I won! I won!

After – how many years? 3½? – my blog has finally receieved its first award, when Mary from The Flavors of Abruzzo rewarded me with the  Honest Scrap Award.

The award is given by other bloggers who consider a blog’s content or design to be brilliant. The awardee must then post ten honest things about themselves and pass the award on to other bloggers who fit the bill – in other words, whose blog is brilliant.

Ten honest things about me, then.  I can’t say for sure that I haven’t mentioned these things before, but anyway, here we go:

- As a teenager I developed a habit of piling up clothes on and around my bed. At almost 30, this habit has yet to be broken.

- At 17 I bought a very small bottle of very cheap rosé wine and got very drunk on the shore of Seine, while singing along very loud to Céline Dion’s French songs together with a very gay guy who played them on his Walkman. Oh what a fun night that was.

- I hate talking on the phone and avoid it at all costs. Yes, it means that I have lost quite a few friends over the years because I don’t stay in touch, but sadly that is not enough to overcome my fear of embarrassing silence.

- I have worn the same shoe size since I was 12 and the same clothes size since 16.

- Speaking of shoes, I can’t wear high heels anymore. Last year I had a bunionectomy, during which they put a screw into my toe to keep it straight, so now it is impossible to flex it enough to wear high heels.

- At 18 I won a 50 lb (22.7 kg) sack of corn. I had no money to buy food, so I basically lived on popcorn and tea for a long long time.

- I like a clean and tidy house but ours is a constant mess and I am by no means guilt free.

- I would much much much rather be a truck driver than a preschool teacher. I find the solitude in the truck and the long drives appealing, but groups of children freak me out.

- I am totally and completely worthless at cooperating with other people. I tend to think faster, research more and draw quicker conclusions than many others, and then I don’t have the patience to wait for them to catch up and so I end up doing everything by myself and they end up feeling run over and left out. I need to work on my teamwork skills, because as of now I have none.

- I am (surprisingly?) introvert and rarely talk to strangers. I can’t really say that I’m shy, I just don’t know what to say to them and I am quite happy with my own company. Becoming a hairdresser has been good for me in that aspect, because in my job I am forced to talk to strangers over and over and over again and it is slowly coming more naturally. My father is an expert at this, he can talk to anyone about anything at any time. He is also very good at keeping in touch with people on the phone (see #8). I should learn a few tricks from him.

So who do I want to give the award to?

Anait of Cap Ou Pas Cap
Kellee of If Not Now, When? (she doesn’t write very often nowadays, but when she writes… ah!)
Janie of Panini Girl
Tina of Tina Tangos
Charlie of Figs and Lemons