Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

Tuesday, July 7, 2015



First of all, I'd like to send a huge THANK YOU to Michelle for nominating me for this award! It's such an honor to be nominated by you!

When I googled to try to find the rules of this award, I found a couple different sets of rules, but these were the most common ones.

Here are the rules for this award:
1 // Provide a link and thank the blogger who nominated you for this award.
2 // Answer a few questions about yourself.
3 // Nominate 5-10 blogs that you love.
4 // Include the award logo within your blog post.


So, let's get started. Here are the questions she asked of me :

1 // What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?
Honestly, my blog has exceeded my wildest dreams. Not that I have the most popular blog ever (and that's definitely not why I started blogging) but I never in my wildest dreams imagined that anyone but my family members would read my blog or that I would make friendships through blogging. It's been an awesome surprise and I'm loving the 'ride' I'm on and the opportunities that I have been given. No matter what happens, I always want to keep my voice, stay true to myself, and be honest and truthful and authentic. And most of all, I never want it to feel like work. This is a hobby for me. A hobby that I enjoy. I like writing and sharing our story. And if it ever feels like a burden or I feel stressed, then I need to step back and evaluate. I hope that never happens.

2 // Do you write for any other websites?  
Right now, I don't. I wouldn't mind it though and am definitely open to it in the future. Unless you can consider guest posting on someone else's blog as writing for other websites? Because in that case, I have done that.
I'm not sure if it can really be called writing for another website but I did submit one of my blog posts to the Autism Speaks website and they published on their blog (and it's been shared over 4,000 times on Facebook - which is SO crazy and unreal and amazing)! But I didn't write it for them, I wrote it for my blog originally.

3 // What have you learned about blogging since you started? 
It is SO much more time consuming than I thought! I thought I could just sit down, write something, upload some pictures, and poof - I'm done. But writing posts, editing photos (and I don't even know how to do half of what I should do/what other people do!), proof reading and such take up so much more time than I thought. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but sometimes when life gets busy, blogging has to take a seat on the back burner since I just don't have time for everything.
And one of the BEST things I've learned? You can make connections with people that you've never met and might never meet that can be some of the best relationships of your life. It sounds CRAZY to people who don't blog, but people who do, totally understand. It's crazy how people can come into your life and crazy how you can meet some of your best friends and people who just 'get you'.

4 // Provide a link to your favorite blog post.
A Letter to my Son with Autism and [Autism Diagnosis] Thoughts and Feelings from a Mother with a Child with Autism. Both for the same and for different reasons. I know this sounds kind of cocky, but in the letter to Mason, I love how I wrote. I basically sat down, typed my feelings, cried a bunch, and typed some more. I left it for a few days, re-read it and thought I would make changes, but couldn't find anything to change. It's one of the only posts that I haven't re-read and changed at least one thing on. I just think it describes how I feel about him perfectly. And then in the "thoughts and feelings" post, I feel like I was just so honest and raw. I admitted some flaws, I described some strengths, but all around, I was me.

5 // Provide a link to the post you think is the most popular.
Honestly I have no idea! But if I had to guess... A Letter to my Son with Autism

6 // What was your very first job and what did you learn from that experience?
I think my first job was being a babysitter. I definitely learned responsibility from that since I was in charge of other little human beings. I learned that I love playing with children and knew that I wanted to be a mom when I grew up.

7 // Does your family read your blog and if so does this affect what you say or how you say it?
My family does read my blog. I know for sure Seth does and I'm pretty sure my Dad and step-mom do as well. However, I'm not totally sure about anyone else. That being said, it does and doesn't affect what I say. It's kinda of hard to explain. I mean, regardless of if they did or didn't read my blog, I would never slam anyone or say anything bad about anyone on my blog. Or online for that matter. I mean, why? Whether I'm related to them or not, there's just no need to be rude to someone on the internet. I do, however, have Seth proof read some posts I post before I post them (whoa post overload) because I want to make sure he is ok with everything I share about our family. He's always been so, so supportive of anything I want to share, but I am aware of if I'm over-sharing or not and want to make sure he approves.

8 // Have you made virtual friends because of blogging?
Yes! But more than virtual friends, real friends. And that's something I never really imagined. I mean, I hoped to make some connections with others by reading and commenting on their blogs, but I never imagined I would make real life friends and really connect with these woman. If I had unlimited money, I would visit each and everyone one of them in person or would organize some sort of blogger meet up somewhere. We would have the best time.

9 // What is your dream vacation?
Oh goodness, there's so many places I'd like to go. But I'd have to say Bora Bora or Australia.

10 // One piece of advice you would give fellow bloggers.
Be genuine. Be authentic. Be you. Write about what you love. In your voice. They might say that copying someone is the biggest form of flattery, but in the blog world, it is blog suicide. Nobody wants to read someone else's post on your blog, even if you change a few words. Be true to yourself. Be real. And you'd be surprised what might happen.


