I Was Nominated for a Liebster Award!

I've been nominated for a Liebster Award by the wonderful Elle at Erratic Project Junkie!  I am so surprised and honored!! Thank you!!

Be warned, with a Liebster Award comes me having to talk about myself, so you may learn things that you don't want to (oh, nothing naughty, this time).  LOL!  Run away now!  :)


5 Unknown Facts about Me ~

1.  Karsyn isn't my real first name, but rather than it just being a little anonymity online (which I don't care about), I DO wish to legally change my name to it, someday.  My husband hasn't called me by my real name (which is Brooke, since I know everyone will want to know) in months, so Karsyn has already felt, and is, more real to me.  

 2.  Besides being a reader, I am a Gamer Girl.  I especially LOVE puzzle adventure games (Portal, The Unfinished Swan, Quantum Conundrum, Perspective, The Bridge, and old games like ~ Myst, 7th Guest, Shivers....) but I play a variety.  My favorite game franchise is Kingdom Hearts.  My first foray into online gaming was very recently, with playing GTA V online.  I was surprised to find a crazy, but fun, group of people to play regularly with.

3.  I am also an avid pen paller.  I started writing pals when I was a pre-teen after camp, then when I moved from PA to FL when I was 13 I'd write friends I left behind.  When I was 20 or so, I started looking around online for pals, and have been writing to pals off and on ever since.  I am not a typical pen pal.  When most people think of penpals (and yes, I am talking snail mail here, I was never good with the whole e-pal thing), they think 2-4 pages on pretty little stationery.  Nope, not me.  I'm a LONG letter penpal.  My letters are typically 10-15 pages typed on regular computer paper, sometimes longer.  I've been pals with my long time pal for over 12 years now, and our letters have been 30-40+ pages, in notebooks and so on.  I do love to ramble on, could you tell?

4.  My "how we met" story with my husband, Jesse, is long and so cute!!  :)  The short version is this ~ we met in the beginning of our junior year of high school and became best friends.  While I loved him, I wasn't IN love with him, as he fell in love with me, and that broke his heart.  We barely saw each other after graduation and last saw each other Feb of 1997 and it was a strained encounter, leaving me sad that I'd likely never see my best friend again.  Fast forward to Sept 2004, my ex had left almost 2 years earlier and I was lonely and looking for friends.  I looked Jesse up.  He responded to me Oct 4th.  We got together that night and have been together ever since.  I was looking for friendship and found someone who had been in love with me for 11+ years, how could I not fall right back in love?  He's my best friend, lover, husband, my everything.  (And since he'll see this ~ ilYM!)

5.  The only thing I miss about FL (we moved to NC 2 years ago) are the theme parks.  I realize central Floridian lifestyle is different than most what people understand.  Most, in this country (or world) save up for years to visit WDW and it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.  I've been, well lucky, I guess for lack of better word.  After we moved to FL, I had annual passes to the parks, or worked there, or my ex worked there.  In the beginning of the parks, there was a survey person asking general questions, one of which being "how many times have you visited WDW".  I gave the highest number they could enter ~ 999 (like ghosts in Haunted Mansion!).  I had annual passes, or other entry into the parks, for 18 years ('90-08).  I LOVE and miss all of the parks (WDW, USF, SW) but I don't miss FL itself.  I'm a self proclaimed Disney expert, though I'm totally missing out on all the new changes (like New Fantasyland with it's awesome looking Seven Dwarfs Mine Train)!  I love any and all theme and amusement parks, and have been to many across the country, years ago anyways.  If you ever want to get me REALLY talking, just ask me about my favorite park, ride, or coaster, but be prepared for a LOOOOOONG response, as comparing say ~ coasters, is apples and oranges, since there are so many kinds (wooden, steel, standup, flying.....).


Elle's 10 questions to me ~ 

1. What made you start blogging?
Honestly, I just started as a place for my Swap-Bot partners to come see my monthly Reading Logs.  Swap-Bot is an online swapping site, where everything is swapped from crafts, to letters, to postcards and just about anything else you can think of.  There at SB, I run a group called "Carpe Librum" and our swaps are all about ~ wait for it ~ Books.  :)  My awesome co-founder of the group runs a monthly log swap, and I created this blog to put those swaps on it for my partners to see.   I never thought it would be more than that, but I joined the Book Blogger List and started following some other book bloggers, and here we are, I have a few people that read my blog!!  :)

2. What is your favorite "guilty pleasure"?
Would you believe me if I said that I don't have any?  I like what I like, and don't feel guilty whatsoever about it.  I'm me, for better or worse.  I'm a grown woman, and I watch ~ iCarly (and love it, so sad it ended, though the last season SUCKED) & Looney Tunes.  I read tons and tons of erotica and swear like a sailor.  It's all me, good and bad.  I don't feel guilty for liking what I like.  :)
 
3. Where is your "happy place"?
I don't have one.  Not anymore.  Disney was definitely it for me.  Oh the stories I could tell of fun times there.  (Imagine ~ Magic Kingdom Main Street in POURING rain, people under the awnings and in the doorways out of the rain, and there, walking down the middle of it, hand in hand, a couple, laughing and kissing and soaked..... that was us) I loved it and I miss it tons.  I'd love nothing better than to just walk around the parks, entering those rides I always visited or people watch.  For 6 years I worked for a special event company.  We did birthdays, anniversaries, ect within the parks and it was amazing fun!!

