Whoa, Buddy

So, Emily over at Last Train to Pooksville gave me this pretty button:

Thank you so much, Emily! It made my day.

Getting such a pretty button made me realize that I never got around to following the rules of these two pretty buttons:

These were provided by Lindsey and Toni at Memoirs of a Housewife and Carrigan's Joy respectively. Gah. I am a terrible and ungrateful blogging buddy. I am so sorry, ladies. I really do appreciate the consideration. I just forget to pause, take a breath, and follow through.

So, here I am following through. (Please excuse the lack of fun, exciting pictures in this post--I'm at work. No photo stash. Le sigh.)

- The rules for the Beautiful Blogger Award are to share 7 interesting things about myself and nominate 7 bloggers.
-The rules for the Lemonade Stand Award is simply to nominate 10 blogs with great "attitude and gratitude."
-The rules for this newest Sunshine Award is to list 6 things I love and 6 blogs I love....

So, I am going to throw all of that in a pot and stir up 6 things I love, 7 interesting things about myself and 9 blogs/bloggers I love (3 for each award).

Here we go!

6 Things I Love
[I am sticking to actual physical things here because if we get into people or places... we could be here all day]:
1. Books. [Books, books, books, books, books] That is books six times over.. and if it wouldn't be cheating I might just leave it at that because I love books so very much. I do.
2. Coffee.[Coffee..coffee... okay, you get the picture]. Yes, I am a coffee addict.
3. Baby feet. More specifically Liam feet. I nibble them often and they are delicious.
4. My engagement ring. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever owned. I have been wearing it since June of 2008 and I still look at it daily and smile.
5. Candles. I am a candle junkie! Seriously. We have 28 candles in our bedroom alone. (Really.. I just counted.) I love how simple candle-light turns the ordinary into something romantic and exciting. And they are pretty. And they smell good.
6. The (infamous) Baby Wrap. I know I have already dedicated an entire post to my baby wrap and how happy it makes me.. but.. really.. it is pretty much the best thing that has ever happened to me mommy-related. It gives me butterflies.

7 interesting things (this is tough; I am boring):

1. Ryan and I have a "bucket- list" that we created not even a month after we met. We have done several things on the list... including going to Chicago so that Ryan could propose to me in front of the Newberry Library (it was written down as a big question mark-- yep, he claims to have already known then).

2. For a little over 2 years I lived in a pool house the size of a large closet.. jam packed with awesome IKEA furniture. For free.

3. Ryan and I got married, bought a house and had a baby all within 10 months. I also graduated from college during that time. And as you know.. it wasn't your typical baby-having experience.. so I think that's pretty interesting. Well, it was interesting for me.

4. I memorized an entire book of the Bible in the 7th grade. I was the only one who did not pick a one page book. Go me.

5. A project I did my Sophomore year in college is now part of the course description in that class. Yeah.. I'm awesome.

6. I've been blogging since I was 15. All my various blogs are still active. I have no earthly idea how I come up with that much to say.

7. My name is misspelled on my college diploma.. because for the first 20 years of my life.. I was misspelling my middle name. True Story.

9 blogs I love:

For the Beautiful Blogger Award.

Okay.. so... I love reading these blogs! I mean, really love it. These women are funny and uplifting and their posts are often exploding at the seams with adorable. They are definitely beautiful bloggers.

1. Gretchen at A Bitty Blog (Devin is possibly the cutest little boy on the planet aside from Liam. Seriously.)
2. Lindsey at Memoirs of a Housewife (Hunter is here! She is beautiful. Go meet her.)
3. Emily at The Last Train to Pooksville (Check out her blog. Now. I mean it. You will not be sorry.)

For the Lemonade Stand Award

1. That's My Baby (Julia is taking a little break, but she will be back! She better!)
2. Green Leaf Baby (So, this kid? This kid right here? He will steal your heart.)
3. Blue Ridge Baby (One word: precious.)


(Three precious babies-- three awesome blogs! Heh, heh.. I couldn't resist!)


For the Sunshine Award.. because reading these blogs about thriving preemie boys make me so happy!

1. Our Little Birds
2. The Peanut Blog
3. Multiple Miracles from Above

So, I know I sort of twisted the rules but.. what are rules for, if not for breaking [um.. unless you are Liam Eliot- in which case, rules are rules for a reason, bub.]

Now, I am all caught up with my blogger award posts. Whew.

p.s.- I am supposed to go around and tell everyone that they have gotten an award on my site but... I am lazy. So.. I am just chucking this rule out all together. Yeah, I'm a rebel.