Liebster Award: Discover New Blogs

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had great weekends. 

Mine was spent relaxing, sleeping (I'm trying to do as much of that as Evie will allow lately...), writing, and dreaming about the future of Simply Liv. I have LOTS of fun ideas in the works and can't wait to see them come to fruition. 

Blogging has become such a passion to me. I never expected it, but I truly love the freedom, flexibility, potential and community I've found through it. I've been pushing myself a ton in the past few months to grow this little space into something more than just a journal of our day-to-day that my family reads, and while I'm not exactly where I want to be yet, I'm so happy with my progress and so excited to be connecting with some awesome women through this little blog. 

So, you can imagine my surprise and excitement when Simply Liv was nominated for the Liebster Award by another blogger who I've never actually met. I had seen this kind of obscure award a few times in some of the groups I'm a part of, but I never really took the time to see what it was all about. But once I was nominated, I got down to business ;) The Liebster is basically a way to connect even more with new blogs and help them grow their audience. Once you're nominated, you introduce yourself and your blog and nominate a few other bloggers to join in. It kind of reminds me of those email chain letters that went around when I was in middle school...but more official and actually fun ;) 

I was nominated by Nicole of Naturally Nicole. She blogs about her passion for natural, healthy living in every area of life. It's an honor to be nominated by her and I'm already loving her blog! She has some great advice, especially for young mamas.

 

 So without further ado, I will tell you a little bit more about myself, and then introduce the bloggers I'm nominating for the award! 

11 questions:

1// How did you come up with your blog name?
Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. I started blogging during my freshman year of college and called it "Life Out of Grey", after a song I recorded in high school, but somewhere along the line I decided I wanted to make my blog more "official". Simply Liv just kind of came to me, and eventually I (conveniently) realized that writing about simple and authentic living would be a good addition to what I was already doing.

2// What’s your favorite food to cook?
Oh man. Before I got married, I didn't even know how to cook. I loved to bake, but cooking was something I never really had to mess with. BUT, now I absolutely love experimenting in the kitchen. My favorite things to make are the simple meals that I can take my own liberties with and make healthier.

3// If you could be any animal, which animal would it be and why?
 Because I have absolutely no idea how to answer this question, I'm going to say a squirrel because Evie does a happy dance every time she sees one and waves hi and I love it. I actually don't really like them that much, but I would be one for my daughter's sake.

4// What is something that really makes you laugh?
My husband, obviously. Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or face palm, but he is hilarious and I love him.

5// What is your biggest pet peeve?
Sometimes I think I'm one of those annoying people with lots of pet peeves. Those people are my pet peeves. Also, when people fight or yell at their kids in public. I'm not sure if that really qualifies as a pet peeve, but it drives me crazy.

6// What is one item you just could NOT live without?
 I'm going to lie a little bit and say it isn't an electronic device....because one of the super exciting ideas I'm working on is a technology challenge. So my answer is ice cream (especially cherry chocolate!). Which is actually true, ask AJ.

7// If you could spend the day with one celebrity, who would it be?
 Definitely Jennifer Lawrence. I think we could be best friends if she wasn't a billionaire and super famous. I trip up the stairs all the time too.

8// What are you driving?
A Honda Accord.

9// If you could change your first name, what would you change it to and why?
I've always liked my name, but if I had to change it I would probably make it what we are naming our daughter in a few weeks, so you'll have to come back soon and see for yourself! ;)

10// If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
 Besides all of the actually important things I would change, I would make it possible for people to travel where ever they want to for free. I hate that the main thing holding people back from seeing the amazing places in the world is money. 

11// What’s the best piece of advice you were ever given?
Growing up, my dad always told me to "remember who I am". And once I got Mufasa's voice out of my head, I realized how wise that is. Life throws a lot of curve balls at you, but staying grounded and remembering who you are (your strengths, beliefs, passions, weaknesses...all of it) will help you in everything you do. So thanks for that Dad :)

11 Random Facts About Me:

1// I met my husband on a music mission trip to Latvia. It was incredible.
2// I hate hot weather. I spent most of my life in the mountains of Colorado, so summers were gorgeous and NOT humid. AJ says he wants to move to the South...and while it is definitely beautiful, I don't think I could ever leave the house.
3// I haven't snowboarded in two years, but it used to be my life. I went around 40 times a season.
4// I have a terrible habit of starting projects and not finishing them.
5// Music is one of my passions- I love singing and playing the guitar and piano- I'm just not sure how it should fit in my life right now.
6// I hate painting my toenails, but I do it out of respect for anyone who looks at my feet.
7// Did I mention I love ice cream?
8// I was an English major in college. I finished two years and plan on finishing the rest when life calms down a little bit.
9// I'm a chronic over-thinker.
10// I love reading and have a weird habit of choosing the hardest, longest books to read for fun. Like "Moby Dick" and "Crime and Punishment".
11// After I had Evie, my hair got boring and not curly. I'm hoping that after this baby comes, it will reverse the curse!...?

