Ralph Waldo Emerson Ain't Got Shit On Me

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.
~~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wow, what a great week this is turning out to be! Not only am I starting a new workout routine that makes me feel great (thank you, Jillian Michaels, you scary beautiful bitch), but I was given the Beautiful Blogger Award!


I want to thank B Sparkly for giving me this awesome award. Head on over to her blog if you've never been... it's colorful and pretty and it has the coolest Faerie picture EVER in her side bar.

The rules for this award are:
1. Thank & link to the person that gave you the award (done!)

2. Pass this award onto 15 bloggers you’ve recently discovered & think are fantastic.
I will attempt to do this in the near future... today is turning out to be quite hectic. Sorry, peeps!

3. State 7 things about yourself

7 Things About Me:
1. When I was 14, I shaved the back of my head and dyed two long strands of hair towards the front of my face bright green. Then, I wrote "Reel Big Fish" in black sharpie marker on my bra, headed over to the Warped Tour and kept my shirt lifted throughout the entire concert. I'm not proud of that... just keeping it interesting.

2. My husband and I tell poop jokes or make poop references at least twice a night.

3. I have a psychological aversion to the color yellow. It literally makes me feel angry.

4. I have a vast collection of shark teeth and sea shells.

5. When it comes to reading and movies, I don't have a preference. I will watch The Devil Wears Prada and then turn around and watch Carrie. I'll also read Little Women and then The Da Vinci Code. Nooooo preference.

6. My love of music and dance drives people crazy. I used to keep drum sticks in my back seat... at stop lights I would practice drumming on my steering wheel to whatever song I was listening to. Got a lot of funny looks from other drivers that way.

7. My best friend and I once danced naked in my back yard during a lightning storm... not the safest fun you could have, but definitely a rush. Especially since I had no fence and the neighbors on either side were home. Der.

Two is better than one, HUZZAH!!

That's right, I said "Huzzah."

Perhaps you think that is stupid.

I would strongly suggest not hanging around for a gmail IM or a telephone conversation in my house as "huzzah" is thrown around as much as "dude, awesome, shiz, rad," and the ever popular (and my own personal favorite) "pooface."

I'd like to give a huge, fluffy, *sweet* thank you to my blog-buddy, Miss Dot, over at Saving the World One Cupcake at a Time.

First of all, how the hell does she make cookies and cupcakes all day and stay so damn skinny?

Lucky! :P

Thanks, Miss Dot, for not only having some of the coolest cupcakes in the world (and a great sense of humor... oh, and for being ridiculously adorable), but also for bestowing upon me the Lemonade Stand AND the Happy 101 Blog Awards!

I'm pretty sure this is common knowledge, but in a lot of instances two is better than one.

Maybe not when you're talking about chins, or elongated nose hairs, or evil cats. But two is definitely better than one when you're talking about most cool things like cupcakes, diamonds, dollars, boobs, eyebrows... and awards, for sure.

For the Happy 101 Blog Award, I am going to list 10 things that make me happy:

1. SEX (and yes, I fully plan on doing this tonight... see rule #2)
2. My husband (and yes, I fully plan on doing him tonight... see rule #2)
3. My best friend and our Skype shenanigans!
4. Cupcakes... especially fluffy ones with pretty frosting. Pink and blue ones. Yum! :)
5. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$. I like the monies!! Is it bad that money makes me so happy? I doubt it.
6. Learning that my friends are pregnant. You hear that friends?! Have BABIES so I can live vicariously through you!!
7. Starbucks Venti Chai Tea Latte with an extra shot of chai.
8. My family... my brother is getting his ass over here (finally!) in 2 weeks and I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. I'm very lucky to be blessed with what I believe is the most awesome family ever.
9. Everything about the beach. I love the sound of the ocean, the feeling of sand, the smell of the water... even that gross smell when there's a dead fish somewhere around.
10. Pina coladas, cosmopolitans, cupcake martinis, and white Russians :::::hiccup:::::

I'd like to pass these awards on to 10 bloggers who really brighten my day and who I feel have a great attitude:

1) Drea, If Only She'd Shut Up!
2) Jamee, A New Kind of Normal
3) Autism's Bitch
4) Rubber Baby Buckin Bumpers
5) Fat Mom Blog
6) The fact that she can remain nice w/ such awful morning sickness should be a beacon of hope to all :P: Munckie Madness
7) Frugal Poontater
8) JULA!, (that's right, I said it JUST LIKE Adam Sandler :P), She Felt a Drop of Rain
9) Diana(because, let's face it, who DOESN'T love her blog?!), Diana Rambles
10) Let's Have a Cocktail


Happy 101 Award:
1) List 10 things that make me happy (got it!)
2) Try to do at least one of them today (got it!)
3) Tag 10 bloggers that brighten my day (got it!)
4) For those 10 bloggers who get the award, you then link back to my blog and create your own "makes you happy" list (if you want, no pressure)

Lemonade Stand Award:
- Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post (done!)
- Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude (done!)
- Link the nominees within your post (done!)
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog (done!)
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award (done!)

You Like Me, You Really Like Me!! :)

My friend, Jamee, over at A New Kind Of Normal has bestowed upon me the Honest Scrap Award!

I feel so loved... and so honest! And perhaps even honestly loved :P
Ok, I'll stop gloating now.
The rules are that I list 10 honest things about myself and then pass the award on to some fellow bloggers.
The part about passing it on sounds fun, but do I really want to list 10 honest things about myself? Because, honestly (har har), I feel as though I might end up with my foot lodged in my mouth.
Here goes nothing!!

