Stylish Blogger Award

I am deeply flattered to be awarded the Stylish Blogger award. I will do my best to live up to the expectations which accompany this honor. It's a fun way to connect with other talented bloggers!

Rules for accepting this award are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this.

I am grateful to Michele of Cooking at Home not only for thinking of me for this award, but for her wonderful posts. A former Personal Chef living in New Jersey, Michele is passionate about sharing her delicious Italian-influenced food with her family and friends. I love to look at her fine photographs and imagine that I myself am a guest at her impromptu dinner parties.

2. Share seven things about yourself.

I usually keep my blogs fairly anonymous, so this is a bit intimidating... but I'll do my best!

I have studied French, Spanish and Cantonese, but they all get jumbled in my head now. The Cantonese is still passable... I think! :-)

I have traveled to every continent except Australia and South America, but I hope to remedy these exceptions someday.

I was adopted as an infant, but now enjoy warm relationships with both of my biological parents as well as my adoptive family.

I love to read (a relic of my time spent studying literature in college), and especially enjoy the Russian and English classics.

Fitness is important to me, but I have a phobia of sports. Also, of hospitals and internal organs/blood/guts.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I enjoy eating many diverse foods. Foods I do not like include cheap (quality) hot dogs, strong mustard, black sesame, and my most recent discovery, rutabagas.

3. Pass along this award to 15 stylish bloggers.

I'll be honest, I read a lot of immensely popular blogs that can assuredly do without the honor of my award. I think that David Lebovitz, Joy the Baker, smitten kitchen, Orangette, and Tea & Cookies will do just fine as they are. Also, 15 is a bit much. I'll knock it down to five of my favorites:

I enjoy A Simple Breath because it features a little bit of everything cozy, from beautiful music to crafts to nature to book reviews. Annette is also the master of list making!

Tiffany at Dancing Branflakes is a sweetheart, as well as a dancer, fashion-lover, foodie, and more. Her daily posts are always upbeat and cheery.

Kelly at Make Grow Gather always has great ideas for homemade crafts, and gorgeous pictures that make you feel a part of each post.

If you want to follow the process of writing a novel, check out Mark Noce Stories for insights into a writer's life. This Bay-area writer of historical fiction is a bit of a Renaissance man as well, so you never know what topic he'll write about next.

Speaking of Bay-area artists, I have to mention Chez Danisse. Denise has a unique ability to use her camera and craft her words so as to perfectly capture a moment. Her posts are always lovely and profound, and I constantly look forward to seeing what she will capture next.

Have You Heard of the 3/50 Project?

This week, I learned about the 3/50 Project, created by blogger Cinda Baxter, who is aiming to stimulate local economies with the following advice:

"Think of three [local] businesses you'd miss if they went away. Stop in. Say hello. Pick up a little something that makes you smile. Pick 3. Spend 50. Save your local economy." In other words, channel $50 (that would would have spent anyway on food, a hair cut, clothing, etc.) into a locally owned and operated business.

Baxter claims that for every $100 spent in locally owned independent businesses, $68 returns to the community (through taxes, payroll, and expenditure). If you spend that money in a national chain, only $43 returns, and if you spend it online, virtually none of it returns.

As a citizen of one town for most of my life, I can see the potential benefits that the 3/50 project carries for a healthier local economy. My relatively small town often loses potential revenue when shoppers choose to shop at the state capital city that is just a 10 minute drive away, but in fact a completely different county altogether. As for local businesses, I know that I would be lost without my favorite Laotian and Indian restaurant, my trusty dry cleaner and salon, and the Woodland-based Nugget market (the best grocery store I have ever had the pleasure of patronizing). Incidentally, I saw on Facebook that Cinda Baxter visited the nearby city of Woodland and spoke about her project just this week. Too bad I missed her, but I hope to keep her ideas in mind in the future when I need to purchase goods and services and keep it close to home.

An Unexpected Shout Out Makes My Day

A blog is a funny thing. One moment, you may feel as if you're sending your words and thoughts into the black hole of cyberspace, somewhat anonymously; then the next, you connect with a stranger or get a shout out on another blog and suddenly, your invisibility cloak is swept away. (I like to throw in a good Harry Potter reference where I can, though I'll never forgive Rowling for doing away with Dumbledore. Never, I say!)

I have been blessed to make several new friends through blogging this week, and also be recognized by my friend Mark on his own blog, Noce Stories. Mark is a skilled writer and probably on his way to becoming a published author, so check out his blog for bragging rights that you knew him before he was a household name. My favorite quote from his review of my blog was was this:

"One part cookbook, one part philosophical, and two parts fun, “In Search of the Finer Things” appeals to pretty much anyone with a soul!"

See how articulately he summarizes everything I post? And here I thought it was just stream-of-conscious randomness. I only hope to live up to this praise! Thanks, Mark! Keep up the good work with your writing.