Y is… Yesterday I Won an Award

Yeah, I’m being lame again today. I could not come up with anything I wanted to make today for the letter Y, so much like the letter Q (which I did have a recipe for but decided not to do!) I designated a free day. Except here’s the deal…. Yesterday I really did win an award. And that starts with the letter Y. Moving on.

Actually I’m pretty sure I won the award the day before, but I found out about it yesterday, so that counts, right?

Btw: If I tagged you in this, you do not have to do it. I don’t expect ANY of you to do it, but I still wanted to say something about you all anyway. Deal with it. I’m mushy sometimes.

Do you ever meet a fellow blogger and you feel a pull to them? Everytime you see them post, you get more and more curious about who they are and when you do speak to them, you feel as if you’ve known them forever even though you obviously haven’t?
No?
Well, that’s how I feel about Tammi who blogs over at Momma’s Meals and she is the one who gave me this award yesterday (okay the day before). Tammi and I have a lot of stuff in common, she just doesn’t know it because I don’t have facts and what not listed all over my site. But she does. And I read them.  And we do. So anyway, yeah, I feel like I know her. She’s awesome. And she has yummy recipes over there and she is all about sharing which is my motto, so I’m loving her already.

The Versatile Blogger Award is a great way for bloggers to introduce different bloggers to each other and also to promote quality blogs that the awardees and their followers might not otherwise discover. The rules of the award are quite simple:

• Thank the person who gave you this award.
• Include a link to their blog.
• Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
• Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
• Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.
• Include this set of rules in your post.
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

It’s super easy to thank Tammi for this award. Tammi has been very supportive throughout the A-Z Challenge, and she actually participated because of me, which for some reason makes me happy that I spread the love and that people joined. I think she might be the only one who told me that. Again, I love her. So thank you so much Tammi for thinking that lowly old me and my random recipe blog is good enough or interesting enough to warrant a versatile blogger award. I guess the award title is indeed appropriate.  Thank you!

Go visit Tammi. Please? Momma’s Meals. You can wait until you read the rest, but tell her I said  hi. Check out her yummy recipes and make something. You never know what you’ll find.

Okay, now I must choose 15 blogs that are recently discovered or that I follow regularly. Easy enough.

Let’s get started – These are  in NO particular order but every one of them has a reason they are there. The people behind them  inspire me, remind me I can do anything I want to do, and they encourage and support me. Some are brand new to me, some have been friends for awhile.

Mom’s Crazy Cooking – I know Tina already made Tammi’s list but Tina definitely deserves a place on my list too – especially with the inspiring.  I think we’ve known each other online for about a year or so now – we participated in another monthly challenge together. Anyway, she is awesome. She has a great food blog and I find myself combing it constantly for inspiration, she hosts a couple of fun and creative monthly and weekly challenges of her own now (the weekly one I co-host with her), and what can I say? She’s sweet. She’s funny. She doesn’t take crap. And I get to meet her, in person, in about a week. Yep. Jealous? haha I would be if you were meeting her. Just saying. She’ll tell you I’ve been counting down the days until she gets here. She can also tell you she has her name emblazoned across my monthly calendar during the days that her daughters and her will be here. Yep, I’m excited.

Family Foodie – Isabel is amazing. Isabel and I have probably known each other online coming up on a year pretty soon.  But it’s been more recently (the past several months) where we’ve spent countless hours on the phone together, strategizing, chit chatting and gossiping. Only a little bit of gossiping though. She is a dear friend of mine now  and I could not imagine a time when she wasn’t a close friend. She has a beautiful direction for her blog – her mission to bring back Sunday Supper has taken off and she has a whole hashtag on twitter – you should join us on Sunday’s. She makes the most amazing Portuguese cuisine as well, and until her – I’d only eaten Portuguese food once. Now we made stuff all the time.  She is extremely supportive, has an impressive creativity and I just love her. Plus this chick is smart and quite business savvy.  That is all. I could go on and on forever about Isabel.

Juanita’s Cocina – Jen. Jen is one of my newer friends, so she could be categorized as both recently discovered and follow regularly because ever since I recently discovered her I’ve been following her regularly. ha! Jen is super awesome, she’s funny, she’s supportive, she makes amazing food and quite frankly, I love her. Plus, she loves Ranch and she likes to eat it on strange things – like pizza, and not many like it on weird things – so she is awesome in my book. And all of that makes me love her even more. She’s simply awesome.

