I got an award. A blog Award.

It still amazes me there are people out there who are even remotely interested in what I have to say on my blog. Some even come back more than once, which makes me think they didn't accidently hit some link somewhere. Seriously. Go figure! Anway, I got a Happy Cupcake Award for being a blogger that makes Kerrin Hearfield happy! Kerrin is also on the 'I will be published one day' track. Thanks so much Kerrin!

Now, I'm supposed to list 10 things that make me happy. Happy? Honestly, I don't really think of things in those terms. If anyone ever gets an opportunity to read my writing, you'll know that while love/committment always prevails, my writing is edgy and a bit dark, but I'll try. Here goes:

1. Revision requests. Yay! Of course, I just got my first, but they made me VERY happy. I could get used to it.
2. Characters. I'm always happiest when my characters are cooperating and telling me what they're going to do, rather than me having to figure it out!
3. Starbucks. I have to have my daily fix. This was one of the biggest issues for me at RWA nationals last year. No Starbucks, or not really Starbucks espresso anyway. If I ever move back to Australia and there's no Starbucks near by, well, we'll just have to relocate. For right now, I'm happy with one on every second block.
4. My kids. They're a lot of work, they're aggravating, challenging, 'tear my hair out' frustrating - oh wait, this is meant to be a happy list, right? All of that melts away the instant they tell me they love me - which is often and usually when they want to change my mind about something. They're the best thing that ever happened to me! All 4 of them!
5. My husband. He's a lot of work, he's aggravating, challenging, 'tear my hair out' frustrating - oh wait, is this a duplicate? Seriously, he's my best friend and I could tell you about some other skills he has, but I'd have to make this blog 'R' rated :).
6. My birthday. You might think this is odd. Every year I'm older yes, but my husband gets me the BEST presents for my birthday. They are always truly awesome and he spends a LOT of time on them.
7. Seeing my kids use good manners with other people without being prompted. I can't tell you how proud I feel when one of my kids are thoughtful or thankful to others all by themselves.
8. Last weekend my son picked up a book and - just started reading! I can't tell you how many books I've borrowed or bought to find the thing that he's interested in, so he would read more and WANT to read more. Who knew it would be a series about a clan of cats? He had free time. He could have played on the computer. He could have played the Wii or watched TV. No, he picked up a book, lay down on my bed and READ!
9. The stockmarket. I'm always happy when the stockmarket is too!
10. This hasn't happened to me yet, but I know when I get THE CALL (or open the email) and I have an offer of a contract for my writing, it's going to go so far beyond happy, I'm not sure what I'll call it.

So, who brightens my day? Below are some blogs (not already nominated I don't think) that I check in on frequently. They're not just entertaining, but often inspirational and thought provoking too:
Cari Quinn
Lynne Roberts
Shelley Munro
Hetal Patel
Helen Hardt
Wendi Zwaduk
Kaye Manro
Lyn Armstrong
Romy Sommer
Waiting for the Call

So, the rules are:

1. Copy the award image into a post
2. List 10 things that make you happy
3. Tag 10 bloggers who brighten your day.
4. Link to their blogs.
5. Notify the award recipients.
6. Award recipients link back to sender’s blog

ENJOY!