It’s been quite a winning day for my blog, East of Málaga, today.
First of all, I received the Bronze Award in the Expat Blog Competition for Spain – and I want to say a GREAT BIG THANK YOU to everyone who voted for me. I am truly humbled by your many kind comments and words of support.
There were 55 expat blogs taking part from Spain, so to come third at the first time of entering is quite an achievement. East of Málaga received a staggering 77 votes which would have been enough in any other country category to have won a Gold Award.
Considering I was pitted against blogs by professional journalists and book authors, I am extremely proud to have won the Expat Blog Bronze Award for Spain 2012.
My second piece of good news for today is that Josh at Spain for Pleasure became the 1,000th follower of this blog.
1,000 followers – WOW!
Josh lives in the beautiful city of Granada in Spain (pictured above), is a Teacher of English as a Foreign Language and has only been blogging for six weeks. I’d love you to pop over and say hello to Josh and give him some tips on How to Survive a Spanish Winter! Poor thing – he’s freezing!
Do you remember this beautiful Eagle Owl I photographed at a Medieval Market in Torrox village earlier this year? There are several ways of saying “owl” in Spanish – el búho, la lechuza or el mochuelo, to name but three – but however you say it, they are pretty spectacular, aren’t they?
As a way of saying THANK YOU to all my blogging friends, followers and supporters I’d like to give you all an early Christmas gift that will last you throughout 2013.
I found this gorgeous Owl Lovers Calendar for 2013 at The Owl Barn. The calendar is completely customizable; you can select the images for all the months you want to print and create your own free calendar or you can simply download the pre-made version. Just click on the owl calendar above or in the sidebar and all the instructions for how to download your Owl Lovers Calendar are there.
THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR CONTINUING SUPPORT AND ENJOY YOUR CALENDAR!
East of Málaga 
Congratulations, good way to end the year. Happy New Year.
Happy New Year, Valentina.
Well done you !!!!!!!!!!! You deserve it so much.
Thanks Jo 🙂
**bows deeply**
Congratulations Marianne! When I checked a while back you were first! But then all of a sudden some other blogs suddenly pushed ahead of you out of the blue. I’m sure they must be good blogs, but I’ve never read them. Well it’s hard to win in Spain (just too many darn expats with blogs here I guess haha!), in some countries all you needed was one vote to win. Says something about the quality of life here though, that so many foreigners choose to come here to live.
Thanks Serena – I guess that’s how it works sometimes if people have hundreds of FB friends who all vote for you in the last 48 hours. I am delighted to have come third and to have gained so many votes over the past three months from genuine readers of this blog. My readers are ACE!
Congratulations! It’s a well-deserved award – I always love reading your blog.
Thanks Jessica – I appreciate that, very much.
Congratulations to you, Marianne, not only for the award, but for hitting 1000 followers. Wow! A friend of mine just returned from an Atlantic crossing and mentioned that one of the stops had been a little place called Malaga. Of course I thought of you immediately!
Thanks, Sally.
OH I wish I had known – I could have shown your friend around!
Congratulations!!! I am celebrating….
Thanks so much!
congrats!! very well deserved!
Thanks, Toby and for your continuing support for my blog. I couldn’t do it without you!
Congratulations!
Thank you!
Good on you and on those who recognized you and your blog by presenting you with this award. Long may you blog. 🙂
Very kind of you to say so, Timethief – much appreciated!
Terrific! Yours is a lovely blog and here I am reading this when I should be busy fixing mine. I seem to have an endless to do list today, so I will get there and your kind response was much appreciated. Who got 1st and 2nd, by the way? They must be phenomenal!
The calendar looks fun- the hell with the to do list, I’ll do that now, and go meet Josh. We know about keeping warm over here!
LOL – it wasn’t hard to tempt you out of your to-do list, jO!
I’m a sucker for temptation! Google Chrome seems to work fine so if I ever catch up I’ll be posting again. Thanks again for your help.
You’re welcome, Jo.
A well deserved award and huge congrats on youyr 1000th follower!
Thanks Tanya – I very much appreciate your comments and support for my blog.
Congrats, Marianne – very well deserved 🙂 I meant what I wrote when I voted for you 🙂
You are such a sweetie, Richard. Thank you!
Well done, Marianne and a big congratulations to you!! 😀
Thanks Dianne and for your continued support of my blog. I always appreciate your lovely comments.
you have been awarded:http://carolloethen.wordpress.com/2012/12/09/my-first-blogger-awards/
Thank you so much Carol. It really IS my lucky week, this week!
