I'm a winner!

    The other day, my fellow blogger friend Elizabeth over at Elizabethtown bestowed the Leibster Award on me. I've never heard of this before so I read her post to check it out. It's cute, and kind of funny.

    So, what is a Leibster Award? This award is given to new or up and coming bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. The award is then passed along to other bloggers in the same category to help spread the word.  Basically it's a nice way to say, "Hey I like your blog! Let me help you promote it!"

    If you receive the award, there are a few rules to follow… 

    Each blogger nominated must post 11 random things about themselves. Then answer the 11 questions the tagger has asked. The blogger must then create 11 questions of their own to ask the bloggers they decide to nominate. Bloggers must be notified of their award. No tag backs. 

    So here we go…
    11 Random things about me:
    1. I've owned 14 guinea pigs. Don't worry, not all at once. I'm not a "crazy guinea pig lady" or anything like that. I adore animals and when I was little I BEGGED my parents hardcore for a pet. They only became dog people a few years ago so they wouldn't let me get a dog back then. But they did get me a little guinea pig, who turned out to be pregnant. She had 4 babies. So that's 5 pigs. A few years later when they were all gone, I was a wreck without an animal in the house so we got another guinea pig...who was pregnant...who had 4 babies. Now we're up to 10. (Note, we had no idea they were pregnant when we got them.) Once that batch was all gone we got a boy pig, and then one of my mom's students had to give their pig away so we took her (and kept them separate, don't worry.) When they were gone I was in college but I was coming home every weekend so I got another pig and then my ex brother in law got a pig, had it for 3 months, and then it became mine. Tobi, my last guinea pig, passed away in September 2011 after a long 8 and a half years. I was sad to see her go. I loved those little animals but probably won't be getting any more any time soon. I can remember all their names too: Squeaky, Racer, Chocolate, Snowflake, Fluffy, Blizzie, Kiki, Sally, Kipat, Jessie, Teddy, Mathilda, Tobi and Hamlet. 

Tobi, my last guinea pig. She was always so happy. I still miss her over a year later.

2. Of all the places I have traveled in this world, and despite being a beach girl at heart, my most favorite place I have been, is Scotland. I went to England first, which was amazing, but then 2 years later we went back to the UK and went to Scotland...I have never seen such a beautiful and amazing country. I love the culture. I love the history. I love the castles and the landscape. They have mountains with nothing on them but grass and they are topped with just a small amount of white snow. It is breathtaking. I've never experienced another place like Scotland and I hope I get the chance to go back some day and hear that wonderful accent again while I sit in a pub and drink a pint.

Does it really get any more beautiful than this?

3. My favorite color is teal/turquoise.

      4.  I hope to someday travel to California. I want to see the Pacific Ocean. I have absolutely no desire to travel to Asia.

      5. I adore Disney World and can't wait to take my kid there someday and see it through his eyes.

      6. The Boston Marathon is at the top of my race bucket list. Depending on how marathon number one goes, I hope to check it off the list in 2015. 

      7. Dave Matthews Band is my favorite band. I have an unhealthy obsession with Dave himself. I have been to almost 20 Dave concerts. Yet I ended up with a Jimmy Buffet license plate, whose music I also love. I know every word to "Son of A Sailor" by heart.

      8. If I could, I would move to Key West. No really, I would. My grand plan a long time ago was to move to the keys after college and work on a dive boat during the day and bartend at night. There are a lot of days I wish that I had taken a year or two and done that right after I was done with school... 

      9. When I was 15 I decided I wanted my hair to look like Rose's hair from Titanic, so I got a perm. My hair was so long and thick (and the lady that does my hair is amazing) that it took the curl really well. I kept it up until the end of college and I had it so long that everyone though I had naturally curly hair! Now we are back to the naturally straight, although as I get older, the back seems to be curling on it's own. Weird.



    Best picture I could find from college...and Rose.

   10. I always thought I would have a little girl first. I'm having a son in May. I'm excited to see what being the mom of a boy will be like, and I will make sure that he grows up to respect others, especially women. 

