Liebster Blog Award

The wonderful Inge at Bookshelf Reflections nominated me for a Liebster Blog Award. At first, I have to admit that I had no idea what that meant. But I’ve learned from reading her blog that it is basically a way for we bloggers who do not have as many followers to talk about ourselves and network ourselves, and then pass it along to others. While it’s a lot of work, it was a lot of fun as well. So here it goes:

RULES

1. List 11 facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 questions asked by whoever nominated you.
3. Nominate 9 bloggers with less than 300 followers and leave them a comment saying they’ve been nominated.
4. Ask 11 new questions for your chosen nominees.
5. You cannot re-nominate the blog that nominated you.

11 FACTS ABOUT ME

1. When I was little, I first wanted to be a Veterinarian. I loved dogs so much, that I thought it would be awesome to work with dogs all day! To this day, when I walk in to a pet store, I want to adopt them all. Then in 5^th grade I had to do a research project on it and realized I’d have to go to school in Colorado (there are no Vet schools in AZ!), and that I’d have to work with cats… thus my dream vanished.
2. I love to travel. Until I got married, the only place I had been outside of the United States was to Rocky Point, Mexico. And that was when I was in college, and I don’t think you can really call Rocky Point an international destination. I had also never been off the contiguous United States (that is the mainland – so I hadn’t been to Alaska or Hawaii either). When we got married, we took our honeymoon to Cancun, Mexico, and I loved it. Cancun is very different from Rocky Point, and my husband and I decided we definitely wanted to travel around the world. We want our kids to experience different cultures also. Since then, we’ve taken week long trips to New York City (yes it’s still in the US, but it’s a very different culture from Phoenix), Greece (I had some culture shock when we first arrived – so this is definitely a place I want our kids to experience so they can appreciate where they live), Italy (Venice and Rome – I can’t wait to go back to Rome), Orlando (a long trip filled with theme parks), and Williamsburg (also in the US, but filled with US history). We plan to go to Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Spain, Argentina, France, Australia, England, the Mediterranean, etc., in our coming years also – perhaps with some cruises to check out certain spots before we plan a full vacation there.
3. I have lived in Phoenix, Arizona my entire life. I’m one of the rare natives here now. Why, you ask? Several things: 1) My immediate family lives here, as well as my husband’s immediate family. We think family is very important and definitely want our kids to be around family. 2) There are no natural disasters in Arizona – I think it’s the only place in the US – no tornadoes, hurricanes, or even earthquakes! 3) The cost of living is much more affordable than other locations such as California. If I were to spend the same amount of money for a house in CA or NY, I would only get a few hundred square feet…where I’m getting a huge lot and 2,500 sqft in Phoenix. 4) Sure it’s hot 6 months of the year, but I treat it as those who live in snow. What do you do when it’s snowing somewhere? You stay inside and find things to do. Well, that’s what we do in AZ in the summer. And at least I can go from my air conditioned house, to an air conditioned car, to another air conditioned location. When it’s snowing, you’re stuck in your house. And we’re also just a short 6 hour drive from San Diego where it is much cooler and we can enjoy the beach.
4. I have difficulty with change. This is a sub-conscious thing. I don’t sit here and worry day and night about something changing in my life, but it was pointed out to me when I was in college by a lady I worked with, and I’ve really paid attention to it since then – and she was totally right! For instance, when my husband and I were buying our first house, I consciously was very excited to have our own place. And consciously the money didn’t worry me. But the night and morning of signing all our papers, I felt sick to my stomach. I honestly didn’t think I would make it through signing all the papers. But once we were on our way to pack up our houses, waiting for our keys, I was magically okay. Sub-consciously, holding myself responsible for that much money apparently freaked me out! And I’ve noticed it in other circumstances as well. I usually make it through, but the stress of the actual transition is usually pretty rough on me.
