11 things

The lovely Suzy nominated me for a Liebster this week, which was perfect timing as I've been really struggling with writer's block recently, so writing nothing more challenging than a list of facts was the perfect excuse to sit down at my laptop.

So, the rules of the award are:
- List 11 random facts about yourself
- Answer 11 questions given to you by the nominator
- Set 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate
- Tag your chosen bloggers and wait to read their answers

11 Random Facts About Me
1. I think that One Direction's What Makes You Beautiful is the best pop song of a generation.  Closely followed by Kiss You by, yep, One Direction.
2. I need everything on the coffee table to be at right angles, otherwise I feel uncomfortable.
3. Pertaining to #2, The Boy wooed me by putting the beer mats at right angles to the table when we were on our second date.  I have subsequently been disappointed that this did not point to an equally obsessive tidiness around the house.
4. My guilty pleasure is reading trashy mags when I get my hair cut.
5. My Twitter & blog handle comes from a Jungle Brothers song: 90s hip hop rules!
6. I'm terrified of heights.  Or, more precisely, I'm terrified of falling from a height.
7. My mum is deaf, so I have basic BSL (British Sign Language) skills.
8. I'm naturally blonde but have been dying my hair for 20 years.
9. My current most over-used word is "idiot".
10. My middle name is Elizabeth.  I much prefer it to my first name.
11. I hate orange sweets and love red ones.  My perfect match would, in theory, be someone who loves the orange ones and hates the red, but I couldn't ever truly respect someone who's so wrong about life.

Suzy asked me 11 questions, which were...

1) If you could only choose to do one item from your bucket list, which would it be?
This one is easy-peasy -  I'd go back to university to study for an MA in Gender Studies followed by a PhD.

2) What makes a good blog, in your opinion?
Writing about real life, both the good and the bad.  Very little, or no, sponsored content.  Pretty photos.  

3) Where is your favourite place to be on a rainy, Sunday afternoon?
In bed, under the duvet, in a nest of pillows and surrounded by books, with a cup of tea, some cake and The Boy curled up next to me.  Oh, and 6 Music on the radio (I miss Huey on Sunday afternoons though, Saturday morning is always too manic for me to listen to the whole show).

4) If you could meet up with any blogger, who would it be and why?
I feel really lucky that in the past year I've met most of the bloggers who I was really keen to get to know.  Can I cheat and say I'd like to meet Sarah again?  She lives in Aberdeen, basically as far as you can get from Leicester and still be in the UK, so all we've managed so far is 2 hours in Glasgow.  But I also feel like I'd have a lot to chat about with Andrea and with Suzy, so them too.

5) Best book you’ve ever read?
That's an utterly impossible question to answer!  The closest I've got was narrowing it down to 32(!) for a recent #52lists post.  But as I missed I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith off the list, I'll go with that.

6) Are you a gambler or a take the money kind of person?
Definitely not a gambler, I'm massively risk-averse.

7) Which actor would play you in a biopic of your life?
Oh crikey, I dunno.  She's not an actress, but The Boy says comedian Issy Suttie reminds him of me (I don't see it myself), and my step-mum used to say that Dani Harmer (she played Tracey Beaker on CBBC) looked like me, but I don't see that either!

8) What do you get up to when nobody is around/when nobody’s watching?
I talk to myself.

9) If you could choose one talent to possess that you don’t already have, what would it be?
I'd love to be able to draw, if only to stop my pupils laughing at my terrible attempts when I demonstrate something on the whiteboard.

10) What is an interesting fact about the town/city you live in?
We had a king buried under a car park for 600 years, and no-one knew.  Well, ok, it wasn't a car park for most of those 600 years, but still...

11) What is the last thing you do before you go to sleep at night?
I take the medication that stops me clenching my jaw, say goodnight and slaap lekker to The Boy, then pop my earplugs in.

I was going to nominate Amy of Fluffy Owl's Adventures, but she's just today put up a Liebster post.  So instead, I'll throw these over to some of the people who appear in the Blogs I Love tab at the top of the page: Sarah, Laura, E & B, The Girl, Louise and Elise.

My questions are:
1. Why did you start blogging?
2. What post are you most proud of?
3. What's your favourite thing about blogging?
4. And a least favourite?
5. Important matters now: what's your favourite colour of sweet?
4. And what's your least favourite?
5. What is your favourite flower?
6. Did you have a favourite dressing up outfit as a child (or, indeed, as an adult)?
7. Zayn or Harry?
8. What was your best holiday, and why?
9. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
10. What's your favourite Christmas tradition?
11. Do you have a nickname?