can you feel the love tonight

This photo is supposed to make you go awwww and feel all warm inside, because:

I am copying Stacy. Her blog post a little while ago about what she likes about her readers and the people whose blogs she reads made me go awwww and feel all warm inside, and I wanted to let you guys know I feel the exact same way as her. Here's my tribute, such as it is, to each of you:

Beck of Frog and Toad Are Still Friends and Beck’s Recipes
Besides being a great writer, Beck has to be one of the most creative people in existence. I had to babysit while on crutches two nephews aged nine and seven for a week in January – my first stop was Beck’s blog to get ideas from all the cool (indoor, in this case) stuff she does with her kids. And she shares the most incredible recipes, and blogs about the most interesting things. Her three kids are very lucky.

E. from Mirable Dictu
This blogger is an honourary New Zealander although she lives in Utah and is about to spend a year in Italy and Wales. No, I’m not jealous. She is the most incredible blogger and can make anything into poetry. Everything that happens to her seems somehow magical, the way she writes about it, even if it’s the most “ordinary” of events. On top of this, she’s arty and eclectic and cool and writes really nice comments.

Heidi of Heidikins
Shall we just say that before I started reading Heidi’s blog I never knew the pursuit of stilettos could be so interesting? She has awakened an interest in me that I never knew I had. Heidi has also single-handedly re-instilled in me a belief in romance and an appreciation of being girly, as well as captivating me with her fun and exuberant writing. Which is not to say that her blog goes only skin deep. Oh no. This blogger knows exactly how to strike the right balance between the profound and the absurd, the thoughtful and the joyful.

Jenkneebee of Or Something Like That
Besides her great taste in music and books, Jenkneebee does very funny, interesting or active things and then shares them in photographic form. She’s all about audience participation, and she overhears incredibly funny conversations. She leaves lovely and funny comments. What’s not to love?

Lynette of Tourette’s Mom
Lynette is actually incredible. Over the year or so I’ve been reading her blog, she’s gone through stuff no one should go through and yet found the time and love to be unbelievably caring and encouraging to me on this blog and also on my God blog. I guess I never thought that God could help you out through the internet but in getting Lynette to comment on my blogs and to write her own amazing stuff he has outdone himself. I’m sure everyone else agrees!

Patty of Green Tea Obsession

Patty was one of my first regular readers and commenters. She’s an amazing photographer and gave me so much good advice and encouragement. Now she’s moved over from Blogger to her own webpage which is a very styly and beautiful collection of her photography, regularly updated. Go visit her and tell her I sent you ‘cos I’m her biggest fan!

Pilgrimchick of Spark of Madness
This blogger is one of the first who commented on my blog and whose blog I actually deigned to read. And I haven’t stopped, because her blogging is incredibly clever and interesting. And there’s not that many other people I know who have had jobs pretending to be pilgrims.

Sara of Putting the Sara in Sarakastic
I mostly read the above blog but Sara has a multitude of hilarious blogs that contribute, oh, maybe 45% of the joy in my life? She also only dates ninjas and is obsessed with cool things like tiaras and Gilmore Girls, and leaves always funny or kind (or both!) comments on other people’s blogs.

Stacy of Welcome to the Confessional

By most standards, Stacy could be termed an old online friend of mine by now. When I first “met” her I was probably fifteen or sixteen, although I can’t remember exactly, so a reasonable period of time has passed since then, obviously, and I can’t believe I’ve never actually met or talked to her because she’s just been a part of my life for so long now, whether as The Dictator (semi-private joke) or critic or blog commenter or, I would say, a friend. Her blog posts and her writing both cracks me up and makes me think, she is thoughtful and incredibly intelligent and unique, and I can’t wait to tell everyone I know her when she gets famous.

Stanbul of Linglay’s Thoughts, otherwise known as Bonsai when she comments on my blog.
This utterly cool blogger was a friend of mine at school – just to demonstrate how cool she is, when we finished high school she got the award “Most Eccentric”. :) Once you start her singing you cannot stop the flow. While the rest of us did boring stuff like go to uni straight out of school, she went and spent a year in Minnesota and now she’s studying zoology and great sounding words like that. Her blog is a mixture of hyperactive stream of consciousness, thoughtfulness and a lot of quoting of songs.

Trish of Trish’s Dishes
I think I started reading Trish’s blog through Stacy and was immediately hooked. Trish is a funny and intelligent writer whose book I cannot wait to read, and she is also obviously a truly caring friend. She somehow comes across the funniest, weirdest or greatest stuff that’s available on the internet and shares it. She’s going to be famous and still somehow finds time to comment on obscure Kiwi blogs. She’s cool.

Tusk of Pigs from a Gun

I haven’t read Tusk’s blog for long but I’m a convert. Tusk forms my entire male constituency, he’s from Britain, and he also contributes to a God blog called Number One Reason. Sometimes I have no idea what he’s talking about – two words: British Sports – but overall he’s great to read :)

Virginia of The Virginia Monologues
I haven’t been reading Virginia’s blog for very long either but I love it! At the ripe old age of 21 she makes me look forward to being 30 :) She has cool friends like Bill Clinton and Dixie Carter and routinely makes me laugh out loud with her blog posts.

Also on my reading list at the moment is Tavis Xavier of Canadian Abroad, but this is a very very recent addition – I will only say that this blog is GOOD. And if I have missed anyone I heartily apologise. Leave me a comment, I will come visit you, and then I can add bits on to the bottom of this!

Response to a few comments on my last blog post: No, I'm not going to say anything else about Inappropriate Mystery Man. Please believe me when I say that I really shouldn't dwell on it and don't want to encourage myself because he literally is inappropriate in five different ways. I'm sorry for dangling that carrot but I was very tired and annoyed with myself and it was good to vent a little and now all I need to do is stop thinking about it! So, that was a no. :)