5. In 5^th grade, I was playing on the jungle gym at lunch time with my friends. We were playing and I was standing on the top of the gym (there was a ladder with two rungs to climb up to where I was was). I decided I didn’t want to go down the slide and I would climb down the ladder to go to the monkey bars instead. Well, whether intentional or not, my friend’s foot was in the way, just at the end of the drop. I tripped over it, and fell the 4 feet down…but I didn’t go straight down, I went horizontal toward one of the really thick blue poles supporting the jungle gym, head first. My mouth took the brunt of the impact (don’t ask how), so at least I didn’t get a concussion. But I felt that I was missing a tooth. I was rushed to the nurse, and she called my mom. My mom had to rush me to the orthodontist first to get my braces taken off, and then to the dentist to get my broken tooth taken care of. Turns out, I didn’t smash the entire tooth – I just basically cracked off half of it in a diagonal manner. The dentist thought he was able to save the root of the tooth since he got to it so quickly. He was able to put some bonding on the tooth so it looks normal. They figured 10 years later when I was 18 and going to prom, I would need a root canal and a cap. REPORT: I’m now 28 years old (20 years since the incident), and the root is still alive and well and I haven’t had to have that root canal yet. Can you say miracle dentist??
6. I acquired lactose intolerance when I was a teenager. You might ask, how does one “acquire” this? Well, I ate some raw chicken (it was a leg and I bit in to it before seeing how red it was inside!) at Busch Gardens while on vacation in FL one year. I came down with a severe case of food poisoning from it. A few weeks later, my stomach was hurting really bad randomly through the days. I finally went the hospital, and they couldn’t tell me what was wrong – I had a CAT scan and spinal tap done, and only found out that I was super healthy. I wasn’t able to trace it back to anything I ate because it never seemed to coincide with anything that would cause problems. My doctor recommended a lactose intolerance test. This test is comprised of drinking something with lactose at the office and then blowing in to a reader that tells whether you’re processing lactose or not. Well, I sat there for 3 full hours – all the other kids had already left because they were positive on the test much earlier. I however, didn’t pop positive until the very last test. They called me a late bloomer, which is why I wasn’t able to narrow it down to dairy – my problems wouldn’t start until 2 meals later. I cut out the dairy (very sad because I love milk and ice cream!), and I was fine. When I at cheese, I had to have a lactaid pill with me. But after 2 years it went away. We did some research and found out that severe food poisoning will attack the lining of your stomach and cause the villi to die. The villi in the small intestine are responsible for producing the lactase enzyme which breaks down lactose. When lactose isn’t broken down, it ferments in the large intestine and causes problems seen with lactose intolerance (gas, bloating, and diarrhea). But overtime, your stomach lining can heal. Which I assume is what happened for me. But now that I’m pregnant, I believe it’s come back. Sigh.
7. When I was in fourth grade, I played softball and was on a really good team. We made it to the final tournament and going in to the weekend, my coach told us all to not do anything stupid and injure ourselves. So what did I do? I did something stupid. I was bored and decided to do a cartwheel inside my house – I’ve done them thousands of times, so I shouldn’t have had any trouble. But somehow, I didn’t get my hand down in the correct position and all my weight landed on my thumb. It swelled up like a balloon. I was rushed to the doctor and they did x-rays. They found that I fractured the bone. They had to put it in a splint. It was my glove hand. So I wasn’t able to use my glove for a few weeks. My coach was furious! BUT, good news is that the doctors didn’t think I’d get full motion back in that thumb, but I’m happy to report it bends just as far as my other thumb!
8. I love all things Disney. From Disney movies, to Disneyland, to Disney channel, I love it all. Some of my favorite movies are Disney movies (think Beauty and the Beast and Tangled – but I don’t get all the hype about Frozen…). I went to either Disneyland or Disney world every 2 years when I was younger, and I hope I am able to give my children many Disney memories as well. For our honeymoon, my husband and I actually went to Disneyland first, because it’s been a dream of mine to buy those mickey ears with a veil!
   
