Team Screw Bear
Lots going on, but can't figure out what to write. 
So, I'll just say: Congratulations to Dawg, Avi, and Britt for winning a spot in the Hot Blogger Calendar! Mini Manhattan celebration, woohoo!
Off to get the cooking gas turned on in the apartment… and clean the bathroom. EEEEEEEK.
I love my boyfriend so much that I'm copying and pasting code from his site instead of writing original content!!!
The Hot Blogger 2009 Calendar Voting has begun! There are two actual categories, one for the girls and one for the guys. While perusing the nominations I saw that the NYC Watchdog has been nominated. So you know what I did right? I totally casted my vote for him because he is a total Hawt Dawg!!! Voting is VERY easy. There is no registration, its a simple poll, and all you have to do is check off right by his name! They couldn’t have made it any easier for us to make the Hawt Dawg into our Mr. October for 2009!!! So throw the Hawt Dawg a bone and help me out by voting for him here!!!
…but I totally took that hot photo of him, so at least I did something original. 
I am seriously so wiped out from this weekend it's not even funny. We're all here safe and sound and happy. More on the weekend and the week ahead after a good night's sleep.
Please go vote for Dawg (listed as NYC Watchdog) for the Hot Blogger Calendar so that he can go do a ridiculously hot photo shoot in Manhattan and be part of a calendar I will display on my wall indefinitely. 
Sooooooooo, my boyfriend nominated me for this hot blogger award thing. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the nomination, but him telling me I'm hot is more than enough for me. He, on the other hand, would actually-for-real like to be a finalist in this contest so I would really appreciate it if you would go nominate him over at HotBloggerCalendar.com so that he can do the Manhattan photo shoot for Mr. October.
Check out that yummy tattoo. Even yummier in color, by the way.
In case you didn't know already and need this info…
His Twitter name: nycwatchdog
His blog URL: http://www.apileofdogbones.com
The rest of the fields are up to you.
Thank you!!!!
…just because.
Dawg created this award then gave it to me along with a bunch of other very deserving people. 
Now I'm passing it on.
Rules:
1) The Beary Best Award is given to those people who we want to know we care… just because
2) See rule #1
I am picking one whole Beary Bester because I'm being extra crispy quirky today.
I choose ACW because tomorrow is his last day of blogging and I'm going to miss him. *sniffle*
An entire week ago Dawg gave me this:
I stuck it on my About page with the intention of getting back around to it and promptly forgot. Today when I was adding my 32nd Snack I noticed that I hadn't actually properly linked the love yet, so I fixed that link.
And then I realized I was supposed to pass on the blogger love. (Bad Poppy!)
Rather than going through everyone's blog to see if you already received this award and rather than caring if someone else loves you-and-therefore-I-can't-love-you?!-p-effing-shaw, I'm just going to tell you who I love, but because I don't follow rules they won't all be bloggers.
1. Break Boy. I've known Break Boy since I was six. We had a few years between grade school and college where I dropped off the face of his planet, but once we saw each other that fateful night Freshman/First year we've been friendly inseparable since, even if we go long stretches of time not seeing each other.
2. Bdogg. I don't know what I did to deserve her friendship, but she entered my life at a time when I was at a crossroads. She helped me through some very rough times, and has shared some very rough times of her own with me. She has welcomed me with open arms into her home despite never having been in my physical presence before the day we hugged in the airport terminal and I cannot wait to return that favor when she visits me. She is the kitties' Auntie B and I am her kitties' Auntie Poppy. We are sisters.
3. My mom. I am her image, 26 years younger. I have my faults, I have my quirks, and I have those because I am my mother's daughter. I wouldn't trade those for the world. She still hasn't met the man I love and yet she is one of his biggest fans at Cereal Wednesday. Coolest mom on my planet.
4. My stepdad. Before his integration into My Family I did not have a positive male influence in my daily life. I was the product of a matriarchy, very strong willed and determined and unwilling to listen to a man tell me anything. That sounds great and feministy-empowering, right? Except that also meant I was unable to listen to fair criticism, right vs. wrong, the male perspective, if it came from the lips of a man. My stepfather's stern but jovial parenting is what helped me flourish from spoiled, self entitled brat to kind, considerate, and responsible adult. I will always appreciate him for that. And, also, in my first venture at asking him for life advice about how men think he did a spectacular job at helping me to understand that sometimes sitting back and giving space is the best reaction to a situation.
5. My brother. He and I didn't have the pleasure of growing up in the same household. He was the bad kid, I was the good kid. He was enough older so that we had nothing in common and always fought. And yet somehow he magically became the coolest person I knew when I was 13 and now I love him to tiny pieces and can't imagine how my life would have been like without him in my peripheral vision.
6, 7, 8. My girls Allie, Ripley, and Georgia. I know they help me to stay strong and responsible on days when I want to give up. They need me, and being needed is truly a wonderful feeling 99% of the time. They know all my deepest thoughts, know all my imperfections, know my entire range of emotions, and yet they still cuddle with me and purr for me and greet me at the door and come lick my tears when I cry. It chokes me up to think about how much I love them, as it should.
9. Dawg. He is the most amazing man I've ever had the privilege of dating. He is himself, no excuses, love him or hate him. He does anything needed for a friend or family member, and often times even for complete strangers. He is kind-hearted to those who know him best, and appropriately merciless to the assholes of the world. I feel grateful for his presence in my life.
10. Me. I know we all have years of our lives where we hate ourselves. Some people always hate themselves. I've certainly gone through the yo-yo phases of thinking I am wonderful and lovable to that lowest of dark places where I can't even understand why anybody thinks it's a good idea that I'm hanging out on the planet with them. But, there is something inside of me that reminds me that "this too shall pass" and I get back to the side where I am proud of the person I have become. Today I am proud.
I finally got the award I was slightly jealous of never receiving but didn't want to call attention to, and then I got it again a day later!
Life is funny.
DutchBitch gave me the award yesterday, then Dawg gave it to me today when he should have been sleeping even though he knew I already got it cuz he's sneaky like that.
Rules:
1. Identify the originator of this award, and link so she can get her well-deserved traffic. It’s Kayla at Project Mommy.
2. Pass on at least 10 Excellent Blog Awards.
I award the following blogs with E for Excellence:
Ocean of Reality
1 step beyond
Rude Cactus
Midnight Therapy with Crystal
BelchSpeak
Potatoes in the Mist
Jumping on the Bandwagon
Anonymous Coworker (you fucking slacker [just kidding!])
sourpuss
Maman des Filles
stefanie says
Amanda in Real Life
A Slice of Geek
Tense Teacher
The blog of whall
ButteryPopcorn.net (I know I write there, but Dawg does all the hard work. )
Ok, I'm done.
Have a great Friday, dammit! And… fuck it?
Administrivia first: If you want your Poppy award graphic please let me know. I have 47 of them. (Hear that? Forty-seven. Not 48. *mumble*)
So, yup, on Saturday I spent the entire day in bed. I didn't shower, I didn't brush my teeth, I didn't entertain any guests. I sat in bed and worked on the Poppy awards all day and into the night. Sure, sure, I goofed off as well, but… that ate up my entire Saturday. Is that not insanity?
Sunday I woke up, fed the cats their treat, showered, dressed, drank 3 homemade iced coffees, then got highest scores on 4 of my GH3 songs. Then Spénce (formerly of Suntanned in the Snowstorm, among other blogs) called to say that he and his girlfriend were down the road at Starbucks and to come get them for coffee. I drove to Starbucks, waved, then peeled out of the parking lot and caravaned them to the only place in town where there is good coffee reflective of my homeland. We sat and drank coffee and discussed our happy lives for… I am not sure how long, felt like a minute. Then Spénce and the gf had to take off so I went home and worked on the Poppy awards into the night while I listened to Tug and Fab on the radio.
Today I woke up to my alarm, fed the girls, showered, got dressed, cleaned the a-p-t, then waited. and waited. and waited. Finally my dad and stepmom showed up and we had a nice little visit since they'd never been to my new place then we headed off to Olive Garden where we waited a half hour to have my dad's first good experience at that chain of restaurants. Apparently Olive Gardens in any state but ours suck donkey ass, because he had a story about Connecticut, and I had a story about Tennessee. We both were with three people who, upon finding out we had never been to an OG, dragged us to our respective locale's "fine establishment" at which the food proceeded to be horrible. But, apparently, France is immune to the disgusting OG phenomenon and we had a fantastic time. Who doesn't love Americanized Italian food?!? I then came home briefly to be told tales of woe (zomg, I am still not sitting right about that), then to get over this horrible feeling that has nothing whatsoever to do with me (do you like it when I'm vague and mysterious? yah, no, me either/neither) and drove to the store to buy various food items. While in line I heard the cashier tell the woman ahead of me that they should ban plastic bags so when he asked me "paper or plastic?" I of course said "plastic!"
