Liebster Blogging Award

Today I have some exciting news to share – I’ve been nominated for the Liebster Blogging Award!  Thank you very much to Jen from This Happy House for nominating me.  Blogging is very time consuming, hard work and it sometimes feels a little lonely.  When I got Jen’s message saying that she loved my blog and that she had chosen it for one of her five nominations, I felt so happy I almost cried! 

Now that I’ve been blogging for exactly one and half months, I want to also thank all of you my readers.  I still get that little thrill of happiness when I check my site statistics and see how many people visit my blog each week.  So far in the past month and a half over 300 people have visited this blog and there has been over 1k page views.  My goal is to create my own little place of happiness and positivity on the internet and to share the things I love with the world.  If you have enjoyed reading this blog so far, I hope that you will continue and will share it with your friends!  I would also love for you to join my mailing list for special subscriber content (absolutely no spamming, I promise!) and to follow me on Twitter and Pinterest for more great content.

So, what is the Liebster Award? This is an award to recognize outstanding new bloggers.  It’s meant to help introduce more people to their blogs and to help readers get to know the blog authors better.  To accept the award, each person who is nominated thanks the person who nominated them and nominates five other up and coming bloggers.  I love how this award is both a way to be recognized by one’s blogging colleagues and a way to pay it forward by recognizing other new bloggers who are doing a great job.        


The complete list of the Liebster Award rules are:

1.        On your blog, thank the blogger who nominated you for this award.

2.        Link back to the blogger that awarded you.

3.        Upload the award to your blog.  This can be done by writing a post about the award, and uploading the award image in your sidebar.

4.        Answer the questions you have been asked by your nominator in a blog post so your readers can get to know you better.

5.        Nominate 5 blogs with less than 200 followers, that you believe deserve to receive this award.

6.        Notify the owners of those 5 blogs that you’ve nominated them so they can accept their award.  Bloggers can be nominated more than once, giving their readers more chances to learn more about them.     


Here are my answers to the questions that Jen asked me so you can all get to know me better.

 1.        Why did you decide to start your blog?

I first discovered that blogs existed a couple of years ago, when I had an hour and half each way subway commute to work.  It made the trip a lot easier if I read blogs on my phone most of the time, so I could use the time productively to learn about new things.  As time went on I started to feel like I knew my favorite bloggers and it was like having friends along for the commute to read their latest posts.  I work as a professional classical musician, but I have gotten to the point where I also want to work for myself, set my own schedule, follow my own opinions and intuition of how to successfully accomplish tasks, etc.  Blogging is a way to run my own show and to add something of beauty and value to the world.  I hope that people enjoy my blog the way I do my favorite bloggers.

 2.        Where do you find your inspiration for your blog?

I find blogging inspiration all around.  Living in NYC really helps because with the fast pace of life, I’m always seeing or hearing about new things that I’d like to share.  I also love reading other blogs.  I really admire some more established bloggers who have had the stamina to build their blogs into businesses and consistently write high quality content with beautiful graphics.  I hope I make it to that level too!

 3.        What is the number one item on your bucket list for life, and what is holding you back from doing it?

I think it’s really important to identify all the things you want to work towards and at least take baby steps toward them.  I don’t really feel like I don’t have anything that I really want to do that I’m not progressing towards.  I hope that soon I get the chance to visit Europe, but I working up to that with domestic flights first.

 4.        What do you envision for your life 5 years from now?

It’s hard for me to think that far ahead!  I have learned that what you plan will either come true in a roundabout way or something much better that you never thought possible will happen!  Honestly the first thing that jumped to mind was that I hope that I definitely have a cat by then, as that has been a goal for three years now.  My husband (and probably also myself, although I’m in total denial) has allergies so we have been planning to get a hypoallergenic breed which is a little complicated.  I also would like to start thinking about starting a family and I’d love for my blog to keep growing so I can continue to expand and bring you even greater content. 

 5.        What is your favorite family fun activity?

I love traveling to new places with my husband.  It’s a way for us to get away from the hectic pace of NYC and from our careers to just focus on being together.  We both enjoy spending a few days exploring interesting towns or small cities and checking out the tourist attractions, restaurants, antique stores, churches, bookstores, and any other interesting spots.

My own nominations for the Liebster Blogging Award are:

Hammers, Nails, and Band-Aids – Rachael

Hammers, Nails, and Band-Aids is a DIY website with beautiful formatting and clear instructions.  It’s about everything from furniture restoration to using wood scraps.  Although I live in a high-rise city apartment and don’t have a lot of time or space to do any major DIY furniture projects, I still really enjoy seeing what Rachael comes up with.  Her creativity inspires me to try the smaller scale projects and to see vintage finds in a new light.

Life As Annie P. – Annie

Life As Annie P is a diverse blog featuring posts on lifestyle topics, recipes, and toddler parenting.  I really enjoy reading the well written and engaging content.  There is a lot of variety of topics and Annie includes interesting stories about what is going on in her life in her posts.  I really enjoy the casual fun style of this blog.

Mom but not a Mom - Dawn

This is a very interesting child development/education blog.  Dawn is a daycare teacher turned nanny and she writes about childcare and parenting.  I really enjoy her series about parenting around the world in different countries.  It has helped me understand cultural differences that sometimes come up when working with children and families in my musical career.  Her blog is a very insightful look at parenting small children from a more objective viewpoint. 

Poised Reflections – Nicole

This is a Health and Wellness and Lifestyle blog.  I love how all the posts are very informational, different, and interesting.  Nicole is an opinionated lady, but I usually agree with her and I love how she isn’t afraid to put her opinions out there.  She also interacts with her readers in the comments and does an all-around great job. 

Thomas's Wonderland – Thomas

Thomas’s Wonderland is a bi-lingual (English and Serbian) lifestyle, food, and travel blog.  I always find myself smiling when I read Thomas’s posts.  They are concise, humorous, and always interesting.  I’m very interested in seeing how he continues to develop his blog.  

My questions for my nominees are:

1.        Blogging can be a little scary at the beginning.  What motivated you to take the plunge?
2.       What type of posts do you enjoy writing the most?
3.       What time of day and in what setting do you write best?
4.       Who is your biggest supporter?
5.        If you could have any dessert in the world what would it be?

I hope that you enjoyed getting to know a little more about me and that you will check out the blogs I nominated.  I spent hours finding the best, so I can guarantee you will enjoy!  I also realized that I have a lot of favorite bloggers who have more than 200 followers, so I’ll bring you another post soon to celebrate their excellence as well. 

Thanks again very much to Jen from This Happy House for nominating me.  Jen has a great lifestyle blog with posts about parenting, healthy living, cleaning, and more.  Her posts are always a fun read and I enjoy the personal anecdotes she includes.  Please check out her blog too!

Do you have a favorite new (or newish) blog that you enjoy? Do you have a question you’d like to ask me to get to know me better?  Leave a comment below!