Rockin' Awards Ceremony

Wow! Nutmeg nominated me for a Rockin' Girl Blogger Award! The timing is rather funny since a) I've been doing so much moaning about the loss of the Milwaukee area's only classical radio station (my wonderful husband surprised me by burning a nice classical CD and leaving it in the car for me this weekend, by the way) and b) over 4th of July weekend I spent a bit of time reminiscing with another homeschool mom about the 80s music we enjoyed once upon a time.

Anyway, since this award is likely to make its way around our corner of the blogosphere, I thought I'd take a slightly different angle and nominate some of my favorite younger bloggers - homeschool teens and grads (there is a bit of an age span here).

Naturally, I'll have to start with my daughter Ria - young Chestertonian, aspiring artist and lover of many good things. Ria made me promise not to nominate all of her friends so that she'd have some left to pass this along to herself. :)

Next up is Ria's cousin, Michaela, a part-time professional artist enjoying the farming life in the wilds of Oklahoma and the newest addition to Small Pax guild. I have, in the scrapbook I gave to John for our wedding (nearly 15 years ago!) a coloring book page she colored and gave to me during our engagement - labeled "The Prince marries the Princess." (Michaela was also the flower girl in our wedding.)

I've known Margaret for about five or six years now and always enjoy her thoughts and ramblings on her blog. I have a feeling that her blog will grow even quieter for a time as she's leaving for Wyoming Catholic College later this summer. In the meantime, we have a few more catechism discussions in which to enjoy her company and her wit.

Filia Dei is a homeschool and Steubenville grad now in the graduate architecture program at Notre Dame. She's been involved in the local historical society (inspiring numerous now-famous floats in her hometown's 4th of July parade) and all kinds of other cool stuff for many years. She's the sort that helps you get a vision of what homeschooling can do for your kids. :)

Mary-Therese is the only one in the bunch I haven't met in person (at least I don't think I have - we did meet much of her family in person in San Francisco about 8 years ago, but I *think* she wasn't there at the time). She loves great movies and excellent books, and reviews them quite thoughtfully.