Who, Me?

I received this great, super blinky, blingy award from Joy! To accept it, I need to thrust aside all modesty and humility and blog about 7 things that make me "awe-summm"!

This took a lot more thought than the typical meme, believe me!

1. I was born in what I consider the most awesome town in the world - San Francisco. How can you not be awesome if you're from there, I ask you?

This also makes me a California girl...and you know what they say about them.

2. Even though I'm in my 40's, I am still a teenager at heart. In the little world inside my head, I haven't aged beyond my late teens/early 20's. How awesome is that? Seriously -- I can hardly believe I'm as old as I am and I truly don't know where the time has gone!

I'm hoping this state of mind will come in handy as my son heads into his teenage years, which I'm also very much looking forward to because I love to be around people in that age group. (This is also known as "denial.")

3. I just renewed my contract at the gym yesterday, and it struck me that I've been exercising regularly for a solid six years. I don't care what anyone says, if that's not awesome, nothing is because, listen to this: I have always hated exercise! If someone said 10 years ago I'd have an exercise habit I'd have laughed until I cried. Look at me now!

I really believe that if I hadn't kept up this fitness schedule I'd be diabetic by now, just like most every other member of my maternal family. And while I still struggle to lose weight, I truly feel better than I have in years.

Besides the gym, I also swim laps and walk frequently; most weeks, I exercise five times! I keep a page on Facebook for accountability called "Laurie's Friends Exercise Challenge" and if you have a FB account you can join - just email me for an invitation!

4. I love animals, as you may know: we currently have 2 dogs and a cat. I especially love cats. But, cats lourve me. A lot. In the city, cats come out of hiding and, like, cross the street to come to me. Here in the country, they'll come if I call them. I'm like the pied piper of cats!

I sometimes think it's the tone of my voice, which is unusually quiet. Whatever the reason, I enjoy all the kitty love and think it's awesome! I'm in serious danger of becoming one of those cat ladies, someday.

5. I'm going to get a novel published someday soon. No, it's not in the works, it's just a dream that I know will come true. I've had creative non-fiction articles published in major market magazines -- for pay! -- but it's not enough to see my name in print in a periodical. It has to be a book.

I think it's awesome to have a dream, and a goal, and to put it in writing. I just did.

6. If you read my blog, you know how much I love vintage textiles and collectibles and can't resist collecting them. But, I have also accumulated an awesome button collection that I haven't had a chance to blog much about yet. It got a big boost when, last summer at a flea market, I lucked upon a woman who had several cartons of buttons that I was looking through. When she saw my interest, she offered to sell the entire lot to me for a very reasonable price, just to get rid of them. She was an antiques dealer, so I didn't get them dirt cheap, but I thought her price was too good to pass up. I amused myself most of the fall and some of the winter sorting through the boxes, and am convinced I now have a museum-quality collection. I am passionate about my buttons!

7. I keep awesome company! I have a few dozen friends who follow my blog and about twice as many blogs that I follow and visit almost daily -- and they feel like friends to me; certainly, their blogging enriches my life! Here are just seven of them that I've chosen to pass along this award to:

• Anji, who lives in Alaska, makes beautiful jewelry and art, and deserves this award just for her recent trip to San Francisco, where she found all kinds of great fun for her kids and wrote about it all in her blog!
• Leigh-Ann from Canada, who makes beautiful things, and whose energy and creativity just jump off the screen!
• Coralie, who writes about her beautiful cottage home and shows us pictures of the beauty surrounding her so we can daydream along!
  
• Summer Gypsy, who writes from the heart of Dixie and from her own heart, too!
  
• Karen, who is a gifted artist with a heart of gold; her blog is full of color and life!
• Jamie, whose blog is a gift of wonderful cabinet cards and photos for mixed media artists to download. Her love of the people in the antique photos is contagious!
• Cheryl, whose blog is personal, friendly, and consistently full of creative fun!
  

Ladies, thank you for being among the wonderful bloggers in my life! Please grab this award by clicking on it, which will take you to my Flickr, then right click to save it from my Flickr account! Then, throw aside your modesty and tell us more reasons you're awesome!