Yes, indeed!  I’ve been honored with two awards.  First, Patty at http://petitemagique.wordpress.com/ nominated me for the 5 in 1 Award.

The rules for the 5 in 1 Award:

1. Display the award logos on your blog.

2. Thank and link back to the person who nominated you.

If you don’t already know Patty at http://petitemagique.wordpress.com/, then visit her blog right now.  She is a truly gifted artist, blending song lyrics, her own poetry, and photography/artwork into her blog posts.  Patty is a woman of tremendous feeling and she has experienced too many tragedies in her young life.  Her poetry reflects her struggles … perhaps I should say, “our” struggles, for I believe Patty speaks for many of us who have suffered great loss.  I find her poetry to be always beautiful and often cathartic.  I am always in awe of her creativity.  In spite of all she has gone through, her generosity and love know no bounds. 

3. Nominate as many bloggers as you like.

If you are a follower of my blog, then you will know that I tend to “cheat” at this part.  I hate to say “this blogger will get this award and this blogger will get the other award.”  So at this end of this email, I will list as many bloggers as I can.  I have at least several dozen favorites so I will try to pick those who may not have already received any or some of these awards. 

4. Let your nominees know via a comment on their post.

Will do ;)

Second, I’ve been nominated by three amazing bloggers for the WordPress Family Award!  The rules are the same as above, except that the list of nominees is limited to 10.

1.  Here’s the award :)

2.  Let me give a big thanks to:

Running to Her Dreams at http://runningtoherdreams.com/

Running to Her Dreams is about much more than training for a marathon.  She’s also a mother, a dreamer, and a doer.  She finds hearts in nature, takes photos of them and posts them to her blog.  In her own words, she is a “smartassic woman running to her dreams, who follows her heart and occasionally drops the f-bomb.”  Her motto:  “always be true to yourself and think like a boss!”

Gwen Bristol at http://gwenbristol.com/

Gwen is a wonderful blogger, sharing her insights, her writing, and lots of great marketing tips on her blog.  Hers is the kind of blog that you could spend days on, clicking from one informative tab to another, drinking up her knowledge, suggestions, and encouragement.  She is a writer’s writer:  someone who lives and breathes writing and who shares everything she learns.

S.K. Nicholls at http://redclayandroses1.wordpress.com/

S.K. Nicholls is a woman of many talents:  she is an author, poet, lover of history, a Registered Nurse with a 30-year career spanning “everything from ER and CCU, pediatrics, geriatrics, hospice to psychiatry.”  She grew up on a farm but now lives in a big city.  She is a wife, mother, and grandmother.  She most recently published Red Clay and Roses, a fictional account of a true story about life in the deep South during Jim Crow and before Roe vs. Wade.  I reviewed her book here, and highly recommend it.  It is an important work, a story that needed to be told and that needs to be read.

3. & 4.  OK, when it’s awards time, it’s cheatin’ time for me.  I’m combining my nominees and invite them to choose any (or none) of the awards here.

Without further ado, let me just share the love among:

Robynn Gabel’s Common Sense Experience at http://dupler.org/

According to Dave at http://davidpagan.wordpress.com/

Adventures and Misfortunes of Hector the Aimless at http://adventuresandmisfortunesofhectortheaimless.wordpress.com/

Araneus1 at http://araneus1.wordpress.com/

Ben’s Bitter Blog at http://bensbitterblog.wordpress.com/

Englishman in Italy at http://englishmaninitaly.org/

Expat Eye on Latvia at http://expateyeonlatvia.wordpress.com/

Dawn of Thoughts at http://moossama88.wordpress.com/

ericjohnbaker at http://ericjohnbaker.wordpress.com/

Helen Midgley at http://helenmidgley.wordpress.com/

howanxious at http://howanxious.wordpress.com/

Jill Weatherholt at http://jillweatherholt.wordpress.com/

Julie Green at http://juliegreenart.com/

Katie Cross at http://kcrosswriting.com/

What the Hell … at http://kevinbrennanbooks.wordpress.com/

Shannon Raelynn at http://shannonraelynn.com/

Now, stop reading this post and start following these bloggers :)