One Lovely Blog Award

I was nominated by the lovely Rachel @paceamorelibri for this award – Thank you so much! ❤ People, go check out her blog if you haven’t already! She’s great!

The Rules:

• Thank the person that nominated you and leave a link to their blog.
• Post about the award.
• Share seven facts about yourself.
• Nominate at most 15 people.
• Tell your nominees they’ve been nominated for one lovely award.

Facts about me: 

Is it just me, or is it very hard to talk about yourself? XD Well, these are some facts I came up with:

1. I recently adopted two chinchillas! It’s the most important thing that has happpened to me lately and I’m so happy! 🙂 My country, Croatia, recently passed a law that forbids farming animals for fur (finally!) Our animal rights group, Animal Friends Croatia, helped the chinchillas find their new homes. Sadly, only one farmer actually gave his chinchillas for adoption. 😦 I hope others will follow. Anyway, I adopted two girls – Kira (Valkira = Valkyrie in Croatian) and Seffi (Persephone). Here’s a picture of Kira, on the day I adopted her:

2. I LOVE to travel! I wish I had the means to travel even more. I also collect postcards.

3. And yet, I love being home. I’m not a very outgoing person, and I don’t like crowded places. I like spending time with the people closest to me. Or alone. Alone is also fine. I have my chinchillas and my books for company, so I’m never really alone. 😛

4. I’m a pacifist, and yet I’m strangely obsessed with swords. I actually own a replica of a medieval sword, my parents brought it to me from Spain. I just adore it, it’s one of my most prised possessions!

5. Actually, I’m obsessed with all things medieval, from the very early middle ages to the Rennaisance. My MA thesis was on medieval literature and my professor was a bit confused by my choice. XD

6. I also love all things Gothic. This includes not only the literature, but also the subculture and music. I don’t consider myself a goth, I’m a blend of few things actually. XD But I do mostly wear black.

7. I have a poster of John William Waterhouse’s “The Lady of Shalott” in my room. I love the painting and the poem.

And that’s it! I’ll nominate a few people now, but no pressure to actually do it. :*

Sophie @blameitonchocolate

Stuart @alwaystrustinbooks

@thequirkybooknerd

Chelsea @spotlightonstories

Azia @amwillisjournal

 

 

 

Get to Know Me Tag

First of all, I have to thank dear Chris @readbychris for tagging me to do this! It’s always nice to get to know people better, and these posts are fun to do. So, let’s start, shall we?

Name: Irena

Nicknames: I don’t have a nickname… Irena is not that common name so I guess there was no need for one. It really bothered me as a kid, but I’m fine with it now.

Birthday: April 24th

Star Sign: Taurus

Occupation: Currently, trying to pass my teacher’s exam. XD I’m an English and Croatian teacher.

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APPEARANCE:

Hair colour: It’s red now, but naturally I have that weird colour that’s not blonde or brown, but mostly grey. Mousy. XD

Hair length: About 10cm below my collarbones.

Eye colour: Grey-blue. Sometimes even a little bit green. It changes.

Best feature: Ummm… I’ll go with my eyes, I guess…

Braces: Oh, I had them for YEARS!

Piercings: None. I don’t even have my ears pierced. I pierced them when I was a child and there were some complications so now I’m scared of it and everything similar, such as tattoos! The holes are completely closed now.

Tattoos: I’d really like to have one! I think tattoos can be gorgeous. But, as I said earlier, I’m very scared of it. Maybe I’ll be brave enough someday… Now, I’d never get anything this huge, but I think this looks soooo lovely (link):

Right or left: Is this a political question? 😛 Yeah, bad joke, anyway I write with my right hand (if that’s what I’m supposed to answer).

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FIRSTS:

Holiday: I used to go on summer vacation every year with my parents, and I was very small on the first one so I don’t really remember it. XD We are lucky to live in a coastal town, and several beautiful islands are very close so it was easy to travel there and enjoy.

Best Friend: My brother was my first best friend. I was very sucky at making friends (and still am).

