Kreativ Blogger Awards. Woot!

Aw, the super duper kind and cool Michelle of When I Grow Up Coach blog has given me a Kreativ Blogger award. Thank you so much Michelle! Swing by her sweet space and tell her howdy doo! She is one of those awesomely sweet, go-getter people that just knows how to get it done! But my favorite tidbit about Michelle was that she was on Saturday Night Life once in the super hilarious Maya Rudolph Oprah Winfrey sketch! I love learning those kind of random facts about people. So in the spirit of the award, I am to pay it forward to seven other blogs I love as well as tell you seven interesting tidbits about me! I was fortunate enough to do this once before, so you can see my original Seven Pretty Blogs I Like over here. You can also check out Seven Things That I Adore over here.

This time around I decided to pick a random selection of blogs from a variety of categories. I hope you like 'em like I do. Most of these guys are already pretty high profile bloggers, so I'm not expecting them to respond (but ladies if ya do, we sure would love to see Seven of YOUR fave reads!).

S'MORE BLOGGERS I HEART:

1. THOMPSON FAMILY LIFE


Danielle takes gloriously dreamy photos, including lovely shots of her beautiful boys (and I’m not just saying that because her youngest has the same crazy curls as Wolfie!). She is also a Blythe doll lovah and sells really cool, digital crafty stuff at her shop Kitschy Digitals (I’m soo eyeing the fancy gilt thrift store frames).


2. YES PLEASE, MADEMOISELLE


Stefanie is all about ze fashion and I looooove the big honkin’ photos splashed all over the page. Her blog is all about style and it all feels so editorial and glossy and fun. Like you want to fold up your monitor, stuff it in a straw tote and take her with you to the beach. More Please, Mademoiselle!


3. NUBBY TWIGLET


Nubby Twiglet is the bomb for so many reasons. She is a phenomenal graphic designer, she’s got wicked cool style, and she also loves to serve up really inspirational and useful info for her readers. Tips on bloggin, great style, how to build a portfolio…plus mad love for Michael Jackson. I love it all!



4. IT'S PRETTY GOOD


Oh Miss Mary. This blog is perhaps the most appropriately titled blog around…although I might amend the title to read “it’s pretty damn good”. Mary takes these heavenly, vibrant photos and adds pretty little captions to them and while it all sounds so simple, some how it feels like she’s written volumes. Just click, you’ll see what I mean.



5. ALL THIS HAPPINESS


Kater is fond of massive pots of tea, shiny fashion magazines and is a “staunch believer in frivolity”. In other words, my kinda gal (although I’d substitute a nice coffee with cream, no sugar, thank you!). This is one of those blogs that’s a random collection of fun stuff: a little fashion, a little personal life and lots of other pretty things to make you smile.



6. CASEY'S ELEGANT MUSINGS


I only discovered Casey somewhat recently, but I think that’s because I was under a rock or something as she’s quite popular in the retro fashion world. Casey is a totally adorable vintage diva. You know I love my vintage too, but I’m def a 60s/70s lovin' vintage girl. Casey is the “put together in an effortlessly darling” 40s/50s kinda way. I just know you’ll love her too.



7. FRECKLEWONDER


OK OK, not to gross you out with an annoying love fest, but Jenny over at Frecklewonder is a constant fave. I know she just posted about me and I’ve mentioned her here numerous times and you're probably ready to gag with our gushing, but I can't resist the chance to make our lerve all “propa” with a fun little award! She writes about her sweet family, has brilliant style and has the best little vintage shop around. I love me some freckle!




BTW ladies, here is a little shield to post on yer blog. I confess, I redesigned the Award Banner to make it a little more in line with the style of my blog and the peeps I was recommending. Is that allowed??? (you can google the original one and use that if you prefer!) Once again THANK YOU THANK YOU to the sassy MICHELLE for nominating me in the first place!!! xoxox

7 of My Favorite Things.

Seven things I love.

Ya know, at first I thought “Wow, seven things I love? That’s kind of a lot of things.” But as I started writing them up it got tricky. Do I go broad and tell you that I love COLOR! (which I do) or do I get really specific and tell you that I can’t get enough of really good sushi, salted caramels, a nice autumn day when the sun is out but the air is crisp, and a really good couch potato session watching boat loads of bad TV?? (all true…) Well, I couldn’t quite make up my mind but here are seven things that really bring me a huge amount of joy.

1. MY BOYS.
Although I haven’t really mentioned them much on the bloggie, my guys are a HUGE part of my world.



I have a super cool hubby named Greg and a crazy lil 5 year old charmer named Wolfie (aka Wolfgang). Greg is a musician and writer (he will roll his eyes when he reads the writer part as it's a new thing for him, but he's really good) and Wolfie is a little bundle of love and sunshine, with a sprinkling of sass.






2. CHRISTMAS.
This holiday seems to be getting a bad rap lately, what with commercialism and obnoxious sales people. Well let me just tell ya that I say phooey to that. I have always looooooved this time of year. My parents always made this a fun and lively time for us and I’m passing that on to Wolfie.



I love giving gifts. I love getting gifts. I love wrapping paper. I love the sparkly lights. I love playing Christmas songs. I love the flavors—cocoa and cookies and a hint of cinnamon in the air. I love the spirit of everything Christmas stands for: peace, love and good will to man. Cheesy? Perhaps. But how you gonna hate on Rudolph?



Blythe doll fans, look closely at this photo…mm hmm. There she is! My first Blythe doll.

3. LAUGHING.
I really love laughing. If I can make some one crack up, I’m a happy girl. It makes me grin from ear to ear to hear Greg or Wolfie belly laughing. I love laughing so hard that you start to cry. I especially love it when people make me crack up. Whenever I watch Law & Order, Greg strolls through the room and plays “air sax” to the theme song, which kills me every time. That’s love people.




