The Mystery Blogger Award (Double nomination)

What is the Mystery Blogger Award?

“The ‘Mystery Blogger Award‘ is an award for amazing bloggers with ingenious posts. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging and they do it with so much love and passion.~ Okoto Enigma.

How Does it Work?

• Put the award logo/image on your blog
• List the rules
• Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog
• Mention the creator of the award
• Tell your readers 3 things about yourself
• Nominate up to 10 people
• Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog
• Ask your nominees any five questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question
• Share a link to your best post(s)

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Okay, well I have to admit, I’m excited about doing some award posts!  I was nominated by the charismatic, enigmatic, hydromatic, ultramatic… I have musicals on the brain… Robin!  If you haven’t already gone over for a visit at Robin’s, down at The Robin’s Nest, (here’s the link to her reward post, which is a tad dated) then what are you waiting for?

As a double whammy, I have also been nominated by Addison at Embrace Authenticity.  Authenticity, because who doesn’t just yearn for a little more of it?  Addison has a heart of gold and though her blogging story started as recently as July 12th of this year, her page is a go to for me.  She is on her own personal journey and it is full of informative information, compassion and just the right touch of amusement sprinkled throughout.

But back to why I’m currently digging the reward posts (besides being flattered that I’ve received some nominations).  Since my community is still fairly new to me, I am enjoying reading their reward posts, because the content and questions allow the bloggers to stray away from their usual style and put a more human face on those that we digitally interact with.  Adversely, I enjoy getting to share some of my quirks or things that I hope someone might be able to relate to or find of interest or amusement.  So let’s proceed!

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3 Facts about myself:

1. I’m gonna brag – we contribute annually to an endowment fund at work.  We have a small annual fundraiser that raises a couple hundred dollars.  I somehow found myself in charge of it a few years ago and by the end of the day we had raised thousands.
2. I participated in a 30(?) hour famine when I was a teenager and we all spent the night in the school.  There was water provided, but they also allowed us to flavour it with juice crystals.  I was so hungry I mixed juice crystals into that water until it was essentially sludge, just to try to ease the pangs.
3. I’ve always been good at gift guessing.  And I love doing it.  So much so my entire family now refuses to put any out under the Christmas tree for me and stopped giving me hints.  I find it fun and challenging.  Some more obscure ones and some that I’m most proud of:  A stuffed green frog wearing a pink dress (yes, I was that specific – it turned out it was actually a -real- stuffed bullfrog wearing a pink bikini), a duck hairdryer, a giant brownie making kit, my little sister’s garbage acting as decoy for my real gift (it was a stack of empty DVD cases meant to keep me occupied), and a most marvelous assortment of jams and jellies.

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My (Best?) Favourite Post(s):

I don’t know how to answer this.  I like the style and/or quality of my writing in some better than others.  I prefer the content of some over others.  I feel I restrain better my tendency to go off on never-ending tangents in some over others (even I can’t stand when I get on a roll).  Some of the ones I’m least happy with are some of my most viewed and liked, yet viewer response would generally be indicative of a post being superior to others.  So I’m going to see if I can work through all of that, and try to make it somewhat methodical, with categories that could fall within the scope of ‘best post’.

1. Most comments:  13 Things I’ve Learned Over 13 Years at One Job
2. Most liked/viewed:  Thoughts on Self Acceptance, Self Improvement and Faking It
3. The one that was the most fun to write:  It would be a toss up between Oh, Canada! Shining Some Northern Light on a Few of Those Canadian Misconceptions and Stereotypes, eh and   Who Doesn’t Like a Good Pet Peeve List?  My top 20
4. The one I thought was one of my better ones:  Dear Girls (from one to another)

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Robin’s Questions:

1. What is your passion?  I think the closest I’ve ever come to experiencing a real passion is running.  When I am, I feel like a superhero.  When I’m not, I experience pangs of envy when I see someone sweating away, struggling along, two feet and a heartbeat.  What I am passionate about is people (myself included) never stopping trying to better themselves, to better the world around them, to better the way they treat each other.
2. What is your first reaction to an obstacle or challenge?  Depends on the situation and how high the stakes are.  I often think, “Oh goody!  Something I can finally use my brain for and get to try to figure out.”  I love getting to use those deductive reasoning thing and problem solving skills they taught us in school.  Other times I just think, “Oh f***!”, and get frustrated or upset.
3. What simple moment fills you with joy?  Waking up to find my sweetie snoozing away beside me.  Can’t think of anything better than that ❤
4. What do you see when you look out at the ocean, atop a mountain, up in the sky, over the plains or across a meadow? (I included several options based upon where you may live)  When I look out at the lake (I live in a lake town) or the sky, I see freedom.  I see peacefulness.  I see unlimited possibility.  I envision life changing moments and memories taking place for those out there in them and I wonder where they are going and what their stories are.  Cheesy but true.  It’s part of the reason why I’m so utterly in love with the water, why I love to fly, and why after 13 years of nearly weekly (sometimes multiple) flights I still never sleep on a plane.
5. Funny question: Do you say soda, pop or call everything a coke?  Haha, funny answer – I don’t know when I started doing it, but I say ‘soda-pop’.
   

