The Liebster Award

I’m super stoked that Sara from Magia e Pasta nominated me for a Liebster Award. If you haven’t checked out her blog… get over there and take a look! She rocks 🙂 Liebster Awards are a way to show love to other people’s blogs. Woohoo!

Here is how it works:

1. I list 11 Random Facts about myself.
2. I answer 11 questions that Sara wrote for me.
3. I nominate 11 bloggers.
4. I create 11 questions for my nominees.
5. I display the Liebster award.

11 Random Facts about Me:

1. I played competitive softball from the time I was 8 until I was 18, year round, on multiple teams including travel, Varsity, and district teams. It was kiiiiinnnnddddd of my life. I didn’t pick up a softball for 5 years after that. I was totally burnt out. I finally started playing again on a slow pitch team (I wrote a post about it here) and I love them so much. Makes me remember why I loved that game so much. 
2. My brother and I may have accidentally killed our hamster when we were little. The exterminator came to spray the house and we took Frankie (our teddy bear hamster) out to play when he left. Frankie ran behind a piece of furniture where the exterminator had sprayed and well, he died like a day later. It’s a very traumatic childhood scar. I’m pretty sure my mom stopped having our house exterminated after that. I’m really careful with animals and babies now.
3. I still have my baby blanket… DO NOT JUDGE ME. I’m hoping that I can hold on to it for my own kids some day.
4. Despite being really active and loving to be outdoors, I’m a closet TV junkie. I keep up with a shocking number of shows (including some super embarrassing ones like The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Also pretty sure my best friend and I are the last people in the world still watching Grey’s Anatomy). No reality though… not my thing!
5. One of my favorite rainy day activities to going to see independent movies at E Street Cinema in DC. They have the best concession stand in the history of movie theaters (their popcorn is… life changing). I recently went to see Paradise: Hope (a German film, part of the DC Film Festival) and 56 Up.
6. I hate cantaloupe. I like every fruit except cantaloupe. This is a huge issue for me with fruit salad… it’s ALWAYS in there. Bleh I just don’t like the flavor and usually eat around it. I always remember places that serve fruit salad with no cantaloupe though… it’s like they get me.
7. I own a road bike but haven’t ridden it in 3 years. I get really stressed out riding a bike in the city so I just walk everywhere. I consider anything within 2 miles to be easy walking distance.
8. I volunteer at an animal shelter most weekends. I firmly believe in adopting rescue pets so now I give my time at the Washington Animal Rescue League, the same shelter where I adopted Fig.
9. I am currently reading three books: Intuitive Eating, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and If I Stay. Sometimes I get very dedicated to one book and others I prefer to jump around. I’m currently feeling the latter.
10. I always eat eggs at brunch. Often, sweet items like pancakes and waffles tempt me but I can never commit. Brunch doesn’t feel right without eggs. Go to item is an omelette (with cheese) with toast and potatoes.
11. I have an unnatural obsession with shoes. I easily own 100 pairs of shoes and I wear heels on pretty much every occasion. I will not apologize, they are my favorite thing in the world! If I’m feeling down, nothing picks me up like exercising, shopping for shoes, or shopping for books 🙂

Questions from Sara:

1. If you could describe yourself in one word, what would it be and why? – I think it would be… friendly. Which might sound lame, but I consider a very useful quality.
2. You can choose any time period (other than today) to live in. Which would it be? – I think the 1920s because it looks downright fabulous.
3. Cool-Ranch or Nacho Cheese? – Cool Ranch all the way
4. Someone hands you an airplane ticket with a blank destination. Where do you fly? – South America. It’s the next continent I want to explore. I’m hoping to get there on our honeymoon 🙂
5. You have an all-expenses-paid trip to the grocery store: which grocery store do you go to and what would be the highlights of your basket? – I’d go to Whole Foods if someone else was paying (I definitely do not shop there because I cannot afford it) and I would buy fresh seafood, specialty cooking oils, and TONS of fresh organic produce (especially fruit, which I could eat by the bucketful)
6. If you could have dinner with any three people (living or dead), who would they be and what would you eat? – I’d want to eat healthy food with Michelle Obama, high tea with Princess Diana, and hot dogs & beer with Jenny Finch.
7. Feasibility and salary aside, what is your dream job? – Ideally, I’d teach fitness classes and be a personal trainer. I love fitness and imagine it would be really fun to share it with others for a living.
8. You can have one meal, one dessert, and one beverage for the rest of your life, what would they be? – Pasta with Meatballs and Red Sauce, Ice Cream Sundae, and Reisling
9. What is one book you can read over and over again? – The Giver by Lois Lowry. I have loved dystopian novels from a very young age.
10. If you could speak any language, what would you speak? – Italian, just because I think it’s beautiful.
11. How do you describe your blog to friends/family/anyone who asks? – I usually say its mostly about running, fitness, and food with some occasional other stuff sprinkled in 🙂

My 11 Nominees:

1.  Minutes Per Mile
2. A Better Year to a Better Life
3. Bring It Om
4. Passion and Laughter
5. Sneaker Therapy
6. Lavender Parking
7. Wicked Healthy Washingtonian
8. Health, Happiness, Humour
9. Transparent with Myself
10. Peanut Butter and Adrenaline
11. District Sweats

My Questions for Them:

1. Favorite Pizza Topping(s)?
2. What was the last book you read?
3. What is your favorite race distance? You can say 0 if you’re not a runner!
4. What’s your favorite brand of sneaker?
5. Biggest guilty pleasure?
6. Why did you start a blog?
7. Do you have a go to workout buddy? Who?
8. When you go to the movies, what do you get for a snack?
9. Cats or dogs? Or hamsters?
10. Favorite color of nail polish for fingers? Toes?
11. What’s one thing you’re really excited to do this summer?