Awards | But I Smile Anyway...

The Versatile Blogger Award

08 May 2015 38 Comments

by Ritu in Awards Tags: Acceptance, Awards, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Humble, Thankful, Versatile Blogger

Awoke to another nomination!

Thank you so much to Tony Burgess for my nomination this time! I am so grateful! Please check out Tony’s great blog too!!

The Versatile Blogger Award rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
2. Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
3. Next, select blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
4. Nominate those bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link back to the post on your site announcing their nomination.
5. Finally, tell the person who nominated you, seven facts about you

I’ll start with my 7 facts… The hardest thing to think of, as I seem to have done a fair few!!

I have a problem with being touched on my neck…. I think it stems back to when I was born with the cord wrapped around it, 3 times!
I have an unhealthy obsession with stationery!
I love to dress up!…. But I hate to dress up…. If that makes sense! On a normal day, makeup does not touch my skin, but if there is an occasion, I love playing with the colours on my face!
I used to help some of my cousins get ready for their wedding days painting their bindis on their foreheads. And helping with hair. One cousin had short fine hair, so we bulked it up using…. A pair of (new) socks!! Yes, socks! Imagine her hubby’s shock to see her letting her hair down, on their wedding night, and seeing a sock or two roll out!!
I love to tell stories. A captive audience of children is all I need, and recently, I have been asked, at school, to read to the whole of the lower school, around 120 children! It’s exhilarating!
My daughter is a mini me, and my son is a mini his daddy!
I have now succumbed, and have to grudgingly say that yes, I do like One Direction songs, after being forced to listen to them for the last few weeks by Lil Princess!

And my nominees!

The Bespectacled Mother
Waffle Me This
London Kind And Funny
The Daydreamer
Ujima Magazine

Please don’t feel obliged to accept, but if you do, let me know, so I can read your facts too!

Thunderbolts And Lightning!!!

08 May 2015 38 Comments

by Ritu in Awards Tags: Awards, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Encouraging Thunder, Humbled, Thank you!

Woah there! A new one on my shelf!!!

Well, first off, I have to give HUGE thanks to the gorgeously cute Rob, of The V-Pub blog, for this generous nomination!

The Rules:

Post it on your blog.

Grant other bloggers the award.

What you cannot do:

Abuse or misuse the logo.

Claim that it is your own handmade logo.

What you should do after receiving the Encouraging Thunder Award:

Enjoy the award!

At least give thanks via comments, likes and/or mentioning the blog that you received the award from.

Mention your purpose in blogging .
Who to pass Thunder onto…….?

I truly love certain blogs and there are a few which stick out in my mind, as they have been there since my humble beginnings, through to my humble-still, now!

Cats At The Bar
The Happy Lifeaholic
10 Years A Single Mom
HaRsH ReAlItY
Chris, The Story Reading Ape

My Purpose In Blogging
What is my purpose in blogging?
Well, I love words, for a start. Reading them, writing them, and learning about them. It was an ambition for me to write a book … Any book. I started a novel, I’ve written some poetry based children’s stories… But it hasn’t gone any further, and in my life, there was not much place for my literary dreams to go anywhere.
Then I discovered blogging, quite by accident!
A friend started a blog to air some issues in her past, and clear her mind, and in order for me to comment, it tempted me to sign in, or sign up…. And so I did!
All of a sudden this blog was born. What I wanted it for I had no idea!
Slowly, I wrote different things, from my life, to creative, to opinions, humour, and not forgetting Sonu Singh!
The encouragement I received over the last 6 months, from the blogs above, and so many others, made my pen (read fingers!) flow, and so But I Smile Any way was born.
My blog has allowed me to reminisce, make you laugh, think, go ‘Awww!’ and given me the opportunity to meet and build relationships with fellow blog-pals around the world!
I thank you all for giving me the inspiration to continue to write, and maybe that lifelong dream of mine, to be published… Might even come true too!

Guess what finally arrived??!!

08 May 2015 30 Comments

by Ritu in Awards Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Cats At The Bar, Challenge, Poetry, Prize

Now, I’ve been blessed in the past few months, to have been awarded many blogger awards, but today… finally, a real life, solid prize arrived in the list from the lovely Tom at Cats At The Bar!
It’s taken a few months to meander here to the UK from Canada! But hey, its here now!
I always said to Tom I’d post as soon as it arrived! And I like to keep my word, so here it is!

