Blog Awards

I've recently (and not so recently) been given a few blog awards by some fellow bloggers. I'm sorry that I've been so lacking in posting about those and I thought that I would get on top of that and post them all here together. I don't know that I will have enough people to tag to move the awards on, as the very people who sent them my way are the ones I would award, but I'll try. :)

Get ready to learn much more about ME, than you've ever wanted to know. :) Perhaps the first fact about me should have been, I can't write just one line or sentence. Hopefully you've realized by now that I am LOOOOOOONG winded, so if you don't wanna read a novel about me, you might wanna move right along!! :/

If I've nominated you, & you just want to see that, please go all the way to the bottom!

First up was ~

from Elle over at Erratic Project Junkie. Elle awarded me this back in July. YIKES. I'm so sorry Elle, and thank you sooooo much for this award. :) I do appreciate it that you took the time to point out my blog.

Rules

• Thank and link the amazing person who nominated you.
• List the rules and display the award.
• Share seven facts about yourself.
• Nominate 15 other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated.
• Optional: Proudly display the award logo on your blog and follow the blogger who nominated you.

1 ~ Karsyn isn't my "real" (legal) name, but I plan on changing it legally when we are able. Still working on a middle name for myself. :) Other than it starting with a J, I'm stuck (I have certain reasons for renaming myself and what I choose).

2 ~ My Hubby (Jesse) and I met when we were juniors in high school and were best friends. We got "back" together 7 years after we had last saw each other, 11 years after we first met! Mar 1 will be our 8th wedding anniversary and we celebrated our 10th Anniversary (of being back together) in October.

3 ~ Despite Mar 1st being our 8th anniversary, we actually don't celebrate our wedding anniversary, because it doesn't mean anything to us. It was a date we pulled outta thin air, as it was the date that the guy who married us was available. Our anniversary will usually come and go without us even realizing it. We celebrate our "together" anniversary as our big anniversary, because we felt married from that first week.

4 ~ I love Vegas. My ex took me there for the first time in '96. We went 5 more times after that over the course of 7 years. I then took my Hubby 8 years ago for our honeymoon. I love it there, and miss it tons. It changes constantly and it's changed so much since then. :( If I could move anywhere in the USA, I'd move to Vegas. I miss it and wish I could go back!

5 ~ I've been to WDW more times than I can count. When a survey taker (at the front of the parks) asked how many times I've been there, I gave the highest number they could enter ~ 999. :) I had annual passes from '90 - '96, worked there '96, was the wife of an employee (which got me in anytime) '97 - '03 and worked for a special events group from '00 - '06 in which we went to the parks once a week to 5 or 6 times a week. I don't miss FL, but I do miss the theme parks, a lot. Also worked for Sea World & Islands of Adventure.

6 ~ I'm a huge theme park, amusement park and roller coaster fan. My ex took me on a lot of trips and we mainly went to amusement parks. I've visited 20 or so theme parks up and down the east coast, plus a few in CA. Asking me my top 5 favorite coasters is harder than choosing my top 5 favorite books, though like with books, my #1 is set in stone (Desperado in Primm, NV).

7 ~ We haven't had a car since '09. In central FL, it was no big deal, we had a great bus system which, once I got used to, I rather enjoyed, because I could read the whole time. It took an hour (at least) to go 7 miles to my work. But since we moved to NC, being without a car is pretty horrible. My hubby walks a mile to work every day (though His co-workers are great about giving Him a ride when it's bad weather ~ like 5 inches of snow on the ground right now) and I've only left this tiny little town once in the past 2.5 years. I haven't been to a Walmart in almost 3 years!



Next up was ~

This was from Casey over at Story Notions and was just in January, so I am not too late on this one. Thanks so much Casey! :)

Rules

• 1. Thank the blogger that nominated you, and link back to their site.
• 2. Post the award's logo onto your blog.
• 3. Answer the 10 questions you've been asked.
• 4. Nominate 10 other bloggers and ask them 10 questions.

