Stylish Blogger

I was tagged recently by Jessica of sewcraftyjess and Lindsey of Linz Sews for the Stylish Blogger award! Thank you, ladies—how sweet! If you could only see what I wear on a daily basis, you might not be so quick to nominate me, but hey, at least my blog is stylish. I can only make an effort in so many areas of my life, after all. : )

Anyway, here's how the Stylish Blogger deal works:
• Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award (with apologies to Jess for doing this so belatedly)
• Share 7 things about yourself
• Award some recently discovered great bloggers
• Contact the bloggers and tell them about the award.

Okay, so seven things about myself. Here goes:

1. The hubs and I love to travel and did as much of it as possible before we had kids. Some of our most remote destinations include Tibet, the Galapagos Islands, and Machu Picchu. My favorite places that we've been are the Swiss Alps, Ireland, and Hawaii.

2. I got married in a real European palace—Schoenbrunn in Vienna, Austria. (Hopefully that doesn't make me sound like a high-maintenance bridezilla, because I swear I wasn't!) We started out planning the big, traditional church wedding at home, then decided that wasn't "us." Our next idea was to get married on a mountainside in the Swiss Alps, but we quickly discovered the impracticalities of that. Finally we found a great Vienna-based wedding planner who could set up the entire thing for us. Schoenbrunn was one of the locations she offered, so we thought, "Well ... why not?"

3. Prior to becoming a graphic designer, I was a reporter, writer, and editor. I've worked in nearly every area of media at one point or another. While on an internship, I got to go to White House news briefings and a Rose Garden ceremony. I also worked briefly as a PA/writer/researcher/indentured servant for a certain insane, loud-mouthed political pundit who shall remain nameless, since he probably has Google alerts for himself.

4. I don't like popcorn. Weird, right? Who doesn't like popcorn? I used to like it, but I lost my taste for it while I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, and it never came back.

5. My sister and I were pregnant with our first babies at the same time, and we were in labor at the same time. She went into labor very late on a Sunday night, and the next morning, Monday, it was my turn. My nephew was born that Monday evening, and my daughter was born around noon on Tuesday. And I'm guessing my mom fixed herself a good stiff drink that Tuesday night. : )

6. My husband ran a marathon a few years ago, and I decided to try to get to as many spots on the course as possible to cheer him on. That meant a fair amount of walking—so much so that I ended up being way more sore than he was the next day! He ran the marathon, but I was the one complaining. Hey, he trained for months, I ... didn't.

7. Some of my favorite things are coffee, chocolate, and wine. If I could figure out a way to make all three work together at the same time, I think I'd be in heaven.

So, there you have it, all you ever wanted to know about me and probably a lot that you didn't. And now here are my picks for some recently-discovered stylish bloggers:

Whittle Stitch - a newbie quilter, but you wouldn't know it from the gorgeous things she's turning out!

Susanne Loves - this girl is stylish, hilariously funny, and a fellow Wisconsinite.

Inspired by Felix - take a look at all her gorgeous pillows! And she's doing a really unique variation on my Supernova design in the quilt-along.

Blue Bird Sews - Kelly has put together some great tutorials on sashing and a "Concrete Cabin" quilt block that uses fat quarters.

And of course, don't forget to visit Jess and Lindsey, who have fabulous and inspiring blogs as well. Thank you again, ladies!