Taryn Raye Nominated for a Versatile Blogger Award. #Writerly Wednesday

Maggie Mitchell nominated me for the Versatile Blogger award. Thanks so much, Maggie!

This came just in time to give me a little something to post for Writerly Wednesday!

To accept, I state seven random facts about myself and tag fifteen other bloggers. A great way to get to know more about me and for you to meet other bloggers I’m a big fan of.

1. Autumn is one of my favorite times of year because it ushers in Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas- I get to have a little fun, enjoy good food and be with family more than I do other times of the year.
2.  I LOVE pepperonicinis with my pizza and in salad.
3.  I have fairly small feet. I can fit in my 9 y/o daughter's Girls size 5 tennis shoes, which aren't far from my Women's 7 1/2s.
4. My favorite HOMEMADE ice cream flavor is Banana.
5. Raye is my real middle name. My mom gave me the name "Raye" after a character in the movie Back Street starring Susan Hayward and John Gavin. My mom had the spelling wrong as the character's name was "Rae" but she remembered loving the spelling in lowercase cursive "rae" on the front of the character's fashion salon- I'm glad she misspelled it. I like it the way it is.
6. I use a manual treadmill (because it was cheap and compact)--but that means that 30 minutes on there is a sweatfest because I don't have a computer or batteries or electricity controlling my "stroll"- It's all on me to walk the dogs and put in the effort.
7. I was a member of the "Just for Girls" book club as a kid and I still have several of the books I hope my daughter will be interested in reading- one of my favorites- Karen Kepplewhite is the World's Best Kisser by Eve Bunting. I think she'd get a kick out of that one!

And the fifteen bloggers I'm nominating:

1.  Ginger Simpson
2.  Jordanna East
3.  Hallee Bridgeman
4.  Dale Herring
5.  Alan Chin
6.  Cherie Marks
7.  Missy Frye
8.  Joselyn Vaughn
9.  RK Smith
10.  Kenra Daniels
11.  Marilyn Baron
12.  Elena Dillon
13.  Angeline M Bishop
14.  Melinda McGuire
15.  Misty Dietz

So what 7 things don't we know about you? Don't forget to check out everyone else's blogs!

Ain't This Lovely? #Lovely #Blog #Award from @kenra_daniels TY!!!

This morning I was greeted by a comment on yesterday's #Writerly Wednesday- Shattered #poetry #writing post from Kenra Daniels nominating me for a Lovely Blog Award. She posted about it on her Blogs Are Lovely Things, Aren't They? post for today where you can learn 7 things about her and then go around and find out about 11 other authors (me included.) 

Thank you so much, Kenra! I'm honored!

So—What is the Lovely Blog Award, you might be wondering?

Rules for the Lovely Blog award are to thank the blogger who nominated you, give seven facts about yourself, post the blog award badge on your site, and nominate 11 noteworthy blogs, notifying them you did so.  So, here we go:

1. I met my husband online through one of those early dating sites. We talked for about 2 months before we met in person. A lot of my friends and family were concerned for my well-being meeting a stranger, but two months later I moved to be with him and his 2 1/2 year old son. Building a strong marriage from a relationship with a practical stranger is hard work and it's not always been easy, but the fact that we've been together nearly 11 years means something in my book.
2. I can pick things up with my toes- pencils, pens, paper. I've been teased that I have "lobster claws" for feet, but I don't care. I claim to have inherited that ability from my father, who can pinch a plug out of you with his toes, while my mom can't.
3. I once lost a thumbnail. When I was a child, somewhere around 4-5, maybe 6, I wanted to help my grandpa with the room he was building onto the house. I hit my thumbnail with a hammer and smashed it. Over several days, wearing a bandage to hold it, my thumbnail loosened and fell off. Luckily a new one grew back in it's place.
4. Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I love all the seasons, but once we hit that shift between summer as we ease into fall I find myself at my most creative. I feel inspired. I wax poetic (as I did yesterday). I get wistful and emotional as the world seems to slow down, readying for the cold days of winter and nights snuggled up inside where it's warm and cozy. I feel connected to this time of year and Mother Earth in a way I don't throughout the rest of the year. The colors and smells and atmosphere envelopes me.
5. I love to bake homemade pizza. This love started when I was around 19 and got my first job working at Little Caesar's. From making the dough and rolling and kneading it, to dressing the pizza with sauce and toppings and cheese, it's cathartic for me.
6. Lilacs are probably my all-time favorite flower. Mostly because when I was growing up, my mom had lilacs along the side of the house outside my window and when they bloomed in the spring, I could lay on my bed and smell them through the open window. I'd love to have my lilac tree outside my bedroom window in my own house. Might have to think on that and see about planting some out there. ;)
7. Last but not least, I love to paint. Not like Bob Ross-let's-put-a-happy-little-cloud-or-shurb-in-this-corner, but like shove-all-the-furniture-to-the-center-of-the-room-and-give-the-walls-a-facelift kind of painting. When I was around 18 my parents let me choose wall colors for my birthday since I was still living at home with them. I chose a pastel lavender- a really soft pale lavender and then I picked what to me looked like sea-foam green but was called porcelain green for the trim. My colors were still in keeping with my love of lilacs and I also had one of those "travel trunks" that was a green with purple metal trim. (which I still have). I've slowly started getting the rooms in my house painted, but so far only the living room got a nice new coat of a pale sage green. Time and money, money and time- got to have a little of both for painting cause that's an all day job.

Okay, so now that I've shared a little about me that you might not have known before, let’s see whose turn it is to reveal 7 things about themselves…

1. C.C. Marks- Dark and Dreamy with C.C. Marks
2. J.M. Madden- Contemporary, Everyday Romance
3. Kallypso Masters- Ahh, Kallypso...the stories you tell
4. Devon Matthews- Romance in the Wild West
5. Donna McDonald- Never Too Late For Romance
6. Amy Durham- Imagination & Escape~ for the young... and the young at heart
7. Diane Strong- The Running Commentary~ Running, biking and...book reviews?
8. Hallee Bridgeman, Novelist- Author of Edgy Christian Romance Novels
9. Renee Vincent- Past the Print
10. Teresa Reasor- My Muse's Musings
11. Pam Turner- Darkling Delights~ Dark genre with bite-sized tidbits. Enjoy!