1. I have some weird ass phobias. I don't throw around that word lightly, either (phobia, not ass). I mean that they are actually debilitating fears. One of my phobias is of puking. I have not thrown up since I was 16, so about 10 years :::::knocks on wood:::::. I'm also terrified of *seeing or hearing* someone else throw up. It doesn't set off a chain reaction of vomitous proportion or anything, but usually when I see or hear someone puke, I immediately faint. Not one person has ever really been able to figure out why. I'm like one of those fainting goats!

2. My second phobia is of bugs. I'm ok with ants, but that's about it. Again, phobia is not an exaggeration. Want an example or two? We get these bugs in North Carolina, I'm not sure what they're called but they must breed in April or May because there are a bunch of them just lounging around the entrances to our house, sipping bug-martinis and waiting to scare the living shit out of me just by existing. I believe they are crane flies, but to me they just look like some evil crossbreed of a mosquito, a dragonfly and Satan. I will not go into my house if there is one in the immediate vicinity. I have literally sat in my car for 30 minutes and been late getting back to work (I work from home) because one of those demonic bastards was just hanging out on the wall near the front door. :::::shivers::::: Eeeeeeeew! Oh, and don't even get me started on beatles. I will seriously scream, curl up in a ball and cry if I see one near me. Like I said: PHOBIA.

3. I am *obsessed* with sharks. Go ahead and ask me about any specific shark and I can tell you something neat about them. When I was little, I went to the beach with my babysitter, her son, and my brother and I was hanging out on the sandbar (I lived in Ft. Lauderdale at the time) and a shark swam right past me. I could have reached out and touched it. To my small, young self it looked HUGE, but I'm sure that in reality it was probably only 3 or 4 feet. That experience really changed me for some reason and ever since I have done a lot of personal research on sharks.

4. I'm big into ocean protection/conservation. I am a regular contributor to www.oceana.org and I get super mega pissed when I hear about people screwing with coral reefs, oceanic ecosystems, and endangered marine life.

5. I am the biggest beach bum at heart. I could listen to Jimmy Buffett and drink pina coladas all damn day (well, maybe not the pina colada part... but it's 5:00 somewhere right? Ha, pun). I moved to Charlotte from Ft. Lauderdale without even thinking about the fact that I was 20 minutes from one of the most gorgeous beaches in the United States and I miss the ocean every day. Even with it being only 3 hours to the beach from here, I literally feel parched and sad and my soul feels all dry. Every time I go to visit family in South Florida I seriously have to breathe deep and clutch the steering wheel or I will cry because I can actually FEEL that I'm closer to the ocean. It sounds so incredibly stupid, but it's true. My husband calls me a mermaid... most people call me weird LOL.

6. I think it's strange when people scoff at others who think mythical creatures like Loch Ness, faeries, and mermaids might actually exist (cryptozoologists and others). 500 years ago, everyone who thought the Earth was round was viewed as a complete psycho because any sane person knew that it was flat and that you'd drop straight off the edge if you went too far. Millions of people believe in God and no one has ever seen Him but they know in their hearts He is real. Why is it so different with something else that no one has ever seen? If you've never seen something with your own two eyes, how can you possibly believe in it so strongly and then believe so strongly that someone else is wrong about something they've never seen? Got me? People are weird.

7. I like to put barbecue sauce on my tuna fish (it makes it sort of sweet) and I *love* to get cheese pizza and put oreos on top of it. Seriously, try it, it's awesome.

8. My favorite kind of pizza is Hawaiian. I usually pick off the ham and just leave the pineapple on, but sometimes I'll eat the ham too. I could eat Hawaiian pizza 7 days a week.

9. I have never eaten a tropical fruit I didn't like. Give me coconut, bananas, pineapples, papayas, mangos, guava, etc. and I'll be good for the rest of my life. Mmmmm, fruit! :)

10. I'm obsessed with my blog. I check it every few minutes to see if I have any new followers or new comments. Every time I get a new follower I go running to my husband like a crazy woman "I got a new follower, I got a new follower!!" I think my ultimate dream is to be the next Dooce. It'll never happen, but this is Honest Scrap, so I'm admitting it. :P
And now, to pass it on! And the award goes to :::::drum roll::::: I love drum rolls!!

1. Drea at If Only She'd Shut Up! ... she is actually the most honest person I know. Sometimes I wish it weren't so :P
2. Shannon at Milk and Cuddles
3. Sara at Sara Spelled Without an H
4. Mommakin at Keep in Touch With Mommakin

One Lovely Blog Award!

I'm so incredibly excited! I feel like I got an early birthday present :).

Today I was given my first ever blog award from my good blog-buddy, Nina. Definitely check out her blog: Nina's Theories

Nina and I share a love for Europe, designer luggage and, of course, sexy cupcakes.

Thanks so much, Nina, for making my day bright and happy with this awesome blog award!

I can't wait to pass this award on to 15 of my blogging buds that I feel have Lovely Blogs!

To accept this award: Post it on your blog together with the name of the Person who granted and his or her link. Pass the Award to 15 other blogs that you newly discovered & Remember to contact them and let them know.

And the award goes to :::::drum roll please:::::

1. Aloha Boyfriend
2. Rubber Baby Buckin Bumpers
3. Experiments in a Galley Kitchen
4. Home of the Lazy Dog
5. I've Changed My Name To Mommy
6. Jael Custom Designs
7. Munckie Madness
8. Mommy In Pink
9. That's What She Said
10. The Seamstress of Avalon
11. Tudor City Girl
12. Working Girl
13. 20-Something Dreams and Cocktail Wishes
14. The Heir To Blair
15. California Girl Lost in a Southern World