Liebster Award

I started "The Gwilliam Gang" in 2008, some time after our first married kids moved away from home.  And by home, I don't mean they moved out of our house.  I mean, they moved a gazillion miles away.  To Baltimore.   Soon, we realized our family was going many different directions...growing up, and moving on.  To stay in touch, we needed a venue to share photos, events, activities, vacations, projects...you name it!   And so, my blogging career began as a vehicle to stay in touch with my kids and keep them posted about what's going on.  Over 250 posts later, I still try to make occasional updates and have had over 20,000 page views.

What's most surprising to me that some of my most devoted followers aren't my kids, but other family and friends that check in to see what's up with the Gwilliam family.   Even more surprising is being nominated for a Liebster Award!   Woot woot!  An award?  Really?  Liebster means "favorite" and I'm just vain enough to be delighted to be somebody's favorite.

Well, here's what I'm supposed to do as part of being tagged for this award: Answer a specific list of questions, and nominate three of my favorite-to-follow small bloggers (less than 200 followers), and invite them to answer the questions and nominate three of their favorite bloggers for the Liebster.   And...always being one to follow instructions perfectly.....Here goes:

Nominate 3 of my favorite blogs:

Annie and Roo.     Even though it's called "Annie and Roo" you can quickly see that Annie is the creative genius behind this blog.  My heart skips a beat when I get the flag that she's added another post...because they are so delightful to read.  Funny, entertaining, exciting, clever,  witty, inventive,  fanciful, scintillating.   Annie truly is one of the best writers I have ever read, and I look forward to her first novel, which is no doubt forthcoming.  Roo gets credit only for assisting in producing their two adorable daughters, who give Annie plenty of material for her posts.

Steven Moore.   Steve is the husband of a friend I love dearly.  So I guess that means I love him too.  He has patiently tolerated some of my questionable humor, and although he is not someone I see regularly or often, I love to check in on his blog occasionally to see what he's posted.  Steve is a man of very few words (at least in print), and this includes his blog.  What?  A Blog without words?  Yes!  Steve's shares his thoughts, his desires, his love for his family, and his respect for nature and even his testimony through beautiful and insightful photographs.  They are so gorgeous, and I've learned about what is important to Steve through his accomplished work on his Blog.

The Phillips Family.  This blog is amazing to me just for the organization it must take for Natalee Phillips to gather information from her siblings who are scattered around the world.  Literally.  She has siblings that live in California, Arizona, Utah, North Carolina, and the United Kingdom!  She gathers photos from them, and her parents, and keeps all of her siblings in the loop of what "Mom and Dad" are up to.  She truly takes "keeping the family connected" to the above and beyond, and I'm so impressed!

There's three of my favorite small bloggers.  I've officially nominated you for the Liebster Award!

And now...part two of my assignment.

Five of my likes:

• Chocolate.  I think it's luscious.
• My grandbabies.  I think they're luscious!
• Traveling, seeing new places.  I've been fortunate to have traveled many places, but there's still plenty on the bucket list.
• Taking matter unorganized and filing, labeling, and sorting it from chaos into order.
• Reading a good book.  Or two.  Or three.  Or.....you get the idea.

Five of my dislikes:

• Pantyhose.  Life is too short for pantyhose.
• Inept drivers.
• Taxes.
• Running.   For more detail on how I feel about this, see this recent post.
• People who are late.

If you were a color, what would you be and why?
Purple is my favorite color.  It symbolizes royalty (hmmmm...my nick name is The Queen!), magic and mystery. It's also supposed to represent good judgement and spiritual fulfillment.


What's your Dream Vacation?
Well, I'm already experienced a bunch of them, but some places I absolutely need to go are:

• Fall in New England
• Danube River Cruise
• Iceland

Can you tell I'm not a sit-in-the-sun-on-the-beach-and-bake kind of gal?

What do you do to relax?
Turn OFF the TV.    Yeah....that definitely doesn't help my unwind like it does the rest of the world.  I relax at night with a good book.


Do you have a coping mechanism for stress?  What is it?
I have two words for you.  Mexican.  Food.


If you had a day to yourself, what would you do?
Be lazy for a while.  Wake up slowly.  Read a chapter or two.  Take my time getting ready.  Make a list of all the things I plan to do...tomorrow.


That's it!  Now, Annie, Steve, and Natalee...answer all of these same questions, and then tag three of your favorite blogs (make sure they haven't already been nominated!).  I'll be excited to see who YOU like to follow!