The Breakout Blogger Award

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Recently my most favorite inkblot in the entire universe celebrated his first blogiversary and, true gentleman that he is, he gave out the gifts rather than receiving them. The one and only Bobbarama came up with not one but two new blogging awards that are sure to be coveted by any and all bloggers throughout the Blogosphere.

The first is the "Best Kept Secret" award which goes to "a blogger with great style and wit and warmth who hasn’t been discovered yet." It's a lovely award and Bob awarded the first of the awards to five very deserving bloggers who I'm sure won't stay a secret for very long ...

• The Kat House ~~ I love her Sunday Samplings links to other bloggers with great posts.
• A Nice Place in the Sun ~~ Be sure to check out her fun Tuesday’s Question feature.
• Idle Minutes ~~ Don draws a stunning illustration for every post. Fantastic.
• Pyreflies over Zanarkand ~~ Great fun … great photos … great blogger.
• The Frog Bog ~~ Stock tips with a humorous spin … and so much more
  

The second award is "The Break Out Blogger Award" which, as Bob puts it, "casts a spotlight on bloggers who are just beginning to draw lotsa attention — the equivalent of a song with a bullet on Billboard’s Top 100 chart. Lotsa good posts. Lotsa good buzz. These bloggers are going places in a hurry." Again, Bob chose five outstanding recipients for this most cool award ...

• Christy’s Coffee Break ~~ Every blogger’s best friend. Reviews, poetry, awards, links.
• Polliwog’s Pond ~~ Warm, witty posts about life on an island and on the ‘Net. Fun stuff.
• Ordinary Folk ~~ A mini-empire in the making. A comic alien, blog reviews, great art.
• The Pisstakers ~~ Amusing, satirical posts on tech and news articles. Lotsa laughs.
• Mimi Writes ~~ The Queen of Memes and the Home of the Peace Globes.

I am familiar with the last four on the list and will have to make the acquaintance of the first as if Bob gave her an award, she's got to be good! I know the others are all excellent bloggers and if they aren't part of your daily read, they should be. By the by, it was Mike of Ordinary Folk who designed the awards for Bob and didn't he just do the best job ever?

One of my favorite bloggers is a recipient of one of those very first "Breakout Blogger Awards" and he, in turn, was more than nice enough to award one to me. Ed, of The Pisstakers, has been a staple in my Google Reader for as long as I've had a feed reader. Ed not only brings you the best in humor and techy news throughout the Blogosphere but he hosts the MyBlogLog Sunday feature that not only gets you a mini-review as a permanent part of his extensive archives but also gets you a lovely link back to a PR5 blog. For those of you who worry about your numbers, that's a major feather in your blogging cap! I have been lucky enough to be captured in a screen-shot of his sidebar while visiting on Sunday mornings more times than I can count.

Ed's choices for the "Breakout Blogger Award" were the following:

• The one and only Lord Likely, a true gentleman and scholar and complete and utter bastard, currently terrorizing 19th century USA with his tongue in cheek and Lord Palmerston in hand.
• The one and only Linda of Are We There yet? a bloggerette major, safe driver and killer singer whose birthdays appear to have all come nearly at once.
• The one and only TechIT Easy, whose leader, Jeremy Fain, has occupied France under the guise of Microsoft. He is stealthily enlisting a stunning international line-up of tech bloggers par excellence and to cap it all, he even has a sense of humor too.
• The one and only I Eat Snowman Poop who never ceases to amaze me with her turns of phrase and whacky humor
• The one and only Wolf Bernz who worked through being scammed and finally produced a video upload site with plenty of potential for great things.

Trust me when I tell you that I am tickled pink and beyond honored to have received this award from a man whose wit and intelligence I truly admire. To have been included in the second round of receiving one of these spiffy new awards is something that I am just completely and totally thrilled about. Bet you never could've guessed that, could you??

Okay, all humble acceptance speeches aside, it's now my turn to give this award to several other bloggers that I feel are deserving. It's a tough call because there are so very many good blogs that I read on a regular basis and they are all breakouts in their own right but the instructions say to "give the award to three to five of my Breakout Bloggers" and, for once, I'm going to follow the rules! Go figure!

Without further ado, I now present to you my choices for the "Breakout Blogger Award":

• Duward Discussion: Jamie has become like the sister I never had; a gal who enjoys history and Broadway shows. Her intelligence shines through in every single post she writes and she is always able to make me laugh at the times I really need it. If you're looking for quality posts and a quality blog, look no further - you have arrived!
  
• Alien in a Foreign Field and Whitterer on Autism: How she does it I don't know but Maddie manages to write two fantastic blogs while keeping up with her two autistic sons and one very patient and understanding daughter all while trying to maintain her sanity while spending way too much time in a dentist's chair! The word "admiration" fails to come even close! Stop by either or both of her two blogs and you'll see what I mean.
  
• Wading Through My Stream of Consciousness: Katherine is one of my newest daily reads and I have come to truly love the depth and feeling with which she writes. On her sidebar under the title "What You Need to Know", Katherine states "I try to always be a good person....I may not always be a nice person....but I always try to be a good person." You can't ask for much better than that!

I hope if you have the time you'll check out these three fantastic ladies and come to enjoy their blogs as much as I do. Jamie, Maddie, and Katherine - it's a pleasure to be on the same awards page as the three of you and now if you'll be so kind as to head over to the Awards Page at Bobbrama's for the instructions and code it would be greatly appreciated!

Once again a big thank you to Ed, I truly am honored!