no wiping this smile off my face

If you happened to read my last post, you know how truly honored I felt that Eva chose me as one of the recipients of the You Make My Day Award. Well, now the smile on my face has quadrupled in size, because Nymeth, Dewey, and Melody have all given me the award as well. If you had any idea how much I adore each of these ladies, you just might be able to image the big old goofy grin I'm now sporting!

But, now comes the hard part. Passing along the award to 10 more people. Sheesh...the inventor of this one sure knew how to torture a person, huh? How on earth do you limit it to 10 people?!! I assure you, I am not a masochist, so I only read blogs that make me happy. In other words, if you're on my little list over there, you deserve this award!

So, how does one limit it to 10? Well, I narrowed it down a little by concentrating on book-ish blogs, since that's how I met all the lovely ladies who tagged me. In fact, I'm going to start with them...and I can say in all honesty that I would have chosen each and every one of them even if they hadn't tagged me.

*Eva. I haven't "known" Eva very long, but was immediately hooked on her blog once I did run across it. As I've said before, she's one intelligent woman! And well-read! And she writes fantastic reviews, often talking about interesting aspects of a book I never otherwise would have thought of. I think I may have mentioned before, too, that I would probably feel intimidated by her except for the fact that she's just such a sweet, kind person! Plus, don't you just love the name of her blog? A Striped Armchair...just screams, "Come curl up with a good book!", doesn't it?

*Nymeth. Nymeth is without a doubt one of the sweetest people out here in the blogging world! That would be more than enough to make my day, but add to that the fact that she writes the most incredible reviews I've ever read. She has incredible insight and is able to express things in the most beautiful way imaginable. Her reviews quite simply are works of art themselves. Nine times out of ten, a book she reviews gets immediately added to my wish list or to the hold list at the library. On top of all that, she's been so generous in helping me whenever I have questions. (Annie and I have been doing a year-long unit on folk/fairy tales for school, and believe me, Nymeth has been an immense help!)

*Dewey. Dewey is one amazing woman! Seriously, it boggles my mind how much she fits into her life! She's a wife. She's a mom (and quite a good one, judging from the glimpses one gets from her blog). She has a job. She's recently taught herself to knit...I did that too about a year ago, but never became as accomplished as she has in just a very short time. And she reads as much as anyone I know! I've told her before that's she's my reading idol...and I stand by that! And she doesn't just read vast quantities of books, she reads such an incredible variety of books. I always look forward to popping over and seeing her latest reviews. In addition, Dewey will always hold a special place in my heart for giving me one blissful 24-hour period of reading.

*Melody. Melody is pure sweetness! It's always such a pleasure to visit Melody, because she's always so positive and happy. And I love the beautiful photos she posts when she travels! She's been personally responsible for adding quite a few thrillers, among other books, to my wish list.

*Chris. Chris is one seriously special guy! He couldn't possibly be any friendlier. He always has something nice to say to everyone. But that doesn't mean he's just a big pile of mush. He's fun, and he's funny, and he's interesting. I love hearing about life in New Orleans. (And I'm sure I'll hearing about life in Austin, too!) But beyond just being a great guy in the blogging world, he chose to spend his career counseling and helping teens...just thinking about that makes my day, because that's not something just anyone could do. And of course, he's also partially responsible for the size of my TBR pile...yep, he knows how to write one hell of a review, too!

*Stephanie. Okay, I admit it...I have a total crush on Stephanie. No, not "that kind" of crush...minds out of gutter, people! I just think she's so damn cool...I want to be just like her when I grow up (ignore the fact that I'm probably much older than she is already). She is an awesome mom, she has a great career that she loves, and she gives a shit about this world we live in. And I just love the enthusiasm she shows when she writes about books. (And of course, it doesn't hurt that we seem to have pretty similar tastes in books.)

*Carl. I could gush about Carl for hours. This guy is just one of the nicest, most generous people on the planet! He has done so much for Annie, and I don't just mean materially. He has made this kid of mine feel so good about herself...and I will never, ever forget that! And you know what, I don't think he can help but spread that kind of good in the world...it's just the kind of guy he is. As if that wasn't enough, I think Carl has done more to expand my horizons in the last year than anyone. His blog is an absolute treasure! It's not just that he writes so beautifully, but he writes with such joy. Be it about books, about movies, about art...you can't help but be captivated.

*Jean. New to the blogging world, but already I know hers is going to be a favorite! And that's not just because she's my cousin-in-law, I swear. After reading her last review, I immediately put a hold on it at the library. I can't wait to see her blog grow...I hope she'll eventually post about other things as well, because she lives one incredibly interesting life! And I'm dying to see some photos of her latest works of fiber art! We've never met in person, and have only been in touch for the past year or so, but she is definitely one of my favorite people. (And by the way, she's another one of those people who is so damn intelligent, that I would be totally intimidated by her if she weren't just so nice!)

*Annie. Well, of course she makes my day...she is my kid, after all! And since she is my daughter, I have no way of separating how much my enjoyment of her blog is biased by that simple fact. But you know what...so many times after she finishes a book, she'll say to me, "This was a really good one, Mom. You should definitely read it." And I'll say, "I'm sure it is, sweetie, but look at all my piles of books. I'm afraid I'll just have to wait on that one." And then I'll go and read her review, and have to eat my words and tell her to put said book on my table.

*Rich. Well, I got in this nepotism mode here, and figured I'd better just play it out. I'm lucky to be married to a person who makes my day each and every day! But, he's a bad blogger. Yes, a very bad blogger! Though Annie and I have been working on him, and he's promised to both respond to Annie's tagging him with Eva's reading meme and to get up a review of his last book. (He manages to get a lot more read than I do, but we've only just now convinced him that he should post reviews.) So maybe there's hope for him yet :)

Well, I think that was ten...and I have to say that makes me very, very sad, because there's a lot of other people I'd like to mention. A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR MAKING MY DAY!