What Does It Mean To Be Versatile?

It's been an exciting week in my blogland! Loni Townsend nominated me for a Versatile Blogger Award, which is, as you may have guessed, what this post is about. Thank you, Loni! Loni is a super talented blogger and writer with a clever, quirky sense of humor. Her epic fantasy novel, Thanmir War, is available on Amazon, and her blog is always available, so if you're not following her, go check her out!

Before I get to that award, though, I also need to thank Kristin Smith, Felicity Burnett, and Ava Quinn, who all nominated me for Liebster Awards in the past few weeks. Thank you all so much, ladies! As I was nominated for one, and accepted it a few months ago, I don't want to be an awards hog and accept again. BUT I am really grateful to all three of these bloggers, and highly recommend that you check them all out!

Now...the Versatile Blogging Award!

The rules of the VBA, should you choose to accept them, are:

• You do NOT talk about VBA. Oh, wait, sorry, wrong club. Moving on.
• Thank the person who gave you this award. Thank you, Loni!!
• Include a link to their blog. Done and done - but in case you missed it, you can find her here.
• Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you've recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!), and nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

Because I'm a BIG RULE BREAKER (not at all, but we can pretend, right?), I'm not going to nominate 15 people. Instead, I'm going to nominate a completely arbitrary number of bloggers, because, well, because I can:

1. Milo James Fowler, who writes a dizzying array of short stories in an equally dizzying array of genres;
2. Ava Quinn, who never fails to make me laugh out loud, is wildly creative, and comes up with the world's most bizarre and wonderful blogging topics;
3. And L.G. Smith, who always has a fascinating idea, unique insight, or thought-provoking question to offer.

Finally, seven things about me!

1. Running is my best stress relief. I'm not very fast or very good, but when I can be running outside (treadmills, aka hamster wheels, do not count), I always feel better.
2. I'm a serious foodie. I love shopping at farmer's markets, going out to eat at new restaurants in the city, and reading/learning/thinking about food. I would love to cook if I had more time - when I do have time, I really enjoy it, but most of the time it's just another thing I have to fit in, sadly.
3. I once went paragliding in the Swiss Alps.
4. I lived in a haunted castle in Holland for a semester when I was in college.
5. I'm a huge nature nerd. I love to hike and I'll watch animal documentaries any day, anytime; I of course own both the Blue Planet and the Planet Earth series on DVD. I'll let you guess how many times I've watched them!
6. I think teachers are our modern unsung heroes. Undervalued, underpaid, misunderstood, and under a ton of pressure, they still devote themselves to the future with passion and dedication. Yes, there are bad teachers out there (there are bad everything out there), but for the most part, these people are amazing.
7. As a massage therapist, I believe deeply in the value of self-care - all kinds of self-care. I believe in non-Western approaches to healing, like acupuncture and massage (of course), and I work hard to take good care of myself, and to encourage other to do the same.

Accepting the nominations is totally optional for my picks, but visiting them is not - honestly, you'll love their blogs!