Liebster Award

The lovely Ms. Carolyn at Perspective nominated me for a Liebster Award.  Her blog is beautiful, her creativity knows no bounds, and she takes beautiful pictures.

Wow!  I am honored and humbled.  Thank you.

I've been blogging for 3 years now but have only recently started to network online where I've learned a lot and met many lovely people.  It's nice to be labeled "Up-and-Coming."  ;)

The Liebster Award rules:

Bloggers nominate other up and coming bloggers (with less than 200 followers) for the award.

If you receive the Liebster, you must:

• Tell 11 random things about yourself.
• Answer the 11 questions the nominator has asked you.
• Nominate 11 other bloggers and make sure you notify them

Part 1

1. I really don't do bodily excretions; they make me gag.  I'm not sure how Diva and I made it through those first few years.
2. Even though I've only taken one speech class ever, I get asked to speak at various events all the time.  It could be that my "verbal diarrhea," as Engineer says, comes in handy at times.
3. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
4. My collection of etiquette books span the late 1800s to present day.
5. There is nothing on earth more important to me than Engineer and Diva...not even coffee.
6. It is beyond me why zombies are so popular.  They are dead, want to eat you, and are grody (see number 1.)
7. Words like "grody" are still in my every day vocabulary at age 35.
8. True bliss in my eyes is being barefoot in the kitchen, singing bluegrass music at the top of my lungs, and cooking up a storm.
9. My in-laws (both sets) are wonderful.
10. The cat and I have an on-again-off-again relationship.
11. I don't like being serious.  It's not fun.

Part 2

1. Favorite book?  I don't re-read books and most of the time I forget the details soon after I've read them, but I do remember how I feel about them (that's fruity, I know.)  So with that in mind, I have had a deep emotional response to Where the Red Fern Grows, The Phantom of the Opera, To Kill a Mockingbird, Bel Canto (until the end and then I hated it), This Present Darkness, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Bell Jar, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Les Miserables (love me some Victor Hugo.)  I just realized that those are almost all sad books where someone dies.  What does that say about me?  Yikes!
2. Cats or Dogs?  Dogs definitely, see number 10 above.
3. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?  Getting prepared for Diva's college graduation party.
4. What is your favorite form of social networking?  Blogging.  It's the written form of verbal diarrhea, see number 2.
5. What are you most excited about in 2013?  Getting out of debt
6. Favorite holiday?  Thanksgiving and Christmas are equally wonderful so I'm going to go with the holiday season from October 31st to January 1st.
7. Coffee or Tea?  If you need to ask, you haven't been around here very long, see number 5.
8. What do you do in your spare time?  I'm thinking of spare time as time that is not being productive and in that time Engineer and I watch TV together.
9. Any weird habits?  Probably but they are my habits so I wouldn't consider them weird.  Maybe you should ask someone else that question about me.  ;)
10. What's your favorite smell?  Fresh flowers
11. How many siblings do you have?  1 brother

I'm going to take a few liberties with the whole 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers requirement (sorry.)

These are some blogs that aren't huge but I really like their point of view, photos, and/or information.  In other words, they're on my reading list because they're fabulous.

I hope you check them out if you haven't already.

The lovely Brooke at Custom Style who brings my hats back to their former glory

Ms. EnPlace has amazing recipes and a deep love for her roots

Ms. Elle from Dig Deep Design is someone that I just want to have over for coffee
The Earthling's Handbook makes me think
Ms. Susan at You Go Girl is a fellow Marshallite and always has great recipes

Thanks again Ms. Carolyn!  :)