I got a Liebster! -- funny because that's our nickname for our youngest daughter

Prerequisite: A Liebster gets awarded to a blogger with under 200 followers

Rules:

1. The recipient must mention who gave him/her the award
2. The recipient then passes it onto 5 worthy blogs also with under 200 followers and inform them
3. The recipient tells readers five things so readers get to know them better

First of all a big thank-you to Ava at  Turning Hope into a Home.  It is very exciting for me to think that someone actually reads my blog!  I love reading Ava's blog since she started it only a couple of months after I did and is going through some similar reno decisions that I am.  I particularly like her great floor plan images.  


Today I am going to pass the Liebster Blog Award on to 5 really great Canadian blogs:


1.  rad - renovations are dirty  - Sarah and her husband Mat have done all the work on their home themselves with much help from Mat's father (I can relate to that!).  I like her DIY section and love their living room rug!
2.  High Park Haven - Katie hasn't written her blog for about 3 months now but I do really like her DIY ideas and that she lives in my neck of the woods.  The last time she wrote she said she was 39 weeks pregnant so I suspect she's been a little too busy to be blogging!
3.  Under This Danforth Roof - Lisa takes great pictures and blogs about all of my interests - home stuff, kids, food, and products.  She too is in the Toronto area.
4.  This Dusty House - Nette and her husband are also in the Toronto area.  She has a great writing style and lots of interesting posts - I'm planning on making her tortellini soup recipe.  And she's just so darned cute!
5.  AM Dolce Vita - Michelle has great taste.  I love what she has done with all the rooms in her house. She is also an artist (and a pretty good one!). She got a Versatile Blogger Award already so has pretty much answered the 5 questions already.  Great blog anyway!

Now for the 5 random bits of information about myself:

1.

I have three girls who were all born at home with the help of some wonderful midwives.  Although I have met many women who have had home births recently, it was a bit of a rarity 10 years ago when my first was born and I didn't get much support from friends and family.  My husband, my sister and my mother-in-law were the only ones who fully supported my desire to have a home birth.  All three experiences were the best moments of my life and after the first, I didn't want to give birth any other way.  

2.

I spent my summers as a child at my family cottage just south of Parry Sound.  I still love it there and now share it with my sister's and brother's families.  We are so fortunate to be able to have a place like this to enjoy with our own kids.

3.

I love to cook.  At least I do when I have a glass of wine in hand, some music on the iPod and some time to give to it.  I love trying out new recipes and often will try to recreate meals I have at restaurants.  I'm not a big baker though since I'm not great at measuring things out.  I prefer to cook by taste and instinct.

4.

I love Vegas!  I've been there twice now and would go again in a heartbeat.  Everything in Vegas is over-the-top and there is something to see at every step.  There are also some amazing restaurants there-- I had one of the best meals of my life at Shibuya in the MGM Grand.

5.

My husband and I collect art.  Not expensive art from big name galleries (because we can't afford it).  But every year on our anniversary we buy a piece of art from a local artist that we both really like.  Some of our artists have gone on to do some pretty big things (we like to check up on them every now and then) and others have kind of disappeared.  After 10 years of marriage we are kind of running out of wall space!  This is a bit of a problem at the Bennett House as well since we are planning on making the main floor so open plan --you need walls to hang art!  I actually designed some spaces around a few of our favourite pieces (my dad thought I was crazy).  Last year's artist was Karen Kawarsky (and the year before that for that matter!-- we've never done that before).  We love her work.