9. My favorite band growing up was ‘N SYNC. Feel free to laugh. I’m not ashamed. They were easily the best band at the time. I first saw them on (gasp) Disney channel, in- concert (they don’t seem to do this anymore). I fell in love. Naturally, Justin Timberlake was my favorite. I guess I have good taste because he’s gone on to have quite a successful solo career also. My cousin and I actually went to all 3 concerts that they had here in Phoenix also…and I may still have the tickets saved in my hope chest…
10. I have loved to read all my life. The first book I ever read from front to back by myself was Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss, when I was 4 or 5. Since then, I’ve always been a book worm. I always was reading above my grade level and would exceed standards on the reading portions of standardized exams in school. Once I hit high school and I had to read books for that, I lost my interest in reading for a while. I didn’t read much for fun throughout high school and college. But I did read the first 4 books of Harry Potter during my one week Spring Break my sophomore year of college! I’ve found my love of reading again, and I’m hoping to pass it on to our little girl. Actually, for my baby shower, I’ve requested guests to bring a book instead of a card in order to start her library. I’m so excited!!
11. After quite a horrible year of loss last year, we finally have something to be hopeful about. Last year, I experienced 3 deaths, all within about 2 months of each other: a co-worker died in a motorcycle accident, we lost our baby boy in a late miscarriage at 13.5 weeks, and my husband’s aunt passed away in another motorcycle accident. It was a really hard end of the year for us. But in January, we found out we were pregnant again. We took things really easy this time around and called the doc all the time. But we’re now 26.5 weeks along with our little girl, and couldn’t be more excited to welcome her to the world! Just about 13 more weeks until we get to meet her!

QUESTIONS ASKED BY INGE at BOOKSHELF REFLECTIONS

1. If you had all the money in the world, where would you go?

I would travel to all the places there is a major tennis tournament. It’s a bucket list item anyway, but if I had all the money in the world, I could visit them all the same year and spend a lot more time in each place. So this would consist of New York (which I’ve actually already crossed off), Paris (would like to see the Eiffel tower and then perhaps other places in France, rather than staying in Paris), London (definitely on my list to see – I’ll have to go see Platform 9 ¾!), and Melbourne (though it is a horribly long flight, I’ve always wanted to see Australia. I would take a week in Melbourne and a week in Sydney – is anyone else excited to see a kangaroo??)

2. If you could read only one book for the rest of your life, which one would it be?

Wow, Inge, what a question! One book or can it be the entire series? If I get the whole series it would definitely be Harry Potter. But one book? Boy that’s hard. I guess I’d say The Hunger Games. It was so original, and I liked watching her survival.

3. We all suffer from the-book-is-better-than-the-movie syndrome, but are there any film adaptations that were better than the book? If so, which?

Some people might think I’m crazy, but I liked the Disney movie adaptation of Alice in Wonderlandmuch better than the book. The book was so much non-sense it was actually hard for me to read and follow. I think the only reason I was able to picture certain things was because of the Disney movie. I felt like the movie had more flow and they were able to show me certain scenes better than me picturing them in my head…it made a tad bit more sense to me – though the story itself is all non-sense.

4. Name five characters of any book, dead or alive, with whom you’d like to hang out with for a day.

Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Will Herondale from The Infernal Devices (see next question…), Nancy Drew from the Nancy Drew series, Percy Jackson from thePercy Jackson series, and Jean Val Jean from Les Miserables.

5. Who is our ultimate literary crush?

I absolutely adore Will Herondale from The Infernal Devices series. He had this cocky, smart-alecky personality, but he was incredibly loyal and trustworthy. Once you got through his walls, he always protected you. And he had just enough nerd in him for me (remember the ducks?!).

6. Do you prefer hardcovers or paperbacks, and why?

Definitely hardcovers. They are much more durable and I don’t have to hold them open the entire time to read – makes reading while eating much easier! While they are heavier to carry around, they are more durable for portability. I bring books everywhere, and they need to stand up to being thrown in a bag somewhere. However, I’ve started buying paperbacks just because they are so much cheaper. Especially if I haven’t read the book before, I will only buy the paperback – and I’m usually going to the library for those instead– unless I’m at one of the huge book sales where I get books super cheap. But for the books I love and want in my collection, I almost always buy it in hardback.

