Exciting news arrived in my email box recently...
"I thoroughly enjoy your blog and
immediately thought of you when asked to choose a recipient..."
for the
Liebster Blog Award.
Even more exciting than the latest Decor Steals ad...
Thank you,
for the supreme compliment of nominating
Botanic Bleu.
Christina is an incredibly creative, talented artist
who shares her creations, sometimes whimsically made,
with the world on her blog.
Any award is thrilling, but to receive recognition from
someone as creative as Christina is especially thrilling!
She likes to read MY blog???
See her recent posts about fall hot air balloons
and her pet ghost
for a glimpse into her fun-filled take on life.
Christina is an incredibly creative, talented artist
who shares her creations, sometimes whimsically made,
with the world on her blog.
Any award is thrilling, but to receive recognition from
someone as creative as Christina is especially thrilling!
She likes to read MY blog???
See her recent posts about fall hot air balloons
 |
| When Pumpkins Fly |
 |
| My Pet Ghost |
for a glimpse into her fun-filled take on life.
So what is the Liebster Blog Award?
No voting, no committee, no prizes, no wall-of-fame,
no losers, just winners...
who display The Liebster Award button on their blogs.
It reminds me of a combination
of being featured by a linking party host
and of being interviewed by another blogger.
who display The Liebster Award button on their blogs.
It reminds me of a combination
of being featured by a linking party host
and of being interviewed by another blogger.
A good synopsis of the origins and various guidelines
of the Liebster Blog Award
was written by Sopphey Says.
So,
why
accept such an award?
- It appears the purpose of the award is to encourage new bloggers. Heaven only knows we all need encouraging.
- Some new bloggers will some day be powerhouses in blogland. Any words of encouragement in our beginning days will be the words that help us blossom into what we can become.
Guidelines
- Write a post about receiving The Liebster Blog Award, linked back to the blogger who nominated you.
- Give readers 11 facts about yourself.
- Answer 11 questions posed to you by the person who nominated you.
- Nominate 11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers for the award.
- Create 11 questions for the newly-nominated bloggers.
Here are the 11 facts, m'am, just the facts. Well, not just the facts...descriptive statements added...
- My first full-time job was as a computer programmer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Yes, THE F. B. I. in Washington, D.C. One of the first two women ever hired as a programmer for the FBI - the summer of 1969... Blogging about arranging hydrangeas is a long way and a long time from writing programs about law-enforcement statistics... Guess which one I like better.
- For eight years, I drew house plans on graph paper for the same dream house. Those plans were turned into blueprints for our post and beam house on which we did a lot of the actual hands-on building ourselves.
- After teaching mathematics for 29 years, I became an assistant principal and then a District Advanced Academics Coordinator. I retired in 2009 after being an educator for 37 years.
- From my senior trip in high school to the New York's World Fair came my love for traveling.
- All of my childhood travel dreams have come true. Plus more...much, much more. Seeing wild animals on an African Safari to Kenya, touching the Great Pyramid in Cairo, walking on the Great Wall of China, cruising the Inside Passage to Alaska, and snorkeling in crystal clear waters of Hawaii were all on my childhood list of dream places to visit. What a blessed life I have! I didn't even know enough in my youth to dream about the Eiffel Tower.
Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt - As a teacher, my five pre-calculus honors classes field-tested a new pre-calculus book as it was being written for publication by a national educational publishing company. I co-authored the teacher's guide to accompany the textbook.
- Seven of my friends and I meet to celebrate each other's birthdays throughout the year. Four of us have been doing this for 34 years. Friendship... formed through daily living when we taught together, to celebrations, to heartaches... ties so strong that irritations with each other will never overcome our bond.
- My best friend is my sister. She was in the first grade the year I graduated from high school, and we are definitely sisters...like the same things, finish each other's sentences, buy the same clothes...even though we lived on different coasts of the USA almost all our lives. Now we live in the same house! What joy!
In Nice, France...sister on right...I'm in brown - Coca-cola is my drink of choice! Not diet, not Pepsi...no, "the real thing," Coke!
- The greatest accomplishment of my life is being part of a Bible translation center from its beginning in the mid-1970s. No, I'm not a translator, but I have supported that work in many ways from its inception when we first learned of it while living on Cyprus.
- Bury me in red shoes, please.
Source: http://indulgy.com/do/from/120793686427
Christina's 11 questions and my answers...
Some of Christina's questions have made me think really hard! Of course, next week I'll think of what I wished I had written.
Some of Christina's questions have made me think really hard! Of course, next week I'll think of what I wished I had written.
- How did you come to start your Blog? In 2012 I stumbled across a blog while reading Facebook. A whole other world existed that I had known nothing about. I think the first blog I read was My French Country Home. From Sharon's sidebar, I visited blog after blog after blog for hours, completely entranced. Sharon's style and content inspired me to write a blog to chronicle portions of my life and my new fledgling business, Botanic Bleu. See my second post, Botanic Bleu Beginnings.
