Liebster Awards!

Over the last few months, I was nominated for 3 Liebster awards!  Thank you to Brenda at Chatting Over Chocolate, Abby at Just A Girl And Her Blog, and Kae at Englishrose2 for the honor!  What is a Liebster Award?  It's given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  In German, Liebster means:  sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome - or at least, that's what I've been told.  ;)  

The rules:  
1)  Tell 11 random facts about yourself
2)  Answer the 11 questions the nominator has asked you
3)  Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to & link them in your post
4)  Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to
5)  Go back to their page & tell them about the award
6)  No tag backs

Now, I'm going to be a very bad blogger and not do #3-5.  It's not that I don't appreciate the award, but most of the blogs I read/follow have more than 200 followers and the ones I thought about giving the award to, have already received the Liebster and more than once!  Because I don't have a ton of time right now to search for 11 nominees and already too much time has passed since receiving these awards, I'm going to cheat.  I will say that anyone who takes the time to blog and share part of their lives and talent with us are wonderful!  Is that overly cheesy?  ;)  Yes, but it's true, though!

11 Random Facts About Me:
1)  I'm 1/2 Thai, 1/4 Italian, and who knows what else (I've heard I'm also part Cherokee).
2)  I have lots of siblings, but I'm technically the only child of my mom & dad.  All my siblings are technically half-siblings or step-siblings, but I love them all just the same.
3)  I love to travel!  I've been all over the US and various places in Canada, Mexico, Thailand, and Italy. 
4)  I have A LOT of family in Thailand (aunts, uncles, cousins), including my grandmother.  I met her for the first time when I was 25, but not able to have a conversation with her since I don't speak Thai.  It was very emotional meeting her though.  I also have family in Italy, although they are more distant relatives (my dad's cousins, etc) who I've never met and they probably don't even know I exist.
5)  I love Disneyland and would love to visit all the Disney parks all over the world one day.  So far, I've made it to Disneyland and Walt Disney World.  I almost made it to the Hong Kong park, but it didn't quite happen.
6)  I hate coffee & don't like tea.  I wish I liked tea though.
7)  My "coffee" is Coke.  It's very bad, I know, but it keeps me going.  If I really need a pick-me-up, Mt. Dew it is.
8)  I was in both NYC and Washington DC about a week before Sept. 11th.  It was a total shock when I woke up that morning to the news that both the World Trade Center & Pentagon had been crashed into by terrorists knowing that I had been inside both buildings the week before.
9)  I'm a picky eater.  I absolutely hate it, but can't help it.
10)  I'm a true California girl - born and raised.
11)  Supposedly, I'm related to the infamous gangster Pretty Boy Floyd and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, William Floyd. 

11 Questions from Brenda at Chatting Over Chocolate:
1)  What has surprised you most about your blogging journey?
That I've actually stuck with it for so long!

2)  If your life had a theme song, what would it be? 
I think this was the hardest question of the bunch since there's no song out there that completely is "me".  But, for the sake of answering this, I would have to pick "Under Construction" by No Doubt.  There's actually lots of No Doubt songs that I can relate to - Gwen Stefani truly writes from the heart.  When I'm in a truly happy place, I think "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley sums it up.

3)  If you were given free airfare, where would you travel?
I've actually won airfare from work before!  Since I was limited on where I could go and when, I chose Florida - the Keys & Miami.  I always wanted to go to the Keys (I'm a Jimmy Buffett fan), so I was able to check that off my list.  But, if I was given free airfare with no restrictions?   I would choose England & France.  Or maybe Australia.  :) 

4)  What is your biggest fear?
I have a lot of nightmares about my teeth falling out, so I'm guessing it's that. lol

5)  Where would you be most excited to receive a $100 gift card from?
Home Depot, Target, Amazon, Lowe's - any of these 4 places!

6)  What hobbies do you enjoy?
DIY, crafts, crocheting, scrapbooking (I have way less time for this now, though), traveling - pretty much all the stuff you see on my blog.  :)

7)  Which movie could you quote nearly every line from?
"The Nightmare Before Christmas"

8)  What does your ideal Friday night consist of?
Depends on what's going on.

9)  What was your favorite Halloween costume growing up?
I would say it was my Ewok costume in elementary school.  Do you remember those cheap plastic costumes - the masks were just the face with the elastic around the back to hold it onto your head and the actual costume was plasticy too?  Ahhh, memories!  It's too bad I don't have a picture!

