Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Me? A Stlylish Blogger? Apparently So.

Imagine my surprise when I checked my email yesterday to find a note from Erin over at The Stucco Bungalow letting me know that she had nominated casacaudill for a Stylish Blogger Award. To be honest, I'm not quite sure what the genesis of this award is as I can't find any information on the interwebs about it, but I've seen other blogs I read and respect having received their own awards on a regular basis, so at least I know I'm in good company.


By accepting this award I'm required to share seven things with y'all and then pass along the honors to those that I think deserve it. Since I'm fairly open about our life here on the blog, I'm not sure what information I haven't yet shared, but I'll try to come up with seven things that aren't widely known so you don't get bored. I don't know how stylish these things will be though so you've been warned.

Without further ado ...

1. I don't consider myself stylish at all. My wardrobe consists of clothing from Target, Gap, Old Navy and random picks from Marshall's and Ross. I'm not what you'd call High Fashion. My philosophy about fashion has changed over the years, but my predominant concern these days are comfort and presentability. Will I look like a hobo? No, okay, that's a good start. Will I not look like a hobo AND be comfortable? Okay, we've got a winner!

2.. When I was a little girl I wanted to be a horse jockey. A horse jockey you ask? Yup, I loved the races. My mom used to take me to Santa Anita racetrack when I was a kid and I'd pick the horses. I had an unconventional childhood. Oh, and I still love the racetrack. I'm torn though because I know the horses aren't always treated how I would want them to be. But I love it. It's a flaw.


3. I bought three dresses for our wedding back in February 2002. At first we were supposed to get married at the Berkeley City Club but it was incredibly difficult to find reasonable priced florists and photographers in California while planning a wedding from Pittsburgh, PA ... over a dial-up internet connection. One day I finally got a photographer on the phone that was within our meager price range only to find out that she didn't speak English. She could write in English but not speak it. I dunno. I lost it and when Alan got home from work I told him I wanted to get married in Hawaii instead. He was on board, so we lost all of our deposits and changed plans dramatically. What had been a formal wedding gown would no longer due for a casual beach wedding so I bought another one that was MUCH simpler. Unfortunately, the lady doing my measurements was like 97 years old and couldn't read her own writing or the measuring tape and she ended up writing down my measurements completely wrong. While I had lost weight, by the time the dress came in I couldn't get it zipped. The bridal salon refused to take responsibility for the old croan's mistake so I had to buy ANOTHER dress. I found one that was simple and cheap and had it rushed from the Jessica McClintock store in San Francisco out to Pittsburgh just days before the wedding. It's not the dress I would have wanted and I didn't love it, but it worked and looking back at least I have a story to tell about it.


4. My dream vacation is a three months in Italy. Or France. Or all around Europe. I'd love nothing more than to travel from city to city (by train, likely) during that time living like a local, eating and drinking and admiring all the beauty these countries have to offer. I think my heart nearly burst with happiness when our plane touched down in Rome back in 2006. And I may have cried tears of joy when I saw the Colisseum.


5. While I absolutely love our California bungalow, for our next house we want a mid-century modern or a 60s rancher. I really dig the windows and the open spaces and the cool lines of that style. I didn't always, but in the past couple of years it has really grown on me. Maybe that's where my desire to live in Portland comes from? Whenever I look up midcentury modern houses, Portland is always the first few hits.


Oh goodness this is a hard task. Two more thing you say?  Hmmm ...

6. My absolute most favorite thing in the world to do is curl up in bed and lose myself in a good book. And by "good" I mean trashy romance novels. My favorite genres are Regency England and Vampire/Supernatural. Oh, and Highland warriors. They're pretty awesome too. Some of my favorite romance authors are Mary Balogh, Lisa Kleypas and Karen Marie Moning. I just finished a series by Christie Kelley that I especially liked and a book by Hannah Howell that was pretty decent so I'm going to check out more from her too. I really love my Kindle because now I don't have to worry about people seeing the covers and thinking less of me.

 

7. Along those lines, I'm trying to write my own trashy romance novel. So far I'm at 51,000 words. It is set in modern day Ireland, but there are vampires and other supernatural elements. No Highlanders though. I am at a sticking point because I need to have a point of conflict to move the story forward and I know what I want it to be but the words aren't coming. Maybe I'm trying to force a storyline that shouldn't be. Right now I'm trying to find a way to move the story forward so that I can actually finish it. I had hoped to do so before I go back to work, but like I said ... the story just isn't coming to me. Maybe if I spent less time reading other people's works and focused more on mine that might change. I dunno. I also don't know what I hope to accomplish with this. I don't expect to get it published, although I'd love it if that happened. Maybe once it's finished if I think it's good enough I'll put it up on Kindle and others can decide for themselves if they want to read it. Who knows.

Okay, now I need to pass along this honor to other bloggers. I hesitate to call out just "stylish" bloggers, even though that's what the award is for. Each of these ladies has their own unique style, whether it's fashion, their house, their lives or just plain who they are day in and day out. So enjoy and tell 'em casacaudill sent you.

Andrea @ wit & whimsy (she is actually tre stylish!)
The Jennifer Beautiful Me Show (maybe if enough of you visit she'll start blogging again)

4 comments:

  1. This is exactly why you are so "stylish" and why I enjoy reading...

    You have the ability to craft a well written and insightful post at the drop of a hat!

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  2. Congrats! As I was reading about your preferance for trashy romance novels I had to laugh. I try to hide my choice of reading material also. Maybe I should get a kindle.

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  3. @Mom - I was going to get you a Kindle for Christmas but we got Alan's mom one and she never uses it because she finds it confusing, so we decided to go another route.

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  4. I love the gifts you gave me. I'm actually getting alot more tech savvy. Sometimes I even surprise myself. LOL!

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