Liebster Award

Thank you Jodi over at KY Fire Wife for giving me a Liebster Award!  I am sometimes very bad about responding to these and answering all the questions and such.  (Just ask Robin.  Sorry, Robin.)  This time I am going to give it a try. ***Over the weekend I messed around on blogger and lo and behold what do I see?  I see that Robin over at YOUR DAILY DOSE has also bestowed the Liebster Award upon me.  So yes, I will be answering her questions as well.  And I'm glad to get a second chance at responding to an award from Robin!***

After digging around on the net a bit I found this:
The Liebster Award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. So, what is a Liebster?  The meaning: Liebster is German and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. Isn't that sweet? Blogging is about building a community and it's a great way to connect with other bloggers and help spread the word about newer bloggers/blogs.

Well... I do try to be pleasant most of the time, so here goes!  I need to give 11 facts about myself, answer 11 questions from the person who gave the award & ask other bloggers, that I pass the award on to, 11 questions of my own.

I've really been struggling with coming up with facts about myself, so I am just gonna' go with whatever comes to mind right now.  Hopefully this goes well!

11 Facts about me:

1) I like fun girly things.  Not fussy things that require tons of time and effort, but the little touches that make things unmistakably feminine.

2) I can go to the store and pick out something that is an exact color match to something I would like to match at home- like a fabric or paint, without bringing said item with me.  For the longest time I thought everyone did this.

3) If I spend more than one day at home without leaving the house I go stir crazy!

4) I am blessed with natural energy. 

5) I am often the hardest working person on the job.

6) Outside of being stuck in a lousy class with a lousy teacher, I can't remember ever really being bored.

7) I would rather be too hot than too cold.  I spend most of my time being too cold.

8) I can't stand maybe.  It's yes or no for me!

9) I love color, texture and design.

10) I am much more likely to use power tools than my husband is.  We blur the traditional roles very comfortably around here.

11) I would rather be constantly traveling and moving around than be stuck in one place forever.

And now it's onto the 11 questions and their answers from my nominee, Jodi, over at kyfirewife.
1) How do you usually spend your free time?  I try to be productive whenever possible.  I usually turn to fixing, cleaning or making something.  I'm not much for sitting still.

2) How would you like to spend your free time?  I really should think more about getting out and being active as much as I can as I know darn well how much more toned I could be and when the weather is decent I should be taking advantage of it!

3) If you could live anywhere, where would it be, and why?  I actually started this blog so I could document how I'm feeling as I accomplish a long distance move to Texas and that is still where I really long to be.

4) How long have you been blogging?  Since September of 2010.
5) High heels or flats?  Definitely high heels.  I don't wear them on a daily basis or anything, but I am certainly willing to give up a little comfort for fashion and I love how I feel when I wear them.
6) What advice would you give to your former 18-year-old-self?  Get out of the house as soon as humanly possible.  You WILL finish college and make something of yourself and staying 4 more years in a hell hole is totally not necessary to prove anything.
7) What color is your car?  Red!
8) You just won the lottery, check has been deposited... what do you do first?  I actually told my nephew the other day that if I won the lottery he would know it because I would arrive on his doorstep with lots of guns and ammo and have a private jet waiting outside for him.  Yeah, I come from a long line of crazy, what can I say?!
9) On an average day, how much time do you spend watching television?  The TV is almost always on at my house.  I don't do quiet.  It makes me think something bad is about to happen.  But actually watching it, ummm, maybe 2-3 hours a day between news, some HGTV and maybe a reality show on TLC.
10) Have every played an organized sport? if so, what / when?  I'm pretty much a dance girl only, but I did play on the church soft ball team once back in high school.

11) Do you have any siblings?  Yes, only one half sister that I share a mother with.  However, I am pretty sure there are others on my Dad's side that I don't actually know... it's a long story.

