7 Random Things About Me!

Who doesn’t like awards and the recognition from their peers that they are deserving of such awards?! My fellow Bloggers seem to believe I am a versatile blogger since in recent months I have been nominated a few times by various bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.

How the Versatile Blogger Award works is that once nominated one has to share 7 things about yourself with your readers. Since I started my Blog in July, 2018 I have shared quite a lot about myself Ask Me Anything – The Answers (Part One) and Ask Me Anything – The Answers (Part 2) and yet I am still concerned about oversharing BLOGGING FEARS so I am not entirely sure what else, if anything, I’d like you all to know about me but I’ll have a go at the nomination anyway.

So without further ado, here are 7 totally random bits of information about me:

1. I recently lost 18 pounds! It’s surprising to me that my 18 lb weight loss doesn’t really show that much. I think 18 lbs is a lot so I figured everyone would have noticed that I am shrinking but not really. A few people have noticed and commented but in the grand scheme of things not as many as I had hoped. In any event, I am extremely proud of myself for having the discipline to have lost some weight and I am super excited about getting to my desired weight goal. When I first started my weight loss program I told myself that I would write a blog post about it once I lost the first 20 pounds; so who knows there might be a weight loss blog post coming next week.

2. I blog about my husband and my son a lot, but there are 2 other important people in my World who are among my favorites – my mother and my brother. Both my Mom and my brother think I overshare on my blog so despite my admiration for and the fact that I would love to write about them, I am fearful of doing so because I don’t want to inadvertently trample on their privacy.

3. I sometimes feel burdened being the matriarch in the household. Why should I be responsible for what everyone eats on a daily basis? I get so annoyed at the beginning of the week when I have to meal plan or figure out what dinner is going to be for the next few days. The flip side of that, however, is I recently discovered that I actually enjoy cooking and trying out new recipes (psst; don’t tell my husband 😃). Three weeks ago I made Lasagna for the first time and it was to die for. I am so excited to make it again, among trying other new dishes.

4. I am not impressed by how much money you have, the size of your house or what you do for a living. In fact, I get turned off by people who believe that such things define an individual. I am impressed by character. Are you loyal? Do you have integrity? Are you personable? Are you a pleasure to be around? Those are the things that impress me. The size of your wallet or bank account does not make a difference to me if your personality is lacking.

5. I like watching pimple popping YouTube videos. There, I said it! It’s so gross and disgusting but I inexplicably and weirdly derive some satisfaction from watching all that “stuff” ooze out of the pimple or cyst once it pops. I can’t explain why I enjoy these videos so much, I just do. I find them oddly relaxing and apparently 4,999,999 other people do too since Dr. Sandra Lee aka Dr. Pimple Popper has 5 million subscribers to her YouTube channel alone, this doesn’t even include her Instagram and Facebook pages.

6. People who tell me they have no friends scare me. I am of the view that in order to have a friend you have to at least be a friend so if you don’t have even one friend then there has to be something amiss about your personality. When it comes to friends and friendships quality trumps quantity; so for someone to say they don’t have any friends, not even one, makes me wonder about them, and all I can do is raise my eyebrows and think to myself what the hell is wrong with that person that s/he doesn’t have even one friend.

7. I have a brand new niece. I haven’t met her yet but I love her. When I saw her pictures I immediately fell in love. She is only a few weeks old, and looking at her pictures makes me wish I, myself, could have a daughter. Meet Sonia Christina…..

Sunshine Blogger Award

It must be awards season since this past week I was nominated for not 1, not 2 but 3 different Blogger Awards. I am so psyched. I think it is an honor to be recognized by your peers; especially as a new Blogger, the recognition means a lot to me and, as such, I intend to respond to each and every one of the nominations. Therefore, I am apologizing in advance for inundating your WordPress Reader feed with my self-indulgent award posts responses.

First up is the Sunshine Blogger Award – I would like to thank the amazing and very spiritually aware https://mynamaste365online.blog (i.e. MoonChild Nova) for this nomination.

Here are the rules for this award:

• Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link back to their blog so others can find them (see above).
• Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you.
• Nominate 11 other bloggers and ask them 11 new questions.
• Notify the nominees about it by commenting on one of their blog posts.
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo on your post and/or your blog site.

• Here are the 11 questions I was asked:

1. What’s your biggest accomplishment of 2018 thus far?

Apart from amicably settling a nightmare case that has been going on since 2016 in the earlier part of this year, my greatest accomplishment would be starting and maintaining this Blog. It’s something I have wanted to do for a very long time but since I am such a procrastinator coupled with my very demanding career in addition to being crippled by my fears, BLOGGING FEARS, I just couldn’t get it going. The fact that I got this Blog going at all and have been able to stay committed to posting weekly is a very big deal for me and I am actually pretty darn proud of myself for doing it. I even took a Blog Writing course to help me get things going Racquel Writes!

