You cannot imagine my surprise when I came home from helping my family in Colorado and found a note in my blog saying Chiron O’Keefe had given me an I Love Your Blog award!

How cool is that?! Thank you Chrion – woman of writing wisdom and inspiration!

You must check out her blog, The Write Soul. I know once you do, you’ll become a regular visitor like I am.

Check out the award –

 Is that adorable, or what!?

Now it’s my turn to nominate some blogs. But when I do… here’s what the nominees are to do… (don’t worry. It’s easy. And it’s a great way to meet more bloggers!)

The rules…
1) Add the logo of the award to your blog

2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4) Add links to those blogs on your blog

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

Voila!

And the envelopes please…

First, I would be a fool to not nominate the blog with the most wonderful collection of writers/bloggers there is. The Happily Ever After Cafe. Published authors from Romance Writer’s of America’s online chapter post weekly blogs of both personal and professional experiences and advice. Truly worth visiting, IMO.

Second, Claire Delacroix’s Alive & Knitting blog. Claire is one of those prolific writers who never ceases to amaze me. She’s multi-published and has contracts and deadlines I can only dream of, and yet she still has the time and energy to post her thoughts and advice. Claire’s blog is a wonderful mix of life and art.

Third, I know they’ve been nominated already but BookEnds Literary Agency’s blog is one of the best there is in the industry. With posts by the agents themselves, insight and understanding of the publishing end of the business is offered daily. Truly an informative site for those seeking first-time publication or repeated, this blog is worth a daily perusal. I must confess… they are my dream agents and I do hope to one day be represented by the women of BookEnds.

Fourth, CLL Diary. As a woman with a family member dealing with this disease, this is a blog I refer to often. The author’s experiences are detailed with painful clarity. There is no nonsense, no sugar-coating. For me, this is perfection. If there is a disease I need to be concerned about – whether for me or for a member of my family – I want all the information I can get with nothing held back. I want to know what I’m dealing with, and this gentleman’s gracious sharing of very personal experiences gives me that. Thank you, David Arensen, and I wish you all the best during your tough time fighting this disease.

Fifth, Just Enough, and Nothing More, a secular homeschooling blog by Tammy Takahashi. If you have the slightes interest or concern about homeschooling, check out her blog. It’s interesting and informative – giving the pros AND cons of homeschooling. As a fairly new homeschooling mom, I find myself visiting her blog often.

Sixth, I want to give a shout out to each of the woman whose blogs I follow daily. I’m going to lump all of them into this spot because each one is wonderful for their own reason and because they each might want to nominate another on the list. Please, check out my blogroll for some fun blogs. Leave a comment and go back for more!

And finally, seventh… this is a very personal shout out. It’s probably against the rules but I’m going to take this chance. Those who know me, know I volunteer at an animal shelter. I love the cats there and wish for a home for each and every one of them. So… I’ve just set up a blog for them and I hope lots of people will visit there and CLICK ON ALL THE ADS!! We can certainly use the revenu so, if you’re so inclined, a daily visit and click would help us tremendously. We’ve yet to create actual posts but my hope is each volunteer will contribute so we’ll have a never-ending supply of interesting reading there. PLEASE stop by every now and then. I promise, soon there will be posts there worth reading.