2-year Anniversary of The Siegel Files!

I can't believe it! Has it *really* been 2 years since I started this blog?! In some ways, it feels like I just started it, and in others, it feels like a lifetime ago that I met this asshat and his dumb baby who unintentionally dragged me kickin' & screamin' into the blogosphere.

I love blogging. I love having a place where I can share what our family is up to, as well as just random silly thoughts. I used to think in terms of a blog needing to be something others wanted to read; at some point, I made the transition into seeing that it really needed to be... whatever the writer is compelled to express. Because you can't write a blog if you're not somehow driven to do so.

Speaking of compelling... A lovely lady named Virginia Corbett (she of the Roots & Zest blog) apparently finds MY blog compelling, as she presented me with a Stiletto Award a few weeks ago! SQUEEEEEEEEEE! This blog award was created "to salute the women who balance life, family & relationships with style & class ... who share their experiences with us ... who encourage us, inspire us, teach us, make us laugh and basically keep us going!" I am completely tickled to have received this (although I think there are those who would take issue with the "style" and "class" components. HA!). For full into about the Stiletto Award, go here.

Note that I do not require my recipients to pass the award on. I know alot of people just don't do this sorta thing, and I'm totally jiggy with that.

And so, without further ado, here are my Stiletto winners.

A BOY NAMED SEUSS.

Read about the adventures of my friend Jessica: self-proclaimed "aging punk rocker, cat herder, wife & mom". I've never met anyone quite like this platinum-blonde, inked-up Jewess. She'll make you laugh, cry... and wonder how the hell she looks SO. DAMN. GOOD. ALL. THE. TIME.

CIRCUS ACTS.

The unusually introspective Miss K shares the ups & downs of life in the Big Top with her hubby and 2 precious behbehs. You'll feel like she's talkin' directly to you... because, I think she really IS. Go for the prose; stay for the pictures of the *redonk* little girl in the pigtails!

THE ADVENTURES AND MISADVENTURES OF ONE MISS KELLY P. BERGIN.

Go there. Now. Your jaw will drop. Is this chick drunk? Is she ill? Is she completely BATSHIT?! You make the call. One thing's for sure -- you will laugh hysterically, weep unexpectedly, and generally marvel at The Kellinator.

GUST GAB.

My friend Darcie. Like all of us, she's busy with her own shit -- kids, husband, job, household. Yet somehow, she finds time and energy for other people/organizations/causes... you name it, she's helping out. The world needs more Darcies! Follow her antics here at Gust Gab.

INTROVERTED WIFE.

This is my friend Sabrina. She's CRAZY talented. Deadpan sense of humor. Makes wedding-dress paintings, MST3K pendants, and anatomically correct soaps, among other things. Topics on this blog include but are not limited to: couscous, trees, Labrador Retrievers, and eyeballs.

And there you have it.

It feels good to celebrate my blog's 2-year anniversary by honoring other bloggers!

Keep bloggin' everybody! And I hope you'll continue to check in with us from time to time here at The Siegel Files.

Welcome, International Blog Visitors!

Y'all know how tickled I get over my various blog visitors. (ALMOST as excited as I get when celebs tweet at me!) Most people don't comment, so the only way I know who's visiting is via a Feedjit traffic map I periodically check. It shows who's visiting, from where, and what they're lookin' at. I'm always amazed how many people are looking at one of my tattoo posts! They are among the most popular. Also popular is my post on celebrity graving, and my Steelers Wheel post!

I assume the popularity of my Matt-related posts goes without saying. Without Matt, I wouldn't even HAVE a blog!

Dinner at Speranza in Silver Lake

Had a wonderful dinner last night in the Silver Lake, with the Logelins and Internet Sensation Lauren Farmer! The food and company were delightful, as was the wine provided by Miss Lauren (this restaurant lets you brown-bag it -- lacking a liquor license maybe? I dunno...) Thanks again, guys!

The Boy *lurrrves* seeing Miss Maddy! (Heck... who DOESN'T?!) Plus, he got to imbibe a REAL Coca-Cola in the GLASS BOTTLE. What a treat!

Please enjoy this photographic documentation.

Photoshoot teaser...

As many of you know, who have followed my histrionics on Facebook and elsewhere, we had a photoshoot on Saturday. LOL

From the looks of this sample, I would guess we're gonna have some BEAUTIES.

