Purposefully Self-Absorbed

I was originally going to call this post “The One Where I Combine Two Awards and A Cute Meme That’s All About Me.” But I thought it was too long and that this other title would be more eye catching. And while it sounds self-centered and assy-like, it really isn’t. See, I was recently bestowed the honour of two blog awards. A Blogging With Substance Award from Mommy News and A Versatile Blogger Award from A Moderate Life. And I’m supposed to follow the rules to graciously accept them. Then I read this post based on a meme “all about me” over at A Lot of Loves and it looked like fun. I wondered if I could combine all three of them into one post. Without any more thought than that, here I am.

The Mission:

To follow the rules of both awards while also answering the all-about-me questions from A Lot Of Loves.

Here I go.

A Blog With Substance

The Rules:

1) Thank the blogger who bestowed the Award on you.

Thank you to Judy at Mommy News. You are one of the first blogs I ever followed and I was drawn to you for your compassionate and informative breastfeeding posts as well as your successful breastfeeding and maternity wear business. You are still one person I aim to be a little more like.

2) Sum up your blogging experience, philosophy and motivation in 5 words.

• To express, support, encourage and inspire.

3) Pass the award on to 10 deserving bloggers.

Here are 10 bloggers who are extremely deserving of this award:

1.) Spoonfed. Raising Kids to think about the food they eat. Spoonfed marries my two favorite topics: parenting and food. I love every single article I read here!

2) At Mother’s Breast: Photographing the Beauty and Normalcy of Breastfeeding. Katrina is a photographer and wants to photograph breastfeeding moms of Utah for a project she is working on. If you are a photographer outside of Utah, you can participate too.

3) Heather at It’s All About The Hat just had her second unassisted birth. She’s amazing. She blogs about pregnancy, breastfeeding, birth and mothering unlike any other blogger I know.

4) Catherine at My Birth Tree always inspires me. She’s a doula, breastfeeding counsellor and Birthing From Within Mentor and while her posts aren’t always about these topics, her passion for mothering and mothers always shines through.

5) …Infinitely Learning… Hilliary is a woman of positive intention. Each post she writes is like a cherished treasure. Like a wild flower your child picked for you. If I could stuff her blog in a vase I would!

6) Speaking of inspirational and positive intentions, Sarah Sophia of tout-est-des-roses is another fave whose posts bring to mind night time rose gardens and children swinging barefoot in handmade dresses.

7) Ayala’s Herbal Water. Dr. Ayala blogs about nutrition and health. She’s the other vegetarian real foodie I know. I love her informative posts. Seriously, every single one of them rocks.

The Mommypotamus. Heather is really smart and really great to read. She really gets me thinking and most always agreeing with most of everything she says, whether it’s about natural parenting or healthy living. Currently one of my top favorites.

9) Grumbles and Grunts. Jamie is super cool. She also wrote a kick-butt primer for pumping at work, which I adored, and I just like her. She’s nice. She’s real. And she pumped at work. Women who do that are pretty much my heros.

10) Hobo Mama. Because this is so not in order, Lauren always comes to mind when I think of a blogger with substance. Fabulous writer, excellent mom. You’ll want to be like her if you don’t already know her.

The Versatile Blogger

The Rules:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

Hey Alex of A Moderate Life. You know I think you absolutely rock and I so appreciate what a big supporter you are of me!

2. Share seven things about yourself: (This is where I start answering some of the other questions from A Lot of Loves post.)

1) Events that have most shaped me.

• Living in a cottage in the woods, on a lake, with two of the nicest guys a girl could ever meet, finding my spirituality, losing a pregnancy and being surrounded by so much love and support. This time in my life modeled for me what true passion, friendship and life, for me, is all about.
• Meeting my husband. The one guy I can’t say is like any other man I’ve known. Entering into a relationship and life with him was like consciously choosing a new path for myself.
• Having children. Breastfeeding them. Need I say more?

2) If I had a whole day without commitments I would sleep in, take myself out for a fabulous breakfast at my favorite breakfast spot, wander around downtown, have a two hour massage, write a letter (a real one on fancy note paper) to my best girlfriends, and go out to see a movie.

