Bloggy love, for me and you

Hello out there! I hope you're all having a wonderful week, especially now that we are over the proverbial “hump.”

Last week I received two blog awards from some very lovely ladies. Isn’t that always fun? It definitely brought a smile to my face last week, despite dreary weather and work worries.

One of my awards was even given by new reader (yay!) Katy Mary of TangerineHearts (thank you!).

The rules go like this:

1. To accept the award, you must post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted you the award, and a link to their blog.

2. Pass the award on to approximately 15 other blogs that you recently discovered, and think are great!

3. Contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

And the 15 I’m tagging are:

1. Shannon Eileen of **Happiness Is...**

2. Laura Marie of a diary of little things & curiosities

3. Celia of life according to celia

4. Linda of one fine dae

5. Jenny May of The Swede Records

6. Nicki of The Cherry Blog

7. Molly of my name is yeh

8. Julia of teddy loves lu loves teddy

9. Jaeve of Jaeve + Things

10. Helen of Helen Hearts

11. Samantha of Post Grad Hair Cut

12. ahmi-ahmi

13. Darcy of (Three-Sixty-Five) degrees

14. Meg of *curls and coffee*

15. Celine of bonjour!

Whew! That was a lot, but they all deserve a shout out. I love finding new blogs to love and I have discovered some real gems lately!

My next award came from Erin over at Pughs’ News. She gave me the Kreativ Blogger Award. Thanks, Erin! You’re the sweetest.

For this award, I am commanded to post seven random things about myself that you may or may not already know.

Alrighty, here goes. Oh, and please don’t hold my weirdness against me.

1. I used to be allergic to the sun. After long periods of exposure, I would get terribly, unbearably itchy. I remember my sun allergy flaring up one day when I was a Girl Scout participating in the annual Brownie Olympics. My mom slathered what seemed like an entire bottle of sun block on me before the itch subdued. I look back at that experience as the reason why I so detest putting on sun block—that and the fact that I have to cover every. square. inch. of skin. Luckily, I eventually outgrew my allergy. Unfortunately, I never outgrew my pallor.

See the paleness? This is me in Maui with the boy in 2008. I was literally seeking the shade in this photo! By the way, there is another photo of me on this trip where I am wearing big ol' shades and a giant, old lady hat to protect myself from the sun's rays. So not cute.

2. Speaking of my “porcelain” skin, as one of my friend’s calls it, I am half Danish (on my mother’s side.) For some reason, I have always felt a strong connection to my Danish roots. Perhaps because the other half of me is a bit of random mix—I can’t even keep it all straight! (Thanks, Dad.) I think there’s some Welsh and English and even a bit of Indian…? But whenever I’ve had the chance to learn more about Denmark, I took the opportunity. In sixth grade, when I had to do a country report—for which I wrote journal entries about my fictional travels—I chose Denmark. In my media worldwide college course, I chose to write my final paper on the Danish news media. I’d love to actually visit the small, flat, peninsula country one day, but until then I placate my travel bug by looking at sites like Copenhagen Street Style. Aren't these Danes pretty?

(click image to admire larger)

3. I was a vocal major for my first year of college. I have always loved to sing and when it came time to pick a major, I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do. However, when the pressure of some of my classes began to stifle my passion, I changed my major to journalism, if only because I was good at writing English essays and enjoy reading magazines! Though the switch was hasty and emotional, it ultimately was the best choice for me. I am 100 percent certain that if I had graduated with a degree in music I’d still be wondering what I should be doing (and I graduated almost three years ago! Wow, that’s hard even for me to believe.)

Me singing circa 2007, on a cruise ship no less. It was during a karaoke competition called Princess Pop Star. (You can laugh, it's okay.) I sang Alicia Keys' "Fallin'"

4. Going with the music theme, I played (and can still play, I don’t doubt) the oboe in junior high, high school and college. When all the other girls chose flute or clarinet, I was one of the few who chose oboe (my bestie played oboe as well, though it was not her first choice). I picked the oboe because it sounded strange and maybe even slightly exotic and that sounded good to me. I stood by my choice, even when people made fun of its sound, calling it a “dying duck”— though, if you can play it well, its tone is hauntingly beautiful.

Oboe via here 

5. I’ve mentioned this next one a couple times, but I’ll shock and horrify my new readers: I don’t like cheese (that much). Yes, I eat pizza—with light cheese and lots of toppings. To me, the crust and the sauce are more important than the mozzarella. And yes, I even eat nachos. It would seem I like melted cheese but then again I never eat cheeseburgers or grilled cheese sandwiches. Nor do I eat a hunk of cheese with a glass of wine or a handful of crackers. And whenever I go to a Mexican restaurant I confuse the waiter when I say, “hold the cheese.” Or something to that effect. What’s more confusing is that I couldn’t get enough Kraft singles as a kid. Go figure.

You can keep it. via we heart it 

6. I don’t like people touching my face. This is my rule in general (like an old lady pinching my cheeks or someone wiping away an eyelash) and especially when it is cold outside. And when it is really chilly outside, I don’t like people touching my hair either. Now if that’s not completely and utterly random, I don’t know what is. You know what else I can't stand people touching? My veins! Ick. By the way, while we're talking about it, the veins on my right wrist say "Hi." No joke! (Sorry, no pic. You'll just have to believe me.)

7. Two of my toes on each foot are crossed. The ones right next to the big toe. Now, don’t worry, they are not grotesquely crossed but there is a slight overlap. It is actually more noticeable when you look at my foot straight on from ground level instead of above. But then again, who would get on the floor to see if my toes are crossed? When I was younger, my dad liked to grab my toes and teasingly pull them apart, all while saying, “How are we gonna straighten these out?” While we’re on the topic of feet, I will also mention that my toes “scrunch” when I walk, every time I take a step. Again, I am probably the only person who notices or is irritated by this peculiarity.

I'd say this is quite possibly the cutest my toes have ever looked-- after my luxurious spa pedicure last year! But can you see the criss-cross...?

There you have it. Seven random things about moi that you probably never needed to know but now you do. Hopefully some of you out there are as odd as I seem to be (at least when judged by this list).

As for who has to spill their randomness all over the blogosphere next, I choose: Maggi, Bianca and Miss Lovely Little Things. I think I’m only supposed to tag one person, but I say, the more the merrier.

If you have time, be sure to pop over to the blogs I linked above and say hello! We all know a little blog love can go a long way…

And even if you weren’t tagged, tell me one random thing about you in the comments below. I shared—now it’s your turn!