It’s my dream to maintain my Blog, to keep it going and I’m hoping to find topics and stories worthy of my readers’ time to keep them coming back week after week.

2. When you have free time, what is your favorite thing to do?

Free time??!!! What is that?! 😁

If we are talking about my hobbies – I would say I always enjoy sitting in the quiet of my bedroom on my comfy little chair by the window and enjoying a good book. One of my 2018 New Year’s Resolutions was to read at least one book per month and I was doing very well with it, I even read 2 books in the month of March alone, but that entire commitment kind of went left when I started this Blog and I haven’t completed a book since July; but I vow to get back to it for the month of November and beyond. 😃

I also enjoy the movies, I try to get to the cinema at least once every other week (there is always something out that I want to see; yesterday alone I did a double feature with my son – so much fun) and of course I enjoy blogging/writing.

So yeah, that’s my “free time” go tos – Books, Movies and Writing – not necessarily in that order.

3. Who is one of your role models and why?

Here is a cliché – My parents are my role models.

My father was a self-made man, who came from nothing and was able to start and build a successful company. The admiration for my mother comes from her unwavering devotion to her husband and her children. She was not fortunate enough to be a housewife and worked outside of the house for 40 plus years until her retirement, but would always come home and cook a meal for her family. She kept a clean house, helped us with our homework (until we were old enough to get it done ourselves) and was always there to listen.

My parents were married for 45 years until the day my father took his last breath; another reason they’re my role models; because any adult in a relationship, marriage, or otherwise, knows that is no easy feat.

4. Do you know your personality type?

If by this you mean the Myers/Briggs personality type – Nope, never done the test.

5. When did you realize you really enjoy writing?

Might have been in elementary school when the teacher would tell us to write 3 paragraphs on a certain topic and I would take pleasure in writing an entire page or more.

6. Has anything you’ve written been published in a book or newspaper?

Yes, actually! While in high school I sent several pieces to the Gleaner, which was the local newspaper in Jamaica, where I was born and raised, and I was lucky enough to have a few pieces published. The first time I saw my name in print I was ecstatic. I was in the 9th grade.

7. Tell us three other talents you have.

Wow! “Talent” – I dunno. I’m good with people. Is that a talent?

I don’t have any talents. I’m not particularly great at anything. I can’t sing to save my life and I’m an average dancer. I’m not really good at any sports and I don’t play any instruments; so no talents here. That’s kinda sad, isn’t it?! 🤔

8. What’s your biggest inspiration?

Hmmm, let’s see…I have several sources of inspiration, whether it is people or things. However, I would say my “biggest” inspiration would come from love; love for my family. I am inspired to do more, be more and be the best version of me because of the love I have for my husband and my son. I just want to be great for them.

I am also inspired by great writing, music, wonderful friends and the random beauty I sometimes encounter out of the blue.

9. Have you recently made a choice you regret, if so, what was it?

I took a case I knew I shouldn’t. During the initial consultation with the prospective client, my intuition told me I would have a hard time with this client. His personality was a bit too “intense” for my liking. I took the case anyway because I felt I was up for the challenge but boy oh boy did I live to regret it.

10. If you could give one piece of advice to the teenage population, what would it be?

Be a kid! Enjoy it! Wallow in it. Sit back and chill and let your parents take care of you because the responsibilities of adulthood are coming and once it gets here there is no turning back.

One more thing – Wait to have sex! No need to chase it. It will always be there. You’ll have so much of it as an adult you’ll eventually get tired of it, even when it’s really good.

11. What’s your biggest pet peeve?

People who spit in public. I. Cannot. Stand. That!!!

Now, I’m supposed to nominate 11 other bloggers to participate, for the Sunshine Blogger Award. However, in the past, I have nominated other bloggers for other awards and have been met with the “I don’t do awards” sentiment, which is totally cool, to each his own. I have also nominated other bloggers who said they would participate but they just didn’t get to it. So how about this? If it is in your pleasure to participate in the Sunshine Blogger Awards; then go right ahead; please feel free to answer the questions above and tag me in your response post.

Thank you for reading!!!

Blogger Recognition Award

A huge shout out to https://bottomlesscoffee007 for nominating me for the “Blogger Recognition Award”. I am so excited (🎼singing in my Pointer Sisters’ voice). This is so cool.

