Beautiful Blogger Award...

Many Thanks to the beautiful Kayleigh of Fashionably Later for giving me this award. Kayleigh is truly an honest-to-god trooper. She has been through so much in the last year-plus, and she is handling it all with dignity and grace -- even if SHE doesn't think she is.

Here are ten (hopefully new) factoids about myself:

(1) I know the lyrics to almost any song (especially from the 80s and 90s) on the radio. Until you ask me what those lyrics are -- then my mind goes blank. I can only recall them while singing along.

(2) I am afraid of the dark. And any creatures with more appendages than me: spiders, octopi, squid, etc.

(3) Despite being an English major and *knowing* good grammar and spelling, most of my emails and facebook/blog posts (except on this blog) are riddled with bad punctuation and no capitalization. It's not that I don't know any better, I just don't care.

(4) In light of the above, I am FOREVER seeing signs with misspellings and incorrect punctuation in places of business. And it seriously irks me to no end. I mean, seriously people, can't you take the few extra moments to have someone look it over? It gives me a poor impression of your business when I see that!

(5) I grew up traveling a lot. I have been to England, Ireland, Mexico, Canada, Italy, and many of the states in the US.

(6) I have the sense of humor of a pervy 13 year old boy. If there is any way to twist a statement to make it dirty, my mind will do it. I think this stems from growing up with an older brother who would do so with anything I said, so I just started running my thoughts through a filter before I spoke. Now my filter works on overdrive.

(7) My favorite ice cream is lime sherbet. Sadly, I rarely see it in the ice cream shops. Rainbow, check. Orange, check. Raspberry, check. Why not lime? *le sigh*

(8) I wish I could look as put-together as many of the bloggers I read. They make it look so effortless and natural. Meanwhile, I struggle to piece together interesting outfits, and I feel like I usually look too piecemeal and like I tried too hard.

(9) I desperately want to lose some weight, but I hate working out, and I have little willpower to control my eating. I know these are excuses, but I have yet to figure out how to get over my biggest hurdle: myself.

(10) I am a people-watcher. So is my dear fiance. Whenever we go to the mall, if we are sitting in the food court, we can hold an entire conversation without ever looking at each other. For me, I think it stems from the fact that I was *thisclose* to being a Psych major in college -- I am intrigued by why people behave the way the do. For him, I think it comes from his Anthropology/Sociology background.

I'm not sure how many people I am supposed to tag for this, so I will just name a few:
Sal of Already Pretty
Jenny of Closet 365
Allie of My Wardrobe Today
Taylor of Taylor Wears Everything
Andie of What Andie Wears
Sher of Fashion After Forty
A-C of Law School Fashionista

Sunshine Award...

Thanks to fellow blogger Meli22 over at The Daily Insanity of a Fashion Addict for awarding me the Sunshine Award!



Instructions for the award:
1. Put the logo on your blog within a post.
2. Pass the award on to 12 bloggers.
3. Link to the nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

I hereby nominate:

1. Clare of Between Laundry Days
2. Audi of Fashion for Nerds
3. Danielle of Fell 4 Fashion
4. Rose of From Sneakers to Stilettos
5. Terra of Stylish White Female
6. Kasmira of What I Wore Today
7. Sheila of Ephemera
8. Marianna of Absolutely Apple
9. Kari of In Kari's Wardrobe
10. Kristen of Low Fat Dressing
11. Kameel of Mrs. Hall in Training
12. Diana of Smiles Go With Everything

These ladies inspire me on a daily basis to look fabulous and step out of my comfort zone.
Bravo, ladies!

It's a Major Award...

Imagine my surprise when I was just doing my thing, checking out my favorite blogs, when I see that one of them has given me this award! Thank You Suze!



I am supposed to tell 10 interesting things about myself, and pass it along to some other bloggers.
OK, here are my "interesting" facts:

(1) I am adopted. I have known all my life. I found my birth mother when I was 19 years old, but the family and parents I grew up with are the people I consider my "real" family.

(2) I used to want hair as long as Crystal Gayle. In high school, I asked for my stylist to cut off "the dead ends" and ended up with at least 6 inches chopped off my hair. I cried for days. Since then, my hair has only gotten shorter and shorter -- the style I have now is nowhere near the shortest cut I've had (which my brother dubbed my Billy Idol look).

(3) I can pop my jaw loud enough for people to hear it. I thank a horrible case of TMJ for that.

(4) I skipped kindergarten. Well, to be precise, I was in kindergarten for 6 weeks, then they moved me up to first grade.

(5) My parents are both from England. I was always envious of friends with huge families because I have no other relatives in this country.

(6) I am shy. Very shy. So shy my parents wanted to put me in therapy (but didn't). To this day I'm convinced that I have Social Anxiety disorder. Once you know me, I'm pretty darn outgoing, but put me in a room full of strangers and (a) I won't make the first move to talk to any of them and (b) most of them will probably think I'm stuck-up -- my mom always told me that I come off this way.

(7) I have been a dancer since I was 2 1/2 years old. I have done tap, jazz, ballet, poms, hip-hop... I taught for a few years, and then a year ago, a friend suckered me into joining a hip-hop team with her. I am the only white girl on the team, but I managed to "pass" as black when one of the other girl's mom saw me onstage and thought I was just light-skinned. That totally made my day. :)

(8) I am getting married in October. My fiance and I have been together for over 3 years -- this time. We dated briefly back in undergrad, then didn't speak for 8 years. He found me online, and the rest is history...

(9) I'm a Facecrack addict.

(10) I have a tendency to talk to myself. Out loud. Most of the time I'm totally aware of it + don't do it around other people, but once or twice when I'm lost in my own thoughts I have had a friend or boyfriend ask me who I'm talking to. Oops.

OK, so now I'm supposed to pass this award along onto some other bloggers. It didn't say how many.
I choose:
Erin over at Work with What You've Got
Hillary of byhillary
Kimberly at Fab Finds Under 50
Christine who runs FutureLint
Tina over at T Minus, T Plus

These are a few of my absolute FAVORITE blogs to read, so I'm excited to have this opportunity to give them this award!