Kreativ Blogger Award

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Bianca for nominating me for the Kreativ Blogger award! I’m excited!!

Bianca’s blog, Deals for the Short and Curvy, shows her daily outfit photos and links to sales going on at stores. She dresses professionally and she’s a bargain hunter. I love love love the way she incorporates color into her outfits. I read her blog daily, so I’m honored that she nominated me and that she likes to read my blog as well.

The idea of the Kreativ Blogger award is to share seven things about yourself and nominate seven other bloggers for the award. I’ve shared seven things below, and I’ve nominated seven other people. I’m not sure if people on this list have already received the award, but they’re my favorite bloggers so I’m raving about them anyway.

Seven Things About Me:

1. I love cats. I never had pets growing up, but as soon as I moved out of the dorms at age 21, I got a cat (Amaretto, named for the liquor). Two years later, I got a second (Drusilla, named for the vampire on Buffy, I adopted her on Valentine’s Day, how sweet!). Leases tend to limit cats to two, so I haven’t adopted more so as not to infringe upon my mobility, but I’ve thought about it several times. I’m almost thankful that my younger cat started peeing on everything I own last year (almost thankful, but not quite). I still adore both my cats, but I’m a little more hesitant to add to my brood. But, there is some part of me that wants to be a crazy cat lady, living on my own, with long brightly-colored skirts, leather boots, crazy hair, humungous earrings, and eight (8) cats.

2. I love Barry Manilow. I picked that up from my mother. And my boyfriend loves him too! How crazy is that?? But, shhhh! Don’t tell anyone.

3. I’m divorced. I think that’s kind of cool. Not that the process was great to go through (it wasn’t; it definitely wasn’t), but I do think there’s something a little more intriguing about being divorced as opposed to being in my early 30’s and never married. Is that a little crazy? Is that prejudiced and judgmental?

4. I’m a lawyer. I don’t practice criminal law. I once heard someone say that every lawyer, at heart, is either a defense attorney or a prosecutor. I think that’s very true. At heart, I’m a defense attorney. People can do some really shitty things to each other. If someone does a really shitty thing to me, I may want to see him hang. Hell, I may want to personally shoot every gun in the firing squad (I think that’s still a legal method of execution in Utah). That’s why we don’t let the victims decide what happens to perpetrators. Vengeance would rule instead of justice. Everybody is human and everybody makes mistakes. Some people really do want to hurt others, but many many many people are hurting, confused, desperate, have been hurt, just don’t think, don’t understand the consequences or any number of other “excuses” that may be “rationalizations” in our current therapy culture, but that doesn’t stop them from being true. If our correctional system is really meant to “correct” behavior, locking someone away in jail, treating them like they’re not human, and exposing them to all manor of violence and indignities really isn’t the way to “correct” their behavior. Kindness and understanding will go a lot further. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. I adore the writing of Jodi Picoult for exactly this reason. She really drives home the humanity of the human beings that our culture generally doesn’t identify with. Nineteen Minutes, Salem Falls . . .

5. My last name is the same as someone who invented something profitable. In high school, a friend of mine spread a rumor that I was the heir to the [insert-last-name-here] fortune. People believed it, very briefly.

6. It takes me forever to look something up in a paper dictionary. I am consistently distracted by reading the definitions of other interesting words that I flip by on the way to my destination. Take time to smell the roses, and all that.

7. I kind of like doing laundry. Not that I would do it just for fun, but as chores go, it is far and away my favorite task. I find it soothing.

Seven Blogs I Love:

1. What I Wore Today – Kasmira is my favorite favorite favorite blogger (someone told me that Greeks didn’t have words like good better and best. Instead, they repeated things one two or three times to convey the same meaning. That’s why Catholics sing Amen, Amen, Amen). Kasmira was one of the first daily outfit bloggers I discovered, after Angie mentioned her on You Look Fab. Kasmira has described her style as youthful. I see her as adult, and professional, while at the same time maintaining fun, drama or whimsy. It doesn’t help that she performs in local theatre productions, loves to dance, has five!!! cats, and proclaims herself to be an introvert posing as an extrovert. ALL things I identify with. I always dressed youthfully (to my mind), partly as a result of choice, and partly as a result of my size. I found Kasmira and declared her to be the exact type of dresser that I was attempting to transform into. She wears what looks to me like perfectly professional, work-appropriate clothing, but she’s never boring. She uses COLOR (with all caps) and her outfits are just fun. I’ve gone through her entire archive of outfit shots (and she’s been blogging almost 3 years now!), and she was the very first person whose archive I combed through. She is also the person whose blog inspired me to start blogging.

2. Strawberry Kitten – Nadine is adorable. Absolutely adorable. A student, she is always dressed in the cutest outfits with the greatest colors. She sews (something I did as a teen), and finds fun prints to work with.

3. What Would Krissie Wear – Krissie works at a conservative office in New York City, and she has some connection to Chicago. She photographs herself in her daily work outfits, and she’s always wearing something classy yet fun! She wears color, and she mixes color and pattern in with outfits that are conservative and professional. She is the perfect example of someone who doesn’t spend tons of money and yet she still looks fashionable and stylish, while dressing professionally for work.

4. District of Chic – E is another corporate office worker but she blogs (mostly) only her out-of-the-office outfits. She has some great pieces and awesome shoes, and she rocks the legging and skinny pants looks. I wish I had the amazing legs that she does. And, her wardrobe. I definitely would love to shop her closet. I used to live in the D.C. area, so there’s also a bit of nostalgia there.

5. My Edit –A lovely young Canadian with great taste and great clothes. She’s a recent discovery of mine, and I love her blog.

6. Between Laundry Days – Clare has a comfy look, all the time. Whatever she’s doing, she always looks comfortable and incredibly chic. I wish I could pull off short hair the way she does. I was originally drawn to her because she was the first Chicago blogger that I discovered and liked. She makes jewelry and has an Etsy shop called Objects Found. I really love her comfy, comfy cute style.

7. A Cat of Impossible Colour – Andrea is a Zimbabwean writer in New Zealand. She posts her daily outfit pics in her cute vintage-y style, and she blogs about her clothes, her days, and her writing process. She has a book under contract to be published that draws on her childhood experiences in Zimbabwe.