Liebster Award

So thanks to Kim from happy pretty blog, I've been nominated for a Liebster award! Exciting stuff! Thanks, Kim!

According to Kim, the Liebster Blog Award is an award given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers, most of whom have less than 200 followers (or have been blogging for less than 6 months). It is to show newer bloggers that they are appreciated, and to help spread the word about new blogs. It was created to promote appreciation and recognition among the blog world. Liebster translates to “dearest” (or favorite/best) in German. It is also known as the Love Blog Award.

The Rules:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.
3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.
4. Choose 11 new blogs you love and link them in your post.
5. Please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you!

1. I always carry a book with me, everywhere I go.  You never know when you'll want something to read, and I usually take every change I have to read.  So sometimes I bring along two, just in case I finish the first.
2. I really want to have a baby! I also love making my husband discuss baby names with me.  (He does not enjoy this so much.)
3. Sometimes my husband I play 'car games', even when were' not in a car.
4. In my married life, I haven't ever owned: a TV, a car, a microwave, a dishwasher, or a dryer. 
5. I have a BA and an MA in English Literature because I love being a student, and I love reading and writing about books.  My MA focused on Shakespeare but for my BA, I wrote my dissertation about Virginia Woolf.  I like lots of different kinds of books, in case that isn't clear.  Now I miss being a student.
6. I love tomatoes in just about everything, but I don't like to eat them on their own (except for cherry tomatoes).
7. I always cross my sevens when I write them!
8. I used to tutor both Math and English, even though I'm seriously terrible at Math.  It both worried and amused my mother (and my husband), but probably mostly worried. 
9. I'm not crafty at all and I never have been, even as a little girl.  But now I'd kind of like to sew and knit, and wish I'd learned when there were people around to teach me.
10. My husband and I take the Economist (as our newspaper) because we like to read things in print and not just online. 

Now for the 11 questions set by Kim.

1. If you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you would buy? Well, to be more fun, I'll pretend that things like student loans don't exist, because obviously, I'd want to get rid of things like that.  I'd probably want to take an awesome vacation, and visit places like Hong Kong, Vienna, Berlin, and Morocco.

2. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Oh, whoops, I guess I kind-of just answered that.  Well, if money were no object, I'd like to visit somewhere in Asia again.  I really like traveling to places outside of my comfort zone, so that means no where in America or Europe.  But, for an easy (and more realistic) travelling plan, I really want to visit Vienna, Prague, and Berlin. 

3. What movie could you watch over and over again? I'm not sure.  I guess I'd say Lord of the Rings because I have watched that one over and over when I was younger, or Amelie, because I don't think that ever gets boring. 
4. What is your favorite sweet treat? Probably cookies.  I really like cookies.  Or maybe ice cream, especially if it is cookie dough flavor. 

5. Which cartoon character are you most like and why? Well, I cannot think of a single cartoon character.  We didn't have a TV growing up, and still don't now, so I've sort of missed out on cartoons.  Unless you count Disney movie cartoons, because then my favorite was always Belle, from Beauty and the Beast, because she liked reading so much and wasn't terribly helpless.

6. Who inspires you? Another hard one... well, I'll say one of the professors I had last year, who really encouraged me to live my life how I wanted, doing what made me happy.  She was a great professor.

7. Do you speak any other languages? I speak a little French, enough to get around Paris and have conversations with people, but not enough to be fluent.

8. What is your biggest pet peeve? Oh, I have so many!  I don't know what one is the biggest.  Some things that annoyed me recently are: when people with strollers somehow take up the whole sidewalk (when there should be plenty of room, but they insist on turning sideways and stopping), and also when my husband leaves lights on all over our apartment. 

9. What is the best thing you get from blogging? Either meeting people or trying to write down things about my life, because I'm bad at that and always wish I had a better record of my past.

10. Do you have a hidden talent? Hm...I'm very good at memorizing things.  When I was little, I had the entire first Harry Potter book so memorized that I could tell when the man reading it on tape messed up and forgot to say an "and".  I'm still pretty good at remembering quotes or movie lines....so, I guess that is my dorky hidden talent!

11. Do you have any pets? Not right now.  We'd love to have a cat, but we only have a one-bedroom apartment, with no yard or garden, so it feels a bit mean.  I had a dog, a cat, a fish, several mice, and two guinea pigs growing up, so hopefully, sometime in the future we'll acquire a pet of our own.

Now the questions for my nominees to answer:

1. What is your favorite way to spend an evening?
2. What kind of things do you like on your walls?
3. What is your favorite chore to do?
4. Are you a morning or an evening person?
5. What talent have you always wished you had?
6. Do you like baking or cooking more?
7. What is your favorite social media outlet - like blogging, FB, twitter, instagram?
8. Would you rather live in the city or the country, if money were no object?
9. Do you like driving, public transportation, or walking/bicycling to get around?:
10. What super power do you wish you had?
11. Do you remember your dreams when you wake up? 

The 11 blogs that I nominate are:

1. Chevron Stitches
2. Moments Unexpected
3. One Sweet Tuesday
4. love always
5. She may be the Song that Summer Sings
6. Life as Ashlet
7. Simplicity is Key
8. Rebecca Recommends
9. The Cottage Diaries
10. everyday with hazel mae
11. What the Helvey

So, nominees, if you want to participate, please link to this post and leave me a comment so I can learn more about you!