It's Probably Ashley: Just for Fun

This is way overdue!

First off - a huge THANK YOU to Hannah of Encased Thought for nominating me! I'd received her email last September letting me know she had nominated me for the award but in typical Ashe fashion I of course had to let it sit for weeks and weeks before I did anything about it. You can find her entry here, and don't forget to explore the blogs of her other nominees!

What is the Sunshine Blogger Award?

The Sunshine Blogger Award is given to bloggers by other bloggers who are creative, positive, and inspiring. Once nominated, the blogger is required to write a post in which they:

Thank the blogger who nominated them and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated them
Nominate 11 other blogs and give them 11 new questions to answer.
Notify your nominees and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post.

Similar to the Liebster Award and the Blogger Recognition Award, this is something that's passed around from blogger to blogger to celebrate our own virtual space in the web - a chain post or meme, if you will. Though you don't really have to be nominated to join in on the fun!

On to the Questions!

Hannah had these questions for me:

What is the toughest part about blogging for you?
- Definitely the part about coming up with new content. You'd think that because this is a personal blog I can post about any random thing, write 300-400 words about it, click 'Publish', then forget about it but it's actually more complicated than that. While I have the freedom to blog about whatever I want, I still want to keep it fresh and interesting. It's all about reaching my own personal standard when it comes to blogging because I'm leaving a piece of myself with every post - and I have such unrealistic standards. Also the part about regular posting, lol.
What is the most enjoyable part?
- That I get to post whatever I want. I've been hellbent on keeping this a personal blog and avoided focusing on one specific aspect, like a travel or food blog because I knew the upkeep wouldn't be feasible in the long run had I gone in that direction. I loved that my space in the internet contains things other than where my feet took me, or what new world my tastebuds discovered - a sort of coherence in incoherence.
Is there something that always keeps you going during tough times?
- More than looking for motivation or a silver lining, I bank on my own discipline to get me through. Motivation and hope can only take you so far, but only IF you find it. Discipline will always be there where motivation and hope couldn't reach you.
What’s your favorite quote?
- Mm. That's tough. Let me settle with an excerpt from one of my favorite poems:
yours is the light by which my spirit’s born:
yours is the darkness of my soul’s return
– you are my sun,my moon,and all my stars
- e.e cummings
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
- "Weird" is highly subjective! Besides my willingness to try almost anything, I'm Filipino which means I've eaten a lot of unconventional stuff, like balut (which I absolutely love). I guess this dessert from Teriyaki Boy can count as weird because of the jarring difference in texture?? But it's still so good!
Besides blogging, what else do you enjoy?
- I'm quite fond of exploring cities at night, especially when it's cold. I also love dressing up, cooking (and eating), finding new recipes and trying them out with Jed, travelling, reading - all that quintessential millenial jazz. I also immensely enjoy thrilling theme park rides, wandering around in a mall with a pocket full of cash I can spend, and being holed up in my apartment for days and days on end. Also sleeping. Typical stuff, y'know?
Would you rather fly or sail somewhere? Why?
- Ooh, this is tough! I've experienced both sailing and flying to my destination and I've enjoyed both rides very much! I guess in the event of a catastrophe I would rather be on a plane than a boat because I can't swim at all, and with a plane crash there's always a chance we'd land on dry soil (in pieces, likely, but still).
Who do you most admire, and why?
- I found that there isn't one specific person I admire the most, mostly because the traits I find admirable are found in a lot of people I meet. You attract what you are, they say, but I can't attest to its truth however there's so much people back at home, like my mom and my best friends, that I admire for being so real. And then there's Jed, for being so ostensibly him.
Are you an Apple or an Android person?
- I swing both ways, lol. I'm currently using (and loving) my iPhone 6s, but I'm thinking of switching to an Android phone soon. Any suggestions?
What inspires you?
- Mm. Inspiration is a random, fickle unicorn for me. Most of the time it comes to me at around midnight till the early peek of dawn, being the night owl that I am, in the form of unrelated late-night internet searches. Often when I find myself in that weird part of the internet, ideas just piece themselves together and it scares me sometimes.
Is this your first blogging award?
- Nah, I've been lucky enough to be nominated for the Liebster Award and the Blogger Recognition Award before. :) I'm very grateful that the ones who nominated me found me worthy of being featured in their entries!

Who do I nominate?