And you should be proud Marianne 🙂 Felicitaciones” Este buho si es espectacular :).
Thanks Paula and I’m delighted you like the owl! 🙂
Congrads! on the award!! and thanks so much for sharing the free owl calendar. 🙂
Thanks Carol – and you are most welcome!
Congratulations on your award and I’m looking forward to next year too!
LOL – you’re a devil for punishment, Meg!
Thanks so much 🙂
How wonderful! Congratulations Marianne, you can be so proud of this achievement, 🙂
Yes, I’m very proud and thankful. 🙂
Well done Marianne! That’s VERY well-deserved 🙂
Too kind, Tamara – thanks!
gold next year then
HA – maybe …. who knows!
wooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! drum roll and fanfare – and accordion music playing – bring on the traditional dancers!!!!!! congratulations indeed to you!!!!!!!! well deserved indeed!!!!!!!
dances a little jig……………….. and salutes you across the border xxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks Alyson – hey, it’s Portugal’s turn to be judged today, isn’t it? Keeping my fingers crossed for a good result for your wonderful Portugese blog.
((Hugs)) Marianne xx
yes Portugal today – I am happily in the shadow of the lovely Julie Dawn Fox!
Well, you know how much I love (and follow) both of you, don’t you?
Good luck!
Well done Marianne, that’s brilliant!
Thanks you so much.
Congratulations, Marianne! This is as wonderful as it is well deserved. 🙂
Thanks John – I very much appreciate your very kind comments.
As I was saying to another commenter, the community side of blogging was something that I never knew even existed. It’s wonderful to get to know people from around the world and be able to chip in with comments along the way.
Congratulations my friend!!!!!!! 😀 😀 😀
And thank you for the calendar! I love owls!!!!!!
You’re welcome Ioanna, and thank YOU.
Congratulations!! You write beautifully and your pics are unbelievable.
AAwwww thank you. Very kind of you to say so.
Yay, Marianne! *drum roll and trumpet fanfare* Congratulations on the award which you well deserve. I’ll pop over to visit Josh tomorrow. Granada is one of my very favourite cities and the Alhambra is simply magic, isn’t it? Especially with a camera!
* Bows *
Thank you so much!
I did consider giving a long-winded acceptance speech (as per the Oscar ceremonies) along with thanking anyone and everyone I’ve ever known – OOHHHH and the tears!! We can’t forget about the tears!
But on balance, I just thought I would say THANKS and share an Owl Lovers calendar – it just seemed much more down-to-earth and ME, quite frankly!! LOL
Congratulations on a fantastic result. I had a quick peek at the owl calender – the artists who contributed are very talented – thank you 🙂
Thanks EllaDee – yes there are owls to suit everyone, I’m sure!
Congratulations to you, Marianne. Fantastic news! Love the owl calendar, and well done on your 1,000 followers. Awesome.
Couldn’t have done it without you guys, Sylvia.
The community of bloggers was one aspect of blogging that came as a total surprise to me. I had no idea of the friendships that would ensue. All I intended was to be able to keep friends and family back in the UK in touch with what our little piece of paradise was all about. Of course, I’ve been able to do that, but along the way, I now find myself with friends all over the world!
AMAZING! How cool is that?
ACES! ACES! ACES! Glad that our votes counted. You truly deserve the GREAT recognition providing us information and great photography of your area. Thanks back to you. I can travel East of Malaga and relive my days in Spain through your blog. And what a generous gesture of you giving out calendars. So cool!
I couldn’t have done it without all of my blogging friends who took the time and trouble to vote.
So glad you can re-live your Spanish travels through my blog, Rommel and I hope that the Owl Lovers Calendar brings you much luck and joy in 2013.
Well done! Glad I could help you achieve such a feat. And cheers for linking me in 🙂
You’re a star, Josh!
Hope you’ve found a way of keeping warm 🙂
Congratulations! I really enjoy your blog, and I’m happy for your success!
Very of kind of you to say so, thanks.
Great Marianne. Congratulations for the medal !
Thanks Max!
Congratulations! Love your blog! That owl pic is incredible! Makes me want to hug him!
He was so big and sooooo beautiful. Not sure if he would have appreciated a hug, though!
Thanks for offering your congratulations, Angelina and for taking the trouble to express your comment. Much appreciated.
Yea! Congratulations. And that owl IS incredible.
Very kind, thanks Jennifer.
Congratulations Marianne. Well deserved.
Thanks Tom. I very much appreciate you saying so.