Tea and Thank You's on Tuesday

I'm joining Kimmie at Art in Red Wagons for Tea on Tuesday. A friend gave me a small package of Strawberry tea that goes perfectly with ...

my strawberry dessert. I found a sheet pound cake recipe over at Happier Than a Pig in Mud so baked it up and then topped it with fresh strawberries and a bit of Activia Stirred Yogurt sweetened with honey. Yummo!

Now for the thank you's! On July 27th, I received the Sunshine Award from LoveStitch, a sweet blogger in Vietnam who is always crocheting up something new and sharing patterns too. Her latest design is a puffy cell phone cozy. I definitely want to try out the puff stitch. Thank you LoveStitch for your kind words.

And a big thank you to Shanda who blogs from California. She kindly passed on the Versatile Blogger Award. Shanda is the child of missionaries who grew up in Zambia and married a Zimbabwean. She has lived in 7 different countries in Africa and Central America and has run the Boston Marathon twice. You can visit her thought-provoking blog A Pause on the Path.

Since I have had recent visitors wondering how I am where I am, I thought I would take this opportunity to say thank you to LoveStitch and Shanda and share a bit about myself.

1. I was born in Mississippi and grew up in Texas and Louisiana. (Being a Southern gal, California always seemed like foreign land to me. I've never been to California, but look where I am now.)
2. I worked as a legal secretary for 10 years before coming to Kuwait (I love, love, love to type and worked for a law firm where 100 page briefs were the norm).
3. Hubby and I met on a blind date in New Orleans. He was there visiting his college roommate for a couple of days and we went out only once. He went back to where he was living in West Virginia and proceeded to call me for the next couple of weeks; asked me to visit him over the 4th of July weekend that year, so I did. That was 19 years ago and, as they say, the rest is history.
4. I did not immediately agree to come to Kuwait. In fact, I said No, No, No! I finally agreed to come for 2 years; we got married and I arrived here Christmas Eve, 1994. There is much I don't like and I never dreamed I would live outside the US. Turns out, this is the longest I have ever lived any one place in my life.
   
   
5. We were married in October and both our boys are born in October. They will be 16 and 13 in just 2 months and that is unbelievable to me. My how time flies!
6. My husband is originally Palestinian but was born and raised in Kuwait. His parents have both since passed away and he is now running the paper company and printing press that his dad started 30 years ago. It's hard for him to give up his dad's dream.
7. I taught kindergarten for 7 years and then did substitution work for a year before being offered a job as secretary to the Superintendent of the American school my kids attend. I've been there 4 years now and love it. My boss is from Nova Scotia and is so appreciative of everything I do which makes for a great working environment.

So that's me in a nutshell! I know many bloggers don't like to accept awards but I do feel the need to acknowledge and say thank you when they come my way. I would also like to thank all of you who come to visit my little corner of the world. You are all versatile bloggers to me and fill my heart with sunshine whenever you stop by.

On a completely different note, today is my mom's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Unfortunately, she has never had a computer or an email account, so I will have to call her later this afternoon.

Wishing you all a terrific Tuesday! Best wishes and blessings, Tammy