Liebster Blog Award

Herro! I just wanted to use this lovely Wednesday afternoon to recognize that Tara Therese nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award. (She nominated me a while ago--but I got all caught up with finals and life and am just now finding time to play catch-up!) I thought that it would be quite fun to take a bit of time to thank her and all of you guys for supporting me and reading my blog, which has been up for nearly a year now! I am so blessed to know that you are enjoying what I put out for you and always love seeing your kind comments and appreciate your feedback!

This is actually the second time I've been nominated for the Liebster Award.
See my first award by following this link.

Here are eleven facts about myself that you may or may not have known:

• Lately I have been obsessed with listening to music from Wicked.
• I've also been going through a Studio Ghibli phase. I continuously nominate Studio Ghibli films on movie nights with my friends. If my friends don't feel like watching anime, I have absolutely no shame watching My Neighbor Totoro or Kiki's Delivery Service on my own.
• I have known my best friends for about 14 years and I pray for them every day.
• My favorite color is green because it reminds me of grass and trees, which remind me of how special life is.
• I used to be a really bratty kid. Just ask my poor sister. I don't deserve to have such a patient and loving sister as her.
• The book Eragon turned writing into a passion. Eragon introduced me to a world of fantasy that I could make my own. The first full-on novel I wrote was a fantasy book, but then I decided to stop writing books after I'd started a blog and needed to choose one when my time became limited. (Writing to you guys became my new dream and passion!)
• I am scared of charging my phone overnight because I'm worried that it would break. When I was a kid, I had this digital camera that I somehow broke twice by overcharging the battery. Did you know you can overcharge batteries? Well, I did research on it and Apple and other smartphone producers have developed special technologies to prevent overcharging batteries and to protect the batteries in case if you use your phone while it's charging. But nonetheless, I always wait until my phone is at 1% battery before plugging it in sometime during the afternoon. And I wait for it to be charged completely back to 100% before unplugging it, usually refraining from using it while it's charging. It's a silly habit really, but I'm planning to have this phone for a while and want to do all I can to preserve it.
• One of the best feelings in the world is washing my hair and showering after a hard workout. Simple pleasures make my day.
• For those of you who sent me snapchats of "dying eggs" on Easter, you managed to confuse me a lot because those eggs were never really alive in the first place (unless if you were dyeing balut eggs).
  
  

  

  How did you decorate your Easter eggs last Sunday? Let me know in the comments!
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• I raised a tiny chick named George for two weeks. I named her George, and I remember worrying about her as if she were a human baby. Anyhow, George was definitely one of the best parts of my high school experience and she went on to become a show hen with 4-H kids. 
• I grew up a Christian but never truly felt an affinity with the faith until my first semester of college, where my professor had me read books that transformed my understanding of theology (just a little foreshadowing for a future series...)

And here are my answers to Tara's lovely questions:

1. Do you like to take distorted pictures of yourself? Yes! Snapchat is a ton of fun. But I would much rather take pictures of clouds and my puppy. 
2. How would you describe yourself? I'm a girl who's learning to love and has a passion for inspiring and being inspired. 
3. What’s your best joke? I went to a zoo and there was only a dog. It was a shih tzu.
4. If you had to change your name, what name would you pick? Probably Mika.
5. Do you collect clothes tags? No, I didn't even know that was a thing.
6. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? My choices aren't that exciting considering how many great foods are out there in the world, but I'd like to have either salads or smoothies. They have some variety and can still be quite tasty. And they're good for you!
7. Choose one: Famous, rich, or attractive. I think I would be able to do more with fame. I've always wanted to be a famous writer, and fame would also open up several doors for me to follow dreams and meet all sorts of people.
8. Do you have a favorite letter? L. (Please tell me you recognize the reference!)
9. Chocolate or peanut butter? CHOCOLATE!!!!
10. Would you be chosen to act as Snow White or the wicked step mother? I think I'm pretty biased when it comes for answering for myself. But I would like to believe that I'd be chosen to act as Snow White.
11. Which is your favorite hair color: pink, blue, or green? I think that it would be quite entertaining if I had green hair, grew it out really long, and camouflaged in grass. 

Now for my nominations for the Liebster Award...

• Envy's blog Picking up the Pieces. This blog has been around for a couple of years now, and I have been enjoying some of the latest posts, which have included commentaries from pop culture and experiences Envy has had. 
• Antie's blog Gallimfry. Although this blog is quite new I love the courage that its creator had to design a lovely site and write long, solid-quality posts in a second language. This blog is what I would consider to be a "creative blog," with samples of creative writing, drawings, and discussions on books (and probably more to come!). 
• Nymisha's blog. Nymisha has a really nice style of writing that I just take pleasure in reading. And her blog looks absolutely gorgeous! 

I also wanted to give a special recognition to one of my friends from university who just started blogging, and his blog is called Killing Time With Kumar. He's pretty new to the whole blogging thing, so if you have any time to give him some encouragement or tips, we'd really appreciate it!

You guys don't know how important your thoughts and comments are, and I would love for you to answer the questions I write and accept the Liebster Award! (Remember to leave a link to your acceptance post in the comments below and put a link to this post so that I can read all of your responses!)

These are my questions:

1. What is your favorite song and why?
2. How do you show love to the people you care about?
3. Is there something in your life that can make you smile no matter what? If and what is it?
4. Name an accomplishment that you're proud of.
5. What is your favorite article of clothing?
6. Do you think graffiti is vandalism or art?
7. What is your favorite genre of music?
8. Describe the best dream you've ever had!
9. What's one thing do you do for self-care? (In other words, what is one way you recharge?)
10. You just won a free vacation to anywhere in the world! Where are you headed?
11. Why do you blog?

So that's a wrap! Thank you for reading and never stop smiling on.

-Riley XO