Versatile Blogger Award to... ME!

I've been really thinking about my blog and where it is going; wondering if I have readers who get anything out of my writing - whether knowledge or entertainment.  This week, that thought has been in my head more than usual.  I have been wanting to do more so that I can gain more readers and perhaps move to bigger writing at different locations.

So it was really, just in time that I received some recognition from a fellow blogger.  I was given the Versatile Blogger Award from Dawn who writes Alphabet Salad.

I know it's not a Pulitzer, but it is really meaningful and helps me feel good that people I've never met read and like what they read enough to acknowledge my blog.

Dawn is a writer who I've been reading a lot since joining NaBloPoMo.  She continues to grow and has received some great accolades from BlogHer as well as from other bloggers.  So, it really means a lot that she selected me for this award.  Thank you, Dawn.

Now that I've been recognized, here are my duties:

• Share 7 completely random pieces of information about myself.
• Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
• Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

Some random facts (don't judge):

1. I sometimes count my foot steps as I walk.  Inside my head.  Not all the time, but for some reason I tend to do it when I go into the basement or go up or down different stairs.  I thought it might be a competition or something where I try to beat a personal record, but I don't think this is true since I don't try to beat the previous number when I do this.  Perhaps, it is a bit of OCD coming out or something.
2. I am loving Nature's Valley granola bars in my oatmeal in the morning! I break up two packages and pour them in the oatmeal.  I don't put any other toppings or sugars in there, just the granola, which tastes good enough that I have been eating eat almost every morning for almost a year.  
3. I have always loved the small cars people outside of the US drive.  I finally have a Mini Cooper and feel more connected to the international community I hope to one day move into.
4. I am a source of so many random pieces of information it is insane.  I once even rocked out at a lawyers' trivia night and answered some of the legal questions that the lawyers at my table did not know.  I used to read the medical magazines my father would leave on the table and was able to have some serious medical conversations about brain functions with him that, at the time, my medical school attending sisters were not fully grasping.  I guess this comes from different conversations I have, from watching a lot of educational television, from reading a lot, and from listening to talk radio.  I've been told (especially after posts like this one and the posts I did on my siblings in February of this year) that I should use this knowledge, researching ability, and writing style to move myself into a bigger form of public writing.
5. I am a super sarcastic person.  I need to enroll in a 12-step program.  Writing this blog is one way that I am trying to ease back on my sarcasm.  I don't use it a lot in my writing since it doesn't translate well when I am not heard.  But, when I talk with friends and in my job, I get caught up in the moment and I can't help my sarcasm reigning supreme.  The other day at practice a coach came up to me after I was instructing the athletes on something and said that he and another coach had been standing on the side commenting on my incredibly humorous sarcasm.  Problem was that I didn't even realize that I had been spouting the sarcasm while I was talking with the kids.
6. I love the light timers in my house.  I have one in the kitchen and one in the living room and it makes going to bed so much easier.  I don't have to worry about turning off the light and then walking through the area in the dark and bumping into something.  I have the kitchen one set to go off earlier than the living room one which is set to go off about an hour after the time I should be sleeping on weekdays. 
7. I'm so lactose intolerant that I don't even like to eat dairy in public for fear of what it might do to me.  There are some dairy products that I know the brands and what they do to my body, Papa John's pizza is fine.  So is Breyer's ice cream.  One day at school I discovered that the mac and cheese one of the ladies made was no good for me.  I had to go home since I don't like public restrooms.

Now to pay it forward to some fellow bloggers.  These blogs are all unique and cover a wide range of life areas and topics.  Some I have been following for a long time, some I have discovered during the past two+ months of NaBloPoMo writing and posting.  On some I try to comment pretty regularly, on some I am a lurker who reads but does not really comment.  All of these, I enjoy!

I hope you check them out and enjoy some of what you see on these versatile blogs.

1. Beautiful World Wonderful People
2. Urban Bush Babes
3. Happy Black Woman
4. Plum Bananas
5. Precious Curls
6. Mrs H.
7. A Life Improbable
8. Black Snob
9. Four-Eyes Rella
10. Third World Profashional
11. The Second Half of My Life
12. Kicking Corners
13. Columbibueno
14. No More Coffee Spoons
15. Natural Nigerian