Liebster Award and Blogger to Blogger Personal Tag

It’s been a very hectic week here at Magpie Making Do (for a variety of personal reasons that I’m not going to get into here, including a death in the family), and I’ve noticed myself feeling very guilty about not posting in more than a week and a half – which is nice, because it’s been a while since I had even enough energy to feel guilty about my absences. The guilt makes me feel like I’m FINALLY getting back into the swing of consistent posting!

But anyway, I don’t have a huge amount of time this week, and it’s been a very long time since I’ve done a “get to know me” post. I always struggle with them, as I’m never sure how to format them and always feel a little self-conscious about sharing like that. But luckily, in all the chaos of the last week I’ve been handed the answer on a silver platter.

Mimi over at Glitz and Glitter (go check her out, she’s awesome!) tagged me in both the Liebster Award and a Personal Tag post, and both have a “get to know the blogger” component that fit the bill just perfectly. This said, I’m not going to be able to meet the “tag others” requirement for either of these, mainly because I got too behind during my absence and have now lost track of which of my bloggy friends have already done the tag/been nominated! So I’m just going to say, if you feel like doing the “From One Blogger to Another” personal tag, let me know in the comments, and then consider yourself tagged!

So here are the rules: at the end of this post, I’ll have 11 questions for you to answer. Write a blog post answering them, pose your own 11 questions for your tagees, and then tag others as you so desire. OR, if you’ve already done the tag, but would still be interested in answering my questions, you can always answer one, or all of them in the comments! I’d love to hear from you and get to know you, even if tag posts aren’t your thing!

I’m going to be answering the 11 that Mimi posed in both tags, and including 11 facts about myself (for a total of 33 things! I promise to keep them short. Mostly.) so that I’m satisfying both post requirements as best as I can.

So here we go!

11 Questions from the Personal Tag:

1) What is one quality that you look for in a potential romantic partner?

I don’t think there is a word that exists for everything that my SO Jim is, but if so – that. (Sappy and gross and gushy, I know, but oh well. I kind of really like him.)

2) What is your favorite body wash product at the moment?

I love the Philosophy 3in1 body washes. My current fave is Bubbly – but there was a Margarita one I had years ago that I loved just as much. They’re all pretty awesome though.

3) Favorite film?

These kind of questions are always so hard because I can never just choose one. The Princess Bride is up there on the list. So are all the Monty Python movies and everything Mel Brooks has ever done. Oh, and Ever After. And I can’t forget about Little Women. Or Office Space. Or Legally Blonde. Or all the 90s Disney movies… you get the picture. I am incapable of playing favorites.

4) What is a song that touches your soul (Sad, happy, funny, etc.)?

Currently, the new Kesha song feels particularly hard-hitting for me, considering all she’s been through. Pulls at my heartstrings and makes me want to belt along in solidarity with her.

5) What is your blogging platform and why did you chose that one?

I use wordpress, and it’s mainly because after using Blogger for years, I felt like the platform wasn’t updating at a rate that kept it customizable and functional anymore – particularly as I started running into commenting problems that just NEVER seemed to get fixed (still haven’t – all my friends who still use it but haven’t heard from me in a while, I PROMISE I’m still reading). Additionally, a lot of my friends use wordpress on the daily for their actual jobs, so know I have a lot of resources for if anything ever confuses me.

6) Goals that you would like to complete by the end of 2017?

I would like to have my blog switched over to a self-hosted site. I have my domain name and everything, I’ve just been putting it off because fixing all the links and watermarks is going to be SUCH a pain in the tukhus.

7) What is your favorite perfume/cologne (if you wear one)?

I’m allergic to something that’s in a lot of the more expensive perfumes, so my choices are pretty limited, and for the most part tend to be cheap. I switch back and forth from using the few bottles of GAP Heaven that I still have left (this was my signature scent for almost 15 years, and I was super disappointed when they discontinued it) and my Bath and Body Works Energy Orange Ginger Body Spray (which apparently they also discontinued. I have such bad luck with fragrances I like and am not allergic to). I’m going to have to find a new one soon enough. I like Kate Spade’s Walking on Air a lot, and it doesn’t seem to bother my allergies, so I might have to switch to that as I run out of my faves.

8) What is one thing from your bucket list that you want to do, but is also thrilling to you? (Ex: sky diving, bungee jumping, etc.)

Traveling to a foreign country by myself.

9) What was your cringiest date that you ever went on?

I didn’t really date a lot before Jim and I found each other, so I kind of don’t really have an answer to this one?

10)Favorite place to go to?

Bookstores. Always bookstores.

11) Scale of 1-10, how bad do you think your drivers’ license (or ID) photo is? (1 being not bad at all, 10 being absolutely horrible)?

I actually quite like my current Drivers License photo. So, 9?

11 questions from the Liebester Award post:

1) What is your dream job and why?

I love my job teaching History. It’s certainly not what I saw myself doing when I was in High School, but I don’t think I’d be truly happy doing anything else anymore. I love it.

2) Who is your celebrity crush?