Award: Well, we had those “commendations” in primary school. Everyone who had As in all subjects got one at the end of the school year. Does this count? XD

Sport: I’m horrible at sports. Always have been. For a year I went to this kid’s club where we played all kinds of sports but I didn’t really like it so I gave up. In my defence, I’m doing yoga now. XD

Concert: I didn’t really go to concerts as a child. The only concert worth mentioning was the Iron Maiden concert, in 2008. It was so surprising that they came to our town (Split is not a really well-known location, if a band comes to Croatia, they usually hold the concert in the capital, Zagreb). Last summer they came back and it was as great as the first time. 😀

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FAVORITES:

TV shows: Unpopular opinion time: I don’t like to watch a lot of TV shows. Yeah, I’m weird. The thing is, they usually last too long and start to drag, and then I get disappointed… I do watch some, of course. My all-time favourite is Black Sails. Love that one to pieces! Nowadays I like Gotham. I liked Arrow but it’s not that good anymore. The one I really can’t wait to come back is Jessica Jones. 🙂

Colour: Black. I know it’s not really a colour, but I don’t care. 😉

Song: Anything by Emilie Autumn. She’s the best. Then: White Flag by The Romanovs, Pain Looks Good on You by London After Midnight, Sleepwalking by The Crüxshadows, The First by Pink Turns Blue and many others. Oh, and the entire Queen of the Damned soundtrack! So vampire-ish! 😀

Restaurant: I don’t think I have a favourite…

Shop: Any nice bookshop. 😉 I don’t have a favourite clothing shop, I usually hate most of the stuff in the stores. XD

Books: I usually name Frankenstein as my favourite, but really, there are so many great books…

Shoes: I feel the best in a pair of black boots.

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CURRENTLY:

Feeling: Eh… Fine. 😛

Single or Taken: Taken. My boyfriend is my best friend. ❤

Eating: Nothing. I’m thinking about going to the kitchen and having an apple. Actually, I’ll do it. Just wait for a moment, I’ll be back straight away….

Thinking About: Maybe I should’ve cut this apple in smaller pieces.

Watching: Nothing. I’m writing a post. XD

Wearing: Sweatpants and a shirt. Just regular “home” clothes. XD

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FUTURE:

Want Children: Not really…

Want to be married: I want to be with my boyfriend, marriage doesn’t mean much to me.

Careers in mind: I would love to do something in publishing, but that’s almost impossible here. I would also like to study more, get an phD.

Where you want to live: Travel everywhere, live… Well, I don’t know. There are several places, but sometimes I also want to stay here.

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DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

God: No…

Miracles: I believe in happy coincidences.

Love at first sight: No. You can’t love someone based on how that person looks, which is the only thing you know about them at first sight. Someone can draw your attention, and that can later turn into love, but only after you really get to know each other.

Ghosts: No. I will get scared if you tell me ghost stories, though. XD

Aliens: Yes. The universe is sooo big, I think there must be some other living beings out there.

Soul Mates: Depends how you define it… If you call someone you’re really close to your soul mate, that’s fine. I don’t believe in “predestined to find each other” kind of soul mates.

Heaven: No… I wish there was something after death, but I can’t make myself believe in it.

Hell: No.

Kissing on the first date: Well, it does exist, doesn’t it? XD

Yourself: Oh, I really wish I believed in myself more… I’m not a very confident person.

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And in the end, I tag these wonderful people (and everyone else who want to do the tag!)

Ignitedmoth

Ellen@alittlebooklife

Ellie@bloggingfordopamine

Jackie@toomuchofabooknerd

Swetlana@readingthroughthenights

Versatile Blogger Award

Thank you so much Dear Kitty for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award! It really made me happy. 🙂

Befora I start, I just want to say that I’m sorry for being so inactive lately… I really like this blog and the lackk of time for it bothers me, but I’ve been quite busy and now I’ve even gotten sick. Anyway, the blog is still alive, and I will try to find more time for it. 😉 Now let me get back to this lovely award nomination!

