Let's Play Catch Up - Awards Theme

Eons ago, June 4 to be exact, M.J. over at M.J. Joachim's Writing Tips passed on a beautiful award to me, Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award! Lovely, right?! M.J. runs all kinds of cool blog challenges and then showcases the winners on her Blog Hopper Marathon Wall of Fame. You should really check her out. I've won two "events" and they've been super fun! M.J. is one of five sisters - wow - and so she passed this award on to five blogging sisters. I only have one sister, a younger sister, but since I've always been the older sister, I am going to take this opportunity to pass this award along to my older sister in the blogging world, Zoe from rewritten. She's brilliant. She's zany. She's everything I could want in a real flesh and blood older sister. Lucky for me, I at least get to have an e-relationship with her!

Speaking of Zoe, she nominated me for a different award on June 12 (yes, eons ago as well), Best Moment Award. All you have to do for this award is write or record and post an acceptance speech and then pass it along to someone(s) that you feel worthy of the award. I was going to make my first attempt at a vlog for this one, but I just have to admit that I can't bring myself to make the time. So without further ado, here is my very short acceptance "speech" - Zoe, you are a beautiful soul and I love you. I hope some day we will grace each others presences in person. Thank you for this award! Some of my best blog moments come when I read your comments. Now, I am passing this along to Me from Scribblings, another beautiful soul that brightens my blog world.

Finally, there is Deanie from Thoughts and Ideas from Deanie Humphrys-Dunne who recently (yes, July 25 is recently) awarded me with a Wonderful Team Member Readership Award. Recipients are supposed to name 14 nominees over 7 days or all at once. I really haven't been blogging much of late so I think for this one, I will just go through and list the last 14 bloggers who commented on (a.k.a read and acknowledged) my blog.
T. Drecker from Kidbits
Zoe Byrd from rewritten
Viklit from Scribblings of an Aspiring Author
Rebeccah Giltrow from Rebeccah Writes
Lara Lacombe
Kate Larkindale from Fiction and Film
Me from Scribblings
Suzanne Lucas from Times Squared
Nancy LaRonda Johnson from Writer's Mark
Mei from Diary of a Fair Weather Diver
A month of....Blog
Diana Wilder from ...about myself, by myself
Sandy from Traveling Suitcase
Vidya Sury from Coffee With Mi
Thank you all for reading my blog!

Liebster #3

Because I have yet to acquire 200 followers, people are still finding me and bestowing these Liebsters on me and who am I to refuse an award (a.k.a. blog love) from a fellow blogger? So, thank you to the lovely Sunni from Surviving Life for this award. Sunni actually told me that I could choose either the Liebster or the Very Inspiring Blogger, but I'm going with the Liebster because I think the reason she picked me is for my lack of followers. I also enjoy answering the questions that people pose as part of the Liebster so that's another reason for my choice. I am, however, going to display this award logo as a way to kind of, sort of accept both awards. I'm a free spirit who lives by her own rules, so it's all ok!

So these are the typical Liebster rules:

1. List 11 facts about yourself. 2. Answer the 11 questions given to you. (Sunni said that I could do one or the other so I am ignoring Rule #1 and just moving on to #2) 3. Ask 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer. 4. Choose up to 11 up-and-coming blogs (with less than 200 followers) to nominate. 5 Go to each blogger's page and let them know about the award. 6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

So these are the questions that Kristen from Random Musings from the Kristenhead provided to Sunni. Sunni, in turn, has passed them on to me. 

1. What is your favorite video game (if any)? This can include mobile games and Facebook games. Well, I am currently fighting an addiction to Candy Crush. I have been stuck on level 347 for eons now to the point that I am quite annoyed at the game in general.

2. Do you like to sleep on a very soft surface, or a harder surface? I am definitely a feathery down-filled bed sleeper-on-er. 

3. What is the most unusual food you have tried? I'm going with cow intestine on this one. It's a delicacy in Botswana.

4. What is your favorite odd food or meal? Perogies with mayonnaise.

5. What is the first sense you turn to when describing something in your writing (taste, smell, touch, sight, sound)? I typically discuss how things make me feel which isn't technically one of the 5 senses. If I am going with one of the 5, it would be sight, I think.

