Liebster Blog Award

Yesterday I woke up to the tweet, "I've nominated you for a Liebster award!"  Needless to say, I was intrigued and rather excited; "An award?!  For me?!?!"  Then my thoughts led me to, "Is liebster like liebling?  Surely I can't be her sweetheart/dearest."  

Turns out, in a sense, that I can.  While there is no actual award (unless you want to count that picture up there) and no one really knows how it started (the closest I could get was a girl who said she found the earliest mention from a German blogger), the purpose seems to merely be showing love.  Promoting blogs who have fewer than 200 followers (Hello! My 2 followers!) and in essence, nodding towards them some recognition for their work and effort.  Which is basically saying, "I LOVE this blog (who also happens to have few followers)!"  The sentiment is lovely and it helps to get to know your fellow bloggers, since there are questions to be asked/answered. 

I have been given ten questions by the very lovely Gillian.  I answer these, then supply my own 10 questions for the 5 - 11 bloggers that I choose.  Fairly simple, ok, let's get started!

My Questions from Gillian:

01.  What is your favourite animal and why?

My favourite would have to be the cat, domestic then big.  But I also really like crows, bats, alligators, hippo's, as well as raccooons, squirrels and chipmunks.  They all sort of tie for a close second to the cat.

02.  What inspires you to blog?

Ultimately, my life inspires me.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with this blog; interesting news, fun and quirky, social matters, my art, and I've ended up writing a lot about my self.  If it's about me or means something to me, I blog about it.  I just ended up keeping with the initial hodge-podgery that I had going on, and incorporated myself into.  Growing through blogging, perhaps?

03.  Who inspires you and why (whether it be artists, famous people, or family/friends etc)?  

• My sister inspires me with her pure energy.  When she is on, she is right on.  She makes the most of her day and her time and reminds me that life is fleeting and to seize the day.  She is also a inspiration for her whimsy, her unbridled childhood joy that shines through and for her outstretching consciousness into the realm of the transcendental.    

• My friend Courtney inspires me because she persevered through her fears and doubts to do what she wanted to do, which was travel.  Whether it be for stateside concerts or foreign travel, she'll go it alone, explore the city, use the metro, eat vendor food.  She sees what she wants and she goes straight for it.  It's a quality, especially concerning travel, that I admire.

• My friend Gillian inspires me in my art.  Though we have very different themes, I am quite keen on her technique and subjects.  Every time she uploads new art, it makes me want to do more of my own.  She is also an inspiration for a reason similar to that of Courtney; her follow though in the face of fear.  She wanted to move to the north of her country.  She wanted to be more in nature.  It might not have worked out exactly like she'd planned it, but she had in mind something she wanted, she went out and conquered that goal and now that chapter is over and she's moving forward.  

• My friend Maria inspires me because of her sociable nature.  She can make herself at home in any social situation I've seen her in, chatting up random people, making networks.  I'm also inspired by her unabashed geekery.  The two combined has led her get to know the person behind the actor for several celebrities that she geeks out over.  It might be hit and miss, but she engages when she wants with whom ever and with whatever comes to mind and it has not left her disappointed. 

• My father inspires me with his ability to build something out of nothing.  My favourite example is when he decided to turn our outside deck into a sunroom for my mother.  He had no ground surface to work with but for a single metal beam and two sides of our house.  Did I mention that this was in the middle of the air?  It was being built over the basement patio.  This was a second story room he was proposing.  He built out from the west and north walls of our house to that metal beam stuck in the below ground level cement at the south east corner.  He'd never built a building before.  He simply said, "It can be done.", used it's Sears Fix It book series from the 1970's and built a room in the middle of the air.  Where one would see an impossible situation and throw up there hands, abandoning the idea or passing it off to someone who knows better, my father knows it can be done, acquires the knowledge and accomplishes the task that "couldn't" be done.  

