The Awesome Blogger Award!

First off, a huge thank you to Samantha at Modern Witch’s Bookshelf for this nomination. (Samantha, do you by chance go by Sam? I call you Sam in my head…) She has been SO FREAKING ENCOURAGING about my blog several times this summer, even calling me her favorite blogger a couple of times. *squeals* I can’t tell you how much that means to me. There’s too much of why to get into it, but that kind of positive feedback doesn’t happen to me much, and I appreciate it.

The funny thing is, she’s one of my favorite bloggers too (not that I get as much time to read everyone else’s blogs with 2 kids…), which seems to really boggle her. I’m not sure why, we’ve been blogging about the same length of time, and she’s just as awesome as I am. If you’ve never checked out Modern Witch’s Bookshelf, you need to do that right now. Go.

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Behind the Awesome Blogger Award

The award was created by Maggie at Dreaming of Guatemala who stated – “This is an award for the absolutely wonderful writers all across the blogging world. They have beautiful blogs, are kind and lovely, and always find a way to add happiness and laughter to the lives of their readers. That is what truly defines an awesome blogger.”

Awesome Blogger Award Rules

• Thank the person who nominated you.
• Include the reason behind the award.
• Include the banner in your post.
• Tag it under #awesomebloggeraward in the Reader.
• Answer the questions your nominator gave you.
• Nominate at least 5 awesome bloggers and let your nominees know that they’ve been nominated.

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Samantha’s Questions:

1. If you could choose any job in the world, fictional or real, what would it be and why?
So I actually just had a little bit of heartbreak on this front, and it’s kind of difficult for me to talk about, but here I go.

In the last sixth months I’ve started actively pursuing being a librarian. I don’t know why that’s not what I did with my life in the first place, it’s just so obviously exactly what I want to do with my life. Unfortunately the program I applied to is full for the fall, so my application got pushed back to spring 2019. That news was really hard because I don’t love teaching nearly as much as I always thought I would, and I’m really looking forward to doing something I think is better suited to my strengths and dispositions. But I’m a firm believer that God has a plan for me, and there’s probably a good reason for me to wait another 6 months. Experiencing my second born’s first year, for one!

2. Who is your favorite booktuber/blogger?
Hands down The Orangutan Librarian. I’ve gushed enough on this blog for that to be obvious, but we just have very similar tastes and senses of humor, and we get along very well. As I said, I don’t have a lot of time these days to read other blogs, but once a week or so I make a point to go check out The Orangutan Librarian and read everything I missed, because I just don’t want to miss them!

3. Why did you decide to start blogging?
The simple answer is that I wanted to have someone to talk books with. Nobody that I’m close to really reads, and while my husband listens very patiently he just can’t discuss with me, you know?

But also I think there was this feeling of loneliness. I don’t have a lot of friends in the real world, I mostly spend time with family. However, for several years I had a big group of internet friends in the Pottermore community. When Pottermore changed from a game to … whatever they are now, that community largely disbanded. I think I was looking for a new online community to be a part of, and I’m very happy I found this one.

4. We all have literary passports, where is yours stamped the most?
Haha, mine is all over the place! I wrote a post recently about how I don’t like to read too much of one genre because I get bored of it, I enjoy jumping around. Definitely my favorite genre is the classics, although fantasy gives it a tight run. But since I started book blogging I’ve read a lot of YA. It generates the most hype, lol.

5. What’s your Harry Potter name? Use this generator to find out!

Haha, um, that was weird. It gave me Katie Robins.

6. What are some of your guilty pleasures? They can be book related or not.
Right now I am obsessed with the french onion dip from HEB, a Texas grocery store. Which really sucks because I have to go on a diet (have probably already started it by the time this post is up), so it will become a VERY guilty pleasure.

I also find the Twilight books and movies to be a guilty pleasure. I like, actively dislike them and find them stupid, yet I find myself wanting to read/watch them like, all the time. I don’t even know why, lol.

7. What is something that you love about your blog?
Um, everything? Haha. I actually really like posting discussions, and without trying to toot my own horn, I think sometimes I stumble upon topics that are very interesting. I mean, my blog is relatively small as these things go, so nothing I ever post generates that much discussion, but I do very much enjoy getting to chat about those things with my regular readers.

8. What is something you admire about another blog or want to try with yours?
I am just in awe of how some people can review books and actually SAY something. Like, my reviews are usually just about whether I liked the book or not, so I’m always so excited when I see someone who can talk about how meaningful something was, or why it mattered, or why this book is getting so much attention. I wish I could find something that valuable to say!

9. What is your favorite post that Modern Witch’s Bookshelf has made?
I’m like, super bad at remembering specific posts and who wrote them, so I picked something VERY recent. I participated in the week-long Harry Potter Anniversary event specifically because I saw it on Samantha’s blog. And even though I completely disagree with her and will always disagree with her UNTIL THE END OF TIME, I loved her post about why she ships Harry and Hermione. It was just very thoughtful and sweet, and I could literally have an entire blog just about Harry Potter ships, so it was nice to read about that.

10. What is your favorite post that you have personally done?
Ah, that’s so hard! I’m like, super vain, and I adore several of my posts, lol. But I think one of my all-time favorites is still one of my first ever posts, At least I don’t have to run from the Anduin to Fangorn. This is still such a quintessential part of my life, and I continue to give myself the same pep talk every time I run.

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My Nominees

Sorry not sorry if you’ve already been nominated! 😛

• The Orangutan Librarian
• Naty’s Bookshelf
• Books Vertigo and Tea
• Kristin Kraves Books
• Book Princess Reviews

My Questions

1. What is the best book you’ve read so far in 2018?
2. Why do you keep blogging?
3. Do you have a favorite fandom to be a part of?
4. Favorite film adaptation of a book.
5. Tell me something completely random about yourself.