Of Memes and Blogging Inspiration

It's been a while since I've done a tag or a meme post like this. I kind of feel that doing my normal posts are already about me [yes, vanity, what else?] so doing a meme would be kind of redundant. But it's nice to write stuff like this every once in a while so indulge me. Thankyouverymuch.
Got this from the BFF.
Rules of acceptance:

1) Acknowledge the person who sent you the award [not really, please do not feel pressured to do so

2) Nominate 7 other blogs.

3) Share your 7 personality traits so we can get to know you better.

Step 2, here goes the top 7 blog/bloggers I admire and are basically the ones who shaped me as the blogger I am now [thanks, girls!] A note though, some of the bloggers in this list don't know me, or have no idea I follow/read their blogs but my point is to be brutally honest as this is an award and awarding is giving it to the best and because I don't do this as much, please allow me:

1. Sab. Believe it or not, Sab is probably the closest to my heart amongst the lovely and fab girls I got to know online. Not that we've met, because we haven't yet [let's work on the margarita night, Sab sweetie!]. It's probably our common seemingly unprofessed love for vices and MUSIC that brought us to such. I haven't known anyone who could understand my Facebook statuses like she did, most of those I usually lift from songs and she was the only one who knew! :) For some reason, I think that I am like her in more ways than one [I hope that's okay with you, S] and I like it. When I chanced upon her blog a year ago, I backread down to her first post ever, something I don't do all the time.

2. Nikki. Every single beauty/lifestyle blogger I know has Nikki up on the pedestal. Aside from her being super nice, Nikki is dedicated, she has a post for each single day I've started following her blog. As if that is not enough, her posts are beyond for the sake of just posting. When you read her blog, you would sense that she's put her efforts into it starting from the photos, the writing, everything. You would really ask her what is this or that.. And she has an answer! :)

3. Phoebe. Phoebe's blog was one of the first blogs I've ever stumbled upon. It was one of the first ones I admired, too. I love how her posts are uniquely her --- it reflects her personality and you would know that there is only one of her in the blogging world. Her photos are soooo nice you would want to buy a DSLR yourself. Oh and we both discovered that she and my BF went to the same school in high school. Small world, yes?

4. Shen. I've been reading Shen's blog for the longest time but started commenting only when I read what happened to her mom. I've also lost my dad [due to cardiac arrest] and I felt her emotions that I cried when I read her posts. I felt like I was transported back to the day my dad died and in one way we were through the same situation. Second to that, Shen is probably one of the best beauty blogger/MuAs I know, with mad blending skills and she's very pretty to boot.

5. Jheng. I first encountered Jheng's URL through Girltalk and I remember the post that I saw wherein I ended up laughing and nodding in agreement. It was something to do with makeup, like some women tend to have disregard to co-females who put on makeup nicely and that they tend to criticize us. Jheng won my respect when she said that those kind of women [who badmouth us makeup-loving females] are to be ignored and that maybe they are just insecure [sorry sis, I can't remember it verbatim, it was definitely more empowering]. I've met Jheng once when she agreed to be the MuA for a photography shoot at our office and she made me up! Lucky me, right?

6. Dane. Hers is a fashion blog, set on an island environment which makes it all the more unique, fresh and inviting. I stumbled upon it when I was browsing through Island in the Clouds, another blog of hers, and I was inspired with how she does her clothes herself, re-does vintage and designer pieces to make it uniquely her. Just like me, she's away from her mom and her family, something I can relate to, yet again.
and for a tie:
7a. Fuzkittie. Another highly-regarded blogger, she covers all topics from makeup, to health, to fitness, travels, food and Asian trends. I love how she puts so much effort in every post even if she does so much business travels! She even manages video posts, something I enjoy watching. She's so cute, too! Even if she's based in the US, she doesn't seem to lose even an inch of her Asian flavor [she's Taiwanese]. She has a great sense of fashion, too!

7b. Ok! Philippines' editor Frances Amper-Sales' Topaz Horizon. Aside from the fact that we share the same birth stone, I find her site a writer's/reader's haven. She discusses books she had read and enjoyed, her blog is reflective of her tremendous writing ability and she shares a lot of things I would enjoy reading: restaurants, travel posts, her and her husband's home finds. Her blog oozes with so much positivity that I always end up smiling after reading a post.

Honorable mentions [I can't bear to nominate only 7!]

I am Shallow
Apocalypstick
Gala Darling
Mama Was a Rolling Stone
And now, on to Step 3 [feel free to navigate away from my page].

1. No matter how shopaholic I may seem, I never forget to save/add to my portfolio. The first rule of thumb in my book is to save first before spending which leads me to...

2. I don't have a credit card. The only one I have is a supplementary card I will only use during out of the country trips is under my mom's name. I can't bear getting one because I know I can rack up a debt enough for a third world country, at one given point in time with that evil plastic.

3. I don't mix spaghetti sauce with the noodles. I want my pasta to have different levels of taste, I keep some of it bland.

4. I am a crybaby. I will never, for the life of me, cry in public but I cry easily over movie trailers, books, blogs etc. Yes, even while reading text messages, as long as I am alone.

5. I can commit to a thing nonstop for a period. I can eat canned tuna for months, I can listen to only one song for the whole day and I can use the same blush shade for more than a year. I have no explanation for this, unfortunately.

6. Much as I love reading, I did not get to page 2 of The Lord of the Rings. I simply got bored with it. I don't blame Tolkien, though. I just think I am waayyy too superficial for his books.

7. I don't watch regular-programming TV. Coming from four years of Mass Communication, I tend to shy away from TV simply because I hate seeing advertisements and yet I love doing them, ha! It's just --- icky, I don't know. Even the international ones. I only watch TV when I have nothing else to do [rarely], when I'm trying to relax during stressful mornings or you know, MJ's memorials and such. As for my TV series addiction, I watch them through DVD and from my trusty hard drive.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to catch my breath.