Blog Awards and a Tag

I'm sorry for being such a bad blogger lately. I've been so behind on my posting and have waited far too long to recognize several wonderful bloggers who have nominated Kaleidoscopic Refrains for awards.

First, thanks to the lovely Kirsty of Giggly Cupcake for the Lemonade Stand Award. If you haven't been to her blog yet, I highly recommend it. I always so look forward to seeing her new posts pop up on my blog roll.

I was also recently honored to be mentioned over at Dustjacket Attic. Every time I need a little magic in my day, a bit of inspiration (well, a post brimming with it), I know exactly where to head for this! Thanks for the encouragement:)

Thanks also to the wonderful Gabbi of Felinofelice for passing on a few others. I can never get enough of you and your gorgeous George:) I honestly feel so grateful to everyone who comments on my posts and has decided to follow my blog...and for the awards. Thanks so much ladies!

In addition to these honors, I was also recently tagged by Sharon of mozzarella swastikas and will now share ten random things about myself.


1. Over the years, various boyfriends have extended romantic gestures that effected me very much. When I was studying 18th century Italian women's history, one went out to coin shops, found an 18th century Italian coin featuring a woman on its head and had it made into a pendant on a chain. I still wear it sometimes. But honestly, nothing impresses my heart more than when my husband points out thrift shops, church and yard sales, and vintage stores to me and then offers to patiently wait with a book until I'm satisfied. He carries a book with him whenever we go out:)


2. My closet is shrinking by the minute...or maybe my wardrobe is just expanding by leaps and bounds. I always convince myself that there's room if the price is right.


3. I named my new laptop Martin with the help of our roommate Nick, who, by the way, names everything including his hair (a.k.a. Templeton) and his bicycle (a.k.a. Gloria--side note: he likes to ride down the street singing the song Gloria!). My 'new' used sewing machine has yet to acquire a moniker, but that's in the works. We need to hear her at work before we can christen her.


4. For years my grandmother bought every woman in our family a bottle of the same perfume for Christmas. It was almost always Chanel Mademoiselle...which I couldn't appreciate until I moved away and the scent became mine. I currently wear Chanel Gardenia most regularly, but have a few bottles of Grandmother's gift of choice stashed away.


5. My husband and I love weddings because it gives us an excuse to dance the night away in a place other than our living room. I'm talking late 80's, 90's dancing here. He breaks out the sprinkler, the running man, the Cosby dance (see the intro from any season of The Cosby Show)...you get the picture...and he manages to pull every able bodied person onto the dance floor with his moves and inspire them to have a great time whilst dancing. I mostly stick to shimmies and swirls myself. There are many a wedding video out there to prove this.


6. One of my favorite books of all time is Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. I picked it up randomly in the comic book store that my husband has been frequenting since he was a child (the owner's wife set up a girlfriend/wife/mother section of paperbacks). I love stumbling upon great books by chance.


7. I have a crush on Pierce Brosnan. Ever since I saw him in The Thomas Crown Affair, I haven't been able to shake it. Any cool crime caper that introduces me to Nina Simone and Pierce Brosnan can't be bad in my book.


8. Although I like to imagine the lives and characteristics of the women who owned my vintage clothes before me, once I put the garments on, they become my clothes and I feel more like myself than I probably could in anything new. I've always felt more comfortable in hand-me-downs than brand new pieces. In that way, I don't feel like I'm emulating a character, I feel like I'm becoming even more myself. I don't know why this is, but its true.


9. When I was little, my nickname was Kell-Deedle. My husband's was Dan-Du-Beans.


10. I started taking singing lessons about a month and a half ago. I only go for one hour every two weeks, but I enjoy it ever so much. My teacher is lovely and encouraging and it feels like my special time to work on something I love and that's mine alone. I practice when I'm driving myself in the car.


Thanks again ladies!