   11. One of my goals in life is to ride a camel through the desert up to the pyramids.

    PHEW! Now that that is done, here are the questions that E gave me...

   1. Who would you invite to a dinner party for 10? Can and should include famous and/or dead people.
      Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffett, Prince William, Princess Kate, Prince Harry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Leonardo Da Vinci, Vincent van Gogh, and Claude Monet.  

    2.When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? A paleontologist. I was obsessed with dinosaurs. 

    3. Best gift you’ve ever received. {You cannot say Jesus, salvation, my spouse, or my child}
       My college education. My parents paid for all of it and I am so thankful that I made it to my late 20's before acquiring any real debt. I'm grateful I don't have to pay off any student loans and I have something that no one can take away from me. It was a great experience.   

    4. What is your go to road trip snack? french fries and candy bars.

    5. What is your dream vacation? Ireland, or Hawaii.

    6. What drives you to blog?
      I have written in journals as long as I can remember and a blog is basically a journal but a lot more fun because people can interact with you through a blog. I love sharing my running experiences and since I don't have any super hardcore running friends, I use my blog to share my stories with the running community.

    7. What do you hope your children remember about their childhood? That they were loved unconditionally and we gave them all we could. And I hope they have fun with us and enjoy being with us. What do you hope they forget? Any heartache that they encounter. But I hope they learn from it.

    8. What’s your go to “I’m at a party and I’m going to tell a funny story about myself” story? You know you have one. 
       I know I have one, but honestly, I've done so much dumb stuff, that there are just too many good ones to choose just one :-) 

    9. What are you most proud of? {I’m assuming it is not the above story}
        I think I have a lot of things to be proud of, but honestly, the thing that comes to mind the most is overcoming my divorce. In that situation, a lot of people would have fallen apart. In the beginning, yes, I broke. I fell apart hard. But the night that everything came to a head, I said to myself, "I am done. I am over this. No one deserves this. I'm not going back." and for the first time in my life, I stuck to my guns and my beliefs and what I felt in my heart was right and I went with it, no matter what anyone else tried to convince me to do, no matter how many times I was told "You're married, you should fix it and live with it." I KNEW no one should have to live like that, to be treated like that. No one else was living in that situation but me. No one else had any idea how bad it really was. So I listened to myself and no one else. It wasn't easy. My bank account was completely wiped clean for awhile, I had to live with my parents for a year, I had to work a second job, I had to pay for the divorce and go to counseling, but you know what? I did it. I picked myself back up, got my life back in order, and moved forward. I didn't dwell in the past and sit around feeling sorry for myself. I knew I was the only one that was going to get it done and I did it. To this day, as I work my steady job, feel my baby kick inside me, come home to the house that I helped to purchase and kiss a husband who is truly my partner and support system in everything, I know it was all worth it, and I amaze myself that I worked so hard for this life, and I came out OK in the end. 

    10. What do you like the most about yourself?
         That I am a forgiving and trusting person, sometimes I trust too easily and forgive too easily. I let people have waaaay too many chances with me. I put up with a lot of crap before I finally decide enough is enough. And when I'm done, I'm done. But in a way, that's a good quality to have. 

    11.  What is your favorite dessert?
      Chocolate...Chocolate...and more chocolate :-) Fruit is not a dessert.

        So now, who do I pass this award along to??

        Rachel at Lou Lou Belle

         And

         Kathryn at Run+Eat+Play RVA

       Congrats on your award!!

      So here are your 11 questions:
     1. What is your favorite type of exercise and why?
     2. How many places have you traveled? (Can be in the US or outside the US)  
     3. How many jobs have you worked since you started working? (Including things you did in high school)
     4. How many pets have you had?
     5. Where is your hometown? Do you think you will ever live there again?
     6. If you could have any job what would it be and why?
     7. What is your favorite holiday?
     8. If you could live anywhere in the world, no matter the cost, where would you live?
     9. What items can you NOT leave the house without?
     10. What is your favorite thing about Richmond?
     11. What is at the top of your bucket list?