I am pleased and excited to announce that I have been nominated for my second blog award!

Just when I happened to be feeling a little disconnected and uninspired when it came to my blog writing, a new reader, by the name of Ruth, sent me some sweet nectar of recognition.  It feels great to know that I have inspired others as much as other blog writers have inspired me to continue to explore my own truths, struggles and philosophical musings on a regular basis, and to create time for self-expression and unedited creation.

You can check out Ruth’s blog here. Thanks so much, Ruth!

As part of the recognition process, I’m supposed to give you, the readers, 7 interesting (more or less) facts about me.  Here are the bare bones:

1) I have a 2 year old Yorkshire terrier named Coco.  He was born in Colombia, in South America and I brought him with me to Canada when he was 8 months of age.

2) I am a serial reader.  I feel nervous if I don’t have a book at-the-ready by the time I’m finished with the current one I’m reading.  There was a point in my life when I would read several books at once but I gave that up for a consistent, continuous line-up of reading material, one book at a time: bestsellers, literature, non-fiction, you name it.

3) I have never worked retail.  My part-time and summer jobs have been lifeguard, snowboard instructor, camp counselor, youth worker/counselor and English teacher.  I don’t know the first thing about working a retail job and I feel kind of inadequate because of this fact. I feel that working retail is a rite of passage into adulthood.

4) I applied to a Master of Journalism (MJ) program at Ryerson and a Master of Social Work (MSW) at the University of Toronto along with my application to CCNM.  I was interested in all of the possibilities, so I thought I’d let the fates decide the rest – and they did.

5) I worked (for next to nothing) on a Discovery Channel documentary called “The Body Machine” one summer.  While working on the set, I toyed with the idea of entering the film industry.  That is, until I realized it was just as cutthroat and type A as any other “non-creative” industry like medicine or financial banking.  I’m in the doc, too but I’ve never seen it.

6) In high school I wanted to be a professional snowboarder… or a photographer.

7) I’m not happy unless I have the opportunity to fly to another country at least 3 times a year.  I love Canada, but after 4 months, I get bitten by the travel bug.

Now, I give you my top 15 blog recommendations!

1. truthandcake.com – Ruth, who nominated me for this award, found me through Rian’s blog when she posted a “Freshly Press Yourself” challenge, which allowed fellow blogger with similar interests to connect with one another.

2. domesticdivamd.com – totally addicted to this blog about med school, dating and cooking!

3. doctorquack.wordpress.com – a well-written hilarious blog.

4. tracksbylinds.com – Linds is a fellow Canadian who nominated me for my first blog award. 

5. veggievinyasa.com – a great blog about yoga and food, which I found out about from Linds (seen above).

6. onlyhereonlynow.com – an excellent blog about spirituality by a dedicated follower of mine, Thomas Ross.

7. joyroots.com – a great blog about the state of our current society.  I found out about them from Freshly Pressed.

8. raisingmyrainbow.com – a hilarious blog about a mother raising a gender non-conforming child.

9. greatsmitten.com – a great, well-written blog I found at Freshly Pressed.

10. simplifywritelive.com – an amazing blog by a blogger who can really write, who I found about about through Linds.

11. laughinglovingeating.wordpress.com – another great blog I found at Freshly Pressed.

12. 25pillsaday.wordpress.com – a blog about the (sometimes) lighter side of  living with fibromyalgia.

13. theadventuresofadr.wordpress.com– a blog featuring some mind-blowing photography.

14. perpetualflaneur.wordpress.com – a great philosophical blog.

15. thefulcrumchronicles.wordpress.com – another great blog with entertaining and insightful posts.

Congratulations to all the excellent and inspirational bloggers out there!  I look forward to meeting more of you and drawing inspiration from your work!

Here are the RULES:

1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.