Life in Beta

It’s Monday (again, ugh!) so I wanted to take a moment to share blogs I’ve recently discovered and have been enjoying. Be sure to add them to your Bloglovin’, Google Reader, or other RSS reader.

(By the way, if you’re a Bloglovin’ user, add me!)

Alison at Holland 1945.
Allison is super cute, sassy and has a fantastic sense of style.

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Zoe at Pretty Zoo.
Zoe is part of the Freckled Nest family, and I found her from there. She’s a relatively new blogger and shares her amazing artwork on her site

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Liz at Srsly Liz.
Liz is a fantastic mix of fashionista with a dash of geek thrown in. {A girl after my own heart!} Check out her ‘Geek Chic’ feature and weekly links.

My Bloglovin’ account is overflowing. I keep stumbling upon new blogs that I love-love-LOVE!

I decided as a Monday-feature {’cause let’s face it, Mondays suck and you need a pick-me-up}, I’m going to feature some of my favorite bloggers…

Dani at Somtimes Sweet.
Danielle’s posts are always fun and interesting. I love her “Tattoo Tuesday” feature and her “Dear Henry” posts to her (adorable!) son are tear-jerkers.

Elycia at Love Elycia.
Elycia has an amazing sense of style that she shares through her blog. I love her “Staturdays are for Weddings”  and DIY posts. She recently shared a how-to video on making “poof” decorations that are so cute!

Kyla at Kyla Roma.
Kyla is a beautiful gal, inside and out. I admire her so much for her honesty with her readers and her positivity is so infectious! She’s the type of person I’d love to be friends with IRL.

Kaylah at The Dainty Squid.
Kayla is just plain fun. I’m so envious of her colorful hair (SO wish I could pull that off!) and her wonderful photography. Check out her recent post about what’s in her camera bag; it’s inspired me to re-pack my camera bag and get out and take some photos!

Wow, look at this! Can I just tell ya how special I feel?

Given to me by Alexandra at The Tell Tale Blog (thanks!!)

The rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award
2. Copy the award & place it on my blog
3. Link to the person who nominated me for this award
4. Share 7 interesting things about myself
5. Nominate 7 other bloggers (I’m going to be a rebel and name 5 instead…)

Seven interesting facts about yours truly

(Mostly taken from my 100 Things list because I’m feeling too brain-dead at the moment to come up with anything new or different.)

1. I’m not a big concert-goer, but I love going to see stand-up comedians. In the last couple years, I’ve seen Robin Williams, Eddie Izzard, Broken Lizard and Hal Sparks (twice).
2. I’m allergic to orchard grass and ragweed. I also have a mild allergy to cats, but I just don’t care about that because I adore my kitties anyway. Zyrtec is my best friend.
3. I liked vampires way back before it was cool to like them. (Wanna make something of it!?) I was totally in love with Ben Cross when he played Barnabas Collins in the 1991 revival series of “Dark Shadows”.
4. I never leave home without my Blackberry, a point-and-shoot digital camera, and my Flip HD camcorder. (At a minimum. Sometimes throw my dSLR into the mix.) I’m a one-woman a/v club.
5. If (when?) I have a midlife crisis and change careers, I’d love to be a certified nurse-midwife or labor and delivery nurse.
6. I love fishies and at one point I had about 8 aquariums (fresh and salt water) all going at the same time. I’d love to have aquariums like that again some day!
7. I always, always wear a hematite ring on my thumb. I’m superstitious about it, actually. Hematite is supposed to absorb any negative energy around you. Once it has absorbed too much, it will shatter and you need to replace it. I haven’t shattered one yet, so I guess I’m blessed to be surrounded by mostly-positive energy. But I will tell you — on the rare days that I forget my ring, I nearly always have a very bad day.

And the nominees are…

(Several great gals I’ve recently found via 20SB and SITS! …)

1. Sarah at SillyGrrl
2. LiLu at Live It, Love It
3. Date Girl at The Date Girl Diaries
4. Amanda at Martinis or Diaper-Genies
5. Mel at Life, Liberty & Pursuit of Your Boyfriend

How sweet is this?! My friend Natalie over at Hope Springs Eternal gave me this sweet blog-award!

By the way…  if ya’ll have time, please go vote for Natalie for the Mom2Be Blog Awards. Today is the last day of voting!! Congrats, Natalie! Thanks to everyone who voted and helped her out!

RULES FOR HAPPY 101 AWARD

List 10 things that make you happy, try to do at least one of them today, and tag 10 bloggers that brighten your day. For those 10 bloggers who get the award, you then link back to my blog and create your makes you happy list.

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY:

1. My family and friends (cliché but true!)
2. Snuggling with Gracie (my dog) and Stuart (my cat)
3. Knitting with friends at TNKS (and then going out for 2-for-1 wine at Chilli’s!)
4. Driving around the peninsula back home in Erie
5. Taking pictures
6. Snuggling up to read a good book
7. Random weekdays off work (yay trashy daytime TV!)
8. Amazon.com and Amazon Prime … saving me beaucoup trips to the store
9. Waking up to sunshine streaming in the windows
10. A good cup of coffee!

TEN BLOGGERS I PASS THIS AWARD ON TO:

1. Tia at Clever Girl Goes Blog
2. Erica at Junepath.com
3. Amanda at Mandajuice
4. Lauren at Salt Says
5. Sara at Sara Without an H
6. Miss Dot at Saving the World One Cupcake at a Time
7. Rachel at Scientific Nature of the Whammy
8. That Girl Blogs
9. Alex at Whoa-Mumma!
10. Trish at Write or Wrong