugh so hard I wheeze and/or cry at least 3 times a week.
6. Lately, I've realized that "dog people" and "cat people" are generally nicer to those around them than "non-animal people".  I think it has to do with patience and empathy.
7. I really dislike being the center of attention.


I tag the following fabulous ladies for both (Yes, I compromised between the need for 8 & 15 blogs.  Sorry!):

Jane @ Moonflowers, Mojitos and Me
Kirstren @ Lady Kirstren
Andrea @ My Chihuahua Bites
Mrs. Jones @ A Real Life Wife
Tiffany @ Munchkin Memoirs
Sara @ Unwrap Life
Sara @ This Beautiful Thing
Janet @ Stuff I Think About
Julie @ Three Against One
Lorenza @ El Diario de Lorenza
Tillie @ A Nuttier Life
Jennifer @ Crazy Shenanigans

Crowning Royalty, Sharing the Love and You're a Gem...

I'm such a lucky girl; I've gotten three awards in the past week! Woohoooooooo!!

The first award comes from Janet. She's a sweetheart and named me the "Queen of Cute Puppy Pictures". Me?!?! Take puppy pictures? Hahaha...ok, I admit it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Janet!

Her rules are simple:

1. Grab the award and post it on your blog, linking back to the person who gave it to you.

2. Give the award to six people you think deserve to be queen and link to their blogs.

3. If you feel like it, tell what they should be queen of, but I'm not gonna force you. After all, you are the Queen.

4. Let the people know you've given them an award.

I can do that! I tag:

Jane at Moonflowers Mojitos and Me. She is the "Queen of Med School". Jane is starting school next week - YAY! Plus she is fabulous and her emails always brighten my day. :-)

Casey at The Ever-Changing Life of a Military Wife. Casey is the "Queen of Travel". I love to travel and she not only gets to more places...but takes GORGEOUS pictures along the way!

Mrs. Realife at The Reality of Happily Ever After. She is definitely the "Queen of Telling It Like It Is". She has posted lots of things that have made me laugh and made me cry; if something needs to be said - she'll say it. I admire that. :-) Plus, she has one of the cutest Dachshunds I've EVER seen! (But my babies are cuter...heeheehee)

Sara at Unwrap Life and xoxo, Closet Girl. Sara is the "Queen of Clothes"! She takes a picture of her outfit EVERY SINGLE DAY! And somehow...she manages to look fabulous every day too. I'm so jealous...and I wish I had met her when she lived near me!

Kirstren at Lady Kirstren. This lady is the "Queen of Putting Up With Cole". Admittedly, she gets this title because she's my cousin and I'm cool with nepotism. Who else would IM my BlackBerry at night to make sure I got home following car trouble?!?! She is truly awesome and deserves all sorts of awards. :-)

April at April Showers. April is the "Queen of Blog Design". She has lots of bloggy ventures going on and is a kick-ass designer. And I'm not just saying that because I'm on her waiting list... :-)

The second award comes from Corkyshell at Behind Every Great Love is A Great Story. She is just a sweetheart; THANK YOU, Corkyshell!

There are no rules to giving this lovely award away, so I tag:

Kaitlin at Life of a Busy Wife

Janet at Stuff I Think About

Sara at This Beautiful Thing

SassyEngineer at A Sassy Engineer

Kathie at My Net Finds

My last (and most recent) award comes from Kathie at My Net Finds. She and I are new to each other's "follower" list - I don't miss a single post.

These rules are super easy too...

The only rule for this award is that to accept it, display it proudly on your blog for all the bloggy world to see your greatness and/or pass it on to other bloggers as you see fit.

I tag all the amazing folks that read and comment on all my posts. YOU ROCK!

Jane

Casey

Sara

Sara

JLC

Corkyshell

Kaitlin

Coco

SassyEngineer

Janet

Twix

Sedona

Kirstren

And anybody I forgot!

Jill & Justine, I'd love to tag you too... but I understand you don't do awards anymore. Just know that I don't love ya any less - mmkay? :-)

An Award Winning Day....

Seriously! The fabulous Kathie @ My Net Finds gave me an award! She's a sweetheart, and one of my favorite newly discovered blogs. :-)

I have been graced with "The Blog de Ouro" or Golden Blog award. YAY!!

No real rules with this one...I just have to pass it along to 8 bloggers, and to claim it, the recipients also have to pass it onto 8 bloggers. Easy enough, right?!

I tag:

Jane @ Moonflowers, Mojitos and Me

Sara @ This Beautiful Thing

April @ April Showers

JLC @ French Kiss

Kirstren @ Lady Kirstren

Kaitlin @ Life of A Busy Wife

Jill @ Jill's Believe It or Not

Justine @ Tiney's Froggy Bloggy

Go forth and share the love, ladies!!

