My crazy gut took control of my senses and I did one thing which I hardly ever do: I clicked on the junk mail button in my regularly-used personal email account.

As I scrolled down from the top, I discovered:

• I have missed out several email queries from interested buyers who had responded to my classifieds ads which I had put up on a local website (I was trying to sell away some second hand items)
• Luckily those email queries were only a few days old and I managed to salvage the situation by informing the interested buyers that their mail had ended up in my junk mail, and it’s not because I choose to ignore them
• That under a suspicious looking subject header from a name I recognized, I apparently have been nominated for a Liebster Award by a mommy-friend of mine who has been an active blogger since last year.

This essentially has been a long overdue post and when I received the nomination, I didn’t have many following.  Not surprisingly, this has been on the back-burner for several months as I have to nominate 8 other bloggers… but Blogging 101 has certainly helped me with that.

It is also my first and to be nominated for something I do “just because”, is really an honour. I am humbled by this little recognition in the blogosphere.

Thank you French Mum, Estelea and Silver Lining Mama. I graciously accept the award – although I really have to crack my head hard to answer all those questions and think of a new set of questions to ask!

I have been trolling the net to find out more about the Liebster Award. As I turned to Dear Google, there are already bloggers out there who have done all the dirty work to trace the origin of this award and wrote about it. Their posts can be found here and here.

The Liebster Award is more like a pay-it-forward that provides the opportunity to network, make friends and discovering new blogs which you otherwise would not have known of its existence before. It is an award meant for new bloggers with less than 200 followers.

Liebster, as it stands, is a German word for” dearest, sweetest, kindest, nicest, beloved, lovely, kind”. If you have been selected, it just means that your blog is just as stated above.

What better way is there to end Blogging 101 course with a few accreditation to some of the amazing bloggers out there. And with that, here goes my nomination (sorry if you have been nominated before):

1. The Orange Owl Diaries
2. Quotations, Idioms & Proverbs
3. Elle Knowles
4. Eat, Play, Cloves
5. Temasek Garden
6. Stephieopolis
7. Living Intentionally Simple
8. A Slippery Alligator Dream

Here are the Official Rules for accepting the Liebster Award:

1. Put the Liebster Award logo on your blog
2. Answer the questions given and then come up with 10 new ones to ask your nominations.
3. Nominate 8 other blogs, let them know you have nominated them and put a link to their blog in your post.
4. No Tag backs.
5. You must tell all the blogs that you have nominated them.

And here are my (long overdue) answers to the questions posed by French Mum in Cebu:

1. Why did you start this blog and what influenced you to start it?

I started chronicling my stories more as a means of updating my family and friends about the on goings  of my life in Bangkok when I left home back in 2005, mainly because I find it taxing to update each and every one of them via our weekly phone calls.

2 years ago, I freaked out at the thought of losing all of my contents on Blogger which I have painfully created along the way and thought that it would be a good idea to get my own domain. I realise that I’ll never be rich nor would I be able to get rich by running this site, and so has decided that this blog would just have to be bequeathed to my kids as their unfortunate inheritance when I kick the bucket.

Grubbs ‘n Critters went live in October 2013. I haven’t look back since.

2. What inspire you?

Create and making a positive difference. Making the impossible possible. Push the boundaries and make things happen. I love to create magic (at least in my head!)

3. What has challenged you about blogging?

Finding the time to actually sit down, concentrate, putting my thoughts together and typing the words. Getting myself out there to other bloggers and putting on my shameless mask. It does feel a tad intimidating to get out there.

4. Tea or coffee?

Coffee. Absolutely coffee. Black. No sugar. Oh wait, maybe I’ll just have tea this time round.

 5. What makes you smile?

Just thinking of my kids smiling back at me with their contagious laughter and impish grins.

6. Who is your hero?

My mom. If there’s one person I know who is tenacious, kind, talented, wise and genuine, it has to be her.

7. If money is not an issue, how would you spend Christmas this year?

I want to go see the Northern Lights!

8. What is your favorite dessert?

Silver Bullet’s Tiramisu. He makes one of the best Tiramisu there is, until I tasted Marcel’s!

9. What is your most important belonging?

My passport. Just because it gives me some form of legal identity.

 10. When was the last time you radically changed your look?

That has got to be when I was pregnant! I B.A.L.L.O.O.N.E.D. Everything swelled. My feet grew by 2-3 sizes, my fingers grew really fat, my butt’s a wide load, my face, my neck and head became a conducive environment for acne, my hair fell off in clunks and I have bald patches as well as receding hairline. I was at least 15 kg over-weight for 2 years. Tell me those don’t qualify as a radical change?

The only good thing about the entire package was that I had bigger boobs than I ever had in my entire life!

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Now, here’s your turn to work and answer 10 questions:

#1. Describe yourself in 3 words

#2. How did you decide the name of your blog?

#3. What do you find challenging when it comes to blogging?

#4. What’s your pet peeve?

#5. Last meal before you die – what would it be?

#6. Your Top 3 bucket list

#7. Favourite quote?

#8. Cats or Dogs?

#9. One thing about you that readers don’t know

#10. What’s your take on bloggers’ award such as this?

Hope you’ll accept this nomination. One a more personal note, thank you for taking the time to leave comments and/or responding to my comments. Besides that, your blogs are awesome and you certainly should be recognised as a true Liebsterattis!

Do check them out if you haven’t. Spread the love!