Two lovely friends recently nominated me for awards and a quote challenge. Even though I haven’t
participated in awards for years, I feel compelled to graciously accept them both. However, instead of nominating individuals, I’m leaving it up to anyone who wants to follow through. It’s too hard to choose, anyway, because you’re all deserving!

Part 1 – I was nominated by Sarah at secretartexpedition.wordpress.com for the Blogger Recognition Award. Thank you so much, Sarah, for thinking of me and for the beautiful words you wrote about my blog, too. In accepting this award, we need to write a brief story of how our blog was started. So, here goes…

“When I turned fifty and since I love to write poetry, my son suggested that I start a poetry blog. I had never blogged before and really only heard about the world of blogging after watching the movie, “Julie and Julia” about a woman (superbly played by Amy Adams) who sets a deadline of one year to prepare all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Meryl Streep played the role of Julia exquisitely. As Julie cooked throughout that year, she also blogged about her experiences, some good, some stressful. Not only was it a great movie, but I was intrigued. 

Soon after, I took my son’s suggestion, and that was in 2011! Throughout the years, it’s been an enlightening journey of making amazing friends, as well as, a growing experience in writing.”

In accepting this award, we’re also supposed to give advice to new bloggers, so here is mine:
“Think of something you’re truly passionate about, then embed that passion into your blog posts. Don’t worry about stats – just have fun, then see what follows.”

Here are the Rules for the Blogger Recognition nominees:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide links to their blog.
2. Write a post to show your award.
3. Attach the award to your post.
4. Write a brief story of how your blog started.
5. Give a piece of advice to new bloggers.
6. Select the other 15 blogs you want to give the award to.
7. Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them.
8. Be inspired to live your best life every day.

Sarah also nominated me for the Growing Self Blogger Award. 

This award has been created by Roda from over at Growing Self and you can read in her own words what it is about:

“The Growing Self Blogger Award has been created to acknowledge and celebrate amazing individuals, in the blogging community, who are persevering through life’s challenges not only to GROW as individuals, but to reach out and help others GROW as well.”

Thanks again, Sarah! I’m honored on both counts!

And here are the rules to this award:

1. Put the award logo/image on your blog.
2. List the rules.
3. Thank the individual who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
4. Describe the award and mention the creator: Roda _ Growingself.blog.
5. Nominate up to 5 blogs. Remember, the purpose of this award is to specifically    celebrate those individuals who have made a difference in your life or the lives of others.
6. Give at least 1 reason why you nominated each individual.
7. Notify your nominees of the award.

I want to finish this part by saying that if you haven’t visited Sarah’s blog yet, please do so. She is the most amazing painter, and each time I pop on over, I am in awe of her talent. Below is her recent painting of Franklin – watercolor on paper, April 2018. Isn’t he absolutely adorable? And Franklin is just one example of Sarah’s ability to beautifully portray nature with the means of a skilled artist.

Part 2 –  I was nominated by Annika at annikaperry.com to participate in The 3 Day Quote Challenge. I’ve always loved quotes and their ability to personally resonate for some reason or another.

For the next three days, I will be posting a quote and explaining why it’s made an impression on me, though life probably won’t allow me to do posts three consecutive days in a row. So, rules are meant to be broken! 🙂

To the challenge…The rules are as follows:

• Thank the person who nominated you.
• Post a quote on 3 consecutive days.
• Share why this quote appeals so much to you.
• Nominate 3 different bloggers for each day.

Thanks so much to Annika for this nomination! She is an amazing fiction writer, who can tell stories that evoke every little emotion inside of you. Her debut book, “The Storyteller Speaks” read more like a #1 on the bestseller list. It was a page-turner and definitely a book that can’t be put down. Please pay Annika a visit and while you’re there, you can purchase a copy of her book simply by clicking on the book image on her sidebar. It’s as easy as that! 

Now for my quote. Funny thing is I heard “Have it All” by Jason Mraz today for the first time and absolutely loved it. What first came to mind after listening to both words and music was simply happiness! Happy, Happy, Happy! After watching the video, you can’t help but feel good. So, instead of sharing a quote, I’m going to share the first part of this song, which is more like a wish for you…

I want you to have it all (have it all)

And now you have reached the end, but not without the video link so you can get yourself some happiness, too:  https://youtu.be/BFkTu8Y1KLs.