Just a few weeks shy of my blog’s first anniversary I have been nominated for the Liebster Award! What a wonderful compliment from my fellow bloggers Vrouwen Die Bier Drinken (girl power!). Thank you Hanna, Irene and Meike! Their blog is all about beer and they do a great job of showing that beer is definitely not only for guys. Girls drink beer too! Their blog also covers current social discussions, which they somehow manage to link to beer, brilliant! Check out their adventures with beer on their website and Instagram.
Liebster award: Why I blog
So what exactly is the Liebster Award? As far as I can tell it is not really an award (there is no voting or jury), but it is a fun way of recognizing and discovering new bloggers. By nominating fellow bloggers you can pay it forward and repay the compliment of being nominated yourself. What a great way to promote new blogs and help each other!
It’s things like this that make me excited to be part of the blogging community! Like the beer community, it is a social and welcoming group in which it is easy to meet new people (and even make new friends!), exchange ideas and learn new things. Since I started this blog a year ago I have met so many great people and learned so much about craft beer! People have been extremely helpful and motivating. Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading my blog, following me on Instagram and responding to posts. It really has been enriching.
What’s with the crazy questions?
To make it a bit more fun and creative, one of the rules of being nominated is that you have to answer several questions you were given by the blog that nominated you. In turn you create new questions for the blogs you nominate. I don’t think it has to have anything to with the blogs themselves, but it does make it more fun to read and get to know the bloggers. These are 5 questions I was given by Hanna, Irene and Meike.
1. Who was your biggest female role model?
That’s a hard question! I can’t say that I have one favorite role model (and most of them are not female either haha). There are so many admirable women out there who have given me inspiration or something to take with me on my life’s journey. Watching Madonna while growing up showed me it is OK to have your own opinion and do what you want. Who cares what other people think? Lindsey Vonn, USA’s best alpine skier of all time, is the embodiment of grit and determination. If you want something, you have to go after it, no matter how much effort it takes. Then of course there is the gigantic legacy of brilliant women who are changing (or have changed) the world like Jane Goodall, Ada Lovelace and Rosalind Franklin. I could go on for a while!
2. What do you think of the way women are portrayed in the media?
The media basically reflect current society, so I suppose they can be considered a good measure of how civilization is evolving and – as a result – how we portray women. At this moment in time I dare to say that men still think they rule the world. There is work to be done!
3. How much do you love beer (on a scale of 1 – 10) and which ones are your favorite?
I would probably say beer is a 9. It is definitely my favorite drink after water. Why not a 10? To be honest, though I love beer, I really don’t appreciate drinking it every day. A favorite beer? Impossible! We are too spoiled for choice! I do have a few favorite beer styles, being IPA (the more bitter the better) and coffee stouts (preferably the type that you would consider drinking for breakfast).
4. Which commercial do you remember best and why?
I hate commercials, so I had to think about this one for a minute! Plus I don’t have a TV subscription, so they are easy for me to avoid. That said, there are few memorable ones that were pretty brilliant when they came out. Who doesn’t remember the Heineken commercial with Rudi the sheep herder / ski teacher? So funny, this is exactly how I feel during the winter season! Another excellent commercial, again by Heineken (they may not be your favorite beer, but their commercials are outstanding), is this one.
5. Which of your blog posts would you say is must-read and why?
I would love for people to read all my blog posts actually! I try to write about everything that I encounter that may be interesting for others, too, so I hope that with this variety there is something for everybody!
You have been nominated!
It is absolutely an honor to be nominated by another blog! Of course I will pay it forward by nominating awesome blogs that I think you should read! Admittedly most of the blogs that I know of are related to beer (amateur beer blogging hazard), but if you are reading my blog I think you won’t mind too much :-). Who can be nominated? Originally only small up-and-coming blogs of 200 followers and less qualified, but I believe that no longer applies. I think as long as you stay within the spirit of promoting new blogs, all is good. Here they are!
