If only I had sponsors to thank....

Guess what folks....BIG NEWS! I received a Liebster award from the wonderful and talented Keira at The Bennett House blog. Check out her post about the blogs she selected for the award here.

I am most excited about this because it means I have at least 1 follower who isn't a blood relative or childhood friend. Thank you Keira! I am so honoured. This award has really renewed my steam to improve my blog. My two goals are to update my header (I guess this means I need to learn HTML!!!) into something a bit less pedestrian and to take a photography class so that my photos aren't so dark and yellow.

I was trying to describe the Liebster awards to my husband this morning over breakfast. When I told him that it's an award that bloggers give to other bloggers, he said "so it's like the SAG awards", which I thought made the Liebsters sound very impressive...after all, aren't the SAGS and Golden Globes leading indicators for the Oscars??....ok, maybe I'm reading into this a bit too much. Either way I am tickled pink!

For those of you who don't know, the Liebster Blog Award is given to bloggers who have under 200 followers to try to help increase traffic to their blog. Recipients get to give awards to five other bloggers who have under 200 followers, and tell readers five things about themselves.

So here are five things about myself:

1) I married my university sweetheart.

When I was leaving my hometown of Vancouver for Carleton University, my mom confided that was worried that I would fall in love and never come back home...well turns out her mother's intuition was spot on (though I do go back home quite often!); Brian and I have now been together about 15 years and married for almost 5 years! He is an engineer and is very scientific and logical in his approach. I, in comparison, am far more artsy, spiritual, and sentimental. This results in a beautiful tension in our relationship that keeps us both on our toes. We have wonderful, rich debates about everything from my Craigs List purchases to Rob Ford's approach to transit. Tangent story: For our first Valentine's Day together in Ottawa, Brian took me skating on the Rideau Canal. We are celebrating a belated Valentine's Day tonight and I am suprising him with a skate on the rink at Withrow Park before dinner at Libretto Pizzaria. Fun!).

2) I have two amazing kids, a 2.5 year old daughter and a 6 month old son.

My daughter was a challenging birth and a collicky infant, but is now a life-loving happy-go-lucky little girl. My son's birth was a supernatural experience with midwives, and so far he has been calm and easy. The days and nights with our kids are long but the years are short. They are the light of my life. They have taught me to be patient and to live in the moment, two virtues that do not come naturally to me. I am more inclined to mutitask and always think of what's next.

3) I grew up in groovy Vancouver.

My parents still live in the house I grew up in, though they have just completed a major renovation. There are a number of elements they designed into their house that I absolutely love. I am headed out there next week and plan to blog a lot about their house. ...maybe I'll even convince my mom to do a guest blog! My favourite things about Vancouver are mornings at the Granville Island market, dinners at Brix restaurant, walking in Pacific Spirit Park's Sword Fern Trail, roller blading the Stanley Park Sea Wall, and watching sunsets from my brother's balcony overlooking English Bay. Vancouver is hands down the most naturally spectacular city from my perspective.

4) The TTC wants to expropriate my house!

We live on the Danforth and our home is directly above the Bloor-Danforth subway line. In 2010 the TTC (our local transit authority) tried to partially expropriate about 10 properties on our street and fully demolish 2 homes. Over the year that followed, my neighbors and I fought this will all our might. We spent late nights doing engineering analysis and early mornings writing press releases and collecting signatures. Days were spent meeting with decision makers at City Hall. In the end, Council unanimously decided to indefinitely defer the project, so for the time being, our house is safe! This experience made us realize how much we love our house and our neighbors....a good outcome indeed.

5) I've never met a deal I didn't like!

My mom is an avid shopper of garage sales, thrift stores, and all retail sales, so I come by it naturally. We rarely pay full price for anything. Even my wedding dress came from a consignment shop in New Westminster (just outside Vancouver).

..and five blogs that I would like to give Liebster awards to:

I STILL HAVE TO DECIDE....stay tuned!!!!