♥ blog love ♥


Over the past couple of weeks, I have received three blog awards from three remarkable women.

The Blog With Substance comes from Carrie, blogger of the stylish, evocative This Free Bird


Carrie's posts are often giggle-out-loud funny, as she shares her superb (and totally accessible!) sense of fashion with her readers (not to mention yummy food finds and touching moments). Full of personality and with a flair for snark, visit This Free Bird for your daily pickmeup.

Blog With Substance Award Rules: Select five words that describe your blogging philosophy, motivation, and experience.



Philosophy: I'd describe my blogging philosophy as upbeat and pretty and honest. I try to keep the mood upbeat, share some prettiness to make you smile, while simultaneously trying to keep it real. I love language, so language often ties all this together. 

Motivation: I'll aim for just one word to describe what motivates me about blogging: (sharing) happiness. It's a vague word, really. But it's wonderful in that it covers everything. I want to share bright shining moments with y'all. Happy may not even be my state of mind as I start writing, but I've found that in exhaling little moments of happiness brightens my day as well.

Experience: All I can say is it's been an exciting, beautiful journey. This started out as a rarely updated travel blog, after I left the States. I recently breathed some life into it, and it's been breathing life back into me. Your sweet thoughts, comments and support make me smile big every day. 

I'm passing the Blog of Substance Award on to these fantastic bloggers...


The (first) Versatile Blogger Award hails from Claire at Bicoastally


Claire is my friend in real life, and she is one of the most phenomenal people I've ever known. She's a tough + tender poet + teacher (she taught poetry to inmates at San Quentin! for example) with amazing taste in heels and dresses. All this shines through in her musings at Bicoastally.

The (second) Versatile Blogger Award was a lovely surprise from Nicole at Scraps of Color


I recently found Nicole's blog, and it never disappoints with healthful doses of gratitude, wide smiles, inspirational bits of loveliness and adventure. If you're not already familiar with Scraps of Color, check her out!

Versatile Blogger Award Rules: Share seven things about yourself, and then tag 15 blogs. I tagged a few more, since I received the award twice. 



Seven things about me in the order they were written...

1. When I was little, my mom taught me how to put my shirts on inside-out (backwards through the neck hole first, and then pushing the sleeves out from the inside by cupping and opening my kid fingers). I suppose she taught us how to do this out of laziness, hence making that extra right-side-out step in folding obsolete. But I prefer to think that she was practical! This is how I put my shirts on to this day. (And I'll likely teach our children the same method.)
Edit: When I originally wrote this I was thinking of family traditions. Now my aunt just wrote to me saying that Nana (my great grandma) taught all of them to put their shirts on that way. Gotta love family!

2. I speak English and Spanish fluently, and I'm trying to learn Turkish (though I've been a little lazy about it.)

3. I once took a vow of silence and sat in meditation for 10 days. And I'm doing it again at the end of September (with my husband! Still can't believe he's going to do this with me!) The method of meditation is Vipassana and they hold these 10-day courses all over the world. 

4. I'm originally from California's Bay Area. On the auspicious St. Patrick's Day of 2007, I traveled to Chilean Patagonia on a two-month solo journey throughout South America. I kept my (essentially) dream job at Yahoo!, but upon my return, I quit, donated my car, sold off a bunch of my stuff, and left again to continue my travels. Many stories and many moons later, I met my husband. We're planning to move to the States within the next year.

5. I can't say that I had any real sense of home, until about a year after I left. And I'm slightly obsessed with "home" and what it means.

6. I've started over and gotten rid of just about everything I own more times than I care to think about. But throughout all these transitions, my mother's hope chest always accompanies me. As does my ever (slowly) growing collection of books. The hope chest and several book boxes collect time in my aunt's garage, awaiting my eventual return.

7. I went to poetry school in San Francisco and earned an MFA in Creative Writing. I love calling it poetry school. 

Tagging these blogs of awesomeness with Versatility...


Whew! That was a mouthful. Another huge thank you to the lovely ladies who gave me these awards. Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your well-deserved awards!

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is a lot of awards! Well deserved & thanks for tagging me, you made my night! A vow of silence for 10 days?! I have to give you big credits for this one! I wouldn't last 10 mins. It must be sooooo hard! I think you could try cranberry juice instead of blueberry for the sugar scrub. xo

Clara Campelo said...

amazing look
lovely blog!!
xx

stylenuggets said...

Love to read Carrie @ this free bird's posts too!

Anonymous said...

hey! great post, I liked reading more about you! have a great week!

J. said...

COngrats on all of the awards! :)

Abby said...

Congrats on all the awards! I'd definitely say that you deserve that blog of substance award. Your blog always makes me smile.

You passed an award to me? Thank you!

Nicki said...

Congrats on ALL the blog awards. You definitely deserved each and every one of them.

Yay for the Bay Area!!! I grew up there as well!

Jamie-Lee Burns said...

