An Abundance of Awards (Part I)

 

Well I have received an abundance of nominations for a variety of awards this week! I still feel overawed that my little blog gets visitors let alone nominations. Happy Christmas Blog, Santa didn’t forget you!

 

First The lovely Stephanie Thomas of S.J. Thomas’s Book Blurbs nominated me for The Blog of the Year Award

Shortly followed by Michelle James at Book Chat so I now have 2 stars!

Thank you both so much for my nominations, I really appreciate your kind words.

The instructions for this award are simple:

1-Select the blog(s) you think deserve the Blog Of The Year 2013 Award.

2-Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen- there are no minimum or maximum number of blogs required- and ‘present’ the blog(s) with their award.

3-Let the blog(s) that you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the instructions with them- (please don’t alter the instructions or the badges!)

4-Come over and say hello to the originator of the Blog Of The Year 2013 Award via this link

5-You can now also join the Blog Of The Year Award Facebook Page. Click the link here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BlogoftheYear

Share your blog posts with an even wider audience.

6-And as a winner of the award- please add a link back to the blog that presented you with this award-and then proudly display the award on your blog- and start collecting stars!

I follow, read and enjoy a huge variety of blogs and would like to pick a couple for this award nomination

Notes on Novels where I am in awe of the challenges that this Bookish philosopher, avid reader, audio-book addict, expat and cat person, blogging in English: There is also a German blog that looks really interesting but I’m afraid I don’t understand a word of it!

Shrimp at Hairballs Express as this super cat makes me smile and I think The Human has good taste in books!

Suzie at Suzie 81’s Blog who held a blog party when I had just begun blogging which helped me to find more fabulous blogging friends and as a result I have added so many books to my TBR while laughing, sympathising and generally gazing in awe at all the fabulous blogs out there.

Next up came the award I had been secretly coveting as it is simply beautiful Sisterhood of the World of Bloggers

All recipients need to thank the giver
Post 7 things about yourself
Pass the award on to 7 other bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated.
Include the logo of the award in a post or on your blog

So here we go…

All recipients need to thank the giver

Stephanie Thomas of S.J. Thomas Book Blurbs

7 totally random things about me

I hate the cold

I am quite clumsy

At work I am very untidy with files, paper and random pen lids (rarely a pen when I need it) all over the surface of my desk

Without a cup of coffee (or few) before I start the day I am very grumpy

When I sneeze I actually say “A Tissue” in what I’m told is a very ladylike way (I don’t know why people find this so amusing!)

I live in a beautiful part of the world and love walking along the beach daydreaming

I have lovely friends and family and of course my pile of books so I’m generally (once the requisite coffee has been drunk) a happy person

So now to nominate 7 other bloggers…

Words and Peace

Jessica at What Comes Next

Katherine at Curiosa Kat

Dreamz and Clouds

Economics Courageous

Andrea at Review Books and More

A Little Bird Tweets

These are all awesome blogs that I highly recommend you check out! Great people, interesting postings, good conversations… you won’t be disappointed

One Lovely Blog Award for Cleopatra Loves Books

Well…. I this is a first, I been nominated for this by a cat! Yes no word of a lie the lovely Shrimp from Hair Ball Express took a break from sleeping or eating to send me my nomination for this purrfectly lovely award!

Here are the rules for award:

Thank the one that nominated you.

Put up the picture for the One Lovely Blog Award.

Tell everyone seven things about yourself.

Nominate seven other people and tell them that you’ve nominated them.

Easy peasy, right? So let’s get this show on the road!

So…

Number one thank you Hair Ball Express

Number two the picture of the award is at the top of the page

Number three tell everyone seven things about myself… well here goes

I have loved elephants ever since seeing baby Anna being bathed at the zoo when I was three years old

My fall-back recipe is sausage surprise, which is basically sausages and pasta along with anything else I can find to add to the mix.
…….in our house our favourite pasta is farfalle  but we call it ducks feet!

I hate feet, people cracking their knuckles and spiders

I

‘ve always wanted to live in a windmill, I don’t I live in a house

I love history with a  particular interest in social history

I actually say a tissue every time I sneeze

I have recently got a new job at the company I have worked at for the last eleven years so my brain is currently struggling to learn lots of new things

Now most importantly I get to nominate seven other blogs for the One Lovely Blog Award.  There are so many blogs that I visit regularly and enjoy so picking seven was a struggle but these are the special seven for today!

Al from A Mixed Bag for his wonderful photos, his funny comments and for sharing the complicated post a link thing

Udita from Bookmark for her wonderful reviews

Nishita for her updates on family life along with her book reviews at Nishita Rants and Raves

Mrs V from Fascinations of a Vanilla Housewife who writes amusing posts from the Philippines – my thoughts are with her as she tries to raise money for her countrymen

Interesting Literature for their wonderful literary facts

Suzanne from I Read Novels for her fantastic help to a fellow reader along with  her perceptive reviews

Bookmammal who never fails to amaze me with her similar views, likes and dislikes on every subject but especially reading!

Please go and visit all these wonderful bloggers who brighten my day!