Me and My Tadpole – Sheri has been my friend for awhile now and I’ve definitely given her plenty of shout outs before, but the thing is, she deserves a million more. I connected with her on a level I wasn’t aware was possible online, and feel like we’d be inseparable if we lived nearby each other. She is an amazing photographer and her recipes are to die for. She is a great friend, an amazing mom,  she supports, she listens, she calms, she commiserates, she is one of my best friends and damn, I miss her. We don’t get to spend as much time together online anymore and that simply sucks. Do you hear that Sheri? It sucks! I miss you. I love you. xoxo

Magnolia Days – Every time I have a conversation with Renee, I love her more and more. She is smart, dedicated to her blog, makes amazing recipes and is an extremely supportive friend. She is also there to help out when people want her advice or help on a major project they are working on. Ahem. That wouldn’t be me or anything. I’ve seen the support she has offered to others and I admire her. Anyway, she is awesome. She’s a Georgia girl and loves gardening and has whippets. You really need to go visit her. She is awesome.

Chocolate Moosey – Carla is hilarious. She is also newer to me.  She also likes ranch, though I can’t remember but I think she thought Jen and I were a bit obsessed. Carla is living the life I want. I want to live in a small town with cows as my neighbors. I’m jealous. I’m also jealous of the wonderful food she makes because its beautifully presented and looks delicious.  She also has a super cute cat and a really awesome moose. Yep, jealous.

Boy Married Girl – Grace is amazing. She has the most hilarious post writing skills. She can tell a story in a way that will leave you laughing with tears running down your face.  She’s just witty. And she’s beautiful. She is also married to the dude I consider my boss sort of (he’s not really, I just think he is on some days). And they sincerely make the most beautiful couple both on the inside and out, that I’ve ever met. They rock. But more than anything – her posts rock and they make me laugh and she’s sweet too, did I mention that? Well, she is.

Mac’s Musings – Abbie and I have known each other about a year. She’s the sister of the dude I consider my boss (you remember, the one that isn’t really, but on some days I think he is? yeah, that one.) Abbie loves food, and she loves music and she is brilliant and I love reading her blog posts and lately she has been dipping deeper into her Christianity and writing posts that make me feel like she is talking about my life. You ever think someone was put into your life for a reason, and that every time they speak there is a message in it for you? Yep, that’s Abbie for me. She’s awesome.

Justin Bog – Justin has a long last name that I love. Bogdanovitch. If you even want to know how many times I’ve walked around the house saying it. I even gave it to a character in the book I’ve been working on. He recently changed his last name to Bog, to make it easier. Probably because it’s hard to say, which is why I have walked around trying to say it as often as I could. When he shortened it, I was sad. But I didn’t tell him that, so he’s finding out here. Sorry ’bout that Justin. I love your last name. That is all. Justin.Is.Awesome. He is such a super amazing friend, very, very supportive and an awesome writer. Justin mailed me brownies. And they were good and no you can’t have any, they were mine. Justin cheers me on with my food and recipes, as well as with my writing – he is one of the most genuine guys I know. He also takes cares of my dogs has beautiful German Shepherds that are so cute I want to borrow, steal, come visit and play with them and hang with Justin and Chris. Some day…

Melissa Foster – Oh Melissa. I don’t even know how to put into words how I feel about her without sounding ridiculous and sappy or without saying too much. She is absolutely the most giving, loving and supportive friend I’ve ever met. Melissa has three books published and they are all three AMAZING. You should read them. She writes exactly how I do, which has been a fun journey. She is my mentor, my friend, my hero. She supports and encourages me, she gives me opportunities to do projects to further both my writing career and my food blogging. Melissa I will never be able to thank you enough, but I will continue to pay it all forward and give back to others. We are twin brains and I love that. Your friendship means so much to me.

Dan Cristo – One of the smartest men I know. He reminds me of that daily when he can take the tiniest problem and have it solved in 30 seconds. Okay, sometimes its not that fast, but we’ll just pretend it is. He is also a very solid Christian with an amazing view point about things and he never ceases to make me stop and think about something in a new way. I admire this guy. I wish I could code like him, and don’t even get me started about the brilliant mind that speaks SEO.

