Hurrayyy! It's My First (Ever) Blog Award

Have you ever seen one of Patek Philippe's "Generations" Ad Campaigns?  My husband totally bought the whole father-son, mother-daughter marketing gimmick, getting teary-eyed whenever he came across one of those ads.  As for me, I'm mostly waiting for my husband to move on from just getting teary-eyed, to actually GETTING the watch for my birthday present.  So far, I'm still waiting.  Anyway, the ads always have this message written on them: "You never actually own a Patek Philippe.  You merely look after it for the next generation."  


Which brings me to this happy news.  I won an award today!!!  It's called the Versatile Blogger award!  Whoever created the Versatile Blogger award must have been inspired by those Patek Philippe's ads, because later on, I found out that this award was "passed" to me so that afterward I can pass it again to other blogs I've recently discovered.  This is what it looks like:

Fittingly, this Versatile Blogger Award was given to me by a VERY versatile blogger herself.  One whose daily accomplishments alone equals to my 5 year-plans.  She is a new, yet already dear-to-my-heart, mommy blogger named Janice.

In her blog "The (not so) Special Mother," she writes her life as a wife, a mother of two, and a granddaughter.  She is also a homeschool mom, a mother to a special-needs child, and a primary caregiver to her disabled sister.  If that wasn't enough to put me to shame, she still has time to go hiking, camping, traveling, and dining out, and reads literature and poetry.  Oh, and I have a feeling that one day she will somehow find a way to resume her studies in Wildlife Biology and finished her degree.

So why the heck did someone like Janice passed the Versatile Blogger award to me?  Beats me.  But I AM happy to have this award, and I AM glad that (at least) Janice thinks I deserve it.  Coming from someone like her, hell yeah, I'm proud to be called a Versatile Blogger!  If you haven't gotten the chance to know Janice, please visit her blog "The (not so) Special Mother."  She really is a living, breathing Supermom!

Since it is now my turn to pass on "the Versatile Blogger" award, I'm also passing the rules for accepting this award:

• Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their site in your original post.
• Tell us seven things about yourself.
• Pass along the award to fifteen newly discovered bloggers.
• Contact these bloggers and let them know they got this award.

So here are my seven things that I would never have told you if it weren't because I'm greedy and I wanted this award!!!

1. I was named after a former empress who went into exile in 1979.  So yeah, as far as first role models go, I'm pretty much doomed from the start.
2. I used to wear prescription glasses up to five years ago, when a lasik surgery cured me of my near-sightedness, but not my nerdiness.
3. I love romance stories where the hero is good looking, yet the heroine is not.  You can call me a traitor to feminism all you want, but I like the idea that even if you're less than average in the looks department, you still have a shot at nailing a Brad Pitt-lookalike.
4. I was still in another relationship when I started dating my husband. OMG I can't believe I just told you that! I've managed to keep that little fact from my husband all these years! 
5. I have botanophobia (fear of plants).  The thought of touching them freaks me out, and I absolutely cannot eat or drink next to one.
6. On the night before my wedding day, my bridezilla-ness hit a new, all time record-breaking high.  My wedding planner decided she's had enough and finally knocked me out with a handful of valiums.
7. I drool while I sleep. Bucketful. No kidding.

And hereby I am passing the Versatile Blogger award to the following 15 blogs, obviously for this reason:  They're AWESOME!

1. Partly Sunny, Chance of Rain Tammy is the genius behind World's Worst Mom, a blog where you can read about other moms' less-than-perfect moments and feel better about yourself.  It's like free therapy!!
2. My 3 Little Birds  Her posts are always interesting and very insightful.
3. Moms in Venting  I love Glynis.  Her blog makes venting so much fun! 
4. Manic Mother  I will always be grateful to her.  I learned a lot about blogging just from reading her blog.
5. Two Kids and a Fish  A mother with a BIG heart.  Read her post My Kid's Best Friend is a Psychic.  I cried reading that post.
6. Single Dad Laughing  I never thought I'd say this, but this is one Dad who's doing a much better job at being a mom than me.
7. My Mummy Daze  I consider her blog my "next-door-mom" blog.  She blogs about stuff that I've always wanted to blog about.
8. Danielle Moss//The Blog  I love her designs... she's my web designer who had to deal with the worst sides of me (like changing my mind for like the thousandth time), and yet is still willing to help out. 
9. Momalog I always enjoyed reading Ado's posts... She writes so well (and I notice, so fast!).  Her posts always have the right mix of insight, humor, and candor.
10. Whimsy and Whirl by Tenesia  I've never met Tenesia in person, but I have a feeling that if I ever need a partner in crime, this is one mommy who's not gonna let me down.
11. Thoughts from this Mom... When you read her blog, you just can't help but like her!
12. 1 FUNKY WOMAN  Yes, I think she's one funky woman. A very wholesome blog. One thing though, until now I still don't know how to turn the background music she has on--not because I don't like it, but because I can't listen to music and read other people's blog at the same time. **UPDATE: Megan was sweet enough to send me a user-friendly instruction on how to turn off the music on her blog. So now I'm an expert on how to turn her blog's music on and off.  Thanks, Megan!
13. Absolutely Narcissism I absolutely love her narcissism!  Her posts are hilarious.
14. Mrs. No-No Knows This highly creative mommy's posts always make me: 1) hungry; 2) wish I can cook; 3) hope that my husband never finds out that there is such a wife as Mrs. No-No.
15. Sanity's Overrated A fellow book lover who writes beautifully and honestly about her family and the many facets of herself. 

Hurray to me!  And now I'm gonna be spending the next few hours contacting each one of the 15 blog owners I mentioned above...