Blog Awards!

Happy Thursday, and Happy Blog Awards Day!  The last week has been both busy and fun for me, and I have a lot of people to thank for that, starting with LadyD Books who sent me this super blog award.  I feel very honored to receive this one and I'm looking forward to sharing it over the next few months.  The conditions for acceptance are to list four "guilty pleasures" and to pass the award on to other blogs.  The number of blogs wasn't specified, so I'm taking the liberty of starting with three:

Holly Schindler

Journaling Journeys

Dawn Herring Journal Writer Freelance

As for my "guilty pleasures" list; oh, my goodness, where to start??  Here are my top four:

1. Food that is very, very bad for you.  Jelly doughnuts, potato chips, glazed doughnuts, eclairs, french fries...the list never ends.  I try to be good and indulge in moderation, but I do love these awful things.
2. Expensive writing and art materials that serve no other purpose other than I crave them.  I don't like ballpoint pens, thin paper, cheapie colored pencils, student quality spiral bound notebooks.  It's a little embarrassing, but I simply have to have Private Reserve fountain pen ink in Plum, or Waterman violet ink cartridges or my day is ruined.  Oh, and  Arches watercolor paper.  Legal pads with heavy chipboard backing.  It's silly, I know, but I feel my most inspired when I use top-quality supplies.
3. Books-on-sale.  I don't seem to be able to walk by any of those "discount" book displays without buying at least one book.  Whether it's the grocery store or a big chain bookstore, seeing that discount sign has me digging through the pile and yelling, "Eureka!" with each wonderful find.
4. Sleep.  Glorious sleep.  If I had my way I'd stay in bed forever, eating jelly doughnuts, doodling in my leather bound journal, and reading a 99-cent novel in between cat naps.  Life is so unfair.

So that's the "bad me"!

To round out my award list, I want to send out a special thank you and award to author, Man Martin who included me in a recent blog post about self-publishing.  I'm sending Man the Premios Dardo Award for Blog Excellence (award on my sidebar) and my sincere congratulations on his new novel, Paradise Dogs, to be published this summer by Thomas Dunne Books.

Thank you, everyone--for reading, for leaving comments, for following and subscribing.  You keep me inspired every day, and I appreciate you all.

Tip of the Day:  Do visit these four great blogs--you'll be glad you did.  Each of them is full of good information, ideas for further reading, and invaluable inspiration to help you pick up those pens--ballpoint, fountain, or quill--and get creative today!