The Sunshine Award

The Sunshine Award is presented to “bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.” 

Thank you so much to Taylor Dean of Taylor Dean Books for nominating me for this award! I was surprised and honored to be one of her recipients! I enjoy reading her blog and she is an amazing woman. Taylor Dean is the author of I Have People, Sierra, Lancaster House, The Middle Aisle and her brand new release, Joshua's Folly (which you'll hear more about soon).

Here’s how it works (and feel free to adjust as necessary):

1. Announce your win and link back to the person who nominated you.

2. Display the award logo on your blog.

3. Answer the list of questions. (You have two choices here: Kimberly’s questions or Honoré’s. Or feel free to mix and match.)

4. Nominate ten bloggers for the award and link to them.

5. Let the bloggers know you’ve nominated them.

Kimberly’s Questions:

What inspired you to start blogging?

How did you come up with the name of your blog?

What is your favorite blog that you like to read?

What is your dream job?

Is your glass half full or half empty?

If you could go anywhere on a week’s vacation, where would you go?

What food can you absolutely not eat?

Dark chocolate or milk chocolate?

How much time do you spend blogging? In other words, are you one of those lucky people who can dash off a blog post in no time, or do you take forever on one post to get it just right?

Do you watch TV? If so, what are some of your favorite shows?

Honoré’s Questions:

Favorite color:

Favorite animal:

Favorite number:

Favorite non-alcoholic drink:

Facebook or Twitter

Your passion:

Giving or getting presents

Favorite day:

Favorite flowers:

I chose to answer Kimberly's Questions!

What inspired you to start blogging?

I have enjoyed reading since I was 4 but sometimes life would get in the way and I just wasn't finding much time to read.  I felt like I was in a reading rut so I joined a book club to expand my book collection and it worked! My friend Jinky was blogging and I noticed that it looked like a lot of fun and started thinking about starting my own blog. Some of my Goodreads friends told me that they liked seeing the books I added and that gave me confidence that a few other people might actually care about the books I was reading. I pretty much only gave books stars so blogging also pushes me to actually think about and articulate what I like about a certain book and what I don't.

How did you come up with the name of your blog?

When I made the decision to start blogging, I wanted to come up with the right name. I finally thought of Mel's Shelves and Mel's Bookshelves and decided that Mel's Shelves rolled off the tongue a little easier and in the future, I could have more leeway with it if I want to branch out into other areas since I have shelves with other things than books! I was also pleasantly surprised that it wasn't already taken so here I am!

What is your favorite blog that you like to read?

I love to read all the blogs on my Blog List. I look a couple of times during the day to see who's updated their site and then I head over and take a look.

What is your dream job?

My dream job would be a full-time homemaker. I currently work early mornings four days a week for an attorney and I enjoy doing it but would absolutely LOVE to be home full-time. I would have a cleaner house, a good time to exercise and more time in the mornings to have a routine where I would get everything done before everyone else wakes up. I would also get more sleep!!

Is your glass half full or half empty?

I actually go back and forth on this one. At times, I feel like it's half full and other times, I feel like it's half empty. It depends on the day and what I have or haven't gotten accomplished (and probably how sleep deprived I am that day).

If you could go anywhere on a week’s vacation, where would you go?

There are many places I would love to go. If I could choose one, I would go to Hawaii. I've been (only to Maui) but would love to take my family so they could enjoy it, too. I love the beaches and the laid back style of living. I want my children to experience an authentic luau. It's beautiful and peaceful and it would be fun for all of us to go and just relax for a few days.

What food can you absolutely not eat?

Anything too spicy. I love Thai food but even at its mildest, it still seems too spicy for me but I'll eat it until I just can't handle it anymore. 

Dark chocolate or milk chocolate?

Milk chocolate! When I was young and my mom would buy the miniature candy bars, my entire family wondered why they even included the Special Dark ones. Whenever anyone would come over that liked them, they got all of them! Now some of my sisters actually do prefer it to milk chocolate and dark chocolate is growing on me but I'm not yet there.

How much time do you spend blogging? In other words, are you one of those lucky people who can dash off a blog post in no time, or do you take forever on one post to get it just right?

It depends on the book. At first, I agonized over everything I wrote. Now I write something quickly and then work on editing it until it sounds right. Sometimes I feel like a post is missing something but if I can't figure it out before it goes live, I just let it go. I'm still learning and have a desire to get better and better as time goes on.

Do you watch TV? If so, what are some of your favorite shows?

I watched way too much TV before I started blogging and so now I watch much less. Some of my shows are harder to let go of but I'm finding I'd rather read and blog than watch TV. I currently watch Once Upon a Time, Revolution, Burn Notice, NCIS, NCIS: LA, Psych, The Amazing Race, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Got Talent, and The Voice. I'm grateful for a DVR that helps me get through these shows pretty fast. And it's scary that I still watch this much TV.

So, apparently I can nominate up to 10 other blogs for this award. I don't know that many other bloggers yet and some of the ones I would nominate have already received this award so here's my short list:

Jinky at Jinky is Reading

Julie Coulter Bellon at LDS Writer Mom

Katie at Katie's Clean Book Collection

These are all women that have brought me joy in my experience so far and they all have awesome blogs that you need to check out!

Ladies, if you prefer not to participate, I understand. I just wanted to nominate you because I think you're all wonderful and deserve the recognition!