Of Buds and Blogging Buddies

Long overdue is a post expressing my gratitude for the various blog awards recently passed along to me by a number of you, my fine "invisible friends" and fellow bloggers. So I thought today, as spring begins to show its fresh new colors, I would take a moment to share these awards with a few of you, as well as pass long a little of the beauty of season so far.

Thanks to SewDelish, for the "You Make My Day" award, and I apologize it's taken me this long to recognize it here. I figure if I've made anyone's day along the way, there's pretty much nothing better than that!


Thanks to Sindhoo of Under the Sun for conferring, wow, more blog awards at one time than I've ever seen. Makes a gal feel a bit like Kevin Costner when "Dances With Wolves" was up for the Oscars. :) Too many icons to even post here, but all very kind.

And thanks to Lidian of KitchenRetro for the "E for Excellence" award. She's a good egg, that Lidian-- and she can also tell you how that egg was used in about a million different retro cookbooks.


This leaves me to pass along the awards to some deserving bloggers myself. Following Lidian's example, I'm going to select ten folks who merit some attention. Of course, there are so many of you out there that deserve recognition for your blogging efforts and general camaraderie that frankly, I'd be here all day listing folks. So we're going with ten, and also, none of you need feel obligated to do anything regarding this-- just know you're appreciated.

• Greg of The Midnight Garden. For beautiful photos, general kindness, and a terrific sense of humor.

• Rosemary of Rose's Petite Maison. For adding sparkle (literally and metaphorically!) to vintage style crafting.

• Sher "Grinnin' Grandma" of OldTimeMeArtist. For approaching everything with a dash of humor and a grin.

• Ms. A over at LivingWithoutMoney. She works on a shoe-string budget, we cook with her, decorate with her and save money with her. And somehow she manages to have new posts daily.

• ChrisMiss at MacandChris.com. This lady rides around in a caravan and blogs about her travels. You'll find her posting on TheThriftshopper.com from where ever she roams. I've enjoyed her insights!

• Carrie at OakRiseCottage. She has such an eye for vintage needlework and art. It's always fun to see her most recent treasures.

• Sujatha at Fluff-n-Stuff. A bright, funny lady who has a lot of great stories to share.

• Lynn at the VintageNest for inspirational photography and great ideas.

• Pam at White o'Morn Cottage for sharing the beauty of Ireland with us all.

• Becca at Of Bluebirds and Roses for creating such an idyllic, almost storybook atmosphere with every photo.

Now-- as we move from the blogging buddies to plain old buds, I think we'll start here, with some recently-opened daffodils.



Here are a few of the grape hyacinth that have popped up. True to hyacinth fashion, there seem to be more each year and boss the daffodils around. :)


Here are just a few shots of the azaleas as they start to bloom. Another day or two, and these should be in full-force. The intense pinkish purple is an absolute joy to me.


Lastly, I noticed the bleeding heart seems to be leafing and happy. I can't wait until it starts putting out it's little pink garland of hearts. It's some much needed color in that part of the yard.


I hope spring is treating you all well, and I thank you all for being a part of this site, for the comments, the chuckles, the camaraderie-- everything. I love seeing what this spot has grown into-- it's a little bit like the spring garden, continually rewarding and so pleasing to see blossom.

• For those interested in last week's Treasure Box Wednesday on McCoy pottery, click here.
• Next Sunday, I may be a little late with my post-- I'm not sure how timing will be because I have a guest visiting. So just wanted to give you a heads-up. :)

The "You Make Me Smile" Awards

Bisque cherubs in rakishly-tipped hats make me smile...

And so did receiving the totally-out-of-the-blue “You Make Me Smile” award from Carrie over at the Oak Rise Cottage blog. (Click here to visit her site.)

So in all the silliness of my other post-- the Horrors of Home Cooking-- I thought it would be fun to share with you a few sites that have made me laugh over the years. I don’t list these all in my Resources section, because really, they’re more general humor or just pleasant places to visit than related to inexpensive decorating. But I thought you might get a laugh as well.