4. What is your favorite book?
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern!!!  I LOVE love this book and I recommend it to anyone and everyone.  I'm not typically a historical fiction or fantasy (magic) reader but soon after this came out the cover caught my eye.  I opened it and was engulfed in it, just within the first lines ~ "The circus arrives without warning.  No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in the local newspapers.  It is simply there, when yesterday it was not."  It's an amazing book!  If I could live in the world of any book, I would choose this one.

5. What do you like best about blogging?
I've always enjoyed writing, as evident by my pen palling.  I've never had grand ideas for books, I don't have enough of an imagination I guess, but I enjoy writing out my own personal ideas and thoughts, so it's fun for me that way.  I never thought I'd follow anyone or have anyone check out my blog and I'm always surprised, and pleased, when someone stops by.  I've always shared my brief thoughts on books on My GoodReads, so this is like an extension of that, since I always have something more to say.  :)

6. Morning person or night owl?
I am a night owl!  :)  Always have been.  I'm grateful to my hubby who lets me stay at home while he takes care of me, so I tend to stay up late, and sleep in, some.  Most nights, I'm usually awake until at least 3, sometimes a little earlier, sometimes later.  I'll usually stay up and doing things until 2ish, then I'll go to bed listening to an audiobook until I'm ready to fall asleep.  Rarely it's quick (I've always had a hard time falling asleep, no matter how tired I am) and usually it takes a good hour or more, so I'm lucky to be asleep by 3 or 4.  I've been setting an alarm lately, so I don't sleep too late, and I get up around 10ish.

7. What song has been stuck in your head most recently?
Anything by Pentatonix!!  You would think they were the only music in the world if you heard what I listened to.  I've been obsessed with them, since they were on The Sing-Off.  They are an AMAZING A Capella group.  I love almost everything they have done, even when they have covered songs that I normally wouldn't like.  The only song I haven't liked is their cover of Happy.  I can't pick a favorite of theirs but I can pick a favorite one of them ~ Avi.  He's amazingly talented and sooooooo beautiful!!  :) 

8. If I gave you $100, how would you spend it?
I don't know!!  :(  How sad is that?  I'm not a girlie girl.  I don't do purses, shoes, makeup and I especially don't do shopping!!  I hate spending money on myself and rarely do it, even when I do have money that I could spend.  I suppose I would spend it on video games, or put it towards a PlayStaion 4 that we hope to get, someday.  Considering we JUST got a PS3 in Sept, it'll be a while.

9. What the ideal goal of your blogging adventures?
Just to have fun.  I have no real big goals.  I never imagined that many people would check this out, I thought it would just be for swap-bot partners to see my swaps.  I am glad that it's more than I expected and I am enjoying it.  Life is too short.  Too many people worry about the dumbest things and let life pass them by while they worry or complain.  Life can change in an instant and all you love, all that you thought and believed in could be gone.  Life is what it is.  For me, my life consists of trying to find fun and joy where I can.  I hope that my blog continues to provide me with both, and maybe some amusement for others as well.  :)

10. What did you want to be when you grew up?
A dolphin trainer.  :)  I've always loved dolphins, ever since I was quite young (7ish maybe) and was at a rinky dink amusement park that had a dolphin show.  I was chosen out of the crowd and got to go up, be pulled around in a little raft by 2 dolphins and feed them.  I've loved them ever since.  Though that never happened, I worked at Sea World for a while.  One of my fondest memories of my time there was after the park closed, before a special event, a friend and I walked over to the dolphin area and there was a trainer there.  We sat around talking for a while, all the while dolphins swimming around us and coming up to us.  :)  



It was hard for me to find blogs that I closely follow (since I don't follow all that many yet) that had less than 500 followers (that I could tell).  And Elle nominated one that I would have!  (Page @ Never Enough Shelf Space)  But, the blogs that I finally choose to nominate are ~

Brandie   @   Brandie is a Bookjunkie
Caro   @   A Girl that Likes Books
KateKintail   @   KateKintail's Book Journal
Mara   @   The Reading Hedgehog
Tif   @   Tif Talks Books

"Official" Liebster Award Rules:

Once a blogger is nominated, and they choose to ACCEPT the award, they should:

1. Thank and link back to the blogger who nominated you.

2. Upload the Liebster award badge to your blog.

3. Post 5 facts about yourself and answer the 5-10 questions from the person who nominated you.

4. Nominate and add a link to 5-10 blogs with fewer than 500 followers.

5. Notify the nominees by email or leave a comment on their blog, including 5-10 questions.