Liebster Award

Recently, I was very kindly given a Liebster award by the lovely Melanie over at Mel's Corner. If you've never heard of this award, it's a really nice one to get and pass on as it's there to highlight new or relatively unknown bloggers, and give their blogs the attention they deserve. 

"The Liebster Award is for bloggers with under 200 followers and the rules of the award are that the nominee must link back to whoever awarded them, write 11 random facts about themselves, answer the 11 questions from the award giver, and then nominate another 11 bloggers and make up 11 questions for them to answer. It's a great way for new and undiscovered bloggers to meet new people, get more followers and find some blogs that they want to follow."


So here are 11 random facts about me...

1. I was so painfully shy as a child that I refused point blank to talk to anyone for the first few months of school. My teacher warned my parents that I would never get far academically

2. My favourite colour is red…. cherry, burgundy, crimson, amaranth (ha! new one!)...all shades just as long as it's red.

3. I have hyperdontia (more teeth that I should) and as a child I had an overbite that meant I could fit 3 fingers sideways between my upper and lower teeth. Four teeth extractions and 5 years' orthodontic treatment later and I have the perfect Colgate smile I'm told.

4. I have a ridiculous memory… I can remember minute details like exactly what I was doing, what I wore and what I ate on Day X, and I have very clear memories from my early childhood. When it comes to books and films, though, I can watch or read them ten times over and they seem new each time.

5. If I could live anywhere in the world, I’d like to live near the ocean, and walk on the beach at sunrise and sunset every day.

6. The most famous person I’ve met is Lewis Hamilton (Formula One driver) – at his book signing in 2007….he was very friendly and chatty, and seemed like a genuinely nice guy.

7. I am terrified of flying. Kind of spoils the travelling lark, but I now use pharmaceuticals to cope. I am also very afraid of being in a car with someone else driving fast, suffer from arachnaphobia and detest all other small things that flap or creep or crawl (even moths).

8. I was born on a Sunday. 

And the child that is born on the Sabbath Day,
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay

9. I  only learnt to drive at the age of 23. I was a very nervous learner and gave my poor husband (then boyfriend) several minor heart attacks by pulling off stunts like stalling the car in on coming traffic, doing a wheel spin on a very steep hill, and so on. He was a very patient (and brave!) teacher...

10. I  can't ski. I found this out the hard way and came down the mountain on a stretcher. These days I stick to snow shoeing.

11. I  baked my own wedding cake. A huge, square carrot cake decorated with butter icing and fresh fruit that was delicious, if I say so myself.

............

And here are my 11 questions with answers...

1. What made you start a blog?
I was young, naive and suffering from the delusion that I have something to say that someone, somewhere would be interested in reading! Now, I'm a little bit older....
Seriously, I was looking for something creative to do, and a way of recording my somewhat haphazard path through life.

2. Favourite destination?
Way too many fabulous places to pick just one! My top five would be... The Maldives, Vietnam, Thailand, Italy, Canada and South Africa. Actually that's six - you see how hard it is to pick and choose! 

3. If you could be/do anything what would you do?
A professional travel writer/photographer... unfortunately, being a professional medical writer is not nearly as glamorous as it sounds - sometimes I write about a really exciting new cancer treatment, and then sometimes I write about laxatives  - but it does pay the bills! 

4. Favourite past time?
Hiking and photography... preferably taking photographs while hiking.

5. What's your worst habit?
Procrastination. No, maybe I mean indecisiveness. Nah, definitely procrastination... I'll get back to you on that one!

6. Cooking or baking, which do you prefer?
I like the idea of baking... but I never seem to have much success. So, I'd have to say cooking as the outcome is typically more edible.

7. A summer's day at the beach or a rainy day curled up on the couch?
Summer's day - no contest. Assuming that's a summer's day in Cape Town, or Thailand, or somewhere that actually gets summer days... and not the Britain of the past three 'summers'!

8. Your most prized possession?
My husband. OK, so he's not a 'possession' in the true sense of the word, but my life would be incomplete without him.

9. What is your proudest moment?
I don't really know. Perhaps the day I graduated with my doctorate... seeing my parents' faces in the audience when I walked up onto the stage in my ridiculous gown and hat - miraculously not tripping over my own feet - made it all seem worthwhile.

10. Guilty pleasure?
Cheesy music. Flick through my ipod and you'll discover that I have very poor taste... ABBA, 80s rock, One Direction.. they're all on there and kept me happy as I pounded the pavements in training for my Moon Walk.

11. Ultimate pet peeve?
At the risk of offending any smokers among my readers, I would have to say second hand smoke! Yes the smoking ban, quiet literally like a breathe of fresh air, has meant non-smokers no longer have to tolerate smoke in any indoor places, I still get seriously peeved off when I step outside and have to wade through the mob of nicotine addicts desperately puffing away around pub and restaurant doorways, train stations, public parks,and so on. Just walking down the street in someone's smoke channel can wind me up and wish that I could carry a mini fire extinguisher with me...

To quote Douglas Adams (of 'The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' fame): 
If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action.

.............

And now for the part when I list  the bloggers to whom I pass the Liebster award baton. It's a bit tricky, as most of the blogs I read have 1000s of followers and the rules of the Liebster are that it is passed to bloggers who have around 200 or less followers. So, I don't have 11 blogs to list but I have picked a fabulous four! Please do pop over to their blogs and say hello....

