how to top meeting santa

I met Santa yesterday and I thought my day couldn’t get any better. But it did. I was nominated for an award. That’s right. I am chuffed. I am humbled. I’m a pig in mud. I’m a happy clam. I’m a happy clam in mud!

team harmen nominated me for ‘a very inspiring blogger award’. Go and check out her blog, it’s an amazing account of a family living in London and what they get up to. Plus some great photography along the way. I learn a lot about photography from her.  And her stories about the day to day have you feeling like you are friends that live next door.

Being the curious person I am, I tried to find some background on the ‘a very inspiring blogger award’ – but I couldn’t. Even with my mad googling skills. So I took that as a sign to just go with the flow.

The rules for receiving the award are:

1/ Display the award logo on your blog – CHECK.
2/ Link back to the person who nominated you – CHECK.
3/ State 7 things about yourself.

One. I used to play the saxophone – badly. So I switched to piano and that was hard. So I switched to singing and found my niche. I wish I’d stuck with piano. I have a guitar in my loungeroom given to me by my father which I long to learn to play. Music is a part of me as much as my body, mind and soul are.

Two. I have a thing where I search for nice properties that I’d like to buy and live in overseas. Hours at a time on the iPad I will spend. With no intention of buying unless I win lotto.

Three. I’ve never seen the west coast of Australia, but I plan to. In a winnebago. In winter. With Buddy.

Four. I still think I could’ve been a professional tennis player if someone had shown some interest in my talent and work ethic when I was little.

Five. I think Dylan Moran, Jim Carey, Arj Barker and Steve Martin are the funniest guys on the planet. I wish there were more women going into comedy. We are under-represented. I love to have a good old hearty laugh. I’ll keep laughing to myself for days at one thing that keeps popping into my brain. It sometimes gets me into trouble . . . picture me giggling at a funny thing in my head while standing behind a heavy set bikie dude in the check out line.

Six. I don’t consider myself ‘a photographer’ . . . yet. Photography is a passion I grow fonder of every day. I find it helps me see the world differently. In the same way people refer to ‘beer goggles’ I reckon photographers have ‘scene goggles’ that help them take amazing photos. My favourite scenes at the moment are landscapes and the Australian country side. I’d like one day to specialise in Australian country photography. I also love to capture people when they don’t know they are being snapped.

Seven. I love animals and think that they need more legislative protection from mistreatment. I spend a lot of time pondering how I can help them more. And I often dream that if were a lawyer and didn’t have to worry about money, I would spend my days campaigning that sentencing for animal harm better met the severity of the crime.

4/ Nominate 15 bloggers for this blog and link to their pages.

Patrick Latter takes brilliant photographs. He says he’s a programmer with a passion for all things photography and hiking. But I reckon he’s all photography.

I saw you dancing is one of my daily visits. I enjoy everything about this blog. Kat is so honest and such a beautiful writer. It’s like your sitting on the couch having a cup of tea and a chatette together. Besides this she’s also creative and innovative and (to quote Kat) “a work in progress”.

Che and Fidel is a blog by Jodie, a fellow east coast Australian. Wonderful photo’s and posts about life. She inspired me to start capture the son.

Penelope and Pip is a source of craft inspiration. Rachael Smith is a fellow Queenslander and does killer illustrations, that’s how I first started following her blog.

Christina Lowry is seriously creative, a mum, a great blogger, and she’s really nice – she started this whole handmade Christmas decoration swap idea that was followed by people around the world. She just thinks these things up and organised it all. Nice huh. Oh and she’s a Queenslander too.

Foxs Lane is a farmy/stitchy/parenty/mummy blog.  Love everything that she’s doing over there. So folksy. So farmy. So serene. So rustic without trying to be.

Dmitrii takes some seriously awesome photos. Go check them out.

I won’t lie. I started following Jen at red parker diaries because she is Tasmanian. It turns out her blog is awesome. She’s an artist and creator and you follow her to the markets where she sells her wares. And she tells you about a bunch of other arty and crafty stuff as she goes along. Great blog.

fatmumslim is the blog of Chantelle. Who started from nothing (well not nothing she started her blog from out of of nowhere) and it’s a huge success. She is the creator of her fmsphotoaday challenge, which is always fun. A blog that I really admire for it’s innovation.

Apart from a great title, house of humble is the blog of Katie and Rueben which I love to read. They take you on a trip in their humble and simple life. I like it.

snappyspeak do brilliant photos. And they do them often. I learn a lot about composition from them.

Where’s my back pack is a cool little travel blog. I like to live vicariously through her photos and stories.

The Soulsby Farm is a blog about sustainable farming, permaculture, gardening and homesteading. I like to see them trying to achieve similar things I am but on the other side of the world.

Everywhere once by Shannon and Brian is a travel blog, but more than that it’s a story and photo blog. I’m jealous of them, but I love hearing about it.

Cityhippyfarmgirl says she is city with hippy tendencies and farming aspirations. I just love her photo’s of every day stuff, like cherries or cookies. She makes them seem special in a photo.  And her recipes are good but super easy.

Wow, that’s was fun. Such talent out there is the blogging world.

5/ Notify these bloggers of the nomination and the awards’ requirements. OKEDOKEY, WILL DO.

Have a great day.

Do you have a favourite blogger? I’m always up for recommendations.