On Style: Part 2

In fulfillment of my reign as an Award Winning Stylish Blogger, I hereby pass on the Badge of Style to some of my blogging friends.

1.  Meet Robbin, a fellow teacher.  Robbin and I met a couple of summers ago at the Writing Project Summer Institute.  We're both passionate about finding ways to make writing real and meaningful to our students.  Robbin teaches high school and, wait for it, she loves it.  There should be special blessings in Heaven for high school teachers.  Robbin's blog Searching is fairly new, but when Robbin writes, she cuts right to the heart of things.  Her word choice leaves me amazed and when she writes, she is so vulnerable and raw.  It takes a beautiful mix of bravery and humility to write like that.  Go there now because when Robbin becomes a hugely famous and beloved author, you can say you knew her when.  Read this post.  And this one, too.  Then keep going back for more.

2.  Up next is my dear friend, Emily.  A few years ago Emily was a special needs aide for one of my precious little ones.  We've been friends ever since, which is saying something because she's a runner and I'm a cyclist, making us enemies by law.  But if the farmers and the cowboys can be friends, then so can we.  Emily's blog design is beautiful and creative.  Just like her.  She posts about her work with children, but it's her posts about wrestling with her faith that keep me reading.  Emily took up the Thirty Days of Thanks Challenge with me and continues to post Thankful Thursdays.  Visit her at Daydream Believer and read my favorite Thankful Thursday post.  It includes Chuck Norris.  'Nuf said.

3. Allow me to introduce you to Katie.  Katie and I met a couple of years ago when we spent a week one summer volunteering at a Youth to Youth leadership conference.  We spent the week with a few hundred of our favorite teenagers.  What I love about Katie's blog, Finding Bliss, is that she takes me along with her to beautiful corners of San Francisco.  Be sure to check out her post on doing yoga inside Grace Cathedral.

4.  Frequent commenter and fellow Writing Project friend, lynnjake, has a great 365 iPhone photo blog going on.  The idea of taking a photo a day for an entire year sounds torturous to me, but it's second nature to Lynn.  She's one of those people who has creativity coming out of her pores.  I love her quest to find beauty in everyday life.  It's hard for me to choose a favorite photo because Lynn always posts shots that surprise and delight me, but this shot of snow clouds rolling in leaves me scratching my head and wondering how I can get my iPhone camera to behave like hers.

5.  Carli over at Positively Pleasant is my last Stylish Blogger recipient.  I've known Carli since she was a teenager.  Even then she had a style all her own.  She's all grown up now with a husband, scads of darling little girls, and a blog.  Way back in September she cranked out a post called Losing My Cool that still resonates with me today.  I aspire to lose my cool in such a lovely way.

These women inspire me to find beauty and comfort in my own skin.  And to me that's the epitome of style.

On Style: Part 1

Recently the lovely and talented Hippie Cahier bequeathed the Stylish Blog award to me.  Just look at it over there on the side.  It's so sparkly, so pretty, oh so very stylish indeed.  I know, I'm snickering a little bit, too.  If you know me outside of this blog, then you're full on chortling because you know I am anything but stylish.  Sure I know the Stacy and Clinton basics.  The trouser cut is my friend.  As are fitted shirts.  And pajamas are not synonymous with clothes.  I just can't seem to make clothes into outfits.  Or make my hair do the right thing.  Like, ever.

So I'm adopting Jonathan Swift's take on style.  "The proper words in the proper places are the true definition of style." Amen.

The rules of the Stylish Blogger Award are these:

Number One, I get to tell you things about myself that you might not already know.  Be warned, the rules do not state that these things have to be interesting and/or useful.

Number Two, I get to bestow the Stylish Blogger award upon some other stylish bloggers.  I'll get back to that part later.

So here we go with the little known facts:

1.  I learned how to make balloon animals at a church thing way back when I was in high school.  I've forgotten how to make most animals, but I can still make a mean balloon dog in about three seconds.  Once I made balloon dogs for my whole class, but when they popped my little ones were completely devastated.  There was crying.  Lots of crying.  Lesson learned.

2.  I sing the wrong lyrics to every song.  This is not an exaggeration.  I can't think of a single song that I know all the right lyrics to.  I'm the reason they project the words up on the screen at church.  You'd think that would keep me from singing, but really where's the fun in that?

3.  I'm a terrible cook.  The quote on my fridge sums it up nicely "I read recipes the same way I read science fiction-I get to the end and think, well, that's never going to happen."  I'm an excellent chopper.  Salads are my wheelhouse.

4.  I love writing.  And reading about writing.  And dreaming about writing.  And talking about writing.  And reading about writers talking about writing.  You get the point.  Tonight at Bible study when Beth Moore went into how the book of Esther is amazing not only for its instruction, but also because of the literary construction, I was all ears.  When she started in on how chiastic structure is employed, I almost fainted in my seat!  I was scrawling furious notes.  Writing about reading the Bible and how the writer created a dynamic literary tapestry-be still my beating heart!

5.  And since this is a blog about being stylish, I feel compelled to mention clothing at least once.  And what better clothing to denote style than cycling garb?  I take delight when the laundry is all done and I have my choice of jerseys and Spandex.  My beloved bicycle, The Rocket, is black with bright pink cable casing.  She's a beauty.  And like that irritating couple who think it's cute to dress alike, I can't help but grin as I pull on my pink and black Fat Cyclist kit, complete with matching arm warmers and socks.  Add to that my pink helmet and matching water bottles and The Rocket and I are all sorts of matchy-matchy obnoxiousness.  Matching my trusty steed makes me smile.  And in my very thin book of style rules, a smile is the best accessory.

[caption id="attachment_3505" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="This is my little brother, Pete, and I on his inaugural century ride. I'm pretty sure this was the only time on the ride I was ahead of him and our stepdad captured it on film. Take that, Pete!"][/caption]

Stay tuned for Part 2, wherein I introduce you to some of my stylish blogger gal pals.  None of them wear Spandex.  Promise.

P.S.-A big thanks to Fatty for making this photo of my brother and I his new blog header.  Welcome fellow Team Fatty and friends of Fatty.  Can't wait to see you in Davis!