Stylish Blogger Award

Was I ever excited when, late the other night (when I should have been sleeping,) I found that Sarah from Pewter + Sage gave me a "Stylish Blogger Award."  I was doing the "happy dance" careful not to wake those sleeping at my house!  I got hooked on Sarah's blog several months back when I stumbled across one of her Mood Board Monday posts. I loved the ability to see how others would use a certain item or theme in putting together a room. When I finally got up the gumption to share my own Mood Board Monday creation, I met a lovely group of fellow bloggers and felt officially welcomed into the wonderful world of blogging.

Sarah's blog is delightful as she shares bit about her own house and the process of making it a home for her family, her inspirations as well as tidbits about her custom invitations and paper products business, be sure to check it out.

So in keeping with the rules of this  award, I am to share 7 things about myself (I have never really liked doing this but here goes)...

My "hubby" Tom and I

1) I am more of an earthy girl than a fashion maven, though I really do like to be pulled together, which, for me, could easily mean fleece and yoga pants instead of designer duds and heels.  Don't get me wrong, I like to get dolled up in the latest looks too, but most often I can be seen in jeans.

2) I love the outdoors and am an avid biker during the warm months.  I actually love winter because getting out for a snowshoe, cross country/downhill ski or sledding with my kids is so invigorating. We camp and drag our kids to National Parks as often as we can, hoping to instill the same love of the outdoors in them.

 

Some collect coins and stamps, we collect National Parks.

3) Madison, Wisconsin has been my home for the past 4 1/2 years.  When we decided to move here from Chicago, our friends thought we were crazy to leave the place where both my husband and I had grown up and established lifelong friends and bonds.  This town has been everything that we had hoped for, lively, progressive, a manageable size, good for our 3 kids and easily accessible to the outdoor things we love to do. Top that off with a wonderful group of local friends and I can assure you it was a good move.

4)While I love DIY projects and always look at things and say "I can make that,"  I am the queen of unfinished projects, I start things and  loose steam if they take too long (I like immediate gratification...)  I wish I was more like my creative sister in law (CSIL), who when I say, "Isn't this cool?  You can make that."  She does and the results are always incredible.

How about this amazing ottoman made by my CSIL?!

5) Cooking (more freewheeling and creative) not baking (too scientific and fattening) for me.

My kitchen is only this clean when I am taking photos!

6) My one truly guilty pleasure is watching "The Bachelor/Bachelorette.  I know, it's ridiculous, but the armchair psychologist in me finds it such an interesting source of character studies.

7) I have to keep my "creative juices" flowing so I love crafting and get together occasionally with other like minded crafty friends to create, chat, eat and admire each other's work. I have found blogging to be a wonderfully creative outlet for me, more than I ever imagined.

That's my gal, Martha!

Now on to the next step of the "Stylish Blogger Award" process, sharing the love.  These are a few of my favorite blogs, some are relatively new to me and some I have been visiting a while.  While I have not "met"  all of the authors, or even commented on all of the blogs, those I have "met" and conversed with are simply delightful and quite stylish. I imagine the other authors to be as well, based on their blogs, so give these blogs a peruse, I know you will enjoy.

Cottage and Vine

{Me} Longings

Effortless Style

Art Wall (a local Madison Blog)

Debut

Jones Design Company

Maddie G. Designs
Madigan Made 
Flip Flops and Pearls
design indulgence

As part of accepting the award and spreading the blog love, they'll...

1. Thank and link back to the person that awarded them {me}.

2. Share seven things about themselves.

3. Pay it forward to 15 (or so) recently discovered bloggers.

4. Contact those bloggers about the award!

Thanks for following along today and bearing with this long winded post...as you can tell, I was just a little excited!