Liebster Award Nominee

I was pleasantly surprised to be nominated by Alison of Puppies and Pretties for the Liebster Award! The rules for this award are as follows:

1. Acknowledge the blog who nominated you.
2. Answer the 11 questions that the person who nominated you gave you.
3. List 11 facts about yourself. 
4. Name 11 bloggers to nominate for the Liebster Award that have under 200 followers .
5. Give your nominees 11 questions to answer.

 Eleven questions for me:

1. What is your favorite color? Navy blue with pink followed by a close second.
2. What is your favorite book/series? Narnia and the Mitford books.
3. If you could pick 1 article of clothing that you had to wear every day, what would it be? Umm…underwear!
4. Dog or Cat? Dog. Definitely. And a Labrador at that.
5. What is your favorite movie? Of more recent time: Knight and Day. Further back: Star Wars series.
6. What is your favorite Trader Joe’s item? Wine! and cheese (so cheap!)
7. If you had to pick 1 store to buy all of your clothes from, where would it be? Hmm. This is more difficult now that I’ve been doing the Style Me Challenges. A store I love but can’t regularly afford is Talbots. Or Brooks Brothers! :)
8. Where was your favorite vacation? The south of France (Provence).
9. Where do you stand on ugly Christmas sweaters? Yay or nay? Nope. Not at all.
10. What is your favorite post that you have written? Probably some of my recipes. I actually use them on my blog. Like the Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta or Asian Flavored Chicken or Pumpkin Pie Spice.
11. Weekly calendar – do you start yours on Sunday or Monday? Monday. I'm just programmed from school days. We homeschool so that’s when our week starts.

Eleven facts about myself:

1. I was born and mostly raised in Italy until it was time for college (with a detour in Puerto Rico). I attended the University of Florida (Go Gators!) because I had one friend going there. (Hey, I was moving 5000 miles away from home! I wanted to know SOMEONE in the state I would be living in!)
2. Yes, I’m fluent.
3. I enjoy running and have run 2 marathons and 3 half marathons and am currently training for another half.
4. I stutter. A lot of people don’t even realize it so they make fun of something I say. I know it isn’t their intention to be mean.
5. I’m so incredibly happily married that it’s a passion of mine to encourage people in their marriages and it makes me sad to hear of couples getting divorced. (I met my husband in grad school at a copy shop.)
6. I homeschool my kids and love it. Yes, they are socialized.
7. I’ve never lived where it snows regularly. Growing up in Sicily, it would snow at our house once in a blue moon. In Florida, never.
8. I grew up on the side of a live volcano (Mt. Etna) and have witnessed many eruptions.
9. I love to travel. The furthest east I’ve been is Israel and the furthest west is California.
10. I love to read which is what led me to my major (English). However, I don’t love to write. Wouldn’t you say that’s a Fanny Dooley? (If I only knew what that really was though!)
11. I really hate roaches. And that’s a problem living in Florida. Raid is my friend.

My nine (rather than eleven) nominees are:

A Lovely Little Wardrobe
Foxy's Domestic Side
Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After
She Thought She Could So She Did
Traveling With Grace
Ramblin' Roads
See the Blue Sky
Pin Busting with Steph
The Raggedy Stitcher

My 11 questions for my nominees:

1. Where are you from and where do you currently live?
2. How long have you been blogging and why did you start?
3. What is the meaning behind your blog?
4. What hobbies do you enjoy?
5. What book(s) is on your nightstand right now?
6. Chocolate: milk, dark or white?
7. What is your favorite color? Food? Pandora Station?
8. What is one thing that you like about yourself?
9. What is one thing you splurged on that you are happy you did?
10. Where is the farthest place you've traveled to?
11. What church/denomination do you attend?