Ya'll Don't Know Me: The Liebster Award

Hey guys, I was nominated for a Liebster Award!

The best part of the Liebster is that its purpose is to celebrate the smaller bloggers in the world -- those with fewer than 200 followers -- and to help them gain exposure to an audience that might not have stumbled upon them otherwise. 

I've written about the fabulous person who nominated me, Katie from Once a Southern Belle, Always a Southern Belle, a bunch of times. Katie and I worked together for about two years after college, and she's one of my best friends here in Boston. We have a lot in common, including our insatiable need for celebrity gossip and judging other people drinking wine. We also both started running around the same time, and even though she's both faster than me and can run further than me (girlfriend trained for the NYC Marathon last year and just recently signed up to do her own revenge run in November), we still say that we are going to race again sometime. Most importantly, Katie is a good writer and an even better person, which is why I am so flattered that she nominated me. So after you read more scintillating trivia about me, go learn more about her!

The Rules:

1.  Share 11 facts about myself

2. Answer questions from my nominator

3. Nominate bloggers (with less than 200 followers) for the award

4. Create questions for nominees to answer

5. And when you are  finished, you must link it back to me (as I did above) in your blog post

11 Facts about [ME]

1. Any time I move somewhere (or am staying in a rental house on vacation), my first order of business is always -- always  -- to make the bed. Knowing that there is a warm, tranquil place waiting for me amidst all that stress is one of my favorite feelings in the world.

2. I broke my left pinky finger playing basketball in 4th grade and had to wear a metal splint on our family vacation to Washington, DC. Nothing screams, "family fun!" quite like setting off the metal detector in several government buildings.  The crazy part is that the bone rotated and healed that way, so I can now bend that finger back to a disturbing degree and freak people out.

3. I haven't seen my entire immediate family in one place since I graduated from college almost six years ago. That's the trouble with having five brothers and sisters, three of whom live in Texas!

4. I had really bad separation anxiety as a child. My college admissions essay was about overcoming that fear.

5. I didn't know it at the time, but the post I wrote about the 2012 Olympic Games mirrors an OpEd Commentary that my Dad wrote about the 1996 Atlanta bombing (he's a newspaper writer/editor). My Aunt read the post and found an old copy of the OpEd, which she then mailed to me. I cried when I read it.

6. I didn't feel like taking the Spanish Foreign Language placement exam during freshman orientation at college, so I signed up for a semester of Beginners Latin instead. I ended up loving it so much that I kept it up for two years and would have dual majored in Classics if it didn't require I learn Greek. 

7. If I'm having a hard time waking up in the morning, I put on Harry Belafonte's "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)" and pretend I'm Winona Ryder at the end of Beetlejuice. This has carried over into my running life, as I have the Pitbull Remix of the song on every race playlist I have. 

8. If I were stuck on a deserted island and could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would be ice cream, hands down.

9. I try very hard not to use the word "thing" when writing. A fantastic English teacher once told me that with all of the amazing words in the English language, there is never a need for one as nondescript as, "thing." Obviously, it stuck with me.

10. I love cooking, but am incredibly lazy when it comes to weeknight meal prep. Because of this, Andrew and I go through at least a bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables per week. Slap those puppies in a wok with diced chicken breast, Ken's No-Salt Sesame Ginger marinade and a little Sriracha and boom, 10-minute dinner with leftovers for lunch.

11. I spend an inordinate amount of time fantasizing about alternate situations. 

Katie's Questions for Me

1. What is your favorite song of the moment?

Matchbox Twenty's "Our Song." One of my spin instructors played it for sprints a few weeks ago and I audibly squealed, then lip synched all the lyrics while gasping for breath. Watch out, Beyonce!

2. Describe the best day of your life in 10 words or less.

Boat, beach, baked seafood and beautiful sunset with a boy. 

3. What's one dream, hobby or interest you've always dreamed of pursuing?

Event planning. I chaired my sorority's big philanthropy event during the spring of my senior year and had a blast doing it. The problem, however, is that while I thrive in high-stress environments, they also trigger my anxiety to a point that isn't healthy. Bummer, but I do get to do an element of this in my job, so I'm happy with that for now!

4. What are you currently reading?

The Gunslinger by Stephen King and Terra by fellow blogger Gretchen Powell (Honey I Shrunk the Gretchen).

5. You have one full day completely to yourself with no obligations-- what do you do to fill the time?

These kinds of days actually stress me out with all of their possibility. HOWEVER, ideally, I would sleep until 9, then enjoy breakfast and coffee while absorbed by some trashy scripted television. Once my breakfast has settled, I'd go for a run and then shower, and hang out in my bathrobe for way longer than I meant to while reading a good book. Then I'd pack up my laptop and head to a park or a coffee shop to write for a bit. Following that, I'd meet up with Andrew for Happy Hour and we'd discuss our day over a glass of wine, then head home to make a delicious dinner. A few episodes of 30 Rock on Netflix and then bedtime.

  

6. Why did you start blogging?

Writing has always been a big part of my life; in first grade, I wrote a murder mystery that took place at a pink hotel next to Disney World, complete with illustrations. From sixth grade on, English was always my first love in school, and over the next ten years I busted my ass to churn out everything from short fiction to book reports, response papers to thesis proposals.  Blogging, in some form, has been a part of me since the beginning, when I first realized that writing about my own life is an outlet from the every day insanity. When I was 16, I had Xanga. When I was 18, I had LiveJournal. When I was 25, I had Blogger. And when I was 27, I bought my domain name. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

7. What is your favorite thing about your favorite person?

My niece (and Goddaughter) is so unbearably silly and still so totally innocent; it both makes and breaks my heart.  

8. Who would play you in a movie?

She's probably a little too old now, but Drew Barrymore. She has been through some really dark shit her life, yet has still managed to come out alright on the other side. I like that about her. Plus, she's the only celebrity that more than one person has told me I resemble, so there's that, too.

 

9. If you could be a fly on anyone's wall, dead or alive, famous or not, who would it be?

Tough question -- probably a toss-up between Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. Apparently, Lesley Knope is starting to rub off on me! Alternatively, I'd have to go with Tina Fey, because that woman is a genius.

10. Do you have a secret shame?  You know, that one party trick you can pull out to impress people?

 I have really good facial-recognition skills, so my party trick usually involves declaring, "HEY! Person X is a dead ringer for person Y!" More often than not, people respond with, "OMG, I never noticed that before, but you're SO RIGHT!" Also, I am a treasure trove of random trivia. Did you know that facetious is the only word in the English language that uses all five vowels in sequential order?

And the Nominees are...

This is really awkward, but most of the bloggers I read every day either don't use Blogger (ergo, no "followers" widget) or have a wider audience. 

SO.

If you have a smaller blog and want to be nominated, drop me a line at caitieexperiment [at] gmail [dot] com with a link to your blog, and I'll check it out and nominate you next! :)

My Questions for YOU:

1. If you could go anywhere in the world for ONE DAY only, where would it be?

2. Do you have an "I Go Back" song (a song that brings you to another place and time of your life?) If so, what is it? 

3. If you could say one thing to your junior high/middle school self, what would it be?

4. Who are the top 3 people on your "celebrity guest pass" list?

5. What is your favorite movie produced prior to 1990?

6. Why did you choose your college major/career?

7. What would your superpower be, if you had one?

8. Why did you love your favorite book of 2012?

9. Why did you start blogging?

10. Describe how you would spend your perfect morning.