Liebster Award

We recently started our travel blog and were honored to be nominated for the Liebster Award by Cecily, a lifestyle, DIY crafts, and beauty blogger.  I do need to be honest, what in the world is the Liebster Award? We were super excited when we got the email, and I thought I was just getting advice on how to improve our blog. When I told my husband, “We have been nominated for the Liebster Award!”  He said, “That is awesome, but what does that mean?!” and I said, “I don’t know, let me google it!!” LOL!!!  So, we googled it and got excited again! 

Our family at American Basin in Southern Colorado

Who Hoo! We have been nominated, but what is the Liebster Award?

The Liebster Award has been around since 2011 as a new blogger award. It is a way for bloggers to recognize new blogs, network with one another, discover new blogs, help grow a new bloggers audience, and welcome them into the community. 

We would like to give a huge thank you to Cecily who started her cecilyroseisgold.com blog in 2017.  We really found her story inspiring.  She is a college student with a goal to leave a mark on the world with her words and wisdom. When you read her blog you can sense she is writing with her heart.  We truly think her story is beautiful and her goals in life are inspiring.  She made a mark on our family by nominating our blog for this award and we really do appreciate her for choosing us. 

As part of the award process, the nominees are asked to do a few tasks; we provide 10 facts about ourselves, nominate other blogs for the award, discuss our favorite blog, answer questions from the person who nominated us, and put together some questions for our nominees to answer.  Please check out the other blogs and let me know what you think!

10 Random Facts About Me

  1. We sold everything we own and are traveling for the next 10 months while we launch our family travel business which enables families to travel without  the stress of researching or worrying about planning their next vacation, we will find out what they like and provide custom travel plans they can trust
  2. We have two amazing kids, a little boy who is 8 years old and our daughter who just turned 11 and is going on 16
  3. We won our dog Holly (a Cavapoo, King Charles Cavalier/Poodle mix) in a writing contest in 2013…and she is traveling with us!!
  4. I was a pharmaceutical sales representative for 15 years
  5. My husband is a licensed professional geoscientist in Texas and worked as a hydrogeologist before we started our business together
  6. We are homeschooling our kids for the first time this year and I have to google a lot of the information 
  7. For the first four months of our journey we are traveling with backpacks in a Jeep Wrangler
  8. The best part of our journey is that we are always together…the hardest part of our journey is that we are always together
  9. I graduated from University of Texas at Austin so everyone in my family is a Longhorn
  10. We do not have any regrets about our life change 
Bryan and Holly at the Grand Canyon

Our Liebster Award Nominees

Tanya with http://technologyaround.me

Ayca with https://www.young-turk.com

Macy with http://foodwinetravelmore.com

Dr. Karen Lee Banks with http://words-encouragement.com/first-day-of-fall-and-new-opportunities-to-start-fresh

Morgan with https://bibliobakes.com/2017/09/23/one-dark-throne-review/

Aaron and Hayden with http://veganvoyagers.com/#

JoJo with http://jojohua.com/2017/09/21/12-important-life-lessons-to-learn-before-you-turn-30/

My Favorite Blog

As part of receiving the Liebster Award, you have to name your favorite blog and why.  This is a very cool part of the award because it gives insight into what you like and helps expose people to the blogs that you are interested in. 

My absolute favorite blog is Lauren Juliff’s Blog Never Ending Footsteps, https://www.neverendingfootsteps.com. Lauren is a travel blogger who has a unique and funny way of telling people how not to travel.  She does not come across as a travel expert, instead her stories provide ideas on how to have a successful trip. You can relate to her stories because when you travel sometimes bad things can happen, but the amazing experiences you gain outweigh the bad. Her story is inspirational while reminding you that taking a leap of faith and stepping outside of your comfort zone can help you achieve goals, whatever they might be. 

Questions from Cecily

  1. What inspired you to start blogging? Last summer we had two life changing events. In June 2016, my husband had hip replacement surgery and three weeks later I was laid off from job of 13 years.  After that, we decided to embrace our love for travel by starting a travel company and blog.
  2. What is the most difficult part about blogging to you? and why? Getting over the idea that posts have to be perfect and to remember it is important to be yourself.  We are overcoming many years of writing in the corporate world where everything had to be formal.
  3. What is the most fun part about blogging? Why? Being able to express yourself through writing in a personal and creative way.  It is also very rewarding when you find out you inspired someone through your writing.
  4. What is your ideal daily routine? To wake up early and knock out work before going to explore something new.
  5. How do you incorporate your blog into your daily life?  We are living our blog for the next 10 months by traveling.  It is our life.
  6. What does this nomination mean to you?  It was honor to be recognized by another blogger and to get to know other bloggers.  It has been a great way to connect with bloggers and network.

Questions for my Nominees

To all of you wonderful bloggers I nominated, here are my questions for you: 

  1. What is your favorite blog post you have written?
  2. Tell us where you are from and what inspired you to start blogging?
  3. What social media platform do you prefer and why?
  4. What do you want to accomplish with your blog?
  5. What is your favorite travel destination and why?

I hope you enjoyed learning a little about me and the Liebster Award.  It is always an honor to be recognized by others!  Please check out the blogs to help spread the word about all of these amazing people!

Liebster Nomination Rules

  • Display the award on your blog in your post and/or as a widget on your page
  • Provide 10 facts about yourself
  • Write a 150-300 word paragraph on your favorite blog that is NOT your own and explain why. (Provide a link(s))
  • Answer the questions that the person who nominated you asked
  • Nominate 5-11 other bloggers and ask them your own questions! (Don’t forget to tell the other bloggers that they are nominated and when you post it)
  • List rules in your post