1. What are you currently reading?

• Usually I have 2 books going on, one Kindle and one audiobook. Right now I have 3, with 3 more I REALLY REALLY wanna get to. My current audiobook is The Rook by Daniel O'Malley, my two kindle books are Split Second and (oddly enough) Rook by Jeremy Robinson.

2. What book do you remember first reading for fun and enjoying? Or what book really got you into reading (for the first time, or again)?

• I think I'll be asked this again, but for me it's my Trixie Belden series. She was like Nancy Drew only younger and more real. I loved her and wanted to be her!

3. Whose your favorite author? That you'd want to be best friends with?

• I recently ditched my former favorite author (goodbye Maya Banks, you disappointed me one too many times) and I really haven't come up with a replacement. I guess by sheer number of books I've read (nearing 100) I'd have to go with Nora Roberts. As for one I'd want to be best friends with ~ Matthew Reilly.

4. What's your favorite on going TV show?

• NCIS

5. Favorite book of last month?

• The Inventor's Secret by Chad Morris

6. Are you a tea drinker? A coffee drinker? Or both/neither?

• If you are talking hot tea, neither. I can't stand the smell of coffee, nor the sip I once had. Won't touch the stuff. Hot tea doesn't appeal to me at all either. I do drink Sweet (and I mean sweeeeet) iced tea. Mainly, I'm a Mt Dew person!

7. Do you need anything special to read? (Certain spot, drink, snack, noise level)

• Nope. Just a book! Usually my Kindle Fire

8. If you could be transported into any magical world... which one would you not want to end up in?

• Um..... not too sure. Lord of the Rings, I guess. Not into the whole swords thing.

9. And which one would you want to end up in?

• The Night Circus!! I want to live in The Night Circus, and work there, and be a Reveur during my time off. :)

10. What's your favorite book cover you've seen of a 2015 release?



Then this week, I received two!

was from Shaina over at Shaina Reads. I adore Shaina! Her and I couldn't be more different but she's super sweet! Go check her out! Thanks for the award Shaina!

Rules

• Award to bloggers with less than 200 followers
• Ask 11 new questions to ask those I nominate

1. What is the first book you can vividly remember reading?

• My Trixie Belden series. There are 39 books in the series and I have loved them through adulthood. About 10 or so years ago I filled out my collection and finally had every book, but I gave them to a "friend" to hold on to when I moved and she got rid of them. :( I have about 13 again, I hope to get them all again one day.

2. If you only had time to read one more book in your life, would you want it to be an old favorite or a new one? Why?

• Definitely a new ones. Books I've read are already with me, I'd want to read something new and exciting. Same reason I don't re-read much, just a few favorites (HP & The Night Circus).

3. How do you feel about footnotes in books?

• I don't think I've read enough books with them to have an opinion. I can only think of one ~ Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell ~ and they didn't bother me because I listened to the narration. Didn't like the book, but it wasn't because of footnotes.

4. Say someone offered to write you an awesome non-fiction book of your choosing. What would the topic be?

• The story of my life. I know, sounds horribly boring, but it's actually not, and I actually wish I had help writing it, because I'd like to write it. I couldn't make up that shit! Sometimes real life really is stranger than fiction. :(

5. Besides reading, what's your favorite/most time-consuming hobby?

• Video Games!! :) Specifically PC games now that I build my very own gaming PC. I'm eager to get to some games today, but I really needed to get this done. Right now I'm hooked on Cities XXL. I also spend a lot of time on letters to my pen pals, but that's mainly because of how much I write. As you can see, I write, a LOT, and to my pals my letters are 10-15+ pages TYPED, usually in small font. So it takes days to respond to a letter, and I only write 3 pals now!

6. Which book was most uncomfortable for you to read? Did you finish it?

• I'd have to say The Reluctant Dom by Tymber Dalton. That book is the only book (in recent memory) that made me cry. I swore I wouldn't (because I hate books that make me cry), I don't read them usually, but this one did. It was FANTASTIC though. It was hard to read because it dealt more with the pain side of BDSM, which I'm not at all into, but all the other stuff ~ heartbreaking! It was hard to read, but I did finish it and I loved it.

