Do I get a sparkly dress?

When I was in college pursuing my journalism degree, all I really wanted was for one of my fellow class-mates (major-mates?) to get famous, be invited to a snazzy award show, and invite me.  Yeah, I didn’t so much dream about me being the famous one.  I just wanted to attend an award show.

Sure, I had a bout with acting in high school.  I’ve never been one to hide from the spot light and I’ve got my Miss America wave down to an art (if I do say so myself).  But for whatever convoluted reason, I never saw myself as the one being the Main Attraction at the circus red carpet event. If you know me well at all, you might find this, well, flabbergasting.

But here’s my reasoning: when “award season” comes around, I don’t watch the actual awards.  Not really all that interested, to be honest.  But I’ll spend hours online browsing through any and every post about the DRESSES!  I don’t care what the fashion bimbos say about the best and worst and blah blah blah, I want to see them all.  The colors, the designs, the s-p-a-r-k-l-e-s…..

Courtesy of Runway Daily

This is actually a little hard for me to admit.  It’s really only been in recent years that I’ve begun to discover my feminine side.  I grew up 100% tom-boy – probably in part to my idolization of my older brother, partly because it always seemed the boys just had so much more FUN!  Ninja Turtles and legos and digging in the dirt were so much better than stupid Barbies and dolls and tea sets.  The only time my mother could convince me to wear a dress was on Sundays – God would only love me if I dressed up for church.  This was also the absolute only time my long hair was styled any way other than a pony-tail.  (Correction: school-picture day, I relented and let my mom give me a half pony-tail.  I’m not against compromise.)

The change slowly started went I went away to college and made my first real group of female friends.  I discovered a fact which blew my tom-boy world apart: here were women who were total bad-asses and still had crazy fun, yet donned skirts, sparkles and stilettos for a night out on the town.  Or a hot date.  Or just because they damn-well pleased.

Getting snazzy

I had discovered Feminine Prowess.  And I liked it.  My heels slowly got taller, I learned to wear a little make-up, and I still went fishing and drank beer with the boys any time I wanted.

College was very "educational"

And things have just progressed from there.  I actually like to wear dresses now, especially if I have a bright pair of tights to go underneath.  Since I rarely see anyone other than J and sometimes go days without leaving the house (come visit, you’ll understand), I have designated every Friday as Fancy Friday and dress to the nines.  I don’t wear heels often, since they don’t work well on snow and ice, but I keep them around for trips to the big city (or any city for that matter).  And I have found out how much I like things that SPARKLE.

That’s right, folks, I have been diagnosed with Ooo-Shiny-itis.  I’m pretty sure it’s not contagious, but…

I've been practicing

Ok, ok, so that was a lot of back story and rambling for the real reason of this post.  I have been passed the Versatile Blog Award by a fabulous fellow blogger, and I really just need to know if yall mind if I go pick out a sparkly new dress for the occasion.  And by sparkly new dress, I mean one fit for the red carpet.  (I wander if I can make a red carpet for my house??)

I think in visuals, so let me give you a glimpse of how this all looks in my head….

I take up a hobby we know as Blogging and lamely ramble about the adventures (and misadventures) of the Ordinary Life of Me.  I do this for a little over a year, finding I really enjoy it.  Sure, barely more than my own mother reads it, but who cares?  I’m stretching my creative legs and actually writing, which makes my little heart swell with sunshine and happiness.  Then one day, I start exploring.  I discover a whole community of other blogs, people doing exactly as I am.  These people are funny, witty, sometimes even a bit snarky – and utterly fascinating.  I find more and more blogs to follow.  Now I’m spending hours reading these other blogs.  The stories they have to tell!  The unique perspectives they show!  I’m now chortling my days away.

I begin to notice a pattern: these other blogs are receiving these peer-to-peer awards, and becoming Freshly Pressed.  They receive massive amounts of views, comments and followers.  Then it dawns on me: I’ve found the popular crowd in the high school halls of WordPress!  I start testing the waters of the popular crowd…a comment here, a “like” over there, and I follow all this awesome blogs.

Then my stats start taking on a new look.  My bar graph has such beautiful bars, reaching higher than before!  I have notifications!  Someone has commented, others have “liked”!  I get a feeling which must be the equivalent of how it feels to be invited to the popular girl’s party! (I wouldn’t know…my high school was too small to even have a popular crowd…)

Then I received the comment saying Jumping In Mud Puddles had passed me an award.  I felt like the popular crowd had accepted me, let me sit at their lunch table, hang out with them in the halls between classes.  Oh happy day!

So here’s what comes next: the rules of the game.

1. In a post on your blog, nominate 10 fellow bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award.
2. In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.
3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
5.  In the same post, include this set of rules.
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

Alright, I’ll take it from the top.  Envelope please!  And the Nominees for the Versatile Blogger ARE!!  (can you see me on the stage in my sparkly dress?!?!)

1) Paltry Meanderings of a Taller Than Average Woman

2) theadventuresoftransman

3) Butterfingers for Breakfast

4) The Dissemination of Thought

5) Writing Through the Fog

6) Kitchen Slattern

7) Topicless Bar

8) Liz Purdy’s Adventures

9) nevercontrary

10) …I have to be honest here, I don’t have a number 10.  I just haven’t been in the game long enough, I guess.

(PS:  I realize that most of you just got an award of some sort.  That’s how I found many of your blogs in the first place.  Therefore, please feel no obligation to play again.  Wait, take that back.  You keep receiving awards that peers are passing you and I should let you off the hook?  Take the honor and keep it going!!!)

As for step two, I guess I jumped the gun a bit and its way up there.

I think I sort of already did step 3, but I’ll gladly do it again.  Thank you, Jumping In Mud Puddles, for making me feel like a cool kid. 🙂

Step 4 – this is a fun one.

• I like the white stuff between the peel and fruit of an orange.  And I eat it.  Don’t ask how I discovered this is even edible, but I peel it off and nom down.
• I am afraid of having children.  I got a pet Beta and overfed him.  He’s now obese.  What if I make my children obese?!
• Once, in 2nd grade, I was sent to the office and had my mother called because they couldn’t figure out why my hands wouldn’t stop sweating.  I have hyper-hydrosis, simply meaning my hands and feet sweat more than normal.  This is the one and only time I remember by mother raising a fuss at school.  They made me feel like a mutant.
• I have a hand-made leather belt with my name on the back of it, to remind me of my redneck roots.  (My dad made it, and I asked him to.)
• I had never lived in the same house for more than 2 and half years until I was a junior in high school.
• In elementary school, my dream career was to be a librarian, because I could think of nothing better than being surrounded by books all day.  And I thought it meant I could read every book in existence.
• I still haven’t moved past “Your Momma” jokes.

And steps 5 and 6 are taken care of.

YAY!  So there we have it.  This might be the absolute longest post I’ve ever written.  If you stuck with me this far, you’re a real peach, and I love you a little bit.  We can be friends.  🙂