loving the liebster

I got an award the other day from a new feels-like-a-long-lost friend and one of my favorite bloggers, Mary from The Adventures of Cilgin Kiz.  I can't quite remember how I found her.  I find so many blogs just by surfing from one blog to another...click...click...click, and there was Mary.  She is a wonderful person and I fell in love with her blog.  She says it is a travel blog...but OH! it is so much more than that.  I encourage you to travel over to her blog via the above link and read through several posts.  Her stories are wonderful...her photography stunning.

She decided to share this Liebster Award with me.  I love the name.  Mostly because it means love, and makes me think of lobster, which is a liebster for me too.  There are a few stipulations to accepting the award:

1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Post the award on your blog.

4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the Internet—other writers.

5. And best of all – have fun and spread the karma.

I've fulfilled the first.  I will now reveal my top 5 picks, not an easy thing to do when I have a bazillion blogs I read and love.  I am picking blogs I enjoy but don't always have time to comment on in my race around the blog-reading world, but that touch my senses deeply:

1. Photos by Jan is just that.  Photos Jan has taken and posted.  But they are some of the most beautiful, interesting, thought and emotion provoking photos I have seen.  Take a look, and enjoy a treat for your eyes.

2. One Eye on the Rearview Mirror is a stunning blog that will absolutely knock your socks off.  Insightful, deeply emotional, and gets you in the gut.  Written by Paul F., you won't want to stop reading.  I promise that.  I especially recommend the post The Fullness of an Empty Spot.

3. Pure and Simple reflects Debra's journey through life.  Sounds like every other blog you've read a blurb about, doesn't it?  But it isn't.  Debra delves much deeper, and writes in such a beautiful and touching way.  Her blog is just soothing to my spirit, and it seems like every time I am troubled, I journey to Debra's blog, and find something she has written that I can connect with.  I recommend you read Two for Twenty.  It will change the way you see people.  

4. The Titanic Swim Team by Steve is a blog covering a variety of his thoughts.  I seem to be drawn to people like me, who think about and write about many things that carry substance, and this is one of those blogs that never leaves me wanting.  I especially loved reading about Steve's time in Honduras and what he learned while there, working to help build homes for people who had nothing.  One of my favorite Honduras posts was one of his first: Two Weeks in Honduras is Like a Year Anywhere Else: The Glory and the Gory.  I am linking to it because it was written a while back. 

5. Last but not least, is a new blog I am following.  For those of you who know me, you know I am serious about art, photography and blogging.  They are three things that I am passionate about.  I listed Jan's photo blog at top, and I am ending with a blog that is written by Lisa, an artist who also blogs, at Art and the Human Condition.  Lisa is my kind of woman, and a very talented woman I am just beginning to know.  I just recently discovered her marvelous blog.  Be sure to check out her art website too.  I am sure you will be amazed at her talent and creativity.

That's enough Liebster to sink your teeth into and fill up on.  I hope you will take time to click on some or all of my links.  Like most other bloggers out there in webspace, I think the blogs I follow are wonderful.  The world is so full of amazing people spelling out their lives and thoughts, loves and hates, passions and creativity in blogs.  Take time to read.  It'll change your life.

Have a great week y'all.  Smile at someone.  And watch them smile back.  Or faint from shock. 

~cath xo

Twitter @jonesbabie