Just call me Little Miss Sunshine

There's nothing like a wagon load of sunshine as a pick-me-up, especially in winter.  This past week my allowance of Vitamin D came in the form of Sunshine Awards from two blogging friends, Margaret at Reflections on the Teche and Keri at Keri Recommends.  My warmest thanks to both of these fabulous, sun-toting writers!

This is how it works:

1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger(s).
2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger created for you.
4. List 11 bloggers who inspire you.
5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they’ve been nominated. Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.

Eleven Facts:

1. I am an INFJ and an Aquarius. 
2. I enjoy snacking on dark chocolate covered edamame.
3. I was named after the Beatles song.  The intention was to call me Mickey, but thanks to long hair and nails at birth, I narrowly escaped that fate.
4. A record producer once told me I would be the next Tracy Chapman and suggested I change my name to Cindy Timberwolf.
5. In my next life, I would like to be a dancer or a bird... or both. (I'll pass on the timber wolf-- Cindy or otherwise.)
6. I once got my foot stuck in the back wheel of a moving bicycle and my family called me "Gross Foot."  (I would have preferred Mickey.)
7. I have been fortunate to have lived in some beautiful places.  I especially miss the big sky of New Mexico and the eastern coastline of Australia.
8. I have a talent for making wonderful friends, both in person and online, wherever I call home. 
9. Each time I move, I have an irrational fear that I will be forgotten.  This is likely due to a favorite 5th grade teacher who didn't recognize me when I returned to visit the following year.
10. Prior to creative parenting and creative writing, I worked my way up from Department Secretary to Human Resources Manager at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
11. For many, many years I sang "Lullaby and Goodnight" to my children at bedtime.  Not once did I make it all the way through without yawning.  Still can't, but I hope you made it through my list of random facts without yawning!

Eleven Answers:
          (I've taken some questions from Margaret's list and some from Keri's)

1. What is your favorite movie of all time?  The Secret of Roan Inish

2. When did you first begin to believe you were a writer?  After being discouraged in high school, I only began to believe I was a writer when I got my first greeting card copy acceptance in November of 2004.  Unless songwriting counts... then it was when I was about 20 or so.

3. Who was your favorite author when you were growing up?  Dr. Seuss

4. Do you collect anything?  Suns and unpacked moving boxes

5. What book have you read lately that influenced you and how?  Views from a Window Seat, by Jeannine Atkins.  This is why.

6. What is a poem you know by heart and can recite?  In my childhood bedroom, there was a plaque that hung above my bed.  I read it every night and remember it to this day.

A Child's Prayer

(author unknown)

Dear God, 

I thank You for Your care

You've been right with me everywhere

At school, at play, You're by my side

My special Friend, my loving Guide

And when the sun has said goodbye

And little lights shine in the sky

You're still with me, not far above

Right in my heart, for You are Love.

7.  A popular children's book you feel guilty about NOT reading?  A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle.  I know, I know... I'll be reading it next!

8. Next place you hope to visit?  Prague

9. Unusual skill you possess?  I'm a self-taught cups percussionist for "The Cup Song"... but please don't ask me to sing at the same time.

10. Something you loathe?  Downhill skiing.  The one and only time I went, I left a trail of blue dye from the seat of my new jeans all the way down the mountain.

11. Something you love?  Music, morning walks, and my muse when it comes out to play.

Eleven Bloggers:

Note: I realize that several of you have been nominated over and over, and I don't actually expect you to participate.  Just wanted to thank you for the inspiration, and for leaving the light on.

And the Sunshine Awards go to...

Robyn Hood Black: Life on the Deckle Edge
Mary Lee Hahn: A Year of Reading
Renee LaTulippe: No Water River
Liana Mahoney: Commas Have Wings
Diane Mayr: Random Noodling
Sarah Monsma: Sarah Monsma, Writer and Editer
Jama Rattigan: Jama's Alphabet Soup
Laura Purdie Salas: Writing the World for Kids
Laura Shovan: Author Amok
Liz Steinglass: Elizabeth Steinglass, Poet
Tabatha Yeatts: The Opposite of Indifference

Eleven Questions:

1. Choose three words to describe yourself.
2. Choose three words others might use to describe you.
3. What is your secret snack or guilty pleasure?
4. Other than your immediate family, who is/was your role model?
5. Favorite music?
6. Favorite book or author as a child?
7. What are you reading now?
8. Share an embarrassing childhood memory.
9. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
10. What is one of your favorite things about where you live?
11. What was the best advice ever given to you?