Hard to believe but I was gifted again with a double nomination for the Dragon’s Loyalty Award and the Premio Dardos Award and also for the wonderful Starlight Blogger Award. Wow, how can one single person bear so much love and honor!

Our English permanent sparkling blogger star, Ritu, gifted me with the Starlight Blogger Award. Ritu has become a close friend by heart. Every day she has something to share with us: thought-provoking insights, beautiful quotes, daily observations, her own life, but most of all her bright shining and always uplifting spirit. Love ya, Sista!

This Award is created to highlight and promote Inspiring Bloggers.

The rules go like:

1. Thank the giver and link their blog to your post.
2. Answer the 3 questions given to you.
3. Please pass the award on to 6 or more other bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated by you.
4. Include the logo of the award in a post or on your blog please never alter the logo and never change the rules.

These are Ritu’s questions:

1. Do you believe in the Afterlife? I can answer that briefly: I do and I don’t. Or I can take the longer version: I believe that there is no life before or after. There is only life. What we experience now in this body is one of the experiences we make in life. Life is nothing that becomes or withers. Life is persistent energy. But it can change form and the form can perish. When we are in a human body we perceive life from that human experience and think that what we experience now is the center of being. Therefore we call it the Afterlife. But what we have now is just another way our soul wants to experience itself.
2. Which ‘star’ is your inspiration? I have no idea what name that star has. But it is the brightest shining star on the night sky and I always stand in awe about its size and brilliance.
   But of course there are those other stars with even more brilliance around me every day. They smile at me out of their cars, out of books, out of the faces of my children, out of my community, and simply out of every being I encounter. I am inspired every day and all day long by all the stars which are not shining up in the sky at night but down here on earth in order to show us anther aspect of life and ourselves. There is no particular star I could mention because in the end it could have been the shortest encounter which lead to my greatest insight.
3. Which song would you use as the soundtrack to your life? I love your questions, Ritu, but this one is really tough! What about that one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu3rsha1ZtI

For my nominees I considered some of my latest followers in order to share their starlight:

Scribbles and Rambles

Skipah’s Realm

Random Acts Of Writing

K’Cadences: Music, Inspirations & Cool Cats

Music That Lives Forever

My three questions for you guys:

1. What book gave you the greatest insights and what insights were it?
2. If you could live somewhere else, where would it be and why? If you are happy where you are then what was your second favorite place t live and why?
3. Tell me 3 (or more) things you are grateful for.

Thank once again for the nomination to this wonderful award, Ritu!

Now to my double nomination:

Our lovely Himali of Decoding Happiness nominated me for two awards at the same time. Didn’t that just happen yesterday??? How blessed can one be. Thank you so much, Himali. If you did not visit her blog yet then please do. Her open smile captures you right away. Another sunshine on the blog sphere. I am happy we are connected, Himali!

Premio Dardos Award #7

The Premio Dardos Award exists to acknowledge the values that every blogger shows in their effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values every day. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

The rules are:

1. Thank the giver and link their blog to your post.
2. Pass the award on to other bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated.

For my nominees I picked some of my cook blogs:

Linda Creation

Madraasi – A Tamilian Tales

Swapna’s Kitchen

Gluten Free. Lekker Food! Lekker Life!

Dragon’s Loyalty Award

The rules:

1. Thank the giver and link their blog to your post.
2. Pass the award on to other bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated.
3. Give 7 facts about yourself.

Oh well… another 7 facts! I hope it’s still entertaining:

1.  I love the American Indian spirit and feel very connected to that culture. Although I don’t know a lot about it I feel like magically connected by anything about it and get a feeling of comfort (a coming home) whenever I get in touch with this Indian energy. I am sure that I experienced at least one wonderful incarnation as an Indian. Perhaps that is why I feel deeply connected with nature and its forces, and why I work with natural ingredients and energy for healing.
2. I am living in a country with only 37’000 inhabitants and a size of only 162 km2. When you take the motorway it takes only 20 minutes to drive from one end to the other. But we do have valleys and mountains and we even have a well-known ski region.
3. Until I was almost 39 I was afraid of flying. Not afraid, I was panicking. I solved that fear. But when I married, my mother in-law had a wonderful surprise for us: A helicopter ride from the church to the party place… I did not know if I shall break out in hysterical laughter or simply have a break down. Guess what, my stubbornness  made me get on board and I survived. I have to say that this was my first helicopter ride as well… This is me after getting off. The blue guy behind me is my brother in-law.
4. It happened twice that I had a serious sore throat before a performance. One time I improvised with a more spoken singing at my solo parts and the second time I simply took the bass part.
5. I have developed a tradition when I arrive at the LAX (Los Angeles International Airport): When I leave the building I stop for a moment, close my eyes, take a deep breath, and say to myself “I’m home”.
6. Give me a brush or a hammer but please stay away with needles of all kinds and wool.
7. I love the moments when the sun sets wherever I am. Those moments always trigger something within me that I cannot explain. It is as the more the sun sets the more my heart opens up.

Onto my nominees:

 A Momma’s View

Quotations, Idioms & Proverbs

From The Soul To The Nib Of The Pen

Rebirth of Lisa

Van By The River

Thank you so much, Himali! Big hugs to you, my dear friend!

In Love and Light!