Look What I Got !! The Beautiful Blogger Award

People have asked me why I'm blogging.  After all, I'm not in my twenties....I'm not really "techno-savvy". It's not like I don't have anything else to do!


The reasons I started to blog are not necessarily the reasons I continue to blog.  In the beginning, it was all about the marketing of Sally J. Designs.  It was a piece in the marketing plan. 

But it didn't take long for me to realize that I had other reasons to write Divine Distractions.  I connected with people in a very new way.  I've had to discover for myself what makes design good for me, and I've enjoyed this writing process.  I've made great friends from all over the world who have been encouraging and insightful.  I have been inspired by so many other designers and decorators, professional and self-taught, who daily help to make me a better designer.  I didn't expect that.

My new blogging friend, Anne-Marie Ezeard of 10 Rooms , has nominated me for a "Beautiful Blogger Award" .  She has been so faithful to comment on my posts and email me with helpful information and new ideas.  Her blog is creatively written and full of wonderful inspiration.  I know my readers will enjoy 10 rooms like I do.

The Beautiful Blogger Award is passed on to quiet little blogs, like mine, who are just starting out.  It is an award that acknowledges and validates the new blogger who's trying to find her audience in the vast sea of design blogs.   My job is to pass it on to other fabulous blogs that I delight in as well as to share 10 things you might not know about me. 

Isn't that a grand idea?

So now it's my turn to share 10 things that might help you to know and understand me better.  As always, I hope you enjoy the journey, and that you'll pass this on if you find it a happy place to be.

Here goes!

1. Maybe I'm a slow learner, but it took me 47 years to find my passion and become a designer!  I tried out multiple careers first…art, English and music teacher, special education diagnostician, mural artist and faux finisher and finally,  interior designer. I went to school for all of them as well as almost becoming a psychologist! I’m not EVER going back to school again, except maybe to learn cake decorating.

2. I am unabashedly, a proud Texan. I’m a city girl with country roots, and I can’t imagine living anywhere better.

(Except when its a gazillion degrees hot in the summer, then I think I like Colorado!)

3. I took piano lessons for 12 years and play really well when no one is listening!

4. I used to own a needlework shop where I learned to knit, crochet, needlepoint and cross stitch. I still knit and needlepoint fairly regularly. I never learned to tat….I’m sorry about that!

Yarn Tattoo of The Lone Knitta

OK...I don't love it that much!

 5 I used to asked God to send me a rich, sterile, orphan to marry, but He seems to think it's better for me to live with Henry and Miss Kitty. (That's probably much easier!)  I’ve relaxed my requirements as I’ve gotten older (grown kids ok, and parents that have passed on...but I think I'd still enjoy the rich part), so if you know anybody, I’m taking applications.  But after 20 years of being single, "It's all good!"

6. I’m more of a mountain girl than a beach girl. I love cold weather better than hot weather, and the fall is my favorite time of year.  My dream vacation is road trip up the east coast in the fall.....one day...

7. I’m a Libra on the very, very cusp of Scorpio, and I can be one or the other on any given day. I don’t classify very well.

8. I love color, reality tv shows, tearing up houses and putting them back together, popcorn for dinner, listening to books on my ipod, playing the penny slots (when I’m winning!) and margaritas on the patio with new and old friends. The simple pleasures are appreciated more and more, and my life’s mantra is “It’s all good!”.

9. I’ve always made things. I had a craft line in the 90’s that I sold in craft fairs and home shows. I had a line of nursery accessories that I sold at market, and I still make these killer stuffed pumpkins that I sell each fall. I love mosaics and jewelry making, and I can do amazing things with paint. I guess if I didn’t have to work, I’d be making something all the time.

10. I raised a son and a daughter to be kind, independent and self-reliant. They are amazing people, married to other amazing people and each has blessed me with a grandson, whom I’m sure will be amazing as well. It would be my dream to have them all back here in Texas where we could spend more time together.

Now comes my favorite part!  I get to nominate some of my favorite blogs for the Beautiful Blogger Award.  What fun!

Kathy Perdue who writes Good Life of Design was my first blog friend.  We've decided that we were separated at birth.  Our design styles, while different from one another, each reflect our love for beautiful things.  You will love the warmth with which  she communicates her aesthetic, and she'll make you laugh as well.  So congrats, friend.  I think you're a BEAUTIFUL BLOGGER!

It is said that there is a lot of competition amounst designers around here, but Dallas blogger, Kellie Cashon, who writes Cashon and Co blog, has become a good blogging friend, and I love her blog!  She does fabulous projects, has a great eye, and is just a lovely person.  I hope you'll visit and see for yourself.

Privet and Holly, written by Suzanne Walcher, truly is a beautiful blog.  Suzanne writes so creatively, and her love of life and design are so evident in all her posts.  She is one of the most generous bloggers out there, and I'm really enjoying getting to know her.    I know you will too.

So thanks for stopping by today.  Your comments really are appreciated. It really is the communication that makes this blog stuff work.

Check back tomorrow for some more design inspiration, and remember...."It's all good!"