You Are My Sunshine

“Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.”
– Helen Keller

There are times when I forget I am dragging around a foot with an injured bone – moments when I despair of lurking dark places.

But not today.

Today BigFoot-Dor is smiling.

Cindy of Mama’s Empty Nest nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award!

This special award is as inspirational as a warm sun-shiny day.

Thank You Cindy for the reminder to keep my face in the sun to avoid seeing shadows.

And the Sunshine Blogger rules include:

• Thank the blogger(s) that nominated you in the post and link back to their blog.
• Answer the 11 questions the blogger asked you.
• Nominate 8-11 bloggers to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
• List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award Logo on your post and/or in your blog.

Now here are Cindy’s questions for me with my answers in italics:

1. Honestly now, could you live without your cell phone?  Why or why not?  I could live without it but must admit it would be sorely missed.  A few times I have driven away, forgetting the little darling and as soon as I think about it, I panic.  What if something happened?  Where would I go to call for help?
2. If someone were to name your greatest achievement in life, what would you want to be remembered for? My kindness and contagious laughter.
3. When you smell your favorite aroma, what does it make you think of? Hearty bread like the kind you get in Europe (or Whole Foods).
4. What is the most vivid dream you can remember? It was a nightmare of my whole family drowning.
5. Have you made a bucket list and if so, what is the #1 item you want to cross off? I have not made a list but I know I would include a month at a beautiful beach.
6. What is your best personality trait and your worst? My best personality trait is my eagerness to help when anyone is in distress.  My worst trait is a tendency to worry too much.
7. What would be your ultimate dream career? I already had that dream career travelling overseas as a kind of tour guide.
8. You just won $10 million, what will you do with the money? I would begin to give it away to family and friends to help them fulfill their wishes and I would fulfill a few of my own
9. Where is your favorite vacation spot and why?   I love it here for the mountain views, the wildlife and forests. It is where I am the happiest and most relaxed.
10. Which do you prefer, reading on an e-reader or reading a book with paper pages?   A book with paper pages, but I am getting used to the e-reader too now.  I am an ambidextrous reader.
11. Country life or urban dweller? What’s your preference and why? Country life!  I love it.  I love the quiet, the simplicity, the friendly people, the lack of traffic, the creatures, and more.

Now – Nominating cyberspace friends to be Sunshine Bloggers is the challenge of this award.

Over the years I have come to know and love more and more of you and to appreciate your wisdom, humor and talent. Also, I know many of you hate these award things and if you are one of those, consider this simply a nod of admiration and recognition from an awed and avid reader.

If you are not on the list and would like to be, please feel free to join the “team.”

But here are the fellow bloggers I think might respond – those who never fail to shed  sunlight on my days.  There are more of course – lots more.

Age Before Beauty

Andrew’s View of the Week

Dianna

Emjay and Them’s Blog

I choose how I will spend the rest of my life

Living and Lovin

Mehrling Muse

Musings of a Horse Mom

The Mountain Kitchen

Views and Mews by Coffee Kat

And here are your questions:

1. Are you an introvert or an extrovert?  Do you wish you were the other and why?
2. Are you an animal lover?  What pets do you have and love?
3. Who was your favorite teacher and why?
4. Have you ever had a bad habit you  broke?  What was it and how did you change it?
5. What is your favorite place to relax?  Explain where it is and why it helps.
6. What is your favorite movie of all time?
7. Do you love to travel or do you hate it?  Why?
8. Are you an organized or a disorganized person?
9. Are you always late, early, or right on time?  Are there any advantages or disadvantages to your timing?
10. Do you create lots of blog posts in advance of publishing or do you do one at a time?
11. What inspires you to create a blog post?

If you did participate in this rather insightful exercise, I thank you.  If not, I thank you anyway for shedding sunlight on my days!

