A special thank you to Natalie of http://mysupercrazylife.com for the nomination of the One Lovely Blog award. Do yourself a favor and read her blog! Faced with a ridiculous amount of challenges in a relatively short time-frame, her lovely writings are filled with humor, truth, and light.

To continue the nomination, here are seven random facts about me:

1. I grew up thinking I must be adopted given my strawberry-blonde locks and hippie name—an outcast stuck in the middle of an Irish-Catholic family of dark-haired relatives all with Irish names.
2. The Husband and I have known one another since 1986 (when I was in fifth grade, and he in seventh). I harbored a secret love for him since I was 14. I finally won him over in 2001.
3. I love classical music and wish I still played the violin and trombone.
4. When I began writing, poetry was my prose of choice. Currently, creative nonfiction is my favored genre.
5. My favorite Pandora stations to write to are “Downton Abbey” and “Sarah McLachlan”.
6. Twice in my early twenties, I worked as a nanny/mother’s helper. Both experiences shaped my vision of love and parenting. I’m forever grateful to those wonderful families for trusting me with their precious ones and teaching me through their unique familial ways.
7. I still yearn to open a quaint bookstore of my own.

Here are fifteen bloggers I admire and nominate for the One Lovely Blog award:

http://foreverforalwaysnomatterwhat.com/

http://motherhoodandwords.com/

http://mysnoopygirl.blogspot.com/

http://mumfullness.blogspot.com/

http://motheringthemanic.com/

http://heidihesssaxton.wordpress.com/

http://bottledponderings.blogspot.com/

http://readinginterrupted.com/

http://rosemaryandreadingglasses.com/

http://snoringscholar.com/

http://strokeofgrace.blogspot.com/ and http://hannahshopebook.blogspot.com/

http://karenedmisten.blogspot.com/

http://www.mybrokenfiat.com/blog

http://www.truthbeautyandgoodnessintheworks.blogspot.com/

http://realcatholicmom.com/

It’s a simple, kind act to pass on the honor of the One Lovely Blog award. Here’s how it works (courtesy of Natalie):

1. Thank the person who nominated you for the award.
2. Add the One Lovely Blog logo to your post.
3. Share 7 facts/or things about yourself.
4. Nominate about 15 bloggers you admire and inform nominees by commenting on their blog.