Liebster - Part 1

Blogging is a strange thing, don't you think ? Strange in a good way though. Sharing everyday moments and memories with the world at large, yet making what feel like good friends very quickly, and from all corners of the globe. When I was at school we were encouraged to have pen-pals, I loved receiving a fat little envelope, often bedecked with exciting "foreign" stickers and stamps, from exotic places like Belgium and Holland (I lived in Northern Ireland back then remember, even London seemed far off and exotic). I devoured the letters, from girls around the same age as me, with similar interests, but living far far away. I spent ages choosing writing paper or cards and replying with details of my everyday life.

To me, blogging is a bit like having a pen-pal, I love logging on each day on to see if I have any comments, I can't wait to reply, and I spend ages mulling over which pictures to include. And I'm struck by how far-reaching my readers are, but all with fairly similar interests to me. And of course its all practically instant! And with photos! Hurrah!

One such blogger-pen-pal-friend is Birgitta of Handmade and Off-centered. Last week Birgitta very kindly nominated me for the Liebster Award :) I'm soooooo excited and touched, and I'm feeling the bloggy love :) 

The Liebster Award is an online award by bloggers for bloggers and helps generate attention for new and up-and-coming blogs. There appear to be various iterations and versions of this, but here's how it currently works. As a nominee here's what I do:

1. Post 11 random facts about myself
2. Answer 11 questions the person nominating me has asked
3. Nominate 11 blogs with less than 200 followers, add their links to this post, and let them know that they have been nominated
4. Create 11 questions for my nominees to answer

Got it ? Jolly good, let's get started ...

11 Random Facts about Me

1. I love the look of freshly mowed lawn but I hate the smell of it. It makes me feel sick, bleurgh. I think its because it reminds me of the hay-fever I used to have (but thankfully grew out of).

2. My favourite flowers are tulips. I love the bold richness of their colours, I love the shape of the leaves, they're just instant-cheer-in-a-vase.

3. Next to crochet, my favourite form of therapy is colouring in. In fact I'm spending some birthday amazon vouchers on colouring-in books for grown ups :)

4. I love the smell of fresh basil, makes me think of bread, tomatoes, mozzarella, olive oil, mmmmmm  ....

5. I've always wanted to go to Wimbledon but keep forgetting to enter my name in the ballot for tickets.

6. I have a terrible magazine addiction. I deliberately don't add up the cost of them because I really wouldn't be able to justify it, but I do love them so ......

7. I don't eat meat. I do eat fish though, so I can't claim to be a vegetarian. My friend says I am a vegaquarian :)

8. I'm a professional dieter. Always "on a diet", but I just like food too much. Its ridiculous. Need to give myself a SeriouS talking-to, and either do it or not. No more of this half-baked (see what I did there) effort.

9. When I was little I adored Enid Blyton books, especially The Famous Five.  Now Little Miss is reading The Famous Five stories, and I'm so happy about that :D Little Tomboy also is very taken with the idea of The Famous Five because of course George is possibly the most famous tomboy ever.

10. I don't really drink (as in alcohol). I used to enjoy a (very large) glass (or three) of wine on the weekend (and some school nights too - tut). Nowadays I Just. Can't. Do. It. I hate the slightly fuzzy head and tiredness and grumpiness the next day, so I've decided its not worth the bother. And I don't miss it one bit.

11. I am a real homebody and my perfect night out is actually to stay in with hubby, and my crochet, some cake and a cuppa :)

So there you have some Jill-randomness :) I've really enjoyed compiling this, I'm not used to sitting thinking about MySelf, but I have to say its been quite enjoyable :) For the next sections of Liebster-ness you'll have to come back and read Part 2, as this post is getting a bit out of hand .....