6. What is one of the cutest things you have ever seen in your life? Hands down, baby elephants playing in the muddy banks of the Chobe River. Here's a video I took of it!

7. What is the ugliest thing you have ever seen or experienced (this can have to do with feelings, or inner ugliness, etc)? I honestly think that the ugliest thing I have seen in this world is the treatment of homeless people. I will openly admit that I am as guilty as the next person for simply walking by them and pretending they don't even exist.  

8. Do you prefer typing or writing with a pen or pencil and paper? The short answer is typing, BUT when I journal I use pen (what ever colour feels right) and paper.

9. What is your favourite thing to drink? Definitely soda, usually Diet Coke.

10. Do you prefer road trips, airline travel, train travel, or other (when going long distances)? It's air travel for me. I adore reaching my destination, but absolutely despise the time it takes to get there. With that said, I'm planning a 14-day road trip beginning mid-July...go figure!

11. What is your favourite way to watch TV, movies, and videos? For example, do you watch everything on your computer or sling it to a big TV? Do you use a Tivo, a DVR, or Netflix? What is your set-up? To be totally honest, I download everything off of the net, plug my laptop into my tv and watch it like that. I haven't used my dvd player in ages, in fact, I don't even know where it is and I have never, in my life, paid for cable or satellite tv.

Now, here are the 11 questions that my nominees can answer (or not). I tried to make them simple, but interesting and I like to theme my question sets so I'm going with "Summer" for this one since the first official day of summer was June 21 and summer is my favourite season.
1. What is your favourite outdoor summer activity?
2. What is your favourite thing to BBQ?
3. Do you enjoy camping? If yes, do you tent or do you have a camper?
4. Do you use a push lawn mower or a ride-on tractor?
5. What is your favourite fresh summer vegetable?
6. What is your favourite cold drink?
7. What level spf sunscreen do you use most often?
8. What water sports (if any) do you enjoy?
9. What is your favourite ice cream treat?
10. Finish this line: Sunshine, happiness, and _____.
11. What is your favourite thing about summer?

Finally, it's time to share the blog love so my nominees are:
Thoughts and Ideas from Deanie Humphrys-Dunne
Writer's Mark
Diana Wilder ...about myself, by myself...
Life, yoga and other adventures
The Literary Pig
Rossandra White
Life Cherries
The Speculative Salon
What I Learned Today
Deb's Writing Room
Cross Planes
I hope you'll pay them a visit and take a minute to comment and tell them I sent you!

Whore It Up Award: Guilty Pleasures

Starr over at The Insomniac's Dream created her own blog award (because she's cool like that) called the Whore It Up Award. During her second round of award presentations, yours truly made the cut!

So here's how the award works:
1. Upon receiving the award, you receive a prompt. You are to write about said prompt (whenever you feel like it).
2. Link back to who gave you this award and include the picture of the award in your post.
3. Pass it on to five bloggers (you can tag back if you want to read what your presenter has to say about the topic you come up with.)
4. Come up with a prompt for the five bloggers you chose.
5. When you finally do get around to writing the prompt you were given, let the blogger who presented you this award know so they can read it.

My prompt: Guilty Pleasures

I'll start with the most risqué and work my way down to the tamer pleasures.

I've already admitted that I enjoy watching porn and masturbating. I own a rabbit (yes, that's the one that Charlotte must be pried away from in SATC) and an egg (every woman should own one of these) and I enjoy spending time with them very much.

Moving on to a GP that is only slightly less inelegant, I have a thing for really raunchy music, played really loud, especially when I am running. Some examples would be most songs by DMX and Eminem and then there's "Shots" by LMFAO. It never fails; when one of these songs comes on, I can always kick up the energy a bit and run further faster.

Next is a GP that involves clothing - braless and brightly coloured fluffy socks; that's all that's really required there, I think.

