Liebster Blog Award

Oh, yeah...I brought back the Liebster Blog Award Icon!

I'd like to thank Marissa over at http://horseshoesandhearts.blogspot.com for nominating me for the Liebster Award! I'm sorry it took me a few days to get around to answering the questions, but here they go:

11 Random Facts About Me

1. I live on a golf course.

2. I have a degree in oil painting that I use once every few years.

3. I lived in Australia for three years.

4. I love the taste of metal. 

5. I used to manage a polo club.

6. I have a shoe addition. Seriously, I have way too many shoes.

7. I love to scrapbook, but have no time for it.

8. I count in multiples of threes when I'm anxious.

9. I cannot drink coffee before a meeting or I sweat.

10. I can write with my toes, albeit not very well.

11. Who needs Kevin Bacon? I am two degrees separated from Donald Trump.

Marissa's Questions

1. What is your biggest accomplishment with horses?

Training Rose has been my biggest challenge and accomplishment by and far. She has challenged me in ways that I never imagined and we have really grown together and become a wonderful team over the past three years.

2. Do you have any hobbies apart from horses that you love?

Water skiing. I could almost be completely happy sans horse if I had a lake to ski on a couple times a week.

3. What is your ultimate goal that you are working towards with your horses?

At the moment, keeping her sound! Ugh, the barefoot...to shoe or not to shoe drama. It's been a rough summer.

4. What is your favorite tv show?

Probably Downton Abby currently. It used to be Grey's Anatomy...but that seems to be waning these days.

5. What kind of music do you listen to?

Laid back alternative rock and/or country for the most part, but I love all music except for gangster rap and techno.

6. What is your personal love story? (With a husband/boyfriend/ex? If you don't want to go that deep, with a hobby? Or more obviously, with horses?)

Oh man, I could write a novel on this subject, but I don't have the energy  Right now the baby is sleeping and so I should be too. My love story could be summed up by the Rascal Flats song Bless The Broken Road. Suffice to say that after a lot of trial and error, I met the love of my life eight years ago in a bar that has since blown up, three years ago we were married, and then fourteen months ago I welcomed the second most awesome little man in my life to this world. 

7. What is your favorite love story? (Movie, books, etc?)
Probably one of my childhood favorites, The Man From Snowy River. A close second would probably be Twilight, because I have a weakness for teenage vampire love stories.

8. What is the most important thing to you when looking at a horse boarding facility? (Obviously our horses care is the first and foremost thing.  So lets skip that one and be really picky and selfish. So basically what is your favorite thing at your barn that you couldn't live without, or the thing you most wish you had. Lighted arena? Indoor Arena? Covered tack area? Trail access?)

My current facility has all my preferred basic necessities: tack room, grooming stalls, bathroom, wash stall, indoor arena, outdoor arena, trail-ish areas, trailer storage, and 24/7 turnout. Additional perks that I would like would include a heated indoor with a heated viewing room/lounge, gravel dry lot, and covered trailer storage

9. What is the most lavish thing you have ever had at a barn? Or, considering a lot of us board at something that is awesome for the horse and not so awesome for us, what do you wish you had in your wildest barn dream? (Air conditioned riders lounge? Heated tack area? Showers and lockers for riders? Couches?)
A kids play room with complimentary baby sitting included in board. This would seriously rock my stay at home mom with no family in town world!

10. I think my questions have been pretty awesome, but I'm seriously running out of steam.  Did you guys like my questions?
Yes.

11.  Who is your hero and why?

Carol Law. She's the head of the Equestrian Center at Mount Holyoke College, where I did my undergrad. She's an amazing horse woman and gave me a really solid foundation and education in the horse world. Without her I have no idea if I'd even have horses in my life today.

***

I have received this award in years past, and I thought that it seemed like the rules have changed, morphed, and gotten a little out of control grown. So I looked back at my previous Liebster blog post from January 2012 to see, and sure enough somewhere along the line they did. If you've ever met me in real life you'll know that I have an obsession with being old school and I'm a bit of a minimalist. As such I've brought back the old rules from 2012 (and the icon, as you can see from above). However, I thought the questions/facts were a nice addition, if not a bit lengthy, so I've added that as an option to the original rules.

HOW TO ACCEPT THE AWARD: The Liebster Blog Award is a way to recognize blogs who have less than 200 followers.  Liebster is a German word that means beloved and valued.  Here are the rules for accepting the award:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award
3. Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.
4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs!

5. Optional: List five random facts about yourself that your bloggers may not know, and ask five questions of your nominated bloggers (this was not one of the original rules, so consider it optional).

***

My Nominated Blogs:

Many of the blogs I read have already been nominated, so I did my best to pick a few that I believe have not yet received the award.

1. Alison at http://seekingthemagic.blogspot.com/
2. Carol at http://rogo5.blogspot.com/
3. Lucy at http://barefoothorseblog.blogspot.com/
4. Achieve1dream at http://rdxhorses.blogspot.com/
5. Jessica at http://spottyhorse.blogspot.com/

My brain is fried and I must get a few hours sleep tonight, so I do not have questions to pass on. I encourage you to volunteer some facts and pass on some questions though!

Happy trails and swooshing tails!
•Renee•