Friday 7 December 2012

Blogger Love

Good Morning My Dear Friends,

I feel so loved right now! The lovely Caitlin nominated me for a Liebster blog award! Me! An award! I can't believe that I have been blogging for less than a month and I have received so much love and support already, so thank you, thank you, thank you!




Now, like the best kind of love, this baby was meant to be shared, so I will be following a few guidelines and then passing it on to some other beloved bloggers.

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Rules:

1.  Write 11 random facts about yourself
2.  Answer the 11 questions given by the blogger who nominated you
3.  Create 11 new questions
4.  Nominate 11 bloggers and mention them in the post
5.  Thank the blogger who nominated you and tell the bloggers you've nominated

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So, 11 random facts about me...

1.  I went to a Waldorf school until the end of Grade 3. If anyone doesn't know what that is, it is an alternative schooling method built on a philosophy called Anthroposophy. I won't go into all of the details here, but let's just say that my childhood was a little... different.

2.  I have known my best friend for almost 20 years, and I am only 21! She is pretty much my other half, we can go months without seeing each other and it is still as though no time has passed.

3.  I am a total grammar nazi. I get borderline furious when I see people using the wrong "your" or "to" in their Facebook statuses. I mean, come on people, you're in university and your grammar sucks! Get it together!

4.  My brother is in a kick-ass band and I was an extra in their first music video!


You don't see much of me, but I am wearing a white hat and scarf and a grey peacoat. Yes, that is real snow, and yes, it was FREEZING! There may have been some hard liquor utilized for warmth-giving purposes, don't judge. P.S. My bro is the keyboard player. Ain't he handsome?

5.  I am terrified of needles! I was on Accutane for my acne in high school and I had to have blood tests every 3 weeks for 6 months. I also seemed to get a lot of nurses who had trouble finding my veins. Not fun...

6.  I don't eat any red meat (including pork), but for some reason I still love the smell of bacon. Mmm... bacon smell...

7. My Grandpa was a game show host for almost 40 years and was apparently quite famous. The show was called Front Page Challenge and involved contestants trying to guess news headlines relating to the celebrity guest who was on that day. And no, you would not have heard of it unless you are over 50 (or related to the host, tee hee!).

8.  I have a huge sweet tooth, but I hate all things resembling cheesecake, lemon meringue pie or key lime pie. Yuck.

9.  I have seen Moulin Rouge! over 30 times. Actually, it could be approaching 50 by now. I can quote pretty much every line. It is just the most beautiful movie in the world! Oh, and it totally made me fall in love with Ewan McGregor :)

D'awww!

10.  I took dance classes for 15 years and was very serious about it for 8 of them. I was dancing 20 hours per week at one point. Ballet, jazz, modern, tap (ick!), pointe, lyrical, hip hop... You name it, I probably did it.

That would be me and the best friend mentioned in #2,
practicing for our first big performance together.
And yes, we still do that. We're awesome.

11.  I am a huge advocate against bottled water. Seriously people, it's the devil. If you drink it, stop now, please! Even when I was in Asia I tried to avoid it. I brought a UV Steripen with me and used it to sterilize tap water before I drank it. That's right, this girl drank tap water in India! No fear!

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Caitlin's Questions...

1.  What is your favourite colour?

It's a tie between green and purple. I'm a bit of a tree-hugger (see random fact #11 above), so green makes a lot of sense for me.

2.  What is your favourite baked good or dessert?

This is a tough one, I love so many desserts. Probably a really good, gooey cinnamon roll, something with gingerbread or apple crisp. I like warm spicy things.

3.  What is your favourite sport?

Sport? I have never been a fan of any organized sports; neither playing nor watching. Mostly because I have zero hand-eye coordination and don't like competing against other people. I guess if you are talking about my favourite athletic activity, I would have to say yoga, although not too long ago I would have said dance.

4.  Do you enjoy reading? If so, what?

I love reading, I just don't get much time to do it. I really like autobiographies. Michael J. Fox (my hero!) has two great books and Christopher Reeve wrote a great autobiography as well. I also love any kind of travel book, fiction or non-fiction. Before and during my trip to India, I read anything and everything India-related that I could get my hands on.

5.  What do you want to do with your life?

Really Caitlin?? I'm 21, this is too much pressure! I guess if I have to think about it, I would like to do a Masters degree, find a career relating to water resource management and of course find a way to travel the world forever :)

6.  Do you have a hero or role model? Who?

I think my true hero is my Granny, who passed away 2 and a half years ago. She was probably the strongest, most level-headed woman I knew. She was always encouraging me to try hard and go far in school and I owe a lot of my academic success to her. She downhill skied and played tennis well into her 70s and was told by her doctor that she had the bone-density of a 30 year-old (I am praying to inherit those genes!). Family was also her biggest priority. Every year, she would pay for holidays to get my own family and my family from Alberta together for two different weeks of the year. I now have a very strong relationship with my family out west and I owe a lot of that to her. Oh yeah, and she also got a rambunctious black lab (whom we inherited after she died) when she was 75 that she took care of all on her own. Seriously, this woman was a force to be reckoned with.

I don't think she knows her own size...

7.  What is your favourite number?

Umm... whichever one will win me Lotto 6/49?

8.  Where is the craziest place you've traveled?

I guess I would have to say India; that is one crazy place. Although rescuing sea turtles in Costa Rica wasn't super dull either.

Camel-riding in the Thar dessert. That was a pretty good day :)
Just a bucket of baby sea turtles about to be released to the sea!
Cuter than puppies, I'm not kidding.

9.  Did you go to college/university? Where?

I'm in my 4th year of university. University of Guelph for the win!

10.  What is your favourite cereal?

I actually have never bought my own box of cereal (that wasn't an unsweetened puffed grain) because it has always been a major fear food of mine. So, I guess I don't really have a favourite right now. I am planning on taking the plunge soon though and I remember Kashi GoLean Crunch and Nature's Path Sunrise Crunchy Vanilla being delish!

11.  What is your favourite way to pass some free time and/or relieve stress?

Lately, I have really been enjoying blogging as a way to pass time and do something for myself. Yoga is also a big part of my life and an amazing stress reliever.

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My Questions...

1.  If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?
2.  What is your favourite bizarre food combo?
3.  Night in with movies and candy OR night out with on the town?
4.  What is something adventurous/spontaneous that you have done lately?
5.  What is your biggest pet peeve?
6.  What is something you are afraid of?
7.  Dog person or cat person?
8.  What is your favourite alcoholic beverage (or non-alcoholic if you don't drink)?
9.  If you could live in any other city, which would it be?
10. Where is your favourite place that you have traveled to so far?
11.  You are making a sandwich and can only include your 4 favourite ingredients. Go!

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And my nominees are...

Lisa from Lisa Lately
Gina from Health, Love and Chocolate
Connie from Livin' Lean
Sam from Better with Sprinkles
Sabrina from Living, Learning, Eating
Chelsea from One Healthy Munchkin
Christina from The Athletarian
Debbie from Accidently Delish
Heather from Kiss My Broccoli
Nicky from kabochafashionista
Molly from This Life is Sparkling

And honourable mentions go to Amanda, Chelsie, Alex and Sloane, who were among my top picks, but literally JUST got the award from other people. Seriously, finding 11 random facts about yourself is time-consuming, so I didn't want to stress them out too much ;)

There are so many awesome bloggers who are deserving of this award, but I could only choose 11 this time! Hopefully the love makes it around to everyone who deserves it!

Hope your day is full of this much love!