I recently found this wonderful and delightful blog, “Mandy’s Escape” that I have been following for a few weeks.  So this morning, with coffee mug in hand and scrolling through my google reader of “Blogs I Follow”, I saw that she had posted that she has just received her first award.  You could feel her excitement in what she wrote.  I remember how I felt when I received my first award, so I clicked on her site with the intentions of congratulating her.  It was the first time seeing this particular award, so I read everything she had written due to the criteria.  And then…..WHAM…was I seeing things…I knew it was only my 1st cup of coffee so had to reread it again!!!  She was passing it on to me!!!  What a total surprise!!!  I felt the excitement as I did the first time I received an award and have felt with every single one since.  If you haven’t visited Mandy at Mandy’s Escape, I am sure that if you do, you will be following her too.  So stop by, say hi and see why I now follow her.  Mandy…thank you so very much!!!!!!  This is the award that she has presented me with:

1. If you blog anonymously are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?

When I stumbled upon a book blog back in Sept/Oct, I created my blog to be a private personal journal of books I had read.  But the more I visited different blogs, I wanted to join in on the fun.  So went public in December. And glad I did!!!  I enjoy every minute of it and have met the nicest people. 
2.Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side.
Not sure if this constitutes my “inner stubborn side” but when I decided to enter this blogging/reviewing community, I pledged to myself to be honest and credible even if it meant not agreeing with the majority of reviews.  But then, I think that is one of the great thing about this neighborhood, is that we can disagree.
3.What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?
A 20, 40, #year old who is now an empty nester, proud of the way my boys turned out but wonder where the years went.  And hopefully a kind, caring, honest person.
4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?
A Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee
5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?
Read!!! or blog.
6.Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?
To be a grandmother and spoil the grandchildren rotten, then send them home with my boys.  LOL Payback is a B____!  Travel with hubby.
7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever , the shy person, or always ditching?
I was just your above average everyday student.  I do remember from elementary school through high school, that along with my text books I always had my personal current read with me at all times.  However, in college, reading for pleasure took a back seat.
8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment of your life what would you see? The birth of my first child.
The birth of our 2 sons.  Seems like yesterday!
9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?
I feel that my personality comes through in the way I blog.  I am willing to share some personal information but not all.
10. If you had the choice to sit down and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?
It would depend on my mood.  I can be a chatterbox at times and other times, just want to get lost in a book.
Now I will pass this award on.  Because I could sense out excited Mandy was when she received this award, I have decided to pass this on to new bloggers and they are (in no particular order)

I recently found this wonderful and delightful blog, “Mandy’s Escape” that I have been following for a few weeks.  So this morning, with coffee mug in hand and scrolling through my google reader of “Blogs I Follow”, I saw that she had posted that she has just received her first award.  You could feel her excitement in what she wrote.  I remember how I felt when I received my first award, so I clicked on her site with the intentions of congratulating her.  It was the first time seeing this particular award, so I read everything she had written due to the criteria.  And then…..WHAM…was I seeing things…I knew it was only my 1st cup of coffee so had to reread it again!!!  She was passing it on to me!!!  What a total surprise!!!  I felt the excitement as I did the first time I received an award and have felt with every single one since.  If you haven’t visited Mandy at Mandy’s Escape, I am sure that if you do, you will be following her too.  So stop by, say hi and see why I now follow her.  Mandy…thank you so very much!!!!!!  This is the award that she has presented me with:

1. If you blog anonymously are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?

When I stumbled upon a book blog back in Sept/Oct, I created my blog to be a private personal journal of books I had read.  But the more I visited different blogs, I wanted to join in on the fun.  So went public in December. And glad I did!!!  I enjoy every minute of it and have met the nicest people. 
2.Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side.
Not sure if this constitutes my “inner stubborn side” but when I decided to enter this blogging/reviewing community, I pledged to myself to be honest and credible even if it meant not agreeing with the majority of reviews.  But then, I think that is one of the great thing about this neighborhood, is that we can disagree.
3.What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?
A 20, 40, #year old who is now an empty nester, proud of the way my boys turned out but wonder where the years went.  And hopefully a kind, caring, honest person.
4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?
A Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee
5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?
Read!!! or blog.
6.Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?
To be a grandmother and spoil the grandchildren rotten, then send them home with my boys.  LOL Payback is a B____!  Travel with hubby.
7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever , the shy person, or always ditching?
I was just your above average everyday student.  I do remember from elementary school through high school, that along with my text books I always had my personal current read with me at all times.  However, in college, reading for pleasure took a back seat.
8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment of your life what would you see? The birth of my first child.
The birth of our 2 sons.  Seems like yesterday!
9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?
I feel that my personality comes through in the way I blog.  I am willing to share some personal information but not all.
10. If you had the choice to sit down and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?
It would depend on my mood.  I can be a chatterbox at times and other times, just want to get lost in a book.
Now I will pass this award on.  Because I could sense out excited Mandy was when she received this award, I have decided to pass this on to new bloggers and they are (in no particular order)

Answer this question:

If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?
What would I change.  There are many answers to this question but the main response, which comes with age and wisdom, would be to Enjoy Every Minute, don’t sweat the small stuff, because life goes by as quickly as the snap of your fingers.
PICK 6 people and give them this award. You then have to inform the person that they have gotten this award.
I now pass the Cherry On Top Award to (in no particular order):

Answer this question:

If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?
What would I change.  There are many answers to this question but the main response, which comes with age and wisdom, would be to Enjoy Every Minute, don’t sweat the small stuff, because life goes by as quickly as the snap of your fingers.
PICK 6 people and give them this award. You then have to inform the person that they have gotten this award.
I now pass the Cherry On Top Award to (in no particular order):

Pass this on to five great blog neighbors
I define a great blog neighbor as someone that consistently comments on your posts and responds to questions or comments that you have.
I am now passing this award on (in no particular order):

I hope you enjoy this award as much as I have !!

Pass this on to five great blog neighbors
I define a great blog neighbor as someone that consistently comments on your posts and responds to questions or comments that you have.
I am now passing this award on (in no particular order):

I hope you enjoy this award as much as I have !!

I woke up to a cloudy, drizzly day here in New England.  I grabbed my mug of coffee, booted up Lily Laptop and then came the sun.  No…not outside but right here in my family room.  There was an email from Jules at One Book Shy that she was presenting me with this award:

Thank you very much Jules, you are too kind!!  If you haven’t visited her, you are missing out on a delightful blog, so take a walk over to her place and say hi!!  I don’t want to bore you, so am changing the rules.
In accepting this award the criteria is to:
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share seven 5 things about yourself.
3. Pass this along to 15 5 bloggers you have recently discovered and think are fantastic.
4. Contact those 15 5 bloggers and let them know you gave them an award.
I won’t mind..you can skip this part.
  1.  I anxiously await for the mail to be delivered and hope there is a book waiting for me.
  2.  I have been married 29 years.
  3.  Hubby and I will be empty nesters next month  🙁  both sons will be out of state.
  4.  But…we are planning on converting one of the rooms into an office/library for me.  🙂
  5.  I have met so many nice, kind, funny, genuine people through book blogging and am honored to call them friends!!
I now will pass on this award to blogs I have recently discovered (in no particular order):