You’ve seen this award sitting on a lot of other blogger’s posts. And yet, no one has thought to give the Stylish Blogger Award to the most stylish blogger around — YOU! If you would like to have this pretty award, today is the day! It’s my Valentine’s gift to you. Just left click on the award, save it to your computer, and post it on your own blog. Yay! You’re stylin’!

I received this awesome award from some very nice bloggers:

Chris from A Crazy Kind of Faith
Stacey from The Write to Make a Living
Jennifer from The Art of Being You

As part of receiving this award, I need to write seven things you may not know about me.

1. Blogging has taken over one of my favorite hobbies: reading. Now that I received a Nook (an e-reader) for my birthday, I’d like to start reading again. Right now, I’m on Chapter 5 of The Help, which I’m reading for the new SITS book club.

2. Picture this: My husband and I will be sitting at a nice restaurant, sans children. We have just enjoyed a tender, juicy steak, a glass of fragrant wine, and we decide to indulge in dessert. We want to share a dessert, and I want to order…

…key lime pie! Ed is entirely befuddled…why would I NOT WANT CHOCOLATE??? Don’t get me wrong, I like chocolate. It’s just that after a huge meal, the fruity desserts sound more light and refreshing to me. We usually end up with a chocolate dessert. See the sacrifices I make for Ed?

3. Ed is a very patient man. I often have my head in the clouds and forget important things…such as his birthday! The poor man received absolutely no presents from me last year. Fortunately, we were on vacation, and Ed was able to do the zip line on his birthday.

4. I have been so impressed with Brent Riggs’ Linky Tools that I paid for a year’s subscription (which is only two dollars a month). Linky Tools used to be a free service, and so when Brent decided he couldn’t afford to provide this great service for free, he received a lot of flack! He’s always provided excellent service. In order to get my money’s worth out of Linky Tools, I’m starting a new blog hop tomorrow. I hope you stop by to find out all the details!

5, 6 and 7. While blogging has been almost an obsession with me, I do have a real life: I’m a part-time preschool teacher, I’m involved with my local MOPS group, I sing in the church choir, play handbells, and direct our church’s VBS. I’m also about to sign up for something big…stay tuned!

I’m supposed to pass this award along to 15 bloggers I have just recently discovered. I’m cheating a little by passing this award along to some people I think deserve some visits from you:

A.J. at Cattapan’s Cakes and Cookies. If you love to bake, you need to give her a visit! Her recipes are so yummy, and easy to make.

Stacey from Bringing Up Goliath. Just like me, Stacey lost her mom to breast cancer and was also diagnosed with breast cancer herself. She is a great writer! She’s also adopted two wonderful little boys.

Anne from Little Sprouts Books. As a former teacher, Anne has some great book recommendations for children, and more that that…she has some great ideas on how to extend your reading with your kids!

Mara at Weighty Matters. Mara is a faithful reader of mine! She’s a bus driver in the Netherlands with a desire to emigrate to Canada. I love reading all about her!

Kasey from A Little Cup of Comfort. Kasey’s mother also passed away from breast cancer. She has the most adorable little girl named Abby!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

My dear bloggy friend, Debby, passed this Beautiful Blogger award over to me! Thank you, Debby! Debby blogs at Just Breathe and For Your Tears. She is my most faithful reader! As part of receiving this award, I need to list 7 things about myself.

1. I’m a PK–Pastor’s Kid. I grew up in three different parsonages.
2. I hate the taste of watermelon. My family doesn’t understand. I try a small bite every summer…I still hate it.
3. I love anything lime: lime margaritas, key lime pie, lime sherbet; if it’s lime, I love it! A local restaurant by my house when I was in high school made lime sundaes; Limelight was my favorite lotion at Bath and Body Works. I was so sad when they discontinued it!
4. I loved being pregnant. I had the perfect pregnancies; no morning sickness, no complications, and healthy babies! The C-sections I had, however, were horrible.
5. I was an elementary school teacher for thirteen years before I became a stay-at-home mom. Now I’m a Sunday School teacher, and I’ve been the VBS director at my church for three summers. I’m also the publicity/newsletter editor of my MOPS group.
6. My name is not really Ginny Marie. (See the note in “About Me!”) My kids and husband also have nicknames on this blog; I find it’s easier to use real names as nicknames rather than always typing “Daughter 1” or “Youngest.” (See, I’m not that clever thinking of blog names for my family!) I have been known to call my daughters by their blog names before! I always feel guilty, though, when readers assume that those are our real names.
7. All the stories and opinions I write, however, are true!

Next, I need to pass this award on to seven beautiful bloggers. This is the part I never like…because I can never narrow it down to just seven! Please go read some of the blogs in my blog roll. I wish I could read every blog I follow every day! (But I run out of time…and have to go to bed, eventually!)

Thank you, Debby, for thinking of me when you were passing out this award!