Liebster Award

Woohoo! Ari from Vicenarian Stew has nominated me for a Liebster award; an award for up-and-coming bloggers with less than 200 followers (in my case, much less than 200 followers). I'm pretty chuffed to have been nominated by Ari, whose blog I stumbled upon the other day. The Liebster award is a bit like a chain letter, but it seems like a great way to share some facts about yourself, spread the love to some other lovely bloggers, and kill some free time. Of course, there is no obligation to answer the questions if you're nominated. It's just a bit of fun and I've got nothing else to do, so I figured I'd play along. :D


The rules:

• Share 11 random facts about myself,
• Answer the 11 questions the person who nominated you asked,
• Nominate other up-and-coming bloggers for the Liebster award and,
• Ask the people you've nominated 11 new questions.

11 random facts about me:

1. I have a cat. Her name is Sassafrass and (as lame as it sounds) she's one of my best buddies. She was my sister's cat originally, but I became her new mum a few years ago. I've recently moved into the same house as my sister, so now Sass has two mums to give her love! 

2. I play a lot of video games. Kingdom Hearts and Legend of Zelda are my favourite game series. I also love Fallout 3/New Vegas. I have too many game consoles.

3. I really like gardening, even though I tend to kill plants. My new house has a big backyard, with a herb garden that my sister planted. I want to buy a pot of lavender because it smells so lovely and I hear it's pretty hardy.

4. I love owls. They're so cute and crazy looking. Here is me with an owl that I met at Glebe Street fair last year. I kind of lost it when I saw her. She was so soft and lovely.

5. Bees are the bees knees.  I get really sad when I think about bees dying from the use of insectisides. I watched a documentary about colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon in bee populations where all of the worker bees abandon a hive. Bees play such a vital part in polinating crops. So I hope to have lots of flowers in my garden to attract bees.

6. I recently started knitting a tie. I'm not very good at knitting, and I'm hopeless at completing craft projects. But I'm determined to make a good quality knitted tie. The one I'm knitting at the moment has a few failed rows, so I'll likely use this as a practice run and then make a really good one.

7. I buy way too many things online. I have a lot of down time while I'm at work, so I generally end up browsing my favourite online stores and adding things to my virtual shopping cart. Far too often, I accidentally spend an obscene amount of money.

8. I'm interested in the Korean language and culture. I'm studying Korean at university this year and I'm pretty excited. I've been teaching myself for a while now and I can read and write fairly well. But my spoken Korean isn't very good because I have no one to practice with! I truly think it's a beautiful language, and have always loved learning about another country through their language. I also love Korean music, TV shows, and cuisine. For Christmas last year I received a dolsot (stone bowl) from my mother and I often make myself bibimbap!

9. I've been to a lot of countries. New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, America, Ecuador, Chile, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands, Britain, China, Japan, Korea... A lot of these countries I visited for rock climbing competitions. Last year I went to Japan/Korea and then Europe on two separate trips with my boyfriend.

10.  I can't stand avocado, olives, or capsicum. I can handle capsicum if it's cooked into things, but get it out of my salad please. Avocado makes me feel physically ill, and olives are just yuck.

11. I used to climb really well. I was Oceania champion once upon a time. And 28th in the world for my age. Now I'm hoping to get back into climbing purely for fun.


Ari's questions:

1. What is one of your favorite quotes?
"I felt as if I'd swallowed an overcast sky..." - Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami.
I love this line and it really stuck with me. It's so emotive and it perfectly describes a similar feeling of heavy sadness that I get sometimes. Murakami has a beautifully poetic way of writing that doesn't appeal to everyone, but I adore his books. Many of his novels have elements of the supernatural in them, which give me an odd feeling whilst I'm reading them. But I love that a book can have such a profound effect on the way I feel.
My favourite of his books:

2. What was the best meal you have ever eaten?

In Paris, my boyfriend and I went to this INCREDIBLE restaurant in Montmartre called La Balancoire. I am so glad we went there. I had the best steak I have ever eaten (and I've eaten a lot of steaks). That sauce tasted exactly like Pizza Shapes. And the potatoes were so crispy and delicious. Honestly, if you are in Paris for whatever reason: go to here. They also have amazing entrees, and if you can't pick which entree you want, you can get a sample plate which includes a tiny serving of all of the entrees!

Drooooooooool!



3. If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go and why?

This one is tricky. I've travelled quite a lot and it's tempting to say I would return to one of my favourite places that I've already been visted (Tokyo, Seoul). But I also feel like I should say somewhere new. Assuming that it's just for a holiday, I'm going to go with America. I went there when I was 9 with my family, but I think I would have a lot more fun if I went there now. Also I've made a few friends from all over the States, so it would be nice to visit them.

4. What do you do for a living, and what would you like to be doing to make a living?
I work in an office. Answering phones, replying to emails, sending faxes, filing, archiving... All of those super exciting things. I'm still working out what I would like to do as a job later on, but I hope to be working in a role where I help people with mental health issues. I'm majoring in psychology, so it's definitely something that interests me.

5. What do you miss most about your childhood?

My imagination. I used to have imaginary friends called Slimey and Sally. They were worms. Slimey was on my left hand, and Sally on my right. I was never bored because I was never alone.


6. What are five adjectives you would use to describe yourself?

Honest, romantic, friendly, messy, confused.
I'm working on being less messy and confused, and more positive, creative, and inspired.


7. What is the number 1 song played on your iPod?

This one's a little bit embarassing. Although I've kind of gotten past being embarassed by my love of Korean pop music... #1 is Run Devil Run by 소녀시대 (Girl's Generation). It used to get stuck in my head all the time and the only way to get a song out of my head is to listen to it. Also, the dance for the chorus is fun. :P

8. If you could be any fictional character, who would you be?
I might cheat on this one... It isn't so much fictional as it is completely unatainable for me: a Korean popstar. Maybe like... the tenth member of 소녀시대? :P


9. What is your favorite joke?
I am drawing an absolute blank on this one... Post some funny jokes in the comments to help me out?


10. What accomplishment are you most proud of?

It's the only thing I can think of right now and it's rather general, but surviving 2010. It was a really tough year for me, and I'm proud that I made it through relatively unscathed.


11. What is your biggest pet peeve?

People who can't stack a dishwasher properly. Groups of people who walk really slowly in a big line on the sidewalk, so you can't get past them. People who cat call women on the street/street harrassment/sexism in general. When I'm crying in public and someone tells me that I should cheer up/smile; despite their intentions being good most of the time, I find it condescending. And I should be allowed to be sad without strangers making me feel guilty for having feelings. Oh also, when people tell me I'm a picky eater just because I don't like capsicum, olives, or avocado. :P


My nominated blogs:

Caroline and Georgia from Four Letter Birds
Khrystyna from Little Ruby Robin
Nikki from Marbles on Glass
Paulina from Simply Me
Em from The Lovely Robot
Jess from JessHartBeauty
Natascha from Letters On A Postcard
Sabrina from Cattails and Cardigans

11 Questions for my nominees:

1. If you had to move to a different country tomorrow, where would you go?
2. What is your favourite comfort food?
3. It's raining outside... What are you doing to keep yourself occupied?
4. What's the weirdest dream you've ever had?
5. Who is your most embarassing celebrity crush?
6. What song do you listen to when you need cheering up?
7. What is one habit you have that you don't want to change?
8. And one you do want to change?
9. What is the first album that you ever purchased?
10. If you could hang out with someone famous for a day, who would it be?
11. What is your favourite TV show?

Oof! That was a lot of writing! I need to go eat a lunch now. Hope you enjoyed reading my answers! :) ♥