Two Tags - The Liebster Award and Best Blogging Buddies

Hey, Adventurers! My good friend, Mikayla, from The Bubblegum Ballerina nominated me for both the Liebster Award and for "Best Blogging Buddies".  I was really excited to be nominated (especially for two!)...

Also, check out Mikayla's post! I had fun reading her answers (and it made me laugh!). :) Oh, and a huge thank you to Mikayla for nominating me!

The Liebster Award:

Rules:

Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions from the blog who nominated you.
Nominate 11 bloggers to receive this award.
Come up with 11 questions for your nominees.

The questions:

What is the funniest thing you've done this week?

The funniest thing? Well, I got a new hat this weekend (one of those big ones that block the sun off of your shoulders too.) It's cute, and I like having it, so I was wearing it even inside, and since my (as my sister said) 'radius had increased' I was hitting people with it on accident. XD

Are you on summer break? If so, what are you doing with your free time?

I am not on summer break...yet. I have about a month of school left, and then I'll get about half of July and all of August off. During that time, I'll hopefully be reading more, and in August we're road-tripping a few thousand miles to see my grandparents in Iowa!!

What is ONE of your favorite songs?

Only one!? ;) 'Just the Same' by Chris August. He's a really good artist, and his new album is lots of fun!

If you could do anything right now, what would it be?

Go eat some breakfast... ;) Have school finished with for the day so I can read, and watch a really good movie with a cappuccino (or a blended coffee from Wake Up Call...though, maybe not this very second).

In the mountains!

What book(s) are you reading right now?

I recently finished The Isle of Arcrea by Nicole Sager, which was really fun, and I'm in the middle of One Summer's Desire, a novella by Abigail Prigge (which the author sent me a copy of!). I'm also rereading The Fate of Arcrea with my younger brother; we're reading through the whole series together. :) Other than that, I'm also (yes, also!) reading Eric Liddell by Catherine Swift, Quiet in His Presence, and I'm slowly crawling my way through War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.

What's your favorite part of blogging?

Seeing the finished product (pictures and all!) on my blog and receiving comments on posts. :)

What are some of your blogging goals?

Get better; write more (lengthier and better) reviews; hopefully get more followers; update the way my blog looks; blog about my(eventual) travels! :)

What's the hardest part about blogging for you?

Coming up with material sometimes to post on and the actual 'getting it done' process. I don't set aside enough time for blogging. Also, not having very many followers can be disappointing for me - and for everybody, I'm sure!


What is your favorite word?

I've been fascinated by the word 'fjord'. And maybe 'adventure'. :)

Could you share a miscellaneous fact about yourself for us?

I sometimes start laughing about nothing - but really it's something that I've read or seen and I'm thinking about it. :) Or something I'm imagining... ;)

Sweet or un-sweet tea?

Sweet tea.

Now onto the "Best Blogging Buddies" award!

Rules:

You must make a post to show your award on your main blog.
You must tag the person who nominated you in your post.
You must nominate all of your best buddies, and those whom you want to become best buddies with, who, to your knowledge, have not been nominated for this award. (Wha...?)
You must ask your buddies at least 15 questions in your post.
You must answer all of the questions your buddies ask you on your post.

Questions!

What was the last book you read?

And finished? The Isle of Arcrea by Nicole Sager. But if you mean the last book I was reading, it would be The Fate of Arcrea with my brother last night.

What is the last movie you watched?

A movie I have not watched in years: What a Girl Wants. And it was a lot cuter than I thought! I'd recommend watching it!!

What is the last song you listened to?
 
Something my sister had playing on iTunes radio that I do not know the name of... Before that there would be more songs I wasn't paying attention to. The last song I really remember the name of (because I saw it) was something called 'Vagabonds'. XD I was listening to MercyMe's album last night too. :)

What is the last subject in school you did?

Home Ec. I sewed...a corner. Yeah. They're having me practice. ;)

What is the last thing you had to drink?

Iced water.

Last person you emailed?

Mikayla H., and Abigail Prigge, the author of One Summer's Desire.

Last blog you were on?

One called The Daisy Tree, reading this interview.

Last sentence you wrote on a story?
(This is more than a sentence, but it was fun to share!) :)

He laughed softly, sounding and looking so much older than when I had last seen him three years ago. He held himself more erect, more stately even. “I’ve much to tell all of you, Madeline. It’s all been dreadful, these past few years. Many of the men I came to be friends with have been killed, and I was suddenly starting to think that there was no hope for an end. Thank God-” But he didn’t finish. He looked past me, and suddenly sprinted forward.

Mama and Father stood there, looking shaken, yet more joyful than I’d ever seen them.

 

Who is the last person you talked to?

 

My mom.

 

Last thing you smiled at?

 

A GIF on Pinterest of a baby trying a lemon for the first time and the video below.

Last photo you took? (Please insert it!)

Well, the very last photo I took was deleted (yeah...), so here is the one before that. I found these at the store and thought it was so weird I had to take a picture!

 

Who came up with that!?

What is the last thing you would want to be doing right now?

Hmm...well, it's morning so...maybe working out. ;)

Last color you painted on your nails?

