Liebster is German for "Dearest"

This is important to know, because I was given the Liebster Award by TWO awesome ladies! Thanks to Rachel Bean and J at Concrete Pieces of Soul.

Isn't it so sweet? Also, if my Googleized research isn't correct and "liebster" doesn't actually mean "dearest", could someone please tell me? Okay, thanks.

This award is specifically for blogs who have less than two hundred followers, so we can share the love and get our networking skills ON!

So here, in no particular order, are my picks:

ThatGirlAni at Anime's Musings. She always has great music recommendations. Also, regularly scheduled pretty. (I can't remember if I've given her an award in the past, but I owe her a crit and I feel guilty so I'm throwing things at her like a bad mother who's trying to stave off a tantrum. Don't hate me, Ani! I just moved!!)

Megan at Reading for Refuge. Megan isn't a writer, but she loves to read and she always has great book reviews on her blog.

Red Boot Pearl at Book Savvy. Her "Becoming A Better Writer Without Writing" vlog series is hilarious. (I also owe her a crit. Here's an award!! Ack! I'm choking on my guilt!)

Cortney Pearson. I've just met Cortney but check out the tab on her blog titled "Where Are Boys From, Uranus?" It's really funny.

Casey Morris from Obscure and Askew. Casey is another new buddy, but guys, he likes Wolverine and Willow! So we have to be friends. It's, like, a law of the universe or something.

Also, the rules of this award state that you must have "bloggity-blog fun!" I'm not sure I know how to do that, and no promises, but I'll bring a broom just in case.

Awards!

I'm starting to think that maybe long, stuttering breaks in my blog posting are good for my writing career. That, or my last post came across pathetic enough that people pity me.

Either way, I got a couple awards, so WOO!!

The first is from Julie, who always has a list of books and TV shows for me to check so that we can geek out about them together. I'm pretty sure her master plan is to own my brain through various types of media, and it's WORKING!

She gave me this one. Did my brain inadvertently tell her I love strawberries best?

The other award is from Christine, without whom I'd be flopping prematurely at the bottom of a slush pile, dying an ignominious death. Also, she's the ONLY person allowed to read my manuscript in an epic fantasy voice. Got that?

She gave me a puppy! My kids will be so excited.

Since I've already done the seven things about me required by the Strawberry Award, I'm skipping right to the Puppy Award and telling about 5 TV shows/books/movies I've enjoyed in the past while.

1. TV: I'll start with the one that's been claiming my evenings lately: Arrested Development. Everyone in my husband's new job told him he HAD to watch it, and since we want to fit in and suck up, we did. Hilarious, guys.

2. BOOKS: I've been reading like a crazy person lately, but one series has really stood out among the masses, and that's Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness. All three books in the series--The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and The Answer, and Monsters of Men--are excellent, so go check them out. Seriously, I would love to be able to write a story like this some day. And come on, how cool are those titles?

3. MOVIE: I went on a date with my husband to this obscure little foreign film called "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2." It was pretty good. I mean, England has a whole culture that I wasn't aware of! "Wizards", "Death Eaters", "Horcruxes". It was a fascinating study.

4. BOOK: I also just read Shannon Hale's "Book of A Thousand Days" and liked it very much. Her writing is sweet and unimposing. Also, I love a strong-willed heroine in the style of Gail Carson Levine's characters.

5. TV: I don't know if I've ever mentioned my deep-abiding love for Survivor. Have I? I really love it. It's pretty much the only reason I still own a TV.

Lucky for me, I happen to know quite a few irresistibly sweet and seriously cute bloggers who I'd like to pass these awards on to: 

Ruth Josse from Ruth+Writing. I wiggle like a puppy every time I see a comment from Ruth, because she's so stinking funny. She doesn't just save her funny for me, either. Check out her blog if you don't believe me...and also, check it out even if you do believe me.

Jess from Falling Leaflets.  I like Jess's blog because she links to a lot of valuable information that I don't have to hunt down myself. Plus, look at her profile picture and tell me she's not adorable.

Michelle Merrill from Perfecting the Craft. First off, she has one of the coolest headers I've ever seen and I'm insanely jealous every time I see it. Secondly, Michelle takes the time to interview other aspiring authors, which is awesome.

Lindsay Currie from Tiptoe Kisses. She first won me over with a post about Harry Potter. For the life of me, I can't remember what she said, just that I thought, "Ooh, I need to stalk make friends with this girl."

