Thursday, November 11, 2010

Stylish Blogger Award AND Before and After HOP: Mockingbird

I'm sending out a Great Big THANK YOU to Shawn at The Becker's (Shawn and Bill) for awarding me with the STYLISH BLOGGER AWARD!  This is my very first award, so I'm excited AND grateful!  (Scroll on down for this week's Before and After shots!). 



Rules for accepting this award are: 
1. Thank & link back to the person who awarded you this.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Pay it forward to 15 recently discovered great bloggers.


4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award. Blog Award!
 
Here are 7 things about me:
1.  I HATE snakes.  Hate them!!!! Hate them!!! Hate them!!!
2.  Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year--which would become obvious if you saw the colors inside our house.
3.  I am a CHRISTMAS freak!!!
4.  I much prefer cold weather to hot--although not the kind of cold like they have in places such as Minnesota!
5.  I hate the gray that has started noticeably showing up in my hair AND in my eyebrows---what the heck is THAT about?
6.  I LOVE almost all kinds of music, though not too much current stuff.
7.  I'm pretty darn selfish bull-headed stubborn independently minded.  
Now, to Pay It Forward---and it really IS hard to pick 15!


 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 

Whew...that was really, really hard!  I read so many wonderful blogs and it was very difficult to pick ONLY 15! 


It's time for the weekly BEFORE and AFTER HOP!!!  



This little guy seemed to just sit there and pose.

BEFORE:




AFTER: 
All I did was crop a smidge and warm a teeny little bit.(Oh, I use my HP Photosmart Essentials)




23 comments:

  1. I adore birds. This is a lovely photo. All our birds are hiding today due the gale that is blowing outside. Now I am amazed and hugely honoured to have an award given to me. I would like to thank my lovely new friend emptynester who is definitely a soulmate, my Mother for mercifully being abroad at the moment and staying out of my life for three weeks, my son for introducing me to social networking, my Hubby for being the butt of most of my jokes, my friends, obviously only those in blog world because I don't have any in the real world as I'm always on line,the man at PC World for selling me my laptop and all of you who read my blog and comment on it. You really do make my day. Okay I think that was a suitable dry run for the Oscars don't you? Thank you very much xxx

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  2. You are so sweet! Thank you so, so much. I'm flattered and appreciative. (Now if I could just get you to pass along your amazing photos skills to me, I would be one happy woman!)

    You've made my day. Thank you!

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  3. Thank you for the award! Not sure stylish is something I would use to describe myself or my blog!!!

    It may be the weekend before I can post about the award. Hope that is okay. I just have lots of deadlines going on.;)

    Thank YOU!!!

    Blessings,
    Cheryl

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  4. Wow, thanks for the award. I'll pick it up and post about it soon. I may not be able to get the button to show up in my sidebar until I get my son to help. None of my buttons are showing at the moment, except my own, and I don't know why...Other buttons are there--just not showing up.
    I just read your post about hurricane Hugo--the devastation! Wow! Would you believe, I was just talking with my daughter about that snow yesterday! It was a once in a lifetime thing for us, wasn't it? Snow on Christmas--in the south! My daddy was in ICU in Savannah during that time, and I couldn't go see him because of the weather. I remember the nurse saying she brought him a snowball...
    Some good and not-so-good memories for me, but the snow was great! Why don't you ask for some again??? LOL

    Thanks again for the award, and the sweet comment that you left on my blog. I enjoy reading your posts, too!

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  5. How come my fantastic acceptance speech hasn't shown up here. Damn it took me ages. Emptynester thank you so very much for this award. I am chuffed to bits and have written my speech etc on my blog. It was really lovely of you to think of me and my blog. I'm very glad I met you and not just because you do nice things like award me. :)

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  6. I'm so sorry these wonderful comments didn't get put up until now...it's tutor day at the elementary school. Please, everyone, make sure you read Facing50's acceptance speech, which will make you follow her if you aren't already!

    Don't worry about getting anything up about the award right away! I'm just very grateful that I have each of your blogs to read. They mean so very much to me in so many ways from inspiring and thought-provoking to uplifting and encouraging. Hey! Why don't all of you move to SC and we can all have get-togethers!

    Lisa--it's the camera girl..not me!
    Kathy--Why didn't I think of that? LOL
    Kristy and Winn-thank you!

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  7. Beautiful photo - love the colors and the crisp sharpness of the bird. Your crop improved it :) Thanks for your comment and have a nice evening!

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  8. I love your edit. Subtle but great.

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  9. I LOVE Christmas time, but much prefer the heat, I hate cold! Love your before and after, sometimes a little touch up goes a long way, great job! Thanks for stopping by my page!

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  10. Love your edit or rather your crop! what a great photo!

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  11. Congratulations on the award. I love Christmas too! It is killing me having to wait until after Thanksgiving to change my blog background.

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  12. Great photo and congratulations on your award. I bet that was an unexpected self-esteem moment.

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  13. Thank you for the award and the super mood enhancing comments you left on my blog. It gave me a big smile as I read it.

    The bird picture looks so much better after you made your changes. That's a great shot of him to start with!
    Thanks again,
    Patrice
    www.everydayruralty.com

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  14. that is a beautiful bird shot! love the background too.

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  15. Empty Nester,
    My post on this award will be tomorrow morning. I hope you don't mind the slight change I made to following the rules, but when you read the post, I'm sure you'll understand why.
    Once again, thank you!
    Patrice

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  16. Congrats on your award and thanks for stopping by my blog =)
    Lovely edit today too!

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  17. I love that you didnt need to do a whole lot to this photo! its great all on its own. (thanks for being a new follower!)

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  18. you highlighted the beauty of the bird! :)

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  19. The warmth is great- what a beautiful photo!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment! It makes me feel connected to everyone even though we may live far apart! Have a wonderful day!

 
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