Nominated for a Sunshine Award…

Well, it appears that a lovely lady called Mae at Amaezing Wanderlust (see what she did with her name there?) has nominated me for a ‘Sunshine Blogger Award’.

Normally I give these types of awards a wide berth – no, not because my head is stuck ‘where the sun don’t shine’ – honestly, it’s not. I’m a nice person.

It’s because when I first started blogging, someone in the travel industry (and a long time blogger themselves) sent me a few ‘wise words’ as they called it, likening blogger awards by other bloggers to the plethora of pyramid schemes that seem to emerge every now and then.

Anyway, it’s now close to a year since I started blogging and, as I have a section on the site called ‘Just For Fun’, I think a little harmless fun should be had.

And besides, I’m actually quite flattered to be nominated by Mae. You see, she’s my type of blogger; she gets that social media is…..well, social.

Many times I’ve logged onto my Twitter feed to see that she has retweeted or liked me. Despite having over 1,000 followers, she’s obviously quite switched on and is keeping an eye on her followers – which I think is great.

Anyway, back to the award.

“ The Sunshine Blogger Award is an award given to bloggers by bloggers. It is given to “bloggers who are positive and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere”.

Here are the rules to accept the award:

• Thank the person who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
• Answer the eleven questions sent by the person who nominated you.
• Nominate eleven blogs to receive the award and write them eleven new questions.
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or your blog.

Here are Mae’s 11 questions and my responses:

What is travel for you?
A chance to discover new sights, cultures, history and best of all, people.

What keeps you motivated?
My family and just generally being ambitious.

Who are the people that inspire you to write?
I’ve always enjoyed writing so to me it’s not a chore or something I need to do. I actually find writing (and blogging) quite therapeutic; it’s like my escapism. I’m a mum, a wife and a full time employee. I blog in the little spare time I get because I genuinely enjoy it. For now it’s my hobby, but one day I’d like it to be something much bigger…

How will you achieve great results in writing your blog?
So I’ve actually written a blog post on what I’ve learnt from blogging so far, but I think my main goals for success are – 1. Be consistent (post regularly) 2. Be social (engage with others and learn from others) and 3. Be open to trying new things, whether that be new apps, new widgets or new ideas for your site.

What is your favorite colour?
Green.

How old were you when you started writing?
When I was about 9 or 10 years old I remember making a weekly ‘family newspaper’ detailing what we’d all been up to that week. I think my parents still have one of them.

At uni (many moons ago), I created a monthly magazine called ‘Inmate’, where I interviewed anyone from the Halls of Residence’s cleaner to the guy who didn’t revise for his exams but still came out with top grades.

What are your favourite places around the world?
South Africa and Australia, but there are just so many places I still want to see. And although I love travelling and discovering new places, there’s nowhere quite like home – even if it happens to be in rainly England!

Which would you choose? New York or Bali?
Well, I have conflicting views here. I’ve been to New York and loved it, so I’d like to go back. However, I’ve never been to Bali…okay, I’ll say Bali as I need to experience it for myself.

Will you go trekking or go to the beach?
I’m not a ’fly and flop’ girl – I’m all for getting out there and seeing the real destination.

What is the one thing you can’t travel without?
Can I have two things? My ear plugs and my MacBook. Only one thing? Okay, my Mac…I can always stuff cotton wool balls in my ears!

What are the challenges that you have faced in writing an article?
I never have any problems when it comes to sourcing material to write about or commenting on, but what I really, really struggle with is lack of time.

Being a mum and the editor of a weekly magazine are my biggest ‘time thieves’. I often wish I could stop time. I also wish the more I ate, the more weight I’d lose, but we can all dream 🙂

So, just before I list the 11 blogs I’m nominating for the Sunshine Blogger Award, I’d like to say a personal ‘thank you’ to those of you who have made the effort to ‘socialise’ with me on social media – you know who you are!

And to those of you who follow but don’t ‘play ball’ – maybe have a read of point 9 in this article.

So…the lovely, happy, sun-shiny bloggers I’d like to nominate for the Sunshine Blogger Award are….(cue drum roll)….

1. Family Makes

2. Tales From A Fork

3. Minna Mar

4. Cassie Fairy

5. Salwa Kisswani

6. One Modern Couple

7. Over 40 and a Mum to One

8. Laura Little Stuff

‪9. Under the Yew Tree

10. Travel Junkies

11. Trip & Trail

And my questions for you are:

1. What do you hope from blogging? (What is your No.1 aim?)
2. What destination have you always wanted to visit?
3. What is your favourite item at home?
4. If you were stuck on a desert island, what three things would you choose to have with you?
5. What’s the biggest challenge you face in blogging? (and how are you trying to overcome this?)
6. If you had one wish (apart from winning the lottery) what would it be?
7. Sum up your blog site in one sentence. (what do you write about?)
8. Who would you choose to sit next to you on a plane?
9. What is your favourite destination so far?
10. Who is your inspiration in the blogging world? (what site/blogger do you aspire to be like)
11. What is your favourite quote?

A final note…

Please don’t feel obliged to take part in this – we all lead crazy, busy lives, but if you’re sitting there one evening (like I am right now), and you find yourself momentarily wondering what task to start next – then this is that something to fill a half hour ‘window of opportunity’!