7. Can you read in a language besides English? If not, which language would you pick?

• Nope, and I wouldn't want to.

8. Is there a genre you've changed your mind about? (Disliking to liking, or vice versa.)

• Not a particular genre, more of a willingness to read any book, no matter what the genre, if it sounds good enough to me. I didn't use to do that, and I've definitely got out of my "comfort zone" and read more books, as long as they sound good to me.

9. Do you give or take more book recommendations?

• I definitely give out more. Only 2 people ~ my Hubby and one good friend ~ can successfully recommend books to me. I'm super picky, though I read a lot more than I use to, I'm still particular on what I wanna read and so far they are the only two that can regularly pick something I would like.

10. In the vein of #8, have you ever changed your mind about a specific book?

• I'm not really sure. I guess not?

11. Do you use your public library? Why or why not?

• Nope, not anymore. I did in FL, we were about a mile away from a pretty big one and I didn't have my Kindle at the time, so we were always there and it was a pain in the ass to cart around big heavy books on my commute to work (which included biking part way) but it was better than not having books. Now, where we live, the library is TINY and they don't get much, so I'll go in for sales occasionally, but that's about it.

was from Lori over at Palmer's Page Turners. Thank you so much Lori! Let's see if I can come up with 10 more facts about me. :)

Rules

• 1. Nominate 10-15 other bloggers relatively new to blogging
• 2. Let the bloggers know that you've nominated them.
• 3. Share 10 random facts about yourself.
• 4. Thank the blogger who nominated you either by leaving a comment or following them and link back to their blog.
• 5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post.

1 ~ (inspired by one of Lori's facts) I was born left handed but my father forced me to become right handed. I blame that on my SERIOUSLY horrendous handwriting. :( It's so bad. I do most things right handed, BUT I play pool and I play guitar (Guitar Hero, my fingers weren't strong enough when I tried to learn real guitar) left handed!

2 ~ Speaking of instruments, I was forced to take piano lessons for years and I hated it (hated dance/jazz/tap I was forced to take too) but I wish I could play now. The only lessons I took as a child that I wasn't forced into (and thereby loved) were voice lessons. I love to sing and can sing on key, but unfortunately do NOT have a pretty voice. :(

3 ~ Despite not having a pretty voice, I thought I did as a kid/teen, and sang a lot in church. A particularly vivid memory is of me singing with my then boyfriend (my first love) who winked at me during, of which pissed my then best friend (my now Hubby) off. He still likes to complain about that. :) We sang "Another Time, Another Place" by Sandi Patti. LOL!

4 ~ Despite (or probably because of) a very very strict religious upbringing, some of my own doing, some more forced onto me, I am now an atheist. I spent many many years considering myself agnostic, rather than atheist, until I read Penn Jillette's book God, No! ~ which helped me realize I am actually atheist.

5 ~ Back to voices. I LOVE LOVE (times a million) what I consider a pretty singing voice. My top two Celebrity Crushes are both known for their voices ~ Skylar Astin plays Jesse on Pitch Perfect & Avi Kaplan is bassist for Pentatonix. 2 of the other 3 sing and 3 of my top female crushes sing as well! My first love (who I mentioned in 3) could sing, such a pretty country voice. My first hubby was a music minister and still is recording these days (did a soundtrack to some low budget film) and my ex thought he couldn't sing but sounded just like Darius Rucker. My Hubby? Can't hold a tune. He's soooooooo tone deaf it's not even funny. That's how I know it's true love, I love Him so much, despite His inability to sing! :)

6 ~ I just deleted my former numbers 6-8. My facts got even more long winded and way too depressing for my likes, so I said forget it, and I'm going to try to come up with more chipper facts!

