The Liebster Award: My First Blog Award and 11 Personal Secrets Revealed

Hooray!! My very first award!  

Julianne from Something To Talk About SLP nominated me for the Liebster Award! 

                      

                                                         YES YES !! 

How cool is THAT?! Julianne is an excellent blogger and I'm just excited that she even reads mine!  So when Julianne chose me for this award, to be honest, I had to google what it even was! I had never heard of it but soon found out it was legit!

It seems that liebster is a German word meaning sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Those are a lot of nice words! Aww shucks :) 

The Liebster Award is granted BY bloggers TO bloggers with fewer than 200 followers who they feel are "up and coming" and deserve some recognition and support to keep on truckin' - like a big bloggy hug and thumbs up!  

What a nice thing!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Julianne, for nominating me! Please forgive me for taking so long to blog about it.  {It's kinda awkward blogging about yourself getting an award and it took me a long time to figure out how without being too bragalicious- I hope I succeed} 

If you haven’t done so already, go check out Julianne’s blog.  She has inspiring posts and great ideas for therapy! 

The Official Rules Of The Liebster Award

1. Write a blog post thanking the blogger who nominated you for the Liebster Award, and link back to his or her blog.
2.  Answer the 11 questions that your nominator asks you.
3.  Post 11 random facts about yourself.
4.  Nominate 5-11 bloggers of your own, with under 200 followers, whom you think are awesome and deserving of this honor.
5. Create 11 questions for your nominees.
6. Display the Liebster Award logo on your page.
7. List these rules in your post. (You can copy and paste them from here.)

My answers to Julianne's questions: 

1.   Are you a morning person or night owl? 

      I am such a night person, especially when I'm on break from school.  I always end up staying up wayyy too late reading, watching TV, crocheting or creating TpT materials.  Before too long,  I completely have my days and nights mixed up. I have never been nor ever will be a morning person, but I really wish I was! 

2.  What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? 

      OMG I love banana ice cream - even better - with walnuts in the mix.   I'm not much of a "sweets person," but I am a sucker for banana ice cream.

3.  What is your favorite summer memory?  

      My favorite summer memory is just the summer routine I had growing up in a small town (which is 1 square mile). Each day of summer, my best friend and I would take off on our bikes in the morning, and we often didn't come home until dusk.  We made the rounds to all of our friends' homes, spying on boys we had crushes on and looking for any adventure we could find. The freedom of summertime - drinking from the water hoses in random yards, setting up slip-in-slides on one of our yards, and just sitting in the grass telling secrets made for a fun childhood.

4.   Are you a chocolate person or a candy person? 

      Actually, I am not much of either.  I love salty treats! Pickles, olives, chips, and nuts are my vices, but I DO have a little weakness for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Laffy Taffy! 

5.  Are you a cat person or a dog person? 

      I love animals of all kinds and I actually do have cats, but I am a dog fanatic.  I have an 8 year old Lhasa Apso named Lola who is the furry love of my life.  When Lola was just a few years old I lost my first 2 doggie loves, Maggie and Bailey, who lived 15 and 16 happy years with my little family.  They gave me more happy moments than I could ever count.  I can't imagine ever living without a dog. 

6.  What do you want to be when you grow up? 

      I want to be too many things, and I keep adding to the list all the time!  My dream since childhood was to be writer, and as long as I can remember, I wanted to own a bookstore... until Kindle squashed that dream.  I'd love to be a restaurateur (old school Cajun cooking!), a travel agent, or a graphic designer.  Even more so, I can't wait to be a grandmother!

7.   What is one thing you try to do everyday?  

      I try to express gratitude to God everyday.  I feel so blessed to have a happy, healthy, family, to still have my parents, and to have overcome the obstacles I've faced in my 41 years.  I'm so thankful for the beautiful life God has given me that sometimes I feel my heart may burst.  

8.   What is your favorite childhood movie?  

      Ohhhhh myyyy goshhh.  This is soooo hard.  The first thing that pops into my head is the Neverending Story (circa 1984), but ET is a close second, and let's not forget I named my firstborn after Ferris Bueller's Day Off! 

9.   Who inspires you?  

      My mom inspires me to the Nth degree.  She is almost 80 and can do anything.  She is the strongest and most selfless person I've ever met.  She truly lives by the golden rule- treating everyone as her equal and treating them as she would want to be treated. She goes above and beyond for everyone from pauper to prince, taking in those who need, reaching out to those who others may ignore.  She'll also give you a good kick in the butt when needed.  My mom is a bad ass. 

10.  Where do you want to travel to (a place you have not been before)?  

      I am dying to travel to Europe, but how will ever I choose what to see there!!?  I want to see it all.  Every inch of it.  In fact, please tell me your favorite places.

11.  If you were a cookie, what would you be and why?  

      I would probably be a macadamia nut cookie because I'm sweet but definitely nutty.  

