Stylish Blogger Awards!

Well boys and girls. My good and incredibly kind friend stupidgirl45 has kindly nominated me for a Stylish Blogger award! As a humble newbie on the blogging scene, I'm very, very honoured that she thought of me and would like to recommend that you:

1. Send her e-champagne and shoes
2. Read her fantastic blog here
3. Add her on twitter on @stupidgirl45 because she is lovely :)

So, in return for my award, I have to post it on my blog (see above), give 7 random facts about myself, and nominate 10 other bloggers I think deserve an award. So here goes...

Factoids

1. I love a good roaring fire on a cold day. Probably a bit too much.
2. I used to have a pet rabbit called Sooty (yes, he was black). The rabbit I had before him (Benjy, after the one in Peter Rabbit) only lasted two weeks before the dog got him :(
3. Depsite all my good-food babbling, I adore those Bachelor's microwave pastas, especially the Cheese, Leek and Ham flavour.
4.When I was little, I used to stick my head down rabbit holes and shout 'Hello Mr. Easter Bunny, are you there?'
5. I am, bizarrely, embarrassed by where I live in a big way and like to do everything I can to make up for it by being nice to people.
6. I like to listen to Abba and Dusty Springfield when I'm cooking. Preferably turned up WAY too loud.
7. I'm terrified of spiders. They make me freeze up and feel like things are crawling all over me.


Oh, and 8. I'm so much of a newbie that I don't even read 10 blogs, or at least not 10 I think are stylish...so the list below is my top 8... NOT because I want to be mean but because I'm badly read.


Nominations

I'm not sure I had even read 2 blogs a few weeks ago, so these are based on nothing more than the infantile knowledge of the internets/blogosphere I have gained since then, plus a couple of friends I think deserve more attention. Think of it as a newbie's guide to blogging! In no particular order:

1. Political Reboot Low-key but very intelligent politics blogging by a good friend of mine. I'm not a particularly political animal, but this makes me feel interested.
2. JM Tohline Author of soon-to-be-published The Great Lenore (which I for one will be reading), his blogs on writing and life always hook me. He's got a fantastic way with words.
3. Rum and Monkey From the Dark Ages of the internets before all this social media claptrap took off, Rum and Monkey's irreverent and sometimes incomprehensible satire still lives. The Bears category is my favourite.
4. shitmydadsays Justin lives with his dad. His dad says shit. Justin writes it down. Booya.
5. The Only Humor Daily shots of humor. I like a giggle with my tea break, and I look for it here.
6. Foodimentary You've almost certainly heard of it. Winner of a Shorty Award, this encyclopedic blog is my go-to for all foodie knowledge, and the guy who writes it is my hero.
7. Rose Cottage What I try to do here, only done properly and a million times better. The most beautiful food blog I know of.
8. Elizabeth Buchan The life of a writer of hugely successful romance novels. I find this a tantalising insight into the day-to-day goings on of someone who's already made it to the top of the tree.

If I've nominated you and you feel like it, you too should post your award and give 7 random facts about yourself and 10 nominations. Pass on the love folks!

That's it from me for the moment, except to say thank you so much to all who have been reading so far. I hope you'll continue, especially because I'm on the cusp of 1,000 pageviews (eeek) and there might just be a celebratory post in it for you if I get there!

Finally, one last huge THANK YOU to stupidgirl for being so kind as to nominate little ol' me, a huge boost to my ego and a great encouragement to carry on writing. I made celebratory brownies yesterday and was planning to blog on them today, but it took me so long to compile 10 (well, 8) nominations that I'll have to leave it for tomorrow. So goodnight, dear readers, and get ready for some bakin' on the morrow.