This photo was taken by an awesome young lady named Jenny, who clearly has a long and lucrative career ahead of her. She currently works with the spectacular Gina Lee, whose work has been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show and in People Magazine, as well as newspapers across the nation. ;-)

Can't WAIT to share the rest!

Blogger's Choice Awards, 2009

I have several blogger peeps I would like to recommend for this year's Blogger's Choice awards.



First of all, there's Matt Logelin. I like him in the category "Hottest Daddy Blogger," just cuz I know how much he'd hate that. BWHAHAHHHHAHAHHAHAA! If you prefer, you can vote for him in another category.









Then, there's the beautiful & talented Lauren Farmer. I nominated her for "Best Photography Blog," because she is ::awesomesauce::.

And finally, I nominated my buddy Sean, who has a fun music blog that I want everyone to check out. Strangely, there was no "music" category (WTF?), so I stuck him in pop culture.

Let the voting begin!

Madeline is ONE today!

Happy birthday, sweet Maddy Logelin! Or should I say... Feliz cumpleaños, since you are en El Méjico.

It's been lovely getting to know you and your papa this past year.

But now, I must go to your Daddy's blog and look at all your pretty pictures! And after that I'm gonna pop in over at your mama's Foundation and donate $24 in your honor. xoxoxoxoxo!

Dinner with LFarm in the Atwater

I had the distinct privilege of dining on Friday evening with the beautiful internet sensation, Lauren Farmer. We opted to go to Canelé, a delightful establishment in the Atwater Village section of Los Angeles. It was just the kind of classy place you'd expect to find a couple of awesome brunettes such as ourselves.

As you can see from these photographs, Canelé is a lovely eatery in a beautiful section of the city. However, out front was this weird hobo in a plaid shirt from JCPenney (I know this because he showed me the tag inside while describing his 'vintage' hobo shirt in detail -- a common hallmark of the insane). He insisted on horning in on my photo session with Lauren.

After this I think he got Lauren to go to a concert with him, despite my protestations. (He was kinda cute for a hobo.)

Eat at Canelé if you can. Despite this zany blog post, in all seriousness -- THEIR. FOOD. IS. THE. BOMB.

My boys finally met Maddy!

...oh, and her Dad was there, too. BWAHHAHAAHAHAAH!

Widget for '$7 on the 7th' Campaign

The Foundation I work with is conducting its first major fundraiser!

By donating $7.00 to The Liz Logelin Foundation on the 7th of every month (or ANY month), you're helping provide financial assistance to families as they deal with the loss of their loved ones.

In light of the country’s current economic crisis, $7 on the 7th is an easy, affordable way to impact the families of widows and widowers in a positive way.

If you are a blogger yourself, perhaps you'd like to put this awesome widget on YOUR page to spread the word! Either copy and paste the code, below right, and add it to your page, or, if you use Blogger as I do, you can just hit that handy "Add to Blogger" button!

Thanks much.

<a href="http://thelizlogelinfoundation.org/7-on-the-7th/" target="_blank"><img src="http://thelizlogelinfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/7onthe7th_6.png" border="0" alt="Donate $7 on the 7th"></a>

Dinner with the Logelins

Matt and Maddy were nice enough to meet me and a couple of my library peeps at the Polish restaurant. It's kind of a toss-up which was more rad -- the company, or the FOOD! (And that's really saying something about the food cuz the company was STELLAR!!!)

Thanks, Matt & Maddy!

When you have a chance, check out Huell Howser's visit to Polka Restaurant!

Oops! I did it again! (I just wanted to say that.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that I am the latest recipient of an Oops! Award. My fabulous blogger friend Kate gave it to me! Thanks, Other Kate! {{hugs}}


The Oops Award is "given to bloggers who inspire others with their humor and their talents, also for contributing to the blogging world in whatever medium." When you receive this award it is considered a special honor. Once you have received the award, you are to pass it on to others. I, however, am arbitrarily throwing out that rule, cuz some of the people I want to give the award to will probably neither post about it, nor pass it on! Still, they are my favorite blogs and they meet the other criteria, so I must honor them.