It became pretty challenging to choose who to nominate, and when I got my list down I realized this doesn't even reach 11! I guess it's fine, though. Now here are the people I'd like to pass the award on to:

Answer these Questions, please!

And don't forget to come back here and leave a link to your entries with your answers in the comment section below - I'd love to read your answers!

Who or what inspired you to blog?
What topics do you love to blog about?
What genre of music do you enjoy listening to?
Do you have any rituals or processes you follow when putting your blog post together?
Would you ever change your niche in the future?
Is there anything about your blog that you want to change?
If you didn't get into blogging, what do you think you'd be doing now?
Cookies or cupcakes?
What books have you read that left a lasting impression on you?
What are your hobbies?
Milk first or cereals first?

In the future I'll try to be more creative with my questions. Lol. Thanks again to Hannah of Encased Thought for nominating me! I hope you liked my answers to your lovely questions. ♥

Have you ever been nominated for a blogging award before? Leave a comment below and let me know all about it!

No comments

I think one of the best things about blogging is the support the community gives to one another. This is what I had been missing - I'm glad to see that the support is still there.

I owe this nomination to DeeJay from bugbeeandme.com, who's running a lovely Mommy Blog after gathering inspiration from her little ones (and of course, Pinterest). Do check out her Liebster Award entry and nominations, and don't forget to check out her other blog recommendations as well!

So, first off:

I had to do a bit of research on this one myself. This blog offers a very in-depth explanation as to what the Liebster Award is, so do check her link if you're curious to find out more.

Simply put, the Liebster Award, much like the Blogger Recognition Award, was created to highlight and recognize other bloggers - usually the newbies - and welcome them into the blogosphere. The idea is to pay it forward like a chain letter to spread good vibes while helping along with promoting each others' blogs.

In order to participate, you have to:

Acknowledge the blogger who nominated you.
Answer the 11 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
Provide 11 random facts about yourself.
Nominate 11 fellow blogs.
Give them 11 questions to answer.
Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (if they are not already familiar with the award).

DeeJay had the following questions for me:

How did you decide on your niche?

- I actually didn't think about my niche when I started blogging. I only meant to blog to improve my writing; over the years it has turned into what it is now. It is, and always will be, my personal blog - all the other extras are just perks.
What is one area you are looking to improve?
- I have been meaning to improve on taking and editing photos. I have come to love photography and while I'm not knee-deep in technicalities (yet) I'm finding more and more ways to get better at it every day. I own a mirrorless camera (a Panasonic Lumix GX850) which I rarely use these days, but it's what I mainly use whenever I take travel or food photos.
How long have you been blogging?
- Err. I can't really say; I started around 2010 but I would only post once or twice every few months. Then I went on hiatus for about a year and a half before picking it back up in early 2016.
What goal do you hope to achieve with your blog?
- Years from now, when someone accidentally stumbles upon my URL long after I'm gone, I want them to think "Hey, this girl really lived it." Everyone wants to leave a footprint, and if I were to leave mine then I think this place would be it.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
- I'd love to explore the Scottish countryside! I also want to visit the Lagavulin Distillery (with Jed tagging along, of course) while I'm at it, lol. Tuscany and Croatia are also on my travel list.
What are 5 items you must have every time you leave the house?
- Aside from my phone and wallet (which are obvious answers for anyone), I can't leave without my: pens , notebook, sun screen, umbrella, and wet wipes.
Are you a morning person or night owl? Why?
- I'm a night owl! I have always been nocturnal, no matter what my work shift is.
Do you speak any other languages?
- Yes! My first language is Filipino. I also know a tiny bit of conversational Japanese, and I'm currently learning Bokmål.
Favorite hobby outside of the house?
- Ah. It used to be cosplaying, but I have grown out of the hobby (and my costumes). I would now much prefer to stay at home, away from the Yellow Ball of Death, either reading, cooking, or sewing. (I am very much domesticated and house-trained.)
What is your favorite holiday?
- Halloween, hands down.
If you could have a conversation about life with anyone (dead or alive) who would it be and why?
- I'd like to dedicate a day conversing with 60-year-old-Me. Spoilers do not actually bother me; I'd much rather know what to expect. I want to know if anything has changed between 40 years, if there's anything she wanted to do but didn't or couldn't, and if I could do anything to change that. I want to make sure that when I reach that ripe old age I'll be able to look back and say, "That ride was fucking amazing. Let's do that again."

