Beautiful Blogger & Sunshine Award

I have been fortunate to have made some awesome internet 'Mom Friends' over the past year or so. They've been so supportive, have made me laugh and have basically been a daily part of my life. I'm so honored to have been nominated for two 'awards' by two of them recently: 'The Beautiful Blogger Award' by my sassy friend Lu and 'The Sunshine Award' by one of the sweetest ladies around, Terrie. Thank you so much, gals!

Here’s how it works…

1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award.
2. Copy the award & place it on my blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated me for this award.
4. Share 7 interesting things about myself.
5. Nominate 7 other beautiful & sunshiney bloggers. (These awards are very similar, so I'm more or less mashing them together!)

So here we go with my 'Super 7'...

1) I used to be on a PBS TV show called 'Storylords' when I was in elementary school. I was one of the featured 'classroom regulars' on every episode and my husband, siblings and friends like to tease me that I was the know-it-all who always raised her hand and looked like she wanted to yell "Me! Me! Pick me, teacher!" We filmed on weekends at an elementary school in my hometown. The 'teacher' actually ended up being my Senior Composition teacher in high school. My character's name was originally supposed to be 'Amy', but seeing as this woman was a friend of the family and already knew me, she kept calling me 'Angie'. They finally just changed it.

2) Continuing on with the 'Storylords Factoids': it's still being shown in classrooms nationwide. (Why, I'll never know, but what they hey!) Funny story- my youngest brother, who is 10 years younger than me, saw the show when he was in elementary school. We had apparently not told him about my previous life as an actress (HA!), so imagine his surprise when he saw me on the screen and was like "Dude! That's my SISTER! What? That's my SISTER?!"

3) My parents bought the rights to get VHS tapes made of the whole series for my 21st birthday. It was way cool and I still have them, though Michael has since converted them to DVD.

4)
Be sure to check out a fabulous hair flip @ 7:15 (DIVA!) and an even more fabulous squeaky adolescent voice @ 8:46.

5) Equally embarrassing, I was cast as King Richard the Lion-Hearted in a junior high production of Robin Hood. Yes, King Richard the MAN. I distinctly remember some BS about how I was 'so versatile' and could therefore play a MAN, but really? I was in 8th grade and was not only playing a MAN, but was costumed in black leggings and a GUNNY SACK with a big red cross on the front. (Wait, it gets better!) During one of the dreaded daytime performances for the whole junior high, while playing a MAN, said GUNNY SACK (which was, mind you, a bit too tight) tore. I can still hear the tear and remember the panic setting in as I realized that I would soon be standing in front of my peers in nothing but leggings. At least I was saving the day...

6) I started taking piano lessons when I was about 8. I was very proud to pick Percussion as my instrument in elementary school band because it was suggested that you already have a year of piano. (Read: I thought I was pretty cool. Was I? Not really.) In 8th grade, my band director asked me to switch to French Horn, which I then learned and played through college, although I couldn't today for the life of me! I took a short stint of organ lessons in high school, but never really stuck with it. Probably because my legs were so short. :) I was a classical piano performance major in college, though I never had any intentions of becoming a concert pianist.

7) If you've read any other posts on this blog, this is probably quite obvious: my family and friends are my life. I'm fiercely loyal. And thanks to the wonders of modern technology, I've been fortunate to have made some amazing new friends (like Lu & Terrie) that I will hopefully one day meet in person!

My 7 nominees are:

1 & 2) The obvious- Lu from Jaded Perspective & Terrie from MiMi Needs Meds. Lu is one of the strongest people I know and makes me laugh on a daily basis. One of the things I love most about our friendship is that we can go from talking about something totally serious to completely riding the Silly Train within minutes. Ms. Terrie is straight-up tenderheartedness and is so loving and supportive. She's always there with kind words and wisdom.

3) Colleen from The Mess Potential is Exponential- I've talked about this amazing friend here before! After getting to know each other we came to realize that we have a real life link! She taught karate to a friend of mine from high school. Hello, Small World! Besides being one of my favorite people around, Colleen is also a huge inspiration in my attempts to get back in shape. She just ran almost 10 miles yesterday! Colleen is mom to two beautiful boys.

4) Katie from Why Bother?- Katie is mom to Jake (who turned 4 today- Happy birthday, Jake!) and is also one of my favorite workout inspirations. I love my daily conversations with her!

5) Kim from Cup of Creativi-Tea- Kim is the lone member on this list that I actually know in real life! We met 11 whole years ago while doing summerstock theatre in upstate New York. Kimmy worked in the costume shop and I was Ass't Musical Director. We lived in girls half of the 'techie' house and spent many an evening up on the roof laughing and having wonderful chats. Some of my favorite memories! Kim is mom to two kiddos- one girl and a newborn boy.

6) Becky from Life Out of Focus- Mom to two gorgeous girls (seriously, check out the pics on her blog!), Beck is yet another amazingly supportive and fun friend. She's also a fabulous photographer- again, check out the pics on her blog!

7) Cara from Momma Says- I'm sending lots 'o love to Cara tonight, as her two adorable kiddos are sick sick sick today and she could really use some rest. I love talking to Cara- she's down to earth and hilarious.

Thank you for being you, friends! I love you!
-A