Discovering New Blogs – Liebster Award!

I was recently tagged in a post by the lovely Nina over at Ready for a Cuppa, nominating me for the Liebster Award which is a great way to have readers discover new blogs and for more bloggers to get to know one another! It works a little like this:

• I respond to the questions that Nina posed to us in her post,
• I then come up with 11 new questions for other bloggers to respond to,
• and I tag 5-11 new bloggers in the post who will go on to answer the questions and write their own posts with new questions.

Here are Nina’s questions:

1. What or who inspired you to blog?

I have always thought of writing as a release and paper (or a computer screen in this case) as being the place to go to express what you think, feel or just what you’d like to share with other people – whether informative, creative, critical or just for fun. Parenting is a huge part of my life, as is eating and organising and I wanted to be able to share with others things that worked for us, things we love and my reflections. 
Bloggers like Jen over at ‘I Heart Organizing’, Amnah from ‘Little Life of Mine’, and Saira from ‘Confessions of a Muslim Mommaholic’ are some examples of bloggers I have been inspired by.

2. Who would you invite to a dinner party?

This is a tough one, but I would love to host (and not just for a dinner party) someone that has been affected by the Syrian refugee crisis. 

3.  If you had to give up one what would it be out of Tea, Coffee, Alcohol?

I don’t drink alcohol, so out of tea and coffee, it would probably have to be tea. I love coffee.

4. What’s your favorite view?

This isn’t a stunning view or something particularly out of the ordinary, but I live in a little development and the view from my flat is unobstructed so I see this great, absolutely massive tree on a daily basis. I watch it year round as its leaves change colour, fall off and as it becomes bare and then whilst new leaves grow in the spring. It’s difficult to explain, but I almost find it comforting.

5. Who is your inspiration in life?

My children. I know that’s a cliche, but they inspire me to be better in so many different ways on a daily basis. They are also my biggest challenge!

6. Whats the best piece of advise you’ve been given?

Never complain about your spouse to your family. You love your spouse and can forgive their flaws, but your family won’t. (Of course this does not include situations where emotional, physical or mental abuse is taking place).

7. What is at the top of your bucket list?

Making the annual pilgrimage to Makkah (Hajj). 

8. Is there anything you would do differently if you could?

I’d try to be less anxious and relax more, taking things in my stride.

9. What’s the one place you would love to see if money were no object?

The Amazon rainforest.

10. What would you do with a lottery win?

Build a multipurpose Masjid with adequate prayer facilities for women and mothers with children, as well as space to hold engaging activities for young people. London is sorely lacking in building facilities like these – where the masjid is somewhere that accommodates everyone and somewhere that young people spend their time, instead of hanging out on street corners.

11. How do you relax?

A lit candle, YouTube or my favourite show, and chocolate.

That was fun! It’s my turn to nominate other new bloggers, so here’s my list:

Simply a Mama

Blogs by Amna

Thinkaholic Mom

The Sarah Effect

Arabic Seeds

A Muslimah Misunderstood

Muslim Mommy USA

And here are my questions to them:

1. What have you found most challenging about blogging since you started?

2. What’s your pet peeve?

3. Have you ever considered changing your name? What would you change it to?

4. What is your biggest accomplishment?

5. How open are you to trying new foods? On a scale of 1 to 10 – 1 being not at all and 10 being always!

6. What would you do with your last £1? (or whatever currency applies to you)

7. Who is your favourite author and why?

8. Describe your home in three words.

9. What is your guilty pleasure?

10. What’s the best blog post you’ve ever written? (Link it below too!)

11. If you have to pick one season to have the entire year – what would it be?

I look forward to reading your posts! I’d also love to hear from my readers – comment below if you’d like to answer any of the questions I’ve posed!

Just a little reminder of what the rules are:

RULES

1. Write a blog post about your nomination, displaying an image of the award.
2. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
3. Answer the 11 questions the person who nominated you asked you in his/her blog post.
4. Nominate 5-11 other starting bloggers who you think deserve this award, and come up with 11 questions of your own for them to answer. I’ve actually got 13
5. List these rules in your blog post.