Recent Nominations

I hope everyone had a wonderful Canada Day long weekend! And to all my American pals, I hope you are enjoying your 4th of July celebrations!

I received another nomination for a blogging award over the weekend and realized that I have actually received several nominations over the past month or so that I never got around to acknowledging publicly. I sincerely apologize to the lovely bloggers who kindly nominated me for various awards and hope that you will forgive my late response!

First off, I would like to send a giant thank you to Patty for nominating me for the One Lovely Blog Award back in May! You can check out her lovely blog here.  

Next up, a big thank you to C.J. for nominating me for the Illuminating Blogger Award back in May! Please check out her blog Food Stories when you have a moment.

Next, thank you Mary Ann for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award back in June! Mary Ann’s blog My Pen and Me is a lovely collection of her original poetry.

And finally, a heartfelt thank you to Cathy for nominating me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award!  I love the title of her blog - My Pursuit of Happiness and Skinny Jeans.

I feel very humbled to have been recognized by these four strangers who happened to stumble across my blog and actually enjoy what I write about. Thank you again for putting a smile on my face :)

Now, the rules that accompany these four awards are pretty much the same. Link back to the person that nominated you, state 7 facts about yourself, nominate other bloggers for the awards (with links to each of their blogs), and notify them that they have been nominated.

SO! I have just accomplished step 1.

Step 2. Facts about me. This could get tricky. I’m not very good at talking about myself.

1. I recently accepted an internship with Bell’s Professional Management Program. I just completed my second day with the program and think it’s going to be a fantastic experience. Hopefully I’ll get around to posting more details about it in the future!

2. As of late, my favourite meal is homemade pizza. But not with regular dough… Cauliflower pizza crust! Gluten-free and oh-so-tasty. Check out my previous post for the recipe!

3. I have 2 cats: Joey and Chloe. Joey is a bit on the chubby side and suffers from diabetes. We have to give him insulin shots twice a day. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, my passion for healthy living has not rubbed off on him one bit :(

4. If I could go anywhere in the world right now I would go to Thailand. Mmm, thai food…

5. I have absolutely no sense of direction. Sometimes I can’t even find my way around my own home town.

6. I recently purchased Sigur Ros’ latest album called Valtari. It’s the most beautiful album I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.

7. I still dislike running, but have recently fallen in love with aerobic step classes. Great cardio workout!

This now brings me to the third step – nominate other bloggers!

One Happy Table – this is a fantastically delicious blog with some amazing-looking vegan recipes! I highly recommend checking out Lauren’s latest recipe for Gooey Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry-Rose Frosting. Lauren, I nominate you for the Illuminating Blogger Award!

The Veggie Vore – a collection of excellent recipes that can be adapted for both meat and non-meat eaters! I nominate you for the One Lovely Blog Award :)

L-Jay Health – I started following this blog because I was inspired by L-Jay’s personal journey to improved health and well-being. The fitness and nutrition info he posts is also very useful! L-Jay, I nominate you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award!

Emmy Cooks – I just stumbled across this blog and was very intrigued by the collection of recipes! Particularly the recipe for chocolate waffles… I nominate you for the Versatile Blogger Award!

That’s all for now folks. More good stuff to come!

- Be Well  xo

Another Nomination!

WOW, what a great day so far! I had a wonderful sleep (for once), I woke up to a CLEAN ROOM (finally!), I fixed myself a delicious, wholesome breakfast (whole grain cereal with soymilk, flax seeds and blackberries, scrambled egg whites, and a kiwi), and then logged on to my computer to discover I have been nominated again for the Versatile Blogger Award!

Thank you Anne Sture Tucker for recognizing my blog :) Anne is a Pschomotoric therapist/Psychodynamic therapist and a trained chef. She even cooked once for Bruce Springsteen! Anne - my boyfriend will be very jealous. He travelled to Buffalo last night to see him in concert. Please check out her blog when you get a chance!

Since I was already nominated for this award quite recently, I won’t go through the whole nomination/7 facts about me process again. Please refer back to my post from Wednesday with a list of blogs I nominated!

Anyways, time to get moving and go to the gym before I head to Toronto! I’m going to see a Jays game with some friends this afternoon. Should be fun!

Eat Well, Move Well, Be Well  xo

I’ve Been Nominated!

I woke up to a wonderful surprise this morning – an e-mail notification saying that I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award and the Liebster Award!  A giant THANK YOU to Cravings Gone Clean for the nominations!  If you are not already following her blog, I highly suggest that you do. She posts healthy, guilt-free versions of recipes, many of which can be made vegan or gluten-free. You would be wise to check out her recipe for healthy pad thai!

