I Was Awarded {Again} and Now I'm Passing It On!

I'm dancing a jig this morning ladies (and am so thankful and appreciative), because I was given another award!  WOO-HOO!  Award in da house!

One of my most favorite bloggers and a wonderful new bloggy friend has hooked me up with:

The Leibster Blog Award!

Nicole at Davis Domestications bestowed me with this award and for that I'm sending her a huge shout out and a lot of blogger love.  :)  Thanks, Nicole!  You rock!  (But you already know that, right?)  I am so thankful to have met you and so honored that you thought of me.  Nicole has some ah-mazing furniture restorations.  Still waiting on one of those buffets...  Ahem...  ;)  But she's got some excellent taste, let me tell ya!  Oh yeah.  Good stuff! Go check her out!

According to Miss Nicole, the Leibster Award is given out to up and coming bloggers with 200 followers or less.

<-------------------No problem with that here, folks!

Errrrrr....

Anyhoo...

"Liebster" is Deutsch (that's German in German -HA!- and about the extent of what I remember from high school German class, other than to ask what time it is:  "Was..."  Nevermind, I don't remember that either).  It means dear, sweet, kind, nice, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.  Awwww!  Thanks, Nicole!  Ich liebe dich!  And that means I love you!  Okay, so I remember more than I let on, but where's the fun in that?   

Moving on...

So as with the Versatile Blogger Award that I was given last week, there are a few stipulations with receiving the Leibster Award.  (If you haven't figured it out yet, nothing in life comes without stipulations and I guess blogging awards aren't any exception.  Poo.)

I have to do the following things:

1.  I must recognize five (5) other bloggers that have less than 200 followers.  (Thank God it's not another 15 because I would be in trouble.)

2.  Reveal your top five (5) picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog announcing their award.

3.  Copy and paste the award on your blog.  (Done!)

4.  Have faith that your followers will spread the love too.

5.  Well, actually there's not a five, but there should be because it just seems more copacetic to have five winners and five things you have to do, but okay, whatever.  (Is that what you mean by random, Nicole?  LMBO!)

Let's get to it...

My Top 5 Schön Bloggers

(Schön is German for beautiful.  And yes, I totally googled that.)

1.  Shannon @ Fox Hollow Cottage.  My super nut-so, freakin' hilarious, totally love her - blog friend.  I've known Shannon a little while longer than Nicole, but if you put the 2 of us together in close quarters I'm pretty sure we'd be in trouble in no time.  She frequently likes to embarrass me in front of the world via her Facebook page, but I adore her anyway.  LOL!  Shannon has fought cancer and WON!  HOLLA! So this is a woman who's seen the dark side and still has a happiness and sense of humor that never ceases to amaze me.  I wanna be just like her when I grow up.  I {heart} you, Shannon!  Be sure to check her out and become a follower.  :)

2.  Amy @ The Salvage Collection.  I've just met Amy this week, but WOW-ZA!  This woman has got some awesome taste!  Like Shannon, she's an absolute riot.  Her blog always makes me LOL! (with an !)  If Amy, Shannon, and I got together, I'm pretty sure something would blow up.   She's got this fantastic armoire that I would kill to have - well, maybe not kill, but I could probably be talked into hurting someone.  JOKING!  Well maybe...  Ahem...  Yeah.  So take the time to check her out (like now, but be sure to come back here),  and I know you'll be her newest follower!

3.  Shari @ Turnstyle Vogue and Design.  I really, really wanted to give Shari the Versatile Blog Award last week, but alas, Amanda at Between the Rafters beat me to it.  Shari and I couldn't possibly be more different.  She has an understated elegance and poise that shows through her blogposts and all her furniture debuts.  However, we've bonded over a love of our children's sports and she never fails to encourage me and leave me a comment or two.  If it wasn't for Shari's encouragement and faith in my abilities (or lack of) I would have never had the courage to tackle my buffet, which has led to me being featured in three separate blogs and gained me some of you as followers.  Be sure to go check Shari out and become a follower, so I'm not in debt to her forever.  You'll be oohing and ahhing in no time!

4.  Amanda @ Between The Rafters.  Last week, Amanda bestowed me with the Versatile Blogger Award, so I'm showing a little love back.  Amanda is super creative in her own right and I just adore the pillows she recently recovered.  LOVE!  LOVE!  Is there anything better than black, gray, and white with a pop of yellow?  Are your thinking about it?  Well, the answer is "No."  Okay, okay... If I'm being honest, maybe anything with aqua, but that's besides the point.  Her little yellow nightstand is awesome too.  I'm totally lovin' it!  Swing by and become a follower!

5.  Sandi @ Making It Homey.  I really don't know Sandi, but I'm an avid follower of her blog.  She really does some neat things with furniture.  I particularly love her window facelift!  Stop by to check her out and start following.  She doesn't post very much like some of us other blog addicted people (Who me?  No, I don't have a problem.  I don't know what you're talking about.), but when she does, her stuff definitely is unique and has her own stamp on it.  And now that she's got her own workshop (LUCKY!) I bet she'll be posting all kinds of stuff.

Well, that wraps it up.  Five fellow bloggers that I admire.  An FYI for some of you...  I know that when I tried to upload the pictures of the awards to add to an Award Gadget to my page (Does anyone know why they don't make HTML codes for these things?), Blogger told me I had exceeded my allowable picture amount and wanted some $$$.  What-eh-ver.  So, the way I got around that was to left click on the picture, download to my computer, upload it to photobucket, and it automatically creates an HTML.  FREE!  In your face, Blogger!  So try that if you get the same message when you try to add the award pic to your gadgets and it won't let you.

And while I'm at it...  Today is a super special day!  Eleven years ago, our lives were blessed with the arrival of our 2nd son!  After five and a half hours, 15 minutes of pushing, and with the help of one heck of an epidural  (Thank the good Lord!), Ian Dawson arrived to make our family of 3, a family of 4.  Happy Birthday to one of the most cocky, arrogant, funniest little stinkers I know.  Your self-esteem never ceases to amaze me and I am so glad that you have confidence in spades, but a good heart to balance it out.  I love you, baby boy!

At the risk of freaking some moms out, here's a pic which shows perfectly the self-esteem I'm talking about (Totally his idea, not mine - puh-lease give me some credit - and I agreed to take it so we can look back years later and laugh about it - and show it to the young lady he falls in love with. Hehehehe)...

To answer your question...  Yes.  He's a handful.  Yes.  He's going to give me gray hairs.  And I love him for it.  Life is never dull with Ian around.  LOL!  I can't believe 11 years has passed!  WOW!  Time's just a flyin'.

Have a great day y'all!