Genius Bordering Insanity or KurtChambers.Net - I took a huge break from writing for awhile to focus on my food blog. Kurt didn’t realize that he was my constant reminder that I needed to get back into writing again – a weekly reminder. Kurt lives in the UK with his wife and their three children and then he has three grandchildren, though I have yet to figure out how that is possible because he does not look like a grandpa. At all. I’m just saying. He is a children’s author who writes middle grade fantasy. He is also the author of the Truth Teller series – check it out. He loves kids which I think is simply awesome. I’m pretty sure Kurt and I have been following each other for at least about 2 years or more. Every Friday for the last year or so he has made me smile with his #FF shoutouts that ALWAYS say I rock, which in turn I have to remind him, so does he. Kurt is seriously awesome. And he knows how to make someone smile. Just sayin’. Quick Update: Ahem, someone stopped telling me I rocked a few weeks ago, so after sending him a tweet reminding him that I do indeed rock, he once again pulled out the big guns and gave me an AWESOME #FF shout out this week and reminded me that I rock… we also have a little challenge going – Btw Kurt, this ^ means I win. LOL Top that :p

DIY Blogger – Mr. Dogan. Dino. I am eternally grateful to this man for opportunities that he has afforded me by bringing me on as a Triberr pot stirrer, problem diffuser moderator. He supports, he encourages, he’s funny as hell, he has an attention span that is possibly shorter than mine and he has an energy that just spills out of him when he is excited about a new idea or creative endeavor. This man just never fails to amaze me with his witty remarks, his ability to see things differently than I do and remind me that I need to always keep my eyes open. Thank you Dino – for everything you guys have given me, or done for me. You rock my world, and there are no words that will ever be able to express my gratitude. I don’t feel like such a little blogger anymore.

SiteSketch101 - Nicholas, Nick – whatever – he’s awesome and smart and funny and has the cutest little girl ever. He also thinks the way I do, in that he likes to help others. He spends a lot of time showing you how to build a powerful and profitable blog. In my opinion, that’s pretty giving. He has helped me through some serious hurdles over here on The Daily Dish and he helped me design a former look for the page. I don’t think he’s seen it like this yet. In fact, I know he hasn’t. But still… Nick is awesome. Smart, helpful, funny and he knows a lot of cool stuff. <– you know that’s not the word I wanted to use there, but I have to watch my mouth when I talk to him on Skype – there’s tiny ears that are often present and oh what cute tiny ears they are. haha (P.S. I need your help again haha)

I refused to choose a number 15 and the reason for this is because I have at least 5-10 more people I’d like to add to this list, but I can’t.  I am not doing a number 15. Don’t ask, it’s my blog, my award, I’m just not.

Now I’m supposed to tell you or I guess, Tammi, 7 things about myself. This should be interesting.

1. I have a bit of an obsession with music and I listen to all kinds. I almost always have it on. Loud. I have a headset, don’t worry. But I do it when I’m writing – it allows the words to flow so I don’t think so much. Yes, it require tons of editing but the stories are always awesome.

2. I have had a website since 1994 when my son was born. It was supposed to be to document him but for a long time had nothing to do with him. I started blogging in the modern sense in 2005 but truthfully before it had a name I was blogging.

3. I’m always surprised when someone touches my life somehow, by being supportive, kind, encouraging, giving and they seem shocked when I say something about how much they matter to me. Of course, the people that are clueless to how special they are, happen to be the ones I am most drawn to.

4. My favorite place in the world is Ireland. I’ve never been there, but hope I will someday. I am obsessed with pretty much all things Irish – Food, the land, the traditions, the music, the customs. * sigh * There has been an Irish Character in every single book I’ve written.

5.  I am a small town girl stuck in suburbia and I feel like I’m suffocating. Ready to move out of here and onto some land…. like where I can’t see the neighbors anymore.

6. I am a writer first, even before food blogging but I tend to get distracted easily and have needed to get myself there again. I gave up all my freelance gigs and the websites I was writing for to focus on fiction full time and now I’m food blogging. I need to prioritize. Who wants to help?

7. I am an open book. I will usually answer any question but for some reason I have trouble coming up with 7 random things about myself.

And there you have it. If you made it this far, you’re either crazy or you really care about me. Either way, thank you!