You like me. You really like me!

**Wreck this Journal Wednesday will return next week when I have some time to actually complete some pages in my book. It's been one of those weeks.**

I'm such a sucker. I love getting bloggy badges and awards. (ahem, hint hint) When I started this humble little blog, it was purely for my own enjoyment and to keep in touch with my BFF, who was blogging long before I ever considered it. Since then, it's turned into my lifeline to adult conversation and a way to pontificate on a whole host of subjects that would bore my hubby to tears. So, he especially thanks you for reading.

Anyway, one of my bloggy friends, Julia, bestowed this award on me! Thanks Julia! Here's the rules in keeping with this award.

1) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award. (check)
2) Share "ten honest things" about myself. (check)
3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me. (hmm, maybe)
4) Tell those 7 people that they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving. (oh boy)

So, 10 honest things about myself. Let's see what I've never told you guys before.

• I tell everyone that I'm so NOT the minivan driving kind of mom, but I secretly (and desperately) want a Honda Odyssey minivan so badly that I often dream about it
• I love weddings. Something about the big white dress, gorgeous flowers and act of committing to one another just makes my heart swell every time.
  
• My dream is to renew my vows at Disney World, complete with the glass coach and Cinderella dress, but it'll never happen. Hubby refuses to do a vow renewal ceremony. Hmph.
• I'm a serial collector of things. Scrapbooking supplies. Cross stitch supplies. Cooking utensils. Books. I seriously need a support group or something.
• I'm a greeting card whore. I physically cannot walk into Hallmark without coming out with at least 1 card. I have a box full of cards for any occasion under the sun because I hate to be unprepared. BTW, if ANYONE has seen the Twilight cards, please let me know. My local Hallmarks don't carry them. GAH!
• I'm a wannabe celebrity stalker. Oh yeah, this is a real shocker I'm sure. If I had the time & money (and lived closer to L.A. or N.Y.) I would be that crazy fan that makes it onto the celebrity gossip blogs for doing something really stupid.
• My oldest is showing signs of being a leader amongst her friends. I'm a little jealous of her because I was definitely not THAT kid growing up. I'm not that person as an adult either.
• I love to put a nice meal on the table, but I really don't enjoy cooking. I do, however, like really nice cookware!
  
• If I was stuck on a desert island, and had all the basic necessities, I would prefer my iPod over books every time. Music is such a major part of my being.
• My favorite book of all time is The Catcher in the Rye. And the reasons behind that are a whole post of their own.

Now, to tag people. I hate this part. I feel like the popular kid, excluding very deserving friends. I'm just going to name some blogs that I truly adore, but please know that there are many, many more of you in my reader that I follow!

Julianne - She has been a blogging mentor of mine for a few years now as she was the first friend of mine to really make this whole thing work. And now she's a published writer (many times over) and I'm just so impressed by her. And she's funny. Really funny.

Jen - Fridays at her place are just delicious. Yum.

Lula - As far as bloggers go, Lula tends to be my barometer. She's unabashedly honest about who she is and she's truly in this for her own enjoyment, which is something that's taken me a long time to get to. I just love her.

Matt - Ok, Matt hasn't the slightest idea who I am, but I read his blog religiously. If you've never heard of him & Madeline, get thee to his blog now. You won't be sorry.

Amy - She's a southern belle who used to be a Yankee, but I would never know it. She makes peach pie better than I've seen in many restaurants and she's uber-mom. And funny.

NieNie - Again, another blogger who wouldn't know me from Eve on the street. People who overcome immense odds are so inspiring to me. And I feel like I become so involved in their lives through their blogs. NieNie and her hubby survived a horrific plane crash last year and this is the story of where she's been and where she's going.

Creepy - I love bloggers who keep it real and it doesn't get much more real than this blog. Warning, foul language ahead, so if you're easily offended, you probably won't get her.

So, there's just a sampling of what I'm reading these days. Thanks to all who read my mindless drivel and thanks for sharing your words of brilliance with me. I'm discovering new blogs every day, so I might mention your little slice of the internet next time!

Honesty is the best policy

Another blogger bestowed this very sweet award to me a few weeks ago, and I'm incredibly embarrassed to admit that I can't remember who she was. (hangs head in shame) I mistakenly deleted her emailed comment and can't seem to find the comment she left me on one of my entries. So, to the very sweet blogger who gave me this award, please let me know so that I can give you a proper shout out! Thanks!

Now, with this award comes the responsibility of listing 10 things about me that you might not know. So, let's dive in, shall we?

1. I totaled my first car when I was 16 by making a left turn in front of a Cadillac. I was so upset by the event, that I asked my grandparents for a bus pass. I had no interest in driving after that and still don't particularly care for it.

2. When I was 18, I shared an apartment with a co-worker and we used to go the 24 hr grocery store in our pajamas and slippers ALL.THE. TIME. In the middle of the night. Which wasn't terribly unusual because we worked at a movie theater and often didn't home from work until 1am.

