Saturday Sunshine!

Welcome one and welcome all to a beautiful Saturday! This week has been a whirlwind of excitement, honor, and thanks that just keeps flowing. First, so happy to meet all my new followers and equally thrilled to keep connecting with those who have been following me! I love reading your comments and seeing your own blog posts!

I mentioned before that I needed to dedicate a special time to recognize the nominations I received throughout the week so I could continue writing regular posts and connecting with other bloggers! Well today is the day!

I was lucky enough to spend the morning at the zoo with my daughter, fiance, and family. The weather isn’t awful but there are a lot of clouds. The monkey and chimpanzees didn’t mind the cloud cover at all, they were loud as can be today! Despite the less than appetizing weather I want to spread some virtual sunshine (because we could all use some rays and puns)!

Here we go, the Sunshine Blogger Award!

I was nominated by three amazing bloggers last week for this particular award. Each of them are bloggers I highly recommend checking out for yourself as I enjoy each of theirs myself!

• She, author of The Door Is Alarmed . This blog is truly one of a kind. The story She is writing is absolutely captivating and mysterious. I am pacing myself as I read it because it is one I am already totally entranced by. 100% worth every moment of time spent reading. I don’t want to give anything at all away by providing a summary but you should definitely go check it out!
• Stellar and Misti of Mistella. This couple takes their readers on a journey of love, curiosity, and self-reflection through their posts. They really have a little bit of everything between poetry, short story, quotes, and all together unique posts. They share a pleasant, honest perspective of the world that can brighten up any day.
• Lana of Welcome to Our Campfire. If you have ever wondered what it is like to have a large family, to run a small business (a home daycare no less), to be a morning person, having a vegan family, camping, and so many more amazing things GO CHECK OUT HER BLOG. Now. Go. Literally, her posts are so varied in subject matter that I think almost anyone in the world can find at least one or two posts that make them smile.

The Rules

The guidelines for this award are straightforward.

• Thank the blogger(s) that nominated you in the post and link back to their blog
• Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you
• Nominate 8-11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award Logo on your post and/or in your blog

Since I am answering questions for three nominations, this may get lengthy! I considered picking a few from each but they all had such great questions I couldn’t decide which ones to answer… so I am answering them all!

Welcome to Our Campfire‘s Questions:

1. Twizzlers or Red Vines? Twizzlers! Preferably the strawberry kind though. 

2. Favorite super hero? Raven from Teen Titans (NOT the Teen Titans, Go!. I am talking the original and amazing Teen Titans from a few years back). She is an absolute bad ass with intellect, determination, and patience. 

3. If you could live inside a book or game which one would it be and why? Harry Potter for book and Elder Scrolls: Skyrim for game. HP because I have always been fascinated with the concept of magic and fantasy. I almost always chose mage classes for game characters. Skyrim because it is a world where you can be a bard AND be a ferocious dragon slayer. Win-win in my book. You can also be a blacksmith on top… literally my will-never-even-be-slightly-possible dream world.

4. If you could travel in time, would you go to the future or the past and why? I would go to the future. I would be too tempted to alter my past to mend regrets I have but know that it could ruin everything I have today. I know each of my choices led me to where I need to be but I can’t say that given the opportunity I wouldn’t try to stop myself from some of my more regretted mistakes even knowing they gave me the beautiful life I have right now. 

5. Who is your favorite comedian? I don’t really watch comedians but I love Mila Kunis from Bad Moms. She does comedy movies, that counts right?!

6. You are a huge success as a song writer… What type of music do you write songs for? Folk and Celtic music and Bard songs! Ok so I know realistically no singer-songwriter who explicitly writes bard songs will get famous and most Celtic or Folk singers don’t use songwriters as they make their own but you did ask what would I write songs for! I have an obsession with bards if you can’t tell and love Folk and Celtic music.

7. If you were in the 2020 summer Olympics what event would you medal in? I won’t lie, I had to Google what Summer Olympic events included. I have zero sports knowledge and even less general athletics knowledge. After a quick search, I would medal in Badminton! I love that game so much. 

8. If you could only drink one type of beverage for the rest of your life, what would it be? (NO Ryan, you can’t switch from a light beer in the morning to a full strength beer in the afternoon…) Oh tough one, one beverage the rest of my life?! As much as I hate to say it I would have to choose water. I WANT to say coffee but when I get dehydrated I get moody, headaches, and generally miserable and I get dehydrated extremely easily. I can’t live without at least 40 oz. of water a day and the water in coffee doesn’t count to my complete and utter dismay. 

9. What is your favorite board game? Life!! I love the little card challenges that you get in the newest edition. They’re so random and fun. 

10. If you were going to stumble on to a wild animal, what animal would you be most afraid of encountering? Cheetah. I live in the Midwestern US so this isn’t a really logical fear but those things are fast and just look terrifying. Even the ones at the zoo kind of make me uneasy. I am allergic to cats so not only will I be eaten alive but I will probably live my last few moments sneezing uncontrollably… that sounds miserable.

