My First Award!

Hip, hip hooray!  Someone thinks I'm noteworthy!  It's a miracle, I tell ya!  :D  I have no idea where this particular blog award originates, but it has been awarded me by Jules at Ad Bits, a new friend made through blog hopping.  Thank you much, Jules!

Apparently there are rules that accompany this blog award.  I must now share seven things about myself.  Seven.  Hmmm . . . .

1. I'm a sucker for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and am currently tying up our Netflix account to go through all six seasons.  The Chief just *loves* this.  I wonder how he'll feel when I tell him Little House on the Prairie is next?

2. I have a goal of personally experiencing every type of baby delivery possible.  (Okay, maybe not really . . . but kind of.)  I've already had a c-section, a VBAC, and a home birth.  I'm a little scared to try a natural birth in a hospital, though, so I may just have to be content as is.  I'm too much of a wuss to not beg for an epidural where it's readily available.

3. I like words. I use them.  A lot.  I'm a very wordy person.  See, I even use a lot of words just to share my simple love of words.  Watch out for my blog!  I don't just write posts; I write novels!

4. I've been skydiving twice.  Once with my cousin during my freshman year of college and once with my 70-year-old father-in-law, shortly after marrying my dear hubby.  Serious kudos to the "old man" (and his wife, by the way) who bravely flung himself out of an airplane at 12,000 ft. (I think) to celebrate his birthday in style!

5. I discovered my love of photography just two years ago in 2008, when my lovely brother funded the purchase of my digital baby (a fabulous Nikon D300).  The rest is history.  I'm in love.  I'm in love.  I'm in love.  Every mom should teach herself how to take good pictures so she can professionally photograph her little angels and save herself loads of money spent on the ever-rising, ofttimes outlandish professional photographer fees.

6. I was born in Israel.  Jerusalem, to be exact.

7. I have an irrational fear of sharks.  I live next to the ocean and won't go in more than to my knees.  I hate not being able to see what is underneath me.  I blame it on the movie Jaws that I accidentally saw at a neighbor's house when I was waaaaay to young to watch such a movie.  I was mortified and have been scarred ever since.  It used to be that when I'd swim in pools, I'd start to hear the Jaws "approach" theme in my head and hustle to the edge of the pool to survey the surrounding water.  So sad.  No child should be so ruined.  On a happier note, at least I can swim in a pool unaffected now!

Okay, the other rule accompanying this blog award is that I pass it along to more blogs that I believe are versatile.  This will be easy for me.  I love reading people's blogs and have a few favorites that I visit regularly:

Miriam at Anchor and Bird Blog.  Miriam is a personal friend, a hilarious writer, a fabulous photographer, and a wonderful mother.  I LOVE reading her blog!  She's also very enviably drop-dead gorgeous.  See her and her stunning daughter here.

Amy at My Words.  I don't know Amy, but I wish we were real-life friends.  I stumbled on her blog a long time ago, fell in love with her photography first, and have been reading along ever since.  She is a very thoughtful writer and I often leave her blog feeling uplifted and inspired.  She's an incredibly talented photographer and artist and a very deep thinker.  I love the My Words blog!

Lisa at Raising Future Leaders.  I think Lisa must be the very epitome of "versatile."  She blogs about home births, homeschooling, vaccinations, scrappy stuff, and working from home.  Apart from imparting so much wisdom to the rest of us, Lisa also seems like the happiest person I've ever met on the net!  I am a new follower of Lisa's, but I will definitely be frequenting her happy blog.

And last, but definitely not least, is Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler.  She is another extremely versatile blogger and what's more, she offers so much of her creativity and knowledge to others FOR FREE!  I love her blog and soak it all in (translate: go download crazy) every time I visit.