And finally some GPs that involve food. Basically, any and all kinds of junk food fit the category for me. Yes, I am that girl that can devour an entire pizza or a large bag of potato chips and a whole container of dip, but here are some of the stranger things I insert through my mouth and into my stomach: perogies with mayonnaise, chicken fingers with corn syrup, Coke and chocolate. YUM!

Now to the pimping out of this award:

Julie from Julie You Jest
Suzanne from Times Squared
Zoe from rewritten
Kirsten from Black Coffee and Cigarettes
Laeli from Words To Live By

...your prompt should you choose to accept it:

The movie of your life: what is the genre? what is the setting? who plays you and why?

LIEBSTER AWARD #2

Betty over at Etchings From My Soul And Spirit wondered across my blog and realising that, yes, I have very few followers, awarded me with a lovely Liebster!

I was pretty pumped when I received my first Liebster and since then I've received two Very Inspiring Blogger Awards (one, two), a Sunshine Award, and a Zompocalypse Award. They're all lovely, but they are a lot of work when you are new to the blog world. I am glad that this one only asks for a minimum of 5 nominees (the last one asked for 11).

I'm going to nominate random blogs this time around, blogs I've never visited before. They're all coming from the Blog Blitz being hosted over at Cruising Altitude 2.0 that I recently joined up to participate in. I'm making up nominee criteria as I go along here (just to make this more interesting for myself) and so have decided that they also must have written a blog post in the last week to qualify for this particular Liebster.

Without further adieu, here are my nominees:
1. Elise from Gladiator's Pen: This blog is about the battle our muse does in the arena, conquering the villainous plot ninjas to reach the last word of the last page.
2. Mark from Left and Write: Adventures in the Blogosphere!
3. Connie from A Merry Heart: A Merry Heart Doeth Good Like a Medicine
4. Jessica from A word or two, about a word: Home of Jessica Peterson, author of The Key to Life.
5. Anne from Is Anyone There?: Thoughts on family and life!

Here are 5 questions for each nominee to answer:
1. If you have published a book (most of these nominees have, some more than one), describe in three words how it felt that first time? If you have not published a book, how do you think it would feel?
2. Have you taken part in Blog Blitz before or is this your first time?
3. Have you ever run a contest/blog hop from your blog?
4. What is your favorite genre to read?
5. Where is your favorite place to write?

Here are my answers to Betty's questions:

1. How do you feel about having less than 200 followers?
Of course I'd love to have more followers, but I only started blogging regularly and participating in blog hops recently. I am confident that 200 will come eventually, but first stop is 100!

2. What is the most complicated thing you have ever had to do?
I'd have to say translate Old English text; that class was brutal (I do appreciate the English language a lot more now though).

3. What is the most out of the ordinary thing that you have ever experienced?
Pretty much everything that happened to me in Botswana over the four months that I was there was out of the ordinary. The two things that really stand out: getting bitten by a young teenage boy who stole my cell phone and being close enough to a bull elephant that I could reach out and touch him.

4. What is it about people that you enjoy the most?
I am quite introverted and will openly admit that I prefer books to people. I enjoy the all too often rare moments of kindness and altruistic behaviour that shines through.

5. What is your greatest contribution to society?
To society? Yikes! I was presented the Excellence in Community Service Award in 2010 by the Board of Governors of my undergraduate university. I guess I would say my relentless commitment to helping others help themselves.

6. Do you consider yourself to be creative?
Yes, when it comes to writing and personalised gift ideas.

7. What is one of your talents?
I have a decent ability to debate pretty much anything with anyone. I can typically find an argument for and against most things.

8. What is one of your aspirations?
I aspire to change the world through education. In the next five years I hope to spend some time teaching in a refugee camp in Kenya.

9. Are you a follower or an independent thinker?
I'm an independent thinker. I'm really smart and I will admit that I have a bit of an ego when it comes to intellect. Don't get me wrong, I'll listen to other people's ideas and give them appropriate consideration, but it is seldom that I prefer someone else's idea to my own.