 

 

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A Truly Lovely Award

Congratulations to Dorothy at Musings of a Horse Mom for receiving the One Lovely Blog Award.  Dorothy is a great horse lover and a riding diva with her own very special steed named Bear.  She also writes beautifully and posts lovely photos of Bear in action.  And thanks very much Dorothy for nominating Virginia Views for this same award. It is truly a lovely thing to be recognized by fellow bloggers we admire.  I am beyond grateful.

The rules for receiving this award are to post seven things you may not know about me, and to nominate seven other Lovely Blogs (to pay it forward).

Here are seven things you may not know about me:

1)     I once had two horses (Martini and Lucy).  They died of old age.  Lucy was 32!

2)     I live in an equestrian neighborhood.

3)      I love horses, dogs, cats, and almost any living thing.

4)     Autumn used to be my favorite time of year but now it is Spring.

5)     I am trying to walk 10,000 steps a day and have managed to reach that goal once a month. I need a horse.

6)     My favorite dessert is Crème Brulee, but then there’s ice cream, and chocolate, and…..

7)     People think I’m a great cook but I am really the great imposter.  My recipes usually have less than 5 ingredients and take less than 20 minutes to prepare.

Of course, every blog I follow is lovely (to me) and would that I could I would list them all.  But here are seven lovely blogs I nominate for the One Lovely Blog Award. Believe me, they are worth checking out.

Silver in the Barn

Jill Weatherholt

Always Backroads

Hope*thehappyhugger

Living and Lovin 

morristownmemos 

denobears

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There’s more to Blogging than Blogging

Congratulations to Dorothy of Musings of a Horse Mom – from Dorothy (Dor) of Virginia Views – for receiving the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award and for passing it along to me too!

If you love horses, be sure to check out Musings of a Horse Mom for this is a charming and informative blog . You will share in the bond between a young woman and her special friend Bear. And you will instantly recognize her writing as coming from the heart. Dorothy’s love for Bear is returned in so many ways and there is an undercurrent of emotion running through every post.

I have learned over time that there is a lot more to blogging than blogging. By itself, the exercise is rewarding – that is, if you are a true loner. Otherwise, when you begin to reach out to the blog-us-fear, you are bound to become part of a team of players. And suddenly you find yourself not only blogging, but reading, liking, and commenting, and finally, becoming part of a team who are all enjoying constructive interaction to help you to achieve your goals. That is what makes blogging so rewarding!

And that is why I am delighted to have received this nomination from Dorothy and even happier to pass it forward. There are some rules of course:

The Nominee shall display the logo on his/her blog.
The Nominee shall nominate 14 readers they appreciate over a period of 7 days, all at once or little by little.
The Nominee shall name his/her Wonderful Team Member Readership Award nominees on a post or on posts during 7 days.

Here are my 14 nominee team picks in random order:

Oil Pastels by Mary – http://oilpastelsbymary.com
Cindy Knoke – http://cindyknoke.com/
Views and Mews by Coffee Kat – http://coffeekatblog.com
Georgette Sullins Blog – http://georgettesullins.wordpress.com/
Apronhead – Lilly – http://apronhead.wordpress.com
The Coastal Crone – http://coastalcrone.com
Lantern Post – http://lanternpost2012.wordpress.com
Morristown Memos – http://morristownmemos.wordpress.com
Mama’s Empty Nest – http://mamasemptynest.wordpress.com
Peg-o-Leg’s Ramblings – http://pegoleg.com
Photos from the Loony Bin – http://photosfromtheloonybin.wordpress.com
These Days of Mine – http://thesedaysofmine.com
Living and Lovin – http://nutsfortreasure.wordpress.com
Lake Superior Spirit – http://upwoods.wordpress.com

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A Super Sweet Award

How Sweet it is!

I have a distinctively different blogger friend named Judy of A Daily Thought.  My days are not complete without a stop by her blog to see what strange, funny, thought provoking, beautiful, heartwarming, newsy, educational, and yes – sweet –  post she has come up with. What you see today is not what you get tomorrow, but there will always be something fascinating meant just for your enjoyment.  So, for thinking only of your readers, Congratulations Judy on your Super Sweet Blogging Award!  And thank you for including me in your list of nominees too.

