The Liebster Award

It’s four weeks ago today that I created this blog, and the response I’ve gotten in those weeks is quite overwhelming. I didn’t think anyone would read that first post (on chocolate brownies) but it got 11 likes, and people already started following me after that one post. Now I’ve got 35 followers and over 50 likes, and I’ve come across some really great blogs myself as well. It’s been a wonderful experience so far, and I’m enjoying the blogging game very much. So thank you to all those people who’ve made it worthwhile!

Why am I dedicating a blog post to this? Well, a few days ago I was nominated for the Liebster award by Gwen from Little Growing Pains! I was extremely surprised. I mean, booksbakingandblogging is not even a month old yet! It really made my day, and I want to thank Gwen once more for the nomination! Thank you! You’re wonderful, and your blog is really amazing (seriously people, go check it out).

I wasn’t familiar yet with this whole award business, but apparently (at least for this award) I need to answer eleven questions Gwen asked me, and tell you eleven other random facts about myself. I love random questions and random facts, and I also thought it would be a nice opportunity to tell you guys a bit more about me, since I haven’t shared all that much about myself yet, so I’m happy to answer these!

 

Gwen’s questions:

1. If you could insert yourself (as yourself) into any literary world of your choosing, what would it be? I don’t even have to think about this one — that’s definitely the Harry Potter world. It would be so tremendously cool to be able to go to Hogwarts, and to do magic! Although, the “as yourself” part of this question would suggest I wouldn’t be able to do magic… I’m just going to ignore that!

2. Coffee or tea? Tea, definitely tea. I don’t drink coffee (I think it’s disgusting) and tea is practically the only thing I do drink when I’m at home, besides a glass of lemonade or orange juice every now and then.

3. What is the WORST piece of advice you’ve ever been given? You know, I thought long and hard about this, but I really don’t know. The thing with bad advice is that I just forget about it because it sucks and I won’t do anything with it anyway. And maybe I have gotten some bad advice but didn’t know it was bad advice… Who decides what’s bad advice anyway? Wow, getting philosophical now — next question!

4. Crumple or fold? Fold. I’m not an extremely tidy person, but when it comes to folding stuff I’m quite neurotic. Although, now that I think about it, this only goes for paper. My clothes aren’t really folded that neatly.

5. If we were to go on a date (hypothetically), where would you take me and why? Wow, good question. I actually had a really hard time coming up with something because I’m not that original when it comes to dates. Perhaps I’d cook some nice dinner for you at my place and maybe go and watch a film. Depending on the weather a walk around the park here in my city would be really nice, too. But I really have no idea, to be honest…

6. If you could go back in time ten years and tell yourself one thing, what would it be? Hmm, ten years ago I was ten years old… It’s difficult to remember what I was like back then. I think in those days I was quite insecure about my friendships and afraid people didn’t like me, so I’d tell myself that I’d be getting some really great friends in the future. Oh, and that if people don’t like me for the way I am they can just bugger off! That’s something I’ve learned.

7. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? I love ice cream and there are so many great flavours… I think if you’d ask me this question again tomorrow the answer would be different but right now I’m going for hazelnut flavour. It’s really delicious!

8. What kind of toothpaste do you use? It’s called “Aquafresh freshmint”.

9. Above all else, what are you afraid of? Death. And losing the people I love to it. Thinking too much about death really scares the living daylights out of me (I’m not religious, so I don’t believe in some kind of heaven).

10. So far, what has been your favorite age to be and why? The year I had the most fun was the year I was 18. That’s when I started university, when I met some of the best friends I have now, and when I had my first boyfriend. It was an awesome year.

11. What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Wow, so many things! If I really couldn’t fail I think I’d start my own bakery. Or finally edit the novel I’ve got sitting on my computer and send it to a publisher.

 

11 random facts about me:

1. I absolutely adore the tv series Friends. I’ve got all ten seasons on dvd and watch them over and over and over again. It never ceases to entertain me.

2. When I was eleven I was a vegetarian for about a month. Then I just couldn’t take it any longer and started eating meat again because I loved it so much.

3. My favourite colour is red, and that has resulted in me having a lot of red stuff (my friends sometimes tease me with it). I’ve got red glasses (they’re awesome), one red wall in my teeny tiny living room, a bright red sofa in that same tiny living room, a lot of red clothes, red Converse All Stars, most of my bed sheets are red, and my eReader is red as well. And I’m sure I’ve forgotten many red things.

4. I play the guitar. I had guitar lessons for over 5 years but I quit those when I started my last year of high school. I still play, though, and I’ve started up singing as well. Mostly in the comfort of my own home but I sometimes play a tune or two for my friends.

5. I don’t like caramel, cheese or coffee, which one of my friends thinks is ridiculous. She makes fun of me for it at least once a week!

6. I don’t wear any make up, ever, except perhaps to a fancy party. I just don’t like wearing it and it’s too much of a hassle to put it on and take it off again.

7. I love Disney films, especially the newer ones. My favourite ones are Finding Nemo and Tangled.

8. I think Despicable Me (both 1 and 2) are works of genius as well but those aren’t Disney films, so they get their own fact! (Don’t judge me! Thinking of random facts is hard, okay?)

9. Ever since it first came out I’ve been obsessed with The Sims 2, and I still play it every week.

10. When I was younger I had guinea pigs and I desperately want one again but that’s just impossible for my current living situation (no room!).

11. Instead of the guinea pig I’ve got a plant (a spathiphyllum) and it’s called Johnny.

 

So, now we’ve got all that out of the way it’s time for me to announce my nominees! Officially I have to nominate 11 new people, but 11 is a large number and considering I’m only following about 30 blogs yet I thought that would kind of defy the whole purpose of an award, so I’m going to go for 4 nominees. Here they are!

Bec from Daisy and the Fox! I love her blog, she has really fun posts about all kinds of stuff, like great recipes, accompanied by lovely photos.

Clare from A Little Blog of Books and Other Stuff! I already followed her blog before I even made my own. She posts really lovely book reviews.

Poppy from Poppy’s Patisserie! She posts great vegan recipes, and the photos of all her creations are mouthwatering.

Nicole from Short and Sweet Treats! She makes the most gorgeous cupcakes and cakes, and when I first came across her blog her creations just put a smile on my face.

Before I’ll post my questions for you, I just want to point out that this is completely optional. If you don’t want to answer the questions and/or nominate a bunch of new people for the award, that’s fine! If you do, here are the rules: include the award photo in your post, answer the eleven questions I ask you, share eleven other random facts about yourself, nominate eleven other bloggers for the award (and notify them!), and give them eleven questions to answer. That’s it!

My questions for the four nominees are not really original — I decided to go for favourites, because I like to hear about favourites.

1. Favourite book?

2. Favourite food? (as in, dinner)

3. Favourite dessert?

4. Favourite candy?

5. Favourite city in the world?

6. Favourite flavour of tea?

7. Favourite item of clothing?

8. Favourite of your possessions? (for me, for example, it’s the aforementioned sofa — or my computer)

9. Favourite game? (either video or board)

10. Favourite tv series?

11. Favourite smell?

Congratulations to you guys! And thanks again to Gwen for nominating me and to all of you who are reading my blog!