11 Random Facts About Me:

I love to cook. If I had all the time and resources I needed, this blog would have been exclusively about recipes and cooking.
Back in my younger years I was on my way to pursuing Medicine, with Psychology as my pre-med. The pressure (and eventual depression) got to me so I had to take a break. I would probably be a licensed psychiatrist by now if I didn't stop. And also horribly depressed.
I have a cat named Rufi back in the PH. I got her unexpectedly last April 2016 when she slammed onto our roof after botching her jump from the townhouse next door. She got stuck in our rafters before I got her out and she's been living with us ever since. She's very derpy and I love her very much.
Because I've been having such bizarre dreams, I used to keep a dream diary. I kept it up for almost a year until I became too depressed to write. I set it on fire some years later. I am still having bizarre dreams.
I think out loud.
No matter what it is, you'll always find me taking down notes about it.
I'm quite competitive and am not above fighting dirty to get what I want.
Sales and discounts are my black holes.
I love decluttering. If it has been sitting around not serving any purpose, if it hasn't been used in a month or so, or if I think it will not be useful to me in any way in the future, I will throw it out.
Some of the things I used to do before my (lack of) attention span got in the way: ballet and gymnastics, tae kwon do, piano lessons, figure skating. I can still do a little bit of everything - I still remember my routines, I can very well kick your ass, read scores and play songs, I can still keep my balance on ice and do a few turns - but not as good as I should be.
I discovered that the Universe does have a sense of humor when I, a person who absolutely hates phone calls, found a job in the call center industry. I'm rather good at it - more than I care to admit - and I find that really funny.

Tell me, I'd love to know:

What's your favorite thing about blogging?
Any goals for your blog in the long run?
How did you come up with your blog name?
Where do you get inspiration to blog?
Any book recommendations?
Your most favorite place in the world?
What's the best advice for your blog that you've received?
What advice would you give other bloggers in turn?
What do you usually do to de-stress and unwind?
What's one thing you have always wanted to do but have not started yet?
If you could switch to a different niche for your blog, what would it be and why?

I can't wait to see your entries! Don't forget to leave a comment with your links down below so I can check them out too. That's it, and until the next award!

4 comments

Wait, what? A recognition award? Aww shucks! You shouldn't have~! I didn't even get to prepare an acceptance speech!

Loljk - I was just having fun. But I'm seriously quite flattered I got nominated for this award! To me, this is just an incentive to push even harder and improve myself and this blog. ♥

If you're not already familiar with the concept, the Blogger Recognition award is just an "award" given to a blogger by another blogger to appreciate and recognize all the hard word that we all put into publishing new content and keeping our websites fresh and updated. Blogging takes quite a bit of work and this is just a small way of showing our fellow bloggers that we all see the effort they put into their little corners of the internet.

How did I get the award?

I was nominated by World of Nabeeda. I'd like to thank her for checking out my blog and seeing that it's worth nominating! Nabeeda's blog is filled with her life experiences and the lessons that come her way - it's definitely worth checking out! She also has a series called Ramadan Diaries, which details her musings during this holy month of prayer. Go ahead and click on her blog link to check out more of her posts!

How did my blog start?

I must admit the little morsel of detail I left in my About page leaves a lot to be desired, and I can't blame you. I started this blog years(ssss) ago primarily because I wanted to improve on my writing skills, and my Languages professor at the time suggested this as an alternative to writing by hand. Though I got the general gist, I still wasn't sure what to write about so back then my blog posts were about completely random and insignificant things. It wasn't until I was halfway through my college years when some people started contacting me about writing for them and using my blog to advertise, which I happily accepted. Since then I've been to a few events, traveled to a few places and met new people, wrote for a few products and ads, and even got a writing gig for two magazines for a time. Blogging took me places and, while it wasn't on a larger scale like some of our more well-known bloggers/influencers, I'm quite grateful I was able to experience these things and more.

Advice for new bloggers:

I'm not really sure I'm the right person to dish out advice, just because I think I'm not qualified for it. But since you asked me:

Always write about things that matter to you. Ever tried to write about something you're not interested in? Takes too much time and effort, yeah? When you finish your piece, do you feel accomplished, or do you feel relieved that you're finally done? When you write about things that you're actually interested in, not only do the words come naturally to you but you're also painting the tone of the entire article. You may not notice it but your readers will pick up on whether what you're writing about is something you believe in or care about. The way to a reader's heart is to show them what you're passionate about. Writing - and blogging - doesn't have to be a chore.

