Liebster Award 2018

I am super-flattered to have been nominated for the Liebster Award by Kelly at Corner of Happy. (I highly suggest checking out her site. Kelly is so genuine, a great writer, and she shares truly helpful information.) The Liebster Award is for bloggers, as nominated by other bloggers. You can learn more about it here.

As part of the nomination, I have to answer 11 questions posed by Kelly, share 11 random facts about myself, nominate an additional 11 blogs, and give them 11 new questions to answer on their own blog.

Here we go!

My 11 Answers

1. What led you to blogging and how did you decide on your niche? I’ve had a handful of other blogs in the past that were very narrow in focus. I’d use them for a period of time but once they’d served their purpose, I’d stop writing. For example, I had a blog after my mom’s passing that helped me sort through my grief. Once I adjusted to my new normal, I didn’t feel so compelled to write there anymore. I think that’s why Millennial Pink Pennies has a fairly broad focus. I wanted the freedom to write about anything that crosses my mind.

2. Would you rather read others’ minds or see the future? Why? Oooh, good one. Hmmm. I think I’d rather read others’ minds. I’ve never particularly wanted that power, but I definitely don’t want to see the future. I hope and pray that it’s wonderful, but if it’s not, I don’t want to know.

3. Live in the mountains or on the beach? Beach. 100%. No contest.

4. What is your absolute favorite family tradition? I love many of our holiday traditions, but I think my favorite right now is how we spend the day after Thanksgiving. It’s when we put up the Christmas tree and decorations. We order pizza for lunch, play Christmas carols, and get the house ready for the season. Our daughter loves helping decorate the tree and “helping” my husband put up lights outside, and that evening, we watch The Grinch on tv. I can’t wait until later this year when our son is old enough to really get in on the fun, too!

5. Let’s flashback to elementary school and acrostic poems! Describe yourself using each letter in your first name.

Kind

Adaptable

Thankful

Imaginative

Empathetic

6. If you could go back to when you first started blogging, what would you tell yourself about what you know now? If I went back to the first time I started blogging, I’d tell myself to be open to writing about more than my grief. If we’re going back to the start of MPP (which wasn’t that long ago!), I’d tell myself to be patient. It’s easy to get discouraged when the number of visits to your site only goes up by a couple each day, but I’m trying to remember that this is a marathon and not a sprint.

7. You can only have either your laptop OR your cell phone for the rest of your life. Which do you choose and why? This is a tough question. I would have to choose my phone though. Although I prefer typing on a computer, I have a number of family members who don’t use email (or anything other than a landline telephone) and so cell phone access seems most sensible. It’s also more portable… and I need to be able to cart around all the junk that’s required to travel anywhere with children 😉

8. Name the top three things on your bucket list. Live debt-free, mortgage included. Travel to all 50 states. Keep my family and close friends as my #1 priority always.

9. Someone has been hired to follow you around with a speaker for the rest of your life and can only play your “theme song.” What’s your theme song? LOL I sometimes feel like someone is already doing this because I get the Daniel Tiger theme song stuck in my head constantly. But given the choice, I’d go with something by my favorite band, The Foo Fighters. I think I could listen to Everlong over and over again without getting tired of it, so let’s go with that.

10. What’s one thing that you absolutely love about yourself? I mentioned it in my acrostic above, but I’m empathetic. I feel very deeply and like to think I do a good job relating to people, sharing in both their pain and happiness.

11. What last made you laugh? Like, genuine belly laugh we’re talking here! Emily Skye posted a video on Instagram that I watched probably 50 times yesterday. I’m not huge on potty-humor, but she’s talking to the camera and her baby girl completely fills her diaper. The combination of the sound + Emily’s reaction is classic and so relatable as a parent.

My 11 Random Facts

1. I was a dancer (performance and competitive) from ages 5 until 22, and then I coached a college team for 7 years after that.

2. I met Gordon from Sesame Street as a child.

3. I was 14 when I had my first kiss.

4. I prefer to read non-fiction – specifically memoirs and self-help books – over anything else.

5. When discussing baby names during my first pregnancy, our daughter kicked HARD when we said her name, which we took as a sign that it was the right choice. The same thing happened while pregnant with our son!

6. I tend to cook without a recipe, which has led to some super delicious meals and some that went straight in the trash.

7. Anytime I lay on the floor to play with the kids, I do leg lift exercises. Gotta fit them in somehow.

8. After my mom died, my husband and I ran two charity golf outings and raised $12,000 for the nursing team that cared for her.

9. I have a love/hate relationship with cheese. If it’s totally solid or completely melted, I’ll eat it. If it’s somewhere in-between (like on a pizza that’s been out of the oven for a little too long) I cannot handle it.

10. My family goes to the same restaurant (shout-out to Wild Mike’s!) every Saturday for lunch. My husband and I have been going there together since we started dating in 2005. The staff there knows us so well; in fact, the waitresses guessed I was pregnant just a few days after we found out because I didn’t order my typical Mountain Dew!

11. I have a BS in accounting and an MBA. If I had to do it all over again, I think I’d study something that better prepared me for a creative job since that’s what I gravitate towards.

My 11 Nominees (rules for consideration here)

1. Sweet Purple Tulips

2. Tidbits & Crumbs

3. The Preppy PA

4. Travelaffari

5. The Klaasy Life

6. Y.O.L.O. Mommie

7. The Fit Travel Mom

8. Dorothy Pro

9. I Heart Olive and Pen

10. Fly By the Seat of Our Pants

11. Natalie Calzadi

My 11 Questions for The Nominees

1. What three words would you use to describe yourself?

2. And what three words would you use to describe your blog?

3. What’s your primary motivation for blogging?

4. Do you have a good luck charm, and if so, what is it?

5. If you could travel anywhere that isn’t London, Paris, Rome or NYC, where would you go?

6. What was your first job?

7. If you got a magical 25th hour in the day, how would you use it?

8. Do you like your right foot or your left foot better? (I know this is an odd question, but most people do have an answer!)

9. Guests show up unexpectedly at your door, right around dinner time. What do you feed them?

10. How do you spend the first hour of your day?

11. And finally, how do you unwind at night?

Kelly, thanks again for nominating me for the Liebster Award. I’m so happy to be part of the blogging community, especially when it’s filled with so many kind people.