Green M&Ms and Blog Awards

You all know the myth, right? Green M&Ms have, shall we say, aphrodisiac qualities. I was researching this today to see if it’s a common belief, or if it’s somehow rooted in time or location. I came across a website, candyfavorites.com, which states that it is indeed a universal legend. The origin of green as the color of love—or at least sex—dates back to Celtic myth, where the Green Man was the God of Fertility. That little tidbit caused my smart-assed gene to kick in. Well duh, of course green is associated with fertility. It’s the color of vegetation—the color of spring.  (My smart-assed gene never misses a chance to get its licks in, even if it means disparaging myself .)

I bring this up because I have a funny story about green M&Ms. Back in the 80’s, when I was in high school, our band sold boxes of M&Ms for a fundraiser. My friend Damon, who had more disposable cash than I did, often bought one and shared it with me during senior English. One day he dropped a box on my desk. I wasn’t in the mood for a snack, so I said thanks and slid it off to the side.

“Aren’t you going to eat them?” he asked.

I figured he wanted a few himself, and since he’d paid for them I couldn’t deny him, so I opened the box and poured the contents onto my desk. Dozens of green M&Ms—and nothing but green M&Ms—slid out, attracting the attention of everyone in class. I wanted to crawl under my desk. Way to go, Damon. I’ll have a lot of luck convincing people we’re only friends after this.

Damon was always embarrassing me back then, but I’m grateful to him now. It’s not just anyone who’ll give you memories like that.

On another note, my blogging buddy Casey McCormick (who just happens to share her name with one of the characters from my books) gave me a The Silver Lining Award way back in January.  You can see it over there in the right side bar near the bottom of the page.  (Yes, I am feeling too lazy to insert the icon in this post.) I’ve never won a blog award before  and was delighted to get it, though I’ve been extremely  lame about passing it on (sorry Casey!). This award was created by by Emily Cross at The Chronicles of Emily Cross. As she put it, “In these bad economic times etc. its nice to be able to wander the blogosphere and see some really positive and optimistic posts. To honour these uplifting blogs I’ve made the silverlining award.”

The rules are:

• Post the award on your blog.
• Let them know who gave it to you and link to them.
  
• Nominate five other blogs and link to them.
• Let your nominees know that they’ve received the award.

I’d like to pass the award on to the following people:

Barb Froman, whose blog Before Morning Breaks explores her inspiring search for hope.

Rose Lefebvre, who in her blog Musing, Meanderings and Merriment from Rose, tells delightful stories about her family and shares gorgeous photos that illustrate how much beauty we can find in the world if we only look.

Carol Grannick, a writer and licensed clinical social worker, who discusses how we can eliminate negativity from our lives on her blog, The Irrepressible Writer.

Amy K. Nichols, who speaks positively about writing and shares the things she’s learned on her blog, Amy Writes.

Portland author Suzanne Young because she’s just so darn much fun.

For another bright spot of positivity, visit Seth Godin’s blog. I don’t have the chutzpa to offer him an award, but I think his blog is one bright bit of positivity in what can often be a gloomy online world.