Best Blogger and Sunshine Awards

I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to post about these awards – I really do appreciate being nominated for them! Life has been so busy at the moment (and shows no sign of slowing down!) and I got a bit behind on all my challenges and nail art posts, but now I’m up to date on them I have no excuse not to post about these awards!

First, I was nominated for the Best Blog award by Kelsey at Polished Prescription. I love her beautiful nail art and perfect looking swatches. Thanks so much!

The rules for accepting are as follows:
1. Answer the questions asked by the blog who followed you
2. Nominate up to 20 other bloggers with less than 200 followers
3. Create 11 questions for your nominees to answer

Here are Kelsey’s questions:

1. What is your favorite nail polish of all time?
Can I only pick one?!? I can’t imagine not having Baker Street by Nails Inc in my collection. It’s the most perfect blue I own.
2. What do your friends/boyfriend/husband/family think about your nail polish
addiction?
My fiancé is wonderfully supportive and takes all the photos that appear on my blog, he also helps me come up with ideas from time to time. My friends at work are a bit bemused but usually impressed by whatever’s on my nails!
3. Craziest thing you’ve ever done (that you’re willing to share of course.. haha).
I participated in a “belly button” festival in Furano, Hokkaido when I lived in Japan, which involved having a face painted on my belly and then wearing an oversized hat that covered my real face and a yukata (Japanese summer kimono) with fake arms from the waist down! Plus I had to learn a simple traditional dance to take part in a parade through the city!

4. What is your favorite food or dessert?
I have a real sweet tooth so I love pretty much all desserts but my absolute favourite is creme brûlée. I always pick it if I see it on a menu Nd have grown quite picky about how I like it!
5. If you could go back in history and have dinner with one person, who would it be and
why?
This is such a tough question. I’d probably chose to meet a woman who made her mark on history like Amelia Earhart or Frida Kahlo.
6. Cats or dogs?
Cats. Definitely.
7. What is your favorite color in general? What is your favorite color when it comes to
polish?
I wear a lot of pink, purple and blue (clothes, that is) and on my nails I love blues and purples.
8. Favorite polish brand?
I have a lot of Nails Inc products – I love their range of colours and that they’re always looking for new ways to make painting your nails fun and cool.
9. What is the last movie or book that made you cry?
I’m not really the crying type when I watch movies or read books. I was pretty close to tears reading “Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea” though as it’s a harrowing read about what the people of North Korea have had to endure.
10. Favorite outdoor activity?
I’m a very outdoor person and love camping, hiking and scuba-diving. I sometimes snowboard too and have tried countless other outdoor sports.
11. What is your favorite place you have ever traveled to and why?
I’ve been to so many wonderful places and it’s impossible for me to just pick one. I absolutely loved: the Oaxaca coast in Mexico (actually the whole of Oaxaca state but especially the coast), Nusa Lembongan island off Bali and Hokkaido in Japan.

On to my nominations for this award. It says up to 20, but with 2 awards to give I’m going to keep my list a bit shorter than that.

Wondrously Polished I love her fabulously neat patterned nail art (and the cute little underwater nails shedding a couple of weeks ago!)

The Nail Art Show Lots of pretty and creative nail art to inspire you here.

Break Rules not Nails this woman is an artist – her nail art is beyond incredible!

Nail Photos by Lani Lani is a talented stamper – something I just can’t do!

Our Painted World Angie is another Llama Nails girl who’s done some fantastic manis for the Time Periods Challenge.

And my 11 questions for my nominees:

1. Why did you decide to start blogging?
2. What is your proudest achievement?
3. What is one thing that your readers would be really surprised to learn about you?
4. Do you think of yourself as a girly girl?
5. Where would your dream place to live be?
6. How do you store your nail polish?
7. Which polishes are top of you wish list?
8. Do you wear your nail art creations to work (or school)?
9. Do you ever go for manicures in a salon?
10. What’s the most unusual beauty treatment you have ever tried?
11. Is there a beauty product you just couldn’t live without?

The second award I was nominated for is the Sunshine Award. Jacqui from Crafty Nail gave me this award which is a great honour as I love her blog – she has great nail art and lots of fun crafty ideas like using old glossy calendars as palettes for your polish. What could be cuter than having July 2012’s kitty gazing up at you as you paint some intricate design on your nails!?! Thanks Jacqui!

-Thank the person who nominated you
-Post the award logo on your blog
-Share 7 facts about yourself
-Nominate 5 or more other blogs that inspire you

OK, 7 facts about me. I’m really bad at coming up with random facts so I’m going to go with a theme to make it a bit easier. As this is the Sunshine award and summer is here (or at least it is here in Spain, I’m not looking forward to the 18C “high” that the UK is having when I go there next week – will be packing my sweaters and jackets!) I have chosen SUMMER as my theme.

1. I love hot weather as long as it’s a dry heat. The heat never bothered me in Mexico where it was routinely 40C or here in Spain today it’s just sneaking over the 40C mark, but I can’t stand it when it’s humid. 25C and 70% humidity nearly killed me in Tokyo.

2. I don’t like sunbathing. I’m fair skinned and burn far too easily to enjoy sunbathing. Plus I just don’t like the feeling of lying there cooking myself, I prefer to tan while doing something outdoors.

3. I’m so happy to be back living in a country with long summer evenings! It’s my absolute favourite thing about summer – sitting outside, having a drink or some food on a warm and light evening. I missed it so much when I was in Japan and Mexico.

4. My favourite summer drinks are iced tea (so refreshing) and tinto de verano (chilled red wine mixed with lemonade). As I said in number 3, I particularly enjoy this drink while sitting in a plaza on a summer evening.

5. I love getting my summer clothes out when the weather starts to get warmer. It makes me so happy to see all my floaty summer dresses and hippy pants and pack away my winter jumpers.

6. Picnicking is one of my favourite summer activities. I love packing up a bag/cool box with an afternoon’s worth of snacks and treats and spending a lazy afternoon in the park or at the beach, enjoying being outside.

7. I’m spending this summer working in the UK. I really hope we get some nice sunny days so I can tell my Spanish friends and students that the weather is not always terrible in the UK (as is the common perception of the weather there).

And here are my 5 nominations for the Sunshine Award:

Guilty as Charged Haleigh has organised the Around the World Challenge which I’ve been participating in and does some really cute and fun nail art.

Kelsie’s Nail Files Kelsie has also been participating in the Around the World challenge and coming up with some great designs.

For Laquer of a Better Name Fun, brightly coloured nail art is the main feature of this blog and I love anything colourful!

Laquered by Blue Vanilla These two Singaporean girls have some gorgeous designs.

Paint Those Piggies Erin has a great mix of cute nail art and swatches on her site.

If I have nominated you for one award and for whatever reason you would prefer the other one (for example if I’ve nominated you for an award you’ve already won), I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t change for the one you actually want!