Liebster Award *now with questions!*

Hello friends!

I'm pretty excited to announce that I was nominated for a Liebster Award!
What's a Liebster Award? Well, it's basically an award for small blogs with less than 200 followers. It's a way to get to know the little people. ;)

I was nominated twice actually. Once by Morgan at Yellow Door Diaries and once by Caitlyn. Thank you ladies so much!

As part of accepting the Liebster Award, I have a few rules to follow:

I might do things a little bit out of order here, but stick with me.

Questions from Morgan:

1. Who in your life do you most admire? Why?

Personally, I really admire my grandmother on my mom's side. She's been through so much but still continues to be a Godly woman. She's so strong. She's 75 but can play sports better than I can. She is the most caring woman I've ever met, even though she has every reason in the world not to be. She lost her husband when he was 52, then her first son (at 52 from the same thing), and now her second husband has cancer. But she keeps fighting. God love her.

2. Name one new skill you'd like to learn.

Guitar. I love singing, but I'd love to be able to play along.

3. What is your all time favorite book?

Oh my goodness, don't do this to me! This is seriously the hardest question I've ever had to answer. I LOVE reading and it's so hard to pick just one. But, I'm going to have to go with The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen. 

4. Do you have any siblings?

Yep. Two younger brothers. They're twins, four years younger than me.

5. Chocolate or Vanilla?

Vanilla. I know, I know.

6. If you could meet up with anybody for coffee, living or deceased, who would it be?

Jesus. Oh my if I could just sit down with Him and have a real face to face conversation. I can't even imagine.

7. Describe your perfect Saturday.

It'd be a nice spring/summer day where the weather is perfect. I'd sit outside without bugs, with a slight breeze and just read all day long.

8. What was your first e-mail address or screen name?

iowamonkeyluvr. Yeah....

9. Name one item you carry with you everywhere, all the time.

Chapstick. I'm pretty sure I have a problem.

10. Do you have a guilty pleasure? If so, what?

Um, I watch way too much tv.

11. Why do you blog?

Blogging helps me to get my feelings out. Plus, I've always loved to write. My dream for a while was to be a published writer. This is close, right?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now from Caitlin:

1. How did you decide on the title of your blog?

Well, honestly, I'm just really bad at coming up with this stuff and it took Meghan and I forever to try to think of one. Then I kind of decided I wanted it to describe how I view love. For me, love should be simple (but also hard -- it's complicated!), it should be for always, and it should be forever.

2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?

Honestly, I'm still trying to figure this one out. For now, it's just me.

3. What's your favorite pastime other than blogging?

Reading. 

4. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?

I love connecting with other people. I love reading a blog and being like "Ohmygosh! I do that too!" It's just fun.

5. If you could spend the day with one person, who would it be?

My husband. <3 Cheesy? Maybe. But seriously, he's my best friend.

6. Where does your blog inspiration come from?

From my blogger-but-also-real-life-friend Meghan, my "big" Christine, and just random blogs I come across. Link-ups, etc.

7. What is one country in the world you'd like to visit? Why?
Ireland. Because I'm part Irish and I also just know it's beautiful there.

8. If you have pets, what are their names? Tell me about your fur babies.

Daniel & I don't have any pets that live with us. But I do have a dog that I grew up with that lives with my parents in Tennessee. His name is Bandit. I miss that boy.

9. A long-lost relative leaves you a large sum of money. What do you do with it?

Pay off my student loans. Because let me tell you, that's a lot. Next, I'd tackle my other debt. If there was still some left over (you said large sum - not sure how large) I'd take Daniel & I on a trip and give to my church and some other charity. Put some in a college fund for our kids.

10. In your opinion, what's the best blog post you've written so far? Include the link.

Honestly? I think it comes from my old blog from years ago. Let me try to find it...Nope. It's private. Okay, let me find one on this blog. For this one, I think it's either my Year in Review for 2014, or renew.

11. Where do you see yourself in five years time?

A much more confident teacher, a better follower of Jesus, a more loving wife, and a mommy. :)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

11 Random Facts about Myself

1. I've been with my husband since I was in 8th grade.

2. When I eat colored candy (like m&ms, skittles, etc) I sort them out by color. Then I eat the color with the least amount first and work my way up. If there's two with the same number, I eat the "uglier" color first.

3. My grandma's birthday is on the 16th of a month, her first child was the 16th of a month, and her first grandchild (me!) was on the 16th of a month. So that's cool.

4. I was offered the chance to go to a special charter school when I was in elementary because I was so far ahead. My parents turned it down because they wanted to allow me the social life I had. Thanks mom & dad!

5. College was the best 4 years of my life and I'm actually really upset I'm no longer there. If I could be anything forever, it'd be a college student.

6. As of writing this post (which probably won't be posted for a few days), I'm celebrating two years of being a Christian and loving the Lord.

7. I met one of my best friends through a blogging website in 2010. Since then we've met in real life, had a lot of fun, went to a concert, and she's helped me a lot with this blog as well. 

8. My dream is to travel the world. I want to see every continent.

9. When I was younger I used to have a reoccurring nightmare of lion statues that would come alive and chase me down and eat me. So, there's that.

10. When I say I watch way too much tv, I mean it. I have 20 tv shows with an episode this week. That's not including the ones that are off season or taking a break.

11. When I was allergy tested last June, I was allergic to everything but mold & cockroaches. Every tree, every grass, cats, horses, dogs, etc. But not MOLD or COCKROACHES. Really?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nominees!

I'm excited to nominate these 11 wonderful bloggers for their own Liebster Award! 

I'm pretty sure these blogs qualify. I took my follower numbers from Bloglovin' and they all showed under 200. Sorry in advance if I'm wrong!

1. Lora at Heart of Life -- This girl is super sweet and I just love her. Show her some love!

2. Jess at Peonie and Pine -- Fellow Firework!

3. Elizabeth at Always a Jersey Girl at Heart

4. Caitlin at Coffee with Caitlin

5. Sara at Living Her Dream

6. Kailei and Brad at Two Best Friends in Love

7. Keri at Living in This Season

8. Brittany at Life as the Mrs.

9. Cass at Jeans and a Tank Top

10. Mandy at Letters to Amelia

11. Sarah at Coffee and Glitter

I'll admit, I found a few of these people randomly through link-ups, etc. But I'm excited to get to know their blogs (I started following all of you!) and I hope you'll accept my nomination. <3

It was brought to my attention that I forgot your questions! Here's what I want to know about YOU! :)

1. How/why did you choose your blog name?

2. Who do you look up to the most? 

3. What's your most embarrassing moment? 

4. Give a shout out to a blog you really love! 

5. What's your favorite song? Current or of all time.

6. If you could spend one day as the opposite sex, would you?

7. If you could have dinner with any famous person, living or dead, who would it be and why?

8. What's your all time favorite book? What's one you didn't like at all?

9. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

10. What's your favorite food?

11. What's your favorite part about blogging?