First, to keep up with the theme of my other post today, I’d wanted to introduce you to James Lileks’ two mini sites--

The Gallery of Regrettable Food was what inspired today’s post. His recipe for 50s cookbook-related humor involves a few cups dry wit and a dash of the disgusting. Click here to visit.

His Interior Desecrations site takes a similarly sarcastic look at the worst in past interior design. Click here to see why a return to the 70s strikes fear in the hearts of some.

Stitchy McYarnpants tackles bad knitting and crochet patterns of the last few decades. Click here for Stitchy.

And Threadbared, while unfortunately no longer adding new materials, examines sewing patterns and why it’s probably a good idea some of these styles have been lost to the sands of time. Click here.

Two blogs I haven’t talked about before that have made me laugh are:

Mrs. Nesbitt’s Place- Mrs. Nesbitt combines great photography and witty photo caption contests in her UK-based blog. Watch as she captures cows, geese and her beloved dog Wilma in silly and surprising poses. Click here to stop by and see Mrs. Nesbitt and Wilma.

And Miss Doxie- You don’t have to be a fan of dachshunds to get a laugh from the antics of Miss Doxie. As a young, female lawyer she tries to retain her professional image, while maniacally combatting things like skirts that split down the back, traffic cops, and balancing the needs of several willful dachshunds including Bo, who is definitely doggie high-maintenance. (Language here can be colorful sometimes, so warning in advance for those bothered by that sort of thing. I’d give it about a PG-13 if that helps.) Click here to visit her site.

Oh, and before I go-- did you get a chance to read The Horrors of Home Cooking post yet? Click here for a helping of that.

Rockin' Girl Blogger Award

Lizzie of Rippin-Kitten.com is a thoroughly modern girl. She blogs regularly about life on the road on her motorcycle-- and she also appreciates Victorian decorating and a good bargain.

How cool is that?

So I feel particularly honored to have been named among the five recipients of her “Rockin’ Girl Blogger” awards.

Then, to add to all the goodness of it, I was giving the very same award by Susie of Blog.Jollygreengirl.com, hostess of a popular eco-friendly blog. My gosh, I feel so appreciated!-- and to think I used to be one of the last folks picked for teams in gym class!

But don’t worry. I don’t have a long tedious acceptance speech written.

What I do have planned, however, is a little award distribution of my own. Here are the five creative ladies I’d like to pass the award along to:

Astrid over at Trashcollector.blogspot.com. Astrid’s had the guts to step forward and be the first to blog about turning trash into treasure in the Netherlands. She’s still feeling her way through it because her blog is fairly new, but has a lot of good ideas to share. If any of you t-to-t folks care to pop by her blog and offer her some comments of encouragement-- and show her she’s far from alone out there-- I’d really appreciate it. Not only is she blogging in uncharted area in her country, she’s writing it all beautifully in English-- which isn’t her native language. If that doesn’t qualify for a rockin’ girl blogger, I don’t know what does.

Now let’s zip over to Australia, to award Gauri of the That Dress is Divine! blog. Visit here for tips of smart, savvy shopping-- which is good advice in Sidney, as well as St. Louis-- in Sacks Fifth Avenue or the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

Next? Sindhu of the Flower Girl Recipe blog. I’m nominating her because this girl manages to work while maintaining several very different blogs related to Southern India. It’s a lot of content and a lot of effort. And also every time I visit her recipe blog I get hungry.

And I’d also like to give the award to two ladies slightly closer to home.

Rosemary of Rose’s Petite Maison refreshes her content often with beautiful pictures of flea market finds, and decorating ideas. Also, she NAMED her dressmaker’s dummy, and gave her a homemade tiara and taffeta skirt. How can you not appreciate someone with that sense of humor?

Last but certainly not least, Rhoda of Southern Hospitality, for interior decorating that looks breathlessly easy and yet you just know it couldn’t possibly have been.

Keep up the good work, and continued happy blogging to you all!

Click here to read today’s other blog spot, “Swinging in Thrifted Threads.