And now onto Robin's questions:
1. Who do you miss the most?
I think that would be my friend Donna.  I actually visit her grave site on a regular basis where I talk to her and look out at the beautiful lake view.  This is SO not like me.  I  hate funerals and don't actually dig cemeteries so much either.  I think I feel like we were so much alike and we didn't have very much time together.  I met Donna only 4 years before she died.
2. What is your favorite word, and why?
I have never actually thought about this!  So for now I'll say that it's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious because that's kind of fun!  By the way, I hate the term 'for now'.  It says 'this is going to be done half-assed and never really finished' to me. 
3. Where do you want to go that you have never been, and why?
I have a long list of National Parks to get to.  I need to see the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Zion, etc.  I also need to spend more time on tropical islands!
4. Where do you want to you go that you have already been, and why?
I need to get back to Montana in the summertime and I need to take my husband to see Cancun as that is the place that I just can never get over.
5. If you could relive any experience in your life just for the pleasure of doing it one more time, what would you choose?
I might go back to when I was 10 and spent the summer before my favorite aunt turned 18, having her read the Winnie The Pooh chapter books to me.  She is probably the only person who ever really tried to nurture me in any way and I remember loving that she was doing this with me, even though I was never really into kids stuff.
6. What is your favorite holiday?
Definitely Thanksgiving.  A pretty easy going holiday as holidays go, and I absolutely love to cook!
7. Do you feel like you are doing what you are meant to be doing?  If so, what is that?  If not, what is holding you back?
I definitely know that I am meant to be serving people's needs in some fashion that allows me to use my creative flair. And I do that quite a bit right now.  I also know that I like change and I sense that I will probably find a new way to anticipate and fulfull others' needs in the future.  I see myself dancing again in the future as well.  Sometimes I have such a vision of myself leading dance classes for senior citizens.  I think that would be so much fun!  Right now, I need to know that I'm not preparing to move in order to be comfortable in changing things up.
8. Do you remember your dreams?  Have any of them ever been significant in your life?
Once in a while I remember dreams, but I mostly remember very vivid nightmares that leave me breathless and terrified.  I try to analyze them and see if I can learn something.  I often can.
9. Tell me about the first time you learned the lesson that life simply was not fair.  (It's not a question because I know it has happened to you.)
On the day that I fell in the mud on the way to school and had to go back to my grandma's house to wait out the day, with nothing to do and no one there to talk to.  I hated missing school and she had only diet food in the house!
10.  Who, or what, did you want to be when you grew up (earliest memory)?   (For example, I wanted to be Cher when I grew up when I was about five or six.  That is my earliest desire that I can recall.)
A writer in New York City.  So funny now- I can't stand NYC!
11. Why do you blog?
I started out wanting to document the process of moving out of my home state to a place that felt more like home.  Now I do it because I like the way it makes me think about things and I like the interaction with other bloggers.  :) :)

Now, I don't have a full list of 11 bloggers to pass my questions on to mainly because so many of the bloggers I read have already been included from the 2 people that I received the award from.  However, here are some people I'd like to pass the award on to and will ask my questions of-
 
Arlee Bird @ Tossing It Out
Amber @ Faith, Love, Kids and Me 2
Loretta @ Loretta's Journey
Myra @ Myra's Journey
 
And now here's the list of my own questions:

1) Do you speak any other language, other than English?

2) Do you have any serious regrets? 

3) Have you ever broken a bone?

4) If you could change one major law, what would it be- and why?

5) Have you ever had a pet that was truly a terror, but you loved it anyway?

6) Are you a home body?  If so, why?

7) Do you sometimes break the law if nobody gets hurt?  Or do you always toe the line?

8) Have you ever discovered something that you absolutely love that you thought you never could or would?

9) What is your guiltiest pleasure?

10) What is the biggest surprise of your life?

11) If you needed to live somewhere outside of the United States, where would you choose? 

Again, I thank anyone who has read all of this and hopefully you've found something interesting here.  If I didn't nominate you but you're reading and would like to get in on the fun, hit me up in the comments and tell me where I can read your answers! 

