Hello Gold Star Revolution Squad and welcome to Gold Star Friday! It's time to announce our Star of the Week!
With my new, flexible approach to the blog in 2022, I may not always have a Star of the Week when I post on a Friday. I have a couple up my sleeve for the new year, and then we'll see what happens after that!
My very strong preference is to choose our Star of the Week from reader nominations! I would really love to hear about the fabulous people in your life, so please send me your nominations, and please see the end of this post for more details on how to do that!
All recipients of the Star of the Week award who live in the US can choose to receive a free gift from my Gold Star Award Winner collection** on Zazzle!
This week's Star of the Week is my dear friend Diane!
The fact that it has taken me this long to nominate Diane as the Star of the Week is no indication of the level of our friendship. What stopped me from doing so previously was the fact that I didn't really have any pictures of her or us that I could use in a post, even though we have been friends for quite some time now. However, that completely changed last month when we had some awesome encounters with Santa, as you will see below!
And naming Diane as this week's star was a particularly easy choice because today is Diane's birthday!!! 🎂🎉🤩
Diane and I met 3 years ago this month when Diane was the only person to show up for a haunted history tour that I was running for my company, Raleigh Walking Tours.
I'm thrilled that she did show up, and I'm also glad that she was the only person who participated, even though it meant that I didn't make much money on that tour. If a bunch of other people had shown up, it's pretty likely that Diane and I would not have had much of an opportunity to talk to each other, and we probably would not have become friends!
But the universe was on our side that day, and I will always be grateful for that!
One of the things that I love the most about Diane is that she is always up for an adventure! She is amazingly energetic, and she is always out and about going to different events and classes. It's something I absolutely admire about her. I wish that I could have half of the energy that she does. Sometimes I get tired just thinking about all of the things that she is doing!
I never feel self-conscious about contacting Diane at the last minute to see if she wants to do something that I am interested in. People are so busy these days that I often have to schedule meetings with friends a month or two in advance. Which is absolutely fine, of course, but being able to schedule something with Diane at a moment's notice is a refreshing change of pace!
Not that Diane don't have a full life -- as I just mentioned, she is always on the go! But she is definitely flexible and spontaneous, which is awesome! And she is also comfortable with saying "no" when she can't do something or if she just isn't interested in it. I appreciate her honesty and the fact that she always upfront with me. It's fabulous to always know where you stand with someone!
Anyone who knows me knows that I love to eat, and Diane shares my passion for yummy food! Diane is my favorite person to get sushi with!!
We also have a shared love of ice cream! 🍦 There just happens to be an ice cream shop up the street from me, so we can indulge whenever the spirit moves us!
I also love that I joke around with Diane way more than I do with many of my other friends! We have one long-standing joke between us that always brings me joy whenever it comes up, along with many smaller ones! We have a similar sense of humor, and even though we tease each other, it's always good-natured and fun! It's wonderful to have a friend who is easy to kid around with!
And, finally, and maybe most importantly, my cat Tiki loves Diane! 😻 This is truly a testament to Diane's character, because Tiki doesn't like just anybody!!! In Tiki's defense, she was feral for the first 5 years of her life. So even though she is the sweetest li'l thing in the world, she is very slow to trust people she doesn't know.
Not Diane though!!! Tiki just loves her and has done so from the very first time they met! I believe that Diane is Tiki's favorite person after Tom and me!
As I mentioned above, for whatever reason, I had almost no pictures of Diane until last month. But in December, we had two separate encounters with Santa, one that was planned (I LOVE that Diane loves Santa!!!), and one that was unplanned (and awesome!). So now I have some pictures to share, woo hoo! 🎉🎅
It makes me SO happy to present this week's Star of the Week award to Diane!!! Congratulations my friend! Please join me in congratulating Diane in the comments and also please wish her a Happy Birthday!
Would you like to nominate yourself or someone you care about to be our next Star of the Week? To read the rules about the nomination process and get more information about the free gift that U.S. winners will receive, please click here. Then submit the Nomination Form!
**If you click through any of the links on this page and make a purchase from Zazzle, I will receive two separate commissions: one for being the designer of the product and another for referring the sale to Zazzle.