Feeling Very Special

I'm feeling highly honoured to day as I received this award from the lovely Caroline over at Lonicera's LapBand & Other Stories. Thank you so much Caroline.  I can't quite remember how I stumbled across Caroline's blog - without doubt it would have been on one of my meanders through blogland when I just flit from blog to blog and suddenly strike someone I relate to and find particularly interesting.  And so it is with Caroline - she battles the kilos like so many of us with the added help (or sometimes hindrance) of a lapband.  But she forges on with lots of other interesting things like visiting Argentina (the country of her birth) recently to promote the story behind the book she has translated in to Spanish - its a fascinating story so go read it for yourself.

I’ll pass on the instructions to the next nominees first, then tell you about my choices:

• Thank the person who nominated you for this award
• Copy the award and post it in your blog
• Link to the blog of the person who nominated you
• Tell seven interesting things about yourself
• Nominate seven bloggers
• Post links to the blogs of your nominees

Ok now for seven things about me -I've done a few of these things in my years as a blogger so if you're a long time reader forgive me if I repeat myself - there's a limit to interesting things about me.

1. I refer to my darling other half as Bloss - this is not his real name - he's really Craig and I'm really Anne or often Anni to my friends.  Bloss doesn't often actually call me either of those names - I'm usually Possie or Poss - I think somehow that eventuated at the same time as Bloss - short for Blossom so I became Poss short for Possum!  But the other name he has for me is Mary - confuses the hell out of people when he make reference to something I did by saying Mary did such and such and they're thinking - I thought her name was Anne!  The very first weekend we spent together in a non platonic way - we were driving along and he pointed out something and said in an Irish accent "Would you look at that Mary" - to which I replied "To be sure Patrick I've never seen anything loik it"  He remained Patrick for a while but it gradually disappeared but I'm still Mary - 14 years on.
   
2. My maiden surname was Brown and my first husband's surname was Virgin (that'll probably get a few google hits!) so it was a real sublime to the ridiculous - I went from being Anne Brown to Anne Virgin (and my middle name is Cumming!!)  I used to joke that I was the only person I know who wasn't one till she got married.  We subsequently changed it when I was pregnant with Grant and we thought it was a bit unfair to lumber our children with such a surname especially since you don't know whether or not they'd have the temperament and personality to cope with such a name.
   
3. I tend to be a bit of a girly girl now - never seen with out my makeup - false nails, regular waxing, facials, hairdresser etc  But as a child I was an incredible tomboy and definitely not girly at all.  My best friends as a child were my dog and my pony.  We lived a bit out of the village (in Scotland) with Forestry Commission behind our house so me and my animals would ride for miles through the Forestry tracks for a day at a time.  I would only have been about 10 at the time - how our world has changed and what a pity that children of today don't have the same freedom.
   
4. So growing up I also spent a lot of time on my uncle's farm - and many of my school holidays were spent working on the farm with my older cousin - so I could drive a tractor and milked many cows.
   
5. I was dux of my primary school and was given a beautiful little gold medal engraved with Dux, the name of the school, the date and my name.  I still have my medal and it's now attached as a charm to my bracelet I got for my 21st - both those occasions now well in the distant past!!
   
6. My working career has spanned a few different disciplines but has always centred around administration and organisation both of which I'm very good at - or at least so I've often been told.  But I actually qualified as a Secretarial Linguist - in French and German many years ago.  I continued my school studies of languages on this course but discovered that my real love and flair was the organisation and administration side of it.  I also met my first husband around this time so didn't spread my wings and fly farther afield to consolidate my languages - so now they're a bit of a distant memory.  However as well as the linguist bit - I have a Certificate of Competence in National Road Haulage- one of the first two women in Scotland to have one,  a Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment and a Diploma in Business Management.  So I've been  Junior Secretary - Chartered Surveyor,  Secretary/Receptionist - Architect, Sales Administrator - Truck Dealership,  Personal Assistant - HR, Market Researcher, Registrar - Ministry of Education, Office Manager - Insulation, Office Manager - Tourism, Administration Officer - Aluminium, Training Advisor - Aluminium and now Capability Development Advisor - Rio Tinto.
   
7. People tend to think of me as a happy person who enjoys life - and that''s absolutely true.  But I have my doubts, worries and neuroses like most other people.  However my philosophy is that it's my life and I have the power to decide how I want to live it.  So I choose to focus on the positives and whilst I see and sometimes have to acknowledge the negatives I refuse to allow them to pull me down. When I was going through menopause I could feel my mood swings and realised that sometimes I was being an absolute bitch.  I decided that I wasn't going to allow my hormones to rule me - I was in charge of my feelings! and I have to say that for the most part it worked.  There were still times when they snuck up and swamped me but not that often.    I freely admit that I've had a fortunate life without any really major tragedies or dramas to cope with and I have no idea how well this positive thinking of mine would stand up to that kind of test.

Phew - if you've got this far you deserve the award whether I mention you or not.  Now to choose 7 people - well some of you I think have already been nominated and in my mind every one of you are beautiful bloggers but I always try to follow the rules so here are my seven.

Chris over at Diet Coke Rocks - Chris is a legend in blog world - and she's a delightful person in real life - I know 'cos I've met her and got a beautiful painting to prove it.
 

Anne - who has a private blog - but she and I clicked - many similarities in our lives - incuding the Scottish heritage.  She's another blogger I've been fortunate enough to meet and we had a lovely evening with her and her husband Peter (at Chris's house)

Candy - Candy (this is my nickname for her as she doesn't want her real name on her blog) at the Candid Bandit has popped in and out of blogland but I've been following her travels for a long time now and enjoyed her exploits in singledom then followed with delight her relationship and marriage to the wonderful Mr C and birth of Master C.  And now she's battling with her health and about to embark on the bandster journey to help prolong her life

Lainey - at It's Life Jim - she found me in blogland and we've been blogging buddies ever since.  I've been back to Scotland a couple of times now and we keep trying to meet but there seems to be a conspiracy which sees us never in the same part of the world at the same time.  But next time...

Lee-Anne - another blogger who I've been able to meet.  Sounds like she's been through some murky patches in her life recently so she hasn't been blogging that much but hopefully the sun is out again for her and her usual incredibly positive attitude will be to the fore again.

Julie - this lady is my soul sister - we haven't met yet - but we will.  Julie battles her weight like most of my blogging circle but has lots of medical issues to deal with to and has spent more time with a plaster on her foot then off it in the last couple of years - or at least that's what I'm sure it must feel like.  But despite all this she still manages to stay upbeat and chirpy - you're amazing chicken!

Brooke - this little one has struggled with weight and depression for a long time and sometimes goes a bit quiet on us but she never gives up and keeps on trying.  She has just embarked on the lapband journey and its heartwarming to hear how well she's adapting and how full of hope she is for the future now.

Now I'm off to tell these ladies I've tagged them.  I'll be back tomorrow with an update on my week and how the challenge is going.

Take care

Zxx