Adorable Blog Award

Miss Beth Ann nominated me for this little piece of awesomeness and just completely made my day! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!

10 Things about ME (Them's the Rulz.) Then...pass it on...

1.  I'm an artist.  Some of you may know that I am a photographer, and have my own business (my website link is on my blog somewhere, but here's a link.) But I do photography as art too. Landscapes, close ups of flowers, etc.  I haven't gotten my 'art' on my website yet, but here's a pic I took a few years ago. Oh, and someday I'm going to get back to painting too. I used to love to watercolor!

I know this will run outside my blog, but its OK.
They're buffalo on a prairie in S. Dakota.

2.  I was in Girl Scouts till I was 14.  I think that's why I have an extremely unhealthy and semi-scary obsession with Thin Mints.  (Just reminded me that I need to blow up that last box in the freezer before I cave and eat them.)

3. My real name isn't Laura Belle.  It's my nick name. My real name is Laura, but the 'Belle' part was added by my Aunt Becky when I was just a weeeee 2 weeks old.  See, my parents were already sick of parenting by that point so they decided to go on a little vacay to the wonderful Colorado Rockies (WTH, mom? Just kidding).  Well, my aunt lives on the way to CO so they dropped me off for a long weekend or a week, or something.  Anyway, apparently being the most angelic and sweet person that I am (yeah right), I didn't make a peep the entire time I was in her care.  No crying with a poopy diaper or when I was hungry or just for no apparent reason (which is what my extensive experience with babies is like).  Nada.  Quiet the whole time. So she nicknamed me Laura Belle. Stuck ever since.....30 years later. Someday I'll tell the shopping mall 'incident' story when I was 3 that is quite the opposite of being angelic and sweet. (Lets just say it was so bad my mom never went back. Ever.)

4.  I was a waitress/bartender/manager/drunk 'regular' at a little place called Hibachi Hut for about 6 years (during college). It's a cajun food restaurant (yes, in the middle of Kansas) that was TO. DIE. FOR. Best food ever. Then I was a waitress/bartender/drunk 'regular' at Little Apple Brewery the last 2 years I was in college.  Imagine that....me working at a brewery. I know, shocking.  (I made best friends with the beer maker!!!Hehehe)  Good times.

5.  Mustangs are my favorite cars.  I want a 1970 Mach 1 Fastback.  And a 1965 convertible.  And a 1967 Shelby GT500 Fastback.  And a 2012 Boss 302.  All purple. (Ryan, you need to start playing the Powerball.)

6.  I read.  A lot.  But I didn't use to. In 3rd grade I had a kindergartner's reading level, and my 3rd grade teacher talked to my mom about it.  My mom then read to me and made me read to her every night for an entire year.  After that I had a 5th grade reading level and I've had my nose in a book ever since. I like gushy romance novels, mysteries and drama things mostly.

7.  I work in the Aerospace Industry, as a graphic designer. It's kinda random.  I design and print the faces (dials) of all the instrument gauges that are in smaller airplanes. Like Cessna, Beechcraft, etc.  It's like the MPH dial in your car, only in a plane. And they can be gas gauges (tells when your empty or full) or an altitude gauge or many other things.  My company is the only one in the world doing this and I was the 'chosen' one to lead the dept. I've been with it from the ground up.  So if your private Cessna plane crashes....it might have been because of me. Ooops. (Just kidding, again.)

8.  I 'can' my own salsa and spicy carrots and green beans in the summer.  Using the veggies from my garden, or sometimes a farmer's market.  I've been known to pull a carrot out of the ground, hose it off, and chow down (it's ok, leftover dirt particles are good for the body).  I've also picked field corn (which is what you give cattle, sweet corn is what normal people eat), shucked it and gnawed on that in the middle of the corn rows.  Why? Well, I'm weird like that, and the field corn tasted just about the same as the sweet corn.

9.  I love to travel. I've been to the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Mexico (3 times), and numerous States.  I've never been on a cruise and I'm making that my next 'big' vacation.

10.  Ummm, what else.....I used to help my dad, Martin, build houses.  I know how to frame a wall, put up sheet rock, roof a house, build a deck, and of course paint, stain, etc.  I even lived out in CO for 3 months renovating a house for my dad. I built a 1500 sq ft deck on the side of a mountain.  (I fell off the ladder twice doing that. It hurt.)  I even have my own 'man's' tool belt that my dad bought me. Sometimes, I think 'tom-boy' is an understatement for me.

And now I'm passing this cute little award to:

Angie @ White House Blog
Dawnya @ Evolution of a Black Butterfly
Crazy or Determined? One Girl's Quest into Running

I also want to add, that I came back (been in Denver) to like a kazillion new followers and I am so so SO excited about you all. It just made my little heart go pitter-patter!! I haven't had time to go through all the emails and comments and finding your blogs so I can follow and all that craziness, but I'll catch up! I promise! So thanks for reading my rants!!

OK, one more thing: I ate bone marrow this weekend.  Seriously. 
Tell you all about it tomorrow!