So here are the rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog (see link above).
2. Write a post to show your award.
3. Give a brief story of how your blog started.
4. Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
5. Select 15 or more fellow bloggers for this award.
6. Let each nominee know you’ve nominated them and leave a link to your post.

How I Started Blogging:

Interesting stuff is always happening to me, I mean the real storytelling type of stuff. Either with my cases (I am a lawyer) or in my personal life, it happens so frequently that my paralegal used to always say to me. “You need your own reality show. You just can’t make this stuff up.” Whether the things happening were comical or inconceivable the fact is they were interesting and needed to be told.

Well, since a production team isn’t trying to sign me and follow me around so I can tell my story on a reality series I decided to write my little anecdotes myself in the form of a Blog. I tend to be pretty funny, so I really wanted to create humorous, light-hearted content devoid of commentary on social, economic and political issues for people to read and enjoy. However, I realize that “my stuff” isn’t always fun or light or even comical. My experiences are sometimes sad and “heavy”, but in order to be true to myself, I have to write with credibility and authenticity even if it paints a ‘not-so-perfect’ picture of my life.

When I was in my twenties, I used to think that I would be the woman who had it all together by the time she reached her forties but the reality is that I am not; and this fact has become even more evident week after week when I sit down to write my personal expositions for my blog posts. I have been told, however, that my blog pieces are inspiring, even though that was not my objective when I started I am very glad I can inspire, especially unintentionally. So here we are instead of being laugh out loud funny, I’m being inspiring instead but I’ll take it.

I also I have a wild and crazy dream about one day writing a bestseller, I figure I could hone my writing skills right here while blogging in preparation for that lucrative book deal. Who knows? It could actually happen.

Two Pieces of Advice to New Bloggers:

I posted my very first blog piece on July 14, 2018; which means I am brand new to the blogging arena so who am I to give advice on the art of blogging? I am still learning myself as I go along. However, if I were to point out the two things that work for me and might also work for others interested in the art I would say discipline and authenticity.

Discipline – I have so many things going on in my life, all of us do, that I have to be disciplined with my blogging. I can’t just do it whenever, if ever, I feel like it. I have to be disciplined in setting a schedule and sticking to that schedule, which hasn’t been easy.

I am a weekly blogger, not a daily blogger or a few times a week like most so I carve out the same time every week to write which is on a Friday night. I oftentimes end up editing all the way into the wee hours of Saturday mornings before I hit publish. This schedule works for me since it is the end of the week and the start of the weekend but there have been a few Friday nights when I have wanted to just lay on the couch in front of the TV with a glass of red wine and binge watch The Good Wife instead of writing; this is when I have to exercise that discipline. I have to pretend not to hear the remote control calling my name and open my laptop instead. It’s been tough at times but I make myself do it because I want to stick to my schedule. I want my readers/followers to know when they can expect to hear from me. Therefore I have created a schedule and in turn, developed some amount of discipline in an effort to stick with it.

Authenticity – The dictionary describes authenticity as the quality of being authentic. For me, that means being genuine, true and real. My second bit of advice would be after you’ve developed the discipline to sit down and write then you need to be authentic. Your voice should be real, true and credible throughout your posts. Authenticity goes a long way in that people want to read posts that are relatable, they want to feel like they know you, the writer, despite not having met you. I once had a reader tell me that after reading my piece, 5 Lessons I Learned from my Divorce, she felt like she knew me and wanted to be my friend. To me, that was a hell of a compliment. If you’re not authentic, especially when delivering personal expositions or even opinion pieces, then no one will want to read your words.

My Nominees Are:

I nominate the following 15 bloggers to participate in this prestigious Blogger Recognition Award, there’s nothing like being acknowledged and recognized by one’s own peers (drum roll please 😃):

https://beingauntdebbie.com

https://hopelessleyheather.com

https://charliecountryboy.wordpress.com

https://bitchininthekitchen.org

https://myplace3187.wordpress.com

https://aponderingmind.org

https://charlesfrenchonwordsreadingandwriting.wordpress.com

https://faithlovelifeandstyle.com

https://sunshinysasite.wordpress.com

https://edifyingthespiritblog.wordpress.com

https://literarylemonades.com

https://parkashpenciapoetry.wordpress.com

https://pointlessoverthinking.wordpress.com

https://simpleula.com

https://roshonadanblackman.com

If I have nominated anyone that has been nominated by someone else before please send me the link to your post that contains your response to the nomination.

Looking forward to reading all the responses. Thanks again to https://bottomlesscoffee007.com for the recognition. You’ve made my night, really!!!