7 ~ Better topics.... I love sports. I'm not one of those chicks who SAY they love sports to impress a guy or something. UGH. I actually know my sports, know the rules, know the players. I'm a Steelers fan for life, having been born and raised just an hour north of Pittsburgh. It's the only part of my childhood I've willingly held on to (I've challenged everything else). Despite being a Pirates fan for my childhood, I didn't watch baseball for years, so when I started watching it again my Hubby and I became Rays fans. They've disappointed us though, with what they've done this past year. When we moved to NC in 2012, we started watching the Nationals and they are our #1 baseball team now.

8 ~ In my life, I've owned 4 dogs. Inky was my childhood pup, he was a Schnoodle (yup, really). Kodiak was my dog I had with my ex. He was part chow, part akita. He was "stolen" from our yard (long story I don't believe). Next Jesse and I had Talladega, a boxer mix before we had to find him a home when things got rough for us in 2008. Now we have Naminé, a black pit bull.

9 ~ I've had more cats, but getting them to stay is another story. Vegas was my first kitty who died. :( Then I replaced her with Luxor and Sahara (both Vegas hotels), with them, later on, came Casino. They all became outdoor cats in FL. Up here we took in a stray cat who was pregnant, but couldn't afford to keep her and her kitties. She was Axel (named after a Kingdom Hearts character, like Naminé, as were all her babies) and her kittens (in two batches) were Roxas, Saix & Xion then Xemnas & Xigbar. We found homes for all except Saix, who we wanted to keep but she wanted outside and followed Jesse to work part way one day and never returned. :( Now we have Z, which is short for Zexion (formerly Zoey) who is a cat of the friend who helped us move here. We were cat sitting, but it seems to have become permanent. We make sure she doesn't go near the doors, though she wants out BAD!

10 ~ I think I've bored anyone who tried to start to read this to tears. I bet only about 10 people will click on this and once they see how long it is, I bet maybe 2 read it all?! LOL. That's my fault for waiting to do these and putting them all together. I'm not really good about talking about myself. I CAN, easily, but I don't like it. :/ I know, with this, you'd never believe it!! :)

Nominations Time

So, though I follow like 250 blogs on Bloglovin', I really am not close with all that many, to the point where I feel like I can nominate them for something. So, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to nominate the bloggers that I can think of, and you can choose any and all the nominations you'd like to take and move on. I think you all (that I've listed and many more that I haven't) are great bloggers with great blogs, but I've been at this for hours, so if I specifically picked a blog for an award, I'd be here forever!

So, I nominate these fine blogs for all of the awards above. Take them if you'd like, and move them along, if you want to. If not, that's ok too. Just know that I love your blog and thought you deserved these awards!!

• Elle @ Erratic Project Junkie
• Casey @ Story Notions
• Shaina @ Shaina Reads
• Lori @ Palmer's Page Turners
• Michelle @ Because Reading
• Kym @ My Book Nook
• Stormi @ Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My!
• Lola @ Lola's Reviews
• Jeann @ Happy Indulgence
• Rachael @ Rachael Turns Pages
• Berls @ Fantasy is more Fun
• Jenni @ Jenni Elyse
• Brandie @ Brandie is a Book Junkie ~ how could I forget my fellow Steeler fan?!

And 11 questions for you to answer, should you choose one of the answer blogs ~

1 ~ Do you find it hard or easy to name your top 5 or 10 favorite books?
2 ~ Do you have a go to genre for when you are figuring out what to read next?
3 ~ Do you ever purge your TBR? Do you have a system for it?
4 ~ How many books are on your TBR?
5 ~ Favorite book you've read so far in 2015 (doesn't have to be a 2015 release)?
6 ~ 2015 release you are looking forward to most?
7 ~ Book you recommend the most to others?
8 ~ Do you find it hard or easy to read when other people are around?
9 ~ What's one thing you could change about one of your favorite books?
10 ~ What would your dream library / reading nook be like? Details!
11 ~ How many books (real paper books, not ereaders) can you see from where you are right now?



If you made it this far, THANK YOU, you brave and masochist person! LOL!! You deserve a cookie, or 5. Go have some!! :)
You go have cookies, I'm going to go play video games!