A Little Blog Love (& a post full of links)

I’ve been mulling this post over for a while because I am completely unsure how to approach it.  When I started blogging, it was all about it being a journal of my pregnancy.  A few weeks later, I thought to myself, “Hey, I bet my mom would like this.”  So, I sent her the link.  Then I included a very dear friend and my sister.  Then my mother-in-law and my aunts and here and there, a few more friends.  Somewhere along the way, I sent it to my husband as well.  (It seemed to be the right thing to do, since this is his story too.) 

While keeping my super-secret blog, I read blogs.  Funny blogs. Witty blogs. Blogs that brought me to tears with their honesty and sincerity.  Blogs that made me think about the kind of mother I wanted to be. And blogs that made me wish I had taken a photo journalism class in college. I watched bloggers talk to each other and felt a little bit like an e-stalker, but really thought to myself, “I want that too.”  I want to vent about a baby that doesn’t sleep and have someone chime in and say “Been there.  Done that.  It’ll be OK.”  I would be lying if I said I didn’t care if I was noticed.  I tend to like the spotlight – a little (OK, a lot). 

So, for about two months, I’ve been blogging publicly.  Listed my corner of the internet on Top Baby Blogs, joined in on the all the tweeting on Twitter, started commenting on other’s blogs and getting to know ladies that I may never meet.  My husband doesn’t understand it, but that’s OK.  I get giddy every time I see a comment on my blog show up in my email.  So, imagine my utter shock and disbelief when two people who have great blogs decided to pass a little blogger love onto me last week. 

LCW from Waking Up Williams and Joanna from Rasing Madison passed me the Beautiful Blogger award.  It might have been the first moment I actually realized that people were reading this blog.  Maybe not thousands of people.  I mean who do you think I am, Dooce?  But still, people, and there was something about what I was writing that made them think of me.  And then I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. 

So, anyway.  Thank you, ladies.  Now.  Onto the passing of the award. 

The rules state that I should: 

~Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog. Check

~Copy the award and paste it to your blog. Check

~Tell us 7 interesting facts about yourself. Coming right up

~Nominate 7 bloggers that you love and link to their blog. One second…. 

7 (sort of, but probably not really) interesting things about me: 

1. I waited for five years and four months for my husband to propose.  64 MONTHS!  My friends and my family thought I was nuts, and actually I did too sometimes.  But I learned that some things are worth waiting for and I firmly believe that it shouldn’t have happened before it did.
2. On what I thought was my chance to flirt with a cute guy (who would turn out to be my husband six years later) Craig brought a date. 
3. I suck at keeping secrets.  Especially my own. 
4. I hate the bitter cold of winter.  HATE HATE HATE.  Yes, hate is a strong word, and yes I had to use capital letters to tell you how much I hate it. 
5. I think DVR is the best invention EVER.  I love saving up a bunch of shows and watching them on the weekends – sans commercials. 
6. I went to Penn State and didn’t attend a PSU football game until 5 years after I graduated.  Not that I didn’t like the games, I waitressed in college and those were always BIG money days, so I worked instead. 
7. Craig & I built a house last year and the biggest lesson I learned is that concrete is effing expensive. 

Ok, that was hard.  Now, the easy part.  I am passing this award to the following people:  For many of them this is probably so “been there, done that” but if nothing else it’s a shout out that I think they are great and you should be reading them, if you’re not already. 

1. The Pursuit of Mommyness
2. Becoming Sarah
3. Bringing up Baby
4. Theta Mom
5. Maybe if You Just Relax
6. Parenting in Progress
7. The Mommyologist

Happy Reading!