A very, very light color that was even lighter than French pink.

Last person you hugged?

My mom!

Last picture that made you smile?

Can I share a video with you all instead? The other night my brother showed this to me, and I was laughing so hard...

The vacuum can 'eat and yell at the same time', people. ;)

I nominate both Julia Ryan from Writing for His Glory and Jessica Joy from (Almost) Perfectly Pink to do both awards! And anyone else can do the posts too! :)

Here are my questions for the Liebster award:

1. Have you ever read the Arcrean Conquest series by Nicole Sager?
2. What is your favorite quote?
3. Do you like The Chronicles of Narnia? If so, which book/movie is your favorite?
4. What is your favorite type of ice cream? Have you ever tried Cheesecake Brownie ice cream (so good!)?
5. What are your summer plans?
6. What is on your summer to-read list?
7. What song is currently your favorite?
8. Have you ever watched The Help? If so, did you like it? (I thought it was really good!)
9. Have you ever gone white water rafting? If not, would you like to? (I want to!)
10. What's your favorite class in school?

My questions for the 'Best Blogger Buddies':

1. Do you like to wear big, cute, summer hats?
2. Iced tea or lemonade?
3. Adventure or mystery?
4. Did you get to see Beyond the Mask in theaters? If not, be sure to buy it when it comes out! It was a fantastic Christian, adventure/action movie!
5. Science or math?
6. Would you rather swim or go biking?
7. Do you like iced or blended coffees, or neither...or something else?
8. Have you ever listened to Chris August? His new album, The Maker, is fun!
9. Do you prefer the movie or book version, normally?
10. 1800s or 1900s?
11. What is your favorite TV show?
12. Have you ever watched Signed, Sealed, Delivered from Hallmark Movies and Mysteries? If not, it's amazing!

And that's all! Thank you again to Mikayla for nominating me!

Blogger Recognition Award

Mikayla over at The Bubblegum Ballerina nominated me a while ago to do the Blogger Recognition Award, and that's what this post is all about! Thanks for the nomination, Mikayla!

Rules:

• Thank the person who nominated me and provide a link to their blog.
• Give a brief story of how I started my blog and a few tips for other bloggers.
• Nominate 15 others and comment on their blog to let them know I nominated them.

Here goes...

The story of how my blog got started:

I think the idea to start a blog came partially from me wanting to talk about the books that I was reading and review them, and some of the inspiration could have also come from reading a blog that my favorite author - John J. Horn - used to write on: Ballantyne the Brave. Sadly, since Vision Forum (the publisher that I believe was funding the blog) shut down, so did BTB, and I can't provide a link for y'all... Anyway, I was actually 'blogging' on my sister's Mac in a document file on Pages (sort of like Word Processor, etc. except exclusively for Apple computers). Haha...seriously. She kept telling me that I should start blogging for real. I was a bit shy to have people actually reading the things that I had written... But, for some reason (that I cannot remember), I finally did decide to start a real blog. I had already had a sort of name for it, but I ended up changing it to what it is now: Adventures Beyond the Horizon. So, I set up a Blogger account, and posted my first article in June 2014!

My advice to other bloggers:

Keep writing about what you love to write about. I know it can be really discouraging when you only have a few followers or subscribers, but that isn't what blogging should be all about. Blogging should be a fun experience where you ramble on about your favorite books or authors or music. There is a really cool quote I found on Pinterest that goes somewhat along the lines of: 'It doesn't matter how many followers you have. Jesus had 12. Hitler had millions.' Or: 'When you feel like quitting, think about why you started.' So true, right!?

I nominate anyone who wants to do it!

-Micaiah-

Winter Wasteland Tag

Mikayla H. and Katie R. tagged me to do the Winter Wasteland Tag! This is a fun tag, especially since I do get snow where I live! Thank you, guys, for tagging me! 

What to do:

1. Answer this question with 5-15 answers: What do you usually do when snow starts falling and you are unable to get out of the house?

2. Tag 5-10 other people to do this.

Okay, here are my answers:

     1. Read a good book.

This is at the top of this list because I love to read, and winter is the perfect time to grab some tea or hot chocolate or coffee and curl up with a good book in hand! Preferably an adventure. 

     2. Watch a fun movie or TV show.

This is a fun way to spend a winter evening. Find a really fun movie and watch it with your family, or, you can always tune into Hallmark Channel and see what they have on! :) I've seen some pretty good Christmas movies on Hallmark in 2014. And a few movies I've enjoyed recently have been from the Love Comes Softly movie series. And, for a TV show, I'd recommend checking out Heartland, When Calls the Heart, Terra Nova, or Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

    3. Listen to music and write up articles for future blog posts.

I do this even when it's not cold out, but, still... ;) I love listening to music, and writing blog posts for the future when you might be busy or not feel up to writing one is a great idea!

    4. Go play out in the snow and do some photography!

Do you want to build a snowman? ;) (I just had to!) Let's go build one... And throw snowballs at each other while I try to take a picture of the snowflakes and sing 'Let It Go' at the same time. ;) Hahaha! Okay, I'm joking. But, seriously, while the snow's there, you might as well go play in it!

