Lovely surprises and my first blog award!!

I got back from my holiday (more on that later) and found two lovely surprises waiting for me! One at home, the other online, but both from the amazing Julie of moments of perfect clarity. Hers is a fantastic blog, hilarious, a bit crazy, and always clever, insightful, very honest, and inspiring. You should all go and read it!

Some weeks ago, I won a giveaway at Julie's blog and, earlier than expected, my prize arrived while I was away! A beautiful hand made french press cozy, a Moleskine and delicious chocolate (ginger and lemon, so it's healthy, right?) as well as some of Julie's mini business cards, which I think are great. Everything made by Julie (except the chocolate):


Obviously, one of the first things I did after opening my pressie and unpacking was turning on my Mac (after a week offline!) and checking my Google reader, where I found another nice surprise! Julie has given me my very first blog award!



And not just any award, The Renee award! As explained in Sotto Vocce (who gave the award to Julie):

It's one of the most meaningful awards in the blogworld because it honours someone who is incredibly inspirational in her intelligent and witty writing. And by doing so this award celebrates women's smart, strong and inspirational spirit. These women are like Renee (of Circling My Head): the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns…

I'm really honored and I'm already thinking on who I'm going to pass this to, but there are so many inspirational women out there in the blogesphere that it's difficult to chose. Inspiration is one of the things I've found in blogs, but also, I've found people who are not afraid to share their knowledge, their creativity and ideas, in the belief that sharing will enrich them, as well as others. This is so rare in the real world, and it's so refreshing how we all learn and inspire each other. Blog awards represent this sharing and learning together. So, thanks, Julie, for the award and for reminding me of why I love blogs!