"And the Award goes to..."

Ok, so I'm jumping ahead a bit with the title, but I bet it got your attention ;)
I was surprised yesterday, but pleasantly so, to receive an email notification informing me that I have been nominated for a Liebster Blog Award by Laura R the lovely author of Hundred and Counting - thank you very much for the nomination! Here is the link to her original post: https://hundredandcounting.wordpress.com/2015/09/16/and-the-liebster-award-nominations-go-to/

For those of you who don't know, or haven't heard of the Liebster Blog Award (like I honestly hadn't before about a week ago), it's an award that is given to new bloggers or bloggers with less than 200 followers as a way for bloggers to give recognition to their fellow bloggers, and draw attention to blogs they particularly enjoy and admire.

As with all awards, there are rules to be followed, so these are listed below for your convenience:

Here are Hundred and Counting's questions with my answers:

1.  What made you start blogging?
   I was on my year abroad when I started my first blog. It didn't last. This is my third attempt and so far it seems to be going well.
2. Are you an indoor or an outdoor person at heart?
   I think the answer to this question depends on what kind of day it is. I love days out and would honestly love to do more outdoorsy things, but when it's cold outside, ther truly is nothing that beats curling up on the sofa with your duvet and an extra large mug of hot chocolate (with marshmallows!!)
3. If you could make one wish to change the world, what would it be?This is an excelent question, and one I have to say I've never pondered, so to give a wuick answer, I guess maybe that travel and holiday costs were cheaper so that everyone could enjoy seeing the world at an affordable price.
   
4. What’s your pet peeve?
   I have a few (sounds awful doesn't it) but my biggest pet peeve is being interrupted (especially during a heated disagreement). It's just rude.
5. What would you recommend that I read next?
   If you like light hearted and slightly girly books, I'd recommend The Single Girl's To Do List by Lindsey Kelk
6. If you were the DJ, which record would you play?
   There's a few I'd play. None of them remixes.
7. What did you dream of when you were ten years old?
   I genuinely cannot remember, which probably means it never came true anyway.
8. Have you experienced love at first sight? Doesn’t have to be with a person.Yes, and don't judge me when I say this but, it was the Apple Watch. LOVE it!
9. What is your favorite musical instrument? (you don’t have to know how to play it)
   I don't really have a favourite tbh, but I think the piano and guitars are both beautiful instruments. I'd love to be able to play the guitar (though I'm not sure I'd be very good at it)
10. Who is the most inspiring person you know? Why?
    I've been asked this a few times, and the answer is always the same: my mum. She moved to another country, where she couldn't speak the language, with a young child (me) to be with the man she loved (my dad), and then when it didn't work out, she had the strength and courage to leave and come back to England and start over at the age of 50. She's the strongest person I know, and my absolute hero.
11. What do you consider your personal super food?
    Recently I'm loving stuffed peppers and came up with my own recipe for them. You can find the recipe and try it for yourself here: http://scatterbotblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/random-recipes.html

My nominations are (in no particular order):

1. https://wisdomelements.wordpress.com/
2. http://thebrokenspine.net/
3. Invisible World
4. http://drimhaus.com/blog/
5. http://superinspiredmoments.com/
6. https://inspireadventurer.wordpress.com/
7. https://melaniiin.wordpress.com
8. http://stephwenburg.com/
9. https://daisywillows.wordpress.com/category/
10. https://notesfromanarcissist.wordpress.com/
11. http://lauraalord.com/2015/08/28/man-you-call-dad-not-your-father/ - this post literally moved me to tears, I could feel your fear and anxiety in every heartfelt word.

My Questions:

1. What inspires you as a blogger?
2. Who do you blog for?
3. Who or what is your favourite book/ tv/ film character?
4. If you could choose to have a super power, what would it be and why?
5. What was the last book you read?
6. What was the last film you watched?
7. What was your childhood fear? Has it changed?
8. Recommend a song to me
9. Tell me an inspirational quote
10. How much does this nomination mean to you?
11. What would you do if you won £1,000,000?

Thank you again Laura, for the nomination. Good luck everyone, and have fun doing this :)

Blogging 101: Third Assignment

I'm in a bit of a pickle with this one - day three's assignment is to 'Say Hello to the Neighbours", in other words, introduce yourself to other bloggers - no not in the sense that you literally find them  and say 'hello' in person (that'd be weird, and kinda stalkerish). What it means is to read some other blogs and then interact with the author, by leaving a comment for example. The author will then hopefully also see that comment, reply and/or click on your blog in return, therefore raising awareness of your blog to at least one other reader. Problem is, unlike on Wordpress.com (which is the blogging platform that the blogging 101 course is run through), I can't actually figure out how to find blogs to follow on here..

Blogging 101: Second Assignment

OK, I'm a few days behind with regards to posting, though if you check my blog regularly you'll notice that I have actually added a couple of things to it. So day 2 of blogging 101 was to come up with a blog title (which I've had for a while) and a catchy tagline/ short blog description that sums up or explains your blog title. I didn't have the description bit filled in so I've added this: "A somewhat scattered collection of notes, thoughts and ideas". I actually came up with this rather easily and as it is a rather accurate description of this blog, I thought I'd keep it. I did play around with an extension of this, but when previewing it, it looked like half of the words would disappear behind the 'search' box, so I figured I'd just stick with the short and sweet version. As they say. "don't fix it if it's not broken".

I know this is a rather short post, but as it was a rather easy assignment (for me) I can't really help this being short. I just thought I'd keep you up to date, so here it is - short and sweet like the tagline itself.

Blogging 101: The first assignment

Yes, you read that correctly - after two previously abandoned blogs, I have decided to try and make this one work. Not only in the sense that I post regularly, but also to hopefully gain regular readers and followers. I was considering setting up a wordpress blog with the same name purely for the course, but then figured that this would distract me from my goal to make this blog work. Therefore, I hope you will be patient with me and enjoy this journey with me as I go back to basics and start this learning adventure that is Blogging 101.

As for this first assignment, it was to introduce myself, and write abit about why I decided to start a blog in the first place. Well from my very first post "An Introduction: F is for Fran" you'll know a bit about me already, so I'm going to skip to the bit about my reasons for starting a blog. Here goes..

The truth is, I started my first blog while I was studying on my Year Abroad in Graz, Austria, and the reasons behind that were a combination of trying to keep a journal of activities to help with part of my then degree assignment, wanting a creative outlet of where to post my photography, and one post was inspired by another friend who was trying to gather various writing materials on places to visit for his website and asked me if I would write a piece. Unfortunately this blog didn't really last past the end of that year, and then a short while after, another blog was started. This time for no particular reason, and again, it didn't last.

Scatterbot Blog was started after watching a tv show starring Sheridan Smith in "The C Word", I'm not really sure of the reason again, but I do enjoy writing, though sometimes the thoughts come out a bit scattered, hence the name.

Anyway, that's a little bit about the reasons behind my writing a blog. The reason for taking this course, is simply to improve my writing and learn a bit more about blogging as well as maybe interacting with others who also enjoy writing and blogging about it.

Also, as you are fully aware by now (if you have been following my blog thus far) I am unemployed and blogging certainly gives me something to do in between the constant monotony of searching for jobs.

The Single Girl's To-Do List

 Firstly, in case you are not aware, this is actually the title of a book by the very talented Lindsey Kelk, and also the inspiration behind this post and my entire last two years. If you haven't read it, you should (regardless of whether you are single or not) this book is brilliant - I highly recommend it.

                                

                                    Available on Amazon or as an ebook for Kindle and iBooks. 

Anyhoo, this isn't a book review post, (though if you want my personal thoughts on it, I can write a review of it, no problem), but to give you an understanding of what I'm talking about, I am going to give you a basic overview of the story. A girl finds herself to be single somewhat unexpectedly, and for the first time in her life it's not of her choosing. Her two friends attempt to help her get through it and in the process compile a list of things that she has to do before she can officially announce herself as single. Oh and there's a time limit in which she has to do everything on her list. It really is a great book.

So when I read this (the title caught my eye), I happened to have recently got out of a relationship myself, and after reading it, I suddenly had a completely different view of being single. In the past it has always seemed a bit depressing, especially when every social media seems to be full of people's romances and everyone around you is engaged or shoving wedding pictures in your face. I know, I sound like a grinch haha, but that's how it can come across at times (if you're single, I'm sure you can relate).

Anyway I read this book and it changed how I see being single - it's your personal unlimited allowance of 'me time'. Have you ever wanted to do something/ travel somewhere and then not been able to because suddenly someone new has come into your life? I have. After my first long term relationship, I swore that I'd have the next year for myself because not only had I wasted my first year at uni, I also knew I'd have a my year abroad coming up in the third year which could complicate a relationship, so I was determined not to get involved with anyone. Second day back at uni and that plan went completely out of the window (and I was right, my year abroad did add complications).

Looking at singledom in this new light, inspired me to make my own list, not of things to do before I can declare myself single, but of things I want to do and places that I want to visit myself and that I don't necessarily need a boyfriend for. I made my list around this time two years ago, and looking over it, I can say that I have managed to complete a few of the things on there (just to be clear, I didn't set myself a time limit). My list isn't in any kind of order, though you will be able to see for yourself that a few things are more easily achieved than others.

I'm not saying I have to do all the things on my list, while single, but more that these are a list of things I want to do and can do with or without a boyfriend. I had started to achieve the 'make over' and 'exercise regime' parts, but have decided I'm hitting 'refresh' on those so haven't ticked them off yet.

So first step, make over : New Hair, New Make Up and New Style

Closely followed by step two : Exercise regime (make a plan, set a goal and stick to it)

Let me know in the comments below, what you think of the list idea and, if you've read the book how it affected you.