Carrie from Carrie Keeps Typing. Go ahead and tell me her post, "I Wish Eggs Were Transparent" is not the most brilliant thing you've read.

Madeline Bartos from Capricious Existence. If you're looking for some excellent insight into the mind of a teenager, Madeline is your girl, seeing as she's in the throes of teenagehood-dom. She knows what teens are looking for in a book and she'll let you know! Also, when she's caffeinated, she is ridiculously cute.

Go check out these blogs and maybe, just maybe, they'll share the strawberry cake and let you play with their puppy.

(I...already ate my cake...but my puppy is available.)

Phew

*blink blink*

Oh, hello. It's me again.

I almost didn't find myself under piles of boxes and dirty laundry that I'm preeety sure were breeding like rabbits in the back of the moving van for the three-day journey from West Virginia to Idaho.

Yeah, kinda like that.

Everything went smoothly, though. My two-year-old even conked out for the last leg of our flight and I got to read! A book!

Also, SkyMall Magazine has something that I really, really need. It's not even a want.

Accio Survivor!

See, this wand can be trained to take over your remote control's functions. An upward flick of the wrist could up the volume. A twirly figure-eight and the TV turns off.

Holy cow, guys. You can't get closer to real wizardry.

My birthday is in July, by the way...

Anywho, I'm thinking maybe I should take more long, languishing breaks, because I got two awards and a meme shoutout while I was gone!

Thanks to Keriann at Novel Beginnings for:

And my fab crit buddy Ani from Anime's Musings for:

 You make a girl feel so loved, really.

Along with these awards (I'm kind of mooshing the two and their requirements together) I'm supposed to tell seven facts about myself.

1) I put way too much thought into random lists like this. I think about them for days or weeks (Ani gave me this award almost a month ago and I've been thinking since then) (I took a good 2 months to write a random 25 list on Facebook). Sometimes, I'll think of a random Jeigh-fact and think, "Ooh, that's a good one!" but then I think maybe it's not quite random enough. Since most of you don't know me personally, though, I'm trying to keep the nit-pickyness to a minimum.

2) My name (pronounced "Jay" for those of you unsure) is actually a typo. It's the name my parents intended me to have, but I was named after an ancestor named Leigh. In my mom's copy of our family history her name was misspelled and my mom loved it. Later she found out it was wrong, but kept it anyway. I hated my name when I was younger because it drew a lot of attention to my shy little self, but now I like it.

3) Speaking of shy, I'm not any more, really, but you'd never know it by talking with me face-to-face. I have this unfortunate habit of turning lobster-red at inopportune times. Like, when people speak to me. Or sometimes when I get caught talking to myself in the grocery store. And especially when people point out that I'm turning red. That doesn't help, people. I also blush when other people do embarrassing things. The worst was in high school, when the guy in front of me farted and I very kindly took the blame away from him by lighting up like a Christmas tree. Did I mention my crush was sitting right next to me? He was.

4) Because of genetic misfortune, I'm missing most of the permanent teeth in the top half of my mouth. The teeth I have are either baby teeth or surgical implants, except my two, large, squirrelly front teeth. Sadly, I never had access to the tooth-shrinking spell Hermione did, so they just stand out.

5) I consider myself exceptionally dorky. My awkward years started early (1st grade) and lasted long (10th grade? Maybe still going...?) I've made peace with it, though. Hi. I'm a dork.

6) I am a sucker for color and patterns. I'm not very crafty, but I've got a huge collection of fabric and scrapbook paper and all sorts of embellishments that are just so. darn. cute. that I can't help myself.

7) I want to own a Great Dane just because I think it would be so awesome to walk a dog that came up to my chest. I would name her Regina, or maybe Ingrid.


The other requirement of these awards is that you pass them on to other deserving bloggers. I'm going to beg moving brain/jet lag privilages, though, and only pass it on to two bloggers who I know without checking haven't gotten it yet.

Emily at Book Savvy. She won me over back in the day with some hilarious commentary on Taylor Swift's love life, among other things.

AND

Julie from rosewood pencilbox. She laughs at all my geeky jokes. And makes geeky jokes back. And I'm pretty sure we're twins separated at birth because SHE CAN READ MY MIND.

So go check out their blogs and send a little love their way.