Thanks for the Illuminating Blogger Award!

As a newbie to the blogosphere, I’m still trying to figure out what to do with my blog – including how to balance my blogging time so that I don’t stay up until two in the morning reading other bloggers’ stories that sound way more interesting than my own.

So I was touched that even in my blogging infancy a fellow blogger nominated me for an Illuminating Blogger Award.

Know other bloggers who you think provide illuminating and informative content? You can participate, too. It’s kind of like a chain letter, or a game of tag, but better. I’ve been introduced to many new blogs in the process.

Here are the Illuminating Blogger Award nomination rules:

(1) Thank the person who nominated you for the award.

I offer a heartfelt thank you to Laurie Peiper of A Taste of Morning for finding inspiration in my blog, especially when I find so much inspiration in hers. (Check out her gorgeous photos!)

(2) Share one random thing about yourself.

My favorite movie is the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

(3) Select five other bloggers you think deserve this award, and let them know you’ve nominated them.

It’s hard to narrow the list down, but here are five bloggers I find illuminating:

[im]perfectly balanced: This is my sister’s new blog in which she plans to chronicle her upcoming journey as a gestational surrogate, helping another family have a baby.

The Delicious Day: My friend, Linda, interviews interesting people who do things you’ve probably always wanted to do.

Molly’s Kitchen: Two English gals, both with daughters named Molly, share homemade goodness from their lives in the English countryside.

The Unorthodox Epicure: Witty and educational food stories and recipes.

Stirring Conversations: Another newbie blogger who plans to ask three questions to one hundred women, all over a cup of tea. Read her first post, Cup 1: The First Mother’s Day, and you’ll likely be hooked.

Happy blogging, everyone!