First, a little business, and then I’ve got a treat for you.
As I mentioned the other day, I recently received some BLOG LOVE. The Usual Bliss was nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger award and also the Addictive Blog award. Yay! One of the nominators, Loni from Loni Found Herself, kindly provided questions for me to answer. (Remember when I asked the World Wide Web for interview questions? Weird.) Here goes!
1) What’s your writing process? I laughed a little bit with this one. I literally just sit down and start writing. I write the way I talk and it usually comes out ok. Recently, I bought a notebook to log ideas or thoughts to bring to a post later. A cup of coffee or glass of wine is always present.
2) What makes you tick? My motivation is the happiness of my loved ones…my fiancé, my family, my puppy, my friends. I’m happy when I know that something I’ve done has made them smile. That’s how I show love- making a home-cooked meal, putting a card in the mail. I try to be thoughtful of what might make life easier or better for the people I care about most. I love the Golden Rule.
3) Cher or Cyndi Lauper? Definitely more Cyndi than Cher, but I’d list the cassette tapes by various cheesy big hair rock bands or anything electronic as more commonly in my ghetto-blaster in the 80s. (Don’t make me post bang-centric photos of myself. Because I will.)
4) You’re given free airfare to anywhere in the world. Where do you go? Ooooh, that list is long. I haven’t spent much time out of the United States and really would love to go everywhere! I’m dying to visit the Amalfi Coast of Italy, Santorini (hey, why not throw in the rest of the Greek Islands, too?), New Zealand, Fiji, and all of those little charming French towns we see during the Tour de France coverage!
5) Who do you take with you? My best friend and husband-to-be. He’s the person I want to share all of my fun experiences with. We enjoy the same stuff and laugh a lot. We travel really well together, which we learned this last summer in our 13-foot cottage on wheels. Eight weeks is a long time and 13 feet is less space than you think.
6) Favorite movie on paper? The Jerk, When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, The Shining.
7) Actual favorite movie? All of the ones I listed, plus every cheesy tear-inducing chick flick or badly-made ensemble cast romantic comedy.
8) Mountain, beach, desert, forest, or city? Yes.
9) Advice for new bloggers? Write for yourself. Some people will like it and some people won’t. That doesn’t matter. It’s also easy to get caught up in how many followers you get or how many comments you receive. Once you start worrying about that stuff, it’s not the true you coming through in your writing anymore. But… it would be super rad to be Freshly Pressed.
10) Football game or tickets to the ballet? The only ballet I’ve been to is The Nutcracker, and I loved it. But I would take the football tickets 100% of the time. I love football season! Al Michaels is the ‘voice of fall’ for me. (It makes up for his strange hair.)
11) Reality TV: harmless or bain of society? Remember the first few seasons of The Real World? NYC, LA, San Francisco… reality TV seemed interesting then. Now, every other show is some snippet of “real life” that I don’t care about and costs too much money to film. I mean, one word: SNOOKI. That said, I record shows like Project Runway and Top Chef and lots of Food Network and HGTV!
Thanks for the questions, Loni!
Here are a few BLISS-y blogs that you should check out. I nominate them for the Addictive Blog award, since it was a new one for me!
The Bliss Project, A Very Blissful Life, Blinks of Bliss, Blissful Bites, Hunting for Bliss.
(I think I included all of my blissful friends, but if I missed one of you, speak up!)
And now, since I haven’t included any photos in this post and you’ve been so patient…
GRATUITOUS PUPPY PICS!
This little nugget is Cholula last December when we first brought her home. You’re lucky I stopped with just 11 photos.
Eeeee! The teeny pink tongue! The fat pink puppy belly! It’s almost too much!
You’re welcome.
the usual bliss 
I’m so with you on 6 and 9… even have The Shining on my desk at this moment because I’d been hoping to find time to watch it today! Your blogging philosophy is incredibly wise and important. And the puppy picks are the best. What a little doll. What a happy family you have!
I LOVE The Shining and people always give me an odd look when I say it!
I forget that Cholula used to be that tiny. Makes me want another puppy. And then I remember how hard it was…! But the tummy…!!
Omg pa-recious puppy photos.
SUCH a nugget!
Love your blog! The puppy pics are too adorable..i have a husky that is now ten years old but forever is still a liitle puppy!
At 10 months old, Cholula looks nothing like these puppy photos anymore…. But she has a puppy inside her still, for sure! Thanks for reading!
i love the little, pudge, puppy belly, omg!! thanks for the fantastic nomination, bliss buddy!
Pink fat belly. I love it!!!!!!
Nothing smells better than little puppy breath too!
LOVE!
Gratuitous puppy pics, FOR THE WIN! Cholula is such a dollface. The one of her on her back, looking up at the camera…I melt. And congrats on all the blogging awards, Amber! Get ’em girl 🙂
I melt, too! She’s so much bigger now. It’s amazing- feels like yesterday! We giggle, knowing we’ll talk like this about a human baby at some point….
Cholula!!SO. CUTE 🙂
I know. Even now that she’s like 5 times as big…
AWWWWWWWWWWW! I had some comment relating to your Q&A, but I’ve totally forgotten in the face of all the adorable Cholula-pup pics. Too cute!!
(Okay, I remember.) I like what you said about writing for yourself. After I was (totally unexpectedly!!!) Freshly Pressed last month, I started to really get concerned about what I was writing and if anyone would like it. It was exciting to see all those page views piling up, but I really felt pressured to blog about “important life things” instead of just whatever I felt like sharing! Thanks for the reminder to not focus on all of that and to just write. 🙂
And, one more time: AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
She is JUST SO CUTE.
Being Freshly Pressed would be fun and maybe a good challenge to up the writing level, but my favorite blogs to read are always the ones that seem REAL.
How fun for you!!
Agreed – that’s why I love yours! 🙂
Congratulations girlie! You deserve it! I definitely find this blog addictive. 🙂
Thank you so much! And thanks for reading!!
Xo
Love the pics! I can’t even remember Jesse being that small! (sniff, sniff) Congrats on your awards. I like what you said about writing for yourself- it’s true. Keep up the good work!
Ahhhhhh I want to die these pictures are so cute! I wish you hadn’t stopped at 11 pics! Lol I actually just made a book on shutterfly for our pup. His bday was yesterday, and we took him home in November so I’ll have a post like this soon enough 🙂 don’t you look back at the pictures and wonder when she was ever that tiny?! Ugh I love it!!
It makes me want another puppy!! And trust me, I have WAY MORE than 11! Ha!