10. What are the advantages to having less than 200 followers?
I suppose the advantage would be that I have fewer blogs to reciprocate the blog love to. (I'd still love a lot more followers though).

11. Why would you desire to have more followers?
I have a lot to say and want someone to listen. I hope to inspire people and educate them on issues that are near and dear to my heart!

I Made MM's MoFo-in' Zompocalypse Survival Team!

First, MM stands for Marjorie McAtee, Don't Call [Her] Marge. I'm going to refer to her as M from this point forward, well, because today is 'M' Day. She writes this bad ass blog (the one I just linked to back there) and I've been a fan of her writing for quite some time now. In fact, she's pretty much the whole reason why I am and a whole bunch of other kick ass bloggers are doing The ABC's of Swearing during the month of May.

Anyway, I nominated M for a Leibster and then a Very Inspiring Blogger Award which she accepted with a squee of excitement and then proceeded to tell me that these awards were being spread around like fleas on monkey balls and so she would be responding with her own unique award creation rather than following all of the award rules. M's a nonconformist, you see. She's a mother truckin' (what does that phrase even mean?) rebel really, living free and by her own rules. So here's the award:

Cheese 'n' Rice, I made the MoFo-'in Team! A bunch of other super rad bloggers also made the cut and because I want to live free and by my own rules I'm adding Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) to our team because his manly musculature makes my mouth water and he's one bad ass mother fucker!

Don't worry, team. Just stay calm and follow Daryl Dixon (Oh, and watch the puddle of drool!)

Sunshine Award

Barbara from March House Books nominated me for this lovely award so my first step is to thank her, profusely. I really hope you'll take a click over and spend some time on her sugary sweet blog. Her posts never fail to make me smile and have, in fact, inspired me (that's why I gave her a Very Inspiring Blogger Award) to start my own blog series on my collection of Berenstain Bears books that I cherish from my childhood. I haven't started it yet, but I will soon; I promise.

As always, the rules:
Include the award logo.
Link to the person who nominated you.
Answer 10 questions.
Nominate 10 bloggers, link to their blogs, and comment on their blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Q&A (Lady B only gave me 8):
1. A favourite quotation: Life can be as bitter or as sweet as dragon tears, but whether dragon tears are bitter or sweet depends on how each person perceives that taste. - Dean Koontz
2. Favourite animal: I have to go with dogs on this one, but I do love cats and most other animals, except birds, especially chickens.
3. Beatles or Rolling Stones: Um, this is a little before-my-time, but I guess The Beatles because of Imagine.
4. A favourite destination in the UK: I've never been to the UK, but I am hoping to do a Jane Austen Tour in  England sometime during the summer of 2014 as part of the research for my MA.
5. Favourite alcoholic beverage: I'll go with Strawberry Margaritas on this one.
6. A favourite film: Under the Tuscan Sun.
7. Bugs or Daffy: I think Bugs...that waskily wabbit!
8. Nicknames: B or Mama B (I'll spare you the pet names that Farmer Joe calls me).

My questions for my nominees:
1. Who is your sunshine?
2. What is your favourite activity to do in the sunshine?
3. Do you suntan? If, yes, real of fake bake?
4. Does the sun shine a lot where you live?
5. Finish this phrase: Sunshine, happiness, and __________.
6. What is your favourite thing to do on rainy days?
7. Have you ever seen a solar eclipse?
8. Do you snack on sunflower seeds? If yes, what is your favourite flavour?
9. Have you seen the movie, Little Miss Sunshine? If yes, did you enjoy it?
10. What makes you feel like you are Walkin' on Sunshine?

Check out these sunny bloggers:
1. Susan from Scribblings because she has given me two blog awards since we met, The Liebster and The Very Inspiring Blogger Award and now I finally have one that I can give her!

2. Kathy from The Giggling Truckers Wife because the comments she leaves on my blog are priceless and the images of flowers she posts on the occasional Wordless Wednesday always bring a smile to my face. Heck, the name of her blog brings a smile to my face!

