Blogger Excellence Award (and our escape plans)

Monday is Canberra Day here in the ACT, which means very little except that we get a public holiday and so we are going to go away (again!) for a long weekend. This time we are heading for beautiful Tilba Tilba on the NSW South Coast and I am very excited. We have hired a little cabin on a property and plan to spend the long weekend relaxing, cooking, reading (when Lily sleeps), and making little trips to the beach and the cute town of Tilba Tilba (where I often dream of living). Photos will come.

For now I must finally get around to awarding the blogger excellence award that both Isil and Half Pint Pixie were so kind as to award to me.

One of the reasons that I have taken so long to do this is that I am torn up inside about the prospect of only choosing 10 blogs. I read many many blogs - far too many - and I love many many of them so by choosing only 10 I will have to leave so many out and I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression... But, I must be a grown up about this and just choose 10 to share with you today. To help myself limit them arbitrarily like this, I am only going to pick blogs by mothers today.

So, here I go:

Here’s the associated small print:

By accepting this Excellent Blog Award, I have to award it to 10 more people whose blogs I find Excellent Award worthy. I can give it to as many people as I want but please award at least 10. Thank you out there for having such great blogs and being such great friends! You deserve this!

If chosen, you agree to the same information above. If chosen, also feel free to award people who have already been awarded…

1. Isil from Veggie Way. I first started reading Isil's blog before she or I were pregnant because of her fabulous vegan recipes. Then she announced that she was pregnant with the gorgeous Defne and I was very happy because I had just found out that I too was pregnant. She now blogs about attachment parenting as well, but continues to share her wonderful vegan cooking with us all too.
2. Half Pint Pixie. I discovered HPP's blog through Isil's last year and, as with Isil, felt as though I had stumbled across my dream online mother's group. Her daughter is a few months older than Lily, and their family sounds a lot like ours - they are vegans, they practice attachment parenting, and although they are currently living in their home country, they have traveled and lived all over.
3. Blue Milk. I first started reading Blue Milk when she stopped past our little blog to leave a comment on a post that I had written about pregnancy and feminism. I clicked over to discover a wonderfully articulate feminist mother who writes about parenting and politics (and everything else) with passion. I don't write about feminism nearly often enough and so I love being able to at least nod along with her posts that are always right on the money.
4. Ariel from Jabberwocky. Ariel is the mother of a young boy and works as a writer or editor (not sure) and you can tell. She has a lovely way with words and can make the ordinary moments of any day seem intriguing and poetic. I love reading her blog.
5. Gianna from She Sells Sanctuary. Speaking of poetic - Gianna also has this gift. Her blog is a wonderful mix of everyday parenting (or non-parenting) moments and politics - although like me she has found less to say on politics since Howard's departure. She also blogs at Surfdom.
6. Helen from Cast Iron Balcony. Helen blogs a little about everything, but I especially love her posts on feminism and politics (not that you can separate the two). She has a sharp pen (keyboard doesn't quite work here, does it?) and can pull apart a crap argument very effectively. It is very fun to read.
7. Amanda from Soule Mama. This one is kind of a strange inclusion, because she is already incredibly popular and I never ever comment on her blog. However, I really enjoy Amanda's blog - she is the mother of three young children who she unschools (a concept that I am fascinated by). She is also a very talented crafter and takes lovely photographs. I like reading her blog to simply relax and feel happy about the world.
8. Firstperson thirdcat. Thirdcat is an extremely talented writer who lives in Adelaide. I love reading her blog simply to admire the way that she writes (and also because she is very funny and leads an interesting life).
9. Pavlov's Cat. Oh I just broke my own rule. Pavlov's Cat is not a mother. However, after having written about another Adelaide writer, I felt compelled to share this one too (for those few of you who haven't visited her blog). PC writes about a little of everything - politics, feminism, gardening, food, Adelaide, family, grief... you know: life, and does it extremely well.
10. Ampersand Duck. AD is a Canberra blogger who works as an artist using Letterpress and making books. How cool is that? I love reading her blog, because she writes beautifully, she inspires me to be more creative and because it is based in Canberra, my hometown.

OH, there are so many more good blogs - some of which I didn't include simply because they haven't updated lately or (mostly) because I have run out of numbers on my list and I mostly confined myself to mothers. Please also see our blogroll and the vegan bloggers to whom I gave the Rockin' Girl Blogger award to - they are all wonderful.


Update:

OK, I am bad at this, but I just have to mention three other blogs by mothers that definetely deserve the Blogging Excellence Award and that I have been reading and loving for too long to leave off my list:

Zoe from Crazybrave. Another Canberra-based blogger, Zoe's internet has been down of late, but when she does update she is extremely funny and manages to make the sharpest points very succinctly.

Cat from Seoul Life. Cat and her partner are American expats living in Korea with their gorgeous little baby Susana. She blogs about life in Korea and parenting and writes beautifully.

Zoe from I've Come Undone. Zoe is an American mother of three children, who blogs about daily life with a real honesty that makes for great reading. I especially loved this recent letter that she wrote to her son Amonte after his experience with surgery.