Liebster Award

We were so pleasantly surprised to receive a notice from theoldfellowgoesrunning that he had mentioned our blog and nominated us for a Liebster Award in his Blogiversary post. Thank you, Carl!

This award has six simple rules that I will attempt to follow successfully.

I have gratefully acknowledged the blog that nominated me so I will move on to answering the eleven questions he posed.

1.  What possession do you prize the most? – The possessions that I prize the most are all ones that have emotional connections. But the one that comes to mind first is a book that our daughter, Hannah, made for me as a Mother’s Day present when she was a tween. Things could be a bit “prickly” during that time, so when she presented me with a book entitled “The Top 50 Reasons I Love You”, I couldn’t have been more thrilled.

2.  Who was your favourite cartoon character? My first thought was Road Runner but then I realized it is truly The Pink Panther.

3.  What is the earliest memory you can recall? I don’t remember which of my memories would be the earliest. But an early and very happy memory is being at my grandparents’ house and waiting in the early morning for my grandfather to leave his slipper at our bedroom door to signal that we were allowed to get up.

4.  How did you come up with the name for your blog? Mike came up with it by combining our age (decade) and our quest to run in 50 states. I, of course, was toying with much more confusing titles. His was perfect, I think.

5.  What is the one food or beverage you could never give up? Red wine!  Well, I could, but I’d rather not!

6. Which day of the week is your favourite, and why? I like Thursdays because I love the anticipation of the upcoming weekend.

7.  If somehow you could put money aside, what would be your dream career or job? A writer or a gardener.

8.  What is your best blogging advice? Don’t publish your post until you have slept on it.  I almost always think of something I want to add or word differently.

9.  How do you like to spend your free time? Gardening, cooking, traveling, and of course, running.

10.  Which blog post are you most proud of? A Very Special Run

11.  Which is your favourite season? Spring.  Although we are currently soaking up every second of warm sunny summer weather after an atrociously cold and snowy winter, I truly love spring.  It can be maddeningly slow to arrive, but when it does I adore watching spring emerge.

OK, on to #3 which is to give 11 random facts about yourself. Since this blog is about both of us, I will include some random tidbits about Mike, as well. Our “About” section actually lists 10 Tidbits About Us which covers a lot of the basics so here are eleven additional random facts.

1. Thanks to our girls’ passion for horses, which evolved into us owning and “free-leasing” various horses, I have gained a myriad of “horsie mum” skills (trailering, bathing, catching, braiding, etc.).

2. Mike can fix anything, hence his super hero persona, Fix-it Man. We live in a house that is more than 160 years old so there is always something to fix.

3. I am an expert at golf etiquette.  Although I never played much and haven’t played in years, I accompanied my grandparents and father when they played.  My grandfather was a stickler for carefully following the etiquette rules.  The last time I played I was sweating from darting back and forth across the course at a run in an attempt get to my ball and hit it quickly so I wouldn’t hold up the group that I could just make out at the hole behind us.

4. Mike and I met the first week of college when he showed me how to use a coin-operated washing machine.  More details here.

5. My extended family engaged in a truly incredible event for several years that we refer to as “The  Cookie Bake”.                    

It started out reasonably by baking several dozen cookies together the day after Thanksgiving. Over the course of a decade it evolved into a mammoth event where eventually my sister and I and our girls baked more than 10,000 cookies in a single weekend!

6. Mike was the rec director for our town for a number of years. He organized a 5K race that was run several years as part of the department’s activities.

7. I’m scared of heights.This means there have been family hikes where I have frozen at a precarious point and claimed I wasn’t going any further (I did). I was terrified to try parasailing and zip-lining but after family peer pressure I acquiesced. And when Mike and our daughters climbed Mt. Washington, I felt vertically challenged just being driven up the Mt. Washington Auto Road by Matt (who thankfully shared my feeling for caution at precipitous drop-offs).

8. Mike loves pie!  Name a pie and he likes it.

9. I was a member of our school board for nine years which I truly enjoyed.

10. Mike makes the most incredible vegetarian chili. We won’t settle for anything but his.

11.  I am superstitious…not just a little “stitious”. As a result, I do a lot of knocking on wood.  A few years ago, Hannah made us our own little block of wood to carry with us on a key chain so we would always have access to real wood. Brilliant!

Blog nominations:  These are blogs that I truly enjoy following. Some of these I have learned of through other blogs and some I have found initially through Instagram which offers it’s own variety of connection with others who are engaged in a similar endeavor.  I hope you will take a look at these, as well.

My First 5K and More

Running ‘N’ Reading

Running Out of Wine

Skinny Running

Deb Runs

Flexitarian Filly

Run Doodle Run

Crazy Mama Runner

3 Generation Collaboration

Hot Tea, Travel, and Thyme

Wear to Knight

Finally, here are my 11 questions to my fellow bloggers.

1.What is an accomplishment that you are proud of?

2. Where would you choose to live if you did not have any restrictions on where you were?

3. Have you crossed something off of your bucket list?  If so, what and if not, tell us something that is still on your list.

4. If you could time travel, would you chose to live in a different time? When?

5. What was a favorite childhood book?

6. Can you speak a second language? If so, what and if not, which language would you like to be able to speak?

7. What is your favorite holiday and why?

8. What would a perfect vacation be?

9. Do you have a recipe that you are famous for making?

10. I’m also going to ask a question I was asked.  What blog post are you most proud of?

11.Who inspires or inspired you?

Thanks for reading this post and I hope you will enjoy posts by these other terrific bloggers.