The rules for the award are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you
2. Share the award on your blog
3. Share seven random facts about yourself
4. Tag 10 bloggers with less than 1000 followers and let them know they have been nominated

It’s really hard to talk about yourself, isn’t it? XD Anyway, here are some random faccts about me:

1. My favourite season is Autumn. So, yes, it’s my time of the year right now! 😉
2. I really, really, really want a pet. Once I get my own place, I’ll definitely get one. Life without animals is just so boring… 🐶 🐱
3. I’m currently writing two novels.  Sometimes I’m inspired for one, and sometimes for the other, it’s quite crazy… My brain refuses to be organised when it comes to writing, though I’m actually quite organised when it comes to other things.
4. I’m currently working as an apprentice teacher of Croatian language. In Croatia, we have a one year apprenticeship, then an exam, and only after that we become “real” teachers.
5. I’m a Slytherin. – On every quiz ever. I took the Pottermore quiz twice and both times I got the same. I thought I would be a Hufflepuff, honestly. But now I’m kind of proud of being a Slytherin. 😉
6. I have a poster of John William Waterhouse’s “The Lady of Shalott” in my room. I love the painting and the poem.
7. I love to travel, and I collect postcards. Some I bought myself, on my travels, and some I got from my friends or family. 

Well, I hope thore were at least slightly interesting… I’m not sure who accepts awards and who doesn’t so, of course don’t feel like you need to do the post. Anyway, the people I tag are: Nicole,  Misty,  sinisterdarksoul,  Miguel Olmedo Morell,  Miracle,  Julia,  llady literary,  Anita, Katha,  bookwormhay,  WovenEclipse

Some thoughts on writing poetry…

On 17th of May, 2015, I wrote my first post on this blog. Which means it’s now more than a year old! I didn’t write anything in celebration of this, but I though it’s a nice occasion to share some thoughts on something I didn’t think would be a part of this blog – poetry.

A few months ago, I posted my first attempt at writing poetry. It was more of an impulsive fit of inspiration than a real poem. I never thought I would post poetry on this blog, even after that first poem. I alyaws considered myself to be a prose writer, even though I did, occasionally, write poetry – or attempted to write it.

In my teenage years it was a vent for all the emotions that I kept inside, a way to say what I feel and what I’m going through, without actually writing a diary (which I tried several times but always got bored with it.) I liked writing this kind of personal poetry. And now, I really started to enjoy it once again, but maybe in a different way.

Now, when I write poetry, I often find myself writing from an imagined point of view, as if a fictional character is behind the written words. It does, of course, have bits of myself in it as well, and some of my poems express some of my thoughts and observations. But sometimes, it’s in a certain way similar to writing fiction. I feel the emotions of my characters, just as I feel the emotions of my lyrical subjects. Is that the influence of being more focused on writing fiction? I’m not sure. I guess I like imagining characters and their stories far too much. XD

In any case, I don’t know if my poems are any good, but I love writing them and I will definitely write more. Experimentation with all forms and topics was the idea behind this blog anyway, and I’m happy it has taken me this far. 🙂

The Sunshine Blogger Award

So,, I was nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by the lovely Nicole at Sorry, I’m Booked. (See her post HERE.) Thank you, Nicole, I really like your questions, so I’ll start right away!

The Rules:

• Answer the 11 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
• Nominate some wonderful bloggers and write 11 questions for them to answer

Nicole’s Questions

1. If you had to pick one word to describe yourself, what would it be?
Confused. XD 

2. Do you like to travel? If so, what’s next on your list to visit?
Oh, I love to travel! If only I had the time and money to travel more! But I did visit quite a lot of interesting places so I won’t complain. I would definitely like to travel to Iceland. Or Amsterdam. 

3. Which do you prefer, hardback or paperback or digital books?
I prefer paperbacks. It surprises me that most people prefer hardbacks. I think paperback are more practical in every way, and I also think they are prettier.