3. I can quote almost all of the dialogue from the movie The American President. It's kind of frightening. I big puffy heart that movie.

4. When I was about 11 yrs old, I was away at Girl Scout camp and had a horrible dream that something happened to my 2 cats. When I got home from camp, they had both disappeared and never came back. I was distraught.

5. If I had a ridiculous amount of expendable income and a huge house, I would have a large room that had a scrapbooking area, a nook for cross stitching, a sewing area and a pottery area. And I would hire a person to teach me how to sew, quilt, and throw pottery.

6. Someday, I would like to have enough property where I could own a horse. I love horseback riding!

7. I refuse to swim in lakes. Especially the ones that surround the area I live in. Yuck. And scary.

8. I love thrill rides. Especially roller coasters. The more loops and dips, the better!

9. For about a week, earlier this year, I was terrified that I might have cancer. My biggest worry was how it would affect my kids. Thankfully, everything is fine, but I get to go back in a year for another round of tests, which I'm not looking forward to.

10. I love to play the piano, but refuse to play in front of others. I have severe stage fright.

Now, I'm supposed to tag 10 others to do this, but the truth is that there are far more than 10 of you that I would love to know more about! So, if you're reading this, please consider yourself awarded and when you do this list, please let me know so I can come read all about it. Thanks!

Pass the humble pie please

So, remember when I ranted about the importance of writing thank you notes? Well, I need to take my own advice. In the last several months recent past, I have been bestowed with several blog awards by some really awesome bloggers out there! And I'm not letting one more month week day pass without thanking each and every one of them (and showing off my bling). Let's hit it!

This is my most recent acquisition and it was given to me by the very sweet Joy!











This award was given to me by a new friend who I'm having a ball getting to know. Her name is Dawn!







Dawn also gave me this lovely award! I'm suddenly feeling very lucky to have such wonderful bloggy friends!









This is the Cup of Friendship award and my buddy, Brandy, gave this one to me!



This is the Mommy Blogger award and my good friend, Shannon, graced me with this one!









The next 3 awards came from my BFF and the gal who got me into blogging in the first place. Thanks to Angela!








And I would dance on the bar with Angela anytime too!














Again, another cool one from Angela! Shannon also gave me this award!











This award was given to me by Kelly!







And both Kelly & Shannon gave me this one!






Wow, my head might not fit through the doorway after this post. Thanks to all of you who have given me these really great badges and I'm sorry it's taken me a while to thank some of you. You guys rock!

And I'm sure that most of these badges come with rules on passing them along and such and normally I'm a rule follower to the t. But this post is already too long and frankly, I want to share the love with everyone. So, if there's an award or 2 or 3 here that you would like to have on your blog, please take it and consider it my gift to you! You guys are so awesome and deserve all kinds of recognition! Mwah!

Birthday Thanksgiving

*Thanks for visiting today! Make sure you visit here to get in on the super cool giveaway that I'm hosting. You don't want to miss out. We now return you to your regularly scheduled Angie's Spot programming.
___________________________________________________

So, today's my birthday. Woo hoo! I was all set to post about some wonderful gifts that I've received and some hilarious cards, texts and emails that I've gotten, when I decided to go in a different direction.

Today is a lot about me being thankful for the amazing life that I lead. I'm able to be a full time mom to my 2 beautiful girls. I'm able to work from home to help subsidize some of the extras that we participate in. I have a great hubby who continues to surprise me with his thoughtfulness. I have family that can be trying at times, but I can't imagine life without. I also have the most wonderful group of friends (live and online) that a gal could ever hope for. I am truly blessed in many ways!

A couple of my online friends have bestowed some awards to me over the last few weeks and I want to give them some proper shout outs. One in particular gave me an award today that I want to give some special attention to.

First, I want to send a huge THANK YOU to my new buddy Hot Tub Lizzy who gave me the Arte y Pico award and the Brillante Weblog Award! She's the second one who's given me the Arte y Pico award, but this is my first time getting the Brillante Weblog Award. I'm just a little excited! Oh, and here they are in all their glory.




The next award that I received, actually came in today, from my bud Steph. Not that I don't appreciate all awards given to me, but this one in particular really hit me sideways in the emotion department. It was created by a mom whose son was saved from an organ donor. He would've died without the life-saving heart that he received. The story made me cry and I simply love the rules that surround this one. I'm simply to pass it on to other bloggers who inspire me and ones that I want to Share the Love with! So, first let me show you this adorable award.



And now for the list of bloggers that I want to give this award to. Hey, it's my birthday and I'll give away love if I want to. Each of you inspires me, makes me laugh or cry (or both), and makes me happy to be in a circle of bloggers who encourage each other. Thanks for sharing the love with me.

