Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Blondie's Liebster Award #3 -- Liebster Love

Liebster Love For Blondie in the Water


A huge thank you to Jeri Walker-Bickett for nominating Blondie the Water with the Liebster Award. This is my third award of the Liebster variety and probably the most exciting, considering the company I'm keeping this round. Jeri has several blogs all award-worthy, so check them out here.

For this award I answer 11 questions from Jeri and provide 11 random facts about me. I then ask my award winners 11 new questions. I would love for my blog readers to take a crack at a few of these questions in the comment section below. A bloggers reward is interacting with her readers and I would be honored if you'd join the fun!

About the Liebster Award
Image of Liebster Blog AwardThe idea behind this award is to recognize bloggers with under 500 followers for an excellent work and help them promote their blog.
If I've nominated you for the Liebster Award and you accept it, you will need to follow a few rules.
1. Write a blog post about the Liebster Award.
2.  Thank the person that nominated you.
3. Post a link to their blog on your blog.
4.   Display the award on your blog and include it in your post and/or display it using a widget. 5.   Answer the 11 questions about yourself provided by the person who nominated you.
6.   Give 11 random facts about yourself.
7.   Nominate 5-11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have less than 1000 followers.
8.   Create a new list of questions for the nominated bloggers to answer. 
9.   List the rules in your post.
10. Inform the bloggers you’ve nominated them for the Liebster Award. Remember to give them a link to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!).
Note that you can nominate someone who has been given the Liebster Award already, as long as they have less than 500 followers/subscribers.

Questions For Me From Jeri

1. Who has been the most positive influence in your life?

I immediately have to say my mom, who is always been supremely supportive of all my endeavors. She has been my rock through hard times and the first person to sing my praises during the good times.


2. What was your most memorable Halloween costume?

One Halloween when I was 10ish I was Pippy Longstockings, one of my favorite book series as a kid. I was drawn to her crazy free spirit and goofy antics. My step-father was wicked-good (as they say in Boston) with the coat hangers and made my braids stick out straight to the sides. 


Pippy Longstockings
A close second would be the time I was a cowgirl and I talked my friends into being the horse. They realized half way through the night I orchestrated that perfectly ... they were hot and hunched over as I did my heehaws!


3.  When do you write best? Mornings, afternoons, evenings?

My best writing is mid-day. I get the kids off to school, hit the gym, and get my social media things done in the morning. Late morning and early afternoon I get into my writing groove over a cup of coffee in my living room full of sunshine and bright colors. 


4.  Where did you go on your favorite vacation?

Bermuda without a doubt, Got a Blondie in Bermuda blog on that if you want to experience it.


Beautiful Bermuda calls my name... Kaaaaay Jaaaaaay...come back to me.

5.  Why is reality TV so popular?

I'm a big fan of reality TV, starting with the first show Survivor. I think I've seen every episode since 2000, minus one season. 

For me I prefer reality TV over the scripted sitcoms and dramas. I find it more real, although I readily admit there is a lot of tinkering by the producers for the most dramatic outcome. Still, it focuses on interpersonal actions and getting to the true personalities of the contestants. For me the appeal is seeing the depth of personality brought out during high stress situations. So many possibilities for conflict. And I can't escape the fact that a good portion of the challenges are in the water.


Put me in Jeff, I could handle your water challenges!

Especially when the genre first came out it was so different than anything on TV. Now with social media you can follow along on twitter with Jeff Probst and hear his take on the contestants and the show.  


That being said, I've given up most of 'my shows' to finish my book. I still watch Survivor with my son and a few things with the family...Spongebob is a big hit here.

6.  How do you relax?

If you've read my blog you'll already know that I find water very relaxing. I have a pool and a hot tub in my back yard and I make good use of it. When I"m stressed, and this doesn't happen very often, exercise is my cure. A quick run, swim, or bike usually releases the grip of anxiety.

In terms of just relaxing, I love curling up on the couch with my kids and watching movies and any time I can get out in nature is very healing for me.
Princess Lake on Cape Cod I visited last summer.

7.  Which work of art most inspires you?

I have thought about this a lot. There are a lot of artists that have inspired me but the top of my list has to be God's handiwork with the natural beauty that surrounds us. If you follow me on Instagram or twitter, you've see what I mean. My favorites have to be big blue ocean waves, pink sandy beaches, sunny skies, green fields and flowers. Here is a fav from  this summer from the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. (Want more Yellowstone? Check out my two blogs: Blondielocks and the Three Grizzly Bears and Blondielocks and the Three Black Bears.)


