Monday, December 21, 2009

Beautiful Blogger Award; Welcome ICLW

Welcome, ICLWers. It's my first time participating in a while. I've been a bit overwhelmed with work and didn't think I'd be able to commit to commenting everyday for a week. But now I'm on winter break...ICLW, here I come!

The lovely Sunny at Sunny in Seattle honored me with a "Beautiful Blogger Award" this week. I thought I'd answer the 7 random items about me as an ICLW intro. :)




Seven Random Things About Me:

1. I've been having a little bit of mama-guilt all day because my daughter is at preschool/daycare while I have a "me" day/cleaning day at home.

2. Part of why I hate living far away from my younger sister is because I miss laughing the way I do with her. We frequently crack ourselves up to the point that we have tears rolling down our faces and stitches in our sides. She is hilarious! I like to think that I'm a bit funny too. So when the two of us are together, it's a guarantee that we'll get the giggles at some point. (She lives in Ohio and I'm in Florida.)

3. I love Broadway musicals. This year I was able to see "Wi.cked" here in Jacksonville, "In the H.eights" in Columbus, and "H.air"on Broadway. LOVED it! Wish we had extra $$ to purchase season tickets to the traveling series here. (Though the reality is that we wouldn't be able to attend them all anyway---babysitters, time off work, etc.) I'm hoping to see the movie adaptation of "N.ine"while I'm on winter break next week. :)

4. Though I've lived in Florida for 10+ years, I only recently started wearing flip flops. I have brachymetatarsia in the 4th toe of my left foot. I've had it since approximately 6th grade, when my feet had a large growth spurt. It makes my 4th toe and pinky toe the same length. For years I was self conscious about showing my toes. I'd only wear sandals that show my first 3 toes, so my brachymetatarsia wasn't visible. Last summer I wore flip flops for the first time. I'm starting to show my "funny toe" (as I call it) little by little. Fortunately, mine is not painful nor difficult to purchase shoes for. In addition, my right foot is completely normal.

5. Snowmen are my Christmas decor of choice. Yes I have some Santas, yes I have some Nativity scenes. But for some reason, I LOVE snowmen decor. Which is actually quite ironic considering I detest the cold...and though really wanting to live closer to my family and Ohio friends I'm not willing to live in somewhere with frequent winter snow again!

6. I am one of the few teachers I know who has NO desire to become an administrator at some point. I would like to continue teaching until Emma (and hopefully Child #2 someday) are school aged and are able to care for themselves after school. Then...I'm not sure what. My bachelor's is in social work. I've considered getting my masters to become a school guidance counselor. I'm still not exactly sure what my future career goal is.

7. I enjoy reading, especially teen lit that I can recommend to my 8th grade reading students. I also seem to gravitate towards series. Some series that I've read in 2009: Har.ry Pot.ter 1-7, Gem.ma Doy.le 1-3, Cit.y of Gla.ss 1-3, Twil.ight Saga 1-4, Amo.ng the Hid.den 1-7, and Pet.er & the Star.catc.hers 1-3. I'm currently reading the last novel in the "Vampire Diaries" series.

Sharing the love with these beautiful bloggers...My Nominees:

1. Mrs. Gamgee at Hobbit-ish Thoughts and Ramblings.
This lovely woman is one of the first fellow bloggers I considered a friend. Though we live at opposite ends of the continent (she's freezing her tuckus off in Canada!) I look forward to her heartfelt posts and comments. A truly beautiful person inside and out!

2. Erika at Parenthood for Me.
This beautiful woman is co-founder of a non-profit organization which helps support women/families going through infertility and/or adoption.

3. Danifred at Sippycups are Not for Starbucks.
I love her writing style. I love reading about how she juggles her career with being a mother to 2 girls who are growing into lovely women just like their mama.

4. Skylay at Double the Blessings.
This is the first (and only thus far) blog buddy I've been able to meet in real life. I loved her Thanksgiving post which was a great reminder to be thankful for the "little things."

5. Jen at In One Ear.
She is the mother to SIX and still finds time to make amazing craft projects. I enjoy reading about all of it!

6. Marie at My Expected End.
Marie pours her soul into her writing. Her amazing faith and strength continue to endure despite the loss of her 2 sweet babies. I admire her perseverance!

7. YOU.
If you haven't been tagged for this yet, and you'd like to join the fun---consider yourself nominated! :)

Thanks for stopping by! Happy ICLW week! (Those interested in my SIF story, click HERE.)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think having "Me" time make you a better Momma - which I am sure Emma appreciates! Congratulations on the blogging bling!

Danifred said...

Awww shucks! Thank you! :)

I will be sending Tot to school tomorrow while I enjoy some Bean time (and maybe a naptime worth of me time).

And, I love reading too- especially series!!!

Marie W said...

Awwwww. Thank you Alana! Easier said than done, but don't feel bad about leaving Emma while you clean - just repeat to yourself, this is all for her, she is coming home to a clean home :-).

Mrs.Joyner said...

I think having "me" time is important..Sometimes I wish I could send DH to daycare just so I didn't feel like I had to "entertain" him..lol

Thank you so much for visiting my blog..You have a new follower!!

Mrs. Gamgee said...

Ooooo thanks for the nod! You are pretty spectacular yourself.

I am sooooo excited for Nine! I can't wait to see it!

Btw, you were so right the other day... Friendly Giant! Altho, I'm surprised that you are familiar with him. I thought he was just a Canadian children's icon.

yep said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

ICLWer here. I do the same childcare/preschool guilt thing. You just have to do it sometimes. She's probably having lots of fun not even giving it a second thought while you carry that awesome mom guilt around. Sucky.

Oh, and I am rocking the funky toes myself. I don't have a diagnosed condition other than what I call "lazy toe". My fourth toe on my right foot is a total freeloader. It rides on top of the third toe who's now gotten all weird looking from picking up the freeloader's slack. I was TOTALLY paranoid about wearing sandals until a few years ago. One day at an office meeting I started looking around at all the gnarly toes/feet in sandals (I work at a non-profit with a relaxed dress code). I could not believe what people were passing off as acceptable feet. From that moment on I let the freeloader out. Congrats to you for doing the same. No one is even looking, or if they are then odds are they have an even weirder toe.

Wow, what does it say that I had more to say about wonky toes than mom guilt?!

P.S. Sorry the deleted comment above was from me- it linked to an old blog.

Sunny said...

Thanks for playing along Alana! Fun list. :)