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Addison’s Questions:

1. What do you identify as your greatest accomplishment?  My very first 5k (3.1 mile) race!  I had asthma when I was younger and running was not an easy task.  I was always amazed by people who were able to do it, and always wanted to do it the same as my grade school friends.  My asthma went away and one day as an adult I went out and decided to give it a try after deciding for the first time I wanted to lose weight and be healthier.  I ran for seconds at first then walked, repeat.  I built up a lot of miles but never got serious about a real training plan.  Then I signed up for a 5k run and was given new focus and trained as best and hard as I could for it.  The pride and sense of achievement and the confidence it gave me has been the catalyst for many of my good decisions since.
2. What fear are you hoping to tackle?  I hope to tackle none of them.  They’re scary!  If I had to pick one though, it would be the fear that the plans I have for myself will never come to pass.  I never made any backup plans, and made no provisions for anything else.
3. What’s your favorite type of beer/wine?  Haha, well I drink maybe one beer a year so that’s out.  Picking my favourite wine??  I can’t.  I’ve enjoyed everything from tetra packs with bunny logos of it to 250$+ bottles.  Let’s just go with I prefer red.
4. If your personality were an animal (oh, boy), what would it be?  I’m gonna go with the owl.  It is a night (groan) owl, it’s eyes are a notable feature, that roam about watching absolutely everything or pick a spot and focus intently, it’s hoots are pleasant or tolerable at first but can carry on and become a little irritating after a while, they can be docile or nasty creatures, and they can look a little goofy sometimes (heads all twisted about all freaky like!) but can also be a wonder to behold 😉 They also don’t seem to get out much.  And you never see them in a herd.
5. What are the main passions/interests that show through in your blogs and why?  Well, I never would really have thought encouragement, but I think it probably is one.  I am always looking for encouragement, encouragement to be better, to try to better my life, surroundings, my world and hopefully to encourage even one other along the way.  That and confidence.  I’m a fairly confident person.  I have confidence in my convictions and the things I know, I’m confident because I choose daily not to be any other way.  I try to encourage confidence in others and to help them find it.  When I’m not blogging specifically about it, I feel that my attitude also reflects it.

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Mandy’s Questions:

1. What is your favourite musical?
2. If you could encourage people to donate to any one cause, charity or organization what would it be?  Elaborate as much as you would like.
3. What is a goal of yours?  Are you taking steps to get there?
4. What would your perfect day look like?
5. (Weird/funny)  “I gotta give you your dream shot!  I’m gonna send you up against the best.  You two characters are going to Top Gun.”  You have to pick your own call sign.  What’s it going to be?

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My Nominees:  (And if you find your name on here but don’t engage in blogger awards, that is fine! I just want to acknowledge your blog and give others that haven’t heard of it the opportunity to check it out also!)

Drumroll please…..

Maria at Life, Family, Good Food  Creative, talented, thoughtful and has a way with words that leaves you wanting more.

Josiah Harry at SKYLARITY  There is nobody out there more inspirational than Josiah.  He words things so eloquently you don’t even realize until after that you’ve just received a good boot to the rear end.  Check out his blog and his podcast.  I guarantee you will enjoy it!

Beauty Beyond Bones  Utterly beautiful, as you would likely expect from a model, with the word ‘beauty’ in the blog title.  But what really gets me about BBB is the content – intelligent, informative and full of heart.  You may just fall a little in love.

Gabriel at (Almost) Unsalvageable  My blogging guilty pleasure.  Fun, witty, intelligent…. just go.  You won’t regret it.

Tim at Timothy Gwyn Writes  Tim’s passions are writing and flying; not only does he live just up the street from me, but he has been flying my sorry butt around the great white north for the last 13 years and knows absolutely everything about some things, and a little about everything else.  FYI, when he reviews something and gives it his stamp of approval, pay attention and go do/get/see/eat/drink/read it – he does not give praise willy nilly, so when he does you know it has been rightfully earned.  Aaaand… he also just had his first book – Avians – published!! Check him/it out and if you like what you see, pass it on!!