Happy Monday! I am blessed!

I'm feeling really, really great today. Lots of reasons, and of course knowing me, you know I'm not going to be quiet about them...

On Sunday, I had the privilege of being the driver/cheerleader for The Swede as he participated in “Walking the Walk” for Parkinson's at one of our local parks. He did the longest loop available, and in HALF the time he had predicted. Yes, he has Parkinson's, but in no way is he letting it slow him down. He walks, hikes, bikes, snowshoes, cross-country skis and is driving to Maryland this summer. Go Dad!

I've also gotten some awards lately. Wow, people, I'm feeling so blessed! You'll see more awards posts in the coming weeks, but today it's:

The amazing Jo, of Jo on Food, My Travels and a Scent of Chocolate gifted me with the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers  award. 

If you've never visited Jo, you gotta go see her. She writes honestly and openly and is the only person I've met with an equal fondness for asparagus ;-) Yes, you get a recipe in each post. No, they're not ALL asparagus. Go say hi!

I'm to pass this on to 10-12 LADY blogger friends. You know, the whole sisterhood thing? Sorry guys.

I've met some amazing new bloggers on my road trip this year, reading reflections posts (yes Gary, I said the R word again...)and wandering around that large list of alphabet lovers. If you haven't met these lovely ladies yet, please go introduce yourself. If you know them, you know why I picked 'em.

Hilary of Positive Letters...inspirational stories... I love this lady. She feeds my history buff side, my culinary enthusiast side, and she is one DAMN good minion. She doesn't do awards though, so it's especially fun to give her one ;-). Again.

Carol Kilgore of Under the Tiki Hut, author of Solomon's Compass, which I can't wait to read, but it's BuNoWriMo and I've invited the world to kick me in the keister for not following through...so I will have to exercise DISCIPLINE and not read it yet.  Don't let that stop YOU, though.

Jenn of Jeneral Insanity (wear depends before you go...she will seriously crack you up)

M.J Joachim who has more blogs than you can count...and did the Challenge with them all, and is the queen of crochet (I'm sending you to the crochet blog...you'll find the rest from there)

Melissa of Melissa's Imaginarium. Ok, I did know her before this year, but we reconnected. She's an inspiration in her personal achievements, and her books are delicious. Adults only :-)

The rest go to my amazing co-host sisters:

Shannon at The Warrior Muse. Third challenge and counting. INVENTOR of the Road Trip buddy and all-around amazing gal. Another place where I get my history-buff fix.

L.Diane Wolfe of Spunk on a Stick. Let me tell ya', she's one spunky lady. Her book of publishing tips is AMAZING. Go buy it. It will make you want to finish that WIP.

Nicole of The Madlab Post. Movie maker AND writer AND blogger, AND able to leap tall deadlines in a single bound without internet, on her Smartphone. She rocks. 

Damyanti of Amlokiblogs. Perseveres through tragedy and an inspiration to us all. Still praying for you.

Konstanz Silverbow of No Thought 2 Small. Great, supportive buddy and is publishing her first novel! Go K! And if you need weapons advice, she's your girl. Like if you want to maim a teenager or anything...not that I do right now...

Livia Petersen of Leave it to Livia. It was such a crazy year we didn't really get a chance to get to know each other, but she loves movies, and now that that we're done with the craziness of April, and the hangover of May, maybe we'll get a chance to chat. Hoping so anyway :-)

So yeah. Dad is doing great and people like me. They really like me. (Name the quote for 10 extra points) (not that anyone is counting) (because I'm not competitive or anything) (ok, say goodnight, Gracie) (you could name that one too...)

~Tina