Fabulous Blog Ribbon

Imagine my surprise when I clicked on my bookmark for The Food Floozie and found myself gifted with a little award.  I just adore Mary and her blog - she is fearless in the kitchen, she is humorous and witty, and she truly has one of the biggest hearts out on the blogosphere.  Please make sure to stop by and say hello to her - if you have never visited her site, you are in for a treat.

Here's what comes with the award:

1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Name 5 of your most fabulous moments, either in real life or in the blogosphere.
3. Name 5 things you love.
4. Name 5 things you hate.
5. Pass the ribbon on to 5 other bloggers.

So, with the the rules posted above, I'll start with -

Five of my most fabulous moments:
1.  In 2005 I made my first trip to Burning Man.  I had heard so many things about it, but to actually be there and experience everything - well, I've experienced nothing else like it.  That year, I was spinning fire with a group of friends and we had been selected to spin in the great circle on the night the man burned.  THIS was a huge honor as a fire spinner.  What did it mean for me? It meant I got to spin in front of over 30,000 people!  (yep, you read that right 30K)  I was so nervous, I was fighting with the guy I was seeing at the time, we had been camping in the middle of nowhere for 5 days already, I was tired, I was hot.. I mean, it was not a moment I would want to relive.  BUT, as soon as we lit our poi and we started spinning, everything else just went away.  It was me, spinning fire in front of thousands and thousands of people.  It was pretty fabulous!

2. For those of you that have spent any time on my blog, you will know I love to grill.  I don't think of myself as a grill-master, I don't think of myself as an expert - far from both.  But I love it, and I think that is what is really important... if you have that passion, you can become all those things.  As a female, I'm quite discouraged when I hear woman say they don't know how to grill or they don't like to grill or their husband won't let them grill - you see, that's poppycock!  Ladies, grillin' ain't just for the boys anymore.  There is one woman in particular that I think is a Grilling Goddess - Robyn the Grill Grrrl - and one of my most fabulous moments on this blog was when she commented on a few of my posts!  I can't tell you how fabulous that made me feel... like your long time idol just popping in to say hello.  It was pretty fabulous :)

3.  I am not one to enter contests - at least not many - and I always go in with the attitude of "well, I probably won't win, but here goes".  Maybe that isn't the way to go into it, but I'm not as confident in my food or my abilities as I would like to be.  I will get there some day... I'm getting better...but just not right now.  That's ok.  On occasion I will enter a contest, and sometimes I don't do too bad.  One really fabulous moment in my life was when I made it thru to the final round in a recipe contest the Cooking Channel was hosting.  I didn't win, but that was ok, I got further in the contest than I thought I would, I did my first video entry ever, and I got noticed, even just for a moment!  That was pretty fabulous.

4.  Another great moment in my blogging history would be when a Jenn's Food Journey creation caught the eye of the Huffington Post.  To have a representative contact me and ask for permission to use my recipe and photos on their site...linking it all back to me... how could I say no?  That was the firs time one of my recipes got noticed like that.  It was pretty fabulous.

5. The day Chris and I moved in together.  I know that might sound corny to people, but it's true.  When Chris and I first moved in together over 4 years ago, it was a fabulous day.  I knew this was the man I wanted to be with, I knew he wanted to be with me... We were taking the next step... my life was finally starting to come together in all aspects.  It was a fabulous moment in my life and will forever stay that way :)

Five things I love:

1. My family - to me, family is one of the most important things in life.  I am fortunate to have an amazing family that is full of love and support.  Oh, sure, we've had our differences, but they are mine and I love them all so very much!

2. Chris - the love of my life.  He too is full of love and support for me and without him, my life would be incomplete.

3. Our Cats - despite the attacks from Lexi Luthor, despite the 3am wake up calls by Savage, despite the "pay attention to me" meowing the entire time I'm cooking from Bailey - they are my children and I wouldn't give them up for the world.

4. Food - what's not to love??  Specifically though, Mac & Cheese, Sushi, and my mom's tacos!

5. Fire - without it there would have never been the invention of the hamburger!  Not only do I cook with it, but I spin it too... how's that for cool?

Five things I hate:

1. TRAFFIC!!!! - enough said

2. People who refuse to open their minds to others ideas and opinions.

3. Lima beans - (Sorry Stephen!!!)

4. Stubbing your toe in the middle of the night when you are half asleep.

5. People who feel they are entitled to everything.

Five Fabulous Bloggers:

Five fabulous ladies I would love to sit down with and talk about cooking all day!  Five fabulous ladies who's dinner table I would love to sit at -

1. Mary of Barefeet in the Kitchen
2. Mary of Inside a British Mum's Kitchen
3. Pam of For the Love of Cooking
4. Lea Ann of Cooking on the Ranch
5. Angie of Angie's Recipes 

By the way, none of you are obligated to do anything with this award - sometimes it's hard to find the time to put posts like this together - this is supposed to be fun, not work!!  And of course, a GREAT BIG THANKS again to Mary for honoring me with this award!

One Year Ago:  Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
Two Years Ago:  Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream