So here we are again. More lovely awards to pass around. Let's make the blogosphere shine and sparkle with bloggy love, right? I told myself not to ramble this time, so here we go:

The math wiz and blogger extraordinaire Tara Tyler of Tara Tyler Talks handed me 3 awards! Tara's been a longtime blogger friend. If ever you need a haiku fix, she's your go-to girl. :)

Again! Lucky me. :)

Name five of your most fabulous moments, either in real life or in the blogosphere.

Case in point: Matching pink dresses with my little sis! And what's up with the floppy, doily-looking collars?!? o_O

Last but not least, Alisha Klapheke of I Heart Words tagged me in the Lucky 7 meme. I met Alisha over at Agent Query Connect. She's a dear. Plus, she's got a cool ms she's querying at the moment. Good luck with that, Alisha! :)



I actually did this one before with my book, HIDDEN, so I won't do that again. Instead, I'll pick a different WIP--one that is long enough to have a page 77. These are the seven lines from my MG Fantasy WIP:




*****
Well, there you go. And now, on to the tagging part because, ya know, misery loves company. Er, I mean, 'cause these bloggers are AWESOME and they won't hate me for tagging them. Right? Right?!?? (I have chocolate.)

Fabulous Blog Ribbon:

1. T. Drecker
2. The Golden Eagle
3. M. J. Fifield
4. J.A. Bennett
5. Sherry Ellis

Kreative Blogger Award:

1. Mia K. Rose
2. Laura Barnes
3. Cat Lavoie
4. A.M. Supinger
5. Suzanne Payne

Stylish Blogger Award:

1. Bethany Crandell aka Rookie Riter (I know she loves awards that don't come with rules. :D )
2. Patricia Lynne
3. Stephanie Scott
4. Mooderino
5. Misha Gericke

Lucky 7 Meme Tag:

I'm tagging new blogger friends (hope they don't mind).
1. Lexa Cain
2. Kelsey Sutton
3.Tami Marie
4. Nick Wilford
5. L.S. Murphy (my agency sister! She just recently signed with my agent. Congrats, L.S.!)

As always, no pressure. Feel free to accept or ignore the awards. I know how busy you guys are. :)

I used to think I have a great memory. Back in grade school, there was a 6-stanza poem we were supposed to learn and memorize for a week. Our teacher wanted us to recite 1-2 stanzas per day so we could build up to memorizing all of the stanzas by the end of the week. Well, little me decided 1 stanza was too easy. So right after breakfast, while I was putting on my school uniform (yes, we had to wear uniforms!) I went through the poem over and over again.

Yep, I recited the whole poem that very Monday.

Nope, I didn't make one mistake.

Sigh. I wish I still have that good of a memory. I swear every time I get pregnant, some of my brain cells disappear. I rely on lists now to keep myself sane (and so I don't miss any important events). Yeah, I know people say forgetfulness is a symptom of pregnancy, but really, this forgetfulness goes way beyond gestation. Anyway, I AM rambling. The point, really, of all this...rambling...is I have blog awards I need to acknowledge and give away. Some of them I've forgotten about (picture me scrambling to read my old posts so I could see who left me awards from months ago). But I can't ignore them any longer because if I do, I'll NEVER get to them...evah. And my conscience would not allow me to be rude about it.

So! Here we go (starting with the most recent):

This one came from the lovely and talented Medeia Sharif, author of BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. (Flux, 2011). She's cool and awesome! Thanks, Medeia!!

Oh, right. The rules (almost forgot).

The rules for this award:

Hmmm. Five favorite books, eh? Tough to narrow down, but I'll try: (not in any particular order)

        

(Okay, so I couldn't just pick five. I am sorely tempted to add more because there are so many great books out there, but I had to stop myself.)

Next up comes from my gorgeous blogger friend from the UK, Nikki of Inspire Nordic. She writes about Scandinavian/Nordic language and culture. Cool, eh?

Oh, she gave me two. Thanks, Nikki! You're such a sweetie. :)

There are some questions I have to answer. I'll keep it short and sweet.

What is your favorite song?

Gah! I'm stumped. My "favorite" song changes all the time.

What is your favorite dessert?

Man, you're asking me at this point in my life where every dessert sounds good. Cake, cupcakes, lemon bars, ice cream, bread pudding, key lime pie...you name it, I'll probably gobble it up in seconds.

When you're upset, what do you do?

I have kids so when I'm upset, I have to hide in the bathroom. Not because I don't want them to see that I'm crying, or to shield them from the fact that I'm upset/angry/mad, but because the questions will NOT stop. What's wrong, Mommy? Why are you crying? Did you get a boo-boo?

What was your favorite pet?

Can't say it was my favorite, but I totally thought our pet turtle was cool. We let him loose around our yard (it was fenced-in), and then we couldn't find him anymore because he was really good at hiding behind my mom's flowers and bushes. After a year (maybe?), we found him swimming in our little fish pond. So we took him out and somebody had the brilliant idea to paint red and white dots on his shell so we'd have an easier time finding him. Uh, didn't work. He may be slow, but he was a master at evading us.

What do you prefer to wear, black or white?

Ugh, can't wear white. Do you know how hard it is to keep yourself clean when you have little kids around you? Yeaaahhhh...

What is your biggest fear?

That something bad will happen to my kids or my husband, or anyone in my family, really.

What is your attitude mostly?

I'm a pretty laid back person. I like to believe I'm a cautiously optimistic person (still positive, but not to the point of being blind, ya know.)

What is perfection to you?

Perfection is acknowledging we're imperfect. :D

What is your guilty pleasure?

Playing games. :)


Whew! This post is getting too long so I'll have to do the rest later. For now, I'm handing over these lovely blog awards to the following people:

The {Booker} Award:

1. Jemi Fraser: A fabulous writer and school teacher. Her students are very lucky.
2. Lynda R. Young: She always has fantastic, helpful posts about writing and social media.
3. Cherie Reich: She's a writer, a freelance editor, and a library assistant. She's all about books!
4. Stephen Tremp: 'Cause his book BREAKTHROUGH: THE ADVENTURES OF CHASE MANHATTAN is out and free on Amazon--today is the last day so grab a copy!
5. Emily R. King: This new mama knows her stuff. :)

One Lovely Blog Award:

1. Michelle Hauck: She's a lovely person, and she was gracious enough to let me babble on her blog.
2. Leslie Pugh: A sweetheart! She's so cute and warm and friendly.
3. Cristina dos Santos: Her blog's always full of heart. <3
4. Joyce Alton: All hail the mother"ship" of AQC's Speculative Forum. :)
5. Shallee McArthur: A lovely mama--she's going to have a baby, too. At around the same time I am. How cool is that? *belly bump!*

Stylish Blogger Award:

1. E. B. Black: She calls herself the "death author". Creepy cool, eh?
2. Kela McClelland: A lovely friend from Agent Query Connect. :)
3. Wendy Lu: Because, like me, she just recently embraced her inner diva...I mean, her real name. And I must say, it's a lovely name, Wendy!
4. Andrea Teagan: A new blogger friend. Hi, Andrea!
5. Alex Villasante: She's my newest follower! Hi Alex! *waves*

Enjoy!

P.S. Awardees, no pressure at all. You are free to accept or ignore the awards--I promise I won't get mad at all. I know how busy you all are. :)

I think I signed up for the challenge while only partly conscious, or maybe I was sleep-surfing-the-net that day. Who knows. The thing is, I signed up for the A to Z Blogging Challenge coming up this April and going on all month long, the goal being to blog EVERYDAY (except Sundays) with the alphabet letters as blog post prompt.

Click on badge if you want to check it out!

Funnily enough, it reminds me of this slightly embarrasing experience I had when I was 8. There was a school SINGING competition (another proof of my insanity. Didn't I tell you I can't sing to save my life? Well, apparently, I made an attempt years ago, and luckily survived to tell the story. I should totally repress this memory.) Let me say that again: A school singing competition. The whole school was out there to watch me sing. Yikes!

Ahem. Back to the story: I was in second grade, and somehow my teacher convinced me to represent the class. I still remember the white dress my mom made me wear, with matching white tights and shoes (what was with the all-white ensemble?? *scratches head*). My dad coached and helped me practice at home. The song was...The Alphabet Song. It goes something like this:

A--You're adorable
B--You're so beautiful
C--You're so cute and full of charm
D--You're a darling
E--You're exciting
F--You're the feather in my arms (I have no clue what that means. LOL! ;D )
G--You're so good to me
H--You're so heavenly
I-- You're the one I idolize
J--We're like Jack and Jill
K--You're so kissable
L--Is the love light in your eyes
M, N, O, P--I could go on all day
Q, R, S, T -- Alphabetically speaking, you're okay
U-- Make my life complete
V-- Means you're very sweet
W, X, Y, Z --It's fun to wander through the alphabet with you, to tell you what you mean to me.

~end~

Take note, I jotted this down from memory, so I may have messed up some of the actual words. I can't remember who wrote the song, or where it came from. Anyway, with the blogfest challenge coming up real soon, I think I'm going to get this song stuck in my head--what can I say, I need inspiration! Hee!

Oh, and yeah, I won third place in that competition. *wink*

So, wish me luck. We'll see how well I survive this round. Anybody else doing the challenge? Are you all ready to go, or still shuffling your feet toward the door?

It's V-Day! So I decided to come out of hiding, despite my headache-plagued noggin, to show some love. Which means...blog awards that I've gotten not-quite-so-recently and are now in dire need of being passed onto deserving individuals so that love may continue to abound in the blogosphere. :)

Photo By EPMLE

First off, from the ever lovely Tanya Reimer of Life's Like That, she awarded me not one, but TWO blog awards! Thanks, Tanya! Je t'adore!  

          

Wowza!! Nice, eh? There are rules, of course, but since I've already done the give-us-seven-random-things-about-you thingy, and since my life is not superbly exciting as, say, a sky-diving/bungee-jumping nuthead person, I will skip this rule. (The only excitement I get lately is feeling tiny flutters in my belly, which one could argue was possibly the baby moving, or a severe case of indigestion.)

So, onto the awardees!

1. Kristin Baker Przybyla of Fairies and Pirates, etc. (If I bungled up your last name, K, I'm very soorrry!!)

2. The Golden Eagle. Yeah, 'cause she's golden. ;)

3. My teen pal Riley who's so ever clever and witty. She blogs at In the Jungle,. (Seriously, I can't remember if I've already given you the same awards, Riley girl. Just bonk me in the head if I did.)

4. Kate of Kate's Free Write. She's a painter! And a writer! And a mother like me!

5. Rachel Searles of Awkward Girl (though there's nothing awkward about her.) ;)

That's it for now since the monstrosity that is my headache is rearing its ugly head at me. To all my followers who have faithfully continued to show me support even though I have become one of the dreaded "sporadic" bloggers (it's only temporary, people!), I give you this award:

Yes, please don't hesitate to grab this. You deserve this. All of you.

This was given to me by my beautiful preggy friend, J.A. Bennett, who, despite her morning sickness and fatigue, still manages to blog every week (I swear I don't know how she does it.) Thanks, Jen! Love ya!

Hello lovely people!

Yes, I've been gone for a while. And I miss you all! But my health (and those of the people in my household) hasn't been well lately and has kept me away from the Internet. Alas, I may continue to be sporadic with blog posts all through December, but I'll try really hard to keep up with all of you.

I only resurfaced today to acknowledge blog awards that wonderful people have given me. Sorry this took too long, guys!

First off, from Jenny Ryan of You Were Going to be Fantastic is the 7 x 7 Link Award. Since I've already done this, I won't sort through my posts again for the Mostest and the Bestest. :)  If you missed my 7 x 7 post, well, here it is!

Thank you, Jenny! You guys should check out her blog where she posts chapters of a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story about a girl named Katie. ;)

Next up, is the ever lovely and beautiful friend of mine, Angela V. Cook of The Starving Novelist, who gave me the Beautiful Blogger Award. I love you, girl! Thank you ;)




And lastly, a more recent one, is the One Lovely Blog Award from Dean C. Rich of The Write Time. He blogs about writing and time management, people! If you're having a hard time trying to balance writing with life, go check out some of his posts. I bet you'll find something useful or applicable to you.


Thanks, Dean!

And now, for the awardees:

7 x 7 Link:

1. Erin Summerill
2. Rachna Chhabria
3. Suzanne F. Payne

Beautiful Blogger:

1. A.M. Supinger
2. Ashley Nixon
3. Caitlin Vincent

One Lovely Blog Award

1. Jessie Humphries
2. Peggy Eddleman
3. Jen Bennett

<3 to all. And stay healthy, everyone!

I've been procrastinating on this particular blog award because it requires me to sort through my blog posts for the most beautiful, most controversial, most popular, etc., and somehow it's making me feel like a judge for American Idol. Or maybe, a better metaphor would be a beauty pageant judge...

Strut your stuff, blog post #20! Chin up, blog post #68! You call that a walk? What are you thinking?

And I fear my posts from now on will develop an inferiority complex.

BUT! It has to be done. Sooooo...a BIG THANKS to these wonderful blogger friends who bestowed me this interesting award:

Tara Tyler of Tara Tyler Talks. She's a lovely math teacher and writer rolled into one. I am always in awe of mathematicians because Math was the one subject I struggled the most with during my high school years.

Caitlin Vincent of Musings of an Ordinary Mind. Caitlin is one of the sweetest and smartest persons I know. I love her writing voice (check out her A Word for Wednesday posts). Love yah, Cay-Cay! ;)

A.M. Supinger of Inner Owlet. This gal is one of my favorite bffs. She's lovely, she's funny, and she can write beautiful, sometimes heart-wrenching stories. She's very imaginative and she never ceases to amaze me with her talent. <3

Thank you, ladies!

Cue the music and lights... Here we go:

1. Most Beautiful Post goes to... I can't decide between two so I made it a tie instead. The first one is the meme: Writing Is NOT Like a Box of Chocolates, where I compared writing to a tango dance. It has JLo and Richard Gere. I mean, c'mon, Richard Gere, right? Ok, he's old but he's still got it.

The second pick is more personal (to me, anyway): Poetry, The Music To My Soul.

2. Most Popular Post is...my contest entry: Beware the Bunny. So technically, this is not the first most popular but the FOURTH ranking post. The others were giveaways so I didn't include them. Apparently, you guys like morbid, scary bunny stories. O_o

Don't be fooled by those lovely round eyes, or by its soft fur.

3. Most Controversial Post (oh my!): I don't do politics, so I had a hard time picking a winner for most controversial. And then I remembered this post that started the #goatposse phenomenon on Twitter so what the heck: Who We Are. Yep, it's got goats in it.

So cute, right?

4. Most Helpful Post goes to...Passive vs. Active Voice. This is actually the second most popular post too. I get "passive and active voice" searches a lot. Glad to know it's helping someone out there. *looks out into the great beyond*

5. Most Surprisingly Successful: (wait, what does this even mean? That a post I thought was a loser actually garnered views? Or that a post I wrote wriggled its way into the top popular post ranking?) Since I'm not sure about this, I'm going with the next popular: The Breakfast Club: YA in a Nutshell. John Hughes, baby. 'Nuff said.

6. Post That Didn't Get the Attention It Deserved or Most Underrated (I need to make two sashes for this): I think it would have to be the milk maid story found here: Because I Was A Reader First Before I Became A Writer. I'm still thinking of myself as the milk maid sometimes, especially when I get writerly doubt. (You think you can write, punk? Oh yeah? Ya think you can? Huh.)

7. The Post I Am Most Proud Of: This is the one that started it all: On Writing and Other Knickknacks that Stumble My Way.

And I'm tagging these wonderful bloggers because I'm sure they have interesting posts to share with us:

Michelle Simkins (Beyond awesome. Y'all need to follow her. Srsly.)

Shelly Brown (Funny and entertaining. When I think of Shelly, "movie star" comes to mind immediately. Must be those cool-looking shades she's got on.)

Bethany C. (She is my Shakira-fro-wearing, hamster-slave-driving, purple goat sistah who totally rocks. I <3 <3 <3 her!)

Lori M. Lee (Uber talented. I drool over her manga artwork all the time.)

Mary Frame (The wolf lady who doesn't write about werewolves. Yeah, she's awesome.)

The Golden Eagle (She rocks. 'nuff said.)

Laila Knight (Her words: "Life is too short to let it be ordinary." Amen!)

Abby Fowers (A real, down-to-earth, sweet lady. ;) )

Kristin Baker (I love this gal! She's funny and smart and sweet.)

Peggy Eddleman (she just landed herself an agent! Hooray!)

Go on, ladies! Dazzle us with your fabulous posts! <3

The best thing about having nice blogger friends is getting awards from them. Who needs an Oscar or an Emmy when you can have the ever green Versatile Blogger Award?



Yep, the lovely Charissa Weaks of A Day in the Life of an Aspiring Author graciously handed me this award. Thank you, Charissa! You rock, girl!

Since I've done this before, I won't bore you with another 7 random things about me. Instead, I'm going to give you a list of 7 bloggers I'm tagging and the reasons why I think they're great. :D

1. Suzanne Payne. She's an Elementay Music teacher, a mother, wife, friend, hottie (in my book, hehe! It's our secret code of sorts), Twitter buddy, and a writer. This lady has heart, and I love her sincerity.

2. Anna Banks. This chicka is hilarious! If you follow her on Twitter, you'll know what I mean. Plus, Anna's debut novel OF POSEIDON is coming out soon. And it is lovely. And I can't wait to read it. ;)

3. J. Lea Lopez. Because she's crazy-fun, loves Jell-O, she's a #goatposse member, and she's an AQer (Agent Query member). J.Lea writes sexy stories too. Woot!

4. Kimberly Krey. She's a Utahn mom-writer-reader like me. And she likes doughnuts. ;D

5. Michelle Simkins. Fellow #goatposse member, AQer, Greenwoman (as in she's all earthy and green and fae-like. No, she's not actually green, she just embodies it. Hehe.), feminist, knitter, gardener, tea drinker, reader, mother, wife, friend, writer (not in that order, btw). Versatile, indeed.

6. Leigh T. Moore. She's fun, she's cool, and she's super nice! Follow her blog and you'll see what I mean. :)

7. Masako Moonshade. (How cool is that name?) She's a fellow AQer and Twitter buddy. I'm only getting to know her but  I think she's FAB. ;)

Have a great week, everyone! <3

Hello Monday!

This is going to be quick and easy. I have recently gotten to know these bloggers and I thought they need acknowledgement for the work they put on making their blogs shiny and sparkly. And you know me, I like sparkly things! ;)

So I hereby award the BLOG ON FIRE award to the following ladies:

1. Jessie Humphries
2. Krista
3. Lisa Ann
4. Tracy Jorgensen
5. Rachel Brooks
6. Julie Fedderson
7. Jeana Watts
8. Christine Tyler
9. Madeline Bartos
10. Charissa Weaks

Enjoy!

Tune in tomorrow for the winner of the BOOK GIVEAWAY: THE FIFTH SPECTER by T.S. Welti. You can still join! Contest ends at midnight, Mountain time.

Have a good day, everyone!

Let me just say this: I have COOL and SUPER NICE blogger friends.
Yep. And I am grateful.

Rachna Chhabria of Rachna's Scriptorium apparently thought I was cute enough to handle this puppy:

Seriously. Cute. Awww! Thanks, Rachna! ;)

I am passing on this Seriously Cute Blogger Award to the following cuties:

1. Lena Roy of Lena's Lit Life. She's cute, talented, and she's always ready to help others.

2. Peggy Eddleman. I'm only getting to know Peggy but I think she's fab! Plus she hands out cookies. And her blog is beautiful. ;)

3.Ali Cross. This girl is super ninja in my book. ;) You rock, Ali!

