An Award for Me?

I received an award from One Barefoot Bride and I am so so touched! When I began planning my wedding, I didn't really know where to start, what to do, or how to process all the information and messages I had absorbed about weddings my entire life. Then I found this wonderful community of women on the web who seemed a lot like me, except smarter and with so much to share. Because I value the wisdom and information these women shared with me, I thought I should give back to the community that has given me so much. So, I started this little blog to post my thoughts and ideas and to post my inspiration for my wedding in the hopes that it might help other brides the way these blogs have helped me. But, I didn't really expect that in such a short time I would earn such a touching recognition from a fellow blogger for my efforts. So, thank you, thank you One Barefoot Bride! I am so grateful to you and all my readers that you actually stop by to read what I have to say from time to time.

I am changing the rules for this award. Why? Well, because I got this award for having ATTITUDE and I decided to pass it along with some changes. So, I am nominating blogs that have ATTITUDE or for which I am GRATEFUL. If you are a recipient of this award, I hope that you will enjoy it and, only if you would like to share the blog-love that you:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post

2. Nominate at least 10 blogs who show great ATTITUDE and /or GRATITUDE and

3. Be sure to link to your nominees in your post

4. Let them know they've received this award by commenting on their blog

5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received the award

And without further ado (okay, there was a lot of ado), here are my nominees:

A Practical Wedding: I have said this before, but it bears repeating, I LOVE Meg's blog and the community of women that I have found through it. Her thoughts are always so timely (like, telling me not to stress about my budget when that is the worry that is foremost on my mind) and poignant. Time after time, the real weddings she shares make me sigh or even cry a little and are an endless source of inspiration for how I want my wedding to feel--real and like us.

2000 Dollar Wedding: I love Sara's down to earth approach to weddings and marriage. She and Matt pulled off a wonderful celebration of love that was focused on exactly what was important. And, now that their wedding is over, she continues to field questions and update her blog, so that all of us have a place to go when we need advice about living and loving out of our values and without breaking the bank.

Darling Dexter: Whitney has sass, style, and skills! Oh, and she threw a wonderful, beautiful, amazing wedding complete with handmaid dresses and self-designed... well, almost everything. I admire her openness in sharing her endeavors--sewing, moving, starting school--and thoughts on how to live. And she is a constant source of inspiration--if I want to see something amazing, her blog is the first place I check.

A $10,000 Wedding: I am not sure that I have anything much to say about this one other than she has ATTITUDE, so go check it out! And she has a $10,000 budget. And she shares her ideas and creative solutions for doing just about everything at her wedding. And she manages to keep a sense of humor through it all.

Peonies and Polaroids: She started her own etsy store to sell her beautiful photography and demonstrated such tenacity and courage in doing so. I don't know what demonstrates attitude, if that doesn't. Plus, she also had a absolutely beautiful beautiful wedding that makes me want to scrap my plans and run over to Europe and to get hitched. Oh, and I love reading her prose--stories that just sound so beautiful and make me imagine that I am curled up with some tea in my favorite chair each time she shares one.

And a couple of honorary nominations--

NieNie Dialogues: Reading this helps me remember what is really important. And its not the wedding. It is the marriage that we are committing to build that will provide a foundation of love and support for each other and our family.

A blog that shall not be named (why? becuase its private): My friends with whom I am out of touch use their blog to update friends and family on their growing family. I also like reading this because it reminds me of what I want to get out of our marriage and I love hearing about how they deal with life with two little boys.

Whew! I know that's not ten, but I think this blog post has taken on a life of its own, so I should end it now.