One Lovely Blog Award Nomination <3

Oooh!–a blog award nomination!!  I love these because not only are they beautiful to receive, but they can mould and shape our community, introducing us to new friends we hadn’t yet met, and deepening the relationships with those we have.  I find the various “rules” a quite-palatable form of “blogger small talk”, in a way.  🙂

I’ve been nominated for the “One Lovely Blog Award” by the even more lovely Claudia, who writes a beautiful blog of the same name, containing a brilliant vault of poetic writings, especially centered on a mental health focus, that make it much easier (and more enjoyable) to get up in the morning!  A huge, heartwarming Thank You to her for the nomination! ❤

Rules:

1. Thank the person that nominated you and leave a link to their blog.
2. Post about the award.
3. Share seven facts about yourself.
4. Nominate at most 15 other people.
5. Tell your nominees the good news.

Seven Random Trivia Tidbits About Me:

1. One of my goals this year is to delve into my barely-budding adult-appropriate coloring book collection.
2. I wake up most mornings saying “dude, where’s my arm?” because I can’t feel it LOL.
3. I’m pretty sure I died from an LSD overdose in a previous life.
4. My technological savvy is jinxed; if I spend enough time around an electronic device, it will begin to stall, crawl, hang, or otherwise malfunction.
5. House MD, Breaking Bad, Family Guy, X-Files, and Daria are my favorite TV shows.  I “got into” all of them after their runs on TV had already ended.  Bonus: the DVD box sets had already been released by the time I “discovered” them, so I simply bought those and I watch them commercial/interruption-free.  Another goal for this year is to finally get into Star Trek.
6. Speaking of, I can’t stand commercials; they know just how to irritate me fairly instantly.
7. I actually don’t mind the smell of skunks – as long as it’s not too close/potent, and as long as it doesn’t last too long.

