Award time!!

I have to send a huge thank you out to Jewels for my second award (she also gave me my first . . . I think I'm starting to see a pattern here. . .). Jewels was kind enough to bestow up on me the Versatile Blogger Award. And as always, there are rules that go along with blog Awards - you know, share the blog love and all.

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave me this award.
2. Tell everyone 7 things about myself
3. Pass this award to 15 other bloggers
4. Contact the bloggers that I picked and tell them about the award

1. Thank you Jewels - you made my day! I look forward to reading your posts every day. Some make me laugh, others cry, and some just make me nod my head in complete and total agreement. Keep up the awesome blogging work.

2. 7 things about me:

• I love the Harry Potter books/movies. I'm sad and excited about the 7th film coming out (both parts), as it's the end of an amazing series. I've read the books numerous times and watched the movies countless times.
• I am a walking contradiction - I own an SUV, yet I am concerned about the environment. I hate BP for their stupid oil spill in the Gulf, yet I gas up at Arco because it's cheap (hey, I'm on a budget, and saving 21cents/gallon minimum . . .). I could go on.
• I love scary movies but being that I live alone, I will only watch them during daylight hours with the lights on. Although, the last scary movie I watched, that totally did not help - Paranormal Activity scared the Holy Living Shit right out of me and I admit (ashamedly) that I had to sleep with the light for the first time since I was a child because I was scared shitless that some entity was going to come out of the shadows and try to drag me up to the freakin' attic. I have yet to watch another scary movie. I guess you could say I have a healthy fear of "hauntings" or "possessions". There are things in this world we will never understand. The last movie to scare me anywhere near that bad was The Ring.
• I research my family history/genealogy. It's kind of off and on, and I'm definitely no professional at it, but I've made interesting headway. I have found a link to Presidents John and John Quincy Adams - very cool to know that I'm related to one of our Founding Fathers. Although to balance it all out, the other side of my family has Vaudeville. Yeah. Apparently they were pretty popular about a hundred or so years ago in California.
• I was forced to "fire" my cat about a year ago as she literally ran away from a lizard in the house. She took off so fast she left skid marks and a cloud of dust. Forcing me to get it onto a dustpan and slowly walk it outside. I don't much care for lizards in my house, and apparently, neither does the cat. Fearless hunter my ass.
• I love Ansel Adams photography. I managed to get two pictures cheap in college, and they are among my favorite things to hang when I move into a new place. His pictures are always so peaceful and serene and capture the wild beauty of nature. My favorite of his stuff is typically from his Mural Project in the 1940s. I love black and white photography, and I could just stare at his stuff for hours. My best friend and I went to see an exhibition at the S.F. Museum of Modern Art last year of Ansel Adams and I just loved looking at all his stuff. Everything else, eh.
• Until I was about 11, I would only read horse books. Seriously. I was sooooo in love with horses, that's all I would read about. My first non-horse book was a Sweet Valley Twins book, given to me by my great-grandma. I soon started reading other authors of non-horse books. I'm still in love with horses, but it's not as "obsessive" as before. I don't find as many horse books as I did when I was a kid, although last year, I read "Chosen by a Horse" a tale of a woman who rescues an abused horse and how it affects her life.

3. Pass this award on to 15 other bloggers. In no particular order, they are:

365 Ways
Hyperbole and a Half
Red Means Go
Simple Dude in a Complex World
The Adventures of Cinderita
Love is in the Smog
Ramblings of an Emotional Idiot
The Bitchy Waiter
The Frisky Virgin
Turning 30: A Journey of Self Exploration
Pablo's Angel
Ravings and Rantings of a Raving and Ranting Soul
The Ranter's Box
Single Dad Laughing

Okay, so I know that's only 14, but . . . that's who I follow. And for good reason!

These awards, silly as some might be, are wonderful to receive. I started doing this whole blogging thing because I was broke and I was looking to entertain myself with something free. And looking for an outlet, too, I think. These awards are given by complete strangers - strangers who have happened across my blog and leave comments and become "followers". It's nice to know that out there are others who share similar worries, cares, or troubles, or even pet peeves, and that you're not alone in how you feel about anything. I've come to love my little "blogging family" and hope that it continues to grow.