11. What is your favorite blog post you have written and why? Definitely my Writer’s Coffee post! When I wrote that post I was literally acting on a whim and thought to myself “this is the stupidest thing I have ever posted. No one is going to give a hoot about my coffee”. It is now one of my most successful posts and it really opened my eyes to the freedom and unlimited fun you can have blogging. I never imagined I could connect with so many people over something so simple! It makes sense retrospectively but it really changed my entire perspective on what I could-should-would post from that point on. I am even working on making a monthly Coffee post to try all the kinds people recommended to me now!! (Which by the way, I am super excited for!)

Mistella‘s Questions!

1. What according to you, is the best brunch you’d love to have? I have to admit I am not much of a brunch person. I have never really been to a proper brunch so maybe I just haven’t been exposed to the beauty of them yet. Probably something simple though like crepes and some coffee. I also can’t eat fresh fruit so most brunches sound slightly deadly to me as they all seem to be based around fresh fruit.

2. Which was your best day of 2017? This is the hardest question yet. 2017 was huge. My daughter turned 1, I saw my best friend for the first time in 3 years, my grandmother got to hold her great grand-baby for the first time, we traveled to Comic Con and an amusement park, I was a bride’s maid in a Star Wars wedding, and another close friend also got married. How am I ever supposed to pick which of those was best?!?

3. Whom would you prefer: a singer or a writer as your better half? I think I would chose a writer. Singers have to go perform at venues and stay out late. I don’t mind doing that once in a while but doing it regularly would drain me. I’d rather sit inside writing together with some wine or hot cocoa. 

4. Which is the best book you have ever read? Another super hard one… which genre?! Ugh. Well I always seem to gravitate towards Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I can reread that one dozens of times a year and still be in awe at it. I can’t deny though that A Court of Wings and Fury made me laugh, cry, scream, and gasp audibly more times than any book I have ever read. I will pick A Court of Wings and Fury because the emotional response it pulls from me even on a second read through. (Sorry, J.K., it isn’t personal).

5. If you were given a chance to meet your president, what would you like to say? If I meet my President I would say nothing honestly. I would listen. I don’t agree with half of what my President has done with his position thus far but I also agree with half. I might ask what in the world he is thinking with all these new tariffs and why he is so inconsistent with fair trade agreements but I don’t think I personally understand the subject well enough to really judge his actions thus far. I am very conscious of my own understanding and prefer to not ask questions unless I am sure my understanding is complete enough to make an educated opinion from the answer. 

6. What do you think about the life of a scientist? Dreamy. I honestly wanted to be a  marine biologist. I grew up on the coasts of Florida and California. As a military child though, the journey sometimes takes you other places. I ended up here in Nebraska where marine biology is kind of a joke to high school guidance counselors because all the kids want to “move out of this wretched place to the coast!”. After leaving high school though I realized that with no family on the coasts, no college fund, and the exorbitant cost of living in college towns with robust marine biology degree options I needed to think of more than just a dream. Plus I get sea sick on boats… so yeah there’s that. I would love to be a chemist someday if I ever got the opportunity to go to school full time and quit my job so I could focus though! (Someday my lottery based 401(k) will kick in I am sure!)

7. Which language do you prefer while talking: English or your mother language? English is my native language so both I suppose. I do enjoy Spanish though and tried learning German while I lived in Germany! I have a very hard time pronouncing most German words though.  

8. What is your opinion about politics and politicians across the globe? Globally, I have a very limited understanding of politicians. I only know of a few names here and there and almost nothing about their individual countries politics or systems. The United States has obviously been through turbulent political times lately so I have been focusing a lot more on local politics than international. Someday I hope to learn more about the global political spectrum but for now I feel it is more pertinent to make educated votes on the politics affecting me directly.

9. What would you like to do between boating and bungee jumping? Boating! Bungee jumping scares the living daylights out of me. I am asthmatic so having a harness pressing tightly on my chest could be problematic.

10. Do you think feelings are lessened with distance? Yes and no. It depends on the relationship. Distance helps make people forget about flaws or disagreements in some cases and others it makes them forget the love and appreciation. Distance makes the heart grow fonder in most cases but not all. 

11. If you fail to succeed in any field or competition, whom would you blame? It depends entirely on why I failed. Did I not prepare well enough? Was someone just better than me? Was there cheating on someone’s part? Overall usually the only blame is on myself. However, I also recognize that sometimes someone else is just better. I can try harder and work my hardest but at the end of the day if I still lose after that then I can walk away blameless of anyone because that person earned their win fair and square. I can be proud I did my best and keep working to be better next time. 

The Door is Alarmed Questions!

