The Liebster Blog Award

Karina from Watcha Reading was so generous in nominating me for the Liebster Blog Award! I'm so excited for this. And the idea of being able to use Jennifer Lawrence award ceremony gifs sealed the deal with me accepting it!

Photo Credit.

  I spent some time on Google after Karina nominated me, and there are fifty thousand variations in the rules and what's expected of the recipients. So, I'm going to just graciously borrow exactly what Karina did in her post.

The Rules:

• List 11 facts about yourself.
• Answer the 11 questions chosen by the person who nominated you.
• Ask 11 new questions to 11 bloggers. They must have less than 200 followers. (You cannot re-nominate the blog that nominated you.)
• Go to their blog and inform them.

Eleven Little Things:

1. I have a cat, Absinthe Maye or Abi for short, that I adore. My beau (Chris) and I lovingly refer to her as our daughter. At night, she and I both wind up sleeping on top of Chris. He's yet to complain. Such a keeper.

Yes, she plays GTA: San Andreas on the PS2. Boss.

2. My hometown is also the hometown of the first impeached President of the United States, Andrew Johnson! And I'm really proud of it. I love going downtown to visit his National Park Site which includes his homestead, tailor shop, and grave.

3. Because I grew up next door to a Presidential grave, I have started my own little travel challenge to visit all of the US Presidential Graves. I've gotten through around half of them so far, and I love, love, love doing it. Thomas Jefferson's grave has been my favorite.

4. My town is small, and I visit my favorite my favorite restaurant so much that they have my order memorized. It's the ultimate comfort food. Steak and chicken fajitas with extra peppers and tomatoes.

5. My middle name is Noel because I was conceived around Christmas. (Thanks for that fun fact, parents!)

6. But Christmas is my favorite holiday. I still believe in Santa. He isn't just a guy in a jolly red suit. Santa is anyone willing to go out of their way to make someone else feel the holiday spirit.

7. Chris and I have already made a promise to each other that once we have a child, we're going to surprise them on Christmas morning with a trip to Disney World.

8. I am huge fan of football. Last year, I was lucky enough to be in Baltimore to experience my team (Go Ravens!) winning the Superbowl with the rest of our awesome fanbase. They returned to Charm City like kings!

9. I'm not a fan of chocolate unless it's chocolate covered strawberries.

10. If I'm not reading or blogging, I'm lurking on Reddit. /r/AskReddit is my favorite sub. I can get lost there for hours.

11. I have a very weird nervous habit of munching on raw angel hair pasta. Sometimes I'll do it just because. I've been doing it since I was a kid.

The Questions from Karina:

1. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Why?

I'm having a hard time singling out one place. I want to go to every place. My top two that I flip between are London and Bruges, Belgium. I'm a fan of the Royal Family, and I've love to experience it's history in and around London. And Bruges is a medieval dream come true.

Bruges, Belgium

2. What supernatural creature would you be? Werewolf, vampire, witch, shapeshifter, etc. Why?

Without a doubt, I'd be a vampire. Having an eternity on Earth to be a part of history and experience it all unfold? Yes, please. Whenever I get bored with watching that, there are always plenty of books to keep me company. Just please don't make me be of the sparkling variety.

3. If you could be a character in a book, who would you be and why?

Wow. This one is really hard. I'm going with Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. I know; he's a boy. Whatevs. Cool staff? Check. Badass blade? Check. Fireworks? Check. Associating with hobbits, elves, and the like? Check. Endless adventure opportunities? Check. Shadowfax? Check.

4. What book character would you want to be stuck on an island with and why?

Easy. Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. He's a ranger, so we would never lack the basic necessities (shelter, water, warmth, and food). If we run across any unsavory creatures (I'm looking at you, Gollum), he could protect me. And if I'm bored, I'll gladly let him sing me to sleep. 

That face.

5. Why did you choose to start blogging?

I love reading. I always have. And whenever I started noticing people linking to their blogs on Goodreads, it was an "oh, hey!" moment. A place to rant and praise books with endless gifs? Sign me right up. And the community is amazing. That's a definite perk that I didn't realize at the beginning.

6. Who's your favorite author? Why?

That man right there, J.R.R. Tolkien. I cannot praise him enough. He gave me a place that will forever feel like home. No matter how many times I pick up one of his works, my respect always grows for him. He gave me the gift of falling in love with reading at a young age, and I will forever be grateful to him for that. He's such an extraordinary writer. And I'm so inspired by his work as a linguist. For Christmas, Chris gave me a copy of Letters from Father Christmas. Reading the letters that he wrote to his children whilst pretending to be Father Christmas left me in tears. He's such a remarkable person. I have to stop myself now or I'll never stop writing and crying. Thank you, J.R.R. Tolkien. You welcomed me into your world of Middle Earth and allowed it to become my home, too.

7. If you could control an element, which would you want to have? Water, fire, earth, air, electricity?

Why can't I pick all of them?! Honestly, I'd probably pick air. My knee jerk reaction was to say fire, but I feel like it's too destructive. Air can definitely be destructive, but I feel like it isn't as uncontrollable as fire. And if I control air, I could surely figure out a way to allow myself to fly. 

8. If there was an apocalypse and you could only keep 5 books, which would you choose?

Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Zombie Survival Guide, Boy Scout Handbook, and The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe.

9. What is something you can't live without? (Besides blogging and books)

I'm going to assume that Chris and our cat aren't included in this either. A pencil. I cannot live without a pencil. I'm always scribbling notes and to-do lists on stuff. Or if I have a weird dream or random idea, I immediately want to write them down. And I love leaving notes around the house and cars for Chris to find. I'm not a fan of pens, so definitely a pencil.

10. What is a book you're dying to read in 2014?

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. And lucky me, I have it sitting next to me! After I catch up on blogging, I'm going to disappear for the day with this book. I have heard so many good things about it. I cannot wait!

11. If you could enter a book world, what book world would it be? Why?

Middle Earth without a doubt. Specifically, I want to go to Rivendell. It's always felt like home to me since I first read Lord of the Rings. That's my entire reasoning. It's home.

11 Questions for my nominees:

1. If you could have dinner with one character from your favorite book, who would it be? Why?

2. Do you prefer hardback or paperback?

3. Which author would you want to be best friends with? Why?

4. What's your favorite book to movie adaptation?

5. Which book do you want to see turned into a movie that hasn't been yet? Why?

6. What book has had the biggest impact on your life? Why?

7. You get one week to do whatever you want. Money isn't an issue, and there are no consequences for what you do. So, what do you spend your week doing?

8. What's the one place (real or fictional) that you want to runaway to?

9. If you could only read one book for the rest of your life as many times as you wanted, which one would you pick?

10. You get to have one super power. What's it going to be and why?

11. Vanilla or chocolate?

My Nominees:

1. Terri at Second Run Reviews

2. Alice at The YA Buzz

3. Jordan at Jordy Paige Books

4. Jenn at Tale of Two Doxies

5. Cassi at My Thoughts... Literally!

6. Jackie at Bibliobrat

7. Elizabeth at Redhead Reader

8. Rimsha at Ramblings of a Bookworm

9. Missie at A Flurry of Ponderings

10. Aneta at Angelic Book Reviews

11. Candy at So little time...