Stylish Blogger Award

Well I received this award this week from two different blogging friends.  Thanks to Gardenia Pepworth and Tara Bilabo for this Stylish Blogger Award.  Update - since then I have also received a nod from Alison Day and Lori Turner.

Part of this award is to list 8 things about myself.  So why not try some unique ones that you all probably don't know.

1.  I have a Cook Islands Drivers License - yes I had to take a test.  Actually, I spent a summer backpacking around the South Pacific Islands by myself.  Highlights included a 24 hour trip on a cargo ship to Bora Bora, with just some locals, and watching dolphins jump off the bow in the morning.  I also learned to drive a moke, to drive a motorcycle, and to snorkel with sharks. 

2.  I spent the year 2000 teaching in a small town in New Zealand.  I did a job exchange, and my partner came from the small town and lived in my home and taught in my job in inner city Vancouver.

3.  I have a Piano Teacher's certificate.  That's what 10 years of classical Piano Training got for me.

4.  My husband is 10 years younger than me.  We still agree that he is more mature than I am.  That year I spent in the South Pacific - well he was still in high school.

5.  I love, love, love my job as a teacher.  I have been teaching since 1992.  I have been in my fabulous school since 2002 and I have no plans to ever leave it.

6.  I have moved home 18 different times.  (19 if you count that year in New Zealand).  Let's just say that in my 20's I had a hard time settling down.  Conversely, my parents still live in the house I grew up in.  Update - I just signed a deal on a new house and we will be moving at the end of April - I'd like to think that this is the LAST move as this house is almost perfect

7.  I am a night owl.  I don't usually go to bed before midnight.  I also HATE mornings.  Turns out that my daughter is the same.

8.  I am a Viking and I'm strong and stubborn too.  My grandparents were all immigrants to Canada.  My dad's first language was Icelandic.  He did not learn English until he was 7 years old.  My other grandparents were Norwegian and Danish.  My student's find this fascinating as most of them have asian heritage and so they assume that I'm English because I'm white.

Now I need to pass this on to 8 other bloggers...
So I'm passing it on to

1. Georgeann Manning
2.  Marlene Peters
3.  Kari Linder
4.  Arielle Gordon
5. LeAnne Pugilese
6. Lesley Croghan
7. Denise Pettingill
8. Alison Day

You can click on their names to link to their blogs.  Whew this post has taken me a long time to do.