4. Jen Bennett of A Book, A Girl, A Journey. This girl is my virtual workout buddy and I love her. ;)

5. T.S. Welti. This superwoman/writer/mom/friend has just debuted her book "The Fifth Specter", which I enjoyed very much!


And if that's not enough to soar the cute factor for the day, check out this lovely award I got from the ever talented Deirdra Eden-Coppel: The Creative Blog Award.

Isn't that beautiful? Deirdra made the drawing herself. She is one seriously talented artist! Thank you, Deirdra! I'm very honored. ;)

On to the memes...

I know I just posted a meme yesterday, but what can I do? I got tagged again. So here's meme #1 from Lena Roy. (I thought I would behave myself this time and not twist the meme. After all, this was Lena's first time tagging people in a meme. ;) )

What do you think of when you hear the word "tag"?

That the price on the tag of my favorite dress at Nordstrom has gone up?

Do you think you're hot?

Um, no.

Upload a pic or wallpaper that you are using at the moment.

May the Force be with you, squirelly dudes!

When was the last time you ate chicken?

Hmm. I cook dinner every night, except the weekends. I haven't had chicken prior to this day, but I am going to make grilled teriyaki chicken breasts tonight, served on white rice.

The song/s you listened to recently?

Anna Nalick's new album: Broken Dolls & Odds & Ends.

What were you thinking as you were doing this?

Didn't I do this one already? Just the maniacal twisted version of this?

Do you have nicknames? What are they?

Cherie is actually my nickname.

Meme #2, which is aptly named "Memebow Bright" by the clever Kacimari, who decided to go "the heck with all these memes, I'll make my own" way.

Show us the cutest, most adorable picture of your favorite animal.



You have five seconds to survive the zombie apocalypse. Choose one friend who would save your butt and tell us why you chose them.

Oh boy. Tough question. Are you absolutely sure I can only pick one? I thought about picking Anita since she has her vampire pet goat Clive--if he can't stave off the zombies, maybe he can turn us into vampires and thus ensuring our immortality? But then I remembered Bethany's panty-eating goat Nigel. I wouldn't want to be running around panty-less so maybe Nigel will decline from eating our underwear since he's on our side? Then of course there's Michelle Simkins, who's got an affiliation with the Fae. Maybe they can save us from the zombies? But then, oh yes, who can forget the Party Pony who has tickets to the Rapture party, and we all know that the zombie apocalypse is really the Rapture in disguise. So who would not want to have free tickets to heaven?

Oh geez. Can I just take the whole goat posse with me?

Share a quote with us.

A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit.
--Richard Bach

I know you had trouble choosing just one quote. Let us have another.

Really? I mean I already gave you one, and that took me several minutes of googling quotes on the web. I'm not really a "quotes" person. I live by my own quotes of life.


Using exactly twenty-seven words, tell us your life story.

Born, fed, grew. Survived high school, came to Hawaii for college, met hubby. Married, moved, had a kid. Then another. Wrote stories.  Blogger, mom, writer--in one.

Please do not throw your hands in the air. This is not a stick up.

I was just *discreetly* checking if my deodorant was still working.

All dead rock legends live again. You're standing in a fifty mile long line for:

No one. They're zombies, man! They're going to eat you up. Run!

Describe yourself using six words that start with the third letter of your middle name. Go!

L. Loving, Loyal, Laid-back, Labyrinthian, Latent, and after spending too much time on this post, a Laggard. ;D

 What is your middle name? (This is for research purposes only. Your response will not affect your chances of employment.)

Sorry. It's part of my super secret identity. I may or may not be a superhero, you never know.   O_o

I'm tagging anyone who wants to do the memes. Maybe, possibly, the whole #goatposse, if they're not sick of memes yet. So, enjoy! And go spread the silliness. ;)

Oh, btw, don't forget to vote for Michelle Simkins' Zombunny contest. It will only take you three seconds to do so. 1 second to click on this link, 2 seconds to cast your vote. Please and thank you!! There are wonderful entries and even if you don't vote for me, at least see what the other finalists have to offer. They are all talented people. ;)