4. What’s your favorite mythological creature?
Dragons! But, I love almost all of them. 

5. Regardless if it’s real or would be a financially stable job, what’s your dream job?
Writer. 🙂 I would also like to work in publishing.

6. What’s the last book you read that exceeded your expectations?
For most of the books I read recently, I had high expectations. But the one that I wans’t expecting to like was a Croatian book, a collection of short crime stories by Pavao Pavličić, which my students had to read, so I had to read it as well. I don’t really like crime stories, and I didn’t like the first one in the collection. But then, they got better and better, and in the end I really enjoyed the book.

7. Batman or Superman? Or neither?
Between the two, definitely Batman. I never cared much for Superman. But Spider-man is my all time favourite superhero, and I can’t wait to see the new one in Captain America: Civil War. By the way, I really didn’t like Batman v Superman. The only good thing about the film was the Wonder Woman theme. It’s really powerful! Here’s a link if you wish to hear it, and enjoy.

8. What Harry Potter character do you identify the most with?
Sometimes I like to identify with Hermione, other times it’s Luna. XD

9. DO you have a favorite sport you like to play and/or watch?
I’m not really an athletic person and my exercise is minimal. I like to watch football at times. (Soccer I mean, not the football you don’t play with your feet. European here! :P) But I don’t watch sports that often.

10. What’s your favorite color?
Black, though it’s not a colour. And the next in line is grey, also not a colour. I’m so colourless. XD

11. What’s your go-to question that you ask someone that you’re getting to know?
I’m terrible when it comes to meeting new people… I never know what to ask or say. 

My Questions:

1. What is your favourite non-fiction book?
2. Vampires, witches or fairies? Or something else?
3. What are some of your favourite bands or musicians?
4. Sunshine or moonlight?
5. Do you prefer first person or third person narrative?
6. Which is the last book, film or series that made you cry (or really sad). (Because I can’t get over something that happened in Black Sails XD)
7. What superpowers would you like to have?
8. Who are your favourite villains? (From books or tv.)
9. What is your idea of having a good time?
10. Share a quote you like.
11. Give me a book recommendation. 🙂

My Nominees: 

I nominate: Emma, Maremma Gee, Start Your Fiction, Paully, Claudia McGill,Metal and the Geek, Eric Schweitz, The Scrawlyst, dumbnerd

No obligations, of course. 🙂

This or That Book Tag

So, first I’d like to thank Nicole.Ilene at Sorry, I’m Booked for tagging me. Thank you so much for thinking of me! You can read her post HERE. I’d also like to thank Ayunda at Tea and Paperbacks for creating this fun original tag. 🙂

Rules:

• Mention the creator of the tag Ayunda (AYUNDA @ TEA AND PAPERBACKS).
• Thank the blogger who tagged you.
• Choose one of the options, you don’t have to tell the reasons why you chose that, but you can also do them if you want to.
• Tag 10 other people to do this tag to spread the love!

Questions:

Reading on the couch or the bed?

I mostly read on my bed, but the couch works for me, too.

Male main character or female main character?

I have to say that I like both equally. The only thing that’s important to me is that the main character is interesting.

Sweet snacks or salty snacks when reading?

Sweet snacks! I always choose sweet snacks. And a cup of tea.

Trilogies or quartets?

I think that three books are enough. And more than four is just too much, at least for me. Actually, I prefer stand-alones to any kind of series.

Series or stand-alones?

It seems I’ve already answered this, ooops. XD

First or third person point of view?

Both! I really can’t choose… Both  can be done great. I’m leaving quite a lot of these questions unanswered, it seems. So indecisive. XD

Reading at night or in the morning?

Whenever I have the time! 🙂 But I like to read before I go to bed, if I’m not too tired.

Libraries or bookstores?

I like both, but the problem is that I can rarely find the books I want in either of them in my town. So I’ll say bookstores, but somewhere abroad. XD

Books that make you laugh or books that make you cry?

Books that make me cry, though I rarely do that, I just suffer from the inside. XD

Black or white book covers?

I actually prefer black or white covers to any colour. But if I had to choose between the two, I’d say black.

