Real Neat Blog Award

I was nominated for the Real Neat Blog Award by the lovely Emer at The Little Haze Book Blog! Emer is such an amazing and kind soul! She has been supporting me for a while now and I’m so thankful I get to call her my friend. I’m truly grateful to be tagged for this and is means the world to me!

🍁The Origins of the Real Neat Blog Award🍁

Before I answer the questions I did a little googling to try and find the origins of this award and the earliest reference I can find to it goes all the way back to 2014 and to a blog called Dear Kitty, Some Blog.

The award came about as a way to highlight bloggers that need more attention because of their awesome content on their blogs and the first logo ever created for the award is this one that I found on the same Dear Kitty, Some Blog page:

🍁 The Rules:

🍁 Display the Award Logo.

🍁 Thank the blogger who nominated you and post a link to their blog.

🍁 Answer the questions of the one who nominated you.

🍁 Nominate some bloggers.

🍁 Ask them seven questions.

🍁 Questions set by Emer 🍁

🍁 What country that you have not yet visited would you like to go to?

Honestly, I would really like to go to Japan. It has been a lifelong dream of mine to one day travel there and see everything the culture has to offer. I would also love to travel to the United Kingdom. My lifelong penpal of fourteen years lives over there. She means the world to be, she’s one of my best friends, I really want to travel out there to finally hug her, meet her face to face, and share my greetings with the family I’ve come to know and love.

🍁 What is you favorite flower?

Everyone asks me this question because of my two tattoos. I actually have two favorite flowers. The first flower is a sunflower. I don’t want to go into details about that flower because it’s very personal, very emotional, and just something that stirs a lot of emotions in me around this time of year. The second flower is snapdragons. I love this flower with my whole heart and it wasn’t until a year ago that I found out the flower I loved so much in my childhood is called snapdragons. I love the look of them, I love how delicate they are, and I love the symbolism and meaning behind this flower.

🍁 If you could go back in time, to which time period would you choose to visit?

I feel like the Renaissance era would be a time where I would thrive and be madly in love with. Don’t ask me why, that’s just me guessing!

🍁 Do you believe we are alone in the universe?

We don’t know this question! We don’t know her! If I’m being absolutely honest; in my life experience there have been things that have happened to me, things I have seen and experienced that I can’t explain. Things that the people who were with me can’t explain. I’m not the type of person who likes to assume or even say “This is cut and dry! There’s no other option!” What I know from science alone, we’re still discovering and learning things about the ocean. It’s the exact same thing with space and the universe. I like to believe that there are some things we have yet to learn, or discover, or even know because we’re human beings and we’re always growing, learning, and adapting. So I think to cut and dry assume we are or aren’t alone in the universe is just silly. There’s always a mystery that can be unraveled, it’s just a matter of when and who will do the unraveling.

🍁 What is your all time favourite meal? (Include drinks, side orders, desserts etc. etc. Calories do not apply!!!!)

Once again, another question I love that people ask me. My answer will forever and always be… Mac n’ Cheese. No one can tell me otherwise.

🍁 If you were writing the book of your life what title would you give it?

This is something I have thought about for a very long time. I have spent my time in elementary school all the way to now, in my adulthood, thinking about this. I honestly think if I were to ever write a book about my life if would be titled one of two titles. The first one being Down the Rabbit Hole or Fox of Many Faces. Everyone asks why I would pick one of these titles and the answer is somewhere between is simple, but really complicated. I’m in my twenties and in my twenty some years of living, I have experienced more of life than most people can say. Those experiences have been dark, gruesome, great deals of sadness, and some of the happiest moments that have taught me things and have molded me into the person I am today. The reason I haven’t started writing that book even though I desperately want to, I’m not ready to reopen old wounds and look behind the lock doors of my memory. I’m a firm believer of “let sleeping dogs lie” and that’s where I stand with things for right now.

🍁 What is the blog post you are most proud of writing? Share a link to it.

This is really tough. My book blog is pretty new so there’s not a lot of articles or posts on it yet for me to really say “I feel accomplished as a blogger,” in my opinion. However, if I really had to pick one article, one post out of all the ones on my blog right now… it would be my review for Sadie. This was one of my hardest, hardest reviews I ever had to write. I don’t talk about my past very often or openly for that matter. I usually say, “I’ve seen some things” or “I’ve been through some messed up stuff,” but I never go into details. I always try to be as open and as honest, but my past is just something I don’t like to dig up. This book was the first time I felt like I owed it to, not only myself, but to all of those out there who have been molested or raped to say something, to speak about my experiences. I don’t go into a lot of details in my review about all of the situations, but writing that review, I was choking on my sobs and really fighting myself to make sure I spoke out about how broken our society really is. When writing about these things, it’s never easy and I scared my spouse like no tomorrow, but when I finished writing that review… it was like a relief had washed over me and I remember just finally breaking down for a full hour. After holding in all my thoughts for a couple of days and rereading all my notes, finally putting everything into a review and having no regrets about how that review turned out; this review took a part of me and it’s one of my reviews that every time I look at it, I feel nothing but pride.

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Those are my questions from Emer! She really threw me for a loop there! Those questions were insanely hard to answer and things got a little tense near the end. But once again, thank you so much Emer! You always fill my heart with so much love and joy every time you tag me in these! Now I’m going to tag a few blogs to receive this award!

🍁 Blogs Tagged 🍁

🍁 Donna

🍁 Robin

🍁 Kayla

🍁 Lauren

🍁 Diana

🍁 Sara

🍁 Molly

🍁 Shaked

It’s okay if tags and awards aren’t your thing. No one should feel obligated to do this tag unless they want to.

🍁 My Seven Questions 🍁

🍁 What was the biggest influence for you starting your blog?

🍁 What is your favorite season?

🍁 If you could only live in one place for the rest of your life, where would it be and why?

🍁 What are the three items that are most precious to you?

🍁 What are you two biggest accomplishments for 2019 that you’re proud of?

🍁 If you could have any mythical creatures as a pet, what would it be and why?

🍁 What is one thing you wish to accomplish before the end of 2019?

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Okay friends, that’s everything! Make sure you go give Emer some love and check out her wonderful content! She one blogger I wish I could eternally tag for the rest of my days because she’s so thoughtful and just amazing! I hope you enjoy this little, easy breezy post! I know I have been a bit absent due to fighting off whatever sickness I’ve come in contact with. I do promise that posts will be coming soon even if that means I have to start doing weekly updates. But as always, may November be kind to you, I love you! ❤️