I'm sure more will happen to me today, but you know you couldn't stand the fact that all I'd posted today was that one little measly awards post… so, hi!
Here we go! The best of the best in my little world are awarded greatness in 30 categories:
1. Best Blog Design
Jess aka The Tattooed Mama for her All Things Cupcake blog. Is that not the cutest blog ever?! And Jess is pretty damn cute, too.
2. Best Entertainment Blog Whose Keeper Knows Me by Name
This one is a tie because of Tug.
Bonnie at Heroine Sheik is a shoe in. She and I played Scrabulous for a while on Facebook, so she literally does know my name. Who doesn't love a blog about sex and gaming? She also does gamecakes, which is just so fucking cool I can't fucking stand it. Last, but not least, she's currently living in France. … Yah. She fucking rocks.
But then Tug pulled out the obvious — Cereal Wednesday. And please excuse the fact that I am a newly contributing member there, because I assure you it is an honor to get to post there, but Dawg is the blogebrity there, not me. I'm just an unpaid staff member who's forced to do the healthy cereal reviews. Just call me Mikey… And I've actually met Dawg IRL, so… yah, duh. He deserves to win this one.
3. Best Movie Reviews
Overall goes to Amanda in Real Life. She gives fantastic yet succinct reviews, such as her review of Cloverfield in which she doesn't ruin the ending but compels you to go see the film.
And, ironically, the best single movie review goes to Dawg for that same movie, which explains why he wins one of the categories farther down. His review of Cloverfield was longer than the entire movie, but makes you really think.
4. Best Music Reviews
Gonna hafta go for Chris Cactus here. He actually does fantastic weekly reviews of music, and even is a music reviewer over at They Will Rock You.
5. Best Overall Concept Blog
I wonder if anyone, including the blogger himself is going to see this one coming. I thought long and hard about this award and then while I was doing laundry today the striped leggings from his Media label stuck in my mind and I knew I had my winner: It's RW from 1 Step Beyond. He totally revamped his site a while back to be more concept driven. He calls the sections Topics, but to me and my brain they're Concepts, and for this one blog award a visual aid is necessary:
The concepts are clear, concise, easy to understand, but varied. RW strikes a perfect balance of rhetoric and whimsy, and I'm always left feeling like I just had a fantastic bottle of wine and a full-flavored cigar when I leave his site.
6. Best Photos
Girl, Dislocated pulled in an over-the-wire vote: "Yes, I can read. Voting closed at noon. But I couldn't move for a few hours, and now that I can, I just wanted to say … #6 should go to NYCWD." Ironically, this is one of the few awards I actually didn't have a winner chosen for. But … she's right. Dawg posts a lot of it to his blog, but rather than listing individual posts I'll just link you to the collection so that I don't have to keep trolling his site.
But there can cannot only be one. Miss Britt, your guacamole has finally reigned supreme, and won you an award. (How mad is Avi right now that your guacamole won over his fried foods, his Halloween party, his JIGSAW PHOTOS?! Probably pretty mad. Hmm. ;)
7. Best Post About Cats
Fab jokingly nominated himself for this post, but then someone else did too. He wins this, hands down, for Are animal rights as important as human rights? (Alternate title: Which is more important, me or a busload of cats?) And, Fab, sweetie, really… still choosing the busload of cats as safe.
But since that post doesn't actually have any cats in it, just theories about the value of life, I must also grant a kitty mommy the honor of this award. Miss Ann perfectly chronicles her furry children and… um, then she mentions the kids she likes less than the others. Bad kitty mama for having favorites!!!
8. Best True Story
Avi's story about his dad's car being on fire sticks in my mind, so he wins this category. The post is really funny and really well written, as well as the story itself being hilarious. This happened to my mom once, but … um, it's not funny to me that my mom almost died in a car fire. The way Avi tells the story of his dad almost dying in a car fire is funny, so now I can laugh about a car fire. Thanks!
There are other true stories that are much more serious which deserve to tie in this category, but I have trouble drawing attention to the tragedies of others for the purposes of my made up awards ceremony. So, no ties!
9. Best Use of Profanity in a Blog Post
Avi wins this one for Starcocks because the words "starcocks" and "chickenfucker" amuse me to no end. And because ACW graciously passed the crown by saying "Avi can have this one this year."
10. Best Zombie Posts
Aaron wins because, um, heh, zombies but also because he tells us he blogs about zombies because he's bored. Good, keep being bored, please. I'm begging.