Characters or plot?

This is a really hard question… I think that it has to be a combination of both. However, boring characters can make any plot boring, so maybe characters… I don’t know (once again). XD

So, that was it. I decided not to tag anyone this time, beecause I can never tell who likes to be tagged and who doesn’t. But if you want to do it I’d be happy to hear your answers! 🙂

Spirit Animal Award

Thank you, Dear Kitty. Some Blog for nominating me for the Spirit Animal Award.(HERE is the original post.) I really appreciate it, especially since I love animals. And the logo is so cute. So thank you very, very much! 🙂

Here are the rules:

1.) Thank the blogger who nominated you, and link back to their page.

2.) Post the award picture on your blog.

3.) Write a short paragraph about yourself and what your blog means to you.

4.) If you could be any animal, what would it be?

5.) Pick and notify ten nominees.

About myself and my blog:

It’s always the hardest to write about yourself, isn’t it? XD Well, my name is Irena and I’m currently working as an apprentice Croatian teacher. The job’s been taking quite a lot of my time, and that’s why I don’t write as often as I used to, but even when I don’t have the time to write, I try to find some time to read other bloggers’ posts. There are so many interesting people here, and they make me want to come back, look for more posts and more people to follow. I started this blog because I wanted to share my thoughts on the things that interest me. I also wanted to put some of my short stories “out there”, wherever that may be. I didn’t expect anything much, but for reasons not completely known even to myself, I wanted to try it. I’m really happy I did. 🙂

If I could be any animal…

…I would be… Oh, this is even harder! XD There are so many animals I love, but I have to be smart about this… Maybe a crocodile? They seem chill. XD If it weren’t for the stupid people hunting them for their skin, they’d have quite a nice life. But for some reason, I want to say – wolf. They’re beautiful. And they seem so free. So, in the end, I’ll chose a wolf, even if may not be the smatrest choice. (Why do I make these things so complicated???? :P)

And in the end, nominations… these lovely bloggers: MWtheMermaid, A Little Bird Tweets, Musings of a Whimsical Soul, Candice Louisa Daquin, Elisabet Regina, Lovely Curses, tuckedintoacorner, j matthew waters.

 

Update + Teaching + Epic Awesomness Award

I didn’t have much time for blogging lately, and that’s because I started working. Bravo me! I’m an apprentice teacher in a school. This might sound confusing, but after finishing college, we have to work as apprentices for a year and then take a test to truly become teachers. College is apparently not enough. XD

Anyway, for now I mostly listen to my mentor teach and help her with some small things, but soon I’ll start giving my own lectures, grade tests etc. This would not be the first time I teach, since we had to do it in college, but there will be more of it, and with much more responsibility now. It feels a bit strange, I have to admit, especially since I feel more like a student than a teacher… (Even though my students are 11-15 years old.) The best thing is – I get payed, not much but for me it’s a lot – and that means that I will be able to buy ALL the books! Well, not all, but a lot. 😉

Now, for the real purpose of this post… I’ve been nominated for the Epic Awesomness Award by wonderful Aquileana (see her post HERE). You should all click on the link and visit her blog, especially if you’re interested in mythology! Once again, thank you, Aquileana, so much for the nomination. 🙂

The rules are as follows:

1. You are awesome; tell us why.
2. You are my friend; tell us about other (blogger) friends.
3. Be creative, but it’s ok if you are having trouble with this one.
4. There are no direct questions to answer; let yourself run wild!
5. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
6. Notify your nominees.

