Gratitude

First off, thank you to everyone for your kind comments over the past few posts.  And thanks for understanding my lack of posts this week; I’ve been a bit under the weather. 

Second, I want to thank Tina at The Enchanted Home and Lisa at The Lisa Porter Collection for awarding me with the Stylish Blogger Award and a Gold Star Award.  I’m truly honored and humbled.  Tina’s lovely blog documents the building of her beautiful home, and her posts are full of wonderful design inspiration.  Lisa writes consistently lovely posts about living an elegant life.  She also regularly interviews artists, and offers thoughtful insights about life’s small but important details. 

And speaking of details, both awards came with questions to answer.  I’m playing fast and loose with those, however, and have combined them to those below.

Why do you blog?  I started blogging when a yearlong freelance writing assignment came to an end. I wanted to keep up the discipline of writing regularly, and I also wanted to see what it was like to write about whatever topic I chose.

Obviously I could have achieved both of those goals with a private journal, but I am such an egomaniac that I wanted to see if anyone else wanted to read what I wrote.  Ironically I unwittingly blogged for almost six months without realizing that I had set up my blog so that Town and Country Mom didn’t allow comments!   Clearly, I was off to a slow start.

Name your three best memories. The easiest and truest answer is our three children, Big, Middle, and Little, who have provided many happy memories for almost 19 years!

Name four of the best fiction books you have read. I love to read, so I found this question to be really tough.  On another day, I would almost certainly have different answers, but for now I’ll say Raney by Clyde Edgerton; Stuart Little by E. B. White; To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee; and An Excellent Woman by Barbara Pym.

What are the five best movies ever made?  I really couldn’t say, but five of my favorites are: The Sound of Music, Mona Lisa Smile, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Babette’s Feast, and Father of the Bride (Steve Martin version).  The Mister and I really enjoyed The King’s Speech, as well.   Don’t be put off by the R rating; it was, in my opinion, completely undeserved. Name five things I cannot live without.  Good strong coffee, art, a good pen, my Bible, books, my laptop, and thick, crisp cotton sheets.  I know that’s seven.  I’ve been sick.  I feel needy. Oh, make it eight.  Ripe tomatoes.

If you could change your name what would it be?  I’m fine with my name, but someday I would love to see the word author before or after it! 

If you had a freaky Friday experience, who would you change places with?  I think it would be a draw between Hilary Clinton and Ina Garten.  Better just make it Ina; too much is at stake for me to be further complicating foreign policy issues.

So, there you have it—probably more than you cared to know.  Lastly, I would like to pass these awards along to some blogs I’ve recently discovered and am enjoying immensely.

The Southland Life

The House of Fowler

Small Apartment Big Life

Nine and Sixteen

Happy reading, everyone!