If you DO wish to pass it on: 1) Pick 5 blogs that you would like to award this honor to; 2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone; 3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself, unless they don't feel like it; and 4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Oops” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.


So, without further ado, here are my award winners!


1. Uncle Zeke's Music Emporium


Uncle Zeke is an awful lot of fun, and so is his blog. He has wide-ranging tastes in music, and likes nothing more that writing/talking about it. He will listen to anything you say, and not mock your crazy opinions (at least not to your face). In addition, he's a rabid left-wing Mormon mailman! WTF?! Check him out! Thanks for being awesome, Zeke!


2. Apple Juice: A Blinding Flash of the Obvious


This is the blog of Matt's friend A.J. He mostly talks about political stuff, but occasionally he just waxes philosophic about life in the MN. I like it. Plus, he indirectly introduced me to Lileks' tweets!


3. The Daily Gratitude Blog


This is just *one* of the blogs of my new online peep, Teal Chimblo. (What the hell kind of awesome name is that?! I love it! Teal Chimblo! Teal Chimblo! It's just fun to say!) Teal is the real-life friend of Other Kate, as well as a seeker of bliss and teacher of yoga. Oh, and she's a bitchen artist, too. Check her out, and don't miss her online store, where you can get ::awesomesauce:: merchandise!


4. Mothering Nature


This blog is by a gal named Jackie, who is another friend of Matt's (almost all of my blogging connections have emanated, in some way, from Matt). She's going thru a bit of a rough patch in life (okay, that is a MASSIVE understatement), but she faces each day with as much aplomb as she can muster. She is a *beautiful* lady with beautiful kids, and I hope you will visit her and give her some moral support if you can!


5. VideoGamerz


Last but not least, I must acknowledge VideoGamerz, quite possibly the *best* blog for video-game lovers on the entire internet, hands-down. And the author of the blog is a ridiculously handsome and talented 10-year-old boy! WOW! Where did he GET such amazing DNA?! It's a mystery! Check out his site and leave a comment! He'll be delighted.


Thanks once again to Kate, for passing this honor along to me, and thanks to these bloggers for inspiring me. My apologies to my other blog peeps -- I wish I coulda given this award to ALL of you!


See y'all in the blogosphere...

Liz Logelin Memorial 5K

I was delighted today to be among the many people in the world walking in honor of the lovely Elizabeth Logelin, the late wife of my friend Matt. If you have a Flickr account, I think you can check out the photos from all around the globe!

Thanks to my hubby for providing such awesome photo documentation of the morning. Thanks also to Roman & Christa for joining us; to Donna for dog & child wrangling; and to my beautiful little boy for wearing that shirt, which he HATED. LOL! Hey, pink was the color of the day!

Attn: Bloggers & Matt Logelin Fans!

My lovely husband created these widgets for use on your blogs! If all goes according to plan, the HTML code shown here, when pasted into your blog in the appropriate area, will create a widget leading your readers to the Garden of Awesome/I Can't Believe You Bought A F#$%^ Robot T-shirt Shop.

If you have trouble, let me know, and I will try to find another way to get the code to you. (It's hard to put code on a page that wants to interpret it rather than display it. At least, it *looked* hard while I watched my husband trying to do it.)

If you have no idea who Matt Logelin is, then you don't want the widget!

	<a href="http://gardenofawesome.spreadshirt.com/us/US/Shop/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r233/mrquizzical/robot1.jpg" border="0" alt="Buy a Robot Shirt"></a>
	<a href="http://gardenofawesome.spreadshirt.com/us/US/Shop/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r233/mrquizzical/awesome.jpg" border="0" alt="Buy an Awesome Shirt"></a>

Inspiration

Well, I must give credit where credit is due... I would not have even considered starting a blog, were it not for this man:

http://www.mattlogelin.com/

For whatever reason, the idea of a personal or family blog never occurred to me... until I saw his, and saw the blogs of the people who post on HIS blog. Then, I imagined the possibilities...

Now then... What can you expect to see here? Well, first of all, this is where I will post all those annoying (but super-cute & awesome!) vacation photos I normally e-mail!




Also, I will provide updates as to what's new with us, what The Boy is up to, what cool music we're listening to, etc. You will hafta remember to check in here if you wanna be kept up-to-date! And I hope you will.

And so, ladies and gentlemen... the story begins.