Awards, Flattery, and Miscellaneous Musings on Other Blogging Related Phenomena.

I don’t like to let my readers down, so when it comes time to tap out a new post here on the ol’ blog, I tend to be pretty choosy on the topic choices. I realize that many people use their blog simply to document their life and thoughts, and essentially that’s what I hope to do here as well — but I also want this blog to be so much more than just an online journal. I write for YOU PEOPLE. My mom. My mother-in-law. My dad. My grandma. My “in-the-flesh” friends that read. And those of you stop in to get a little taste of a life different from your own.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I feel a great responsibility to all of you! Because your time is precious, and I don’t want you to waste it here. If nothing else, I at least try to make you laugh or smile.

Over the past few months I’ve been blogging, I won quite a few little “awards” that are passed along from blogger to blogger here in Internet-land, but I’ve always been hesitant to “accept” them and blog about them because most require that you write a certain number of random facts about yourself before you pass the award along. Bloggers can already seem self-centered enough, but then add constant postings on awards you’ve won and facts and figures about yourself, and that illusion of self-absorption shoots through the roof!

And in most cases, that’s probably all it is: an illusion. I know for a fact that it’s hard to come up with good things to say that people will benefit from, so many bloggers just end up writing about themselves and their lives (hello?? My blog is CALLED “story of my life!”). And there really isn’t any shame in that, unless you’re simply not satisfied with it for your own blog. And I guess I’m really not.

I think that many bloggers, as they gain followers and receive constant flattering comments on this or that, become disproportionately impressed with themselves and their newfound popularity. For me, blogging has been attractive because I was never really a cool or popular kid in high school or college; rather, I just kept to myself and didn’t share much of what I had going for me. I really didn’t have much confidence. And now, as I’ve gained a loyal following, I feel this confidence blossoming. People like me! Woohoo!!! But I also try to remember that, while the online world IS a legit thing and all my readers ARE real people, the opinion you all have of me doesn’t necessarily reflect reality. I need to constantly be tweaking things about myself that aren’t working, that aren’t good and kind and admirable.

Many bloggers begin to be looked at as celebrities as they gain popularity (believe me, I know I’m not there yet), and the thing about celebrities is that often they begin to believe all the things their fans or critics say about them. Maybe they forget that THEY are the only ones with the real power to define themselves. And no matter where this blog or my writing career takes me, I just don’t want to forget that the only person with any power to define me is, ultimately, me.

So anyhoo. Basically all of the above just makes me feel better about accepting the award below and writing a bunch of random useless facts about myself. Bahaha.

I’ll keep this brief.

Thanks so much to Jenna and Emily (and a couple others over past few months) that honored me with The Stylish Blogger award! Thanks for thinking of me, girls. :)

In order to accept this award, I must list 7 random facts about myself before passing along the award to other bloggers I feel deserve it. So here goes.

1. Fried Chicken is quite possibly my favorite food.

2. I love sweet tea. The more sickeningly sweet, the better.

3. Obviously, I have lived in the south too long.

4. I submitted a commencement speech for the graduation ceremony at my high school, but of course someone much cooler and more popular than me won.

5. I did not attend my college graduation. And I haven’t regretted it for even a moment thus far.

6. I have had 5 guinea pigs over the course of my life, but my favorite one was the first: Ginger. But my sister dropped her (him?) down the stairs, and its leg broke, and it died. This was my first experience with the death of a loved one, and I did not handle it well.

7. One time, in 7th grade, I was at a friend’s birthday party and there was a trampoline and we were all jumping and laughing really hard, and I peed myself a little. But no one knew this. Until now.

You are so welcome. Have a fab day.

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Oh, and DUH! Here are the bloggers I pass the award along to. If you’ve received it already, no need to post on it again. I just love you girls and think you deserve it! (And there were many more I thought deserved the award, too, but I don’t have time to list you all!)

Faith @ Life. Love. & Marriage

Kristen @ A Kapple A Day

Alisha @ Alisha & Brandon

Jenn @ Simply Jenn-Sational

Alexandria @ The Saga of a Twenty-Something

Angie @ Living Aloha

Jessica Lynn @ Lucky Knot