Is it weird that I'm sooo excited to go out tomorrow night with the girls for dinner and then Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince?!?! What can I say? Dinner movies and a short day at work tomorrow will make me happy. :-)

Remember to enter my giveaway! It's ending soon.

Oh Happy Day!

*Update* I totally forgot to pass this award along to the fabulous Kirstren over at Lady Kirstren. How could I forget her?!?! She's my cousin, a new blogger and just all around AWESOME!

Today, I despite everything at work crumbling around me (and that I'm being stubborn and ignoring the sweltering heat. I refuse to put in my A/C until at least May 1) - I choose to be happy. And here is why...

The awesome Tiney gave me an award today! She totally made my day!! Thank you, Tiney! There are rules that go with it, and while I will post the rules below... be forewarned, I opt not to follow them. Heeheehee

Rules are as follows:

• Accept the award
• Post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
• Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.
• Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
  

Not all of these folks are "new" to me.

My first awardee is Jill at Jill's Believe It or Not. Tiney, I cheated and stole your sister! Jill is hysterically funny, I read her blog religiously and will occasionally go back and look at old posts for their puppy pictures.

Next is Sara at Unwrap Life. She is most definitely not new to me; in fact this is the second award I'm giving her. She writes AWESOME posts!

I just discovered Hallie at Wonderful World of Weiners when she decided to follow my blog. See folks?!?! I pay attention! She is cute, and I can't wait to see what she and her dachshund do next.

We also have the super cute JLC at French Kiss. What can I say? She's adorable and I envy the her enthusiasm in all she does!

Then there is Kaitlin at Life of a Busy Wife. She truly is one busy wife and just her adorable Puggle alone keeps me coming back for more!

Jane at Moonflowers, Mojitos and Me is new to me. I already enjoy what she has to say and bet it keeps getting better.

D.A.R at Just Another Day in Paradise is amazing. She seems to get handle everything thrown at her - school, running, her dogs and her hubby's deployment with such ease.

Kathryn at Ritch in Love is very cool. Not only is she an amazing flight attendant - she's going to get published in Redbook this month!

Lastly, I have Casey at The Ever-Changing Life of a Military Wife. She was the very first person to give me an award and she definitely deserves this award. Feel better, missy! A whole lot of us are living vicariously through your travel pictures. :-)

I think I'm a pillow snob! I've come across purse snobs, shoe snobs, car snobs... but I think I might be the first pillow snob. A few years ago I was doing a little shopping in Home Goods (FREAKING LOVE THAT STORE!) and decided to upgrade my standard feather pillows for king sized down pillows (What?!?! If you're going upgrade - upgrade). Since that initial purchase, I've upgraded ALL my pillows (all six of them; my pillow addition to be discussed on a later post...maybe). My last hold out of old pillows met the trash can yesterday - and because I'm so picky, I've hit 2 Home Goods, 1 Marshalls and 2 TJ Maxx stores (they are all owned by the same company) in the past week to find my coveted pillow. Today after work, I claimed VICTORY! I have my king sized down pillow with gusseted sides from Hotel Collection and I can sleep happy. :-)

Another happy revelation of the day is a little silly... Grey's Anatomy has partnered with theknot.com and created a wedding web page for Derek Shepherd & Meredith Grey. It is so cute; you have to check it out!

They Like Me; They Really Like Me!

Many, many thanks to Casey and Janet for my very first awards!! You both made my kinda crappy weekend bearable. Plus getting your first awards (in one weekend!) is really cool.

The AWESOME Casey tagged me with..

For which I am supposed to list seven things I love. That's an easy one! I love- puppies, caffeine, a good glass of Riesling, Internet shopping, the Spring, down pillows and my friends/family.

The very cool Janet tagged me with:

This one requires ten honest things about myself. Ugh! Here we go.

1. I have a problem with squishy foods. Pudding, yogurt, jello... YUCK.

2. I think I'm the only person in the world (other than JC) who doesn't like chocolate cake.

3. I have an obsession with ice. I MUST have access to ice at all times.

4. My family has dictated that I never go to Florida on my own EVER again. The last two times I was there I brought home dogs.

5. I have amazing navigational skills. I can get just about anywhere...except in my home town. There, I get lost if I go more than two miles away from my house.

5. I'm at Barnes & Noble so much that they know my name.

6. I keep a toothbrush in my office so I can brush after every meal.

7. I'm passive for the most part...but VERY passionate about certain issues.

8. Most of my friends and family have never heard me swear. But in my mind, I have the mouth of a truck- driver (or your basic soldier after boot camp; your choice!).

9. None of my FaceBook friends know I have a blog.

10. I'd like to be a stay at home mom some day. But... seeing as I'm neither married or have kids, I'm in no rush.

I tag:

AndreaLeigh

Sara

Tasha

Jill

A Sassy Engineer

Anyone else who wants to have these snazzy awards!! (And I apologize that my blog is a little stretched out. I'm having a little spacing issue...grr)