1. How infinite is hope? Endlessly. There will only be no hope when we decide to stop creating it within ourselves.

2. What adornments do you wear on your neck, wrist and fingers, and what do they mean to you? Just my engagement ring which obviously means I am going to marry my best friend and my Fit Bit which has no sentimental meaning. I just want to stop being winded after a single flight of stairs lol.

3. What accomplishment makes you most proud? I recently received a nomination at work for what is considered the highest honor an employee can receive. We find out who is receiving the award on May 14th. Just being nominated though is a huge honor. I feel like a lot of people at work don’t like me because my job entails a lot of “nit picking” and “pestering” if you will. Knowing the my peers feel I am worth this award makes me feel a lot more confident that I am both doing well at my job and people don’t hate me.

4. What colour is Wednesday? Greenish Yellow. Not like boogers though. More like Mountain Dew.

5. What happened on the best day of your life? I went into labor with my daughter 2 days before my birthday. We left the hospital on my birthday. The best day of my life was my 23rd birthday where I took my daughter home for the first time. 

6. Describe the importance of your favourite possession. Another tough one! Hmm first, I have to decide what is my favorite possession. I would say phone. I’ve had the same phone since I was 13 weeks pregnant so I have literally my daughters entire life of photos, memories, and events on my phone. It is also what I use to blog during the week, how I check my school work, and how I keep in contact with family and friends who are a distance away. Its probably my most important possession, too.

7. Do you keep a diary—why or why not? When I need to, yes. When I am in the midst of a rough patch of anxiety, depression, or even just a bad day I write down my worries and thoughts to get them out of my head. I also use it to record my Tarot readings (For the record- I use Russian Tarot but I do not believe it can tell me the future. I don’t think anything can predict the future. I use it because sometimes the cards just help me think of different perspectives by giving me thinking points. For example, the Pig means greed. It helps me consider am I being too demanding? Have I been negligent to those I love’s needs? How are my actions affecting people around me? It is more of a thinking tool than a prediction tool for me. I do absolutely love reading my Tarot though.)

8. What comment from a fellow blogger has meant the most to you (please reference their site)? There isn’t just one honestly. Everyone who has asked me to please keep writing, expressed that I am deserving of success, or that I inspired them means more than I can say. i told my fiance today all the support and love was going to make me ugly cry happy tears – it did. I tried to find as many of the comments as I could. All The Shoes I Wear, Yes More Blogs, Bitchin’ In the Kitchen, Violetta’s Food Journey, Janette Bendle Following Her Dreams, and Walk the Goats  have been the most recent ones. There are so many more that I hope I can find and recognize!

9. What makes you tick? People who think being nice is a flaw. I actually have a post brewing about this, too. I work in the world of business. As a woman and as an individual in general people view “nice” the same as naive, weak, or incompetent. I say NO. I can be nice and great at my job. I don’t have to use petty remarks or subtle threats to get my job done well and I will never, ever stop being nice to people. Heck, even if you are a complete and total buttmuck to me, I will still treat you with kindness even though you deserve a swift poke in the eye with a salty french fry. The day I abandon my happy, pleasant demeanor it is safe to assume I am in a very dark place in my head or I have been possessed by an alien because it is an integral part of my identity. 

10. What is the last thing you wished for? To win the dang lottery already. Money doesn’t buy happiness. That is absolutely true. It does pay off student debt, car loans, daycare expenses, weddings, and a mortgage though. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful that my family is not in dire need and we are in a safe place financially. However, we are far from being able to get married or buy our first home which are both things we desperately want to do. 

11. Where have you traveled in the world? I have been to mostly just Europe and the United States. I lived in Germany for 4 years during which we visited France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. In the U.S. I have visited or lived in 25 of the 50 states! None of which were on the East Coast or upper eastern states like New York though. 

There we have it! All 33 questions answered in full!

Now the really great part, Nominations!! 

All The Shoes I Wear

Yes More Blogs

Bitchin’ In the Kitchen

Violetta’s Food Journey

Janette Bendle Following Her Dreams

Walk the Goats 

Inspiring Images

Emmely Kat

Introvert’s Diary

Paul Kardos

Balancing Life with Jovita

Angela Rainbow

Merchant Writes Again

Wading in Wisdom

Emotions Passion

A Writer’s Soul

Elly V.

Curiosity – Start Something

Gold in the Rust

Positive Guider

Rust Belt Girl

Lotty Dawson

 

There we have it! Some sunshine spread on a Saturday afternoon. I really appreciate all the love and support from all the amazing people I have met and can’t wait to see what the future brings us!!

Here are my 11 questions for all these awesome blogs!

1. What is your favorite smell?
2. What of your traits do you think define you?
3. In a parallel universe, what do you do for a living?
4. What makes you feel most confident?
5. What is your favorite story?
6. Are you a reader or a viewer?
7. What is your biggest bucket list item?
8. What is your least favorite taste?
9. What is the happiest moment of 2018 thus far for you?
10. What is your favorite holiday and why?
11. Do people change or just circumstances?

I can’t wait to see your answers!