This is a great blog! Fabian not only writes about beer, but also the behind-the-scene stories about the breweries he visits. So cool to know more about who is behind the tasty beers we drink. Seeing as he is a photographer by profession, the pictures are gorgeous. The website and Instagram both look great, so be sure to take a look!
This blogger is from Haarlem and knows all about beer. She is following the same beer course as I am and is already actively organizing professional beer tastings, I’m so impressed! I like that she writes about her own beer experiences, which is so helpful to other craft beer enthusiasts who are on the same journey. Show her some support by following her blog and Instagram!
Who doesn’t love tasty recipes and gorgeous food pictures? My friend Fenna seems like a wizard when it comes to creating delicious easy-to-make recipes. She’s a storyteller, blogger and kitchen goddess, I don’t know how she does it! Not all recipes are vegetarian or vegan, but there is definitely something for everyone. Don’t waste any time in checking out her website and yummy Instagram!
Pairing beer with food is all the rage, but pairing beer with books? How brilliant is that! Any good book deserves a good drink to go with it. This blog not only provides in-depth book reviews, but suggests an appropriate beer to go with your chilling-out-with-a-book-on-the-couch night, I love it! See what it’s about here and hop on over to the Instagram page while you’re at it.
Last, but certainly not least, this amazing blog is a must-read for everyone who is interested in the arts. No matter if you are a newbie or an avid art lover, this blog caters to all! De Kunstmeisjes make it their mission to visit as many art exhibits as humanly possible, so you don’t have to. You can check out their website and pick and choose what you like best. One of their recents blogs features Jeff Koon’s Gazing Ball with the ball still intact :-). Each blog posts also mentions if it suitable for beginners or experts and how long they think you will need for your visit. Plus the photos are gorgeous! Head over to their website to see for yourself!
What’s next?
If you are excited about being nominated and want to pay it forward, check out the Liebster award rules below. To make it more fun, each nominee has to think of questions for new nominees to answer. My questions for you are these:
- How would you like to change or improve the world with your blog?
- If you could have dinner with anyone of your choosing (dead or alive), who would it be?
- Spring cleaning mania is coming around again. What have you ‘chucked out’ in the past that you still regret to this day?
- What is the one thing that you cannot live without when you are travelling, and why?
- If you were offered a great job abroad, which country would you want to move to?
- Which charity (or charity organisation) are you most passionate about?
- Real books or e-books?
- If Richard Branson chose you to explore living on another planet, would you go?
- Climate change (global warming): hoax or fact?
- Which household chore do you actually LIKE doing and why?
- What is your favorite social media app or website?
The rules
There are quite a few rules that come along with accepting the nomination, so be sure to read through all of them:
- Thank the person who nominated you, and put a link to their blog on your blog.
- Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”.
- Write a small post about what makes you passionate about blog posting.
- Provide 10 random facts about yourself (optional).
- Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel would enjoy being nominated and blogging about this award.
- Answer the questions given to you.
- Create more questions for your nominees to answer (11).
- List these rules in your post. Once you have written and published it, you then have to:
- Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post or to the official rules post if you don’t have all the information so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!). Post a comment in the comments on the official rules post so others can view your post and check out your blog.
- If you have been nominated before at any time please share the love. Many people believe the Liebster award is similar to a chain email/letter and sure it shares similarities but the underlining idea is to help promote each other’s blogs.
Entries start 1st Jan 2018 and end on 25th Dec 2018. The winner will be picked on the 31st of December.
Ten random facts about me
This part is optional, but hey, I’ll be a good sport and throw some random personal things at you. So here goes!
- I’m a huge Star Wars fan!
- I’ve been an ethical vegan since 2011.
- My favorite musical instrument is the drums.
- I own two pairs of cowboy boots (from my pre-vegan era).
- I have a lifelong crush on Fox Mulder.
- I have been on a ride in a hot air balloon.
- I love pineapple.
- My cat is named after a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor.
- I only watch one sport on my laptop (which I do religiously!): alpine ski racing.
- I never go anywhere without my Freitag backpack.