3) I could never give up Earl Grey tea and soymilk. I’ve tried. I know soy milk is bad but nothing tastes quite as good. Since it’s only a Tbsp per day I will not beat myself up over this tiny imperfection in my real food journey.  I could also never give up cake. Not completely anyway.

4) If I could travel anywhere (I just played this game with my husband yesterday morning) I would go to Europe. France, in particular. I went when I was 18 and stayed one month with a French family. I loved it there but I wanted to see more and I also never once got to eat in a real French restaurant. So I want to go back and be my own tour guide. I also want to visit West Africa because no one ever seems to go there, and I’d love to return to Botswana one day. Great people. Gorgeous countryside.

5) I have a crush on Robert Downey Jr. It’s a big one. I basically told my hubby that if RDJ ever wanted to be with me, he’d have to let me go. He has reluctantly agreed. I get Robert Downey, he gets Maggie Gyllenhall. That’s a fair trade I think. What do I love about Robert Downey Jr? His facial expressions… that smile (swoon), those see-into-my-soul eyes (faint). He is so fine! Oh, Edward the vampire is pretty hot too.

6) I thought I was going to teach English in a French-speaking African nation when I grew up. That’s what they said about me when I went to collect my diploma at my high school graduation. So I took French, dropped out after two years because I got two B’s when I was used to getting A’s, and then decided to become a Travel Agent instead. Took the course, passed with flying colours, went to Africa and when I returned I decided that I didn’t want to contribute to that continent’s exploitation. So I became a waitress and met a deaf man who taught me American Sigh language. I decided I would become a translator, nope even better, a counsellor for the deaf! So I took psychology courses in preparation but couldn’t keep up with my Sigh Language courses on the side. So I let that go and ended up in mental health, where I found my passion. Thank the Goddess!!

7) The character trait that I admire most is confidence. Confidence wins a lot of tickets to a good life. Being confident in who you are means telling the truth to others and to yourself. It means you are living authentically and passionately and that you will take risks and grow.

3. Pass this award along to ten bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!

1) Mud Spice: Mucking about in Art and Motherhood. Why do I love Mud Spice? Because of art as prayer and because her blog embodies her beliefs about this. Interested to find out what I mean? Go read her blog. She’s a beautiful person.

2) Chill Mama Chill. Meet Babe_Chilla. She’s real, she’s funny and she’s really fun to read. I’ve been following her on Twitter for awhile but only recently started reading her blog. Boy was I sorry I wasn’t reading earlier!

3) Me and Mine in a Small Town. I love this woman because she’s as crunchy as Christ (I just made that up but it’s pretty good hey?) and I loved her posts about the homeless man she and her husband let stay with them one night. The power of humanity people. Right here.

4) The Leaky Boob. Because she provides support and information for moms everywhere too. Love the ones you’re with ladies. We all need all the support we can get. Plus her blog name rocks.

5) Earth Mama: Gentle mothering, gentle living. Drawn in by the name. Stayed for the content and the peace and joy. Like our real earth mother, I just like rolling around in the lushness and beauty of this blog.

6) Modern Alternative Mama: Living the non-mainstream life. My newest find. Such a treasure. Studying to become a breastfeeding specialist and child birth educator, into home birthing, non-vaxxing, cloth diapering, organic real food. I hope she’ll be my friend. I want to hang out with her, breastfeed and eat raw cheese.

7) Sacred Appetite is about restoring harmonious and happy family meals. Really good stuff here.

My Sweet and Savory. I can eat almost all the recipes Chaya posts and love the warm person she is.

9) Finding Summer. I’m kind of cheating here. I’ve been following Summer for quite awhile but this blog is new to her so I’m adding it to my list. Because she’s “one of those radical homemakers” and because she’s outspoken and rocks my blogosphere.

10) Health Food Lover. Why do I love Michelle’s blog? Look at the title. Need I say more?

Mission Accomplished!

And see! I wasn’t at all self-absorbed, but I have now given the writers of these blogs the bragging rights to be so themselves. And that makes this little post completely worth it.

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