The Liebster Award

Alright, so I've been nominated for this award twice now from two different bloggers, so I guess I should stop procrastinating and participate :) This is your warning that this is a slightly longer/wordier blog than usual.

The Liebster Award is an award given to bloggers by bloggers, and is basically a different way to get to know each other based on a set of 11 questions.

Two amazing bloggers nominated me for this... Morgan at New Found Love and Lauren at Life as a Wife {you should check them both out!} They both posed 11 questions for me to answer but instead of answering 11 questions posed by each of them, I'm answering about half from each by picking & choosing between the two lists of 11. So here we go!

{one} What made you start blogging?

I joke around that I went through a quarter life crisis this summer and that this was one of the byproducts of that. I decided one day that I was finally going to follow through with the idea of writing a blog and texted back and forth with my friend Becky about it. What was I going to blog about? What was I going to call my blog? No idea. A couple of days later I was staying up late in bed at Kiawah trying to figure out what design I wanted for my blog and what I would blog about first. I also discovered Pixlr, my new favorite website and addiction. And now here we are!

{two} Thanksgiving or Christmas? Which is your favorite & why?

Hands down, Christmas. That probably has a lot to do with the picky eater thing so I'm not big on the whole Thanksgiving meal thing {other than the mashed potatoes}. Christmas has more meaning, more tradition, & more festivities. 
Family 
Christmas Eve Service
Ridiculous pictures on Christmas morning
Christmas Cookies
Lights at the Zoo
Shopping for Christmas presents {am I the only one who loves to do this?}
Christmas Trees
Ornaments
& a hundred other things

{three} What is your favorite thing to cook?

Umm... I have a really bad habit of getting hooked on a new dish and then cooking that one dish over and over and over again until I eventually find something new to cook. Currently, it's Veggie Chili and Black Bean & Corn Salsa.

{four} Best vacation you've ever been on?

My first thought was either Seattle or Europe, but both of those were trips that were jam packed with tons of toursity things and we were constantly doing something. Not that I mind touristy things, but I don't really consider that "vacation". I try to do so much stuff when I have time off of work that coming back to work is usually when I can breathe and relax again. So I'll have to say that the best vacation I've ever been on was the last vacation where I truly got to sit back and relax and enjoy the time away. That last vacation happened in the 10 days between graduation & joining the real world. We went down to Long Boat Key Island and stayed in a ocean front condo. It was the perfect vacation:
Sunny, gorgeous days
Plenty of time on the beach soaking up sun
A day out on my aunt & uncle's boat
Lots of reading
Amazing views
Lots of carefree/unplanned time {which, if you know me, is extremely rare}

{five} Where is your favorite place to shop?

Target. Not just Target, but Super Target.

Yes, there is a difference and yes, Super Target is that much better.

{six} What is your favorite movie?

Any of the Harry Potter movies... but I either have to watch those alone or with Liza & Becky because I have a tendency to quote all the movies and they are the only ones who can put up with it.
Outside of the HP world... Sweet Home Alabama, How to Train Your Dragon, and Because I Said So

{seven} If you have spare time, what do you do?

Right now? Spanish, Spanish, and more Spanish.

{eight} Where is somewhere you have always wanted to visit?
I have always wanted to visit either Nashville. Or Savannah. Those two cities have been on my list for the last few years and I haven't been able to cross them off. Hopefully I'll make it to at least one of those cities sooner rather than later. 

{nine} If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

I would love to pack everything up and move somewhere I have never been. Montana. Oregon. Tennessee. New Zealand. But I have no desire to be that far away from my family, Clemson, or the beach so...

{ten} What is one skill/hobby you've always wanted to learn?
I've always wanted to be able to speak/understand a second language. I'm attempting to learn this skill as we speak {thank you, Rosetta Stone}

{eleven} What did you used to want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be an elementary school teacher so bad, and then I took a Teacher Cadet class my senior year of high school and realized I so could not be a teacher. Despite that, going to hang out in my mom's kindergarten classroom is still one of my favorite things to do!

and I'm breaking the rules.
Out of all the blogs that I follow/read, most of y'all have already done this or something similar to it and I don't want to make y'all be redundant. Guess that's what I get for procrastinating? :)