Pay it forward-passing on a little love

I arrived home from my Ethiopian adventure to find that a quiet but faithful reader of mine awarded my blog a sweet award. 

Comments on posts are like little gifts in the mail.  Awards are even better! 

Barbara (who gave me the little award) writes at Tanzania 5.0 about her life in Tanzania and travels in other parts of Africa. She is now back in the States, but Africa is obviously still in her heart. 

As I am not really ready to write about the holidays or recap on the year, but want to spend my last day of 2011 arranging snapdragons in vases and having a walk in the sunshine, I thought I would pass on this sweet award. It also might introduce you to a couple of new blogs that I read. 

Basically, this little award is only given to blogs with under 200 readers (phew...I made the cut!!!) and has these stipulations:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you. 
2. Reveal your 5 blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog. 
4. Hope that the people you have sent the award to will forward it to their favorite bloggers.

So...my awards go to...

The Times of Miranda- Miranda doesn’t blog often, but her writing and photos of life in small town Arusha, Tanzania, are beautiful.  I also love reading the excerpts she posts from her grandfather’s diaries.  She retells stories from the real Africa, not the shiny, new one that I live in.

Seedling- Mallory is so creative. Her photos and snippets of life, to me, look beautiful. She talks of her real life in New Jersey, not just the perfect one most bloggers try to capture. She writes about her business ventures, her growing family and her new puppy Autumn; the later always makes me giggle.

Long Story Short- I have been reading Katie’s blog for a little while now. Even though I think she mostly writes for her friends and family (in that sense I feel a bit like I am sneakily reading someone’s diary). She lives in New York and her happiness is contagious, she makes me laugh out loud. I am not sure if she has more than 200 readers though-she probably does as her blog is very sweet.

Rock the Kasbah- a blog by The Loerzels, an American expat family that live in Morocco. A blog full of their African Adventures.  A recent post of hers was about the family receiving a love package from ‘Santa’ – full of cereal and other little home comforts. It made me smile, as I know exactly how that feels!

and

.heart to heart. - Hannah is, like me, a young teacher. She lives in the States and writes about hiking, running and eating...I think we would get on!!  :)

I must  mention Mud’ s blog; Not Enough Mud, which I read faithfully, and who (surprisingly) has less than 200 readers...why, she is fabulous!? I am always at the edge of my seat (or bed) reading about her adventures. Anyhow, I couldn’t pass on the award to Mud though, as Barbara also passed it on to her.  :)

I’m choosing to have a quiet Hogmanay this year. I want to awake in 2012 feeling fresh  and  healthy  and ready for the adventures that lie ahead. Hope you enjoy your celebrations, whatever you are doing. 

xx