Illuminating Blogger Award

This is an extra blog post for this week.

My friend Nikky at Nikky’s Strength and Weakness recently nominated me for the Illuminating Blogger Award.

This is what the award website says about the award: “Food Stories is pleased to present the Illuminating Blogger Award, a fabulous award that anyone can bestow on their fellow bloggers for illuminating, informative blog content.”

I thank Nikky for thinking of me, and I’m glad for the opportunity to recognize other bloggers who provide illuminating and informative blog content on a regular basis.

Here are the award rules:

1. The nominee should visit the award site http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award/ and leave a comment indicating that they have been nominated and by whom. (This step is so important because it’s the only way that we can create a blogroll of award winners).

2. The nominee should thank the person that nominated them by posting and including a link to their blog.

3. Share one random thing about yourself in your blog post.

4. Select at least five other bloggers that you enjoy reading their illuminating, informative posts and nominate them for the award.

5. Notify your nominees by leaving a comment on their blog, including a link to the award site http://foodstoriesblog.com/illuminating-blogger-award/.

Here’s one random thing about me: My favorite color is purple and always has been. When I was a little girl in Sunday school, I always chose the purple crayon to color with.

Here are my nominees, who may choose to participate or not participate in the award process. But I hope my readers will visit each of these special blogs. I learn something every time I visit them.

Nadine Feldman

ocdtalk

Heal Now and Forever

Anxiety Schmanxiety

  Two Bears Farm 

Awards and a few random things

Nikky of Nikky’s Strength and Weakness very kindly nominated me for two blog awards, the Versatile Blogger Award and the Beautiful Blogger Award.

I hope if you haven’t already checked out Nikky’s blog, you will soon. She writes with breathtaking honesty about her life that has included war, abuse and crushing disappointment.

In spite of all that she has been through and her continuing battles, Nikky is full of compassion and shares it through her writing.

In accepting the awards, I will do what Nikky did, and that is to combine the rules of the two awards. Here are the rules:

*Thank the blogger who nominated you.

*Share 7 random things about yourself.

*Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award and 7 Bloggers for The Beautiful Blogger Award.

*Inform the bloggers of their nomination.

*Include the Versatile Blogger Award image and the Beautiful Blogger award image in your blog post.

Here are seven random things about me:

1. I grew up in rural Central Virginia.
2. I have two older brothers, one 11 years older and one two years older.
3. I have played the piano since I was 5. I also learned to play the organ, which I didn’t enjoy nearly as much as the piano. I did play the organ for two weddings along the way.
4. I went to graduate school at Bowling Green State University, in Northwest Ohio, and lived there for five years.
5. I am a vegetarian.
6. I’m allergic to tree nuts.
7. My first paying job was as a salesclerk at Sears.

  For my nominations, I decided to do something similar to what my friend Tracy did when she was nominated for an award for her blog My Thoughtful Spot.

Tracy admires all her fellow bloggers. I do too.

I follow a lot of blogs, and I look forward to the writers’ new posts and new ideas. So I nominate all my fellow bloggers. Feel free to accept the awards and list seven things about yourself so we can get to know you better.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Sunshine Award

I have had the pleasure of being nominated for the Sunshine Award by Nikky, of the blog “Nikky’s Strength and Weakness.”

In her beautiful blog, Nikky writes about her life with incredible compassion and courageous honesty. She shares her love through her stories and insight. I thank her for nominating me for this award.

Here are the rules for this blog award if you are nominated:

• Include the award logo in a post or on your blog (see the flower photo above).
• Answer 10 questions about yourself.
• Nominate 10-12 other fabulous bloggers.
• Link your nominees to the post and comment on their blogs, letting them know that they have been nominated.
• Share the love and link the person who nominated you.

So here are 10 things about me:

What are your favorite things to do? Spending time with my husband, playing with and taking care of my cats, writing and reading.

Where would you most like to travel? Alaska.

Who would you most like to meet who is still living? Joan Didion.

Who would you most like to meet who has passed away? Joseph Campbell.

What do you think is the hardest thing to do? Living with uncertainty.

What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink? Diet Pepsi.

What is your favorite charity? Best Friends Society.

What are you proud of? I’ve never stopped learning.

What ambition do you still have? To have at least one book published.

What is your favorite flower? The iris.

My nominations (in no particular order):

The Art of an Improbable Life

Musings of an Unapologetic Dreamer

Lights All Around

Nadine Galinsky Feldman, Author

My Thoughtful Spot

Two Bears Farm

Shirley Hershey Showalter: Discover the power of writing your story

71 degrees & Sunny: One Christian’s Odyssey through Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Snowflakes and Stardust

  Peace and Penguins

Please visit these blogs to see for yourself why I enjoy them so much!

Spreading hope

This week, Becky Green Aaronson of the blog “The Art of an Improbable Life” nominated me for the HUG (Hope Unites Globally) Award.

I was very honored to be nominated for such an award, and also very honored to be nominated by such a wonderful writer who herself spreads hope and grace with her writing.

The HUG Award was created by Connie Wayne of “A Hope for Today.” A complete description of the award can be found here.

The main guiding principal behind my work on this blog is to encourage hope in others. I want others who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and anxiety to know that help is available and they are not alone, and, also, that things will get better.

I have been blessed to connect with so many other bloggers who have inspired hope in me.

On her blog, Becky Green Aaronson gives “a head spinning look at the improbable life my husband and I have shared in the world of art, photography, writing, and parenthood.”

Illustrated with beautiful photographs, Becky writes about art, being a parent, raising money for the fight against cancer, writing, running, stories of her husband’s experiences as an international photojournalist and a multitude of other things.

She is full of optimism and hope, and I read her blog because I know I’m going to learn a little more about the world and be inspired to do my part in making it better.

My nominees

One of the guidelines for nominees for the HUG Award is to pass it on to others.

Before I started blogging, and when I first began blogging back in November 2011, I started reading several blogs that gave me hope.

I learned that I had more work to do in my own battle with OCD and depression, but I knew that these bloggers would support me in my efforts and provide not only valuable information to me, but hope.

These were the first blogs I read by people who were writing about OCD, and I was amazed by their honesty and their triumphs over obstacles.

They are my nominees for the HUG Award:

Elizabeth of “On My Own.” Elizabeth’s blog is beautiful to look at and beautiful to read. She writes about her life with such warmth and hope, and she is generous in her comments to others.

Ann of “The Beat OCD Blog.” Ann has worked hard in her own battle with OCD, and her stories show others that they can achieve success too.

Sunny of “71 degrees & Sunny: One Christian’s Odyssey through Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.” Sunny writes with a heart turned towards helping others. We started blogging almost the same day.

Lolly of “Lolly’s Hope.” Lolly lives a life of hope and writes about it in a way that inspires others.

Janet of “ocdtalk.” Janet’s son has OCD, and she is working to educate others about the mental disorder.

Karin of “My Journey Thru (& hopefully out of) OCD.” Karin uses her wonderful sense of humor when she writes about her own experiences with OCD.

  “Pure O Canuck.” POC has a lot of insight into her own journey with OCD and shares that with her readers.

   One Anxious Gal of “Light One Candle.” One Anxious Gal writes with honesty and humor.

   Kat of “Keeping in the Sunlight.” Kat has wonderful insight and writes about the practical ways she deals with OCD.

   Please check out Becky’s blog and the blogs of my nominees so you can experience their hope.