I never thought I was the sweetest blogger in the mix, but  this award may be the inspiration to add a more delectable quality to my overall only slightly imperfect personality.   A good teacher dubs a student as achiever and said student will inevitably strive to live up to that high estimation.  So goes it with the Super Sweet Blogging Award.   I am told I am  sweet; therefore I am – or at least I will hopefully be directed to genuinely earn that distinction.

There are always Award rules of course, and here they are:

• Thank and link back to the Super Sweet blogger who nominated you.
• Include the Super Sweet Bloggig award image in your blog post.
• Answer these super sweet questions:

Do you prefer Biscuits or Cake? – Cake

Which do you like better, Chocolate or Vanilla? – Chocolate

What is your Favorite Sweet Treat? – Flan

When do you crave sweet things the most? – 3:30 PM

What sweet nickname is used in your family? – Sweetie Pie

• Nominate other bloggers.

I have carefully reviewed my list of astounding blogger friends and handpicked the genuinely sweet ones – the ones I would name “Sugar Plum” or “Sweetie Pie.”   I don’t think it means their blogs are necessarily saccharine sweet, but I do believe their comments and their attitudes are divinely kind.  So if you are not in this list, please do not despair.  Some of us belong in other categories like diabolical, profound, or witty (certainly you can be these things and sweet too, but you are not, for reasons of space restriction, included here).

And the nominees for the Super Sweet Blogging Award (applause) are:

Morristown Memos

Coastal Crone

Happy in Hungary

Before Morning Breaks

These Days of Mine

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An Award from the Family

Congratulations to two of my very favorite bloggers who have both received The WordPress Family Award.  Their blogs are A Daily Thought and  Hope the Happy Hugger.   These two faves are where I find informative, inspirational,  fun, and funny posts that are irresistible.  Each is different in dramatic ways that never fail to keep me riveted and always eager for more.

They are also two bloggers who rarely fail to comment, and who share my joy in participating in the grand blogging effort.   They have made a huge difference in my approach to the Blog-Us-Fear.

So, this is to say, “Thank You Judy and Michelle (*hugs*) for passing the award forward to me.”  When  nominated twice like this for the same award, there are two compelling reasons to follow the rules and  respond and you two  have sent  a delightful compliment that leaves me grinning.

The WordPress Family Award is reserved for folks in Cyberspace who are  unceasingly kind, sympathetic, encouraging, and open to laughter – and who keep each other going by sharing, commenting, and making personal connections even though they may actually be virtual strangers.

• Rules:
• Display the award logo on your blog.
• Link back to the person who nominated you.
• Nominate 10 others you see as having an impact on your WordPress experience and family.
• Let your 10 Family members know you have awarded them.

Since I have received this award from two different people, I am taking the liberty of listing 20 nominees!   I know some of you have “award-free” blogs, or maybe you have already been given this award,  and if so, just take this all as a compliment and a thank you  for your kindness and support over time.

And if you don’t see yourself here, it’s not because I don’t love you.   And since you are “family”, I know you will understand.

And the nominees are:

http://cindyknoke.com

http://georgettesullins.wordpress.com

http://thesedaysofmine.com

http://livingtheseasons.com

http://coastalcrone.com

http://nutsfortreasure.wordpress.com

http://lanternpost2012.wordpress.com

http://upwoods.wordpress.com

http://winsomebella.wordpress.com

http://photosfromtheloonybin.wordpress.com

http://notquiteold.wordpress.com

http://comingeast.com

http://mamasemptynest.wordpress.com

http://growingyoungereachday.wordpress.com

http://coffeekatblog.com

http://poetrypatio.wordpress.com

http://apronhead.wordpress.com

http://ahundredyearsago.com

http://40isthenew13.wordpress.com

http://artyoldbird.com

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Blogging Awards from the Sky

Congratulations to Eunice of Living and Lovin for receiving her 6^th and final star to add to her Blog of the Year 2012 award.   Everyone knows she’s already a real star in cyberspace, but to receive six stars for her blog  is a tremendous honor.  If you haven’t checked out Eunice’s blog, don’t miss it.  She is versatile and every place at once, and talented, and kind and fun and funny and a serious photographer, artist, crafter, and acute observer of life.    You name it – Eunice is good at it and her blog is no exception!  And I LOVE her dog, JT!