My poetry prize, and if you want, check out my winning poem here!

The tea sure tasted good!
Cheers Tom and all the Cats At The Bar team, including those gorgeous kitties… Whose hair I think I also got in the parcel too lol!!!!!

Time To Get My Pinny Out! Real Neat Blog Award!

04 May 2015 25 Comments

by Ritu in Awards Tags: Awards, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging

Awarded 4/5/15

The Rules:

1) Put the award logo on your blog.
2) Answer the questions asked by the person who nominated you.
3) Thank the people who nominated you, linking to their blogs.
4) Nominate any number of bloggers you like, linking to their blogs.
5) Let them know you nominated them (by commenting on their blog etc.)

So I will start by the award logo at the top of my post!

And my thanks will come next..

Thank you to Joeyfully Stated for the most appreciated nomination!

Questions for me to answer

1. What’s the best compliment you’ve ever received?

I think one of the most touching would be that I am a wonderful mother, closely followed by a little child telling me I am her best teacher ever! Children are so important to me, that being a mother, and becoming a teacher, were always going to figure in my life somehow, and getting compliments for both of these things mean the world to me !

2. What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

My life motivates me in general! I want to wake up to get my children ready for their day, and I want to rush to work to get ready for the children at school too!

If I have a day off, I am not motivated to get up because I want to spend the time cuddled up with my Hubby Dearest!

3. What fictional character did you most identify with when you were a child?

I loved Alice in Wonderland, and would have loved to have been her…, but not because I identified with her… because of her adventures! I’m not sure I actually identified with any specific character when I was young!

My Nominees

Homemade Naturally
Down Home Thoughts
Encouraging Life
Kitt Noir
All Things Chronic

Questions for my Nominees

What do you blog on? PC, Tablet, Phone? What is your preferred media?
Are you Real Neat in reality??!!
Do you believe in Heaven?
If you could write a book about your life, what would the title be??
Would you/could you/have you ever been a naturist??

There you have it! Please don’t feel obliged to answer or accept, but if you do, let me know so I can check out your answers!

Something to aleviate my tension! Very Inspiring Blogger Award!

02 May 2015 21 Comments

by Ritu in Awards Tags: Award, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, VEry Inspiring Blogger Award

Awarded 1/5/15

Yesterday am email popped up and in it was a lovely surprise from the gorgeous Erica Kind… A nomination for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award!

I have been following Erica for a few weeks, and she, me, and we seem to have clicked in a great way, and I was so honoured to have received this from her, thank you so much Erica! ❤ ❤

The Rules

Thank the person who nominated you and add their link to
List the award rules so your nominees will know what to do.
Tell 7 hidden facts about yourself.
Nominate 10-15 other bloggers. (Nominate however many you wish to, I do!)
Contact your nominees and provide a link to your post.
Display the award logo (button) on your blog, whether on your sidebar or about page, or special award page.

7 facts about me…

I’m in a bit of tension right now, but thinking about new facts to reveal about myself is fading that tension, and giving me a new one!
I learned how to play the Guitar, the Recorder, and the Piano as a child, but can I still play any of them???? Nope! But I can sing!
I have family in the UK, Finland, India, Kenya, Uganda, USA, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Norway, and I’m sure I have forgotten a few there!
My biggest hope, to make a positive difference to the lives of the children I work with.
Its been nearly 2 months, and I am STILL hula hooping!!!!!! 10 minutes a day! Really! I am actually sticking to something exercise related! That is a miracle!!
I like chocolate, no I LOVE chocolate, but it makes me itch! I eat a bar, it feels so good, then I scratch myself to bits, but oh… it’s worth it!
I went to Russia at 16, and saw the first ever MacDonald’s opened there, the queue for a burger was a mile long, I kid you not! needless to say, we did not wait in that queue, we didn’t fly all the way to the Soviet Union to queue for burgers…!

My Nominees

A Little Daydreamer
Blog Of A Mad Black Woman
The Ninth Life
Waffle Me This
Stereotypically Able
Random Writings on the Bathroom Wall
Sheldon Kleeman

Again, thank you so much to my nominator, Erica! And to my nominees, please don’t feel obliged to take part, but if you do, let me know, I love reading the new facts you reveal about yourselves!