blogging awards

Blogger Recognition Award

~ coralswimming ~ 3 Comments

Melinda from Purple Slob in Recovery has nominated me for the Blogger Recognition Award! Yay!!! Thank you, Melinda!! Thank you for thinking of me even after all these absent months. Honestly, I don’t know how I even deserve this recognition after dropping off for so long…but here I am, hoping to use this award as a kick-off to start blogging again.

Alright, so here are the rules of acceptance:

  1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  2. Write a post to show your award.
  3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
  4. Give two pieces of advise to new bloggers.
  5. Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
  6. Comment on each blog to let them know they have been nominated and provide a link to the post you have created.

1. DONE

2. This is it!

3. How My Blog Started

I started this blog at my children’s urgings that I should write a blog…and that it should be about them. Hence, Coral Reef, Star Fish, Ocean Breeze and Sea Pony were born (see my About page). I have always thought that parenting is one of those things that you do without instructions, and you never know if you’re doing it quite right or not. This is how the title Swimming Without the Manual came about. I wanted this blog to be a place where other parents could come and see and maybe relate to my own insecurities and imperfections about parenting, and where I could connect with others who are also “in the same boat”. I wanted people to know that we are all basically swimming without the manual when it comes to parenting.

4. Two Pieces of Advise

Given that I have blogged so sporadically, I don’t feel qualified to give advise here but this is what I have…for what it’s worth:

  • Write from your heart. I’m not saying that you have to reveal your deepest darkest secrets in your blog (there are other blogs for that), but my favorite blogs are usually those where the blogger lets his or her humanity and personality show through.
  • Go see people. Blogging is a community. I love to write, and I can write in hundreds of other forms (maybe not hundreds, but you know…). When I say that I miss blogging, however, what I mean is that I miss the community; I miss the interaction. Reading other people’s blogs serves you in several ways. One is that you learn from others. You may see techniques, layouts and, of course, life experiences that you can learn from. Also, commenting in other blogs is a good way to get your own blog noticed. When you read a post that you like, don’t be shy to leave a meaningful comment. Writers love to know what their readers think (I know I do). Leaving a comment leaves a little piece of you and a small sample of your writing on that site. That blogger or someone from their audience might like what they see and click on over to your blog 🙂

5. My nominees: (in no particular order and intentionally not numbered)

6. Done

 

 

The Sunshine Blogger Award

~ coralswimming ~ 11 Comments
On October 1st, Melinda from purpleslobinrecovery nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award, which recognizes bloggers who spread sunshine and positivity throughout the blogging community. Yay! My first blog award! Thank you, Melinda. You bring me sunshine too 🙂
The rules for accepting the award are as follows:
  • Thank the person/people who nominated you
  • Answer the eleven questions from your nominator(s)
  • Nominate eleven other bloggers and give them eleven questions to answer

These were the questions given to me.

  1. Where is your favourite place you have lived?
    1. Philadelphia, PA
  2. If you could change one thing what would it be?
    1. Everyone would live by the “pay-it-forward” method.
  3. What is your favorite childhood memory?
    1. The beach, the impossibly clear water…always going with my mother
  4. What is your dream job?
    1. Anything I can do from the comfort of my home and at whatever time I choose…so writing.
  5. What was your best subject at school?
    1. When I first moved to the United States and before I could speak English, it was math and music. These were the only two subjects that I could understand in any language.. After I learned English, that changed to Language Arts, especially writing.
  6. Do you prefer to live in the country or the city?
    1. I prefer a quiet, but not remote, setting. I like having neighbors, but I don’t like city traffic.!
  7. If you were stranded on a desert island which book would you take with you?
    1. Something that I could create with, such as The Artist’s Way
  8. Everyone has a song that makes them want to dance, what is yours?
    1. Kid Rock’s “All Summer Long” and Mark Ronson’s and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk”
  9. Favorite colour?
    1. Pink
  10. Do you prefer camping, caravaning or staying in motels?
    1. Pamper me in a nice hotel…although I’d like to try RVing once:)
  11. How many different careers have you had?
    1. For the past 15 years just one – pharmacist. Before that, I was a waitress, a receptionist, a secretary, a bank teller, a parking pay booth attendant at a HUGE international airport and a supermarket cashier.

The following are my nominees:

(Some of these folks may be too busy to answer my silly questions, but that’s OK. I just want to recognize that reading their blog makes me happy.)

I know this is not even half of eleven, but I’m a newbie myself, and this is as good as it gets for now. I have always been a believer in quality over quantity. I am sure that as I blog on, there will be more Sunshine Blogs to discover.
And now, for my list of questions:
  1. What inspired you to start blogging?
  2. What is the best book you’ve ever read?
  3. What is the best movie you’ve ever seen?
  4. What attracts you first to a new song, the lyrics or the music?
  5. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
  6. What type of vacation do you prefer – loafing on a gorgeous beach or sight seeing in a cool city?
  7. If you had the talent to be in the Olympics, would it be summer games or winter games?
  8. Would you prefer an afternoon at the art museum or the museum of science?
  9. What is your favorite season of the year?
  10. What is your favorite quote?
  11. If you could do just one thing that would make a huge difference in the world, what would it be?