Meanwhile, thank you Eunice for awarding a fourth star to my own Blog of the Year 2012!  I may not reach that pinnacle place with the coveted six stars, but one was a tremendous thrill.  Receiving four leaves me  mute!  Well….. almost.

SO NOW  I AM PASSING FORWARD THE AWARD OR THE STARS.

CHECK MY BLOGROLL.  IT’S OVER TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS PAGE!  

Being lazy and overwhelmed with holiday preparations, I am taking a  shortcut and nominating favorite bloggers from my blogroll.  Congratulations!  You are the erstwhile winners of the Blog of the Year Award 2012!  Think of me as Santa’s Helper, dropping gifts from the sky!  Look up!  You may actually see the shooting stars heading in your direction!

Have you claimed your award yet?

Are you adding stars as I nominate you?

If you have not claimed your award, please take a look at my blogroll and see if you are there.   Are you there?  If so, YOU ARE A WINNER! And note:  I have recently added a bunch of new blogger friends to my blogroll favorite list.  If you weren’t there before, you may be there now.

Also note:  If you still don’t see yourself on the list, but we are commenting and communicating with each other, then count yourself “IN” on this prestigious award too!

About The Blog of the Year 2012 Award:

Unlike other awards which you can only add to your blog once, this one is different!  When you begin, you will receive the one star award.  Then every time you are given the award by another blog, you can add another star!  And as if you did not know by now,  there are a total of six stars to collect.

You can check out your favorite blogs and even if they have already been given the award by someone else, you can still award them again and again to help them reach the maximum of six stars!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FAVES!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TOO!

AND HAVE A VERY HAPPY, STAR STRUCK NEW YEAR 2013!

Related articles

• A Badge of Honor (countryliving4beginners.wordpress.com)
• On Beauty and Blogging Awards (countryliving4beginners.wordpress.com)
• A Blogging Oscar Award (countryliving4beginners.wordpress.com)

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A Badge of Honor

Congratulations to Eunice of Living and Lovin’ for her recent awards, and to my new blogging friend, Lori Lipsky, of Poetry Patio, who writes the most poignant verse! She has received numerous awards over the past few months too.  Both delightful bloggers have added immeasurably to my enjoyment and they inspire me to try and try again.  And it came as truly a big surprise when they both nominated me for the Blog of the Year 2012 Award. I thought the first time was “it”.  But suddenly I can add two more stars to my original badge, making” it” truly a badge of honor.  Thank you both!

And to reiterate:

The ‘rules’ for this award are simple:

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award.

2 Write a  post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen — there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required — and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/ –  and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!).

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them.

5 You can now also join our Facebook group — click ‘like’ on this page: ‘Blog of the Year 2012′ Award Facebook group, and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience.

6 As a winner of the award, please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award, and then proudly display the award on your blog sidebar, and start collecting stars!

Yes — that’s right — there are stars to collect! Unlike other awards which you can only add to your blog once, this award is different! When you begin, you will receive the ’1 star’ award, and every time you are given the award by another blog you can add another star! There are a total of 6 stars to collect.

And the Nominees are….

As before, if you are on my blog roll (you know who you are), I am nominating you for this award.  If you didn’t pick it up the first time, you may wish to now.  And if you did pick it up the first time, you can add another star to your badge too!  How cool is that?  And if you are not on my blogroll yet (either because I’ve been too lazy or you are a new friend), if we are commenting to each other on our blogs, consider yourself nominated for this award as well!  After all, you are definitely my favorites and if so, you are the most talented, brilliant, and wisest bloggers in cyberspace!