And in turn, I would like to nominate…

1. Flojo from Flojo Easy Detox, a nutritional consultant on the autism spectrum from near Bristol, UK, who has been forever kind, loving, helpful, and incredibly supportive…and endlessly patient with me.  I love the way her mind works and the concepts she illuminates; we always seem to be on the same or similar page.  She never ceases to amaze me!  One of the few fellow spectrum-peeps I’ve talked with “real time”! ❤
2. Rhi from Autism and Expectations, a lovely autistic mother from Wales, who knows just how to weave intricate, glittering tapestries with her words alone.  Seriously, it’s enough to make you actually snap your fingers and go, “yes!”  Very kind, always knows exactly what to say.  The kind of person I ask myself “What Would Rhi Say?” and would love to meet for tea, oh, at least a few times a week! ❤
3. alison (written upside down on Twitter) from Unabashed Autist, a my wiser older neurosister who describes herself as “Autistic African American woman from South Dakota” who fascinates me and encourages me at every turn…and forgives me.  Our bond seems to be one of those special, unconditional ones.  The kind you never have to question, the kind that leaves no doubt.  ❤
4. VisualVox from Aspie Under Your Radar, another wiser neurosister who has her head on her shoulders and yet her mind is open for frequent contemplation of proactive, outside-the-box thinking.  An earthy, honest soul who is endlessly supportive.  The kind of person I can confide in and be totally accepted; the kind you’d love to shoot the breeze with in person.  The kind who makes the world a calmer and more reasonable place. ❤
5. EclecticAutistic at EclecticAutistic, a fellow kindred spirit who discovered that she was on the autism spectrum literally three weeks to the day before I made mine.  A kind and brilliant neurosibling who knows how how to strike just the right balance between logical genius and genuine compassion.  The kind whose brain (and heart) you’d love to “pick” on practically any issue.  The kind who makes the world a kinder place. ❤
6. Marisa Ulrich, over at Broken Cookies Taste Just As Sweet, whose compassion and understanding have brought me through some of my darkest moments, bright shining on the other end.  The kind of person who’s showing me how to be a better one.  Another friend I’d love to hang out with in person.  The kind who you would never have to be “on guard” around. ❤
7. autiwomandifferent box, at AutiWomanDifferentBox, a brilliant neurosister who introduced me a new concept besides the tired old “outside the box” idiom: a “different box”, a box of our own, where we can snuggle in and feel comfortable – much like I do reading her blog!  The kind of person I’d love to walk in nature with. ❤
8. Scott Morizot, over at Faith and Food, a Writing Mastermind who is equally (and extremely) insightful and compassionate.  One of those people I’d love to seek the perspective of regarding anything and everything.  The kind of person who you’d love to talk to for many hours, followed by equally-many hours of just hanging out in silent contemplation.  The kind of person who inspires you to think and grow. ❤
9. Mamautistic at Mamautistic, an extremely kind autistic mother of an autistic child, who tells her own story with her own voice, and lets her children do the same, as applicable.  A loving, genuine person whose posts inspire thought and feeling simultaneously.  Another kind of friend I’d like to know in person!  The kind of person you’d love to stand next to because not only do they glow, they make you glow, too. ❤
10. Neurodivergent Rebel, over at NeurodivergentRebel, a fellow bright-color-loving redhead whose journey through 2017 is paralleling mine (except that she’s a bit further along, so she is an excellent role model for me!)  I perceive her as a friend that I hadn’t realized I still had, because reading her blog and her comments on mine is like reuniting with an old friend.  She’s the kind of person whose blog you check every day, excited to see when they’ve written something new. ❤
11. Ele, over at Elephants Remember, another fantastic writer whose blog was perfectly in place just as I found myself suddenly thrust at top speed down the Asperger’s/Autism Investigation Superhighway.  A creative and compassionate mind who can morph the cumbersome English language into a literary landscape that poof!–suddenly life makes a bit (or lot) more sense than it did a minute ago.  The kind of person I totally would’ve loved to have as a friend, especially in school.  A Pen Pal or something, at the very least.  Because I know that it the friendship would’ve persevered to the present day. ❤
12. Rachel Rainey, over at Rainey Days, a fellow Boycott Autism Speaks advocate whom I met fairly recently, and instantly fell in love with her blog–and her mind!  I love the way she explores unique concepts and draws uncommon connections between unlikely-paired elements.  I love her fire and passion.  She’s the kind of person I would totally launch an activist movement with. ❤
13. CodeInFig, over at CodeInFig, my newest-found neurobrother with a quick, dry wit and a quirky sense of humor; we might run different AOS (Asperger’s/Autism Operating System) “apps” on the surface, but we must have identical versions of the basic AOS, because we’re always right there with each other no matter which direction the conversation goes.  The kind of person who puts a whole new and refreshing spin on life.  ❤
14. Cayz over at Cayzblog, who is simultaneously my longest-time in-person friend and also the newest blog-writer in (my part of) the WordPress community!  The only neurotypical (NT) on this list (that I’m aware of), she’s a loving and highly-attuned person who is equal parts colorful, vivid, kind, intelligent, genuine, and hilarious.  She was one of the principal grounding forces/illuminating beacons who got me through my junior high and high school years, and now I get to pay it back by assisting her in getting her blog up and running (which she then returns the favor once again by helping me strengthen the writing on this one!) LOL.  She’s the kind of person you could go on an endless road trip with, and you might never want to come back.  ❤

I’m sure a few other talented and kind souls have temporarily slipped my mind, but I totally did the best I could.  I reckon I’ll probably have to get breakfast sometime 🙂

I don’t usually participate in most “chain” stuff like Facebook’s never-ending “post this if you agree!”, “tag seven people!”, “share this for one hour on your status; I know 97% of you won’t”, and other such BS.  Before social media, I had also refrained from chain emails that demanded I “forward this to 10 people” or whatever.

Because that useless kind of “chain stuff” does nothing, most of the time.  I find that it’s usually a waste of time and bandwidth.

Some might view these types of Blogger Awards in a similar light, but I don’t.  I love them, and I’m always honored to be included in them.  They reconnect me on a deeper level with my fellow Autism Spectrum Community members, my neuro-brothers, -sisters, and -siblings.  They allow me an opportunity to put their blogs in the spotlight, listed conveniently in one place.  In writing my descriptions of each, I had to deeply ponder each person and what they truly mean to me.  This made me sit down and really contemplate each individual and how my life would not be the same if we hadn’t crossed paths.

In fact, I wouldn’t want to even imagine such an alternate universe.  As it stands now, my life has reached a new barometer mark, in which elements (such as certain people, blogs, and websites) that were previously unknown to me have become a matter of my survival and wellbeing.

Alrighty, now I’m off to leave a comment on a lot of blogs LOL.

In the meantime, all y’all go visit each others’ blogs and follow each other and stuff.  Seriously.  Don’t miss out.  I have good taste in friends!  🙂 ❤

And thank you, once again, to the lovely Claudia, for the uber-lovely award nomination! ❤

🙂

❤