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Cleopatra Loves Books is now Super Shiny

Following my nomination from the lovely Book Chat for the SHINE ON AWARD  I have now been nominated twice more.

Firstly this lovely Orange Keep Calm and Shine On from S.J. Thomas a thriller writer who explores the psychology behind crime.

Secondly from Andrea at Reviews Books and More who provides some great reviews for me to read and add to my TBR!

“this award is for the blogs that shine, make you feel good and are inspiring to the reader.”
THE SHINE ON AWARD
Here are the rules of the award:
1. Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Acknowledge that blogger on your blog, and link back.
3. Share seven random, interesting things about yourself.
4. Nominate up to 15 bloggers for the Shine On Award, provide a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs.

I visited both my nominators as as I saw I’d been nominated and thanked her for including me in their chosen nominations.

This is my acknowledgement and a plea to keep up the good work providing me with regular book reviews.

As I don’t have 14 new facts to share I am going to share my original ones for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. I have made  a few minor updates for those who have.

Here goes with my seven random facts, I’m not really sure that they can be classed as interesting but here we go….

1. I live in Jersey the largest of the Channel Islands situated between UK and France.

This photo of St Aubin is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The Channel Islands were the only part of the UK to be occupied by the Germans during the Second World War.  Islanders were given hours to gather their belongings and evacuate before the occupation started.

2. If you want to make me smile serve me mushrooms as I love them!

Especially with leeks and pasta!

3. My current job involves lots of data analysis and I secretly love it (I know a bit sad!) and spent a whole weekend categorising my books using excel. See my Musing Monday (September 16)

4. I have no idea about geography, my sense of direction is so bad I get confused about which way to go when I leave shops! Taking my children to birthday parties when they were small was always difficult (no GPS then) and invariably involved driving to the sea so that I could find somewhere that I recognised. See point 1 it is lucky the island is only 9 miles X 5 miles so it didn’t take too long!

Apparently if you share my problem and live on a larger land mass (not difficult) you should head up high as this will help you find your way…. I’m not convinced but hey!

picture courtesy nortonautogroup.com

5. I check my stats on my blog often and although I like to see how many people have visited I get really excited when someone from a new country visits – thank you whoever it was who came from Hungary yesterday!

If you see the Jersey flag  on your wordpress blog it could well be me!

I kid myself that I do this as self-improvement for point 4 (I think it may be another example of being a little bit sad see point 3)

Since my original post I have gathered a new flag from Ghana so thank you to them!

6. I am horrible until I have had a nice cup of coffee (or 3) every morning.

7. Finally I love reading! Who’d have guessed eh? Nothing makes me happier than discovering a new book that takes me to my happy place or better still a new author who ‘speaks to me’

Now for the best bit nominating some of the blogs I have visited and enjoyed. Not everyone likes participating in these awards and some of those listed by me may have already had this award.  I am not going to nominate again  but please  have a look through the list as I think all of these have something worth reading!  Don’t forget to visit Andrea and Stephanie too.

These awards are truly brilliant for a little blog hopping.

My fifteen nominees for The Shine On Award (in no particular order) are:

Love 2 Read Always

The Book Lover’s Attic

Musings From a Bookmammal

The Relentless Reader

‘Ow am yau?

The Love of A Good Book

The Book Musings

Geeky Book Snob

Kimberly Eve Musings of a Writer

Beth Fish Reads

Thinking in Fragments

Tipsy Lit

Dreamz and Clouds

Bibliobeth

One Gal’s Musings

A big thank you to Book Chat for my nomination, it has made me so happy and I have finally worked out how to do the links!

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The Shine On Award

The lovely Book Chat has nominated me for the SHINE ON AWARD which I had been coveting since I saw another blogger with one.

Isn’t this the prettiest of all the pretty awards?

Book Chat provides me with thoughtful reviews on books and she has some wonderful recent pictures of her new granddaughter, the first girl, which must mean a chance to embrace pink!

THE SHINE ON AWARD
Here are the rules of the award:
1. Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Acknowledge that blogger on your blog, and link back.
3. Share seven random, interesting things about yourself.
4. Nominate up to 15 bloggers for the Shine On Award, provide a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs.

I visited Book Chat as soon as I saw I’d been nominated and thanked her for including me in her chosen nominations.

This is my acknowledgement and a plea to keep up the good work  providing  me with  regular book reviews.

Here goes with my seven random facts, I’m not really sure that they can be classed as interesting but here we go….

1. I live in Jersey the largest of the Channel Islands situated between UK and France.

This photo of St Aubin is courtesy of TripAdvisor

2. If you want to make me smile serve me mushrooms as I love them!

3. My current job involves lots of data analysis and I secretly love it (I know a bit sad!) and spent a whole weekend categorising my books using excel.  See my Musing Monday (September 16)

4. I have no idea about geography, my sense of direction is so bad I get confused about which way to go when I leave shops!  Taking my children to birthday parties when they were small was always difficult (no GPS then) and invariably involved driving to the sea so that I could find somewhere that I recognised.  See point 1 it is lucky the island is only 9 miles X 5 miles so it didn’t take too long!

picture courtesy nortonautogroup.com

5. I check my stats on my blog often and although I like to see how many people have visited I get really excited when someone from a new country visits – thank you whoever it was who came from Hungary yesterday!

