I Was Nominated for a Liebster Award!

A couple of weeks ago, I received a comment from the lovely Alix over at Kreativ77. (Go check out the stuff she and Chelsea manage to come up with over there. It's pretty darned good.) She was nice enough to nominate me for a Liebster Award. I was actually initiallly nominated for this award a couple of years back, but things have severely changed over here at EPJ since then, so I jumped on the chance to accept her nomination. I had to delay posting it for a bit since I was wrapped up in my A to Z challenge, but now the time has come.


The Liebster Award is an award for bloggers, given by bloggers. It's designed to recognize us growing blogs. Bloggers who receive the award in turn nominate other bloggers who have fewer than 200-500 followers (depending on who your nomination came from...there are different versions out there). It's a way to get to know one another, connect, and grow the blogging community. And since I had so much fun meeting new bloggers and gaining new followers during the A to Z Challenge, this was just the perfect time for me. So...thanks Alix!!

Alix has passed on to me the assignment to reveal five random facts about myself and has given me a list of 10 questions that she wants me to answer in her quest to get to know me better. I'll do my best. Ready? Probably more than you'll ever want to know about me in 3...2...1...


Five Random Facts About Me

1. I hate wearing socks and shoes. I will go barefoot every chance I get. After that, my first choice is always flip flops.

2. I am allergic to the dumbest things on the planet. Neosporin, latex, and dryer sheets. Ridiculous.

3. I am not a morning person. I'm typically grumpy until about 10 a.m. Just because.

4. I can't tan. I wound up with Irish skin, so I burn if I even look sideways at the sun. Mayonaise - burnt - peeling. That is my tanning cycle.

5. My short-term memory is a disaster. I constantly forget what I'm doing when I move from one room to the next. This is why I love lists so much. I am very forgetful.


And now Alix's 10 questions...

1. What is a skill that you've always wanted to learn?

Wow. Way to pose the perfect question right out of the gate, Alix. Being a girl with serious project A.D.D., there is always something new I want to tackle.

I'd say the thing I've contemplated for the longest time... Sidebar...I've been listening to the Billy Joel channel over at Sirius XM far too much lately. I literally just hummed For the Longest Time. Yes...I'm a nerd. You're welcome.

Back to the question, the thing I've thought about learning the most is how to play violin. For some reason, I've always wanted to do it, but never have. Growing up, we lived next door to a wonderful violin teacher. Next door. Why I never talked to my parents and managed to walk next door to learn, I'll never know. But it's always been something that I've considered. Apparently, instead I decided to learn to play flute instead (even though I still really wanted to play violin). I don't even understand that myself. I'm weird.


2. Describe your dream vacation.

Okay. I'm going to nerd out again. Yes, I would like to visit Australia. Yes, I would love to see Ireland. But what I'd really like to do is travel cross-country with Collin visiting every state and seeing every National Park. I told you. I'm a dork.


3. What is one thing that you are really good at?

I consider myself more of a "jack of all trades, master of none". I don't think there's really one thing that I totally stand out in. I've been pretty decent at a lot of things over the years, but I don't know about really good. Hmm...let me think...

It's going to sound a little ridiculous, but I think that I'm just good at being a learner. Does that work? I like to learn new things and I tend to learn fairly quickly. That was the only thing that kept coming back to me. I've tried a lot of new skills over the years and though I may have not mastered the particular skills, I did learn something at each one. I'm not sure I know how to explain that any better. Maybe like Darian says his teacher told his ALP (Advanced Learning Program) class about themselves, "I'm not smarter, I just learn faster." (We laugh about that one all the time.)

Oh...but I should clarify one thing...I don't have a lot of common sense. :) Street smarts could never be my thing. I'm just book smart. We keep coming back to that nerd thing...


4. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

I'm going to be crazy honest here. My "real life" is kind of a mess at the moment. I've been struggling for the last couple of years with running my business because of various challenges. There have been a couple of times where I have very seriously considered throwing in the towel. But...I don't know how realistic that is. Here's where I can semi-optimistically hope that I will be in 5 years...

I'd love to still be blogging. In fact, that's what I'd like the most. I'd like the blog to be growing and to have a successful Etsy shop. I've also been working on a few novel starts and I'd like to have at least one of them finished. With regards to my practice, I'd like to have it built up enough to either hire an associate and truly work part-time or to just sell it and get out of dentistry altogether. I'm torn on that. My choice between the two changes on a near daily basis.

