Creating Brains

I’ve recently tweaked my wardrobe. I wear mostly navy-blue now.  Jeans, dark.  Tops, boat-neck (mostly).  All navy. That’s it. Not impressed?  Allow me to explain.  First, mono-color-dressing turns what I wear into a backdrop for accessories. Think museum wall and masterpiece.  Second, now all clothes fall into one of two categories, navy or accessory and I spend practically zero minutes deciding what to put on in the morning. So why should you care?  Again, allow me to explain (stay with me here). Some say Albert Einstein hung several identical shirts and pants ready-to-wear so he’d spend zero time deciding what to put on in the morning.  See? Einstein and me– alike. But, the real reason I’m trying to explain how I put myself together is, well, because (and this is BIG)…the stylish Dr.Q of Friend to Yourself has bestowed upon navy-clad me…

…The Stylish Blogger Award!

I’m stylish!  Dr. Q is a well-loved and respected psychiatrist, so it must be true.  She’s got her own style and tips for the rest of us. My favorite is: We should all take a look in the mirror and wink.  I just did and it was a thrill. Thank you for the kudos Dr.Q!

Of course, with much opportunity comes great responsibility. So I must fulfill my duties as today’s Stylish Blogger. Here goes:

Present seven things about yourself:

1. Long fingernails drive me crazy (on myself and on others). Eeeeek!
2. My favorite living writers: younger than me– Jonah Lehrer, older than me– Adam Gopnick.
3. My favorite saint (I’m not catholic):  Teresa of Avila.
4. I worked as a language  interpreter in an international business meeting in NY at age 11 (English/Spanish).
5. My first childhood boy-friend won’t  speak to me today.
6. I’ve walked on the roof among the domes of a basilica.
7. I completed year 1 of medical school studying from medical texts translated from Russian.

Here comes the fun part of the to-do list. Whoopee–I get to surf and visit my super-stylish favorite bloggers now!

Name six other bloggers for the award. Contact them and link back to the person, (in this case  Dr. Q of Friend to Yourself) and hope that everyone listed pushes this forward:

1.  Betsy Lerner in The Forest for the Trees. She edits big-time books and writes some of the funniest posts venting about life in publishing and life in general. She also gives helpful insider tips for writers and tells us (writers, that is) about ourselves– apparently, we are a self-destructive and neurotic bunch!  Did I mention she’s funny?

2.  Curious mind at large Maria Popova, idea curator for the fascinating Brain Pickings.  How could I not love someone into art, design, music, science, technology, philosophy, cultural history, politics, psychology, sociology, ecology, anthropology, you-name-itology!

3. David Ng and Timon Buys of The Creative Science Quarterly– in which, in respect to their name, they are as confused as you are. They write as if the Queen of England reads their blog. Very stylish, indeed. The focus?  Mostly odd bits of science-ee stuff.  So properly hilarious!

4. Celine of Celine’s Cuisine. Far from her native Paris, in S. Calif., Celine takes time from her busy teaching schedule to chat about philosophy or the beauty of pomegranate trees heavy with fruit. My children have learned from her a dozen different ways to cook whole, simple food.  I learned from her you must peel every single garbanzo bean before you serve any garbanzo dish…to avoid (decidedly un-stylish) gastrointestinal distress.   Is she fabulous? Oui.  Stylish?  Of course!

5. Jonah Lehrer of The Frontal Cortex.  Mouth-watering ideas.  Seamless writing.  Undeniably stylish.

6. I started reading Gretchen Rubin’s hugely popular The Happiness Project several years ago, a few months after my oldest daughter (9 yrs. old, then) died suddenly.  I don’t remember how I found this lovely blog,  but then it resonated with me to the core. Gretchen’s light-touch (not overly emotional/dramatic) covering deep topics kept me coming back for more.  She’s a modern-day Montaigne. The night I started Creating Brains, this blog, I read The Happiness Project post for that day, and realized I needed to channel my curiosity for the creative process into a project, like Gretchen’s.  I opened a new tab and began typing the first sentence of my first post. Inspiring me so– super-duper (do stylish people use this word?) stylish!

Now you guys do your thing!  Push it forward.  There are sooooo many other creative bloggers out there with serious style that should be on this too short list.  ….You know who you are!

I never thank you, all my faithful readers, enough for checking out my posts.  Thank you!

Filed under: Awards Tagged: | blogging, Creative Contribution, Inspiration, Stylish bloggers