04.  Are you an early bird or a night owl?

A night owl.  Though my favourite time of day is when dawn starts to break.  I call it blue dawn.  When the first shades of blue pierce the darkness of night.  When everything is dewy and calm.  When the world sighs a quiet sigh that morning has indeed broken again.  

05.  What is your favourite tree or flower (or both)?  

My favourite tree is the Yew tree and my favourite flower is the Poppy.

06.  Do you like cooking and/or baking?  If so, what is your specialty dish?

I prefer baking to cooking.  Sadly, I don't really have a specialty.

07.  Do you have any tattoos, plan to get any or not for you?

I don't have any tattoos, but would like some.  I just can't figure out exactly how I want what I want.

08.  Which is your favourite season?

Autumn.  But since we don't really get that here, for our climate my favourite is Winter.

09.  What is your perfect lazy "Sunday" type of day?

Sitting outside in a courtyard (that I do not have) in my pyjama's on a nice 70 degree day, the wind slightly blowing.  I would enjoy my morning coffee and some buttered toast with jam, messing about on the computer.  This could be spring, but I'd prefer it to be autumn.  Then I'd probably lounge around watching movies or documentaries.  Perhaps dance around to some records.  Maybe put on a facial mask at some point.  I'd probably have pancakes for lunch, and chicken poppyseed casserole for dinner.  I'd play with the cats.  I'd soak in the ginormous tub (that I don't have) with some German essential oiled colour bath.  Get in my big (which I don't have) comfy bed with the super luxurious sheets (which I also don't have) and read a book before falling asleep at night.  

10.  Favourite quotes or mottos?

• "Make-up can only make you look pretty on the outside but it doesn't help if you're ugly on the inside.  Unless you eat the make-up."  - Audrey Hepburn

• "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." - Mark Twain

• "You can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all the people all the time." - Bob Marley; Get Up, Stand Up

• "The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing." - Issac Asimov

• "To thine own self be true."  - William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Here are the guidelines.  Once you are nominated, you answer my set of 10 questions, link back to me in some way and then nominate 5 - 11 bloggers to pass this award on and supply them with 10 questions of your own.

Now, I don't have many people blogging.  So, I won't be nominating very many people (but I enjoy reading/watching all who I have nominated.  Also there are to be no tag backs (re-nominating the person that nominated you), but my world is small, so I'm going to (also that will be her tag back as well).  Really, you can do what ever you want.  It's all about having fun, so have fun.



Gillian - http://siltandbone.co.uk/
She is who nominated me.  Her art/photography ist wunderbar and her craft projects are fun!

Daena - http://brightlycoloredperson.wordpress.com/
She hasn't updated in almost a year, but might have a return.  Her's is a cruelty-free make-up blog, that I highly enjoyed reading, she is also an artist.

Rebecca - http://beehivehome.blogspot.com/
Her blog is about her art, her life, the metaphysical, the abstract, the real.

Rachel - http://www.wattpad.com/user/snowy_forest
Wattpad isn't a blog, but it is a place for personal writings and her idea's are original and well worth reading.

Byron - http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyGDlkxqhIa-IsaAibjDdug
It may be video blogging, but it's still a blog.  While he may have just started, I nominate him because besides being a blog it shows courage to come out from behind the writing and show your self; tell your stories.


Your questions, Liebster Blog Award Nominee Team, should you choose to accept them...


01.  What is the most beautiful (or your favourite) work of art by a famous/known artist that you ever remember seeing?

02.  If you were to choose a known song/melody that expresses how you feel/see your self, what would it be?

03.  If you could meet any one person, no longer living, and one who is still living, which two people would you choose and why?

04.  Which historical time period are you most fascinated with and why?

05.  Everyone collects something; what is your favourite thing to collect?

06.  From your personal works of creativity, which holds a soft spot in your heart?

07.  To where is the farthest country you have traveled?

08.  What is your favourite colour combination?

09.  Who was your earliest (childhood) celebrity crush?

10.  Of all your past Halloween costumes, which to dress up as was your favourite?