Back in December, my good friend Kavi gave me a very special gift: an Inspiring Blog Award! I was honored to receive this from her because her blog, Kavi 360, chronicled her recent trip around the world as she traveled wherever her imagination (and an airplane) took her — Colombia, South Africa, Kuala Lumpur. You name it, she’s probably been there! Her ability to embrace life and follow her heart has always been a huge inspiration to me, so you can imagine how great I felt to know that my blog inspires her, too!

So, to give back to the blogging community, receipt of this award comes with the following tasks:

• Display the award image on your blog.
• Link back to the person who nominated you.
• State 7 things about yourself.
• Nominate 15 other bloggers and link to their sites.
• Notify the bloggers that they have been nominated and link to the post.

Here goes!

1. I had a “hippie” moment in college during which I wore jeans that were frayed on the bottom, tie-dyed Allman Brothers T-shirts, hemp necklaces and listend to the Grateful Dead and Phish. To top it all off, I walked barefoot to class, carrying my sandals in my hand.
2. My first kiss was a nightmare. The famous quote from the story I told my friends was, “He came at me full-force with his tongue.” In other words, open mouth from the get-go. Not a good look, guys, not a good look.
3. I worked two summers on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, N.J. at a sweet shop called Berkley . I worked with my best friends and everyone else we knew visited us because, of course, the boardwalk was the place to be. It was the best way to spend summers during college.
4. I have broken my left foot four times.
5. I once had the assignment to wait on the edge of a red carpet at an Armani event in London for a photographer to give me his card so I could deliver it back to the office. I got to see Beyonce arrive and, much to my surprise, she’s shorter than me! (Without heels, of course.)
6. If I could only wear one thing for the rest of my life, it would be shirtdresses. Like this:

Bloomingdale’s

7. I threw a pinecone at my sister’s head when she was a toddler. I also threw a softball at her head when she was, like, 7. No one in my family will let me forget these violations.

And now, for the 15 blogs that I find inspirational:

1. The Writeous Babe Project
2. Ben Does Life
3. Eat, Live, Run
4. All In Stride
5. yougotrossed
6. Sneezing In Windy Places
7. E is for Erin
8. The House Always Wins
9. Honey, I Shrunk the Gretchen
10. The Jen West Quest
11. Who Ate My Blog?
12. Skinny Emmie
13. Big Life, Little Blog
14. Panama & Pine
15. Walking on Travels

I’m sure I’ve left some off that I love to read, and that you should read, too! Thanks again to Kavi for the award!!