Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Thanks for the Award!


Thank you to Calm, Forward, Straight and to Juliette at Honeysuckle Faire for giving me the Stylish Blogger Award. In my frayed Gortex parka and polartec pants with the holes on the seams, I’m not exactly a Fashion Queen these days. I’m going to use the below zero temperatures and the snow that is falling yet again as an excuse for my tattered but waterproof outfit.

I know that this award has been making its way around the blogosphere, so I’m not going to attempt to send it on to anyone. I really enjoy CFS and Juliette’s blogs so much, and if you don’t already visit them, I encourage you to take a look. I was able to get to know both of them a little better from their responses to this award, and I think it’s a great distraction from what’s going on outside my back door right now. So with no further ado, here are 7 things you might not already know about me:

1. I really enjoyed being stylish when I lived in New York and Los Angeles. I was skinny, wore expensive black clothes and my hair was short, then long, then short, then whatever was considered hip at that moment. When I moved to San Diego and became a cowgirl, my godmother came to visit. She said, “Victoria, you were the most sophisticated woman I knew. What happened to you?” No regrets, not one.

2. I love to cook and bake. I enjoy reading a recipe and then taking artistic license with it. My friends and family aren’t complaining. It is especially fun to prepare food for large groups of hungry people. Recently, I’ve been trying some of the Pioneer Woman’s recipes and really liking them, even the ones with Mountain Dew as an ingredient. I’m adventuresome, although I usually try to stick with healthy, whole foods when I’m in the kitchen.

3. I’ve recently discovered the videos on the TED Conference website. “Ideas worth spreading”. Very thought provoking speakers, interesting music and some mental stimulation on these cold nights in front of the fire. It sure beats what’s on TV.

4. My other distraction as I sit cozy in my armchair with the logs blazing is to plan my garden. I look at those deep white blankets covering my flower beds and imagine all that compost that we spread before it froze giving nourishment to the soil and plants that are buried under it. Spring will be even more delightful than usual this year. I love the White Flower Farms website for dreaming about what I’m going to plant.

5. I live in a house filled with music. My husband and stepson are drummers. My daughter plays the guitar and sings. Recently, I’ve noticed that all my favorite musicians are growing older and grayer. The reality of it has been creeping up over the last few years. All those great guys, like Van Morrison, Lyle Lovett, Mark Knopfler, are still recording but soon there will come a day when they’ll decide that they’re done. I just watched a movie called “It Might Get Loud” which has the elegant, white-haired Jimmy Page in it. Like good wine, they just get better as they age and mellow, so I’m going to take time to appreciate them now while they’re still around. Luckily, I have my daughter and stepson to keep me clued into who’s young and talented,

6. I’m paying too much attention to my cat. He’s the only animal left in the house this winter, and there’s a good reason that his name is Velcro. Either he’s draped around my neck like an orange fur scarf or spread across my legs like a fuzzy lap-warmer. I am the center of his world, which is flattering but also comes with too much loud meowing.

7. I’m expending a lot of energy being hopeful these days. There’s too much gloom and fear and arguing going on in the world. Hope needs to be stirred up and cultivated on a daily basis in order to drown out all the negativity that bombards us now that we have all this information available to us constantly at our fingertips. If you have something good to say, now is the time to speak up!

I’m going to throw another log on the fire and continue to hibernate. Silk and Siete are standing in the corral, with snow all over their noses. I tried to get a picture of them, but the battery on the camera needs to be charged. It’s been snowing one inch per hour, and this isn’t even the “big” storm. We’ll be getting ready for that one to hit us tomorrow night. I think I’ll start looking for some new recipes to try.

9 comments:

Grey Horse Matters said...

Congratulations on your award. It's good to get to know you better through your observations and answers.

Glad Siete and Silk are having fun playing in the snow. This weather is ridiculous I couldn't believe it was snowing when I got up this morning. And there's another one coming tomorrow. What more fun could we ask for. We've got to get out of hibernation one of these days and have lunch and catch up. If the roads are ever free from ice and snow!

Anonymous said...

Stay warm! We have some kitties around here that would qualify for the name Velcro, including our barn kitty Night, who follows me everywhere I go around the barn doing chores, even out in the snow!

Calm, Forward, Straight said...

Loved reading your "seven things". I too was a stylish New Yorker for a while... very skinny and so hip it hurt. If they could only see me now!

Take heart Victoria - every day brings us a little closer to spring. I really like the Seed of Change catalogue, and have been planning my garden as well.

Enjoy your award - you deserve it!

Rising Rainbow said...

Congratulations on your award, Victoria!

I have to laugh at all of the sytlish bloggers talking about their style in apparel. I can't help but wonder if we were required to have webcams associated with our blogs what new kind of meaning "Stylish" would get. LOL

I can't even imagine living with all the snow you have falling. WE haven't seen any of the white stuff in a while but have gotten enough the of the warmer wet stuff to make me think if the temps dropped we'd be looking much like your neck of the woods. Scary thought.



Stay warm and don't neglect that cat. LOL

Lori Skoog said...

Yep, that award has really made the rounds. Congrats tho! Can't believe you are getting another load of snow. Today we hit 34 and I was one happy person. I liked learning more about you (the 7). Doesn't the fire make winter easier to take? We have had one almost every night since October. Ahhhhhh.

Deejbrown said...

Congrats on your well-deserved award! My favorite from your thoughtful list is #7. Time to turn the world around.
As for fashion...hahahaha! I never was in the running for it so I do not miss it!
Hope you will stick to Velcro. There is a reason that is the cat still in your life.

John and Regina Zdravich said...

Well deserved award! Congrats!

billie said...

I had to laugh at the skinny wearing black clothes! That was me too. Recently I got a call from a newspaper reporter who wanted to interview me - a clothing designer and boutique owner had remembered me from 25 years ago as her very first customer, and the newspaper was doing a feature on her store, which has lasted all these years. The writer wanted to do a sort of "then and now" article.

I was somewhat mortified - clearly the shop owner remembered me as being fashionable and "hip" - and although I sent my best wishes for her designs and her store enduring, and my memory of that fabulous outfit, I also said she would be shocked to see my wardrobe these days!

Stay warm and enjoy the garden planning. Before you know it we will all be bemoaning the fact that we need to get seedlings into the ground. I'm ready!

juliette said...

Victoria - I love, love, love your list!!! And thank you for the kind words about my blog.

I think your story about your godmother visiting and saying "what happened to you?" is hilarious! Horses happened and you know it is so wonderful. (Maybe not in the depths of that crazy snow!)

I loved "It Might Get Loud" and was inspired that Jimmy is still doing what makes him breathe. His guitar is my inspiration to ride - everyday!

I am so with you about the need for hopeful stories in our world. I would like a 24 hour news channel that tells the stories of happy events all day. Attention seekers would be striving to do good just to get their "15 minutes" rather than what is happening now.

Keep warm and cozy with sweet kitty, Velcro!