Awards ceremony (dress appropriately)

If I'd known the award ceremony was going to continue for days and days, I would have suggested a party. Okay, it isn't too late. Run home and get all gussied up and ... oh, you're back already? ... then roll out the red carpet and let the party begin!

Absolute Vanilla, whose mother was mugged on Friday in her own driveway (Crime comes home), wanted to lighten things up today and gave out lots of awards. (Continue the party over at HER blog ... but not yet ... not yet ... I haven't given out MY awards yet!) Anyway, this is the description of the first award:

E for Excellence is a blog award for all of you out there who have Excellent Blogs. By accepting this Excellent Blog Award, you have to award it to ten more people whose blogs you find Excellent Award worthy. You can give it to as many people as you want but please award at least ten.

I accept! Thanks, Vanilla! I want to thank everyone who helped me reach this point in my life and ... (What? Okay, okay, some anonymous person has passed a note forward to tell me to skip my long acceptance speech and get on with giving out the ten I'm supposed to pass along here today.) Without further ado, my ten. Folks whose excellent blogs I visit regularly include:

Sara Lewis Holmes of Read Write Believe
Selma of Selma in the City
Susan of Patchwork Reflections
Nancy of Bookfoolery and Babble
June of Spatter
Jenn and Allison of Looking Into
Karen of Verbatim
Chris of Book-a-rama
Dewey of the hidden side of a leaf
Wendy of Caribousmom

Oh, my, I'm getting another award! The Biggest Heart Award went to "some people who are very special to me -- and who I know to have huge hearts," Vanilla said. Thank you, Vanilla. You are also very special to me, and I worry about the danger of violence that you and your mother face.


Whoa! More awards!

The You Are Toad-ally Awesome Award ... got it from Vanilla (thanks, dear heart) ... awarding it to these TOAD-ally awsome bloggers:

June of Spatter
Jenn of Something to Say
Colleen of Loose Leaf Notes

The Best Blogging Buddies Award for Global Communities ... got it from Vanilla (more thanks) ... awarding it to these bloggers who live all over the world:

Seamus of Shameless Words (a New Zealander of Irish stock now living in France)

Myrthe of The Armenian Odar Reads (a Dutch woman who moved to Armenia)

Jenn of Something to Say (an American living in Den Haag, the Netherlands)

Selma of Selma in the City (an Aussie living in Sydney, Australia)

Teddy Rose of So Many Precious Books, So Little Time (a Canadian who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia)

Gwyneth of Misadventures in Malawi and Beyond (humanitarian aid worker settled now in sleepy Lilongwe, Malawi)

Vanilla of Absolute Vanilla ... I can, too, give it back! ... (a "citizen of the multiverse" living in South Africa)

Amy of Mediterranean Views (an American living in Spain since 1987)

Melissa of Quotidian Life (an American in the Middle East)

Barbara of Barbara's bleeuugh! (who's writing and raising a small army of six in Ireland)

Marylyn of Marylyn's Travels (an American stationed in Seoul, South Korea)

Sharon of Bibliobibuli (a Brit in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia)

Jon of Writing in a Vacuum (in northwest United Kingdom)

Kay of As it happens (a writer and tourist guide in New Zealand)

Marg of Reading Adventures (who lives in Melbourne, Australia)

Kailana of Kailana's Written Word (a Canadian who just "made my day" ... see my acceptance speech here)

Chris of Book-a-rama, a stay-at-home mom who lives in the Canadian Maritimes

The Friendly Site Award ... got it from Vanilla (thank you so very, very much) ... passing it along to:

Beth of Blue Ridge Blue Collar Girl
Stephanie of Confessions of a Book-a-holic

And I'm adding another category, this one specifically for newbies to the blogging world. What I'm saying to each of these bloggers is WELCOME to the blogging world! These are people who may be in line for blog awards in the near future:

Kate of A ceaseless mind is an expat in the Netherlands who has been blogging for 12 days now.

Donna of Book Reviews by Donna posted her first book review today! Believe it or not, this is her second blog ... she posted her first post on her first blog (Chattanooga Coexist Club) on Saturday.

Now let me hear loud and prolonged applause for everyone who got an award today ... and for every one of you reading this blog! Yes, go on, clap for yourself, too!

(Mutter and mumble ... I think I've forgoten to put somebody on one of these lists, somebody I thought about and never got to her/his blog before it slipped my open mind, somebody ... I may have to come back and edit this post when I remember who it was ... mumble, mutter ... but who was it?)

UPDATE: It was Chris! Yep, I meant to include her in the Best Blogging Buddies Award for Global Community's list, as well as the E for Excellence Award, which I did get her into. So Chris, apologies for being late, but (look up there above) I have added your name to the list, at last.
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UPDATE: A couple of the award winners have asked about the champagne. Did you too miss the champagne? So sorry. Here it is, and if the fancy stemware seems too small, click to enlarge it ... lol.