a most awesome surprise

I received the most awesome surprise a couple of weeks ago when Leese from A Life of Domestic Bliss left a comment on my blog telling me that she had nominated ME for a Leibster Award! A quick google search for the origins of the Leibster award doesn't really shed much light on it. What it does confirm is the most beautiful intent with which the award is given. The idea is that once you have been nominated you share five little known facts about yourself and then pass the honour along to five other blogs with under 200 subscribers that you enjoy reading.

I "met" Leese (or @domblisleese as I know her) through Instagram. I think it was from admiring each others pics in Fat Mum Slim's January photo-a-day challenge. I do remember our point of connection. We were staying at Pt Vincent with my family, my sister and her family and our parents. Leese posted a photo of her two dogs on Instagram. I saw it and couldn't believe that her dogs matched my sister' and my dogs. I showed Leese's pic to the rest of my family and we all thought it was hilarious to find our Bizarro World dogs on Instagram. I then had to post a photo of our dogs to show how similar they are.

I have been loving using Instagram and the other Instagram users I have connected with I thought I would like to share some of the blogs I have found or connected with since meeting their creators on Instagram. I am making some guesses about the size of these blogs readership. So if you are actually bigger than I am guessing, I hope you will be flattered that I thought to put you here, not annoyed that I underestimated your subscribers!

But first, five little known facts about me...

1. I'm allergic to mussels, but I still keep trying to eat them anyway. I got food poisoning from eating mussels about 15 years ago, and I now get sick when ever I eat them. I took me about 4 or 5 goes of getting sick to realize that mussels were the problem. But I still love the flavour and smell of them, so I keep trying them anyway, just in case I've outgrown the allergy!
2. I have a tattoo of a sunflower on my back. I had it done when I lived in Canada and I still love it. Absolutely no regrets.
3. I secretly like watching 'Stoked' and get very distracted from whatever I'm supposed to be doing whenever my girls is watching it.
4. I have a big scar on my leg from falling out a tree when I was 12. I'd been showing off to my sister that I could climb higher than her, so when I fell she just laughed! I'm pretty lucky that the cut on my leg was the only injury.
5. The reason I didn't apply to do visual art or graphic design straight from high school was because I didn't know how to put a portfolio together and was to stupid/shy/insecure to just ask my art teacher what to do! But I don't regret the path I chose. I am still friends with two of the girls I met studying Hotel Management and their friendship is so worth it.

And onto my Leibster Award nominations, five blogs I enjoy reading and who I connected with through Instagram...

1. Tracy from Our Life in Blog Form
2. Anna from Green Tea & Toast
3. Leah from Sang the Bird
4. Amy from the Misadventurous Maker
5. Sarah from Mismatchbox

Click through the link on their names and enjoy a little time in their worlds. I don't have specific individual reasons for liking this group of girls. I just think they are kinda cool and I like their take on life.
Thank you to Leese from A Life of Domestic Bliss for making me so happy by nominating me for a Leibster Award.

Do you have any favourite blogs? Who would you give a shout out to?