Sugar Doll Blogger Award

After what has been a rough couple of days, it really made me smile to see that Laurie, who writes the blog Frozen Woman: Life with Rheumatoid Arthritis and always leaves me encouraging comments on this blog, nominated me for the Sugar Doll Blogger Award. Thanks, Laurie!

I think these blogger awards are a really fun way to acknowledge and thank fellow bloggers for the entertainment and support we bring each other. But the thing I really like about this award, in particular, is that in addition to passing the award along to fellow bloggers who bring happiness and inspiration to your life, you are also supposed to list 10 things that people may not know about you. So here goes:

10 Things You Might Not Know About Me!!

(1) I've been on the cover of a magazine.

(2) By the time I turned 25, I had been to all 50 states. 

(3) I can speak and read some Japanese. At least theoretically. I studied it in high school and college and also spent two summers in Japan. But I probably have the reading level of a Japanese kindergartner. 

(4) Once, I almost stepped on a puff adder, one of the most poisonous snakes in the world. I was camping in Botswana, in the legitimate middle of nowhere. If it had bitten me, I probably would have died.

(5) Occasionally, I actually enjoy law school. Don't tell anyone. 

(6) APL and I have been to almost half the National Parks in the country together.

(7) I've been best friends with my best friend since kindergarten. Our friendship is more than two decades old.

(8) I originally met APL when I was 14 years old. I was a high school freshman on the varsity water polo team. He was a junior and in love with the captain of my team, so he used to hang around the pool.

(9) My favorite food in the world is artichoke. I decided this when I was six and haven't changed my mind yet.

(10) I'm weirdly ambidextrous. I eat and write left handed, but I throw right handed.

Women That Inspire Me (And Their Blogs!) 

Kelly Marie is a friend who has been dealing with autoimmune stuff for years, but she never lets it stop her from being totally cheerful!! Her ability to stay positive despite medical drama has always amazed and inspired me. And she doesn't let being ill stop her from achieving her dreams!! What started as selling a few handmade cards has become her own business designing and selling stamps!! Her blog, Lawn Fawn, is always full of beautiful, crafty, uplifting projects. And if you like stamps the Lawn Fawn Stamps are the cutest ever!! 

And while I'm on the subject of amazing and crafty women who inspire me, I think I'll also pass this award along to my friend Paris! She not only graduated from law school a semester early (totally unheard of!!) but she has also started her own home business making all-natural bath and body products, a little company called Blue Duckling. Paris and her husband make all the products by hand in their own kitchen! Paris inspires me because, even when times are tough, she always find something to do to keep herself hopeful and smiling. 

Lastly, my cousin Karla. To be fair, I've already given my cousin a blogger award, and she's given me one too. So maybe it's really silly to keep giving them back and forth to each other. But the thing about my cousin is that she's amazing. Her blog, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, is mostly about the amigurumi (which are highly adorable plush toys) that she knits/crochets. But my cousin also has RA, and so sometimes it is completely beyond me how she is able to do such amazing things with her hands. On top of being fabulously crafty and dealing with RA, my cousin is also mommy to a toddler!! Being a mom is never easy, and I think being a mom with RA must be even tougher. But, when I worry about how it will ever be possible for me to manage it, I just think about how my cousin is already doing it!! Plus, I'll have something she doesn't have - her advice!!

In any event, like all of these ladies, I hope I someday find a way to be successful at something that makes me feel satisfied and happy.