Liebster Award, Blogger Love & Information Overload

I'm taking a break from applying for jobs to do something exceedingly more enjoyable -- I was nominated for the Liebster Award! Twice! Within a week! I feel so loved (which, uh, is kind of what "liebster" means in German, so that's appropriate)!

Pretty much every blogger and their mom has already been nominated, so for any non-bloggy people reading this, here's the deal. It's sort of a blogger pay-it-forward kind of situation. It's a way for bloggers to recognize other small bloggers, and when a blogger is nominated, they then pass it along to others. I was nominated by Christina at Route Bliss and Caity at Where the Heart Is. They're both super awesome and you should check out both of their blogs -- Christina takes the most beautiful photos, and Caity is in the process of moving to London. :)

There are a bunch of different "versions" of this award floating around, and my nominations are two different versions. One involves answering 11 questions, saying 11 facts about yourself and nominating 11 bloggers (and asking them 11 questions). The other involves answering five questions, making up five questions and nominating five bloggers. So I'm going to get creative and make up my own rules: I'll answer Christina's 11 questions, use Caity's questions as half of my 11 facts about myself, nominate five bloggers (because, like I said, everyone and their mom has already been nominated) and ask 11 questions.

So basically, get ready to learn everything you've ever wanted to know about me. Probably more, actually.

Here are the rules (that I've seen most often):
1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Thank the blogger(s) that nominated you and link back to their blog.
3. Answer 11 questions asked by your nominator.
4. Write 11 facts about yourself.
5. Nominate 11 other blogs with fewer than 1,000 followers and ask them 11 questions.

Here are Christina's questions:

1. Name one thing on your bucket list you want to accomplish in the next year.
I don't really have a cut-and-dry bucket list. I mean, I have an Olympic bucket list, but a lot of those things are kind of difficult to accomplish at this point in my life. However, I'd really love to visit another Olympic city in the next year!

2. What did you want to be when you grew up?
I didn't really know. I was never that kid that was like "I want to be a teacher!!!1!!!11!" But fun story: in my fifth grade yearbook, we each had our career aspirations printed underneath our photo, and mine said "author and Olympic athlete." So apparently I did sort of know what I ultimately wanted to do... just without knowing it, haha. Good thing I'm still the exact same person I was when I was 11!

3. If you could have any job in the world now, would you do what you do now or something else?
Considering my answer to the previous question... lol. I'd love to continue doing what I'm doing. (Except I'd make it a permanent job, not a temporary one. Sigh.)

4. Coffee or tea?
Coffee in the morning, iced tea during the day and hot tea at night! :) But tea ultimately wins.

5. Favorite international accent to listen to?
British. Living in London for five months was so wonderful for so many reasons, and this was definitely one of them!

6. Favorite place in the U.S. you've been (or dream of visiting)?
I think I have to be an incredibly biased New Yorker and say New York City.

7. What was your worst travel experience?
Getting stuck in Paris. Ugh. The plan was to take a train to Venice, but they were all booked, so we had to fly, and basically EasyJet screwed us. And an extra several hundred dollars later, we were in Venice. I'm still kind of bitter about that whole situation. #Parisgate2012

8. Do you prefer to receive cut flowers or flowers with the roots still attached?
Hmmm. With the roots attached, I guess. Those last longer!

9. Favorite animal?
I'm not really sure. But having a pet bird has sure made me a bird person.

10. Would you rather get a tattoo or piercing?
A piercing, definitely. The permanence of tattoos makes me itchy.

11. What's the worst job you've ever had?
I haven't really had any bad jobs! I guess by default it would be my job at the gym, since it's the only one I ever had that wasn't related to my career goals. But I worked there for four years and it was honestly a pretty good job.

Working really hard at the ol' wellness center. Though in all seriousness, I got a ton of homework and reading done there!

Here are Caity's questions:

1. What made you start blogging?
I've sort of blogged forever, since those cringe-worthy Xanga days. Yikes. But I started this blog when I started taking control of the direction of my life and doing cool things. I wanted to document 'em!

2. What song is a full-blast, must sing at the top of your lungs in the car?
I don't really sing in the car, because I think my own voice is that bad. But there's one song I always sing along to, and that's Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Classic rock radio for the win.

3. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Answered! :)

4. If you could visit anywhere, where would you go?
See this list. Literally anywhere on there!

5. What do you want to accomplish in the next five years?
I want to be happy. The definition of that is pretty much always changing, but in five years I'd like to be able to look at my life and be content with where I am and where I'm going.

Six more facts about me:

1. I regularly eat kale with every meal of the day. In my smoothies for breakfast, in my wraps/sandwiches I make for lunch, and as salad with dinner.

Actual texts I received last week.

2. I have slept on the street in the name of fandom several times. One time was for the better part of a week. Not even sorry.

3. If I'm ever upset, I just watch clips of Whose Line is it Anyway on YouTube. That literally fixes anything.

4. My favorite book is The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. I read it for the first time two years ago and it basically ripped my still-beating heart out of my chest and threw it into a wood chipper. It's beautiful. Pretty much flawless. The writing style is phenomenal, and somehow you're surprised by what happens even though the narrator (which is Death, by the way) tells you what's going to happen right in the beginning. So GO READ IT!

5. I took Italian from seventh grade all the way through high school, and had the same teacher for all four years of high school... and some of his frequently uttered sayings still creep into my vocabulary every now and then; "andiamo" (let's go) and "abbiamo finito" (we're finished).

6. I love cities where I can just hop on the subway and get where I need to go. Walkability is a plus too, but give me London's tube, or NYC's subway, or Paris' metro, or Berlin's U-bahn, etc. Good public transportation for the eternal win.

Bloggers I nominate:
Amanda and Carly @ Our Shelf Lives
Lauren @ lauren elyse CAN
Polly @ A Girl and Her Travels
Jess @ Stamp In My Passport
Sarah @ Shades of Sarah

My 11 questions:
1. If you could only listen to one band/musical artist ever again, who would it be?
2. What's your favorite travel memory?
3. What's the best meal you've ever eaten? The worst?
4. Name a book that's changed your life. (Bonus points for telling us why or how!)
5. If you could choose any career, what would it be?
6. What website do you waste most of your time on?
7. List five people that, if they were holding a meet-and-greet, you would pay money for a ticket to meet them.
8. What movies can you recite line-for-line?
9. Which Hogwarts house are you in? Tell us how your personality fits that house!
10. What's one item you couldn't live without?
11. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose to live?

WHEW. If you're still reading this, you're the bomb dot com. Thanks for sticking with me, and thanks again to Caity and Christina for the nominations! :)