Today is the day to announce the giveaway winner for the organic coconut-spiked goodness from CocomoJoe, but before I get there… 

To my delight a week or so ago Amanda over at Pickles & Honey gave me a One Lovely Blog award.  These awards are passed between bloggers, who nominate seven more blogs of their choosing. Pickles and Honey is a beautiful blog that’s professionally put together with adorable stories about Amanda’s canine companions and scrumptious and stunning food to boot.  I couldn’t have been more tickled to be honored by such a terrific blogger.

I’m always pleased to see these awards come my way, but in the past I haven’t been great at doling them out.  I start making my list of bloggers to honor, and then I notice on their blogs that they’ve already received that award once or twice or more.  So I start reworking my list, and then it squanders in draft-dom forever.  This time I’m just going to honor a few of my favorite bloggers, and if you already have that award, well, you can add it to your mantle!  Before I nominate seven bloggers, I’d like to thank a few bloggers who have sent various awards my way over the years!

Back in October I received an award from Lisa at Vegan Culinary Crusade.  Lisa is one of those people whose big hearts you can just feel from reading her blog posts.  A world traveler and cooking instructor, her blog contains gorgeous pictures from around the world and of tantalizing culinary delights.  She brings a spirit of curiosity and lightness that makes it a joy to read.

In February I was honored from Jake at Play with my Food.  While they say that vegans break down pretty evenly between males and females, when it comes to vegan bloggers, it seems to be heavily weighted to the female side.  It’s refreshing to read Jake’s posts from a male perspective, and because of the sense of fun that he brings to food and activism.  All of his posts include action figures of some sort; although, my favorite of his have to be of his vegan wedding.  It looks like it was so quirky cool.  I love it when couples really make their day their own.

Back in March 2011 I was given an award from Get Skinny, Go Vegan, whose blog runs the gamut from cookbook reviews to ethical issues to news of the day.  Then in April 2011 Christina from It’s a Greyt Vegan Life sent an award my way. Her posts about veganism, her dogs, and life in Tahoe are full of mouthwatering recipes.  Her stories about her greyhounds have only fueled my desire to rescue one someday.

Finally, thank you to Pixie at Cheerfully Vegan who gave me an award in May and whose new-to-me blog focuses on plant based recipes for everything from dinner to detergent.

And now to honor seven other bloggers…

1.  Linda from Vegan Linda often writes about recipes, cookbook reviews, and her three vegan children.  Her blog gives a real sense of her life and community.  I especially love reading about her twelve-year-old son and his cooking endeavors.  Reading her stories, it’s clear that he’s a good example of the way that vegan kids adopt values of compassion as their own.

2.  I’ve written about Kristy from Keepin’ It Kind before, and by now you’ve likely seen the gorgeous cake she recently made for Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan Chopped challenge.  (She won, of course!)  Kristy makes incredibly creative and beautiful food.  Her posts are endearing and lovely.  Best of all, true to her blog’s moniker, she comes across as the sort of kind and real person the world needs.

3.  Gigi from Veganville‘s off-the-wall, stream of consciousness posts always make me smile.  She has such a hilarious way of viewing the world, and I love to get a little peek into it.  My favorite part of Gigi’s posts have to be her zany videos with her husband, Larry.  Gigi is also the mastermind behind these titillating vegan whoopie pies.

4.  I’ve been following Bobbie from The Vegan Crew’s blog for a long time now.  She makes tasty recipes, writes about animal issues, and highlights vegan options at restaurants between Missouri and Philadelphia.  Plus, after I moved my blog to being self-hosted, I am forever indebted to her!  She was so helpful answering questions, giving lengthy advice, and was a huge aid in making the transition.  A Kansas City local, she’s also given me lots of good help finding the best places to visit when I’m in the area.

5.  Katrina from Suburban Snow White eloquently weaves stories, both personal and well known, to give a window into thoughts/feelings/revelations regarding animals, food, and activism.  She has a way of highlighting issues in a fresh, accessible, and interesting way.

6.  Amey from Vegan Eats & Treats has such a great voice to her writing.  Every year during Vegan Mofo I’m excited to see what she’s going to bring to the table.  It’s always something tremendously creative and entertaining.  An avid traveler, I admire how she visits places that are not always known for their vegan cuisine, but makes it work.  She gives ideas of things to pack and highlights the joys/trials along the way.  My cat is also grateful for Amey’s hilarious video of her cat, Yummers, enjoying asparagus.  It was through that video I discovered my own cat’s penchant for the spears.

7.  Andrea from Cook Easy Vegan writes down-to-earth posts about her life, vegan issues, and she has a great sense of humor.  Additionally, she was the brains behind our recent trip to Madison.  She lived there for many years (and still visits in the summers), and she helped us with a lengthy list of not-be-missed sites and restaurants.

Shhh… No one tell her asparagus season is over for another year! I don’t think her little kitty heart could take it!

In addition to giving the award to others, recipients are supposed to share seven things about themselves.  Here are a few random things about me:

1. July is my favorite month.  As if being the season of strawberries, bicycles, and art fairs wasn’t enough, it’s also the month of my wedding anniversary, birthday and vegan-iversary!  Five years vegan as of this month!
2. One recipe that’s still on my to-be-veganized list is pink champagne cake.  It was my birthday favorite for many years.
3. My cats bring me immeasurable pleasure.  I have to marvel sometimes at how much joy they bring, even when they’re just sleeping in the sun.  Seeing their contented little faces makes me feel all is right with the world.
4. I have a soft spot for dresses with a 1950’s look to them.  When I was a pre-teen, I eagerly read my mom’s old romance novels with pictures of girls in pretty dresses and little white gloves, and I think it stuck in my psyche.
5. I love the smell in the air after a good rain.
6. My best new finds of the summer so far have been watching all three seasons of Gavin & Stacey and discovering the new Scissor Sisters album, Magic Hour.
7. I always have stuffed grape leaves in the refrigerator.  They are the perfect snack to take the edge off and are a tasty addition to a salad or Greek-inspired spread.

Finally, I’d like to announce the winner of the CocomoJoe giveaway…  The coconut prize package goes to #56, Kristy!  There were two Kristy’s who entered.  The winning Kristy said:

Congratulations, Kristy!  I’ll email you shortly for your address.