A huge thanks goes out this week to Sylvia of Simply Sylvia (www. simplysylvia.com) for nominating me for the Liebster Award! According to the Official Rules:
The Liebster Award 2016 is an award that exists only on the Internet, and is given to bloggers by other bloggers. The earliest case of the award goes as far back as 2011. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.
Sylvia writes about fashion, places, people and experiences, from her home in Washington, D.C., but with a Parisian twist. To learn more about Sylvia and her blog, you can read her answers to her nominator’s questions here.
Here are my answers to Sylvia’s questions for me and for her four other nominees:
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Yikes, way to start out with an easy question! But here goes… I don’t think we can define happiness as a static concept. Perfect happiness is the ability to be happy—not perfectly, but navigating the ups and downs—in the midst of constantly changing circumstances. Happiness is being free and flexible and open to change, ready to embrace it whether that change ends up being for the best or not.
What is your greatest extravagance?
This one is a no-brainer. Travel. I don’t spend a lot of money on fancy hotels and restaurants, but I do spend a lot on travel in the aggregate. I travel all the time!
Which talent would you most like to have?
I would love to be able to speed-read. I mean really read at warp speed and digest and remember everything.
What is your most treasured possession?
This may be a bit cliché but it’s true—my passports!
What is your most marked characteristic?
You’d have to ask my friends this one. Anyone?
What is it that you most dislike?
Mayonnaise. And bigotry, misogyny, dishonesty. But mostly mayonnaise.
Who is your hero of fiction?
I like to be the protagonist in my own fictional tale of heroism. It’s much more fun than picking someone else’s.
Who are your heroes in real life?
I’ve always shied away from having specific heroes. I try to admire some quality or qualities in everyone. Almost everyone.
If you could come back as a person or thing, what would it be?
I don’t think I’d want to come back as anyone but myself. That would just be weird. Unless I could switch back again after a few days. If I could come back as a thing, maybe a tree. A tree on a city sidewalk that lives a long life and silently witnesses so many things below.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wish I had zero fear of public speaking.
What is your motto?
I have two mottos:
First, “What do you really want?” I like to ask myself this question anytime I need to make an important decision. I find that too many people start with, “What’s reasonable to expect in this situation?” And they lean towards doing what is most feasible. I would rather start with the ideal outcome, then figure out my path to getting there. I’ll take a few steps backwards only if absolutely necessary.
My second motto: Travel early and often, to paraphrase (with a tweak) Al Capone.
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Here are the questions for my nominees. Not surprisingly, many are travel-related!
- What is your favorite city in the world—to live in or just to visit?
- What is your favorite place in the world that’s not a city?
- What spot would you recommend visiting that most people reading have probably never been to?
- What is your idea of perfect happiness?
- What is your “last meal”?
- What about yourself are you currently working to improve?
- Do you have any regrets in life so far? If so, what are they?
- If someone handed you $1 million right now, what would you do with it?
- If you could only ever travel to and in three countries ever again, which three countries would you pick?
- What is one of your goals for the next year or two?
- What are you most afraid of?
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Here are my nominees for the Liebster Award (in no particular order):
- Nhan of My Love for Paris
- Michelle for her trilogy of Paris blogs: Fabulous Finds in Paris, It’s All About the Bubbles (about bubbly beverages) and Life with my 5 Guys in France (about life as an American family in France)
- Bob Mitchell for his Maine photography blog
- Kim for pARIS small capital on AngloInfo
- Lauren for London Girl in Paris on AngloInfo
Nominees, should you choose to accept your mission, you should:
- Thank the blog that nominated you on a post on social media (i.e. Instagram, Facebook),
- Answer the questions asked by the blog that nominated you on your own blog,
- Nominate 5-11 other bloggers (with fewer than 1,000 followers on Instagram) and notify them on the same post as the one thanking the blog that nominated you, and
- Create 11 new questions for your nominees to answer and list them on your blog.
These rules were modified over time from the original rules—take your pick!
