Friday, March 27, 2009

Welcome! Welcome to Julia's Fantastical and Phenomenal Awards Spectacular









Gather round, come in! Come in! I know it's starting to warm up and the birds are starting to sing, but we've got an awards show to get to. Let's stop for a second and let the paparazzi get their shots - better the red carpet ones than the up-the-nose ones through the windows of the limosine. Don't you hate those?













Let's go in, let's go in. Okay - let's check our tickets. Main orchestra, center. Ooo - great seats! Oh, I'm a little bit nervous. I know, I know, I don't look it. But I just need to take a deep breath. I really don't like getting up in front of people and speaking. Blogging - yes! Public speaking - *knees knocking*











The lights are going down to a quarter. We'd better get to our seats. Okay. The curtains open. Akelamalu strides onstage.

She's handing out the You Stand Out From the Crowd Award.

















"Our concern must be to live while we're alive. To release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade."

- Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

"This award is free to go to anyone whom the award recipient chooses," says Akelamalu. "For any reason!"

Oh, boy - time to head up onstage. Thank you, Akelamalu! ((hug)) I'm so pleased to receive this. You know, I've never been one to be shy about my individual nature. So this award means a lot to me. I'll be passing this along to other uncommonly distictive bloggers at the end of the ceremony.

Coming from you - whose blog Everything and Nothing always delivers on the first and completely lacks in the second - makes this award even more delightful. Though you don't think of yourself as a writer of anything other than your blog, your Friday Flash Fiction never ceases to blow me away. And your Saturday Wordzzles always take readers on a twisty journey of compact and accomplished writing. An average of 30 daily commenters can't be wrong!

Let's welcome Louise now, who's presenting the Let's Be Friends Award.










"She is a friend of mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order. It's good, you know, when you got a woman who is a friend of your mind."

- Toni Morrison

Louise invites VaBookworm from Confessions of a Bookworm to join her at the podium.

"This award goes to blogs which are exceedingly charming," Louise says. "VaBookworm, you're a perfect example. Your blog aims to find and be friends with other bloggers. And it's where Julia gets her fix of sword-swinging by watching your avatar."

"Louise," VaBookworm says, laughing. "You're a perfect example of a blogger not interested in self-aggrandizement. This award hopes that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships will be propagated. Think of who you've already met through the Blog Improvement Project."

"Stop it," Louise says. "Julia - get up here already!"

((hugging Louise and VaBookworm)) Louise! Thank you so much. Your Lous_Pages is a place to lose oneself in your Egyptology feature, your abundant book reviews and your intriguing Wordless Wednesday posts. I also love your Weekly Geeks participation (a theme-inspired prompt) and Tuesday Teasers which gives us a peek at what you're reading.

And VaBookworm, your frank confessions of weirdness only endear you to all your readers. Because we spazz, too - over all the same stuff. At least you have an actual British longbow that you can shoot in your backyard while listening to Robin Hood or Braveheart soundtracks. I just write about sword swingers. I don't have a sword of my own...Yet.










"Help one another, is part of the religion of sisterhood."

- Louisa May Alcott

Dorte H now takes the stage. "I'm here to present the Sisterhood Award. I met Julia through my fellow Danish blogger, Louise. I feel we share the same sort of attitude and gratitude about the world. So come on up, Julia."

Here's a ((hug)) for Dorte H. One of the first things I remarked upon when I visited DJs Krimiblog were her beautiful tins which she used as a header for her Bait in the Box feature. 'Hidden' in the tins are excerpt clues from crime fiction, which she uses to encourage readers to guess the books they come from. I shared my collection of tins with her which she's now using for Bait in the Box, along with other submissions from sister bloggers. The beauty of our blogging sisterhood is the closeness we can share, even when one of us is in Denmark and the other in Canada.

VaBookworm takes the stage one more time.











"It's amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions."

- Charles F. Kettering

"The Uber Amazing Blog Award goes to bloggers who inspire you, make you smile and laugh, give amazing information, are a great read, has an amazing design, and any other reason you can think of that makes them uber amazing. Julia - come back out so I can give you this enormous pink bow award!"