There's nothing wrong about doing things for the followers but above all, do things for you. Never forget that you're the most important aspect of your blog! Travel if you need clarity, go out with your friends if you need a laugh, take breaks when you need to rest, and don't be afraid to write about what makes you happy.

Since this is all about passing the award on, here are my nominations:

D'Bacon by Duane Bacon - Cosplayer-turned-lifestyle blogger. His posts are unique and refreshing! He's been in the scene longer than I have, and I'm pleased to see how far he's come.
Hear the Magic by Rebecca Cahill - Rebecca is a special needs teacher who hosts an author site. She blogs about writing tips for aspiring authors, her experience on being published, and does book reviews on another blog, The Page Unbound. She's currently hosting a giveaway, so please check out her website if you're interested!
A E S T H E T I C by Angge De Castro - This quirky 16 year-old blogs mostly about her life experiences, but she throws in some reviews here and there. I love her minimalistic theme!
Pau Pursues Passion by Pau Castillo - Exactly what is says on the tin, this blog is all about Pau's pursuit of passion and her adventures in the real world. She has also published her own novel called Between Two Worlds, and is currently up and about chasing one dream after another.
The Nevermind Blog by Manahil and Laiba Shafiq - A beauty, make up, and fashion blog run by two sisters from Pakistan. I love how they incorporate their culture and heritage in their fashion posts and give it a modern and trendy flair, and their make up tips are simple and easy to follow.
Pastel Scales by Patricia - This blog, much like its author, is dreamy and creative. It chronicles the author's life as she travels, takes on beauty reviews, and her journey to rediscovering herself.
Keunggulan Wanita by Halimah Muhiden - I'd consider this a life blog since her posts are a combination of health, lifestyle, beauty, make up, food, and recipes - and even tips on motherhood! Her posts are in Malaysian but trusty Google Translate can help you read her blog.
Emm Travel Adventures by Mohit Anand - Your typical travel-adventure blog, but from the eyes of someone who really wants to immerse themselves with the culture. His photos and narratives of the places he's been to will make you feel like you've been there yourself.
Rachell by Rachell Ho - A beauty and lifestyle blog run by Rachell, who also makes restaurant and product reviews from time to time. I also love how clean and responsive her blog layout is!
Your Veg Recipe by Paritosh and Monica Mehta - The lovechild of a vegetarian foodie couple, Paritosh and Monica regularly post new tasty vegetarian recipes for everyone to enjoy. Their posts are organized by categories to make it easier for their readers to navigate, and they also have a segment called "What's in your fridge?" that helps you figure out what to cook by simply putting in the ingredients you have in your fridge. Isn't that nifty or what?? Definitely a blog I'll be checking back!
KelsieColette.com - A beauty, lifestyle, and inspiration blog run by the website's namesake Kelsie. This blog was born out of Kelsie's desire to empower women, and contains honest and in-depth product reviews, as well as providing useful swatches for women of color, and easy-to-follow make up tips for beginners.
Awaiting Disaster by Elle Evangelista - The personal blog of a published writer and event organizer. This blog offers a window into her mind as she records her musings and daily life.
Belong, Believe, and Become! by Val Papauran - It's notable that Val's motto is "Better late than never", and I think she's taken it to heart quite well! Her blog is mostly about her experiences from moving to another country to join her partner, to solely expressing her thoughts and ideals. She also made posts on her experience in getting a Netherlands Visa, getting TESDA accreditation, and her Civil Interrogation Exam ordeal, which I think is pretty commendable!
Confessions of an Undertaker by Peter - Definitely not a blog you see every day! Peter works as a embalmer and hopes that his blog will shed some light into this dark and mysterious profession. His extensive experience in the funeral industry shows in the blog, from the technicalities of post-mortem photography to anecdotes of his life working with the dead.
IAmDanElson.com - One more travel blogger who hopes to inspire his readers to pack up and see the world. Dan's goal is not just to help others to explore, experience and enjoy more of what life has to offer through long term travel, but to also help you save and make money for travel.

All these lovely blogs have put so much effort into writing about what matters to them, and they deserve the recognition! Congratulations!

Here's what you need to do now:

Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
Write a post to show your award.
Give a brief story of how your blog started.
Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated and provide the link to the post you created.

Thanks again to Nabeeda for nominating me!