3. Ida from Reflex Reactions because her blog radiates positive energy.

4. A month of....Blog because the daily photos themed differently for each month always make me smile.

5. Nina from Nothing because her blog profile photos is a smiling sun! I noticed Nina's icon on a number of other blogs I follow and immediately thought, "how fitting for this award!"

Ok, so that is five, half of the number I am supposed to nominate, but I am going to take a page out of The Insomniac's Dream (I would have nominated her, but she may have murdered me; she's received a lot of awards lately. Unless, you want this award, Starr, then I'll happily make you #6.) and ask YOU to shout out to someone who is deserving of the Sunshine Award. Mention them in the comments and I promise, promise, promise, I'll visit their blog and leave a sunshiney comment.

VERY Inspiring Blogger Award #2

So, Starr Bryson from The Insomniac's Dream nominated me for another (this is my second; I guess I'm kind of a big deal) Very Inspiring Blogger Award. (What a bitch! Before you think I'm an awful person for calling her that, let me assure you that she will appreciate it. After all, The ABC's of Swearing was her idea after all.)

You can read about my first nomination here. Now for my second one.

Rules: 1. Display the award logo. 2. Link it back to the person that gave it to you. 3. State seven things about yourself. 4. Nominate 15 bloggers and include their links in your blog.

I've decided to use a different logo than the typical one that is used, because, well, I like this one better.

7 Me-Things (I wonder if I can think of 7 inspiring things...)
1. I decided to register to do my Creative Writing Thesis at university (post-graduation) so that I would be forced to write about my life-changing trip to Botswana, Africa.
2. I talk to my Mom almost every day because she is the most important person in my life.
3. I take Venlafaxine (and have since 2006) for my anxiety and depression and I think mental health is a serious issue that should be talked about way more than it is.
4. The "Volunteer Experience" portion of my grad school CV was the longest section.
5. I am leaving my job of nine years to pursue my Master's of Arts in English Literature for no other reason than because I want to.
6. I am a very sex-positive person and do what I can to reclaim the word 'slut'.
7. This: 29 RAKs for my 29th on January 29th.

And the nominees are:
1. Lisa from Diary of a Square Toothed Girl because she writes posts like "I've Had Enough of Not Being Enough" that cause tears to well up in my eyes in one instant and a smile to grace my face in the next. Her A to Z posts were equally inspiring.

2. DL from Cruising Altitude 2.0 because he has incredible contests and challenges and ideas in general. Someday I hope to have as many followers as he does so I can do some of the stellar stuff he does with his blog, with mine!

3. Suburbia Interrupted because she is a woman who blogs about sex (and raising a family). Hu-rah!

4. Allie from Hyperbole and a Half because of this: Depression Part Two. I have no words to describe how absolutely perfectly bang on this post is. Mental health is not an easy thing to discuss and it is even less easy to understand if you are not dealing with it personally. Allie is my hero. Her words sting my heart and her cartoons perk up my smile. I only hope she publishes a graphic novel someday; imagine a graphic novel all about depression?! Brilliant!

5. Barbara from all my lives now...ChChChChanges simply because her blog head says: "How many lives have you lived? I feel like I have lived many. Different branches reach out to touch each other, yet never meet. I am still me always evolving and growing. This is all my life now." I mean, wow and I completely agree! (She also may have said that I was amazing this one time that she commented on my blog. Aw, shucks).

6. Julie from Julie you Jest because she blogs about the good, the bad, and the ugly with an open heart and an open mind. O, and she is also absolutely hilarious and has frogs on her blogs (that rhymes and she's awesome).

7. Ellen from Bad Word Mama! because her posts are so fucking hilarious and full of swear bad words! The fact that she blogs about her boyfriend too gives me justification for blogging about Farmer Joe.

8. Gaijin Cracker because her blog button is epic and she is no-holds-bar when it comes to what she says in her blog!

9. Suzanne from Times Squared because the name of her blog reminds me of my incredible visit to NYC a few years ago, but really it's because she is absolutely hilarious most of the time and then she goes and writes posts like: Cystic Fibrosis: What Would You Do?

