a major award.

A while ago, my friend Brianna nominated me for the "Kreativ Blogger" award. Isn't that nice? We all like getting a shout-out once in a while. So I thought I'd keep the love alive. The rules?

1. Post 10 things about yourself others may not know.
2. Post the award.
3. Nominate 6 others for the award.

Ok, ready?

Ten things you may not know about me:

1. I secretly want purple streaks in my hair. I hated having red hair as a kid. It makes you different, and when you're a kid, you don't want to be different. But now I love my red hair, and would never color it, because I feel like I would never get my original color back. But, sometimes you do want to change things up, and often women do that by changing their hair. So I really want purple streaks. And a friend who does hair told me I could do purple extensions, so I wouldn't have to color my real hair. Even better. Finally, I told Chris about this desire, and he told me about a girl his freshman year with red hair and purple streaks and he just thought she was the bomb.com back in the day. Well, if that doesn't seal the deal, I don't know what will! Oh, someday soon I'm going to have purple streaks, trust me. I want to do it now, but then I'll have purple streaks in all the pictures from having the twins and when they are teenagers they will ask "Mom, why do you have purple in your hair?" Ha! Maybe it would be a good summer change, after I get my legs back under me. Good plan.

2. I have a thing for Russian/Eastern European names. Like Dmetri, Alexei, Natalia, Anastasia, Tatiana. I would totally name a girl Anastasia if it wasn't a little bit much. And one name I love for Miss A has that Eastern European flair to it, which makes me love it but also makes it a little hard to settle on since we have a hard-core Irish last name. And when I was a little girl I had a huge crush on a Russian gymnast named Alexei. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

3. For several years now, Chris and I have slept under separate blankets. We discovered early in our marriage that I'm a blanket hog, and that I like to sleep under two heavy blankets and Chris likes to sleep under one light blanket. And thus, the separation. It works well, and snuggling is still totally possible, don't worry.

4. Despite having a Bachelor's degree, I have no idea what kind of career I'd ever want to do, or what kind of advanced degree I'd want to get. For a long time I wanted to be a college professor, but now that I see what is involved in getting a PhD, I'm not that excited about the prospect. I loved my sociology undergrad, but don't see myself getting a Masters in it, as it is a lot of theory and very little actual doing. I'm really clueless. I would like to do something when all my kids are in school. I just don't know what. If I could go back in time, I would do my undergrad in dietetics and do something with Celiac Disease. Well, that is a nice idea theoretically, but I hate science and chemistry, so I'm not sure that would have actually worked out. My dream job? The blogger for the Pittsburgh Penguins official website. Yes, that would be awesome.

5. In high school, I used two new towels every day. I'm not kidding. That is 14 towels a week. I used one for my hair and one to dry my body. I can't believe my mom put up with that. Granted, I mostly did my own towel laundering at that point, but still. That habit was quickly knocked out of me when I went to college and had to pay for laundry.

6. If I could look exactly like Miranda Kerr, I would. (Do NOT Google Miranda Kerr, as she is a Victoria's Secret model. Use the reference below.)

7. My all time favorite movies: Jurassic Park, Sabrina, and the American President. Whenever Jurassic Park is on tv, Chris and I watch it and probably say "This is such a great movie" 20 times throughout. Sabrina is pure class and romance, and American President is politics, humor, and romance all in one. And they all have that fabulous 90s flair. Oh, the 90s. Those were the glory days.

8. I had a huge crush on Tom Brokaw as a tween. For reals. I would watch NBC Nightly News pretty much every night because we didn't have cable and I was a nerd. And I really loved when he wore the blue dress shirt with the white color and a red tie. Classy.

9. I love having painted fingernails. It makes me feel pulled together and pretty. The problem is, somehow my lifestyle (picking up toys and doing dishes, perhaps?) leads to them chipping easily. And being pregnant makes them grow out fast. So they never last long, but I do love painting them, and wish I could keep them perfectly painted all the time.

10. I L-O-V-E eggs. I love them in all forms, but really love them with runny yolks, which you're not supposed to eat when you're pregnant so it is on my list come March. I love eggs on bagels, and hardboiled with butter and salt, and in quesadillas . . . ooo, people, make an egg and salsa quesadilla. There was a phase around 18 weeks when that was just about all I could eat. Yum.

There you go.

Now, for my 6 blogs? I'll just share 6 I enjoy reading:

1. Stacey. We went to high school together. She has two cute boys and Chris and I always say if we lived next to them, we hope they would want to hang out with us, because we think they're cool.

2. The Apron Gal. This is not a plug. She's my sister-in-law. She is an awesome party-thrower and a fabulous cook and shares lots of great ideas and recipes. I love how she goes all-out in everything she does.

3. Nichelle. She is a Michigan friend. She has a seriously cute, laid-back little boy, and writes very clever posts.

4. Dore. She is my aunt. She has the spunkiest girl Novalie, and is just about the funnest mom I've ever seen. She is herself, and is a great example to me.

5. Taryn. We also went to high school together. She is mom to two beautiful girls and doing the student wife thing like me. Her posts are insightful and inspiring. And she's an extremely talented writer.

6. Rachel. I don't technically know Rachel in real life, I'm just a blog-stalking e-friend. She is unique and creative and funny. I always love her posts.

Yay for shout-outs.
xoxo.