Liebster Awards

The lovely Molly from The Cottage Diaries has nominated me for a 'Liebster Award'. These 'awards' are designed to spread the love among up and coming bloggers. Thank you Molly!

The rules are as follows:

1. Post 11 things about yourself.

2. Answer all the questions your nominator set for yourself.

3. Come up with 11 questions for the people you want to nominate.

4. Choose a number of blogs (they say 11, but I think I'll break the rules here) you feel deserve the award - must have 200 followers or less.

4. Go to their page and let them know you have nominated them!

So, let's get the ball rolling, shall we?

11 things about myself:

1. I'm currently home alone drinking a glass of Rose. It's been a huge week and I'm starting to feel really sleepy after just one glass of wine.

2. Ben and I recently bought a chilli plant and we are excited to announce we have three chillies growing! Very exciting times for two novice gardeners.

3. I get really annoyed when I see bundles of messy electrical cords. It is a weird pet hate and I need to get over it.

4. I've been a vegetarian for just over four years but a few months ago at my work conference I accidentally ate an h'orsevdourves that had duck puree in it. Was haunted for quite a while after that.

5. One of my friends always talks about her 'irrational fears'. I recently realised that mine are: getting my shoelaces caught in the escalator and sitting on the railing of a balcony or ledge and falling off backwards. I guess they are kind of rational, really.

6. I have a collection of teacups that I never use.

7. I really like babies but I am terrified of getting pregnant (one day, just not right now!).

8. I got my first pair of glasses when I was 18 months old and I have had four operations to correct my eyesight (I'm still pretty blind though).

9. I am planning a trip to Mexico (and the US again) in May next year!

10. I've never spoken to any of the other people that live in our apartment block. They are a really quiet bunch (which is probably a good thing).

11. My all time favourite food is Mexican - I could eat it every day! This makes the impending trip to Mexico even more exciting.

Molly's Questions:

1. Describe yourself in three words.

Nice, creative, observant.

2. What is your absolutely mega-favourite blog?

Hmmm. I think it would have to be Here Comes the Sun. Amanda just seems like such a lovely person. There are plenty of blogs out there that I love but I've been coming back to hers for years. I have always felt her style and interests are similar to mine.

3. What made you decide to start blogging?

I have been blogging in different forms for a while now. I had a food blog and tumblr before this and I've been an avid blog reader for a long time. I started this one because I like writing, I wanted to improve my photography and because I have a bad memory so documenting things I get up to kind of helps with that! 

4. Do your family/friends know about your blog?

Yes! I don't know how often they read it, though. I reckon my brother and sister probably read it the most.

5. What is your favourite movie?

I am really stuck on this one. I'm gonna go with The Boat That Rocked because I've seen it about seven times.

6. Who is your favourite celebrity?

I'm gonna go with Mindy Kaling. She's funny.

7. Describe your perfect holiday.

Traveling to me is all about the food, the people and just getting out and walking all day. I find that the best holidays I've had are the ones where I get back to my room and I'm absolutely exhausted, full of food but so happy to have seen what I saw that day. I haven't had a 'lay by the pool' kinda holiday in a while though, so that would be nice too.

8. What is your favourite animal?

Definitely a dog person. 

9. Where in the world do you dream of going?

Absolutely everywhere, but if I had to pick I'll say Europe. Despite doing a fair bit of travel around Asia and the US, I still haven't made it to the UK/Europe. That's on my list after Mexico and the US - I think I'll plan a trip for 2014. I'd like to spend a few months traveling around Europe - none of that hop on hop off bus tour business. Too rushed!

10. If you had a few spare hours of 'me time', what would you do?

Pretty much exactly what I am doing right now. Feet up, wine by my side, food at the ready and the world wide interwebs at my fingertips.

11. Tea or coffee?

I feel like I should be faithful to tea, because that was my first true love. I didn't start drinking coffee until about two years ago, but now I'm a once a day kinda gal (except today I had two - scandal!). 

I know this is really lame, but if you are reading this and want to play along, please feel free to answer my questions below. I'm finding it a bit hard to nominate people as most of the blogs I read have more than 200 followers. If you know of any smaller ones I should be reading, please let me know!! And if you do answer these questions, make sure you leave me a comment.

1. What is your favourite cold beverage?

2. Your favourite breakfast food?

3. Gold or silver jewellery?

4. Do you think you can sing in tune?

5. The best item you've ever purchased?

6. Name one blog you've been reading for more than two years.

7. The last time you were on a stage.

8. Favourite item in your home.

9. A band you have seen live more than twice.

10. Your last encounter with a famous (or mildly famous) person.

11. What did you have for dinner last night?

Phew! Thanks for reading if you got this far and thanks again to Molly for nominating me. Sorry I didn't play strictly to the rules but I had fun nonetheless. Have a happy weekend, friends.

P.S How pretty are these jacaranda trees? Seeing the amazing purple flowers in bloom from October - December is definitely one of the best things about living in Sydney. Purple rain, purple raiiiin.