And here are my answers:

1. I’m awesome because I won the Epic Awesomess Award, duh! The title says it. 😛 But, honestly now, I don’t often think of myself as being awesome… And then, sometimes, when I manage to do something that really scared me or was very hard, I do feel awesome. I hope I’ll feel that way after my teaching exam… XD

2. In my personal life, I don’t have many friends, but those I have are very important to me. As for the bloggers, I’ve met some great and interesting people here. When I started my blog, I had no expectations, and now I’m so happy I did it. I love writing posts and reading everything that you wonderful, creative people write. 🙂

3. I pride myself in being creative, but when someone tells me to be creative, I go completely blank. XD That’s one of the reasons why prompts rarely work for me. I see it and can’t think of anything interesting about it. I guess I just have to wait for my brain to work in its own pace. Which can be in most inappropriate times sometimes, mostly when I’m trying to fall asleep. I guess we have all experienced that. XD

4. For this one, I’ll just write down some things which I find awesome.

The sound of thunder when I’m safe in bed.
Walking under a large umbrella in the mild rain.
When my tea is just the perfect temperature.
When a book captures me and takes me away from the real world.
Beautiful swords, bows and arrows.
The colour black, and a warm grey.
Soft fabric and cuddly plushies.
Watching a good film with someone you love, somewhere cozy.
Waking up and knowing I don’t have to get up soon.

And bubble wrap! XD

And now for the nominations: Shyla Fairfax-Owen, Izza Ifzaal, Unbolt, Jon Stephens, Old Road Apples, Simon, Paully1965, The Walking Pencil.

You are great bloggers and you are awesome, so I thought the award was fitting. 🙂

 

Dragon’s Loyalty Award

So, I’ve been nominated for the Dragon’s Loyalty award by Simon (you can read his post HERE). Once again, thank you for the nomination! And dear bloggers, do give Simon’s blog a look, he’s really great! 🙂

Anyway, the rules are:

•Display the award on your blog.
•Announce your win with a post and link the blogger who nominated you.
•Present 6 deserving bloggers with the award.
•Link your awardees in the post.
•Write 7 interesting things about you.

I’ve recently posted some facts about me in my Liebster Award post, so now I’ll try to think of different ones.

1. I dye my hair red, which is quite convenient if you look at the award picture. XD
2. I love dragons! (also convenient)
3. My favourite video game is Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. I liked vampires before it was cool. 😛
4. I like everything creepy, even a bit disturbing, and everything cute. So, on my bookshelves you can find creepy books and plush toys one next to the other.
5. I’m really interested in mythology. Greek, Norse, Celtic, everything!
6. I’m fascinated my the Middle Ages for some reason. I really can’t explain why, not even to myself, but I’m just very interested in that time period. XD
7. The last book I’ve read is Honour by Elif Shafak and it was great!

Now, to the nominees! Once again, I’ll nominate some people I have never nominated before, and then felt sorry afterwards…

My nominees are: Aquileana, Svegliati Cara, Porter Girl, Fifty words daily,  The Passionate Shepherd, RedHeadedBookLover.

Don’t feel obligated to do this, but just know that I think you deserve it 🙂

Hoping For Snow

“I really wish it snowed this winter.” That is a sentence I repeat every year. Why? Because it almost never snows in my town, so when it does everyone becomes a child and goes out to play. Everything stops. Yes, it’s hard for people to go to work, the roads get icy and the traffic barely works at all, and people start falling down like apples from a tree, but still, I selfishly hope for snow. And since December is here, and winter is on its way, I wanted to write a post about it. Because, why not?

I live in Split (yes, I know it sounds silly in English), in the coastal part of Croatia. Now, if you google Split, you’ll see something like this:

Sea, sunshine, palm trees (which are not actually native but we have them here since forever and they have become our trademark), and no hope for a snowy day. However, a few years ago we did get a lot of snow (at least for us it was a lot). And for me, it was amazing! Please, don’t think I’m complaining about the sunshine and warmth, but sometimes you just want something you don’t usually have. For me, snow is exciting. And pretty. This is how a park in my neighbourhood looked like (notice the palm trees again):

And the centre of the city:

Palm tree: “What, in the name of the tropical gods, is this?”

So, yes, we are never prepared for snow, but that’s what’s so nice about it. This post is a bit unusual for this blog, I guess, but I really wanted to post something “wintery”. Hope you’ll have a nice winter, even if you don’t like the season at all. In that case, well, after winter always comes spring. 🙂

“Aren’t we cute like this?” 🙂