A Liebster Blogger Award + 11 random facts about me

By Rachelle Nessia, September 5, 2012

My Big Blogger, Hannah, has nominated me for a Liebster Blogger Award a couple of days ago. Thank you, Hannah!

What is a Liebster Blogger Award?
This is given to bloggers by bloggers as way of acknowledging each other. Sort of like a pat on the back to say “you’re doing a great job.” It’s also for blogs with 200 or less followers, so it’s one way of spreading the word about the smaller blogs and get them more readers and followers (fingers crossed here).

If you receive this award, you’re expected to post 11 random facts about yourself in answer to 11 questions from the person who nominated you. Then you come up with your own 11 questions and pass the award to 11 other small bloggers and make sure you tell them that they’ve been nominated! Also, you’re not allowed to nominate the blog(s) who nominated you.

Hannah answered her questions and posted them here. It’s cool that we both share a common love for reading, films, and running (in my case, it’s more like jogging).

Here goes…

11 Random Facts About Me

1. I love yogurt.
2. I have 3 dogs at home and feed what’s beginning to look like an army of cats in our office building. I’m a huge animal lover. It is for this same reason that I don’t ever go inside pet shops. Seeing all those animals caged up breaks my heart! I once chased away a boy throwing stones at a puppy in our neighborhood. Animal welfare and children are the two causes closest to my heart.
3. I’m curly and curvy. I have curly hair that I used to abhor with the intensity of a tropical storm that I would spend a lot to have it straightened.  But recently, I’ve learned to embrace the curls. I’m also curvy. I come from a family whose women have hips and booties. The kind that curves like there’s no tomorrow.
4. I have a huge celebrity crush on James Franco and a geek crush on WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg.
5. I quit coffee a couple of days ago. I’m now hooked on teas, especially milk teas. But I haven’t found a favorite tea yet.
6. I travelled to India in February this year for a week-long business-and-pleasure trip as one of the two journalists representing the Philippines for the Delhi Dialogue 2012. It was my first overseas trip and, oh, so unforgettable. I miss India – the curries, the Taj Mahal, and the cows on the streets. The crazy car honking – that one I don’t miss!
7. I used to design and sell digital scrapbook kits under the design name Doodelle.
8. There are now over 200 books on my bookshelves. Plus a pile of to-be-read books on my bedside table. I’m thinking of selling some of them off to make space for new ones.
9. I sometimes watch movies alone. There’s something liberating about it!
10. Writing is my fix. I’m blessed to land a secure job doing what I love.
11. I don’t cuss, don’t smoke, and don’t drink. And I have nothing against people who do. You might ask “Where’s the fun in that?” Trust me. You can be cuss-, smoke-, and alcohol-free and still have a rip-roaring time.

My answers to Hannah’s questions:

If you could go to the airport now and get on a plane to anywhere in the world where would it be?
Tuscany! I was smitten by it after watching the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun.” The rolling hills, the vast and lush greenery, charming villas – I just want to lose myself in all that. And if I were rich enough, I’d buy a rundown villa like Diane Lane’s character did in the movie, and drown myself in endless bowls of pasta while admiring the prelibato Italianos.

What is your favourite TV show?
Right now, it’s the Big Bang Theory. I can’t get enough it. I’m a bit of a geek who loves geeks (hence, No. 4 in the Random Fact list), and this show is all about geeks. I’m also following The Grimm and Walking Dead series. We all need a little zombie excitement now and then.

How many books do you read in a year?
Recently, somewhere around 20 to 30 books a year, I think. But I used to average around 5 books a month, back when things weren’t so crazy at work. I wish I can read more now  if only my schedule would allow me.

I love to read, what would you recommend me?
If you haven’t read Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” then you should! It’s one of my favorite books ever. I would also recommend Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Extremely Loud and incredibly Close,” (a powerfully written book; prepare the tissue ‘coz it’s a tear-jerker) and a good dose of the classics in the form of Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

What’s your favourite song at the moment?
“Kiss On My List” by Hall and Oates. I dig the 80’s and the 90’s era. It’s kinda a cheesy song, I know, but I hope you won’t judge me by it! 🙂

What’s your favourite song ever?
“His Eye is on the Sparrow,”  a gospel song inspired by my favorite Bible verse:

“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26)

Do you have a favourite film?
Yes! Sabrina, the Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart version. I can’t get enough of this movie. One of the songs in its soundtrack also happens to be a favorite of mine: La Vie En Rose. This song enchants and sweeps me off my feet.

When did you last go to the cinema to see a film?
The fact that it took me a while to remember the last time I went to the movies means it’s been too long! Good thing I take camera photos of movie tickets (don’t ask me why). It was on July 14, 2012 for the movie Magic Mike.

Do you like musicals? Do you have a favorite?
I dig the oldies. My father’s music and movie choices have strongly influenced me growing up. I haven’t been to a live musical show (so sad, I know), so I’ve never seen any of the modern ones, like Rent of which I read a lot of rave reviews about. So my favorite will have to (still) be The Sound of Music. (I would so love to watch The Flower Drum Song someday!)

Do you like receiving letters by snail mail?
Yes, I do. There’s something special about handwritten letters. In fact, I still keep a big bunch of old love letters written by my exes tied up in a red ribbon. It’s the sentimental streak in me.

What’s your dream job?
I have two dream jobs. First one is to write for a travel magazine or National Geographic. Who wouldn’t want to travel around the world for free, and then write about it? Second is to run an animal rescue center. I’m a huge animal lover, and it pains me to live in a city with no decent animal rescue center!

Here are my 11 Questions for the bloggers that I’m nominating for this award (list below):

1. What makes you laugh?
2. If you won the jackpot prize in the lottery, what’s the first thing you’ll buy with the prize money?
3. What laptop/computer do you blog on?
4. What’s your favorite line in a movie?
5. If you have the chance to interview someone (celebrity or otherwise) who would it be?
6. Do you have any quirks or peculiar traits?
7. Do you  have pets?
8. When was the last time you cried (and over what)?
9. What’s the last thing you did before you wrote the blog post for this award?
10. What’s the first thing you in the morning and last thing you do before bedtime?
11. What book/s are you reading now?

The 11 bloggers who I’d like to get to know more of, and thus, I’m nominating them for this award:

1. Pom, a freelance editor in Bangkok and my longtime blog buddy from my digital design days
2. Micah of Micanonymous
3. Grace of A Woman You Cannot Ignore (a new blog find after she left comments on my blog)
4. Chammy of On The Walk
5. Lynne Melcombe, an editor, freelance journalist, and communications consultant
6. Minerva Newman, of Newsmansblog our agency’s Regional Director, who is as much a social media animal as I am (even more so, I suspect)
7. Rey Anthony Chu, of Cortesanon, our agency’s Bohol manager, who just opened a brand-new blog
8. Mai Gevera, of Inside The Box, another co-worker now based in Manila who recently switched to blogging at WP
9. Klein Emperado, of Ideas Thoughts Opinions, once our office intern and now working in Davao City
10. Kenneth Pael, of Noblesse Key, with whom I share the same alma mater
11. Ingrid Lim, of I Scrap By Ing, an architect by profession and now a digital scrapbook designer

Categories: Personal