Sometime before the lovely Lisa became an Oscar winning balloon handler and clown stalker, Lisa lobbed the Liebster Award over this way. Lisa blogs at Life With The Top Down and is always imploring her readers to Enjoy The Ride. As a long time reader of Lisa’s blog, I can safely say I enjoy being a passenger to her ride immensely. If you are looking for a humour filled, reflective blog and are not afraid to take your top down, then go no futher than Lisa’s blog, you won’t look back.

A big thank you, Lisa for this wonderful award. I am humbled that an Oscar winner with such a wide blog following would consider me worthy. The great thing about blogging is that it is bigger than the confines of geographic boundaries. Although we bloggers may be spread out far and wide, this does not prevent us from connecting with kindred spirits.

Now on to the rules of the Award which are:

• Link back to the blogger who gave you this award
• Post the award to your blog
• Post 11 things about yourself.
• Answer the questions asked of you, plus create 11 new questions for your nominees to answer
• Nominate 11 people you think deserve the award and link them to your post.
• Go to their pages and tell them they have been chosen

Because I’ve always been something of a maverick, I ‘m going to fulfill my duties in two parts.

Firstly, 11 things about me:

• I’m a boundary pusher – both my own and other people’s.
• I take great joy in being instrumental in having someone else push their own boundary, particularly if it is a boundary that has limited them in some way.
• I am a dog lover but dislike cats. My favorite dog is a beagle.
• I love having my feet tickled, it’s super relaxing. However, I’m not fond of having any other body parts tickled.
• Talking to teenagers is neat and I enjoy having them around, even when they are in locust plague mode and eat me out of house and home.
• I’m not fussed about who I learn from. Young or old, everyone can teach me something or offer an alterative perspective to mine.
• I dislike judgemental people and gossip. I am far more interested in ideas, concepts and projects.
• I get a huge kick out of helping others and seeing them achieve their dreams. If they consult me along the way, they have a friend and champion for life.
• I have friends from various sources, the more eclectic and diverse the group, the better.
• I admire people who are self-aware and confident and who have the balls to call me out.
• I believe that life is too short to hold grudges. Love, peace and let’s move on.

Secondly, answering the questions Lisa asked:

1. What is your favorite song of all time?

Has to be Hey Jude by the Beatles.

2. Boxers, briefs, boy shorts, granny panties, thong or the universal choice of Commando?

Boy shorts but without the boy in them.

3. Would you break the law to save a loved one?

I’m going to plead the 5th on this one (although we don’t have amendments to our constitution). If I told you the answer to this question, I would have to shoot you.

4. Would you go back to being a teenager, without the wisdom you have now?

No way. The wisdom and confidence I have now has been a hard earned prize.

5. What are you most grateful for?

Lots of things, but I would have to say my family and my health.

6. Are you a beach or mountain kind of person?

Definitely beach, I’m a warm weather, water frolicking kind of girl.

7. Reveal one of your guilty pleasures?

Corn chips at midnight, although not when I’m in bed!

8. Are you a dark, milk or white chocolate lover?

Milk and especially with nuts.

9. If you could give a newborn child one piece of advice, what would it be?

Don’t let anyone destroy or negatively affect your self-esteem, know and embrace who you are.

10. What is your best childhood memory?

Going to Disneyland with my dad when I was 12.

11. Do you act your age or your show size?

I try not to act my age. I have got some zaniness to catch up on!!!

Thirdly, 11 blogs to which to pass the award

This is where I thought I would try something a little different.

It was not so long ago that I first dipped by toe in the blogging waters, nervously tapping out my first post. I watched in wide-eyed wonder at the following and awards amassed by seasoned bloggers and felt very out of my depth. At the time, I would have welcomed any advice, feedback or attention.

It is now eight months later and I am well on my way to making one hundred posts. I have met some great people and since received advice from some experienced bloggers. It’s time to pay the blog love forward and to give a helping hand to some new blogs and new bloggers.

So, I am looking for 11 blogs that I don’t currently follow and which are preferably less than 4 months old to hand the award to.

I’d love to hear from you if you are a new blogger or have a new blog. Please come over and say hi and post a link to your blog so we can all check it out. Even if you are not a new blogger, but wish to promote someone else’s blog or even your own, I invite you to post a link to the blog here.

I’ll also be scouring WordPress for exciting new blogs and will post the questions the winners will need to answer and the names of the winners before Christmas.

Let’s connect and build some blogging bridges!