11. Greatest Blogger from…
Gainesville, FL: Fab from Pointless Drivel (he was nominated!)
Orlando, FL: Avi from Avitable (he nominated himself)
Baltimore, MD: ACW from AnonymousCoworker (he also nominated himself)
Frisco, TX: Abs from The Absurdist (she nominated Fab)
12. Guiltiest Blog Pleasure
For me it's a personal tie between a celebrity blog and a whatever-the-fuck-I-wanna-post blog.
What Would Tyler Durden Do? wins for celebrity blog. Every time I feed read that site my mind says, in a perfectly pitched voice, "what would Tyler Durden do?" and then I go on about my business of reading truly genius posts about the lives of those more fortunate in money but, honestly, pretty much less fortunate in anything else.
And then there's Say No to Crack which (correct me if this just isn't possible) I believe I found by visiting NPW's blog. Or maybe it was Aaron's. Or maybe it was some random guy in Tacoma. I dunno, I just know that every time I read this site I giggle maniacally and then feel like I need to take a shower. Wheee!
13. Laziest Blogger
Geek from A Slice of Geek wins this one. I checked with him ahead of time because I hate offending people over awards. He let me know he believes this is an accurate reflection of him. I think Tense might disagree? Maybe? But, anyway, he's happy he won an award, so yay Geek!
Edit: Please let it be known that I did NOT give this award to Dawg. He fessed up to hacking one of his OWN awards so he could create his own graphic of this award for his site. Sigh. SIGH! Leave it to Dawg to win 14 million awards because everyone thinks he's so awesome but he steals the ONE award he wasn't given. Geek? You should be pissed.
14. Most Prolific Blogger
This one I had considered in a very different way originally. I was thinking about how I post, and interpreted "prolific" in the frequency sense. But Tug blew mind and made me think about it in terms of proliferation in individual posts, so there is a tie:
Post frequency - BelchSpeak. Pat posts so many times a day that sometimes I get annoyed with him. And then I remember it's because I'm just like him. Heh.
Post length and depth and breadth - A Pile of Dog Bones. Dawg can go on and on and on and on and (on) about things you really just didn't know people could go on and on and on and (etc.) about. He is a writer, after all, so this should be expected. Even with the long ones I'm sad there's no more to read when I'm done reading a post.
15. Best Blog That References Guitar Hero
The blog of whall wins this one. Wayne and I are kindred Guitar Hero spirits. But, no, I don't want to play GH online with people, including you. 
I like to rock out alone or while standing directly next to Break Boy. But I actually think about Wayne when I'm playing, and about his blog, and about Jaden rocking out too, so Wayne deserves to win this category.
16. Funkiest Blog
Duh. Aaron's blog, Funky Carter! It's pretty funky over there. (Showering might be nice…)
17. Best Blog with a Foreign Title
Maman des Filles wins this one hands down. Her blog entertains me. It even incites me to anger. Often. Merci, Maman!
18. Best Library Blog
And the winner is, of course, Musings of a Semi-Coherent Mind. In all fairness, NPW gave me the wording for this category. So, while the blog isn't actually a library blog, it is a blog about a librarian, and she still wins. So, there. NPW, you rule the school. And library. (OMG, I'm lame. *snort*)
19. Best Grammar and Spelling Blog
Oh, please. Is there ever going to be a blogger who outdoes Stef from Stefanie Says? Probably not. So, congrats on winning two years in a row!
But, it's a tie. Because you know another deserves this award too: Tense Teacher is a teacher, after all, and she has perfect grammar and spelling. She expects the same out of her kids. Too bad the goobers don't deliver.
20. Best Food Porn Blog
Maman's blog Gastronerds and Sara's blog i like to cook both tie for delicious food porn recipes and photos. I'm sorry I can't say more, my brain is busy overdosing on food-induced endorphins.
21. Best Blogger Advocate for Kids to Not Be Raped by Slutty Teachers
Pat at BelchSpeak for his Why Homeschool? series hits this award out of the park, and, really, into space. Pat is a fellow IT Guy, but it's his series about teachers who get sent to jail for molesting their students that make me proud of him. I don't appreciate molestation, neither does he, and he publicizes the shit out of those horny pedophilic bitches ('scuse my French). Go, Pat! And, more of those LOLcat-style molester photos, please!!!
22. Best Post About Lima Beans, Brain Lint, and Grandma, Dammit!
Well, ok, to be fair, this category was made for a particular blogger so, of course, Stef from Stefanie Says wins this one, hands down. A special shout-out to her grandma who passed away before she could accept this award with Stef.