Now for my nominees! Be sure to check out their blogs, because I think they're pretty great.

1. Julie from A Hopeful Hood
2. Angel from Pages of Curiosity and Coffee Spills
3. Brittany from The Kardia Blog 
4. Natasha from Natasha Byrd
5. Jasmine from A Gathering

My 11 questions for my nominees:

1// What is the story behind your blog?
2// If you could pick one place to live in for the rest of your life, where would it be and why?
3// Who is your inspiration?
4// What is your favorite "guilty pleasure" TV show to binge watch?
5// Sour or Sweet?
6// What is your "go-to" piece of clothing?
7// As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
8// What is your favorite room in your house and why?
9// What is one of your passions (besides blogging)?
10// Would you describe yourself as an introvert or and extravert?
11// What is one thing you want people to take away when they visit your blog?

A Grateful Heart (Link-up with Ember Grey)

Happy Memorial Day, friends! I'm posting a little bit later than usual, but I hope you all are having a fun filled, reflective Memorial day. AJ works Saturday-Monday and, unfortunately, doesn't get Memorial day off, so Evie and I spent the day together at the park and enjoyed a three hour nap. I know...you can be jealous.

Today, I'm joining in a link-up over at Ember Grey (who is also hosting an awesome giveaway/ challenge for the month of June, so be sure to give her blog some love!). The theme for the link-up is "grateful hearts"- a theme I'm really excited about, because honestly, I need a little boost in the gratitude department today. It's getting down to the wire with this new baby, and I tend to focus on all the things I still have to get done, instead of taking a few moments to be grateful. So this couldn't have come at a better time!

Today I'm grateful for:

+ extra hands over the weekend (thank you Aunt Patti for spending your weekend with us!)
+ the afore mentioned 3 hour nap. I think I'm starting to need those more than E does....
+ having enough space for a garden. AJ finished planting last night, and oh I'm so excited. Growing fresh veggies and fruit right in our back yard? What could be better?
+ a husband who works hard (even on days we wish he could take off).
+ Evie's new-found ability to entertain herself. It makes my day much easier when she can spend a half hour chasing Roxy or rearranging the magnets on the fridge.
+ where I am. I've said a million times how much I never expected to be where I am in life right now, but I wouldn't change a single thing. Even the frustrating, repeating-yourself-fifteen-times, no-you-cannot-eat-that, sit-down-or-so-help-me....moments.

What are you grateful for this week? I'd love to hear! I'm always inspired by what you all have to say.

Simply,

Liv

A Little Facelift + A Few Goals

Surprise! Things look a little bit different around here, don't they?

I've been wanting to redesign my blog for FOREVER, but I thought it would cost a fortune to pay someone to help me- and God knows I don't know the first thing about blog design, as evidenced by my last design. However, a friend referred me to Rita from Coffee Shop Blog Designs, and after I checked out her work, I was sold. She did such a fast, amazing job and at a much more affordable rate than anyone I've ever researched. It's kind of a dream come true for me, not gonna lie.

So here it is, the new and improved Simply Liv! What do you think??? I hope you love it as much as I do.

To go along with my fancy-schmancy new design, I thought I'd write a little bit about my goals for my blog for the year. Making things public has a way of holding me accountable, forcing me to follow through- otherwise I tend to procrastinate a little bit a lot.

1. Stay simple. I want to really stay true to the title and "theme", you could say, of my blog. More than just a lifestyle blog about our little mid-western journey, I want to write about the simple things in life. Whether it be a list of things that have been inspiring me lately, or a simple, healthy recipe I love, or photos of my growing baby belly, I want the focus always to be on life's little gems. As I said in my last post, those are the things that I believe make life the most beautiful and I want my blog to be a constant reminder of that for me and anyone who stops by. (I also wanted my redesign to reflect that theme, hence the classic, simple new site :)
2. Stay positive. There is enough negativity and heartbreak in the news, facebook and where ever else you look; I want this blog to be a breath of fresh air.
3. Get out of my comfort zone. One of my goals is to push myself as a writer, friend, mom, wife and blogger. I want to write about things that I generally wouldn't think of and try new things, sharing them here.
4. Write for myself and not just my audience. This is a little bit of a selfish goal, but as important as crafting beautiful sentences and taking interesting pictures are for a good blog, I don't want to lose one the biggest reasons I'm blogging in the first place. I want to be able to look back in the years to come and smile at the things I wrote here, the little memories I've recorded that I otherwise would have forgotten. This is kind of like my little online time capsule.
5. Post consistently. This is a no brainer, but if I want to grow my blog, I've got to actually post on it. Consistency has been a struggle in the past for me, but I feel like writing it here, for you all to see, will help keep me accountable.
6. Revisit my 2015 "word". I didn't just chose "hopeful journey" as my word to forget about it a month into the new year. I'm trying to brainstorm ways I can focus on that in my posts and therefore, in my life outside my blog as well. 

With that, I'll leave you with an inspiring quote for your weekend and a ginormous picture of my face. Happy Friday, friends!

Simply,

Liv