Yay, awards! Awards are fun! They’re even more fun when your boss (?? I guess that’s what they are when you freelance for them – it sounds friendlier than occasional employer) nominates you for one.

So what is this thing? Well, you can check out Greg’s description over at Travel Blue Book, in which he compares it to sharing pot at a Phish concert. Or we’ll just call them super friendly chain letters.

Either way – yay, awards! Awards are fun!

The name of the game is to share 7 things your readers don’t know about you. And then nominate some more folks for the Versatile Blogger Award. I mean, there’s an icon and everything. That makes it legit.

#1 My favorite Phish song is their cover of Gin & Juice. I LOVE it. It is one of my favorite songs to groove to and sing at the top of my lungs in my car.

#2 I was in dance ensemble in high school. I also twirled in elementary school. I did not really enjoy either… but apparently right from the start I’ve had a bit of “this seems really different to me, I’m just going to jump right in and do it and see how it goes.” Sometimes it does not go well.

There are some seriously horrific photos of me in Santa’s elf leotards from the Christmas show that year and Yankee Doodle Dandy tap costumes from the Spring. Also, if you’re working for Santa in the North frickin Pole, why would you only wear a leotard? Fishnet stockings will not keep you warm.

#3 The first website I ever made was one of those free Homestead websites. It was called Padrushky. It was the slavic answer to Hogwarts online. I ran it with my best friend and we had hundreds of kids signed up, sorted into made up houses, doing fake homework, teaching fake magic classes.

We should’ve monetized that sucker. Sigh. The stupidity of youth.

#4 And in case that didn’t make it crystal clear how cool I was growing up. I was really into Harry Potter when I was younger (ya’ think?). My first online writing was Harry Potter fan fiction. I was awesome at it, if I do say so myself, even if I never made The Professors’ Bookshelf (why, Sugarquill? Why??). This was largely how I spent my free time the first two years of college.

#5 I played soccer for 10 years growing up and I was a goalie. The year my team made first the only goal scored on us was when the back-up goalie was in. Also, I’ve only got one hand. So I have no patience for people who think there are things that can’t be done.

#6 My first pet was a rabbit named Flopsey. My dad wouldn’t let us have pets inside, so we built a hutch for him out back. It was really cold one night and I begged to bring him inside but my dad said he would be fine. Suffice to say, he froze to death. I desperately wanted to bury him in the backyard, but my dad threw him in the trash and said that’s where pets go.

I’m pretty sure this is why I’m not an animal person.

#7 I love roadside Americana. I may have mentioned that before, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned that I have planned entire vacations around seeing a literal giant fork in the road and driven 8 hours out of my way to see the World’s Largest Ball of Twine (rolled by a collective group of people – seriously folks, there’s real controversy over which ball of twine actually get the title of largest, the Minnesota one is the largest rolled by a single man, but Kansas has the actual largest ball of twine).

I can’t believe people make that stuff! Someone just thought of that and then made it. That’s incredible to me. Humans are so creative.

So those are my 7 things, exciting right? Especially the Santa’s elf story. I’ll have to see if I can dig up one of those ridiculous photos for December.

And here are my nominees:

1. Shannon at Financially Blonde (hey, did you know she wrote a book?!? There’s one you can’t use now, Shannon ;0)
2. Brian at Debt Discipline
3. Kate at Goodnight Debt
4. Jess at Girl in the Dark
5. Jillian at Just Jill… Life at Sea
6. Addison at Cashville Skyline
7. Eva at TeensGotCents

Who can top building your own Hogwarts? Bring it.