Hi everyone! Ready for another Tag Me Tuesday? Today I’m doing the Real Neat Blog Award for the 5th and 6th time!

I was nominated by Esther of Femiiesther, who runs a lovely blog focusing on her writings and by Olivia of Sage Olivia who blogs about fashion, beauty, and lifestyle! If you’re not following them already please go check out their blogs real quick as they are both amazing ladies.

Oh, I’m really trying to forget about my two and a half hour commute home today. It snowed and everything froze over so not only could I not drive fast but accidents everywhere stopped traffic a ton too. That is honestly the only thing I hate about winter, driving when it’s icy and snowy out! I have a tiny car and I’m not a confident driver to begin with so it’s terror for me. I’ve lived in northern Illinois my entire life but I am just a scaredy cat when it comes to driving in the snow or ice! There was one particularly heart pounding moment when I wasn’t sure I could stop in time and there wasn’t anywhere to turn away to. Luckily I did but it was still scary! Anyway, I got home safe and sound but I hate bad weather when I need to drive in it. That’s a huge motivation I have to want to live closer to work. If something goes wrong on the drive, I’m stranded! I’ve also had a two hour commute to work once because of snow and I once turned around after it took an hour to go half way to work after severe thunderstorms and flooding. (I worked from home and it took about thirty minutes to get home from that point but was still faster than if I’d kept going.) Ugh, weather.

Anyway I’m not entirely traumatized and luckily there’s no snow in the forecast for tomorrow. I have to go to class tomorrow for my last final presentation! We’re all expecting it to be a walk in the park as the entire class was a piece of cake. (How many more metaphors can I use in one paragraph?) We’re already soooooo over it. But that’s one semester down and a year and a half to go! May 2019 here I come! (Or June, I’m a little fuzzy on the date to be honest.)

Okay, so back to the award!

Rules

• Put the award logo on your blog
• Thank the people who nominated you, linking to their blogs
• Answer the 7 questions asked by the person who nominated you
• Nominate any number of bloggers you really like, linking to their blogs
• Let them know you nominated them
• Ask your nominees 7 questions

Esther’s Questions:

1. Where in the world are you? Why are you there? And do you like it?
   I’m in northern Illinois, in a Chicagoland suburb. I’m here because it’s where my parents ended up after moving from the west suburbs (fun fact, they lived 15 minutes down the road from my college before they moved here). I do like it until the sky decides to dump snow on the freaking road when I need to drive on it!
2. Sex before marriage, is it a sin?
   Oh my, I think this is the most scandalous question I’ve been asked! I’m going to go with no because not only is it none of my business what people do with their lives, but also because… actually no that’s pretty much my only reason. You do you everyone. You do you.
3. What, if any, is your biggest gripe with the society?
   I can only pick one??? Well today it’s impatience while I’m fearful for my life. Geez, maybe I am traumatized by my drive today.
4. Describe the political climate you’re surrounded by? Left or right? And do you feel the same?
   I’m super left surrounded by people on the super left with a government that’s a mix of both. My state is left but the country as a whole has a right administration. Actually, to be honest I have some points of view more closely aligned with the right. But the ones I feel the most strongly about are on the left such as human rights (especially women’s rights), environmental protection, education, and so much more.
5. What do I do to recharge?
   Sleep mostly. When I’m awake I tend to try to multitask although that’s not actually a thing. Like right now, I’m trying to write this post for tomorrow and watch a Zoella vlog (omg she’s at a Taylor Swift concert in this one!) and trying not to stress about my presentation tomorrow.
6. What is your guilty pleasure?
   Disney movies/tv shows. Actually I’m not guilty about it.
7. What is your biggest achievement to date? Personal, career, or otherwise.
   Oh dear. It’s hard to pick. I would have to say my degree. I have my bachelor’s (funnily enough I misspell it every time, I forget the “e”) and I don’t think I appreciated it enough at the time but since knowing people who weren’t guaranteed a college degree straight out of high school through work (for many, many reasons) I appreciate it and the sacrifice my parents made to get me through school so much more. Also, I’m now working and in school part time as opposed to school full time, so that’s another reason to appreciate it even more now!

Olivia’s Questions:

1. What is your favorite family tradition?
   I don’t know if we have any traditions actually. I would say watching the Harry Potter films during the week of Christmas but we didn’t do that last year.
2. If you could travel back in time, what would you tell your younger self?
   Keep your eye on the prize. You don’t prioritize anything over success often but the times you do could be better spent studying or trying to get even further ahead of your peers. Life is a marathon!
3. How do you motivate yourself to keep on blogging and making good content?
   I get a ton of motivation from other blogs/bloggers! Everyone works so hard and inspires me to keep going and creating.
4. If you had to watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would that movie be?
   Oh this is tough. Beauty and the Beast probably! I love that movie so much!
5. What made you start a blog?
   I felt so deprived of a creative outlet and after NaNoWriMo I wanted to keep writing so I started a blog. Best decision ever!
6. What was one of the funniest moments of your life that you could never forget?
   Probably the day I was accepted into the master’s program and the director of the program who did my interview immediately invited me to a reception for accepted students. I basically did my interview in about 20 minutes, was accepted, and then off to a reception less then 10 minutes after that. It took another 30 or so before I got a glass of wine in my hand though HA!
7. What is your favorite makeup/fashion brand or icon?
   I think the brand that is catching my eye the most right now is Kat Von D. I hadn’t tried anything from the brand until I started getting the Sephora Play Boxes and loved the concealer and perfume I tried. Everything is cruelty free from this brand too, which makes it even better!

My Nominees:

I am going to leave my nominations open as well as the questions! If you want to do this award, go for it! Pick any of the above questions and consider yourself nominated!

Okay so that’s the Real Neat Blog Award! Let me know if you end up doing this award so I can read it. If you don’t want to do the award, how about you pick a question above and answer it in the comments? That could be fun too!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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