I don’t really crush on celebrities these days the “OMG They’re so hot” way I did when I was younger. I guess the closest thing to a celebrity crush I have these days is Jackie Chan. I love him in pretty much everything he’s ever been in – the good, the bad, and the cheesy. I also have a little bit of a girl crush on Queen Elizabeth II (which if you’ve ever been over to my Pinterest, you’ve probably realized since I basically have an entire board devoted to her and Kate Middleton’s dresses). I admire her poise and composure and basically just everything about her. I’m sure the issue would be slightly more fraught for me if I actually lived in the UK, but from the outside looking in (particularly in light of recent US politics) the relatively unwavering steadiness and class of Queen Elizabeth’s reign is admirable to me.

3) What is your go-to treat to satisfy your sweet tooth?

Depends on my mood. I’ve been on a Fruit Mentos kick lately though.

4) Have you traveled and where?

I’ve road tripped around the east of the US a little bit, but the furthest I’ve ever been is China. It was awesome. I’ll write about that experience here someday.

5) Do you have any kids/do you want any kids in the future?

I don’t right now, but someday it would be nice.

6) What was the last movie you went to go see in the movie theater?

The Beauty and the Beast Live Action. Emma Watson was great, but they should have spent a little more time training her voice instead of relying on auto-tune in post. Also, they RUINED the yellow ball gown, which was super disappointing.

7) What is your favorite skin care product?

My skincare routine is pretty low maintenance and utilitarian so I don’t really have a ton of stuff. I love my Julep Restorative Facial Milk for when I feel like pampering my skin a little bit though. It makes it feel so soft.

8) If you could visit any painter from the past, who would it be and why?

Probably DaVinci, mainly because I hope he’d be exactly like he was portrayed in Ever After. Which is another movie I love.

9) Coffee, tea, or both?

Both. But always coffee in the morning. Gotta have my two cups or I’ve got a murderous headache by 1 pm.

10) If you could give your younger self any piece of advice, what would it be?

Stop caring about what other people think so much. Have some confidence to stand on your own and start trusting your own gut. You’ll shorten some long, frustrating roads for yourself that way.

11) What are your future goals and ambitions?

To be happy no matter where the road takes me.

11 facts about myself:

1) I play a lot of musical instruments: Cello, French Horn, and Bass are my main axes, but I can also get by on Violin, Viola, and trumpet, as long as I’m playing with a section. In addition I was a Vocal Performance major for a while in college. There was some debate for a while between my voice teachers about whether I was a spinto soprano or a mezzo with an unusually extended high range. I don’t think they ever worked it out.

2) I really love the Dragon Age video game series. Like, I REALLY LOVE IT YOU GUYS. Yes, I needed to yell.

3) I also really like to draw, but get very frustrated with it, because I quit doing it for about 7 or 8 years, and now that I’m picking it back up I can’t stop thinking about where I COULD be if I hadn’t stopped. Because I’m an insufferable perfectionist.

4) I have a nostalgic soft spot for 90’s anime & its art style. I love me some DBZ, Gundam Wing, and Sailor Moon. I even have a little Sandrock action figure that lives on my desk at work and a Gunpla that Jim made me for my birthday which is basically my favorite thing on my bookshelves.

5) While I don’t watch a lot of anime anymore, I still occasionally find a series that I love to pieces. I have followed Attack on Titan religiously, and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is on my list of top 5 greatest series of ANYTHING that I’ve ever seen/read.

6) There are precisely two people in the world that I am capable of having a normal, not-full-of-awkward-pauses-and-weirdness conversation with on the phone. One of them is my mother. I basically have to text everyone else because for some reason I am incapable of speaking on the phone like a normal human unless it’s 100% business related.

7) My very first crush was Harrison Ford as Han Solo. I think I might have been like, 6?

8) I love me a good anti-hero.

9) I really really want to go to a con in costume someday, but I’m hesitant because I feel like my costume will never be perfect enough for me to be satisfied with it and feel fabulous in it instead of self-conscious/embarrassed. Or that by the time my sewing skills are up to par, I’ll be too old to go as any of the characters I want to go as.

10) I have more yarn than I could possibly knit up in like, 10 years. Even if I did it regularly. Which I don’t.

11) I love reading other people’s “get to know me!” blog posts but always feel super weird and self-conscious writing my own!

So there we have it, and here are my 11 questions for anyone who chooses to do the From Blogger to Blogger Personal Tag. Have fun!

1) What did you want to be “when you grew up” as a kid?
2) Re: Question #1, did you change your mind as you aged, and why? Or why not?
3) What was your favorite school subject, and why?
4) Do you play a musical instrument? If so, which one(s) and for how long? If not, what instrument would you choose if you had to learn one?
5) What’s your favorite book, and why?
6) Who is your favorite historical figure and why? If you don’t have one, who do you admire most in our current culture?
7) Do you have any pets? If so, what are their names? If not, would you like to?
8) What’s your “guilty pleasure” TV show? That show that you LOVE to hate on, but can’t stop watching?
9) What’s your go-to coffee shop order?
10) What was the last book you read, and did you like it?
11) What’s the beauty or fashion trend from your childhood/teen years that makes you cringe most thinking about it?

 

(I am not affiliated in any way with Philosophy or Julep besides being a loyal happy customer.)