A couple of weeks ago I was humbled to accept yet another award for my blog! I put off accepting the award until I was able to locate a few new recipients to nominate. After some blog browsing and new subscriptions I finally feel equipped to genuinely nominate some new up and coming blogs as well as introduce you to some of my personal favorites.

So…without further adieu, let the awarding begin…

 

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which you:

1. thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.

2. display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)

3. answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.

4. nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)

5. create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.

6. list these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:

7. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)

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I would first like to thank Anna from Millennial Creativity for nominating me for this award. Her blog is so fun and if you like some of the ideas behind my posts please check out her blog as well. She is creative and often writes on creative topics and reflections.

Next, I must answer the following questions about myself:

1. Who’s your role model?

I have many role models in my life. I look up to different people for different things, but my ultimate role model is Jesus. There are a lot of people I try to gain wisdom from, but at the end of the day the one person who I try to emulate is the only one who lived a perfect, sinless, and fulfilled life.

2. What topics are most fun for you to blog about?

I love my current blog series The Date Jar. This series is particularly fun because it involves spending quality family time together and trying new experiences. If you pay attention just about every post in this series involves partaking in coffee and food (two things near and dear to my heart). It’s really fun to take part in the activities and the comments and suggestions I receive from other bloggers are fun as well.

3. If you could visit any other country / region, where would you go, and why?

I would love to visit Italy. Actually to be specific a Mediterranean Cruise sounds like about the most appealing adventure to me. I would love to visit Italy and maybe cruise down to Greece. I’ve always been fascinated with Italy and Italian food, but as I am also a history teacher I really would like to see Rome.

4. Do you have a creative space in which you work?

I wish. My workspace is wherever I can get away in my home for a few minutes. Sometimes I blog in my bedroom, sometimes in the home office, and other times I hide away for a few minutes in the bathroom. Alone time is hard to come by for me so I take advantage of whatever setting is provided daily. A goal of mine this summer is to transform our spare bedroom into a more productive and creative work space, but it isn’t my highest priority. For now, it’s working for me.

5. Complete this sentence: Most people would be surprised to find out that I…

ate five cupcakes yesterday 🙂

6. What is one thing you hope to do to improve your blog over the next year?

I am currently working on a project where I interview some mothers from all walks of life. I’m really excited to get this series published because all of the stories that are lined up deal with mom’s who have overcome various struggles and who I find to be inspirational. I also plan to hone in more on the strengths of my blog. After some solid research I’ve begun to make plans moving forward about post topics and I really plan to focus this summer on fine-tuning my voice as a blogger.

7. How do you wind down and relax in the evenings before bed?

Netflix. Since I was pregnant in 2012, my husband and I have been binge Netflixers (yeah, I created a word. You know you use it too!) We get hooked on a show and watch an episode or two every night until we finish the series.

8. What’s your “Achilles’ heel” when it comes to blogging?

My Achilles heel would have to be my lack of technology experience/knowledge. I am not the best with technology and I’m working on not letting that stand in my way! I’m learning a lot.

9. Biggest pet peeve?

My biggest pet peeve is constant negativity. Positivity does not come naturally to me. I am, by nature, a critical person; however,  I have spent a lot of time to create a positive mindset and when I get around people who are always negativity it drives me crazy. Yes, it takes effort to be positive sometimes, but a glass-half-full mentality is so much more productive and healthy compared to a doomsday mentality.

10. If you could have any superpower, what would you be able to do?

Teleportation. I wish that my family didn’t have to be split by a giant ocean. I wish my husband could see his family and friends more often. Sometimes we talk about how awesome it would be if we could just show up for dinner in England every now and again.

11. My advice to other new bloggers:

Stay positive. I haven’t been blogging for long, but the positive feedback and my new outlook on areas of my life have been worth it. I don’t do it for the view numbers or statistics, but it is nice to know that people all over the world are able to read my posts and share in life with me. If you get too focused on “getting big” or your popularity it will be very difficult to maintain a positive attitude when it comes to blogging. Write about something that inspires you to keep going and don’t be afraid to take risks.

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The blogs I would like to nominate for this award are:

Witty’N’Pretty

Real Mom of Long Island

Simple Provisions

Parenting and Stuff

JJ’s Ways

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Nominees, please answer the following questions:

1. In one sentence capture the essence of your blog.

2. Who is your target audience?

3. Name three things you have learned since you began blogging.

4. Why did you decide to start a blog?

5. How do you incorporate social media in your blog?

6. What is your dream job?

7. Where do you see yourself in five years?

8. What two personal goals have you set for yourself?

9. What two blog goals have you set for your blog?

10. What motivates you to write?

11. What other hobbies, besides blogging, do you enjoy?

Please take some time to visit the blogs awarded above.