Congrats! And wow, that vow of silence sounds like it would be tough! I am so impressed x

http://pagesixxx.blogspot.com/

Castles Crowns and Cottages said...

Good morning, Heather! What a wonderful blog YOU have! Thank you for coming to visit with me yesterday! I see that you know some of my favorite bloggers and other fabulous women who have just recently visited with me. You have a wonderful world here, and I really like your blog header quote. Blogging has been such a great writing exercise and REASON to think, compose and publish things that hold us accountable to live. Do come again; my blog is versatile in thought, while I try to constantly weave in photographs that are ethereal and have a French flair. Enjoy your day! Anita

Poppies and Sunshine said...

Aw thank you bunches for passing the award on to me!! And congrats on so many!! So fun to read your facts. I have always wanted to be able to leave everything behind and go travel. I'm afraid I don't have the guts, even though I know it would be amazing! Kudos for that!

k said...

awww thanks so much!!!!

Unknown said...

thanks love for stopping by and following!!! - loven' ur lists - seems like u REALLY deserve each and every award! - loven' the voew of silence - classic! .. new follower now :o)

*kiss kiss*
Erika
~Tiptoe Butterfly~

love jenny xoxo said...

Congrats! You deserve it!! Also, I just posted about the drink you were wondering about... yucca! You definitely need to try it, it's sooo good!

its simple love said...

Awe, thanks for the tag! I really appreciate that! You are wonderful and the feeling is quite mutual!

Rachael

Valerie said...

Congratulations on all your awards! How cool that you're learning to speak Turkish! I've always wanted to speak many languages. But so far it's just English and Spanish for me. Maybe one day I'll learn Italian. :)

Valerie

Unknown said...

Congrats on those awards! That's awesome! Turkish, huh? I'm impressed! XO!

Diana Mieczan said...

Congrats sweetie on all your lovely awards....I am so happy:) Thank you sooooo very much for this award:) Totally made my day:) Thank you so much:))

Kisses and have a wonderful day

and flowers pick themselves said...

thank you very much for passing along the award! i'm touched :)

xo Alison

this free bird said...

Heather - you got the motherload here!! But so well-deserved...you are so insightful and I love reading your posts.

Thanks for the shout out - if you were closer we could have a glass of sangria.

and ps - thanks for the versatility mention!!

xoxo,
carrie

rebekka said...

Yes, very well-deserved indeed! It will be fun to check out the other blogs too!!!

Christine said...

Congratulations on all the awards! They're well deserved. And thanks so much for passing it along to me. It means so much to me. Have a beautiful week! xx

Blair McLeod said...

congrats on your awards and the lovely ladies you shared them with! i know a few and am excited to check out the rest!!

p.s. check out my designer dress giveaway www.wild-and-precious.com

Style, She Wrote said...

Congrats on your many awards. You have a lovely blog and they are well deserved.

paislea said...

so fun!! and congratulations on your awards!!!

allisterbee.blogspot.com

georgia ~ gi gi said...

Aw, I adore your happy, breath of fresh air blog! Congrats on your awards, and thank you for thinking of lil ol me :)
I have said it before, but I think you have a facinating and charming life, glad you are sharing with us!

koralee said...

Congratulations on all your awards...you so deserve them. xoxoxo

Natalie @ Blossoming Visions said...

First off, congrats on all of those awards! That's something to be proud of : ) Secondly, thank you for stopping by my blog and following, I'm now following you...

Yulia Rahmawati said...

nice blog
I'm glad to find it

Joyti said...

Oooo, thank you for the lovely tag! :) Great post, loved your answers...

Amber said...

Congrats on all your awards. Loved reading everything you had to share. :) Vow of silence for 10 days - wow!

OneCraftyFox said...

Congrats on the awards, you deserve them! It is also so nice to get to know more about you :)

Pretty Pleased said...

Just came across your blog and enjoyed this post immensely...especially love #1 and #2 in you list~I'm blessed with a lively family that has resulted in many colorful memories:) Congrats on the awards! We will be following:)
MC+Catherine
www.prettypleasedblog.com

Micaela said...

your blog is so full of light and a must-read for me! i've been away and i can't wait to "relax with you" :)

THANK YOU for the gift! it made my day :) seriously!!!

i LOVE learning about you-- these tags are my favorite because they're random facts that might not come out in everyday conversation.

sometime, you'll have to tell me more about the power of meditation-- as you know, "eat pray love" CHANGED MY LIFE and yet the whole meditation thing i can't seem to grasp.

i love your life story so far... if only i could give up everything i own and travel... i'm so not brave enough, but imagine if that was the excuse you used? you would have never met your husband.

xoxo

kaylyn. said...

Thanks for the tag :)

Heather Taylor said...

Congrats on your awards!

Upbeat and pretty and honest. What a fabulous philosophy to have!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your awards! Interesting... 10 day silence / meditation? wow...

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