From a personal standpoint, it would be really lovely if we were more financially stable and we were able to expand our family. Being two small business owners is very challenging and our lives can be fairly unpredictable. I'd like to remove some of that unpredictability.


5. If you were a celeb, who would you be?

Haha. I like this one. Let's see...

I'm not really flashy and I don't crave a lot of attention, so I could never be someone who loves the limelight too much or who makes their living by being up in front of big crowds all of the time. That eliminates all music & theatre performers and the Kardashians (thank goodness). I tend to be kind of a hermit and I like to be comfortable. I have very little in terms of bold fashion sense. I'm a plain Jane. So that eliminates anyone in fashion pretty easily.

I've ruled out quite a few: Jennifer Aniston, too famous...I'd be more in the background. Emma Watson, studied to teach yoga and meditation...I'm not that centered. Kate Winslet, vegetarian...definitely not. I LOVE bacon. Emily Blunt...I was pretty close on that one...but...

...after a lot of thought and eliminations, I think I'm going with Rachel Weisz. She's pretty low key and quiet. She seems rather personable, but not terribly outgoing. She has a name that people like to misspell a lot. That works too. Oh...and she's married to Daniel Craig (you know, James Bond?). I think Collin could pull that off.


6. What is your creative inspiration?

I draw inspiration from a lot of places. I see it all around me. I've gathered ideas from things I've seen in magazines, in movies, on TV...but I also gather it from others, both ones I know and ones I don't. I sing the praises of Pinterest around here an awful lot, and that does definitely play a large part in giving me ideas and motivation for projects. I also pretty religiously read a substantial number of blogs written by some amazingly creative people. I've been privileged enough to grow up around some wonderfully creative people and I have some really talented friends. I honestly use bits and pieces from all of those sources.


7. What is your favorite part of your day?

I like the end of the day. I'm a night owl at heart, but the schedule of our lives makes it so that evenings are happiest. I love being at home. I love being around my family. When all of us are here and just relaxing, that's the nicest. We don't even have to all be in the same room, it's just nice to know that we're all here. Most often, at night I hang out in the living room or on my bed reading or writing or surfing the internet. Sometimes the guys join me, sometimes they don't. And I love being able to have my pets around. They make me happy. Right now I have two cats snuggled up against me and all three dogs in the room (one of which is snoring loudly at the foot of the bed). I'm pretty content at the moment.


8. What did you have for breakfast?

Ah, you caught me on a good day. Usually, I don't eat breakfast. But I have an awesome patient who likes to visit us about once a month and bring us something to eat. He makes delicious homemade breakfast burritos. He surprised me this morning. It was yummy.


9. What is something that blogging has taught you about yourself?

Geez. For not really liking talking to people I don't know, I sure can talk a lot. (Don't believe me? Look at the length of this post.) Apparently I have a lot to say, I just don't have a lot of guts. Blogging lets me hide a little bit behind the computer and just be myself. I like that.


10. Would you rather have a chocolaty or a fruity dessert?

Well...that depends. Snack-wise, I will choose fruity every time. Starbursts, Skittles, jelly beans. Yep.

But if I'm out at a restaurant, I will tend to pick something more on the chocolate side most of the time. I have no idea why. I'm just weird that way.


...And there you have it...more than you ever wanted to know.

Now the fun part. I get to nominate my bloggers. Because I just finished the A to Z and 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, I'm going to pick a few of the people I met along the way. You need to check these people out!

1. Leslie at Things My Mother Taught Me

2. Tanya at Flood-Proof Mum

3. Finley Jane at I'm Going to the Library

4. Karsyn at Karsyn's Kickass Jocoserious, Kooky, Jannock Book Blog

5. Page at Never Enough Shelf Space


... And ladies, here's your assignment...

"Official" Liebster Award Rules:

Once a blogger is nominated, and they choose to ACCEPT the award, they should:

1. Thank and link back to the blogger who nominated you.

2. Upload the Liebster award badge to your blog.

3. Post 5 facts about yourself and answer the 5-10 questions from the person who nominated you.

4. Nominate and add a link to 5-10 blogs with fewer than 500 followers.

5. Notify the nominees by email or leave a comment on their blog, including 5-10 questions.