July 30, 2009

A scrap of honesty

The worth of honesty is invaluable in my books; exceptionally few things in this world even come close to the truth. I strive to live my life with as much honesty as possible and truly appreciate others who attempt to do the same. As such I was especially touched when two of my sweet blogging friends, A Red Lipstick and Mel, both tagged me recently with the Honest Scrap award. Thank you both deeply, kind dears, I am very touched that you passed this wonderful award on to me.


{Image via The Bubble.}


In general I’m terribly shy about posting personal information about myself out in the open, yet I was recently pushed out of my comfort zone in this regard when I received a different award (The Kreativ Blogger), and needed to list seven things about myself in order to fulfill the specifications of this lovely award. While I doubt I’ll be writing a tell-all book about my life anytime soon, something about putting together that post truly did help me to be more open about discussing myself.

Thanks to this prior award, I feel like I’m much better prepared to adhere to the rules of receiving the Honest Scrap award, which suggest that the recipient list ten things about themselves that their readers may not know. This does not necessarily mean that you have to pull out your best Post Secret impression, the ten facts can be anything that you fancy, however personal or not they may be. And on that note, I present my ten honest facts about myself to you...


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1.) Writing and taking photos bring me unparalleled joy and, often, a great deal of inner strength and serenity.

2.) On no less than three different occasions in my life, every worldly possession I owned could fit into one or two moderately sized suitcases and a purse. This coupled with many moves throughout my life, has helped to make me not too materialistic of a person. That said, there are certain items (like my beloved childhood teddy bear) that have always come along from the next leg of the journey and which I hope to never have to part with.

3.) I was often the shortest or second shortest child in my class throughout elementary school, By about the age of 13 I’d hit and 5’2” and stopped getting any taller from there on out. While it would be nice at times to have longer legs and more of a statuesque presence, I actually deeply love my height and the fact that I get to be called petite.

4.) I absolutely adore reading out load! In school when most students bemoaned this act, I would literally sit on the edge of my seat in anticipation of getting a chance to read aloud, and as such was often granted whole chapters (instead of single pages) to read. I think I read more than half of a Midsummer Night’s Dream to my grade nine English class, which was an utter delight as I adore Early Modern English.

5.) If money were no option I would have not only a huge wardrobe of 1940s and 50s reproduction pieces custom sewn for me, but also a trove of Georgian and Victorian dresses, which I would happily don around my house, out in public – anywhere! Wearing a beautiful dress from any era gives me a sort of bliss that makes me smile right down to my soul.

6.) I have an absolute soft spot in my heart for the toys from my 80s and early 90s childhood. I would love to amass a collection of such playthings again one day.

7.) In general, I have no problem at all with speaking in front of a crowd; in fact I generally prefer it to talking to a small group (ties into issues regarding confrontation that have plagued me my whole life).

8.) I have never had a manicure, pedicure, facial or other such treatment from a salon or a spa. I’m certainly not opposed to these things; I’ve just felt that I could never justify the money they cost when I can do my entire beauty routine from top to bottom myself for a fraction of the price.

9.) Halloween is hands down my absolute holiday of all-time. I put out my decorations on September 1st and cannot let a single October pass without watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and the Disney movie Hocus Pocus.

10.) I've taken the Myers-Briggs test at least three times in my life and always score as an INFJ, of which only 1-3% of the population are believed to be. In many respects I fit the INFJ profile rather uncannily.


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I always have the hardest time short-listing a small number of my marvelous, dear blogging friends to pass awards onto, so to help make the job of doing so a little easier this time, I’m going to pass along the Honest Scrap award to five names drawn entirely at random from the list of sites on my blog roll. By absolutely all means through, should you be reading this and wish to carry on this award, please feel free to bestow it upon yourself with my blessing.

My five randomly selected recipients of the
Honest Scrap award are:


Blonde and Red

Fashion Preserve

In company with sparkles

Lemondrop Vintage

Loose Leaf Tigers



For those who wish to pass along the Honest Scrap award, the rules, according to the two kind ladies who gave it to me, are as follows.



