So, my buddy Betsy (sniff sniff - I miss you already!) tagged me for this extremely prestigious award, and let me know, and yesterday afternoon was the first time that the post in question (i.e. the one explaining what the tagging referred to) has appeared to me when I visit her blog. Soooo, not sure what's up with the time delay and me and Betsy's blog, but oh well. At worst, it makes me look like a procrastinating doofus. Which would not be a crime, nor would it be particularly misleading.

Anyway. Here's what happens as a result of my getting the Circle of Friends Award:

1st of all, thank the dear award giver, no "speech" required. My no speech goes like this: "THANK YOU! I'm SOOOO honored!"

And then, since this is all about spreading the love, I've got three objectives.

1) Save the image above so you can upload it on your own blog without direct linking.

2) List 5 things you absolutely love to do

3) List 5 friendly bloggers, and comment on their blogs to let them know they've received an award!

Thus, I begin:

1. I love to hang out with my husband. This goes without saying, I hope, but it's so true. This is a guy that "gets" me, gets the jokes, makes the jokes, goes along with the jokes, and is absofreakingHILARIOUS when he doesn't get the jokes. I'm all like running around laughing hysterically and he either (a) gets a sweet look on his face like "Aww, look at my child bride outperforming her ritalin" or (b) gets mad and goes internal because he doesn't like to be laughed at. I'd say the reaction pool is split 50/50. We travel, we chill out, we fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon, we text each other while both in the house, and so on. We also enjoy much more meaningful and serious things, but those are the bloggish things.

2. I love to have people over, especially my family (meaning, my biological family, his biological family, people I've known so long they seem like family). For one thing, I don't feel bad about greeting my brother at the door and saying "Hey! Come help me move this big heavy thing!" We grew up as a team, all working together and knowing who has what job and how to be efficient and stuff, and whenever some of my original family comes over, it's like getting back on the court or something. I am slowly assimilating Joe's brothers into my team...

3. I love to make music, in pretty much any fashion. This used to be the defining "thing" about me. Now it's still very important, but I'll be honest (and sad) and admit that less musicness goes on now than used to. I'm getting back into the swing, though.

4. I love to travel. 'Nuff said.

5. I love to make stuff. Unfortunately for me and the closet in the spare room, this love is not accompanied by a love of finishing projects that I start. Draw your own conclusions, but you can imagine, I guess. Quilling, sewing, stamping, knitting, drawing, origami, stitching, papercutting, sculpting, painting, jewelry making, and scrapbooking have all at one point or another been "the thing." I go back to all of the above from time to time, but the clutter police would "poop rainbows" (must whisper, because the guy I like to hang out with hates phrases like that) if they saw that closet.

Ok, and now my bloggers, in no particular order:

1. Sheila - Yet another one of those fun people who are with it enough to post photos and step-by-steps of food making projects. I don't know how you do it, people. I just don't. Also, Sheila is the faithful friend to whom I can go running and say, "Help! I have a bachelor's degree in English, but I don't remember how to spell weird! How do you spell it? And Which is the "its" I want to use, is it "its" or "it's"? Aaaack!" And Sheila will tell me the answer.

2. Conquistadora - Newly minted military wife and B-R-A-V-E soul, poor Coriel seems to get the short end of every stick they've served up since she joined the club. I think this is the "rough patch" at the beginning, when you're still trying to change your name and your address and everything else the government wants to meddle with. I like to read her blog, because she describes things so, well, right. And I've been there, for some of these things...

3. Meredith almost makes me feel, well, backward in a way, because she's do darn SMART. She speaks like about five languages and translates freely between/among them all the time. Also, she understands all that crap that I was supposed to have learned in college about poetry and poetics. Sigh. Reading her blog makes me happy, because I can just hear her voice saying the stuff, especially reading the poetry. I wish all these people weren't in California...

4. Seraphic is not a "friend" in the I've-met-her-before-and-we-be-chillin' kind of way, but her blogs are really fun. The original is mostly informative, based I think out of her book and its following. The blog about her married life is (typically) quite funny. I do just giggle out loud at it sometimes, eh wot?

5. Finally, I'm cheating on the last one, and giving love to my past at the old Quid Hoc Est? This was the blog my two roommates and I, and Joe and his two roommates (yes, all six of us) started during our first semester at college. We've gone many ways since this blog (two of us are now married to another two of us, too) but I like going back to the earliest of earlies and reading from time to time. They are the dearest of friends, are memories.

:)