Beautiful blogger award

The lovely and talented Chania from Razmataz blog in Ontario, Canada recently passed on the Beautiful Blogger Award to me. Chania, an interior decorator and vintage shop owner, posts about the loveliest things, including her beautiful family - kids and dogs. Do go visit her here so you can see for yourself her enchanting blog.

I've been asked to share seven things about myself, so here goes.

1. I am a total book nerd, which means I love everything about books, including how they smell. My love of books began when I first arrived from Mexico City in the United States when I was six years old, not knowing a word of English. Somehow, I learned the language by reading my textbooks at home and was in advanced reading by the time I was in second grade.

2. My first job was working as a salesperson in a shoe store at a local mall the summer before I went to college. I was painfully shy so I never pressured anyone for a sale but I enjoyed talking to people and getting to know them, putting me on the list of top sellers of the week one time. Because I am only five-feet-one-inch tall, I preferred to wear high heels to work and could work standing up for eight hours on three-inch heels, a feat that I haven't been able to do for years now.

3. My hardest job was working as a reporter/writer for The Associated Press in Los Angeles, where rookies are routinely given the graveyard shift, writing from 11:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. I was expected to do everything from filing agricultural news reports for radio stations to read over the air to running out to police press conferences at 3 a.m. to writing about bank mergers at 5 a.m. I was so sleep-deprived and stressed that I gained 20 pounds my first year there. The odd hours meant that I, a rookie, had my byline (name) on the first obituaries out on Sonny Bono and Frank Sinatra, but what I really craved was a job where I worked during the daytime reporting and writing about everyday people like you and me.

4. I love music in all its variations, from Brazilian sambas to operas to French pop songs. My musical tastes were greatly influenced by my parents, who had an extensive record collection that has now been passed on to me.

5. I've always been very goal-oriented and used to have a list of "30 things to do before I turn 30." The list was full of challenging tasks, including going hang gliding and learning Latin (both of which I did not do but, believe me, no regrets there!) and driving cross-country through France (I'm very happy to report that this was one of about 15 things on the list that I got to cross off).

6. I was so nervous during my wedding ceremony that I mistakenly thought the Roman Catholic priest conducting the ceremony was saying "hi" to me, instead of prompting me to repeat my vows after him, "I, Minerva ... " I think I said "hi" to Father Paul about two times before I realized my mistake. Big oops! Thankfully, no one else noticed.

7. I delivered both my kids without any painkillers. Big ouch! Thankfully, I only had to labor for about four hours with painful contractions with my first child. With my second child, I arrived at the hospital fully dilated and ready to deliver. Thank goodness it was an early Sunday morning or I would have undoubtedly gotten stuck in traffic and delivered my baby on the freeway. I was in so much pain that I couldn't walk. But I had watched enough labor and delivery scenes on TV and in the movies that I knew to tell my husband as we drove up to the emergency entrance to the hospital, "Now, I want you to run - and I mean RUN - in there and get me a wheelchair." Twenty minutes and one push later, I had my newborn in my arms.

I'm happy now to pass on the award to four other lovely bloggers who I enjoy reading regularly:

1. Kristin of Contented Me. A mom of infant twins, Kristin is an interior decorator in Chicago. Her lifestyle finds and cooking recommendations are always yummy.

2. Alison of My Little Happy Place. Alison just had a baby last week, but usually posts daily about her fabulous design finds and is terrifically funny. Her home renovation projects are stylish and modern.

3. Sabrina of La Cabeza de Maria Antonieta (Marie Antoinette's Head). She writes in Spanish since she's based in Argentina, but just use Google translate to read about her fabulous renovation projects.

4. Alice of Thrifted Treasure in Sydney, Australia. Strangely, I have found I enjoy reading about other people's thrift store finds almost as much as I enjoy coming home with mine. Alice finds great stuff at unbelievably low prices (a vintage typewriter for $3!).