Have fun, enjoy, Congratulations, and by the way, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!  Luv, Dor

Related articles

• A Blogging Oscar Award (countryliving4beginners.wordpress.com)

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A Blogging Oscar Award

Do you know a blog that deserves an award?

Do you have special blogs that you love to read?

Which blogs do you bookmark and follow?

Would you like to give them an award this year?

Then the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award is for you!

First, congratulations to Eunice of Living and Lovin for receiving the Blog of the Year 2012 Award!  ‘Tis an honor well deserved for her blog is unique and full of fascinating experiences, adventures, and impressions.  She is also a very talented crafter and an “ex-trucker,” and her stories never cease to amaze.   Thank you Eunice, for passing this award on to me as well.   To be included in your erstwhile list of favored bloggers is quite an honor. I feel as though I’ve won an Oscar!

There are sooooo many wonderful blogs out there with unique and interesting approaches to life.  And, after serious consideration I have concluded the list of winners I might choose would be enormous and too cumbersome to do any one justice!

So, in a special one-time deviation from the rules, please know this:  If you are on the blogroll of my blog at Virginia Views, I am nominating you for Blog of the Year 2012!   You may collect your award and your star(s). And even if you are not on my blogroll yet (because we are newly found blogging friends), I am still nominating you.  If we are chatting and commenting, then you can be sure you are among my favorites and worthy of this distinction.  So, feel free to collect your “Oscar.”

And, if you decide to accept this award,  here are the rules:

1)    Select the blog(s) you think deserve the Blog of the Year 2012 Award.

2)    Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen.  There is no minimum or maximum number of blogs required.  Present them with their award.

3)    Please include a link back to this page Blog of the year 2012 Award http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award and include these rules in your post.

4)    Let the blog(s) you have chosen know you have given them this award and share the rules with them.

5)    You can now also join our Facebook group – click “like” on this page Blog of the Year 2012 Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience.

6)    As a winner of the award, please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar, and start collecting stars.

Yes – that’s right – there are stars to collect!  Unlike other awards where you can only add to your blog once, this award is different.  When you begin you will receive the ‘1 star’ award – and every time you are given the award by another blog, you can add another star.  There are a total of 6 stars to collect.

This means you can check out your favorite blogs – and even if they have already been given the award by someone else, you can still bestow it on them again and help them to reach the maximum 6 stars!

Need more information?  Check out  http://thethoughtpalette.co.uk/our-awards/blog-of-the-year-2012-award/faqs-blog-of-the-year-2012-award/

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On Beauty and Blogging Awards

Eunice of Living and Lovin just received two awards, the Super Sweet Blogging Award and the Beautiful Blogger Award.  So, double Congratulations Eunice!  You deserve this high place in the sun!  I encourage everyone to stop by and check out her blog because it’s a smorgasbord of interesting thoughts, photos, crafts, and adventure stories.  Now she has gone and nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award too, and I am truly honored.

Sometimes I believe my blogger friends are out there specifically to inspire creativity in others.   And I find myself writing specifically to the one who laughs, the one who makes me laugh, another who shares my fears and aggravations,  she who calls me “sister” for all we have in common, and still another who is my true mentor.  These are the friends who are so inspiring –  the photographer and the poet, the adventuress, the comic, the empty nest mom – some struggling with loss, others celebrating joy – all sharing their lives with words and photographs hurling through cyberspace.  They are the cyberspace givers who make blogging all worthwhile.

Part of the Beautiful Blogger Award is to nominate other beautiful bloggers.  The hard part is choosing just seven, but  the best part is in recognizing all that talent. So, I am nominating seven to receive The Beautiful Blogger Award.  They are all awesomely beautiful for a million different reasons, and I know you will love visiting them:

I Blog Therefore I Am

A Serene Scribe

The Coastal Crone

Lori Lipski/Poetry Club

Life With the Top Down

Lake Superior Spirit

Morristownmemos

If I nominated you, and you choose to participate (no pressure!) here are the rules:

1)      Write a post about the award and include the award picture.