10. Suzy Turner because she has written and published five novel/novellas and she is giving away her most recent one for FREE! Inspired to be just like her? I think, yes!

11. Laeli from Words To Live By because she is "a bit of a nut and has a wicked bright soul," that and this post: Celebration! O, and her other blog: The Super Shiny Amazing Real Life Adventures Of A Fat Runner speaks to my very core, for you see, I am a fat runner too. One more thing, she blogs about travelling too; I think we're soul mates!

Ok, I am cheating now...I just mentioned three of Laeli's blogs (because they all deserve mentioning NOT because I wanted to skimp out on nominations) so I am making up my own rule for this Very Inspiring Blogger Award business and counting #11 as three nominations. Of course, Laeli is not required to nominate forty-five bloggers to accept this award because that would just be cruel and unusual punishment. Moving on...

14. M.J. Joachim from Effectively Human because it was her blog that turned me on to the Celebrate the Small Things Blog Hop.

15. Scribblings of an Aspiring Author because Celebrate the Small Things is her brain child. When my world is going crazy insane and insane crazy, I take a moment and jot down the things I am most thankful for. Now I am going to make a point of doing it weekly!

I hope you'll check all of them out, but if you don't check them all out, at least check out a few!

ANOTHER AWARD: Very Inspiring Blogger

So, Susan from Scribblings because she is the lovely person that she is, has nominated me for another blog award! Isn't see just the sweetest?! The first award she nominated me for about a week ago was the Liebster Blog Award and now she has nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award, aw shucks!

The rules of the award are as follows:
1. Display award logo on blog.
2. Link back to the person who gave you the award.
3.State 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate 15 other bloggers.

The first three rules were easy, but it's the fourth that I struggled with, well, because I just don't frequent enough blogs. I'm really just a newbie at all of this and I don't have a lot of followers myself (one of the reasons I was given the Liebster, actually). It's taken me a while to come up with 15 blogs to nominate and some of them are for reasons way above and beyond the simple fact that they blog. I chose to go forth with the "inspire" part of the award as opposed to the "blogger" part of the award, so here goes:

1. Ramblings of a Daydreamer because she's Canadian (like me), takes part in so many fun blog link ups, reviews what seems like a new book every week, oh, and did I mention she's published three novels?! Marie's daydreams and dedication to all things literary not only inspire, but astound me.

2. March House Books because she showcases vintage children's books and I find that simply divine. I am especially inspired by her Things Found in Books posts which have actually made me have a much greater appreciation for well read (a.k.a. used) books. I used to be that person who always wanted a crisp new copy, but now give me a book that's been loved and passed on any day. I recently helped my Mom move to a new house and in that process took all of my old childhood books with me. I think I may just take Barbara's lead and blog about them :)

3. The Drafty Garret because she crawled into my heart and expressed what I feel without even knowing me on my very first visit. I've bookmarked her blog so that I can spend more time on it, but for now, Mel has inspired me.

4. 365 Random Acts of Kindness because, well, he's doing 365 random acts of kindness, one for every day of the year. How is that not inspiring?! I actually don't expect Kevin to participate in the Very Inspiring Blogger award by paying it forward because he's really only blogging (I'm pretty sure) as a means to broadcast his mission and raise funds for charity (for every follower he's donating $0.10). Regardless of whether or not he participates, I want to help him reach as many people as possible with his kindness so please visit his blog.

5. Don't Call Me Marge because she's one of the first bloggers I started to follow and she always speaks her mind in a no-holds-bar kind of way. She's also hilarious and has, in fact, inspired a few of my blog posts. This is Marjorie's post: 5 Reasons I'm Smoking Hot and Why You Can't Have Any and this is mine: 5 Reasons I'm Damn Fine and Why You Can't Have Any, Unless.... These posts were written in January 2012, but the point is she inspired me and that's what this award is for - blogs that inspire!

6. Musings of a Book Lover because she is hosting one of the reading challenges I am participating in and, in turn, has inspired to me to do some Reading Outside The Box. Thanks, Kate!

