Friday 14 March 2014

I've been nominated for a Liebster Award!

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I'm so happy to let you all know that I've been nominated for a Liebster award. The wonderful and lovely Amanda at Adventures from the Bookshelf has nominated me for the award, along with a few other fellow book bloggers.

The Liebster Blog Award translates to "the beloved" or "the dearest". The award is given as a way to celebrate smaller blogs. (Only blogs with under 200 followers can be awarded.) Before you accept the award, there are a certain set of tasks you must complete. The first is to reveal 11 facts about you, answer the 11 questions asked by the blogger who nominated you and then create 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer. Phew! Now let's do it!

11 Facts about Me

 1. I don’t like cheese. I know it’s weird with me being Swiss, but I tasted a really bad one when I was a kid and since then I never touched it again, except for Mozzarella.

2. I still live at home with my parents and my brother. Rents are really expensive here and my student loan is not enough. I plan on moving out as soon as I earn some real money.

3. „Elena“ isn’t my real second name, I actually don’t even have one. My mum told me that they just forgot and then it was too late. She likes the name Elena though and me too and she told me it would have been a great second name for me, so that’s why I call myself Simona Elena everywhere now.

4. I could really image being an author later on in my life. I wrote some fanfictions in German and now I write some short stories. I even have ideas for a novel. I guess when I’ve settled down as a teacher, I’m going to write more.

5. I speak 4 languages: German (Swiss German doesn’t really count), English, Italian and French. German is my mother tongue, I learned Italian because of my grandma and I learned the other two languages at school. I’d really like to learn another one, maybe I’ll go into Spanish, it’s similar to Italian and when they speak slowly I understand them.

6. I am member of an English Theatre group here in the area. We mostly perform Musicals, I was in Oliver! And we’re going to do The Sound of Music this year.

7. I am also member of a choir, it’s actually a classical choir, but in the past few years we did a lot of modern things as well. They’re trying to get younger members, especially young people between 20 and 40. I’m one oft he youngest ones at the moment and our average age is 50. In July we're going to the World Choir Games in Riga.

8. I was never a big fan of Ron Weasley in the HP series, I always wanted Harry and Hermione to end up together.

9. I’d love to be a member of a rock band as a singer and also learn to play the guitar.

10. I am not a big fan of Ryan Gosling (sorry ladies).

11. I’d love live by the sea. 


11 Questions from Amanda

   Whats your favourite book and why?

That’s a really hard question for me to answer, there are so many books I adore and my favourite book changes all the time. I’ll go with Connectivity by Aven Ellis, because I just fell in love with this story. I read it back in January and I still have a book hangover and I really miss the story. Aven’s writing is brilliant, passionate and so gripping. And I have a huge crush on the male lead ;) I actually have to add her new novel Waiting For Prince Harry here. I just finished it and it's brilliant. HUGE book hangover.

   What made you decide to start your blog?

That’s simple: My love for books. I took me quite a while to find my genre to read after I’ve grown out of the Fanatsy ones and I found my new home with chick-lit and romance last summer. I started reading lots of books and looked for a way to put down my thoughts and discuss them with others, so here I am now.

   What would you say has been your greatest achievement so far?

Oh wow! Well, I guess it’s finding my dream job in teaching. I know I’m not finished with my studies yet (soon though), but I know it’s the right thing for me and I’ve learnt so much about it in the last few years. It also includs my love for languages (C2 diploma in English, C1 in French) and music. I love teaching kids and seeing that they learn something and theat they are passionate about a topic. As soon as the understand something, their light goes on and that makes me smile.

   Who would be your ideal dinner guests (living or dead)?

I guess that also depends, but I’d really like to have dinner with J.K. Rowling, get to know her better and ask her many questions (Potterhead ;))
Or Henry Cavill, he's great 

   Who are the top five people you'd most like to meet? 

Firstly my two Twitter besties: Mary and Ana, we’ve built such a strong friendship, now we only need to meet in person.
The most amazing and brilliant author Aven Ellis, I'd love to meet her in person and chat a little over coffee or wine ;)
Then I’d really like to meet some other authors I adore and since I have only 2 people left I’d go for Hannah Beckerman and Paige Toon.

   If you had to live in a decade other than your own, which one would you choose and why?

The 7oties or 80ties I guess, because I love the music from these decades. Other than that I don’t have a special connection to any specific decade, I think I was born at the right time ;).

   What's your favourite season?

Summer! I love the sun and the beach. Being outside with a book, sightseeing and exploring the nature, that’s great. I guess you could also count spring, but I prefer it when the temeratures are a bit warmer.

   If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go, and why?

There are many places I’d like to visit, but I’d really love to go to New York and California. I’ve read so much about New York and it seems tob e my kind of city and it’s always been a dream to travel California, I love sun, beaches and great cities, so...

   Where's your favourite place? 

I don’t just have one favourite place. It’s either a beach (Siesta Key or the Riva del Sole beach in Italy), where I can relax, have the sea close by and can read a book or my beloved cities London and Vancouver, because they’re just amazing.

   What's your favourite type of food?

Good question ;) I guess I’m a typical Italian girl, I love pasta and Italian salads. They always have special pasta with salmon or artichoques... I LOVE THAT!
Oh and I’m a SUHSI girl.

   How do you like to spend your free time? 

I love reading, so I spent a lot of my free time with books and blogging about them as well. I also love blogging about other things like traveling, music and food. I love music and I sing in a choir, we have rehearsals every week and I’m currently also rehearsing for a Musical. Other then that I love to play the piano, go shopping and spend time with my friends.

 I nominate these lovely bloggers:
• Charlotte @ Miscrawl
• Clare @ A Book and Tea
 Rebecca @ Becca's Books
• Alba @ Lost in Chick Lit
• Maryline @ M's Bookshelf
• Erin @ Erin's Choice
• Jess @ A Novel Thought
• Emma @ Chicklit vs Fantasy
• Aven @ Aven Ellis' Blog
• Katie @ Into The Bookcase

My questions for the nominees

 How long have you been blogging and why did you start doing it? 
 Who is your celebrity crush and why? (you can also have more than one ;) )
 What inspires you?
 Which is the book which has made the greatest impact on you?     
 What's your drink of choice?

 In your opinion, what is the best blog post you've written so far? Give us the link.

 What is your favorite restaurant?
 What does your dream house look like?
 3 authors you’d really like to meet and why?
 What are 5 items you never leave home without?
 A favorite childhood memory?

2 comments:

  1. I'm also a sushi girl!! I loved reading your facts, it's awesome that you can speak so many other languages. I'd love to learn one other than my own. :) x

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    1. Loved answering your questions ;) I can teach you xx

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