I'm Special! The Liebster Award!

I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Tayler from Our Fairy Tale. You may remember her better as Tanney, the friend I posted about and her dastardly day with devilish students. She also did a guest post in which I give a great yellow cake recipe. She's definitely not new around here, and I happen to like her a lot. And she nominated me!

How cool is that? Almost as cool as that suave and awesome cat up there? I feel pretty honored. It means "dear" in German apparently. This basically translates into the fact that someone likes my blog. Huzzah! To accept the nomination, I have to take certain steps. I answer questions my nominator posed, I give 11 random facts about myself, and then I ask 11 questions of the bloggers that I nominate. I'm supposed to nominate 5-11 new people. The rule is that the people nominated have to have less than 200 followers- I'm well below that mark, so I'm surprised I even got this. But hey. I'll take it! So to the questions!

Questions from Tanney/Tayler/Whatever People Call Her:

1) What made you start blogging?

It was to keep in touch with our families after we were married. I suppose I could have written an email and then spammed it to everyone in the family, but we have a lot of extended family, and that would have been bothersome. Besides, once I developed Pictorials, it became a source of venting and great fun.

2) What is your blogging dream?

TO CONQUER THE WORLD! Or just to give people a good laugh when they need it, or a spiritual and emotional boost when it's something they need, or to share my love of food and Andrew with other people who love food. But they can't love Andrew. Well, they can, but they can't have him. He's mine.

3) What is your dream job, and do you have it/are you working toward it?

My dream job is a wife, mother, and homemaker. What more noble cause is there than to take a structure of walls and floors and ceilings, and to make that elaborate box into a home? A home is a place of love, refuge, comfort, peace, laughter, and goodwill. What more noble cause is there than to bring precious spirits down to Earth and to raise them in truth, light, and love? I love Andrew, and I love being his wife. We'll get to the children part when it's right.

4) What are you a junkie of?

Reading. And reading. Sometimes I read. And reading. Have I mentioned reading? Oh, and my brownies. I make good brownies. And 60's music. And Jane Austen. And Andrew.

5) Since I'm a teacher, what was your favorite subject in school? Why?

English and History because you can come to better understand the world and its people by understanding the stories and legacies they have recorded in their books and cultures.

6) What is your favorite book? Why?

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I first fell in love with it when I was nine, and I never really changed my mind. Elizabeth is a snobbish judgmental person, and Darcy is an introverted snot head. I love that they change for each other, even admitting their character flaws in the process. True love makes you better. (And I can't help but mention Les Miserables by Hugo, Ben Hur by Wallace, and The Alliance by Lund. They're great books, too!)

7) Name a country you want to visit from every continent.

Canada, Brazil, Italy, Russia, Somewhere-With-Penguins, and Australia (SIDNEY! AHHHHH! Finding Nemo, anyone?)

8) What are all the languages you speak (real or fake, fluent or not)

English, Franglish, some French, and I'm learning Brazilian (more commonly known as Portuguese).

9) What is the most annoying thing people do?

I dislike it greatly when people butcher up adverbs. I did WELL at doing GOOD today.

10) What are three interesting things in your house?

a. This large and beruffled pillow by my side. It's pink, and looks like a flower attacked it. I like it.

b. A dog statue made out of a slinky-spring thing and some metal scraps and spray painted blue. Daddy got it for me for a high school graduation gift. His name is Fred, and it's the only pet I'll ever want.

c. Two quias. Those are cup/mug things from Brazil. They look pretty snazzy.

11) What is your favorite post that you've done in the past year?

That would depend on my mood. If I want a laugh, my Pictorials make me chuckle. Megan and Tashya- Sisters in Embarrassment may be my favorite in the past year. But if I want to feel clever, I read installments from The Story. Seriously. Go read Man Voice and the Water Heater and tell me that it's not hilarious and I'm not a writing genius. If we're talking about meaningful, then either Get Your Head Out of the Tomb or How to Be Happy With Your Miserable Life.

11 Random Facts:

1. When I'm baking, I generally don't eat much of the finished product because I eat so much of the batter or dough along the way. 
2. I like to paint my fingernails every week, and update my toes at least once every three weeks.
3. I own three pink dresses. One is bright pink and has a huge bow on the front.
4. I yell out "-LY" when someone forgets to do it themselves. Use your adverbs, people!
5. I talk to myself when I'm writing to the point where I'll even have grand gesticulations going on. I don't write while in public.
6. When I'm reading, I often make faces that reflect the feelings of the characters in the book. If they're confused, I look confused, if they quirk a brow, then so do I.
7. I'm very proud of my eyes. I think that I have rather nice eyes, probably my best feature. In fact, I'm proud of my family's eyes. We all have great eyes.
8. I love to sing. I love pretty songs. I love to listen to beautiful music. I burst out into song frequently.
9. I don't like country or rap at all. I'll admit to a Taylor Swift song or two, but that's just about it.
10. I love my daddy's voice. He sometimes wishes he could sing bass, but I wouldn't trade his voice for anything. Some of my fondest memories growing up involve the family singing around the piano together, and sometimes just listening to Daddy sing.
11. Cigarette smoke makes me very ill. Very ill. And I'm very sensitive to it- I can smell it from across the parking lot when the wind is blowing the other way. Just ask Andrew.

Were those good random facts? I just wrote down some stuff. I tried not to repeat too much of what was already in the About Us tab up there. But now we're on to the last section!

My nominees!:

1. Suzzie from Suzzie Vehrs

2. Michele, Matt, and Offspring from Matt and Michele's Mundo

3. Kristen from Happiness is a Mood, Not a Destination

4. Danica from Our Fletcher Family

5. Tayler from Our Fairy Tale

11 Questions for the My Nominees:

1. What is your favorite color?

2. What is your favorite time of the year?

3. Do you have a Disney princess with whom you identify? Why?

4. What is your favorite genre of reading material?

5. What is your favorite thing to make (be it food, craft, drink, music, or whatnot)?

6. What do you think is your best feature?

7. What luxury item do you most want?

8. Why do you enjoy blogging?

9. Who is your hero, past or present?

10. What is your favorite thing to wear and why?

11. If you could be in any book, which would it be?

And so that's my participation in the Liebster Award nominations. As far as people that I've nominated, I really must confess to something. I don't really stalk all that many people on blogs. To be honest, I look at mine a lot. I realize that's really snobby sounding, but I like my style, and I like remembering what I did. I'm generally pretty picky about writing style, but sometimes I let that take a break if I think that there is good character behind the flaws, or if I like the person that's writing. So there's my nomination stuff. You'll notice that I didn't nominate myself. I am, however, about to go and draw some pictures.

Have a glorious day!

PS. Tanney, I had to nominate you. Your kinda sorta maybe all sorts of my blogger buddy. And you're better at blogging than I am. I had to return the favor. I love you!