After receiving the lovely news about these nominations, I then clued in to the fact that I had no idea what the awards exactly meant. For those of you that are also wondering, here are the details/rules:

The Versatile Blogger Award:

• Thank the person who gave you this award.
• Include a link to their blog.
• Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
• Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.
• In the same post, include this set of rules.
• Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

The Liebster Award:

• The Liebster Award is for bloggers who have inspired you, and have less than 200 followers.
• How it works: Link back to the person who gave it to you and thank them. Post the award to your blog. Give the award to 5 bloggerswith less than 200 followers that you appreciate and value.
• Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have received this award.

SO! Without further ado, here are my nominations for The Versatile Blogger Award. Since I am fairly new to the blogging scene and therefore do not follow many blogs regularly, I only chose a few.  I’ll nominate some more soon! I have made notes beside the blogs that I am also nominating for the Liebster Award.

1. While Chasing Kids – Anastasia is a Russian mother of two adorable children. I’ve been following her blog pretty much since I first started mine back in February. She posts lots of delicious, Russian recipes which are always accompanied by beautiful photos. I’m particularly excited about trying her buckwheat patties with cilantro sauce!
2. Make Food Not [Body] War – Beth is a true inspiration. Her blog is a collection of personal stories about her journey to recovery from anorexia nervosa. She has such a positive attitude and outlook on life, I’ve really enjoyed reading her blog. She posts some great recipes, too! I would also like to nominate Beth’s blog for the Liebster Award, because I find her strength inspiring.
3. Little Ginger in the Big World - My friend Emily recently started this blog to document her upcoming adventure to South Korea to teach English (she leaves in a few weeks!!). She’s pretty much the definition of a ”free bird”. I envy her spunk and spontaneity! I’m looking forward to living vicariously through her by reading about her experiences in Korea for the next year. I’m also nominating her blog for the Liebster Award, because yesterday she inspired me to write down a new “bucket list”!
4. 366 Days of Pinterest - Pinterest has become a new obsession of mine, so I was immediately drawn to the title of this blog. Kirsten, the author, made a personal goal to try a new Pinterest project every day! I just subscribed to her blog, so I’m looking forward to taking a quick browse later on to see which things she’s tried already.
5. Domestic Diva, M.D. – This blog has made me laugh out loud on several occasions. The author, a fourth-year med student, always writes a humourous story about her personal life to go along with every recipe she posts. Sex After Surgery and Spinach Pesto gave me a particularly good chuckle. Looking through her blog I can see that she’s been nominated for this award multiple times already!
6. For the Love of Cooking – Pam’s blog has sooooo many delicious-sounding recipes, and her pictures are awesome. I can see on her home page that she has won a lot of blogging awards, but I’ll nominate her anyways!

7 Fun Facts About Me (mostly music-related)

1. I can play the piano, guitar and sing. I took piano lessons when I was younger for about 8-9 years, and voice lessons for a year. I taught myself how to play the guitar (aka I can manage to strum enough chords together to form a recognizable song). Since I currently do not have a job lined up for the summer, my goal is to start playing piano and guitar again on a regular basis.
2. I am a musical theatre junkie. I was a chorus member in Beauty and the Beast and played Eponine in Les Miserables – my favourite musical of all time (both high school productions). I also played the lead female role last year in Laurier Musical Theatre’s production of College: The Musical. Another goal for the summer if I remain unemployed: audition for a community theatre production!
3. Since we’re on the topic of music, I may as well tell you that I am a ridiculously huge fan of country. Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert, Dean Brody… love ‘em all. My idea of the perfect night out is going to the Corral (a country bar in the dirty ‘shwa) in my cowboy boots.
4. I used to play softball competitively. In 2004 (wow, that sounds like so long ago…) my team placed first in Ontario for our division.
5. I LOVE going to concerts. Here are some of the artists I’ve heard perform: City and Colour, Tegan and Sara, Justin Nozuka, Taylor Swift, Needtobreathe, Tim McGraw, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban, The Black Keys, Cage the Elephant, Rascal Flatts, Arctic Monkeys, Michael Buble, Peter Katz, Gloriana, Kellie Pickler, Jack Johnson, Rise Against, Brad Paisley, John Mayer, Dierks Bentley… the list goes on.
6. I am currently obsessed with the singer Birdy. I was absolutely shocked last night to learn that she’s only 15. You would never guess it by listening to her sing – she’s phenomenal. I just purchased her album on iTunes for only $7! FYI – she does amazing covers of The XX’s ‘Shelter’, Pheonix’s ’1901′, James Taylor’s ‘Fire and Rain’, and Bon Iver’s ‘Skinny Love’.
7. I’m left handed.   :)

Be Well xo