Liebster Award x2

This summer, two blog friends nominated me for Liebster Awards :-D  I promised that once I was back to blogging with a stable computer, I would post my part of the awards.  The rules vary slightly for each of them so a blend of the rules might be in order : Nominate 5 blogs I like, ask them 11 questions, answer the 11 questions asked by those that were kind enough to nominate me.

First up ~ the nominees for blogs I enjoy are:
          My Addictions...Handcrafted Jewelry by Patti (best wireworker i know!)
          Miss Val's Creations (very pretty jewelry, recipes, photos, slice of life)
          Amybeads (beautiful beadweaving, patterns, family life)
          Bead Contagion (real beautiful and unique bead embroidery)
          Kimmykats (have you seen her photography? and what about what she does with a spoon & fork?!)

Should they choose to participate, my 11 questions for these ladies are:

1.  What made you start your blog?
2.  If you could live someplace other than where you live now, where would that be?
3.  Who is your favorite musician(s)?
4.  Where is the farthest you have traveled?
5.  Do you drive or fly when you travel?
6.  Are you a country person or city person or a foot in both worlds?
7.  Are you more of an herbivore or an carnivore?
8.  Do you believe in reincarnation or that we only go around once?
9.  What is your favorite season and why?
10.  Who is the person you miss the most?
11. Do you work well with others?



Now, on to answering 2 sets of 11 questions!
First are the questions from Lisa of Carefree Jewelry By Lisa fame.  Thanks for the nomination and your patience with me, Lisa!!!

1. What do you enjoy doing for exercise?  I walk, do yoga at home, and see a trainer once a week.  In the summer I add swimming and kayaking to that list too.
2. Do you have any pets? If so, do you treat them like people?  After a lifetime cat owner, we got a dog.  I definitely talk to pets like they are people.  And I always give them people names (Karen, Tracey, Jessie, Ruby) 
3. What do you enjoy doing with friends?  I like to bead, go out to eat, go to movies and concerts and hockey games. But since most of my local friends take care of their kids like I do, we usually only have time for a coffee or a cocktail once every few months.  I am going for a massage/spa day with my two girlfriends in a few days!  WOO HOO!!!!  
4. Have you read a good book lately? What is the title? If not a book how about a song? This summer was a Leonard Cohen summer for me...I read his biography "I'm Your Man"...it was pretty good.  His poetry books were great, and now I am reading his novel "The Favorite Game" to wash away the horror of his novel "Beautiful Losers" (i do not recommend BL to anyone!  and lucky me, i have two copies of it!).  For music, I recently picked up Guy Clark's "My Favorite Picture of You" and a few Ryan Bingham cds~all fantastic!
5. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? And who would you take?  I want to go back to Alaska and take my husband.  He needs to see it up there. I want to experience it though his eyes and his excitement.  It would be a superfantastic  vacation!  Between the fishing and the eagles, I think he would forget all about the hunting :-) 
6. Name something you are not doing anymore.  Hot Yoga.  I did it 3x/week for 12 months.  I woke up one day and said, "I am not doing this any more" and I was done.  I still do yoga at home and want to take a class again, but hot yoga had its time and place and therapy for me and now I am through with it.  
7. Do you have a secret you would like to share with us?  I really want to pose nude for an artist.  
8. Have you ever lost track of time? What were you doing?  Most always.  I have to set alarms to remind me to go get the kids.  Usually I am beading or reading or on the computer or driving...they all cause me to not be aware of the clock.
9. Do you like to shop? Only for beads, music, and books. or at farm stands. 
10. Do you have a pet peeve?  People loading the dishwasher wrong and people who bag my groceries for me.  They mean well.....
11. Tell us something you remember doing as a kid...The first thing that popped into my head is not indicative of my normal childhood behavior at all, but here it is.  When I was in 7th grade, my girlfriend and I stole 2 of my Dad's cigarettes.  He was a social smoker...a pack would last a month or two.  I knew he would notice that two were gone.  So we threw the rest of the pack behind the dresser, thinking that when he went looking for them, he would be so relieved to find them, he wouldn't notice that he was short.  We then got a half gallon of orange juice and brought that, the cigarettes, and matches into the woods behind my house, and lit up for the first time.  We smoked them down to the filters, felt guilty and buzzed, drank some oj and poured the rest on ourselves to negate the smell of smoke on our clothes and breath.  We saved just enough oj to drown the filters (as i was certain we would burn the woods down if we didn't).  when it was over, she went home and I went home and showered twice.  The next morning, Mom asked where the oj was.  Guess we should have left a little.  

WHEW!  Now on to the second Liebster Q & A, given by another former Jersey Girl, Gloria of New End Studios.  Thanks Gloria!!!!!

1. What color is your front door?  It used to be a beautiful Red, but I since was asked to make it white again (yawn).
2. Do you have a nickname and what is it? None.  I always wanted one.   
3. What is the best compliment you ever received?  That we live simply :-) 
4. As a young girl, did you keep a diary?  I tried for a few years, but every day I wrote "nothing happened today".  Foolish girl.
5. What is your favorite spice to cook with?  Ground Black Pepper.  
6. If you could stay a certain age for the rest of your life, how old would you like to be?  I am not sure if I have reached it yet.  But my 40s are good so far.  Better than the rest, despite more ailments.  
7. From your own blog, what is your favorite post?  http://onekisscreations.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html
8. What is the most annoying or putrid sound, odor, taste, touch, or sight you have ever witnessed? My husband eating almonds, my husband or my mom chewing gum (but i really do love you guys!!!)
9. What is the best advice you ever received? "Don't take any wooden nickels" ~ Dad
10. How old were you when you got your first kiss from a crush or boyfriend? 4 and it was my sweet Paul (my longest friend).  But it didn't start in earnest until I was 14 or 15.  
11. Can you keep a secret?  Yes.  I am known for that in my circles.  Some find safety in that and some are completely frustrated by it.  

This might have been the longest post I have ever written :-)  Thanks to Lisa and Gloria for the nod and thanks to YOU for sticking with me :-) 

And I apologize for the varied font sizes...I cannot figure out what is going wrong or how to correct it.  Oh well.....