Cherry on Top Award

Thank you so much to the lovely Cannwin and Jennifer of the Literary Soundtrack for giving me the Cherry on Top Award! That really made me smile :)

Here's how it works:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Copy award and put it in your blog.
3. List three things that you love about yourself.

• My curly hair - its a nightmare sometimes, but I wouldn't change it!
• My home - it needs work and has created quite a headache over the 6 months since I bought it, but it's mine to make as I wish and I'm happy that I was brave (and lucky) enough to take the leap, and thankful for the help I have had.
• My experiences - although there are many things I still want to do and places I want to see, I am happy that I have done so much with my life already.

4. Post a photo that you love.
I took this picture of Dunottar Castle in Scotland back in 2006, and it has stayed with me as one of my favourite examples of what I love about Britain.

5. Tag 5 people you would like to pass this award on to.

• A Striped Armchair
• Fluttering Butterflies
• In Spring Is The Dawn
• Stuff As Dreams Are Made On
• Stella Matutina

Thanks you guys :)

Awards and absences

Many thanks to the lovely Tina of The Clean White Page, who has kindly gifted me with this Santa Clause Award (yes, that looks suspiciously similar to the lemonade award, with a festive addition!). The rules are simple, to pass the award on to five more people. So my five are:

Naida of the Bookworm - I may not always comment, but I always love reading your blog.
Nymeth of Things Mean A Lot - for putting up with my uber slow reading for a joint review!
Darla of Books & other thoughts - for constantly adding to my TBR list!
Tanabata of In Spring it is the Dawn - for constantly inspiring me to learn Japanese!
Michelle of Fluttering Butterflies - whose blog is always a pleasure to read.

I can't remember every having been this constantly busy (though I am sure I say that every time), but I will endeavour to post some reviews over the festive period, I still have a lot to catch up on! But many thanks to all the new visitors to my blog and for your lovely comments, you are all most welcome!

I'm Tink Approved!

The charming LadyTink has sprinkled a little fairy dust my way and granted me her Tink Approved award. Many many thanks! For anyone who doesn't read her blogs, check them out for some wonderful book and film reviews!

Speaking of films, I just finished watching Deep Impact again, after many many years, and managed to find myself blubbing at exactly the same spot that moved me to tears the first time I watched it. (I won't spoil it for anyone, but suffice to say it involves sacrifice and saving the ones you love). Curious...apparently though I may have aged (and one hopes, matured) over the years, the same things have an emotional impact on me! And I don't usually get that teary at films, so that's saying something.

I also watched Inkheart with Rhinoa last week. I really enjoyed it, though it differed from the book a fair bit. Brendan Fraser is always fun on camera and Paul Bettany was quite frankly hot!

Movies, awards and sunny holidays!

So, I'm back in gloriously sunny Norfolk and have two whole weeks off work to look forward to! I've been living here for over two years, but haven't really taken the time to explore the area, which is absolutely stunning. So I'm really looking forward to having a frolic in the countryside and catching up on my reading as I am woefully behind on my challenges!

In the meantime, I saw Wanted a few days ago and was very pleasantly surprised. Very very gripping, with some fantastic action sequences, and the ever delicious James McAvoy! Tonight, we're heading to see the Dark Knight tonight...very exciting! We bought 13 tickets this morning, and good job too, because over half the tickets had already been sold. Verdict tomorrow!

On the blog front...Eva at A Striped Armchair has given me a Blog Award of Excellence for my blog's physical appearance. Thank you very much! So I'm supposed to nominate other bloggers... I nominate Nymeth at Things Mean a Lot for her fantastic reviews and diversity of reading, Rhinoa of Rhinoa's Ramblings for her great reviews and for introducing me to so many good books, Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings for his wonderful posts on unusual and intriguing art, Valentina of Valentina's Room for her great children's book reviews, Dewey of The Hidden Side of a Leaf for her excellent Weekly Geeks and Andi of Tripping Towards Lucidity for her excellent reviews, doggy photos and fabulous blog layout! Thanks for all your great blogs guys!