Angela at Hello Dahrlin' - My BFF forever and ever...amen
Tressa at American in Norway - Such a cool gal and friend
Carrie at Candid Carrie - Too many reasons to list why I luv her...I'll start with her humor
Jennifer at Crazy...Life - She's a mom who's crazed, just like me.
Nik at Exceptional Voyage - She's a gal from TN. Who doesn't love that?!
Michelle at Honest & Truly - Participating in the push up challenge alone garners this award.
Holly at June Cleaver Nirvana - I'm one of Holly's biggest fans. I'm just glad she doesn't think I'm weird or anything from all the comments I leave. Or do you, Holly? :-)
Lula! at Lulaville - Another southern belle sista. She & I are like peas and carrots. In a Paula Deen butter cream sauce.
Kelly at Song for Whoever - My thanks to Tressa for introducing us. Kelly is da bomb.
Kat at Sunshine & Lemonade - Anyone who shares my love of trashy reading is a friend for life.
Lizzy at Journey to the Hot Tub - So she can share the love with Mr. B
Rhea at Texas Word Tangle - My first commenter ever and a friend for life now
Shannon at Welcome to the Nut House - Blogging has reignited a great friendship. Woo hoo!
Eleanor at News from Nooga - She needs all the love we can share with her right now.

Ok, I'm cutting it off there because I could literally go on for ages. But, I do plan to issue another list of blogs that I'm sharing this with, because it's just not right to keep this one to myself. So, go share the love with others and hug your loved ones tight. We never know how long we'll have them. Mwah!

Check the clock...my 15 minutes starts now

Oh my goodness, the day I have longed for has finally arrived. I have received my very first blogging award!

Let us pause for a moment while we view the beauty that is my very first blogging award.

While I am busy preparing my extensive acceptance speech, let me review who extended this wonderful award upon me and give you some history.

I owe this huge debt of gratitude to Michelle at Honest and Truly! Michelle & I became buds through the wonderful SITS site and I'm so thankful. Michelle is a kind soul who has 2 adorable kids (Mister Man and Little Miss) and her blog is full of REAL life with kids, hubby and neighbors that hate her. (I love that entry Michelle!) So, go check out Michelle and give her the same love that you've given me.

Now, this award comes with great responsibility and I'm not one to run when the going gets serious. This is the Arte y Pico award and it originated in Uruguay from a fabulous blogger who can test your Spanish comprehension skills if you pay her a visit. Here are the rules that accompany this esteemed award.

1. Choose 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4. The award winner and the one who has given the prize has to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. Show these rules.

Now, I'm a lot of things, but "rule breaker" isn't one of them. So here's my opportunity to pass on the torch to 5 blogs that I've come to love and adore over the last few months. And let me preface this by saying that I have 70 blogs on my reader, so I can't give this to everyone that I follow, but know that I love you all! And now, for the winners...

Kimba at A Soft Place to Land - I used to aspire to be Martha Stewart, but now I aspire to be Kimba. She has a gorgeous home, an amazing sense of style and she can work a glue gun like it's nobody's business. I'm in awe of her constant projects that she displays with sincere humbleness and can only hope that when I win the lottery this week, that she'll let me hire her as my personal interior decorator. Oh, and her blog rocks too!

Angela at A Pinch of This, A Dash of That... - Angela (aka my BFF) is the single person I have to thank for getting me into blogging. Prior to her entry "100 Things about me", I had only taken a very slight interest in blogs and that only amounted to reading a few here and there. Angela writes about everything from home improvement to fabulous cooking and she does it with style! She's got cooking demos that rival Pioneer Woman any day (and I'm not at all biased). She deserves this award for all that she's accomplished so far and all that she will accomplish in the future on her blog!

Rhea at Texas Word Tangle - Rhea has fast become one of my internet close friends! She was one of the first commenters EVER on my blog and I still don't know to this day how she found me. But I'm glad she did. Rhea's take on life with her soulmate, 2 adorable boys, and most adorable yellow Lab is amusing to read and beautifully illustrated. Rhea takes great pics and she's not afraid to use them either! And Rhea isn't afraid to be fun-loving 1 minute and ask some hard questions the next. I love her blog and respect her immensely!

Kat at Sunshine and Lemonade - Kat is another who has quickly become a close, online bud. She's been with me since almost day 1 and I love her sense of humor and musical tastes! Her blog is a wonderful conglomeration of gorgeous photography, amusing anecdotes and some killer songs. Bonus, she's a homeschooling mom who has a lot to offer on the subject. I might just be picking her brain very soon on THAT subject!

Heather at Mindless Junque - Heather is half of the brilliance behind SITS and her blog shows it. Not only is it beautiful to look at, but Heather has a sense of humor that makes me roll on the floor laughing! She writes about life with her 4 daughters (she's my hero!) and the ups and downs of being a mom, wife, and woman! I also love her take on the news of the world. Priceless commentary!

So there it is. A small list of some of the GREAT blogs out there that I love. And I'm always looking for new ones to fall in love with! Thanks again Michelle for the great award and we now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.