   5. Do a project.

Okay, so I haven't done this one yet, but I have a paint-by-numbers to do, and I've found some cute snow globe projects on Pinterest that look super easy to do, fun, and end up looking great! But I've done some baking not too long ago (albeit, some of it was for school), and I made a chocolate cake, banana bread, and my family and I did some other baking such as sugar cookies and peanut blossoms!

   6. Play games with my family.

Totally. My family and I have played numerous games recently. Mario Edition Monopoly, Mario Edition Chess (yes...we love Mario here!), Dominion, Canasta, Cranium, Apples to Apples, cribbage, and Domino Train are all games we've played this winter! Oh, and video games, too! :)

And that's six answers! I tag anyone who wants to this post!

I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it (just maybe) gave you some ideas for those times when winter boredom hits! :)

-Micaiah-

Photos via Pinterest.

The LG Award

I was nominated for the LG Award by Mikayla H. from The Bubblegum Ballerina. I was excited to be nominated for another award, so, thank you, Mikayla!

I know you're supposed to nominate someone (or, actually, three someones) but I don't know anyone who blogs that I could nominate other than my nominator, Mikayla H. or Jessica Joy over at (Almost) Perfectly Pink...but she's already been nominated by Mikayla. Can someone be nominated more than once? If so, Jessica, you're nominated (I'll ask my questions after the end of this post)! ;)

Now, onto Mikayla's questions:

How many blogs do you follow?

Let's see...I follow ten blogs on blogger.com, Braden Russel's blog - The Storymonger, I occasionally read posts from K.M. Weiland's, I read almost every post on the Heartland blog, Inspired By Life...and Fiction, and...that totals to fourteen. Whoa. I didn't even realize it was that many! Oh, and the Bethany House Fiction blog...so I was missing one...sorry, guys, the total is actually fifteen. ;) And...I could be missing one...most likely not, though.
 

How's school going for you so far? 

Well, I've only done a little bit of school so far this year, but I haven't exactly started because we're still waiting on my 9th grade curriculum. :)
 

Have you read Nancy Drew? If so, what are your thoughts on them?

I actually haven't read any of the Nancy Drew books. :)
 

What is your favorite part of blogging?

Probably putting together the posts - I really enjoy writing them and adding photos and such.

Who is your favorite character you've ever created? 

Good question! My favorite male character that I've created would be Theodore Williams - he's the hero to my WIP, Trapped on the Islands of Panama. And, my favorite female character that I've created would be Theodore's sister, Madeline Williams - the heroine to Trapped. Both of them are really cool, and I love them. I am really excited to begin really working on the book, also.
 

What's something you want to do right now more than anything? 

I'd say travel. A few of the places I most want to visit are: Scotland, Ireland, England, Greece, Paris, France, and Alaska.
 

Where's your favorite place to read?

Either on the couch or in my room sitting in my and my sister's 'reading chair' - it's plush and really comfy to sit and read in.

All right! Now for my questions:

#1 - Have you ever read any of R.M. Ballantyne's novels? If so, which one is your favorite?

#2 - What is your favorite genre of music?

#3 - What is your favorite thing to do on the weekend?

#4 - What is your favorite subject in school?

#5 - Have you ever watched the movie 'Letters to Juliet'? If you have, what are your thoughts on it? Did you like it?

Thanks again to Mikayla for nominating me! I've had fun answering the questions!

Sunflower Blogger Award

I was nominated for the Sunflower Blogger Award by Miss Mikayla H. over at The Bubblegum Ballerina. Thanks, for the nomination, Mikayla!

I am just required to answer the questions given, so, without further ado...

Here are the questions she asked and my answers:

What is your favorite craft to do?

Well,  I don't do crafts all that often, but I have scrapbooked before! Does painting or jewelry-making count? I used to have a whole jewelry-making set when I was younger and I enjoyed making jewelry! So, if I had to choose a craft, I think it would be jewelry-making.

Are you interested in masquerades?

Hmm. Interesting question! I suppose it would be fun to go to a masquerade ball!

Have you ever written about a fairy? If so, what kind was it?

No, I've never written about a fairy. The Tinkerbelle movies are kind of cute, though.

How many siblings do you have?

I have three brothers, and two sisters, so five!

What are your thoughts on Nancy Drew?

I have never watched the movies or read the books...so I don't know that much about her! I do know she is a detective of sorts and she solves mysteries, though. :)

Do you highlight your Bible?

Of course! I love highlighting Scripture that really speaks to me. I just got a new Bible for my birthday, though, so I don't have much highlighted in there yet!

Have you watched "You Can't Take It With You"?

No, I haven't. I actually have never heard of it until now!

What have you done today so far?

Sent out some emails, helped with dinner preparations, and read a bit of Brothers at Arms: Treasure and Treachery in the Amazon by John J. Horn, which I am currently rereading and immensely enjoying! I am also going to be doing an English test today.

Do you like pictures of the sky?

Yes, I do! I actually took a bunch of pictures the other day! I'll share some below.

Another 'Thank you' to Mikayla for nominating me! Here are some of the scenic pictures I took while driving the other day: