The Sunshine Blogger award

So, can you believe it, i’ve been nominated for my first blogging award!

I have to say, one of the things that i’ve been wonderfully surprised by in the blogging world is the supportive community. In the three months i’ve been blogging, i’ve connected with so many like minded, beautiful bloggers, and it’s bloody fantastic to find so many people who share the same passion.

If I have a blogging question, or just want to ask everyone’s advice on whether I should put cheese on my pasta or not (the answer should always be yes) I know there’ll be someone to help me out.

I recently connected with a lovely blogging mumma, Ravv from Earthly Mama, you can find her blog here, and i’m so glad i’ve found her. On all platforms she brings positivity to my feed and I just love seeing snippets of her gorgeous little Canadian adventures.

Like seriously, can I just move there?

A message to An Earthly Mama: Thank you SO much for nominating me for the Sunshine Blogger award, I am over the moon! Your kindness and support amazes me each day and you’re such a talented blogger. I can’t wait to see where you go next…

Sunshine Blogger award Q&A

1.Explain the story behind the name of your blog.

As you can see, the name of my blog is pretty self explanatory! If i’m honest the reason I decided to name my blog after me, is because I am unbelievably indecisive. It’s kinda why I won’t get a tattoo because I know the moment i’ve decided on something, i’ll get bored and probably want to change my mind.

At one point I was thinking of naming my blog Living Wyse, a clever little play on words my boyfriend thought of but in the end I decided to keep it simple.

2.What is your favourite memory of 2017?

I think my favourite memory from 2017 would be the amazing holiday I went on with my family to Kefalonia in Greece. Kefalonia is an absolutely stunning island, and I have fallen completely in love with Greece. We had ten whole days of sunny bliss in a beautiful villa, exploring, eating, drinking, laughing, it was so much fun.

A particular memory from the holiday that was actually kinda cute and something I’ll probably remember for a long time was on the first morning we spent there. As well as going with my family, my lovely boyfriend Chris and my brothers gorgeous girlfriend Izzy came along with us.

Chris and I woke up super early on our first day there, a mix between the time difference and our excitement to find a bar on the beach meant we were wide eyed at 5am. So we took our blankets outside on the balcony, and set up camp ready to watch the sunrise.

We had incredible views from our balcony and it was absolutely magical watching the sun come up over the mountains.

I also got excited because the sun was unbelievably hot. (that sounds absolutely perfect right now considering it’s basically a blizzard outside right now)

3. What are you most grateful for in your life?

This is a beautiful but difficult question, there are so many things i’m grateful for but to name a few right at the top it would be my incredible family, supportive friends, and my boyfriend who inspires me every day.

4. How do you find inspiration for your blog posts?

I have to say that most of the time, ideas just come to me. I usually have a bank in my mind of posts i’d like to write.

A lot of the time they’re inspired by what’s going on at the time for example I loved writing pancake day recipes, and i’ve just written a Mothers Day DIY gift guide. If I ever get stuck I like to think about what i’d like to read, or if i’ve seen any blogs from others who inspired me.

One of my best performing posts is inspired by some of my favourite bloggers: Mollie Clarke, Chloe Plumpstead, Beth Sandland and ultimately came from a negative experience I had online. (It’s here if you’d like to check it out!)

Most of all, I write from the heart. I write what I fancy and the rest just follows.

5. Do you prefer to live in the city or countryside?

The city, I like the excitement and I like to be around others. But for a little getaway i’m all about escaping to the country.

6. What is your favourite post you’ve written?

I absolutely loved writing about Instagram recently and had some really lovely feedback about this post: I doubled my Instagram followers in one month! Here’s how…

It’s my favourite platform and i’m so passionate about it, so I really enjoyed writing out my top tips and thought it might be a help to others.

7. Name 3 places you would love to travel to.

1. The Philippines
2. Iceland
3. The Maldives

8. A blog post that you are most proud of.

My first ever blog post was about my weight loss journey, and it took me so long to publish, but its what got me started!

9. Where did you go on your first trip and how old were you?

I was lucky enough to go away with my family a lot when I was young, so I remember some cracking holidays to France. The first trip I properly did alone when I was 18 was a girls holiday to Aiya Napa, yes that’s right Aiya Napa.

And I will never forget it.

10. What is the most adventurous thing you’ve done?

I went to live in Madrid for six weeks over the summer when I was at uni. I lived with a lovely family as an au pair for their three boys.

I had an incredible time and I miss them every day.

Sunshine Blogger Award Nominations

During the time I’ve been blogging, I have connected with so many incredible bloggers, so I feel like I could nominate about 100 here.

Here are a few who inspire me daily, support me constantly, and are all around fabulous bloggers.

1. Abi Richards: Abi is an absolutely stunning lifestyle blogger who I discovered through Instagram. You can find her profile here. I’m obsessed with her fashion sense, and I recently read one of her posts that resonated so much with me, it actually brought me to tears.
2. Luke Heywood: Luke is one of the most supportive, lovely bloggers you will come across. His content is absolutely fabulous, so check him out here.
3. Mollie Clarke: My social media/ blogging guru. I have Mollie to thank for helping me find my passion in social media, and inspiring me to start my blog. Her knowledge and understand is incredible, and her content is absolutely gorgeous. Go and check out her blog, it’s so fab!
4. Cozy Stylist: Lynsey is a new blogger from Pennsylvania who i’ve connected with recently, and she is also an incredibly supportive blogger. She’s so real, her words, her fashion, everything.
5. Milli Berman: Milli is another lifestyle blogger living in Cambridge like me, she recently upgraded her blog and it’s looking fantastic, take a look here. I can’t wait to see more of her lovely posts.

There are so many bloggers I could nominate for this award, and it amazes me every day how many talented people there are out there, but these are some true gems. Make sure you go and check out their pages to find out just how wonderful they are.

Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog.
Answer the questions written by the blogger who nominated you.
Nominate other bloggers and give them questions to answer.
Notify your nominees via a comment on their blog or social media.
List the “rules” and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your blog post.

Questions for Nominees

1. What’s your favourite thing about blogging?
2. If you could eat absolutely anything right now, what would it be?
3. Which social platform do you enjoy the most?
4. What’s one thing you’ve achieved in 2018 that you’re proud of?
5. How do you like your eggs in the morning?
6. Who’s the person that inspires you the most?
7. If you could recommend I try one food, what would it be?
8. What’s your favourite way to switch off?
9. What are your top tips for managing your time well as bloggers?
10. Do you have a favourite photo you’ve taken? Post it!

So 1500 words later, I hope you’ve learnt a little bit more about me, my blog, and the people who inspire me the most.

I cannot wait to read your answers! Thank you again to the lovely Ravv from An Earthly Mamma for nominating me, it’s been an absolute joy to get to know more about you and to write this post.

Want to know anything else about me? Just ask!

Esther xo