A special award from a special person

Tardevil at Confessions of 40-something Mama Queen graciously sent me this award today. (actually it was the other day, but I've been crazy busy and this was the first day I could sit down and respond!) The purpose of this award is to give it to someone who is showing gratitude or a good attitude ("if life hands you lemons, make lemonade") within their life or blog.

The rules:

1) put the logo on your blog

2) nominate at least 10 blogs that show great attitude and/or gratitude.

3) have your 10 pass it along to 10 more!

Trying to choose 10 blogs to forward this to is really difficult. I have yet to come across anyone here who does not have a fantastic outlook. I will pass this award on to the following ten, even though I know that some of you have probably received this already.

1) Dawnie at Dawnies Life if by the Sea

2)Lynne at Lynne's Gifts from the Heart

3)KD at Southern Whimsey

4) Debbie at Confessions of a Plate Addict

5) Lynette at Lynette's L.A.M. Blog

6) Vanna at Delusions of Grandeur

7) Gloria at Happy to Be

8) Barb at GritsandGlamour

9) Nikki at Blah,Blah,Blah Blog

10)Cyndi at Life on The Prairie - so far she has only gotten her title page up - hopefully this will give her the kick start she needs! lol

Each and everyone of these wonderful ladies demonstrates a great attitude every day on their blog - go visit them! If you don't leave with a smile on your face I'll eat my hat! Hugs to all of you, Kathy

Favorite Christmas Surprise

My Favorite Christmas Gift

Lynette at Lynette's L.A.M. blog posted a wonderful gift she received from her mother and asked everyone what their favorite gift was. This gorgeous photograph by my favorite photographer has to be right up there with my all time special gifts. It's not just the photo, it's the story behind it.
We vacation in Florida every year, and discovered the photography of Richard Bickel in an Apalachicola shop several years ago. I fell in love with his work, and every year we would try to buy at least one piece. He has published two books of his photography and I discovered this work in the second book "Apalachicola River, an American Treasure". I was mesmerized by this photograph. Last summer, we discovered that Mr. Bickel had opened a gallery in Apalachicola. Well, I was like a kid in a candy shop. The rest of the family was tired and hot, but indulged me my time in the gallery. I bought one small piece that I have always loved, but could not purchase the piece that I really wanted. The work in his gallery was very large and more expensive than I could afford. So I purchased my small 5 x 7 and went happily on my way.
Little did I know that my dear husband had been corresponding with the artist over the month of November. He made arrangements for the artist to reproduce this piece in a smaller size for a surprise Christmas gift. Now this is where the "Christmas Miracle" comes into play. The last correspondence indicated that the piece could not be ready in time for Christmas, as the framer that the artist uses had been ill. My husband is a picture framer, but Mr. Bickel signs all of his work on the custom cut mat that surrounds them, so that was the hold up.
On Christmas Eve, we received a note in the mailbox that an express mail package was out for delivery. Of course we were not home, but we just assumed it was something DH had ordered from Ebay. Suddenly our daughter grabbed daddy, ran into the music room with the phone, and 2 minutes later they were both running out the front door. What on earth? It turns out that Caitlin had a suspicion that this photo was what was being delivered. She called the post office to find out the senders name and sure enough, she was right. The postal clerk told her that our carrier was still in the neighborhood and that they could probably catch him (sometimes it pays to live in a small town) So off went dear hubby and dear daughter to chase down the mailman! They finally caught up with him and pulled up next to him frantically waving the delivery notice. I'm happy to report that he gave them the package, they went to my husband's shop and framed this and one other photo that they had purchased. Imagine my total surprise when I opened this on Christmas morning.
I will cherish this always, not just because it is one of my favorite photographs, but more because of the love and thought that went into the gift.

A Major Award! (for all you Christmas Story fans)

My dear friend Vanna at Delusions of Grandeur has presented me with the special "Proximidade" award. This award is really special to me, because it focuses on the friendships that blossom here in blogland. "Blogs who receive this award are 'exceedingly charming' say its authors.This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award." Thank you Vanna for thinking of me with this award. I would like to pass it on to the following 8 bloggers:

1 Debbie at Confessions of a Plate Addict

2 Barb at GritsandGlamour

3 Michelle at Beautiful Orchids

4 Nikki at Blah, Blah, Blah Blog

5 Lynette at Lynette's L.A.M. Blog

6 Tar at Confessions of a 40-something Mama Queen

7 Laurie at Bargain Hunting

8 Belle at Life of a Southern Belle

Please stop by and say hello! They all have great blogs, but more importantly are all warm, funny "smart cookies" as my grandmother used to say!