Thank you, thank you!

Sweet Brittany over at Confessions of a Newlywed gave me this award (thanks so much, lady.  It made me smile!).  If you haven't been over to her blog, definitely go visit.  She, too, is going through her first pregnancy and her blog talks about everything from that, to her pups, to her life as a newlywed.  She's super fun!

The rules are to link back to and thank the person who gave you the award, list 7 things about yourself, and nominate 15 other bloggers (wow, 15 is a lot - I'm going to just pick 5).  So, here we go.

  1.  I was born and raised in Raleigh, NC and lived there until I went to school in Knoxville and now live in

       Nashville with the husband, our pup (Lexi), our 2 kitties (Neyland - he has extra toes - & Knox), and

       our soon to be baby girl (Abby).  I never thought I would ever want to move back to Raleigh when I left

       (simply because I had never lived anywhere else and I was bored with it), but now there are days that I

       wish I could move back just to be close to my family again.

  2.  I think I might have a slight obsession with blogging!  Seriously!  I used to keep my personal email open

       at work just to see if I missed anything - not anymore.  Now blogger is a permanent fixture on my

       desktop and it's definitely the first thing I check when I get to work in the a.m. and (usually) is the first

       thing I do when I get home at night (because you know I could have missed a lot of posts during my 45

       minute commute).  How sad, I know, but the first step to beating any addiction is to admit you have a

       problem, right?

  3.  I LOVE to cook and wish I could afford to go back to school to become a chef (has anyone ever

       looked to see how much this costs - it's RIDICULOUS?).  Honestly, I'm not so good currently at

       coming up with my own recipes, but I'm optimistic that with a little training I could totally do this

       eventually.  I think the best job ever would be a personal chef to the stars.

  4.  If I could go back and do college all over again I would only change 2 things - I would have studied

       abroad when I had the opportunity and, when choosing my final major (there were several before),

       instead of doing accounting I would have gone the nursing route.  Don't get me wrong, I don't mind my

       job, but I definitely feel that I could better contribute to the well-being of society by doing something else

       most days - crunching numbers all day every day just doesn't do it for me.

  5.  While I am over the moon excited about Abby getting here, I'm also completely terrified.  There are

       many days that I still am not sure that I know how to take care of myself so how in the world am I going

       to be solely responsible (along with the husband, of course) for another human being who can't do

       anything at all for herself?  Not to mention the actual process of her arrival - OMG, is it possible for

       them to just knock me out until it's over?  I know in the end we will figure it all out and everything will be

       fine, but until then I think I will probably remain utterly terrified.

  6.  I wish I was more crafty.  I get all of these ideas in my head about projects I want to do (ask the

       husband), and I'll go out and get all of the stuff to do said project; however, said project rarely ever gets

       completed (case in point, the curtains for our bedroom - but I really do plan on finishing these).  The

       projects don't not get completed because of my lack of motivation (for the most part) - usually it's

       because I get everything home and realize that I really am not capable of doing whatever it is that I've

       convinced myself (and sometimes even the husband depending on how big the project is) I can do.  I

       think if I was more crafty then more of these projects would actually get completed...or at least that's

       what I'm gonna tell myself.

  7.  I love football (college and NFL, but really more college) and can't wait for the season to start (even if

       my poor Vols probably aren't going to be all that impressive this year) - pre-season games do not count

       in my book even though I do watch them.  And I can't wait for Fantasy Football to start (our draft is

       Monday - yay)!!! 

If you're still here, good job because this has turned out way longer than I anticipated!  Now onto the bloggers:

Melissa at Nashville's Melrose - She's a relatively new blogger as well (and a real life friend - don't believe me, go look at her header - I totally made the picture cut!).  We actually (unbeknownst - is this really a word because it looks strange? - to the other) started this whole blogging thing around the same time.  Go visit her and say hello!

Rachel at simple.little.loves - I just found her blog today (via Top 2 Tuesday) and I just love it!

Katie at Loves of Life - I just love following her daily life with her new baby girl, Emeline Kay (she's precious, btw)!

Caitrin at From Shopping Bags to Diaper Bags - She is just so cute and her blog just makes me happy!

Emily at My Heart Shaped Life - She's another recent blog find and I'm so glad I did.  Her blog is upbeat and fun and is always a good read!