Life's Little Patterns: Liebster Award

I just found out that Amber of Dimples and Pigtails nominated me for the Liebster Award. Thank you, Amber!

The Liebster Blog Award is given by bloggers to other bloggers who have less than 200 followers or have been blogging for less than six months to show newer bloggers that they are appreciated and to help spread the word about new blogs. Gosh, that makes a girl feel good!

The guidelines for the award are this:

1. Post 11 random things about yourself.

2. Answer the questions your nominator created for you.

3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

4. Choose bloggers {with less than 200 followers} you love and link them in your post.

5. Leave me a comment on this post with the link to your Liebster post so I can read your answers.

Here we go!

My 11 Random Things:

1. I'm the youngest of five kids. Our family gatherings are loud and chaotic and I love it.

2. I hate being touched behind my ear. Weird, right? Whenever I tell someone this, they immediately try to touch me behind the ear, which I think is even weirder. Why do you have to test the theory? Trust me. I will freak out.

3. I studied abroad in Ireland during college and it remains one of my best life decisions.

4. I have my MA in English Language & Literature.

5. My husband and I met the summer after I graduated high school when we both worked at a golf course. We officially started dating the day before I moved away to college. We had a long-distance relationship for almost 4 years before getting married in 2008. Turns out, we like each other a lot in close proximity, too.

6. I once ran a half marathon. Typing that felt like a lie, but it really is true. I am by no means a runner, but it's something I would like to get better at someday.

7. Smoothies might be my very favorite food.

8. I'm a full-on emetophobe, a word I recently learned to describe my very serious anxiety toward vomiting. This is an unfortunate phobia to have when your entire family comes down with the stomach flu, as mine did this past week. Immersion therapy, I guess...

9. I secretly {well, not anymore} think it would be so fun to be a wedding planner. I'm a little bit obsessed with wedding shows and I think it's crazy how much people spend on weddings. My sister and I have discussed how great it would be to help people plan weddings on a tight budget. One of many dream jobs I have...

10. I love living in Michigan. I'll love it even more after this harsh winter is over and the beauty of Spring arrives.

11. I have a lot of freckles in the summertime.

Questions for Me:

1. Why did you start blogging? My husband and I started posting to a blog when we were expecting our now-2-year-old son. We didn't live by any family and wanted to keep everyone up to date on how the pregnancy was going. Now, I use it as a way to document projects I make and, more than anything, keep up on writing because I love writing as an outlet, but I don't do it enough.

2. What is your favorite part about blogging? As I do it more, I am realizing how easy it is to communicate with other bloggers and give/get support. I could just write things down in a journal, but it's so fun to get and {hopefully} give inspiration to other people online. That's something I didn't expect.

3. Do you have a favorite place to thrift/shop? I don't do a lot of "thrifting," although my town {Grand Rapids, MI} has some pretty fun antique and thrift shops that, if I didn't have a wild child in tow most of the time, I might spend more time in. So, I have to go with the old standby, Target. I could spend hours there and I love that you can leave with a new pair of shoes, ice cream, mascara, and laundry detergent. One-stop shopping for all the necessities.

4. What do you wish you knew more about? So many things! I really want to become a better seamstress. And I would love to know more about gardening, especially now that we own a house.

5. What is your favorite item in your house? If we're talking material items here, I must say I have a special appreciation for our living room couches. Up until this past fall, our furniture was just a hodge podge of hand-me-downs from family members. I love our new, matching couches, and they make me feel like a real-live grownup. I'm also completely smitten with the bookshelf my brother-in-law made us for our wedding. I kind of can't believe how talented he is.

6. What do you do when you're not blogging? I work part time teaching English courses at a community college. I am also in the midst of starting my letterpress business, Patterns Press, where I design and make invitations and other paper-based products. Most of the time I'm home with my son, playing "pee-pall" (baseball) and putting train tracks together, only to see them torn apart a minute later.

7. What's your best yard sale/thrift store find? I found a beautiful mirror tray at a local antique store that I have on my dresser for jewelry. I love it. It reminds me of something my grandmother would have, and she's a classy lady.

8. Do you have a talent? What is it? I'm a pretty good writer. Not necessarily in blog format {digging for compliments...}, but ask me to write a poetry exposition or a literary analysis and you'll get yourself one dynamite essay. I know, it's a talent that will take me oh-so-far in life. I'm also semi-decent at playing hairdresser. I've helped with hair for several weddings and always thought it would be fun to go to beauty school and do hair all day.

9. What inspires you on a daily basis? Lately I've been so inspired by the women in my life. My sisters, my mother, mother-in-law, grandmothers, friends, cousins, and bloggers {who I pretend I actually know}. I have so many female relationships that offer me inspiration in different areas of my life. How to be a good mother, a hard worker, a supportive wife, a faithful friend, a creative spirit - the women I know teach me so much, whether they realize it or not.

10. Do you have a favorite blog? Why do you like it? I have a lot of favorite blogs, but Camp Patton might take the cake. Grace is hilarious in the way she recounts the daily with three littles. I secretly pretend I'm friends with her, which I'm convinced would up my cool factor by about a billion.

11. What is your favorite pattern? I love this question! I'm a little bit in love with patterns {hence the name of the blog...}, but I'm having trouble coming up with a favorite. I think half my closet is made up of polka dots, but I also love a good chevron {Once again, obvious on the blog}. A lot of my sewing projects tend to involve paisley prints, too. The list goes on...

Bloggers I Nominate {Some of these have already been nominated by others, but I strongly "second that!"}:

Landen from The Coatroom at Victoria Station

A Dash of Ash

Jessie from Early Bird & Night Owl

Kate at The Rhodes Log

Questions for My Nominees:

1. What is your dream job?

2. If you could meet anyone, who would it be? Why?

3. Do you have a favorite recipe you can share?

4. Do you have a guilty pleasure? {TV show? Food? Drink?}

5. Where is your favorite place to visit/travel?

6. If you won the lottery, what's the first thing you would do?