2)      Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.

3)      Nominate seven other blogs and include links as well as a quick statement about that blog.

4)      Write a comment on each of the blogs to tell them you nominated them.

5)      Have fun!

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An Award to Pay Back and Forward

Congratulations Living&Lovin for receiving the Liebster Award!  ‘Tis well deserved, and I would urge my friends to take a look at this fascinating blog because it is chock full of talent and creativity.  And thank you too Eunice for passing this award forward to your other blogger friends – and on to me!   I LOVE  the concept of bloggers sharing admiration for other bloggers.   The acknowledgement gives me incentive to go on and I hope others who receive these awards are just as thrilled.  I believe  awards are truly the frosting on the cake and I have always loved the icing best.

Liebster (pronounced: leeb-stir) is a German word meaning sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome.  The Liebster Blog Award recognizes up and coming bloggers and winners are asked to “pay it back and forward.”  The award is given to those bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  If you have more than 200 followers, you can send me a poison pen letter.  I wasn’t quite sure how to identify with such specificity.

The Rules for the Liebster Award are as follows: 

• Link back to the blogger who gave you this award
• Post the award to your blog
• Post 11 things about yourself.
• Answer the questions asked of you, plus create 11 new questions for your nominees to answer
•  Nominate 11 people you think deserve the award and link them to your post.
• Go to their pages and tell them they have been chosen.

Eleven Things About Me:

1)     I am a fanatical dog lover.

2)    I don’t like to share popcorn.

3)    I used to love autumn the best, but now I love spring more.

4)    I adore chocolate covered coffee beans.  I love them so much I hide them for secret binges, so I never buy them and can only indulge when I receive them as gifts.

5)    I played flute in my high school band but never learned to read music so I fooled everyone but myself.

6)    I need fresh air to sleep well and prefer a cold room and lots of covers.

7)    I love reading books about people who are survivors and learning how they did it.

8)    I have always loved to write and started writing poetry in high school.

9)    My dream is to see myself as slim and sleek enough to hit the beach in a bikini!

10) I live in a mountain valley but often crave the beach – with or without the bikini.

11) I have created a manual on how to survive a pandemic.

Now, here are the 11 questions Eunice asked me to answer:

1)     What do you do for FUN?  Write for my blog!

2)      What is your Favorite Sports Team?  The Washington Capitals (ice hockey) but only because my men are into it.

3)      Do you watch the Kentucky Derby?  Yes, when I remember. I love the excitement.

4)      Do you like NASCAR?  I don’t know.  I might. I think I do.

5)      What is your favorite TV show? Dancing with the Stars

6)      What pets do you have?  A big old dog named Rozie

7)      What model car or truck to you drive?  A Toyota RAV4 – maybe a truck/maybe a car.

8)      What is your favorite color?  Merlot (a new name for maroon I think)

9)      Do you remember your very first LOVE?  Absolutely! Who could forget?

10)   Do you watch what you eat?  I try but then I just keep eating.

11)   Are you happy or sad most of the time?  Happy – that must be the right answer right?

And here are the blogs I am nominating for the Liebster Award.  They are very very good.  I have very very good taste in blogs. 

1. The Short Stack
2. Lydia Street
3. The Coastal Crone
4. Lori Lipsky Poetry Patio
5. The Fearless Cooking Club
6. Daysift
7. These Days of Mine
8. Life With the Top Down
9. Mama’s Empty Nest
10. An Observant Mind

And here are my 11 questions for the lucky bloggers I chose:

1)    If you could go anywhere in the world and stay for a month, where would you choose to go?

2)    What is your hobby?

3)    What was your childhood dream?

4)    What was the best gift you ever received?

5)    What is your favorite movie?

6)    Who is the person who inspired you the most?

7)    What is your favorite dessert?

8)    What is your favorite quote?

9)    What do you do for relaxation?

10) What is your favorite remembered scent/smell from childhood?

11) If you could be a character in a book, who would you choose to be?

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