I took this this summer at Yellowstone National Park this summer.

8. Could you live without electricity? 

Maybe if I were born with out electricity I'd not know what I was missing. Since I'm spoiled, and a spoiled American at that, I definitely couldn't live without electricity. 

9.  Are you afraid of the dark?

I am usually not afraid of the dark. Most of the time I'm fearless. Until I'm alone in the wee hours of the night and remember my ghost experience. With a warm body nearby, kid or adult, the ghosties stay away. 
Stay away!

9. Can you honestly say you’ve never stolen anything?

Nope, not gonna lie. This question made me think of a coffee pot I stole from the swim team moms at the pool I managed in college. I thought it was just something that was accidentally left there and took it home, ready to bring to my apartment in college. The last few minutes the pool was open for the season a lady came by asking about it. That was years ago and I still feel bad about it. Let me just say the coffee made from that pot was strictly of the bitter variety.


10. What song lyrics strike you as hauntingly beautiful?

This song was out last summer and reminds me of a friendship that ended just after that.




11 Randomly Random Facts About Me

1. My favorite number is 27.

2. I had a massive crush on Michael Landon when I was a kid. Too many reruns of Little House on the Prairie and Bonanza.
Michael Landon, from Bonanza reruns. Isn't he dreamy? Sure was nice of him to listen to me practice the flute.

3. My parents divorced when I was 7. My mom and dad both remarried and my four parents were shockingly able to get along and co-parent us.

4. I went to the Maryland State Championship for track for the 2 mile relay. Competed at the Naval Academy in Annapolis and was massively distracted by all the military dudes there.

5. Goes nicely with the last one ... I am attracted to military men. Something about patriotism, short hair, and muscles.

Need I say more?

6. My favorite color is blue -- all the shades of the ocean.

Me on the beach in Cape Cod last summer.

7. If I could live anywhere it would be Florida or Bermuda.

8. I have had the pleasure of petting a penguin. He was a King Penguin and his name was Steven. T'was a lovely moment.
King Penguins stand about 3 feet tall.

9. I just upgraded my phone to an iPhone 5c. It's blue.

10. I still remember my favorite teacher's favorite joke from Middle School. Mrs. Mongello was my eight grade science and health teacher and claimed she was going to name her first born son Lem. (Ok put 'em together, you'll see why that's funny.)

Yes, we're talking jello.

11.  My college art teacher wanted me to double major in art. I was already a business major. I kept it simple and kept the art as a minor.

My Nominees for the Liebster Award

Congratulations to the following nominees:

1.  Kevin Saito http://www.kevinsaito.com/ I Recently met Kevin on twitter and have enjoyed his sense of humor and good cheer.

2.  Kim Norris http://four-good-ideas.blogspot.com/

3.  Veronica Singleton Thursday's Child http://veronicalsingleton.com/

4.  Lisette Brodey http://lisettebrodey.com/

5. BV Bharati http://glipho.com/bharatibv

6.  Vickie Johnstone http://vickiejohnstone.blogspot.com/

7.  Tracie Banister http://traciebanister.blogspot.com/

Please follow the instructions at the beginning of this post to participate in the Liebster Award and tag  me so I can share your blog post.

11 Random Questions 

Readers of my blog, please play along by including a few of your answers in the comment section below! I'd love to hear from you! If you want to know my answers to these questions just ask! 

11 Questions for My Nominees 

1.  Give us a snapshot of your favorite beach or pool memory.

2. What is your favorite genre to read for pleasure?

3. I would love to know about one of your most embarrassing moments. I'll share mine if you're brave enough to share yours. I'll even give you two …

4. Who is your favorite celebrity and why? 

5. What is your favorite place on the planet? Why?

6.  Tell us about your next book idea. If you don't have one or aren't ready to share it, make something up and give us a wink so we know it’s a fake.

7.  What is your favorite social media site and why? (twitter, facebook, pinterest, instagram ...)

8. Name one thing on your bucket list and tell us about it.

9.  In your opinion, what is your most redeeming quality? Something that makes up for the hot mess we all hide from everyone.

10.  What is the last book you read for pleasure. Thumbs up or down?

11. What is the furthest you've been away from home. Was it for work, on vacation or other?

Contact Me

I would love to hear from you! Please take a minute and leave a message for me in the comments section below. 

When I'm not working on Stealing Time you can find me on my social media at the links below. I hope to have my novel completed by Spring 2014 with book two close behind.