Here's my horn. I'm tootin' it.

The universe conspired against me the other day, as I received a comment on a previous post that said, "You've been selected to receive a blog award! See my latest post at securityville.blogspot.com for details." And when I attempted to go to Securityville (a blog I follow) to read said post, my cable and internet went out.

For five hours.

"But wait!" you say. "Don't you have an iPhone?" Yes, I do, my internet friends. But I neglected to turn off my WiFi, and so no pages would load there either. 

It was not my best moment.

Anyway, when the world finally came back to find me in the form of repaired cable and internet access, I was touched to see that Shorty (Securityville's author) had selected me to receive the Smile Award (Shorty, thank you very much for the compliment). It's a blog award created by a blogger to share with other writers who meet certain criteria. As an award recipient, I'm obligated to post them here.

The characteristics that the recipient of this award must have are: must display a cheerful disposition, must love one another, must make mistakes, must learn from others, must be a positive contributor to the blog world, must love life, and must love kids.

Since I've accepted this award, there are rules I must follow as well: must link back to the creator, must post these rules, must choose five new people to receive this award who fit the characteristics above, must post the characteristics needed to qualify for the award, must create a post sharing your win with others, and must thank the giver.

My favorite thing about being selected for this award is that I get to pass it on. Without further ado, here's who I'd like to recognize, in no particular order:

• The super-talented married yoshimi at Everything Looks Better When You Rock a Lamp. Married yoshimi is not only talented and smart, but kind and generous and giving, and her posts inspire me to live a more well-informed, disciplined life of service. 
• My dear girlfriend at Still Have Sand in My Shoes. This woman is living a courageous life filled with newfound independence, making decisions for herself in a way I admire deeply.
• The amazing Sarah at SwimBikeRunSarah. I've known Sarah since college and I really thought back then that she couldn't get any cooler. Well, try this on for size: She was inspired by someone she knew suffering from a tough medical condition, and so in that family's honor, she trained to become a triathlete and turned in some fantastic performances. Plus, one of her latest posts is of how she climbed Mt. St. Helens. Let me repeat that. SHE CLIMBED A VOLCANO. ROCK IT, SARAH.
• Heather Armstrong at dooce.com. Heather doesn't actually know me at all. But her blog is one of the bright spots in my day. She's won more prominent blog awards than this one, to be sure, but her honesty and her sincerity and sense of humor are lights to me. In particular, Heather's frank and open disclosure about her family life (including her struggle with postpartum depression) has helped me through some tough times (more on that in later posts). 
• Em at emlocke.com. I know Em through her delightful blog, and found her through a mutual acquaintance. And I consider myself lucky that I stumbled across her writing. She's smart and funny and real, and I always look forward to her posts. 

So ladies -- thank you. You've all taught me a great deal about what it means to be a powerful writer and a strong woman. Here's to the spirit of the Smile Award.

And let's all keep writing.