The Liebster Award

The Liebster Award is a blogger to blogger, peer award, used to highlight up and coming, smaller, lesser known blogs that are less than 6 months old and have less than 200 followers. Liebster is an award that you accept with an intention of paying it forward. It means kindest, dearest, beloved, cute, and endearing in German.

Shannon at Crazy Beautiful nominated me with the Liebster award... Thanks Shannon!! I was supposed to do something like this before but completely slacked on it. Well, my blog isn't less than 6 months old... in fact it's 2 years old (is it bad that I have less than 200 followers??) But I'm honored, floored, appreciative, and humbled (what;s the German word for that??)

Here are the guidelines for what you need to do-

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!

11 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME

I've attempted to do this before here, here and here so I'm not sure how "random" this will be.

1. I've fallen off of my HHJ and I'm kind of mad at myself about it. I have plans to get back on track but I need the right things to go about it. I still follow a ton of hair blogs so I have lots of resources so excuses shouldn't be needed.

2. I work in higher education. It's not the most glamorous job but I love the little perks, like conferences, sort of flexible hours, and the huge network of colleagues.

3. I lost about 8-11 pounds since we moved. I also think I may have put them all back on but am afraid to look.

4. Once the weather gets warmer I plan on going back to walking everyday with my little guy- I just have to be very strategic with my planning so that we still have dinner and bedtime in a timely fashion.

5. I wasn't allowed to wear nail polish as a young girl. Then at the age of 7 I went to private school that didn't allow nail polish either so I have never really experimented with nail colors until I got married. I still don't wear colored nail polish, I think those rules made me too conservative.

6. If I ever have a little girl I'm not sure if I will allow her to wear nail polish or not. I think as a baby/toddler it will be a no simply because they put their fingers in their mouth a lot. I have no idea what age it will be allowed.

7. If I ever have a little girl I will be piercing her ears. There is huge Internet debate as to weather or not moms should pierce their daughters ears. I'm sorry but I think it's just another thing to argue about in the mommy wars. I've never met a female who was mad that her mom had her ears pierced before she was able to decide to do so. Yes, we can let them decide how to treat their bodies but for goodness sake why must we shove our opinions down each others throats??

8. I am completely in LOVE with my boys! They mean the world to me and I couldn't imagine life without them at all. Whenever I'm having a bad day- their presence instantly makes it better... every. single.time.

9. I really should do a post about my fab four turned five. These guys are my right hand. Even when we get mad at one another it doesn't last very long (but this wasn't always the case). There a lot of recent events that has made our bond stronger.

10. I haven't started my son's college fund. There's money saved away for him but I want to open a designated college fund for him and I want it to be the best possible option. Research has been holding me back from taking the plunge but I'm more than ready now. It should be signed, sealed, and delivered by the end of April.

11. I also want to start a travel fund. I'd like to take a family vacation once a year. It doesn't always have to be big out of this world travel and we will def be keeping our mini weekend getaways but I want to do a week long trip at least once per year.

SHANNON'S QUESTIONS

1. What is your dream home?
I love this questions and love answering it. Honestly, if I really wanted to answer in depth it probably would have been a few more days before I was able to post this but I wanted to get this done. So anyway- I talk about my dream home here. BUT this has since changed. After my hubby saw it and pointed out "some things" I have a new outlook on what that dream home may be.

2. What is your favorite song and why?

Again, I don't think I have a favorite and here's why.

3. Who is your celebrity design alter ego? (ex: Nate Berkus, Martha Stewart, etc).

I have no idea. I've watched home decor shows for years and always have been drawn to Sabrina Soto, but I'm not sure I'd say she was my alter ego.

4. What is your favorite blog post you have ever done and why?

I think it would be introducing my son to you all.

5. What are 3 of your favorite blogs and why do you love them?

Lately, I've been loving on Becky. When i became a SAHM I needed ideas for being home with him and I remembered how she poured loved into everything she did with her daughter so I went through her archives and it really helped! It's because of her me and my little guy had school time everyday and we still continue to do so even though I'm back at work.

I found Aliya through a liked photo on IG and have been hooked! When I thought I would be having "Irish twins" I figured if she could do it then maybe I could too! To this day I look forward to her IG posts.

Last but not least, I look forward to new posts from Johanna. She too has Irish twins but I think she is most recognizable from being pinned on Pinterest. I fell in love with her photography and look for inspiration to photograph my son.

6. How long have you been blogging and why did you start?

I just celebrated my second blogging anniversary!! I started it as a way to document my pregnancy and ended up "meeting" a lot of cool women along the way. But honestly I have contemplated no longer blogging for a few reasons but I don't want to loose those connections so I'm still around these parts. I do plan on doing some blog revamping and even possibly going private.

7. "I'll ----------- if it's the last thing I do".

Get to Vegas. And then Hawaii. And then Ireland. And also build a house, get my sexy back, and cook an entire holiday meal all by myself.... I better get started!

8. Best vintage or decor find of all time?

Nothing. At least I don't think. Vintage isn't really my thing.

9. What is a home trend that you have tried/followed that you've regretted?

Nothing. In our last place it was decorated almost exactly how we wanted ( thanks mom!). In this place its not decorated at all. In fact there is this ugly green wall in our den that I wish I could get rid off but it's not ours so in the grand scheme of things I don't care all that much about it. I'm not really a trendy person.

10. Who is your favorite author?

Aye, yai, yai! I can't think of that person (if he or she exists) off the top of my head).

11. Favorite Pattern?

Solid. Okay, I know solid isn't a pattern but I couldn't think of anything else.

MY QUESTIONS

1. What do you do for a living?
2. What would be your dream career?
3. What's your go to outfit for comfort?
4. What is your go-to outfit for "dressing up"?
5. Who is a celebrity that you would want to switch places with?
6. What charity do you (or would like to) give to and support?
7. If you had to perform a random act of kindness right now what would it be. I realize that it wouldn't be completely random if you're thinking about it right now but let's just say you were leaving he house right now to go run your errands... what might happen?
8. If a television network called you tomorrow and offered you a reality show what would it be called and what would be it's premise? (would it be a show about fashion where you would ambush and makeover people, tales from your job, follow your daily life? Come on... we're talking millions of viewers here!
9. If you could fly where would you go?
10. Do you plan on having children in the near future? (I'm running out of ideas here!)
11. What is one of your proudest moments?

NEW BLOGS

I don't think these blogs are too new but I'm choosing ones that def have less than 200 followers (or an unconfirmed amount). Could you please do me a favor and read at least one post, give them some honest feedback and tell them who sent you...please?!?! It would mean the WORLD to me!

Puddin' @ A Beautiful Mess

Carla @ Established 1987

Heather @Littlest Pretty Things

Tiyana@ Luxury Brown Beauty

BB @Living Life for me

Lacey @Life of Lacey

Peg @ Life is Good

I think everyone else that I follow are bigger blogs! When you complete this (and you should!) please let me know (Although I'm sure it will pop up in my google reader (that's sadly going away anyway))!