I realized that its pretty impossible to find a photo of yourself laughing. Usually you’re too involved with the joke to be bothered to “capture the moment” but these two pics do the job nicely!
Images: 1 and 2


4. DISNEYLAND.
To me, this really is one of the happiest places on earth. Before we moved to Michigan from California, my parents took us to Disneyland every year and I have such great memories. I promise I’m not a crazy Disneyana nut and I don’t collect Mickey knick-knacks or anything like that. But I swear I love going to this crazy place. This is me and my chic mama back in the day:

The first time we took Wolfie I totally got all verklepmt watching him looking wide-eyed at everything. Call me sentimental, but I’m telling ya. It’s the best. Here, play this song and then look at this photo of me. You feeling the tea cup love?




I really hope you click on that audio link because I swear to gawd it took me about 5 hours to figure out how the heck to embed that lil bastard. Pardon mah French. And yes it's the real Tea Cup song they play at disneyland.

5. PUPPIES AND KITTIES.
Cuddly, furry bundles of love. I love animals. For years our gray kitty Chuckie and our 3-legged dog Spencer were constant fixtures around the house. Our first children. Sadly both our pets are no longer with us, but they brought us so much happiness. We’re due for a doggie soon (hint, hint Greg) although Tuxie—our neighborhood cat who decided he wanted to move in with us 3 years ago—might take a little umbrage to that.





6. VINTAGE CLOTHING.
OK, so I’m guessing I don’t really have to go into great detail on this one! The fabrics, the cuts and the colors. Vintage clothes rule. Just adding one little vintage detail can take your whole outfit to a whole other level. I can’t get enough. I love the big designers—Courreges, Pucci, Pierre Cardin, Bonnie Cashin, Biba, Mary Quant—but I also love those lesser known thriftier labels. Can I get a “Holla” for R&K Vintage, Mr. Dino, Alex Colman, Butte Knits and Fleet Street Rain or Shine anyone?? Aw yeah, Jenny/Frecklewonder I know you know what I’m talkin’ about!



My friend Stephanie models eBay duds for me occasionally. She’s the cutest!



7. DANCING.
I love to dance. And I love music from the 60s. So when I found out about The Devil-Ettes some ten years ago (oy! ten years??? where's my bedazzled walker???), I knew I had to be a part of the group. The Devil-Ettes are a synchronized, 60s go go group. Now when we say go-go we mean it in the “zip up yer go-goboots, shake yer fringe and do the watusi” kinda way. We’re very PG-13., but with a campy fun twist.


When we formed the group ages ago, most of us were sassy single gals in our mid 20s. At our height we had 15-18 members, toured to Vegas and New Orleans and performed with Dita von Teese a few times. The group is still on fire performing all over the place and looking saucy as ever! Many ladies are married and a few of us even have kids. I took a hiatus this past season but I’m hoping to come back for a big show this August. We're a bunch of positive, fun ladies ("hostesses with the mostesses" is our motto) and we always have a blast performing together. I think I need to do a post dedicated to Devil-Ette Mania!

PHEW. If you stuck with me through this entire post, BRAVO and THANK YOU! I’d kinda like to see your favorite things too.

Kreativ Blogger Awards. Woot!

Last week the really lovely Stephanie of Australia's Bondville nominated me for a Kreativ Blogger Award. 

Aw shucks! That just made my day. As part of the deal, I am to nominate 7 bloggers that make me smile and then share with you 7 things that make me happy. Thank you Steph! Here’s my list! And if you're one of the people on the list, please pay it forward and give us 7 of YOUR favorite reads, as well as a 7 things that make you happy.

BLOGGERS TO WATCH:

It was hard to pick seven, but I decided to try and pick a nice little variety. Hopefully you visit these ladies and discover a new favorite!

 

Bees Knees

I don’t know Miss Viva B, I actually discovered her via my friend Lady Ann (see below) but I’m already hooked. She always finds unique things and her posts are always dreamy, soft and pretty.

Dress Design Decor

Daniella’s philosophy is much like mine—that great style lives in that fun intersection of décor and fashion. I always love seeing what she comes up with, especially her fashion posts. She has an incredible eye and I'm always impressed.

Visuals

With the best name ever, the lovely Lady Ann curates her blog with such panache, I am always inspired and intrigued! Hey, anyone who has me busting out words like “panache” is definiately worth taking a look.

Hiss and Hearse

Kristin is an amazing glamour puss who also happens to be this super talented designer and photographer. She has crazy wicked style (every photo shoot of hers she looks as good as the model!). I’m always eager to check out her hip and edgy work.

Cookie Cutter

Sandy’s blog is full of visual inspiration and design, but what I love is that everything she posts has a great wit and joy about it. Some visual blogs make me swoon, some make me think….Sandy’s always  makes me smile.

The Proprietress

I worked with Kate eons ago, when she was a spunky, insanely cute Advertising Exec. Years later I was wandering around North Beach in San Francisco and stumbled into an insanely cute boutique named OOMA that was always getting written up in Lucky mag. Turns out it was owned by the very same Kate! She and her cutie pie family now live in Portland (I’m envious) and she recently launched a great blog to help other aspiring shop owners.

 Ink on My Fingers

In some ways I feel silly including this, because Susannah is already a successful blogger who has legions of fans BUT on the very off chance you haven’t met her, I wanted to include her. I recently met her through Holly Becker’s amazing class. Susannah is a super talented photographer and just one of those people that you KNOW is cool—I can imagine sitting down with her for a coffee or tea and having time fly while we chatted about everything and nothing. YAY Susannah!

Thanks again to Miss Steph of Bondville!

Stay tuned for Seven Things That Make Me Happy.