*Copy the logo (above) and place it in your blog.
*Link it back to the person who gave it to you.
*Pass it on to five fellow bloggers and list 10 things about yourself.


My sincere thanks again to Mel and A Red Lipstick for gracing my blog with the Honest Scrap award, and for further helping me to become more comfortable about discussing deeper elements of who I am publicly. Three cheers for honesty, and three cheers for both of you fantastic vintage bloggers!

11 comments:

  1. LOL! I can concur that at the age of 13 (as soon as I became a woman) I stopped growing too. LOL!

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  2. omg, I am an INFJ too!!! it's really rare, see how special we are! :-) I'm hesistant too about sharing the personal stuff on my blog, but I've made an attempt to get past it. congrats on your much deserved award!!!!

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  3. Isn't it funny how accurate those Myers-Briggs descriptions are. However, I find I score in one of two categories constantly. I guess it depends on my mood.

    Thanks for linking to me. I'm really enjoying your blog!

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  4. It's great learning a bit more about you and I love your list, many I can relate to! Okay...you've got me curious, I must find out what this Myers-Briggs test is all about.

    Have a fabulous day!
    xoxo
    Karyn

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  5. Halloween is my favorite holiday too. I have a ceramic Halloween village I put in the front window like some people do a Christmas village. Most people just think I'm crazy! Glad to see others like me that appreciate this holiday!

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  6. I loved that you shared with us sweet Jessica, thankyou. Love your list :)
    xxx

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  7. I too am rather reluctant about posting personal information about myself, so I know where you're coming from.
    Thank you for sharing a little bit about yourself though dear!
    It's so funny, I'm 5'2" as well. And for the most part I enjoy being petite too ;)
    And I completely agree, I would love to be able to buy tons of 40s and 50s reproduction too, they're just lovely aren't they? If only they were less expensive ;)

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  8. This was so fun to read Jessica! And I too am an INFJ through and through and proud of it ;)

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  9. @ Sher, that's really cool, a lot of my girlfriends kept getting taller until 15 or 16, so I guess you and I were just ahead of the curve :D

    @ Kathie & Cait (in company with sparkles), how awesome! I haven't had the pleasure of meeting to many INFJs and here I find two amongst my dear, wonderful blog friends.

    @ Sandra, it can be almost chilling at times. When you read your own description it's almost as though you feel like you wrote parts of it yourself based on your exact personality. (My pleasure, I truly enjoy your wonderful site, too!)

    @ Karyn, thank you, honey! It's a fantastic questionnaire that was created to gage how different people view the world and what goes into the types of choices they make. I first took it in high school as part of psychology class and fell in love with it right then and there. No other test I'd ever taken had pegged me so accurately. If you take it (it's just for fun, there's no right or wrong answers), I hope you really enjoy it too, sweet dear.

    @ Glamour Girl, that sounds so incredibly wonderful! I would love to see photos of it. I don't think you're "crazy" I think your a passionate Halloween fan just like me! :)

    @ Dustjacket Attic, thank you so much, precious soul. You're so kind to me!

    @ Lizzy, hi fellow five foot twoer :D It would be heavenly, sometimes if I'm having a hard time falling asleep at night or just need to clear my mind, I daydream about the sort of vintage wardrobe I'd build if I woke up with Bill Gate's wallet tomorrow :D


    Thank you each so much for your fantastic, kind comments!

    I hope you each have a gorgeous, joyful week ahead!
    ♥ Jessica

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  10. What a wonderful list honey! you are an absolute gem, I don't know why you have trouble sharing about yourself you are one of the sweetest people in the bloggy world I know! xoxo

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  11. Hi Gypsy sweetie, thank you deeply for your beautiful and encouraging words. I'm just shy as the day is long, so that's mainly why it can be a challenge for me to talk about myself at times. Posts like this do sincerely help, but I don't think they'll morph me into an extrovert any time soon ;D

    Thank you again very much, precious soul. Thinking of you and sending a million hugs your way!

    ♥ Jessica

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