My Liebster Award!

The Liebster award originally started in Germany to award small blogs (under 200 readers) some acknowledgement for all of their hard work and interesting content. As a recipient, you were supposed to tell a few things about yourself, nominate 5 other small blogs, and ask them 5 questions (you are also supposed to answer the 5 questions that your nominator posed to you). Somewhere along the way it developed into 11 questions and nominations…which is where I’ve run into some trouble. The problem is, I don’t have a lot of smaller blogs in my network, and all of the blogs that I read that come to mind are much larger than the requirements. So, I’ve been scouring the internet for small blogs that catch my eye. Here is the information requirements I was able to complete though:

Here are 11 random facts about me:

1. I didn’t exercise once until my final year of college. That kick in the pants led to running two half-marathons (so far!) and losing over 40 pounds!

2. I’d love to do a triathlon…except I can’t swim very well! I’m pretty sure I need adult swimming lessons. Do they have those?

3. I tried to have an herb garden last summer…it died when the weather reached over 100 degrees in Arkansas.

4. I use to spend every summer in Denver with family and friends after we moved away from there. I still wish I could go back more often.

5. I hate bacon. Don’t even get me started.

6. My favorite food is an artichoke. Yup, a vegetable is my favorite food.

7. I beg my boyfriend for fro-yo almost every night. Luckily for my waist-line, he doesn’t give in that often.

8. I dream about having a little cookie bakery.

9. I eat oatmeal every day. Every single day. Sometimes twice a day. In fact, I’m eating oatmeal while typing this right now.

10. My favorite movie of all time is Forrest Gump. I have a personal love for this movie because my life-long friend and I used to watch it every summer together. I still watch it every time it comes on TV and I still bawl like a baby in every scene. Love it.

11. Coffee and coconut are two flavors I can’t live without.

Here are the 11 questions from Frugal Foodie Mama:

1.  If you could compete in any cooking/baking competition on television, which one would it be and why? Oh I’d totally love to be on Chopped! I may be a baker online, but I’m quite the wiz kid in the kitchen around mealtimes! I’d love to just grab random ingredients, throw them in a pan, and viola: super fancy weird meal. Now where’s that $10,000?
2.  Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?  Coffee! I love coffee in any form, iced or hot. I’m a lover of tea and a connoisseur of hot chocolate in the wintertime, but coffee is always my number one!
3.  If you could learn any new skill instantly by osmosis, what would it be? I would learn how to dive. I’m a terrible swimmer even though I love the water, and I always wished I could gracefully dive into the pool.
4.  What is your favorite holiday? I’m a Christmas girl. I still get all giddy when Christmas rolls around, go all-out with Christmas cookies and baking gifts, and pretend like I believe in Santa so I can get the most presents.
5.  What do you think is the most eco-friendly thing that you do on a daily or weekly basis? Well, my fiancé and I share a car. And every day I turn the air conditioner up to 80 as I leave for work.
6.  What two things are ALWAYS in your pantry? Well, aside from baking staples (flour, Splenda, random sugars, baking soda/powder), I always have a stock of popcorn kernels (I’ve always made popcorn on the stovetop or in an air-popper, never with the microwave packets) and Saigon cinnamon (my favorite spice). Oh! And coffee beans (can I say 3 things??). I will run out in the middle of the night to buy coffee beans if they’re getting low, just to prevent a morning melt-down.
7.  If you could have just one super power for 24 hours, what would it be? I’d love to fly. I use to have the most vivid flying dreams and I wish I could feel that for real just once.
8.  Who is your favorite author? Well, I love to read. Lately, I’ve felt like reading should add no more stress to my life, so only bright and easy books will do. So, at the moment, I love Emily Giffin. I haven’t been able to read her new book yet, but I own all of her previous books and I love them.
9.  What is the weirdest thing you have ever ate? The weirdest thing I ever ate was that snail in France.
10.  What is the first thing you would buy if you won the lottery? I’m gonna have to pull the “house and car” answer. I’m very frugal and honestly would put money into savings first, but then a house and car (remember, we share one!) would provide some comfort and stability.
11.  Why do you blog? I blog because it’s everything I truly love. Baking has always been my first passion and my only sanity, and being able to write about it just pulls it all together. I didn’t realize my passion for writing until I got into blogging, and being able to share a little wit or some soul with even a few readers keeps me going.

And here’s my lesson learned by receiving this award…I need to get in on more blog link-up parties! Because…I didn’t have anybody to nominate. Please, don’t get upset with me or think I’m being stuck-up in any way by not nominating anybody (yet!) but I honestly have very few blogs on my reading list and I happened to have the smallest one (some blogs don’t tell you how many readers they have, so I have no clue about numbers on some that I read)! I would have loved to have nominated Carrie, because I love her blog, but you aren’t allowed to nominate the person who nominated you, so all I can say is “Thank you Carrie, I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know!”

If you know any blogs that you think may peak my interest, please let me know by leaving me a comment or by emailing me! I can’t wait to start reading some new blogs!

One last thing! My birthday is Saturday (Aug 11th) and I’ll be spending it with this guy: 

We’ll be hunting for a place to say “I do,” having dinner at our favorite restaurant (and the spot where we had our first date), and I can hardly wait. I’m so lucky!