If you see the Jersey flag   on your wordpress blog it could well be me!

I kid myself that I do this as self-improvement for point 4 (I think it may be another example of being a little bit sad see point 3)

6. I am horrible until I have had a nice cup of coffee (or 3) every morning.

7. Finally I love reading! Who’d have guessed eh? Nothing makes me happier than discovering a new book that takes me to my happy place or better still a new author who ‘speaks to me’

Now for the best bit nominating some of the blogs I have visited and enjoyed. Not everyone likes participating in these awards and some of those listed by me may have already had this award, but have a look through the list as I think all of these have something worth reading!

I still look out for new blogs from my nomination for the Liebster award when I want to do a little blog hopping.

My fifteen nominees for The Shine On Award (in no particular order) are:

Love 2 Read Always

The Book Lover’s Attic

Musings From a Bookmammal

The Relentless Reader

‘Ow am yau?

The Love of A Good Book

The Book Musings

Geeky Book Snob

Kimberly Eve Musings of a Writer

Beth Fish Reads

Thinking in Fragments

Tipsy Lit

Dreamz and Clouds

Bibliobeth

One Gal’s Musings

A big thank you to Book Chat for my nomination, it has made me so happy and I have finally worked out how to do the links!

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One Month Old and a Liebster Award – How Special do I feel?

So I got up yesterday morning and checked my blog for comments and could hardly believe my eyes to read that the lovely Jen from http://jenniferwindram.com/  had nominated me for the Liebster Awarad

The award is a way to recognize up and coming bloggers and encourage people to visit new/interesting blogs cue blushing with pride!!

As my blog is one month old today I decided to combine the two events to feel extra special!

Now I may love reading but following instructions is not something that I am particularly good at but I’ve tried my best

Okay, so here are the rules:

-Each nominee must link back the person who nominated them.
-Answer the 10 questions which are given to you by the nominator.
-Nominate 10 other bloggers for this award who have less than 200 followers.
-Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.
-Let the nominees know that they have been nominated by going to their blog and notifying them

First, I must answer 10 questions…
1. What is your best summer memory?
Having a bunch of good friends and family round for a barbecue and seeing how many people could squeeze into our (small) hot-tub – answer was 8 and one of them was a huge rugby player. Very cosy!
2. Do you sing in the shower?
No my singing is so awful I can’t even inflict it on myself
3. Have you ever put an empty carton of milk/juice back in the refrigerator?
Well…. Not quite empty but maybe with just a dribble left
4. Which bug do you like better: Roly Poly (pill bug) or Ladybug? Why?
I don’t know what Roly Poly is but I do like ladybirds. I used to collect them from the garden as a child and make them a home… they often died so I don’t think they liked it
5. Who is the person who makes you laugh so hard soda comes out of your nose and tears stream down your face?
I am known for laughing a lot and have a loud laugh (kinder souls say infectious). My other-half, my son and my brother all have me in stitches but I really don’t like the liquid out of the nose bit!
6. Where do you go when you need to get away from it all?
To bed with a good book the best way I know to escape reality
7. Do you ever hide from door to door salespeople?
We don’t tend to get door to door salespeople but yes I would definitely hide
8. When do you decide it’s time to get gas? 1/2 tank? 1/4 tank? Warning light has been on for 10 miles?
This is where I confess that even though I have been driving for 20+ years I have never filled up a car. I’m not known as ‘Princess’ for nothing!
9. What is the one talent you wish you had?
Back to the first question, I wish I could sing.
10. If you could time travel would you go to the future or the past?
Definitely the past. I love history but I would have to be one of the richer ones I don’t know how all my ancestors dealt with backbreaking work and cramped living conditions. We have it so much better these days.

I then need to nominate 10 other people for the award with less than 200 followers (I guessed a bit here)

1. http://bookloversattic.wordpress.com/
2. http://bibliobeth.wordpress.com/
3. http://bookmammalmusings.wordpress.com/
4. http://chrissireads.wordpress.com/
5. http://owamyau.wordpress.com/
6. http://abookwormontheloose.wordpress.com/
7. http://talkabtbooks.wordpress.com/
8. http://cmsgardnerblog.wordpress.com/
9. http://amystopfive.wordpress.com/
10. http://dubaiunveiled.wordpress.com/

The next part is I have to set 10 questions for them to answer so (drum roll) here they are

1. What is your favourite book of all time?
2. Where would you like to live if money were no object?
3. Do you have a phobia or real hatred for something that would be in your room 101? What is it?
4. What’s the first thing you do when you get in after a hard day?
5. Do you lie to your doctor about how much you drink/how much exercise you take?
6. What is your current favourite TV Show?
7. Do you tell shop assistants if they give you too much change?
8. Do you laugh or own up if someone tells you a joke that you don’t get?
9. Is there a cheesy song that you secretly love? If so what is it?
10. Which historical character would you like to be for a day?

And now I’m off to let my nominees know I’ve nominated them!

I do hope they will be as delighted as I am – thanks again http://jenniferwindram.com/