One more ((hug)) to you, VaBookworm. Oh, my. I'm really touched - really. I enjoy blogging so much because of the creative outlet it gives me, because it's a way to share ideas with other bloggers and with readers who don't blog but who stop by and read. But most of all, I enjoy blogging because I've met so many wonderful, marvellous blogging friends. Thank you - all of you - for making this blog one of the happiest parts of my day.

Now, because this is a multi-awards presentation, I won't keep to the suggested amounts for passing them along. Most of them request 5 or 7 recipients. For this event, however, I'll keep all awards to 2 nominations each, except for the Let's Be Friends Award, since I received it twice - I'll pass along 4 of those.

The You Stand Out From the Crowd Award goes to:

Apprentice Writer
Travis

The Let's Be Friends Award goes to:

Bobbi
Heather
Nikita
Robin

The Sisterhood Award goes to:

The women at Romance Bandits
My fellow bloggers at Popculturedivas

The Uber Amazing Blog Award goes to:

Daily Mish Mash
Kim

19 comments:

HeatherK said...

Oh How nice Julia Thank You, Thank You I love being your friend. LOL Does this mean I can bring Emi and Sarah over later If they are being too helpful with painting the walls today? Have a great weekend!

Akelamalu said...

You had me blushing there Julia saying all those nice things about me. :) Congratulations on the award m'deario, you deserve each and every one of them! xx

Travis Cody said...

What a creative way to acknowledge bloggers! And thanks for including me in your most excellent post!

Anonymous said...

This is one of the best award accepting posts I've ever read. I usually skim through them, but I read all of this and it made me smile :)

Also, thank you for the award -- I love the pink bow!
Kim

Unknown said...

I'm all a flitter - thank you Julia! You are always so creative with your posts - and your award ceremonies!

Thank you again...

Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy said...

Julia,
We Banditas are totally CHUFFED about receiving your awesome Sisterhood Award! Thank you for acknowledging the very special bond we share with each other and all our Bandita Buddies.

Please don't be a stranger around the Lair.

Aunty Cindy

Anna Campbell said...

Julia, how lovely to be awarded your Sisterhood badge! Thank you!!! Loved your blog. First time I've been here but certainly won't be the last.

Christine Wells said...

Hi Julia, what a lovely surprise! Thanks so much for the Sisterhood Award. The Banditas salute you!

Tawny said...

Julia, thats so cool! Thanks for awarding the Bandits such a lovely honor. We appreciate it :-)

Robin said...

What a sweet surprise, thank you Julia. I'm delighted and honored to be a friend of your mind.

Great awards post too, very creative.

jo robertson said...

Wow, Julia, thanks! Popping over from the Romance Bandits Lair to express gratitude for your nominating us for the Sisterhood Award!

Joanna D'Angelo said...

Thank you sooo much Julia for awarding popculturedivas the sisterhood award! What an honour to be acknowledged in this way. And it means so much because it's coming from you - the wonderful Julia Smith - one of our fellow divas!

http://popculturedivas.blogspot.com/

Cassondra said...

Julia, Thank You so much for honoring the Romance Bandits with the Sisterhood Award! What a nice thing for you to do!

And the truth is, I've learned more about being a sister from the other Bandits than I've ever learned from blood kin. You nailed it on the head. What would we all do without each other--and without other sisters like you, around us?

Jen said...

How exciting! Thanks for shout out! I am LOVING the way you did this awards post. I feel like such I'm at the Oscars or something. How fun!!

Trish Milburn said...

Thanks so much for giving us Banditas a Sisterhood Award. That's certainly how we think of ourselves -- as sisters.

Michelle Miles said...

Fellow Diva here and that is just too cool of you to give us that award! I'm happy to be apart of such a great group.

eastcoastlife said...

Congrats!

Wow. Love the way you write this award accepting post. :)

Ire said...

Thank you!

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

I love the way you put this together, my friend -- and if you ever need someone to stand up in front of a crowd for you, call. I'd be proud to be your representative.