This is better than the Grammys...

I’ve never been nominated for a blog award before, so this is really cool. Thank you, Mrs. Jones for including me! I adore your blog, by the way. Readers, you can find her amazing blog here. She posts every day with thoughtful and interesting blogs. Check it out y’all.

On to the Liebster award! It’s kind of a pay it forward thing, which is awesome.

RULES

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. Provide 11 random facts about yourself.
5. 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!)
6. Create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.
7. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:
8. 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!)

The questions I had to answer:

1. What are you currently reading?

A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin and Bitten by Kelley Armstrong.

2. How would you define happiness? 

A deep contentment with life, where laughter comes easy and tears are far and few between.

3. What is your most treasured possession?

That’s a toughie. Off the top of my head, I’d have to say the necklace I wear every day, with a triquetra charm and witch’s knot charm that I got at my first Renaissance festival. They mean a lot to me.

4. Who is your real life hero?

All the strong women I know who have come down a long road to be successful, happy people enjoying their lives.

5. Who is your favorite author, and why?

Just on principle, Karen Marie Moning. I’ve read all of her stuff and adore her, plus she’s led me to other authors I love and admire. J. R. Ward comes a close second.

6. What do you enjoy most about blogging?

The freedom of it, the ability to write as steadily as you want, about anything you want.

7. Do you have a motto or saying you try to live by?

These days? They’re song lyrics by The Offspring: “Look back in love, a new day rises above.” I often let stupid stuff interfere with my happiness and I remind myself of those lyrics so I will let go and enjoy the day for what it is and be able to look back in love, not anger.

8. If money was not an issue, where would you live?

Oh goodness. My first instinct is to respond with somewhere foreign, like Ireland maybe, but then again, I’d rather live in the North Carolina mountains more than anything else, with occasional vacations to the Outer Banks.

9. What book would you have liked to have written?

Of the ones I’ve read? Hmm. Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series. It’s so wonderful that it’s one of those that makes you want to cry because you know you’ll never be that good.

10. If you had to choose a different profession than you now have, what would that be?

Hmm, perhaps a farmer. I enjoyed it when I worked for my uncle in eight grade through tenth or eleven, can’t remember.

11. Describe the perfect day

One with no alarm! I wake up on my own, feeling well rested and happy. I get some amazing writing done, then go off to hang out with Bear and our friends, while having a fantastic meal. Then we stay up all night playing card games and having one too many laughs. Put that way, I have quite a few perfect days.

Eleven random facts about me:

1. My first crochet project was a purple and green cover that I made for my journal.

2. I got my BA in 3 ½ years, after switching majors half way through my second year.

3. I grew up on a dirt road.

4. My first car was a Mustang, ensuring lifelong loyalty.

5. My dream car is a 1970 Ford Mustang

6. I’ve run the Facebook page Music Addicts since 2010.

7. I briefly started and ran a writing group at my college.

8. Kat, from Shadows Rising, is related to Jess, a character I first wrote in tenth grade.

9. I’ve met three writers in person, all in different cities.

10. I’ve been to three live WWE events, all in different cities.

11. I think belle peppers go great with everything.

And now, my nominees for the Liebster award:

Byways & Paint Trays – Casey Adams

Cars - Felix the Black Tomcatter

Circulation Princess – Miss Holly

Reading and Writing are Fattening – Marla M

LB Shaw – LB Shaw

Your questions are:

1. What brought you to blogging?

2. Do you wish you could blog more than you do?

3. So far, what’s been the best thing to happen to you in 2014?

4. How do you take your coffee?

5. Did you watch the Super Bowl? If not, what did you do instead?

6. How do you like spending your Friday nights?
7. What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve ever learned?
8. This cold weather, love it or hate it?
9. Your dream retirement spot?

10. Favorite movie of all time? Why?

11. Which genre do you prefer to read for fun?

            I think that does it. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. :)