A Beautiful Award

Thank you juliette of honeysuckle faire for this Beautiful Blogger award. It is a huge compliment to receive an award like this from juliette because she is the perfect example of a Beautiful Blogger as she shares her talents and thoughtful insights on horses. See juliette's Beautiful Blogger Award post here.


The Beautiful Blogger award rules are:
1. Link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award to 15 other bloggers.

I'm having trouble coming up with things to share about myself, so I'm tickling my thought processes with a stack of conversation cards. When our family gets together, we like to randomly draw from these cards as we sit around the dinner table, then we each take turns answering the questions. So I'm going to draw 7 cards from the stack and answer the questions.

Q1: Would you like a quiet life of safety or a life of great adventure and uncertainty?

A quiet life of safety. I am a seeker of peace rather than thrills. I like to plan ahead and I'm the safety monitor of the family. That doesn't mean I won't take reasonable risks to accomplish new goals, because there are always risks we must take when we stretch and challenge ourselves. But I believe we can mitigate those risks with good planning, preparation, and education. Ok, I'm boring; I admit it.

Q2: Would you rather live by the beach or in the mountains?

Definitely in the mountains. I love the scent of pine trees and the crunchy sound of dried pine needles under foot. I love hiking around the bend of a trail and discovering a beautiful blue lake reflecting the surrounding mountains in its calm waters. I'd rather be clothed in denim, flannel, and hiking boots than in a swimsuit and flip-flops. Although I do like to wear flip-flops and sandals in the summertime and I want to go someplace warm and tropical for vacation. But I want to come home to a mountain view.

Q3: If you could relive your childhood, how would you like it to be different?

I wish I had grown up on a farm or a ranch. I like the earth and animals, which are in short supply in the suburbs where I grew up, living most often in an apartment or townhouse. I would have enjoyed more room to roam, although I did have fun riding bikes around the neighborhood with friends when I was young. I have a longing for rural roots.

Q4: When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a veterinarian and a mom. Missed the boat on both counts, unfortunately. But life doesn't always go as we hope and I'm not mournful about that.

Q5: What car would you love to buy without considering any practical reasons?

I don't want a sports car. I don't want a luxury car. I want a big, bad pickup truck that can haul my horses with ease through the mountains and anywhere I want to go. Maybe a luxurious, big, bad pickup truck that is comfortable inside the cab, has a nice sound system and has that new-pickup-truck-smell. I have a 1994 F250 turbo diesel non-PowerStroke truck and it is under powered for mountain hauling. It's the first pickup truck I've ever had and while it is a great old truck for what it is, I wish I could upgrade.

Q6: What kind of party would you throw if you had an unlimited budget?

Hmmm? I'm not good at party planning. But with an unlimited budget, I could hire a party planner to handle all the details. I'd want a long weekend or a week-long, summertime party, in the mountains of course, where family and friends could gather. We'd stay in a big mountain lodge with a swimming pool, theater room, bowling alley, hay rides, horseback riding, hiking, jeeping, ATV-riding, crafts, games, movies, and good shopping in a nearby, quaint, rustic, mountain town. And of course the food would be delicious and we'd have theme nights for dinner (Italian, Mexican, BBQ, Pizza Night, Build-Your-Own-Sandwich bar).

Q7: What one goal do you want to accomplish this year?

I'd like to achieve the confidence and skill (for both Marley and me) to take Marley on a pleasure carriage drive without a driving trainer in the cart with me.

I pass this award onto the following bloggers. If you have received this award and don't want to post your 7 things again, you don't have to; I admire your blog and just want to share your link.

Feel free to answer these same questions if you need to tickle your brain too.
In alphabetical order:

50+ Horses
Adventures of a Horse Crazed Mind
After Racing: Retraining Thoroughbreds
A Good Horse
A Year With Horses
Dapple of my Eye
Down on the Farm
Food, Life
Golden the Pony Girl
Highland Hooves
Horse Centric
Horse of Course
Living a Dream
Super Size My Cob
Wander With Wild Things

...the list could go on, but that's 15.