11 random facts about me       

       1. As a preteen, I caught my loooooonnng hair on fire running past a candle.  It    

            sounded like bees buzzing around my head.  Thanks to my mom's quick        

            move of throwing a blanket over my head and dousing me in the tub, I lived  

            to tell about it.  My hair never grew past my shoulders again. Bummer.

       2. All the through the 80s I thought I was Madonna.  I dressed like her "to the 

           max" and even used eyeliner to draw on her little mole.  I still have all of her 

           albums (on vinyl of course).

       3. The man I married was my neighbor from the age of 4 to the day we married.  

           We used to run outside at night and meet at the corner between our homes 

           to steal one last kiss. Our parents still have homes on the same block which 

           makes visits back home super convenient! 

       4. My parent and in laws' first language was French.  I am part of the first  

           generation of our family whose first language is English.  We are true blue 

           Cajuns  (and I should note we all speak correctly contrary to common  

           stereotypes). 

       5. I drew the house plans for our current multi level home on graph paper.  1  

           foot = 1 square of graph paper.  Don't ever tell me I can't do something. 

       6. I'm petrified of frogs of all kinds.  In high school I stopped leaving my house 

           after dark, and my mom sent me to therapy for it.  Didn't work all that great-       

           moving off to college where there were less frogs worked better.   I chose my  

           college major (communication disorders) because it didn't require biology (ie. 

           frogs). My husband and sons are on permanent frog watch.  

       7.  I play the piano. 

             8. My dad never yelled at me once in my whole life (and trust me, I deserved   

                 some yelling!) He set the bar very high for all men in my life. 

9           9. I'm a complete foodie and everywhere we go, my husband and I try all the    

                 local dives.  They're actually on our vacation itinerary. 

           10. I wish I was outdoorsy, but I just am not.  Perhaps this is frog related. 

           11. Since my sons are grown, for my 40th birthday, I ditched my big SUV and  

                 bought myself a baby blue VW Beetle convertible!

                                       and my nominees are.....

1)Jeanette from Speak Well Read Well 

Speak Well Read Well is my go-to blog when I want to discover a new children's book to use in therapy. Not only does Jeanette explain how she uses the books she loves, she has great suggestions for crafts and activities. Occasionally, she even posts an author interview! She's been an SLP over 20 years and her passion for doing literature based therapy is beautifully displayed on her blog.  

Jeanette, I hope you'll accept this Liebster award!  

2) Kelly at Speech2U 

Kelly is clearly a talented SLP, but what makes her blog so special is that she is hilarious.  Her blog seriously makes me laugh out loud for real.  Kelly is informative and gives great therapy ideas while being entertaining and just clever.  Her quips about raising her equally hilarious son always leave me smiling, too.  TAG, Kelly, YOU just won the Liebster Award! :)) I can't wait to read what you're blogging about next!

3. Meredith at the Peachie Speechie

If you haven't been to this speech and language blog, you are missing out on some fun, fresh ideas for therapy.  It's a great mix of DIY activities, themed book lessons, handy tips and Meredith's ingenious 100 word challenges for articulation.  OH and she recently added the cutest SLP tees (and bags and mugs and pins- oh my! ) ever known to mankind. 

Meredith! I love your blog! 

4.  Abby at Schoolhouse Talk! 

I love that Abby mixes it up with speech therapy blog posts as well as motivational posts and personal tidbits. She has simple but brilliant ideas for therapy with the littie ones as well as fun craftivities!  I always look forward to her short "funny Friday" post, too!  YOU have been nominated, Abby!  I think YOU and your schoolhouse ROCKS! 

5. The Word Nerds 

First, let me say I covet the name of this blog.  Being a self-proclaimed word nerd, this blog speaks my language.  If you are prone to being bookish, you should go directly to this little blog post haste.  It just makes me happy.  It makes me feel not alone in my thinking when I choose to spend my Friday nights having a hot date with a novel.  All fellow readers (and grammar gurus)click now and thank me later.  

This is just a little award, Word Nerds, but feel free to pretend it's a Pulitzer Prize. :)

           1. What's your favorite vacation destination?

           2. If you won the lottery, what would be your first splurge? 

           3. If you could learn to do anything at all, what would it be? 

           4. Since clothes "maketh the man (or woman)" what does what you're wearing 

               right now say about you? 

           5. What was your favorite childhood game? 

           6. What's the #1 most played song on your  smart phone?

           7. If you could close one fast food restaurant due to their disgusting food, which 

               one would it be? 

           8. What's your beverage of choice? 

           9. What's your favorite meal or the best thing you've ever eaten?

          10. What movie deserves a sequel? 

          11. What's your greatest accomplishment thus far? 

   Let’s keep the blogger love going....it's your turn to nominate! 

         Now in my house when someone brags or toots their own horn, my son, Riley, always finishes off the conversation by saying "hash tag humble brag" so I think it's only appropriate to leave you with this.....

#humblebrag

Thanks for tolerating this bragalicious post and celebrating my happy news with me 

(if you read this far:)