Stylish Blogger Award!

Here's something I have been excited about for several weeks! I have been given The Stylish Blogger award! One of my favorite bloggers, Juliette, from Honeysuckle Faire awarded this blog to me in January. That's right, just when we were hunkering down for weeks and weeks of frigid air, icy winds and a load of snow (and another, and another....and another), Honeysuckle Faire was passing out these uplifting awards! Can I tell you how much it means when someone who has one of the most charming and successful blogs on the internet passes an award on to me and my own pink blog? Well, it is an honor. I've taken a long time to make my own post about it, not because I do not treasure it, but because this honor came with a few requirements! I have to list 15 recently discovered blogs as part of accepting the award! I panicked, I confess, because I don't know 15 new blogs that I truly love. I don't even know 10! I am also required to list 7 things about myself. And of course I will want to share 7 things that no one would know about me, because that makes it much more interesting.

I hope it is OK to change these rules slightly. I will list six new blogs, and six things about me. Because 6 is a fabulous number. In listing the blogs below, I pass on the stylish Blog Award!

First the new blogs.

1. Calamity and Me. I like anyone who uses the word calamity, whether in conjunction with Jane or not. It is not only a great word, this is a great blog. Don't let the title frighten you; so far, nothing on its pages are calamitous. Quite the opposite. This is one horse blogger who tells a story with warmth and humor. I wish she lived near me because I think I'd be laughing and having fun with horses constantly if she were around.

2. Calm, Forward and Straight. I am not sure how I found this blog about a dressage rider and her horse, but I really like it. Like many of the bloggers I read, she rides a different type of horse than I do, and has a different riding style than I do. Doesn't matter one bit. I like her persistence and determination and the structure behind her riding. This is a girl who does her homework and asks the right questions, this is a girl with a plan. Her blog is title is apt, not just for her riding, but for her writing. This blog is another charmer for sure.

3. Horse and Man. This is a blog that I read like I read a horse magazine. It's not as personal with characters I look forward to catching up on (like Laz and the two Pies and Chance to name a few...). It's more of a foray into things I truly donn't know about. Currently for example, there in an entry on the history of carousels with the most beautiful pictures. As a person who loves horses and history, this blog is a compelling blend of both, helping me to understand the larger scope of man's longstanding relationship with the horse.

4. The Daily Ocean. This isn't a horse blog. But it concerns the natural world and therefore I find it appropriate to list here. At my job, I make company posts on Facebook and Twitter. In doing that, I discovered this blog. It is written by a very normal person who decided that for 20 minutes a day for 365 days, she would collect trash off her local beach (I think it is Santa Monica). It became a movement of sorts and she's still doing it, cleaning up the sea one plastic grocery bag at a time. This may not seem like much, but her mission and her blog have inspired many others to do the same. I wish I had that kind of influence!

5. The Daily Coyote. I made a note on one of my recent posts that Bill gave me a book to read called The Daily Coyote. This blog is an extension of that book. Shreve Stockton lives in Wyoming and her boyfriend brought home an orphaned baby coyote one day. The book, and this blog, detail her experiences raising, nurturing, and sharing her life with this wild animal. To be honest with you, I have mixed feelings about what Shreve is doing. I don't know if I support her or not. But the story is a good one and the photos of the coyote, who she still has, will move your soul. Right, wrong, or somewhere in the middle, there is something profound about it all.

6. Heart of a Cowgirl. This is a brand new blog that I have been looking at. All of the animals drew me in. Because, I'll tell you what: this cowgirl loves any cowgirl who takes care of animals and recognizes how rich we are when we have them in our daily lives.

And now, Six Unknown Facts about me:

1. I happen to love Velveeta cheese. I know this is gross. And certainly unhealthy. Which is why I almost never indulge. But every time I am in the grocery store and see it so cheerfully sitting on the shelf in the dairy case, I really want it.

2. I do not know know why I am not a vegetarian. Everything about me suggests that I would be. I have no good answer.

3. Once a long time ago I went camping and used a pine cone as toilet paper. Well, there was sap all over it and my bum got all stuck together. Which I didn't even realize until we went rock climbing a few hours later and when making a killer move that basically involved moving my foot over my head, it was clear that my two bum cakes were actually one big bum pie. I screamed (it takes true grit to pry through pine sap!) but no one on the ground had any clue what the trouble really was.

4. My first riding experience was on an older thoroughbred whose name was Professor.

5. I love the movie Hot Tub Time Machine. Because it is damn funny.

6. My favorite shoe is the flip flop.


Thanks to all of you who sent me wishes to get better. I am home from work today (too sick to go to work but not too sick to blog!) but tomorrow I will be back at my desk. Someone's gotta pay Bill for my brumby's star treatment after all!!!

Happy Trails!