Liebster Award

The other day I was BEYOND excited to find that the lovely Sarah from Wire and White as well as Nat from Muddy Farmwife had nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award.

Some background: Liebster is a German word, meaning favourite, dearest or beloved and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers, who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition. The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
4. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

FIVE THINGS ABOUT ME

1) I'm the daughter to these two lovely people above, an American Mother and an Australian Father. She met my Father on a visit to Australia when she was 20, they fell in love and she never returned home again. I was born the following year. I am therefore half American complete with USA passport and many relatives in the US including my Texan Grandmother who says things like "It just tickles me!" and "aint that just the cutest thang" and "Bless your cotton socks". Sadly my parents' marriage ended when I was 12 and I thereafter lived with my Dad and didn't see my Mother for almost 15 years. We now have a great relationship. This experience made me grow up fast and taught me many valuable lessons at an early age -  that sometimes life is challenging, that some things are out of our control and you have to just make the most of this one precious life you are given, that blood is thicker than water, that there are some seriously kind kind people out there who I would never had been close to if my parents were still together, that Mothers need to take good care of themselves.

Just for the record - wasn't my idea to have my hair like this!

2) I am the eldest of 3 girls. We are all completely different, which I love. We can drive each other crazy like no one else can but I love them to bits. We live in 3 different States now and the last time we were together was 18 months ago at my youngest sisters Wedding in Thailand. Sisters are very special.

3) I lived in Germany for a year as an exchange student when I was 15 - it was the most amazing and life-changing experience. I learned so much from living abroad that I manufactured another exchange when I was at University, and spent a fabulous year at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

4) I love knitting. I knit left-handed even though I'm right-handed because I was taught by my left-handed Grandmother when I was 7. I started with scarves and then moved onto little Matinee jackets. I made a few for friends who were having babies. I used to send them to my Grandmother and she would crochet the edges for me and send them back. This one was made for my friend but she tragically lost her baby at birth. I haven't touched the knitting needles since. I'd like to learn to crochet next so I can make granny square covers for all sorts of household paraphernalia like Kate does :-).

5) I am such an animal lover that I literally get disappointed if I visit someone and they don't have any pets. I always had pets growing up from ducks - I had 2 named 'Peter' and 'Alicia' for years, cats - here is a pic with my kitten 'Tiddles', dogs - a Cavalier Kings Charles Spaniel named "Sebastian" and then my own horse - an Arabian mare named "Fanah". Now we have the beloved Whippet and I'm designing little paddocks in my sleep where all the future menagerie of animals will be housed. I even did work experience at a Vet thinking I'd like to be a Veterinarian but quickly realised I didn't have the stomach for putting animals down.

So, as you can see I stumbled upon the box of old photos during the last of the unpacking today and have been doing a bit of childhood reminiscing. Hope I didn't bore you too much!

So now I need to forward the Award onto more fun bloggers. And they are:

1) Hazel from The Hut Chronicles
2) Teresa from Amelie in Wonderland
3) Mrs Bok from The Bok Flock
4) Shar from Mum on the Run
5) Annie from Artistica Domestica
6) Fiona from Cattle, Kids & Chaos

OK Ladies, it's your turn!

EDIT: sorry I've had to have 6 as a couple have already been nominated and not sure whether you can do it twice.