7. The Adventures of Nagzilla because she is doing A-Z of her favorite things and she has a The Sound of Music graphic to mark the occasion. Every time I visit her blog I sing "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things" in my head and it puts me in a better mood.

8. Austenprose because, well, they are ALL Jane Austen ALL of the time. They have over 7,000 followers and about as many blog hops, read-a-longs, contests, going on at the same time, so I doubt they will acknowledge this award, but they inspire me daily to follow my dreams of being an Austen scholar so I had to include them here in the hopes that you will check them out!

9. Write W.A.V.E. Media, but really, I just want to mention this website/blog's founder, Lyn Lomasi because her dedication and multi-tasking-blogging abilities inspire and astound me every single day. I have no idea how many freelance sites she writes for in addition to running her own company and raising her children as a single mother. Lyn is literally, Wonder Woman. Her website (which includes a vibrant blog) "offers guidance to writers for success in existing opportunities" and has a blogger application if you are looking for actual paid work as a blogger (who'da thought we could make money doing this?!).

10. Bridge and Beyond because it's a blog dedicated to "warm[ing] those in need through knitting, crocheting, and quilting." Scarves, hats, mittens, afghans, you name it, they provide it to men, women, and children in the Central Ohio area. I live in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, quite a way from Ohio, but Sandy's and her "crew's" efforts inspire me with their endless outreach.

11. Sun Scholars because she has one of the most vibrant blogs I have seen and never fails to post at least once and most time numerous times a day with a fantastic activity for children. Now, I don't have children, but I still follow her blog because Rachel and her posts kind of make me want to start a family so that I can do all of her fun ideas with them!

12. My Overstuffed Bookshelf because 1. she reads at least 100 books a year, 2. the graphic on her blog page is divine and reminds me of my bookshelves, and 3. she is hosting a 150+ Book Challenge. I didn't sign up for her book challenge because I just can't see myself reading that many books, next year, while I am doing my Master's, yes, but this year it's doubtful, not to mention reviewing them all. Heck, everyone who has signed up to take part in her challenge is an inspiration in my book (pun intended!). Sometimes she posts more than one book review each day! I aspire someday to host my own reading challenge, but until then, I'll just follow along with Amy's book adventures.

13. rewritten because the first post of hers I stumbled upon was a bouquet of words dedicated to a health care professional in the treatment room she frequents as a patient. The post was not a pity party for herself or the other patients hooked up to IVs for hours on end, it was the exact opposite, a celebration of the people family that she has made spending her time in that room. Inspiring? I think yes! Zoe also does some really cool posts with word lists that inspire me to explore my own vocabulary a bit more.

14. Short Story Ideas because she has a fantastic creative writing exercise for fiction that she has posted every day during this challenge. I was turned on to her blog because another wonderful blogger (Ida Chiavaro from Reflex Reactions) nominated her for a Leibster. Like I told Kristen in my first comment on her blog, I write poetry and I write non-fiction, but fiction frightens me. She has inspired me to tackle some fiction!

15. My Dear Trash because their passion for turning other people's trash into treasure in addition to their relentless love and pride for their families is unparalleled in most circles I frequent. Whether it's a roll-top turned candy desk or a collection of vintage ties, Kelly and Laura inspire me with their ability to repurpose objects that most people wouldn't give a second glance.

Phew! That took me a few days of visiting and compiling, but I finally came up with 15 blogs that inspire me and thus are worthy of the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Please pay them a visit sooner rather than later!

I almost forgot about Rule 3 and the required list of 7 things about myself.
1. I have a younger sister and her name is Denina (bet you've never heard that name before!).
2. I have two dogs and their names are Winston and Chewie (as in Chewbacca from Star Wars).
3. My nickname is B.
4. My boyfriend and I have countless pet names for each other including Pookie.
5. Every one of my Dad's siblings has a middle name that starts with L.
6. I prefer Ms if I require a title in front of my name.
7. I was named Brandy because my Mom liked this song.