The WANA1011 Festival of Blogging Awards

Today is a special day – a day of triumph and jubilation.  In other words—it’s time for a party!  A special group of people just graduated from a very unique class, taught by a very unique person and  this is a day chosen to celebrate the specific achievements of the class!

In the last sixty days, 100 people were literally thrown together to learn the most up to date marketing techniques that would help build our “Brand” and prepare us for the great big world of Social Media. It was a big task, but somehow Kristen Lamb pulled it off and in the end we came out all the better for having taken the class.

In the spirit of the WANA1011 class, a group of us got together and thought it would be fun to “Share the Blog Love” by taking this opportunity to recognize classmates as a group.  There are five different bloggers participating in this event. Karen McFarland, Ginger Calem, Jansen Schmidt, Fabio Bueno and myself are giving out Awards to different people and we’re all interlinked to one another’s blogs. Thus it is truly a WANA1011 Festival of Blogging Awards! So let’s get on with it, shall we?

Here are the rules for my recipients:

  • Thank the blogger who nominated you!
  • Add the award picture to your blog.
  • Nominate other bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and let them know about it.
  • Share seven random things about yourself.
  • Check out the blogs of my party pals at their links below

I was nominated to receive “The Versatile Blogger Award” from Lynn Kelley, a fabulous children’s author and fellow student in Kristen’s course.  Lynn’s blog “Random Acts of Weirdness” is here.  It’s always worth a look.

My nominees are:

  1. Alana Saltz:                             http://alanasaltz.com
  2. Alicia Mckenna Johnson:      Armchair Adventures
  3. Alicia Street:                           http://aliciastreet-roystreet.com
  4. Andrew Mocete:                    Come Out and Play
  5. Annette Gendler:                   http://annettegendler.com
  6. Barry Crowther:                     http://barrycrowther.com/category/blog
  7. BJ Bangs:                                 Paws for Reflection
  8. Bri Clark:                                 Belle of Boise

7 random things about me:

  1. I didn’t realize when I received this award that I was supposed to pass it on.  And then I couldn’t figure out how to post it on the sidebar of my blog.  (Thanks Fabio for your help.)
  2. I love technology but I don’t really understand it.  Thank God I have a patient son in law who is an IT specialist.  He can fix or figure out anything.  Bless his heart.
  3. I hate, loathe and despise mice.  And last year I had them in my garage.
  4. I work in Canadian health care – no insurance required and no service refused.  It’s a fabulous place to work, full of caring people and executives working to constantly improve our work environment.
  5. I have always been afraid of driving in the snow.  Since I live in Calgary, that meant I spent much of the winter riddled with anxiety.  Two years ago I realized I’d never had an accident.  The fear was a figment of my imagination and I gave it up.  No more fear.
  6. I love making presentations and speaking in front of groups of people – the more the merrier.
  7. I am an eternal optimist and believe that things always turn out for the best – even if I have to wait awhile for the result to show up.

To see the other nominees in the Festival of Blogging Awards and to check out our big surprise, check out these sites:

Karen McFarland:      Expressions From the Heart

Ginger Calem:             I Am Blogger 

Jansen Schmidt:         Blogging From The Edge of Eternity 

Fabio Bueno:               Diamonds and Rust

34 comments

  1. Congratulations on the blogger awards and excellent choices for recipients! Such a great post!
    So very happy to hear you love the Canadian health care. I love being a nurse, but I am incredibly frustrated by our American system.

    • thanks so much for Serena. I do love working in health care in Canada. My job is perfect for me – I manage interpretation and translation for the Provincial Health System in alberta. It’s very rewarding to make my small contribution to health care, since I’m not a nurse. I must admit confusion about American health care. No one here ever loses their home for health care. nor do we save for treatment. and if we don’t have a procedure in Canada, then we send people to the US and we cover it. It’s more of a one-for-all system, I think, without the profit motive getting involved. but it’s far from perfect. sighhh. I wish I knew the solution to affordable quality care for everyone.

      thanks for the kind words. glad you stopped by.

  2. Ditto what Debra said. It’s awesome to have so many WANAs giving out awards right now and supporting each other. If I’d known, I would have coordinated my award post (going out tomorrow) too. This class has been amazing.

  3. Hi Louise — I had to be running around all day so here I am late once again. And for a party where I actually get an award! Woo-hoo! Thanks for making me one of your picks.

    Luv your sevens! I’m another person who likes public speaking. Not surprised that you work in Canadian health care. (I won’t bring up the insane, greedy, heartless situation in America) And I could tell from your posts that you’re an optimist!
    I’m off to share the blog love . . .

    • You can’t be late for your own party, Alicia. Congratulations on arriving and on your award. Canadian health care is far from perfect But you will never go bankrupt because you’re sick or have to save for surgery. And I am so glad that you ‘hear’ my optimism. I am so not funny but knowing that some lightness shows thru is good.

      I’m looking forward to getting to know you better, Alicia. Congratulations and enjoy the buzz of this party.

  4. Thank you, Louise, for the award and a big thanks also to Fabio and Karen and Ginger and Jansen for organizing this! I wasn’t even aware and am glad I at least checked into Blogger after a long day at work and ferrying around kids. I shall reciprocate when I get my wits back…

    • Annette, you’re so welcome. Congratulations. I totally hear you about a long day at work. It’s crazy trying to keep up all this work and work full time. Enjoy the fizz of the champagne and the good cheer of the celebration. I didn’t hurry to reciprocate. this award is not supposed to add to the busyness of your life but rather add to your life. Enjoy.

  5. Fabulous Blog Award ceremony! I love the fact that several of you are hosting this together.
    I am also giving away two blog awards today – what a happy coincidence!
    Love the random facts about you, Louise, especially number 6. That’s really impressive.

  6. Patricia says:

    Hi Louise. Sorry I’m a little late to the party, but it looks like we’ve had a great showing so far! I had trouble getting my award posted on my blog as well. Thank the good lord above we have Fabio to help with such things!

    Thanks for participating in the party!

    Patricia Rickrode
    w/a Jansen Schmidt

    • Yes, Fabio is a sweetheart, isn’t he? Glad you could make it. I assumed something techie had happened (Ask me what I know about that LOL) thanks again for helping me ground after the accidental posting. your response was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Now enjoy the champagne and firewords and relax. it’s out turn to play.

  7. Louise, This has been an amazing party! There have been so many times my fellow WANA1011 classmates have just overwhelmed me with the blog love and support, I can’t express enough gratitude to everyone, especially you. Thank you so much for the party and for all the support. If I pay back and pay forward only half as well as you, I know I’ll be doing a great job. THANKS!

    • Lynette, I am so touched by your comments. thank you.

      It has been an amazing party, hasn’t it? You do a great job of paying forward and back. It’s always nice to know you’re around offering, kindness, love and support. thanks again.

  8. Fabio Bueno says:

    Louise, if it weren’t for you, we’d never come up with our list of honorees. Just incredible work, thanks! I think of you and Karen as our team captains 🙂
    I loved your seven things. I don’t know many people who like public speaking–I think it’s an incredible gift. And it must be very rewarding to work in a place that helps people.
    Thanks again, Louise. It was a pleasure working with you.

    • much too kind Fabio. I could never have designed that fabulous award for Miss K. well done. it’s been a hoot. I’ve enjoyed every moment – well except for the one where the post went out accidentally. sheesh, that was embarrassing.

      all is well now and we’re done. time to party.

  9. Debra Kristi says:

    It’s wonderful that so many awards are going out on the same day. Had I known I would have coordinated with you guys so as not to have double tapped a few people. I love #7 – the eternal optimist. Wonderful!

    • I saw your post this morning, Debra and thought the same thing. but it’s wonderful to have so many awards going out at the same time. WANA has been so great for me. I can’t begin to express my appreciation to everyone for the support and togetherness we have achieved.

  10. Louise, you did an awesome job on your post! I love the way you paid it forward and spread the WANA1011 blog love! It was a real pleasure working with you to put this all together! This is soo much fun! Happy Blogfest Day to you! 🙂

    • You did an awesome job of pulling it all together Karen, in spite of being so sick. Between all of you, we were so organized – all I had to do was enjoy the ride. Enjoy – it’s a wonderful day.

  11. Julie says:

    This blogfest just warms the cockles of my heart. Thanks!

    I LOVE your list of 7 things. Realizing that fear of driving in the snow was imaginary – awesome. I, too, love to speak to people and I also always believe everything will work out because, well, so far it has! 🙂

    • another public speaker? Wow. Julie you and I are in a very small minority of people, so it’s a double pleasuer to get to know you. And we optimists have to stick together. with all the ‘stuff’ out there, sometimes it’s hard to hold on to the good vibrations.

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