10)  What's one of your most cherished memories?
Going to Disneyland for my 6th birthday.  I still have vivid memories of it.  My mom & dad were still together and we all went with a family that we were close to.  I rode with them in their car on the way there and they gave me my present - a Mickey Mouse Colorforms set.  Do you remember those?  I loved that set and it got a lot of use!

11)  What have you always wanted to learn how to do?
Carpentry!  And I plan on learning this year.

11 Questions from Abby at Just A Girl And Her Blog
1)  Why do you blog?
The reason I started blogging was as incentive for me to get projects done around the house.  So far, it's worked very well for me - I've gotten a ton of things done around here and love to share it on the blog.  

2)  What is your color crush right now?
Aqua/Teal/Turquoise - I've been loving these colors for the last few years.  When I first started incorporating it in my decor, it wasn't as popular and harder to find things in these colors, but they're everywhere now and I'm loving it! 
I also like Coral and it goes well with the aqua/teal/turquoise.  So far, I haven't had too much of this color incorporated into my decor, but I plan to do more with it.

3)  Who do you look up to most in your life?
My mom.

4)  What is your favorite childhood memory?
Trips to Disneyland.

5)  What were you like in high school?
I was shy & an introvert.  I'm very different now - if I had my personality now while I was in high school, I would have probably had a whole different high school experience.

6)  Describe yourself in 3 words:
Funny, easygoing, organized

7)  Who is your celebrity crush?
Easy!  Johnny Depp - 29 years and counting! (Holy moly!)  I was 9 when "Nightmare on Elm Street" first came out and saw him in it (seriously, why was I allowed to watch that at that age?).  All I could think was "why does the cute boy have to get killed?!?!".  And watching him in "21 Jumpstreet" when I was a teenager sealed the deal.  :)

8)  If money were not an object, describe your dream home.
A rustic, beach cottage.

9)  When I'm not blogging, you can find me DIY'ing or crafting while watching Netflix.

10)  I cannot live without my ??.  I really couldn't answer this!  I have no idea!

11)  What has been your proudest moment in your life so far?
Being able to buy my own home.

11 Questions from Kae at Englishrose2
1)  What's your favourite season & why?
Fall - hands down.  I like it because the summer heat is just starting to die down and it means the start of winter is soon to come.  The leaves turn pretty colors.  And most of all, my favorite holiday, Halloween, is in the fall!  

2)  If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wish I was taller.  :)

3)  Who inspires you?
Lots of people and all for various reasons. 

4)  If you could go back in time and spend 24 hours with one person, who would it be?  Why?  And what would be the first question to them?
My mom - she's no longer with us and it would be nice to spend another day with her.

5)  What did you want to be when you was a child?
I wanted to be an archaeologist.  I'm still very interested in it and history and some of my favorite vacation outings are going to ancient ruins (I got to do this in Thailand and in Italy when I went to Pompeii).  I also made sure to visit the King Tutankhamen exhibit when it was out here in L.A. years ago. 

6)  As I like to blog about anything and everything, whose blog would you recommend I follow?
There's lots of great blogs out there, but here's a handful of my favorites:  Thrifty Decor Chick, I Heart Organizing, The Lettered Cottage, House of Smith's, The Ugly Duckling House, Thrifty & Chic

7)  What do you dislike the most?
Hmmm, I don't really have an answer to this.

8)  If money was no object, what is the one thing you'd buy that you've always wanted?
I would probably buy a bigger house with more property and for sure with an in-ground pool.  I would also buy a truck so I wouldn't have to bug other people to help with large purchases.  :)  But, mostly, I would help out family and friends.

9)  Did you have a nickname at school?  What was it and why?
My nickname is Chrissy - my real name being Christine.  Most of my family call me "C" or "CC" and a lot of friends call me Chris.   I have various other nicknames that usually start for random reasons.

10)  Why did you start to blog?
The reason I started blogging was as incentive for me to get projects done around the house.  So far, it's worked very well for me - I've gotten a ton of things done around here and love to share it on the blog.

11)  What's the most significant change you've made to your blog?
Not too long ago,  I started allowing ads to appear on my blog.  I've also started to include more recipes.

Wow - some of those were really hard questions!  Thanks again to Brenda, Abby, and Kae for the nomination - it's truly appreciated!

Originally posted by Adventures in DIY