Now for my nominations, I'd like to nominate these bloggers :

1// Beth at Our Pretty Little Girls
2 // Becky at BYBMG
3 // Courtney at From Here to Eternity
4 // Courtney at Sweet Turtle Soup
5 // Crystal at Hall Around Texas
6 // Desiree at Macke Monologues
7 // Evelina at Fortunate House
8 // Meghan at The Adventure Starts Here
9 // Sarah at Seeing All Sides
10 // Whitney at Work It Mommy


Here are your ten questions if you choose to participate :

1 // What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?
2 // What have you learned about blogging since you started?
3 // Provide a link to your favorite blog post.
4 // Have you made virtual friends because of blogging? Have you met them "in real life"?
5 // Does your family read your blog and if so does this affect what you say or how you say it?
6 // What's your favorite thing to eat and drink in the summer?
7 // Are you a nail polish fan? If so, what color and what brand are your favorite?
8 // What is your go-to meal for dinner?
9 // What is your favorite holiday and why?
10 // What is one piece of advice you would give fellow bloggers?


16 comments:

  1. Thanks for nominating me! I wish I could travel and meet all my blogging friends too! That would be so much fun!

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  2. Liz, so glad you decided to do this. I enjoyed reading your answers and getting to see other sides of you. I love what you said in #4, "I was me." So genuine and real! And yes, I would consider that article writing for another website, it was one of your finest. Thank you for answering back my nomination of you.

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  3. I loved getting to know you a little more by reading this post. Making friends is by far my fave thing about blogging. It makes all the work worth it.

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  4. Thank you for the nomination, friend :) You totally just made my day! I feel the same way you do about the friendships made through blogging and I'm sure other people think I'm crazy when I talk about 'my blogging friends' lol.

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  5. yes to the blogging taking way more time then you thought. Especially as you go along and want to make graphics better, etc.

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  6. I love your advice to bloggers! Your posts on Autism have been fabulous. Thanks for the nomination. I'll work on getting it done soon!

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  7. Love!!! Thanks for the nomination! Now to find the time to compose my own--in addition to our 4th of July recap, Brantley's 3rd birthday and party and 3-year update, seven more wedding posts, an upcoming anniversary post, and the list goes on and on! :)

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  8. Loved reading this. Your answer to question #1 would be my answer too. My mind has been completely blown just by being a "blogger" I never ever expected any of this, especially the friendships.

    Seth reads your blog... lucky you. Russ say "I don't need to read it, I live it." HA! He's a booger.

    Blogger meet-up that would be the best ever.

    Thanks for the tag friend!

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  9. What a fun blogging award, I've never seen this one before! And thank you for nominating me, sweet friend!!
    Amen to virtual friendships that are definitely REAL! I can't wait until the day we meet!! Because we both know it's gonna happen ;)
    Your letter to sweet Mason was absolutely perfect and I'm not surprised that it was published and shared so much!

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  10. yay blogging award! I love how you stated that you always want to stay true and authentic on your blog. I see so many bloggers that I used to love turn into a big business ad. haha every post is sponsored and they just don't seem to care as much about blogging as they used to. so cool that the post you wrote got over 4000 shares on facebook, that is soooo awesome!
    xo, Candace | Lovely Little Rants

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  11. Thank you for the nomination! I'm going to start in on the answers asap.
    Isn't blogging just the best?! It's crazy how many women I've "met," how many I'd love to hang with in real life, and how awesome the meet ups actually are when the DO happen. (Like, say, that time you, Stephanie and me met in San Diego - the best!)
    I love the raw posts. The emotions that are translated are so clear and honest. Never stop writing like that. It's the best.

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  12. Blogger meetups are awfully awesome aren't they? ;)
    I love how you poured your heart out in the letter to Mason and even more so that others have taken notice of your new journey. As always, Connor, James and I will be here cheering you, Seth and Mason on.

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  13. Thank you so much for nominating me! This is so exciting! I love how blogging has allowed me to connect with so many people from all over! The friendships are the best.

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  14. I love this! Friends made from blogging are the best! ANd I hope you get to take your dream vacation one day! :)

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  15. Always love reading q&a and learning a little bit more about you..!! Dan is totally my proof-reader too, except he finds my errors once published and sends me corrections to make. haha :) You're so right that if you don't blog, you just don't get the relationships that can be made..!!

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  16. Loved reading this, it even made me sniffly! Esp the bit about making friends. I'd probably feel pretty alone if I hadn't blogged and made friends. I've only got the one girlfriend that has a kid, and Aria came along first. So I felt very alone for a while. It really is a great space. And being small isn't so bad! The bigger you get the more crazies find you right? haha.

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