23. Best Foreign Language Post on a Predominantly English Blog
This one goes to Lisslo for her post ¡qué divertido! in which her Spanish class role plays her explaining to her husband Ryan that she was in a car accident. My favoritest line of that post: La Profesora: ¡Ella corta a él con las tijeras…que violento! [She cuts him with scissors! How violent!] THAT is comedic genius in (my) non-native language.
24. Fucking Perfect Post!
I am pretty sure I awarded this to NPW or someone else in her comments, but I can't remember who, and that shames me to no end. If you remember who you are please step forward and tell me. That said, here are a few fucking perfect posts:
Avi for his post about my birthday
Bdogg for her three part series about exacting revenge upon her cheating ex: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
CP for her blog friends post
Dawg for his post where he tries to convince me the world he's a dweeb
SourPuss for her Liar, Liar Coffee-Truck Driver post (LIAR.LIAR.LIAR.LIAR.LIAR.LIAR. *giggle*)
25. Best Stupid Husband Tricks Post
Another tie, but only because blood makes me almost pass out, if not actually pass out.
Non-bloody winner: Miss Britt for her post about highlighting her husband's hair using a bonnet.
Bloody winner: Chicka for her post about having to take her husband to the hospital because he cut himself with an axe. AN AXE. *FAINT*
…20 minutes later…
uh. heh. hi. I'm ok now.
26. Best Open Letter Movie Review
That'd be The Cactus himself for his review of No Country for Old Men. Everything about it is just perfection, but my favoritest part of all is that he signed it:
Yours in Christ,
Chris Cactus
No one expects a movie review to end with Jesus.
27. Best Thinker Post about Necrophilia
Did anyone think someone other than ACW for his post about being introduced as the necrophilia guy would win? Yah, me either. Nice job, ACW. And, um, I miss you already even though you're not gone yet. *sniffle*
28. Overall Awesome Blog
Tie.
I have to go with Chris Cactus. He does haiku on Mondays, has beautiful photos of his family, does a Friday recap of his week that always contains a question for his readers to think over and answer, and the man somehow was able to listen to music, read books, get his list of "hurry up before the next baby shows up" things done, and spend quality time with his family, all while working an IT security job while his second kiddo was about to enter the world. I have no idea how he was able to accomplish that, and I must acknowledge his overall greatness. Mr. Cactus, you and your blog are overall awesomeness.
Also, Dawg. He does a fantastic weekly roundup series of the best blog posts, he posts about whatever is on his mind, he actually writes out thoughtful posts that I'm sure take a lot of research but he never brags about how much time posts actually take him, he shares all about life in the big city which seems to always be exciting and drama filled, he posts awesome photos such as this one, and he posts a lot of lists, I've mentioned before, lists amuse me. I would also like to point out that there are paws all over his blog and I 
paws. Sure, he's a dog and I'm a cat, but… paws are paws.
29. Untitled Category Because Poppy Wanted to Award a Poppy Award
Tug asked for this award because I'm not a man so she can't marry me. The part about me not being a man is true; the part about her technically being able to marry me isn't exactly true. But, ya know, we won't be getting married so as a consolation gift I give her my undying love in Poppy Award form. Yay, Tug!
30. Best Tagline
Funky Carter: "more fun than a mall full of zombies". In case this was not made clear since day one of this blog, I love zombies. I also love taglines. Combine them and that makes me think you have the best tagline.
And there ya have it. If you didn't win something I forbid you to be sad, mad, unhappy, or any other negative emotion. I permit you to be happy for the winners, though! If you won something please email me if I'm in your email address book or use my contact page if not and I will email you back with your own personalized Poppy Award graphic(s). I produce them on the fly, because if you don't contact me I never make you one, so you need to contact me in order for me to generate a custom graphic for you. K? thx. bai. There are graphics ready for every award! Yay! And congratulations to all the winners!
Note: Because I'm nice and gracious and stuff, I made a page that concisely lists this year's winners. Go there if you like, but I just spent a bazillion hours picking winners and writing this post so it'd be nice if you read it a little.
You are currently browsing the Poppy Cedes category archives for Awards and accolades.
This morning I bought potato salad, a bean burrito, and cookies. I'm very curious to see which of these items I actually eat for lunch.
commentsAllie loves it when I clean her ears with Q-tips. She's purrrrrrring.
commentsVoodoo doughnut. Nuff said.
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commentsLook! A new Cereal Wednesday!!! YAY!!!!
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