The View From Here

I am back from Palm Springs and cannot say enough how much this trip turned out to be exactly what I had so desperately needed and more.  I haven't been on a real 'two week vacation once you actually get where you're going to' since September of 1995!  And I definitely recommend that you do this if you possibly can in any way.  It doesn't have to cost a bundle.  (VRBO- vacation rentals by owner is a fabulous invention and somebody should have told me about it long before I found it on my own- so definitely check that out.)  Do whatever makes you happy and go wherever you are able, but just do it.  You won't be sorry!

Please forgive me for not having the patience to get any vacation pictures up with this particular blog entry, but this is one of those times when I need to get out what I have to say before it ends up in the ether somewhere and then is only a blog I meant to write and never actually got to.  So let me share one particular experience from the last day of our trip (and then I will be nice and share some photos and highlights later). 

My husband and I were at the Palm Springs art museum.  It is a place with mostly modern stuff and a lot of it is not easy for me to appreciate.  They had a particular exhibit about 60's and 70's geometric abstractions,  that my husband with his logical, actuarial mind was pretty keyed up to see. 

Here is one that I thought was pretty neat.  

Yaacov Agam, One and Another, 1977, serigraph, collection of Palm Springs Art Museum, gift of Martin Lawrence Limited Editions (Martin S. Blinder)
There were a few in a series like this that all had the same colored ovals and circles in the background, but different overlays that allowed you to see the colored areas in different perspectives.

So there we were casually enjoying the art, laughing at some of it- true.  I was really feeling good about being open to some things I wouldn't normally like or even give much thought to.  I was kind of lost in how good this whole trip had been and how it felt right to be winding down and heading home that next day. 

All of a sudden another couple can be heard talking with one of the workers and it breaks into my thoughts.  I hear them asking about one specific area that is closed while it is rearranged for the new season.  The worker asks them when they will be coming back as the exhibit is due to be reopened in 3 days.  I hear the woman say loudly, "probably never!"  She goes on to exclaim how everything they came to see has been closed during their visit and that "I guess we just came at a bad time".  Her husband is clearly annoyed.

While I never say a word to these people, I can't help but compare my own experience to the one that they are having.  Here I am feeling as if I have come to Palm Springs at just the right moment for me and have had nothing but wonderful experiences and I can't imagine how things could be going so wrong for these people.  They walk away in a huff and we see them several other times as we pass through the museum.  They are hurriedly passing by the art and missing any chance to redeem their visit to this museum.  They keep making rude comments and they just don't see anything good at all.

It got me to thinking about some of the insights I have received from the universe recently, including some from this here blogging habit I've gotten into.  There's a post I read about how getting angry doesn't solve anything... found here.  (Came in handy when I got home to find a small water mess caused by me thinking I could cut corners before we left.  I was a tiny bit ticked at myself for that one.)  Christine's post was about a little more serious attitude adjustment, but I just couldn't help thinking of how different things could have been for my museum couple if they had only stepped back for a moment and taken advantage of whatever good there was in their day.  And then I thought about a post that I wrote myself- here  that ended with me talking about how I really wanted to lighten my work load and how that has already happened.  Yes, that's right.  While I was packing up to leave for this trip, I had gotten a phone call from my main client informing me that her husband had lost his job and that she would have to cut back working with me to only about once a month.

It's as if whatever you put out there you'd better have some purpose in it because your attitude and your intentions mean an awful lot in this life.  And when the timing is right, things WILL happen.  Sometimes faster than you might expect.  Sometimes, slower.  You all know that this past year has been somewhat of a struggle for me as I have dealt with not being able to get to Texas no matter how hard my husband and I have tried.  And yet it feels good to know that even when you are not exactly where you physically believe you should be it often turns out that you might be right where you belong, in any given moment.  And that the next big thing could be right around the corner if only you will open your eyes and see.  Kind of like the art, it all depends on your perspective.