- What four words best sum up your style? French, Country, Personal, Blue... As so many talented and more experienced bloggers have advised, be true to what you love. While you may be influenced by others, be an individual. So my style revolves around the personal things I love that include periwinkle blue and French Country.
- If you could meet one person from history, who would it be? Thinking, thinking, thinking... Perhaps Jacqueline Kennedy... Her life was so public, but filled with tragic events. Somehow she managed to portray grace under pressure in a spotlight. How did she manage to stay with a man who betrayed her on a regular basis? Then she planned a state funeral for him that honored him and that presented the United States to the world as a nation rich with symbolic traditions and as a nation with an unshakable government that continues regardless of any devastating blow. She was the ultimate event planner with a definite French flair. (No disrespect intended.)
- What's your favorite flower? Laughing out loud about this question... I wrote a post about my favorite blue flower or rather not being able to decide which flower is my favorite. Blue hydrangea is probably my favorite.
Love delphiniums; love hydrangeas more - Your favorite book? The Bible. For casual reading, at different times in my life I have had different favorite books...in the 1970s, Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy series. In 2010, my book club read The Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright, and it is probably my favorite book that we've read.
- If your life were a movie, which would it be? Gone With the Wind
- Your favorite place to shop? France. Finally an easy question...any place in France.
- How do you de-stress from your busy schedule? Going to a movie in the middle of the day is one way I totally relax and bring the world to a halt. Mindless entertainment with popcorn, chocolate candy, and a coke always relaxes me. Pure escapism.
- What do you like best about blogging? I think there is something innate in all of us to wish to make a difference in the world, for our lives to have had meaning, and to leave something of ourselves after we are gone. Teaching was always a calling for me where I felt like I was able to do these things. Now in retirement, blogging is another way to do this in a totally different way. about owning a shop? Collecting and creating items that offer something not found in the large chain stores is so much fun. Even if no one buys what I offer, I love having it in the shop.
- How would you spend a perfect day? Spending time anywhere with the one I love...
- Who inspires you? There are so many areas in my life in which different people have inspired me, but overall, my sister inspires me to live an authentic life here and now.
The following bloggers are passionate about their pursuits and are worthwhile reading. I nominate them for the Liebster Blog Award.
With so many ways to "follow" a blog, the number of followers may not always be discernible. Please forgive any errors I made with a blog having fewer than 200 followers.
With so many ways to "follow" a blog, the number of followers may not always be discernible. Please forgive any errors I made with a blog having fewer than 200 followers.
Receiving a nomination does not require acceptance of the award. If not today, maybe next week, or next month, or even next year. I will not be replacing any that decline to accept the award at this time. Nothing in the guidelines gave deadlines.
I want to acknowledge these bloggers because I enjoy their blogs and recommend my readers to check them out.
The envelope, please...
I want to acknowledge these bloggers because I enjoy their blogs and recommend my readers to check them out.
The envelope, please...
- Dana @ The Starfish Studio --- I love Dana's style, witty with substance.
- Lois @ Quilts and Other Good Things --- Lois is an award-winning quilter with great tutorials.
- April @ Wilker Do's --- DIY April does heavy-duty projects with detailed costs & tutorials
- Jemma @ At Home With Jemma --- Cheerful! Recipes, monthly wreaths, decorating, gardening
- Julie @ Creating This Life --- Julie has a fresh narrative style about home decorating.
- Magali @ The Little White House on the Seaside --- French blogger's frugal renovation tale
- Erin @ Make Something Good Today --- Erin blogs one good thing everyday & creates beautiful printer-press stationery professionally.
- Mel @ The Yorkshire Fox --- Mel creates mixed media art with flair and originality.
- Khammany @ Sweet Inspired Home --- Seeing her wine crate holding lavender, I became a follower on Khammany's very first post.
- Hayley @ Texas Girl in Philly--- Love Hayley's reversed books in her bookcases
- Juli @ Lilacs & Longhorns --- Juli is a Texas blogger who helped put together a blogger event at this fall's Round Top Antiques fair. Check out her blog...I discovered she's already received the Liebster Award.
Questions for the nominated bloggers
- Where did you get the idea for your first blog post?
- If you could do life over again, what profession would you choose to pursue?
- What one blog is a must-read for you, other than Botanic Bleu, of course? Why?
- What talent do you wish you had?
- What is your most popular post?
- What is your favorite post that you wrote?
- What is your favorite e-magazine published only online?
- Where is your dream destination to visit?
- Who is the one person who can always make you laugh?
- When you are snowed in, what do you do?
- What is your favorite dessert? A good question with which to end. :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please head over to the nominated blogs for a visit.
I guarantee you will find inspiration.
Thank you again, Christina, for making my year memorable
and creating joy of living.
Now, I'm signing off and heading to the movie...
in the middle of day...
planning to have popcorn, chocolate candy, coke...
❦
~~~~~~~~~~
I guarantee you will find inspiration.
Thank you again, Christina, for making my year memorable
and creating joy of living.
Now, I'm signing off and heading to the movie...
in the middle of day...
planning to have popcorn, chocolate candy, coke...
❦
~~~~~~~~~~
Please join me at these inspiring sites...
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
