liebster award

The other week I was surprised with a Liebster Award nomination from the stylish Shauni of The Magnificent Thread. Thanks, Shauni! It has been a couple of years since I've been a recipient so I'm more than delighted to take part.


I then received a second surprise last week as Dotcomgiftshop have listed me in their "25 brilliant baking blogs." You can check out their article here. I'm in some seriously great baking company so I feel enormously flattered to be listed.

Now back to the Liebster award. The idea behind the Liebster is to share some facts about yourself and pass on the blog love by nominating other blogs you enjoy reading with less than 200 followers. It's fun to take part as not only is it encouraging to know that people enjoy your blog, but you also get to learn a bit more about your favourite bloggers and quite often find new blogs to read through nominations.

Sadly I don't think I can compete with Shauni's facts. She's named after a Baywatch character, how bloody cool is that?! Anyway, here are my 11 facts:

1. I can't get my brain or taste buds around mint chocolate. It tastes like toothpaste in chocolate. How can that be enjoyable?!

2. I only got my first wisdom tooth a couple of years ago and it had to be removed. Just after the dentist pulled it out I heard him and the dental nurse both go "HUH?!" It turns out that the roots of the tooth had crushed together and curved to one side like a hook, which apparently is quite unusual!

3. A few years ago I released a CD playing the violin... as part of a local ceilidh group. Yes, I'm that cool, I know you're all jealous.

Bonus fact, I don't even like folk/ceilidh music all that much!

4. I have 4 desk drawers entirely dedicated to tights. Admittedly I wear dresses or skirts most days so tights get a lot of wear, but even I'm starting to wonder whether 4 drawers is excessive.

5. I only discovered my phone had a calculator function about 3 years into owning it. Yeah, I'm quick with technology. The sad thing is that I had been looking for it as I missed using it on my old phone.

6. I rarely wear perfume as it makes me feel too aware that I "smell".

7. I have an inexplicable love for Gary Oldman, Nicolas Cage and Liam Neeson.

8. I didn't enjoy Game of Thrones. In theory I should have, but there was too much about it which seriously enraged me so I gave up after 3 series. 

9. I spent a large chunk of my childhood sewing weird and wonderful outfits for my Barbies and a good portion of my teenage years chopping into and embellishing my own clothes (I tie dyed EVERYTHING) so I think it's awesome that I'm now making my own clothing in my adult years.

10.A drunk lady at a wedding once told me that the silhouette of my side profile reminded her of the shape of a wine goblet... definitely the most unconventional compliment I've received.

11. I genuinely can't remember the last time I read a book, not including factual/informative/photography based books. It's not that I dislike fiction, I just can't be bothered with it. (I sense a lot of people will want to smack me over the head for that, sorry.)

I'd like to pass the award on to a mixture of bakers, dressmakers, knitters and charity shop enthusiasts:

elise and life - fellow Scottish girl who loves knitting and charity shopping. So basically, she's awesome.

hello zoeb - sassy seamstress who makes dresses I want to steal, especially her latest dungaree dress. Gorgeous!

i'd much rather bake than - Laura is always baking things I want to make! Expect lots of yummy chocolate recipes.

lick and spoon - Another baker I'm constantly bookmarking recipes from! Ella's writing always gives me a bit of a giggle too.

procrastibake - Hazel bakes seriously awesome stuff. Her zoomed in photography practically has me licking my laptop screen (a flattering mental image, I know.)

tales of pigling bland -  Gill has been baking her way through the latest Hummingbird Bakery book and I've been loving her results and entertaining commentary.

Please go and check out all these blogs!

If my nominees would like to accept the award then they just need to share 11 facts about themselves and continue the fun by nominating their favourite blogs with under 200 followers. It can be difficult to find out follower numbers as not everybody discloses that information on their blog anymore (I mostly went by follower numbers on Bloglovin', the blog reading platform I use) but the main idea is to just pass on the blog love and have fun.

So... does anyone else have a wine goblet face or an aversion to mint chocolate? Do tell!