The Very Inspiring Blogger Award: Round 2

It's interesting how certain blog awards come and go like the quick, fun flashes in the pan that they are, and yet how others stick around for years, continuing to make their way around the blogosphere, sometimes returning to visit friends they've already said hello to for a second time. That is precisely the case with The Very Inspiring Blogger Award.




I've been seeing this particular accolade pop up on various blogs for a few years now and have already received it before myself (as you may recall from this post last September), however it has very kindly been bestowed on me again (at least) twice in recent months, once Janey of Atomic Redhead and once by Inky from On Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax.

I am sincerely touched that both of these lovely-as-all-get-out ladies wanted to pass this award along to me and am delighted to take this opportunity, as the soon-to-be-autumn-again sunrise begins to break across the taupe and sagebrush hued hills of Penticton, to share another handful of interesting little tidbits of information about myself that you might not know already.

♥ Seven more totally random facts about me ♥

1. Though neither myself nor anyone in my family was aware of the term or that such a classification existed at the time, I now know as an adult that I was unequivocally an Orchid Child (a term borrowed and anglicized from the Swedish term Swedish "orkidebarn: to describe a highly sensitive child).

As an adult, I have continued, as most Orchids do, to be a highly sensitive person (both emotionally and to various stimuli, including sounds, scents, touches, and a great many other elements in my environment). At times, possessing the trait of being so immensely sensitive can have its shortcomings and be a cross of sorts to bear, but I also greatly adore how perceptive, intuitive, creative, conscientious, attuned to other peoples' (and animals') emotions, loving, compassionate, and perpetually caring it helps make me and can scarcely imagine being any other (less sensitive) way than how the universe saw fit to make me.





2. Even though a ridiculously large number of foods are (and have been for many years now) completely off limits for me due to various chronic medical conditions (I would conservatively estimate that I'm unable to eat at least 95% of all foods in your average mainstream supermarket), I absolutely, flat out adore going grocery shopping (and cooking), and always have. When I enter a new grocery store that I've never been to be, even if it's just a branch of a chain I'm already very well acquainted with, I love to leisurely wander each aisle and observe everything that particular shop does, and doesn't, stock to tuck away for future reference. And by the same token, I love having the peace of mind that comes from knowing my fridge, freezer and pantry is well stocked after a big shopping trip.





3. Part of me will always feel like I was meant to be born into a well-to-do British family with old money, an aging Land Rover, and more tweed in their closets than in all of the Harris factory. I've been a devoted anglophile my whole life and genuinely sense that this was a path that I would have walked with aplomb, had I been reared in a rambling country manor home environment (alas, my humble Canadian upbringing with a million miles away from such an aristocratic lifestyle, but that doesn't mean I can't daydream about it from time-to-time all the same).





4. I was a natural, very pale blonde as a child to the extent that you'd think my parents were from one of those gorgeous Nordic countries such as Finland or Norway. While they're not, I do have quite a bit of Germany ancestry in my DNA, which likely helps account for my Goldilocks worthy hair colour as a youngster.

Earlier this year (in this post), I shared a childhood photo of myself and received a few comments and emails from folks were surprised to learn that I wasn't born with red hair. Nope, as much as I truly wish I was, I've been a bottle, and in recent years, wig, redhead on and off ever since I was 16 years old.

By the time I hit puberty, my softly flaxen hued hair had morphed into the dullest, most washed out "dishwater" blonde-brown you'd ever seen and as soon my folks would let me, I began dying it. I've always felt most strongly pulled towards being a redhead, so that's typically the colour you'll find atop my head and the one I've long come to feel most like myself while sporting.





5. I don't idolize famous people. I may look up to, revere, and admire them, as well as consider myself a fan of their work, but I've never been, and will never be, the type who goes "Beatlemania" for any celebrity or person, point blank. At the end of the day, fame or no fame, we're all the same in so many ways and it doesn't seem right to be to put anyone on a pedestal or view them as being akin to a god on earth.






6. In recent years, bar none, the most frequent type of jewelry that I've purchased has been brooches. I love them something fierce and delight in having just the right one to partner with any outfit I may dream up. My collection has really grown in leaps in bounds since 2012 onward in particular and now, between genuine vintage and vintage appropriate pieces, totals more than 100 brooches and counting! I can only guess what that number will be in another five or ten years from now (I'll have to report back as much in 2024).





7. One of of mine and Tony's biggest long term goals is be in a financial position to purchase an RV and use it to travel extensively across North America. Beyond the sheer appeal of this unto itself (we're both massive travel lovers), this mode of transportation (we theorize, I haven't tried traveling in one yet as an adult) will be easier on my health than many others and potentially allow us to get in longer trips to more places then a car alone currently can. I really like to believe this will happen for us down the road (figuratively and literally speaking!), so who knows, one day you might just see us pop up in your town! :)

{To learn more a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.}

♥ ♥ ♥

As its name implies this particular blog award is intended to be passed along to individuals and their blogs who inspire you in some capacity time and time again. As this describes every last one of the blogs I follow (I likely wouldn't be following them in the first place if they didn't!), it's no easy task to whittle my selection of recipients down to just ten.

That is typically one of the instructions/rules for this particular blog award however, so after much deliberation, I'm pleased as much to share The Very Inspiring Blogger Award with the ten following bloggers and their awesome sites.

If your own name isn't listed here, please, by all means, feel free to deem yourself "awarded", too, and play along, as I'm sure your site is delightfully inspiring as well.


1. Abigail from Sweeter Gets the Journey

2. Ashesela from Art Evolve

3. Beate from Bahnwaerterhaeuschen

4. Bex from Submissive Fem

5. Corilynn from Poodles and Pin Curls

6. Heather from Dancing In My PJs

7. Helen Mae from Lovebirds Vintage

8. Kate from Retro Rover

9. Marija from Purple Pinky Honey

10. Philippa from Gloria & Me

♥ ♥ ♥

Should blog awards not exactly be your favourite cup of tea (or if you've already received this one before and have no desire to post a "round two" of your own), fear not, you're under zero obligation to play along. These kinds of posts are intended to be nothing but lighthearted fun, and should they not feel that way to you, by all means bow out of taking part in this one. I adore blog awards, but fully understand that not everyone (by any means) does.

If though, you would like to take part, then all you have to is whip up a post of your own about receiving The Very Inspiring Blogger Award in which you link back to this post, share seven random facts about yourself, and bestow the award on ten folks whose sites you find to be a continual source of inspiration.

It was a blast to put together a second edition post for this particular award, and I want to wholeheartedly thank both Janey and Inky for thinking of, and sharing this award with me.

As I suspect The Very Inspiring Blogger Award will be one that, thanks in no small part to its name and the concept behind it, remains in play for many years more to come still, who knows, there might even be a third edition of here one day!


*PS* Want to know even more random facts about moi? On top my previous Very Inspiring Blogger award post, here are four other similar entries that I've shared here over the years:

-A scrap of honesty

-How many of these 99 things have you done?

-Receiving and passing along the Versatile Blog Award

-Seven Interesting Things About me