And the nomination goes to…

I briefly mentioned in this post that I had the pleasant surprise of being nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award.

Thanks a million to Patricia for the nomination! Patricia’s blog is an amazing one all about architecture and interior design. For someone who seriously lacks an artistic eye, and only recently safely tucked my fuzzy pink/inflatable/plastic/otherwise hideous college decorations away, I am incredibly impressed by everything that she does. I looked at the other websites that she nominated, and I can’t even believe that I would be in the list alongside them 🙂

So, here are the rules of the game.

1. Add the award to your blog.
2. Thank the person who gave it to you.
3. Mention 7 random things about yourself.
4. List the rules.
5. Award to 15 or more bloggers.

7 random things about myself…

1. When I was little, I hated the name Maya because no one could ever say it right and everyone acted like it was such a weird name. So, I decided I wanted to be Samantha. I had a brief phase where I would write Samantha on my papers in first grade. Now, I wish Maya hadn’t become such a popular name because I’d like it to be more unique!
2. I (not so) secretly enjoy TV shows that are most likely meant for teenagers.
3. I have immediate family (meaning siblings of my parents and my first cousins) in the following places: Bangalore, Mangalore, Bombay, Perth, Dubai, Sao Paulo, Paris, Washington DC, Chicago, New York, Charleston WV, Vienna WV, Houston, and one that kind of lives in the US/Africa/Asia/Middle East since she travels so much for work (Hi Tara!) While it is awesome to have such a widespread, international family to visit, it is definitely sad to not get to see them all more.
4. I really really wish I could sing and dance. (i.e., in reference to #2, I’d love to be a character on Glee). In fact, the only way I can work out in a gym without hating my life is to listen to things like Whitney and Mariah and pretend like I’m belting it out. I may or may not make sweeping gestures with my hands while on the treadmill. Totally normal. On that note, there was another time in my life when I’d watch the Food Network on the treadmill, and get so hungry after 5 minutes I’d just get off and go home. I digress.
5. Many times I like condiments more than the actual food I’m eating. Andrew says I just use the chips as a vehicle to shove as much salsa/queso/guacamole into my mouth as humanly possible.
6. I like costumes better than regular clothes.  Year round I point out things that would make fun Halloween costumes.
7. I don’t keep up with college basketball during the regular season, nor do I ever do research for my March Madness brackets, but I am 5 for 5 on winning my brackets for the past 3 years. I am thinking that my luck has to run out next year.
8. I.love.college.football. GO IRISH.
9. Wastefulness is a pet peeve of mine. I cringe when I see people throwing things away that could be eaten/reused/recycled or when they leave water running unnecessarily. I never say anything, because I don’t want to be an annoying nagger, but secretly I am going crazy inside.
10. For many years of my life, one of my favorite feats was to find the biggest guy at the bar and give him a piggy back ride. My sister and I randomly have that freakish ability for our small size. Once I realized it was a totally stupid idea and I’d probably be a hunchback soon, I gave it up.
11. I haven’t grown since 5th grade. I used to be the tallest girl in my class, and thought I would grow up to be really tall. Then, everyone else hit their growth spurts and I was left in the dust. This also means, however, that many items in my closet are from middle school/high school. So basically I’m really stylish…
12. When I was little I wanted to have 100 babies when I grew up. Luckily for Andrew, I have since reduced that number significantly.
13. I played with dolls until I was pretty embarrassingly old. I think I used my little sister as an excuse for doing so, when secretly I loved it.
14. When traveling to Brazil to visit my uncle’s family with my brother when I was 12, we had a stopover in Columbia. They were trying to ask us if we had had they yellow fever vaccine, but they didn’t speak English and in my brother’s one year of Spanish he had not learned “Did you have the yellow fever vaccine?”. So, the next things we know we were ushered into a random small room in Colombia and injected. Scary.
15. I have a very good memory. Which can be embarrassing. Many times I will remember everything about a person, including what we talked about the 1 time me met, and then they have no idea who I am. Stalker.
16. *Apparently I don’t know how to count and forgot that I was only supposed to do 7 of these. Hopefully you can pick 7 interesting ones from this lengthy list 🙂

To pay this forward, I nominate the following blogs for the Versatile Blogger Award! Keep in mind that my main obsession is food, so most of these are food related. In alphabetical order…

• Back to the Garden Katie’s awesome blog is more than just food. She also discusses the environment, social justice, and other interesting news pieces.
• Chocolate Covered Katie a vegan dessert blog. Great place to go if you are looking for healthy desserts to make. And some of the ones that I’ve tried don’t taste like they are healthy!
• Confessions of a Picky Eater For claiming to be a picky eater, Erin has a lot of versatility on her blog! Her recipes look awesome.
• How Sweet it is Jessica’s food blog is ah-mazing. She is my best friend even though she has no idea who I am. I seriously want to lick my computer screen when I read her blog. Added bonus, she is hilarious.
• Hyperbole and a Half Hilarious read.
• Josephiney Photography Joanne was our wedding photographer. Her pictures are amazing and she is incredibly sweet.
• Joy the Baker Delicious posts and artistic photographs.
• Life on the Run Food, travel, wine…what’s not to love??
• MJ Paperie One of my friends from college started this paper and party design company, and this is her blog. As someone with not one artistic bone in her body, I am super impressed and wish I could do something like this!
• Oh She Glows A great vegan blog. Angela’s meals look soooo delicious. The few recipes I’ve tried (like this one) have tasted so good that you can’t even tell they are vegan.
• Save Some Room for Later Leslie’s food blog is new, and yet she manages to post a million recipes! Everything looks so super good I can’t wait to make them.
• Smitten Kitchen Ahhhh my first food blog love. Deb’s blog is awesome, and includes such amazingness as homemade oreos and homemade goldfish crackers. Plus she has the cutest son in the world that she posts pictures of. Okay now I just sound creepy.
• The Italian Dish Homemade Italian food. Sooo delicious. She also has great gift ideas, like homemade vanilla extract.
• Things Notre Dame Students Like Okay okay, this is probably way more funny if you went there, but know that everything he says is sooo true.
• Young House Love A young newlywed couple and their tales of DIY home improvement projects. When we add “house” to our young love, I can’t wait to do some of these.

That’s all folks! Hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I do!