7. Do you let yourself be influenced by the cover of a book when you decide to read something? In other words, do you judge a book by its cover?

I’m sorry to say it, but yes I do. There are SO many books in the world, that if I’m scanning around trying to determine what I should read next, I have to let the cover grab me first, otherwise I would spend HOURS upon HOURS reading blurbs on books and deciding what to read. So once a cover catches me, I’ll read the blurb and see if it’s something I’d like to read. Unless I see raving reviews from friends about a book with an ugly cover, I won’t usually pick it up. Now that my husband is working on his first novel, we’ve decided that a decent cover will be worth its weight in gold – you need a good mix of enticing cover, intriguing blurb, and a good novel to, in turn, get good reviews for more readers.

8. When and where do you prefer to read?

The perfect place to read is on the patio while it’s raining and my dogs are running around the yard. I don’t know what it is, but I love reading while it’s raining – I guess it’s two of my loves in the world combined– books and rain (we don’t get much rain in AZ). But when I can’t have that, I like to curl up on the couch next to my hubby and read our books – maybe with a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning.

9. What are your favourite themes when reading fiction? What about non-fiction?

I don’t read much non-fiction, I’m sorry to say. I had to read enough of it in school, that it really burned me out. The reason I read is to get away to another world – so that is why I enjoy fiction so much more. Non-fiction just takes me to the world we’re in or the past we’ve lived in. Not much escape there. As for fiction, I enjoy paranormal stuff mostly – again for the escape – it’s so different from reality that it’s fun to go to those worlds with vampires, werewolves, witches, angels, etc. I’ve also found I like novels that take place in historical eras – this way I can pretend I lived in the 1800s, but there is enough difference and plot that you wouldn’t find in a non-fiction book about the 1800s. I like books that focus on friendship, or navigating relationships in general. I also like watching characters come of age and really learn who they are and become all that they are supposed to be. And of course the typical good vs. evil (and good must always win!)

10. Have you learned any valuable lessons when reading certain books? If so, tell me one.

I’m sure there are some – especially from when I was younger. But I can’t think of any right now that I’ve specifically learned from. I’ve recently started reading the Lemony Snicket books, and I will eventually want my children to read them (though they’ll have to be older than I originally thought – these books are pretty dark and violent!). I’ve liked the lessons in these books. Not only are there literary lessons (dramatic irony, etc.), but these poor kids have been thrown in to a terrible situation but they never give up and always work to find a solution to their problem. I really like that.

11. How do you decide which book to read next?

It depends on my mood. If there is another book available in the series I just finished, I usually go with that. If I just ended a series, I’ll usually have to take a break to pull myself from that world. Then it depends. If I got a book from the library I’ve desperately been wanting to read, I’ll read that next (stupid time limit on library books!). If I don’t have that, I’ll check reviews from friends or find something in the same realm as the book I just finished. That’s how I stumbled upon the Mortal Instrument series – I wanted something along the lines of Twilight (which I just finished), and Harry Potter. The Mortal Instruments series was recommended, and I fell in love!

 QUESTIONS FOR MY NOMINEES

1. What is your favorite hobby and why?
2. What is the book that spurred your love of reading? What was it about that book that drew you in?
3. Why did you decide to start blogging? How do you network your blog?
4. What is your favorite childhood memory?
5. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?
6. Do you prefer to buy books or movies or check them out from the library/rental store?
7. What is the most important piece of advice you’ve learned or received that you would pass on to someone else?
8. What is one event in your life that you believe has changed you (for better or worse)?
9. Do you collect anything? If so, what?
10. What is your favorite holiday and why?
11. Who in your life has influenced who you’ve become the most and why?

 MY NOMINEES

Ok, I have to confess that I don't know that many other bloggers out there (especially ones with less than 300 followers), so I will slowly add to my 9 nominee list. But for starters, here they are:

1. Brandon @ Muertos Coffee
2. Susan @ Go Betti Go
3. Maura @ More O' Maura

If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading this entire blog post! You're awesome! I hope you follow me and we can network our blogs!