Archie and family

From Chaos Comes Happiness

Peetee's Palace
The Firefly Photo Files

And finally, here are my 11 questions to pass on...

1. What is your earliest memory?

2. If you had to eat just one type of food for a week, what would it be?

3. Which place do you absolutely have to see before you die?

4. What is your favourite film of all time?

5. And favourite book?

6. You are about to be stranded on a desert island for 6 months. What three things would you take with you?

7. If you were hosting a dinner party and could invite any four guests (famous or not), who would you  invite and why?

8. What was your first blog post about?

9.  What inspires you to blog?

10. What one thing will you never, ever do again?

11. What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Look forward to your answers!

A huge thanks again to Mel for giving me the award!

Not So Fat Nat



So, it's been one month of sticking to my new healthy eating regimen.... well, apart from those calorie-laden waffles and macaroons in Lille... and I am rather pleased to report that I've shifted nearly 9 pounds (4 kg) to date.

Rather than bore you all to tantrums and tears with my tedious weight loss tales, I will only be reporting on my progress on here every now and again. But, if per chance anyone wants to follow my journey to a healthier lifestyle in any detail, I have started putting together a separate blog of tasty low-fat recipes, trendy tips and tintillating tales of my trials and tribulations, rather aptly named Not So Fat Nat...that you can find over here.

Still a work in progress and perhaps rather self-indulgent, but I'm hoping that it will somehow keep me on track.. or at least distract me from exploring the contents of the biscuit tin!

Happy Friday everyone...

Just Nat Turns 3

Three years on, and astonishingly, I'm still regularly knocking out this complete drivel highly intellectual, thought-provoking prose, as well as the odd photo or two.

I've racked up 372 posts, had around 10,000 views of my blog and received over 2,000 comments. A huge thank you to my fabulous readers! I hope that you will stick around in 2012, as I have quite a few things in store....

Most excitingly, I plan to travel as much as possible. So far, I am booked to go to Lille (North France) for a weekend break later this month, then there's the biggie of 2012 - the fortnight in Vietnam and Cambodia in April, plus a short break in Dubrovnik (Croatia) in June... to take advantage of the Diamond Jubilee weekend. Yes, she's giving us a holiday... 'cause she can!

God save our gracious Queen! Thanks for our 4-day weeeekend! God save our Queen!


Wonder if that counts as treason? If not and I'm still a free woman in October, there are plans afoot for a trip to New England and Canada to coincide with the autumn (sorry, I mean Fall!) foliage. We shall see...

This year I am determined to shift some weight by making some permanent lifestyle changes.... such a New Year cliche, right? Never fear, faithful readers, I will not be boring you with nonstop, tedious calorie-counting tales, but I may be sharing some new low-fat-but-still-easy-and-delicious recipes. 

Otherwise, expect the usual, completely random nonsense that a year in the life of Nat brings....

Hang in there dear readers.... there's loads more still to come!

Travel News Tuesday

So, I mentioned last week that some exciting travel plans are afoot. Well they most certainly are! I was waiting to confirm flights and tour date bookings, but now we're all set.

I have been hankering after a trip to South -East Asia for ages, and have finally booked to go to.....

drum roll and fanfare!

.......Vietnam and Cambodia in April 2012!

Here's where we'll be going, starting in Hanoi, Vietnam and ending our tour in Siem Riep, Cambodia...

Highlights of the trip include...

A 2-day cruise on a converted junk in Halong Bay (pic from here)

Exploring ancient Hoi An (pic from here)

Negotiating rush hour traffic in bustling Saigon (pic from here)

Relaxing in Mui Ne beach resort (pic from here)

Sunset over the Mui Ne sand dunes (pic from here)

The Mekong Delta (pic from here)



The ancient temple complexes at Angkor, including Angkor Wat - Cambodia (pic from here)

Anyone else out there planning some travels? Do share...

It's All About Nat

A few weeks back… when I’d fallen off the blogosphere for a while… the lovely, talented Colette over at Simply Colette gave me not one but two blog awards.

Apologies for the long delay in keeping up my side of the bargain, Colette, but as the old saying goes “Better late than never!” (except perhaps in the case of Charlie Sheen’s comeback, which is better never than….)

So, first up is....

Here are the rules...
1. Link the person who awarded you! Check.
2. Post seven random facts about yourself. OK, I’m pretty random in general, so see below…
3. Pass this award along to 15 other bloggers (only if you wish)! I'm going to copy Colette on this one and award both to the same bloggers....so check out the list below award number 2!

7 Random Facts About Nat

1. I have a ridiculous memory… I can remember minute details like exactly what I was doing, what I wore and what I ate on Day X, and I have very clear memories from my early childhood. When it comes to books and films, though, I can watch or read them ten times over and they seem new each time.

2. I’ve met Lewis Hamilton (2008 Formula One World Champion) – at his book signing in 2007….he was very friendly and chatty, and seemed like a genuinely nice guy.

3. If I could live anywhere in the world, I’d like to live near the ocean, and walk on the beach at sunrise and sunset every day.

4. I was so painfully shy as a child that I refused point blank to talk to anyone for the first few months of school. My teacher warned my parents that I would never get far academically.

5. Somehow, I managed to graduate from university with my PhD in Pharmacology…some people think that means I know a lot about farming. Actually, I know very little about a few drugs (not the recreational ones!).
6. My favourite colour is red…. cherry, burgundy, crimson, amaranth (ha! new one!)...all shades just as long as it's red.
7. I’ve mentioned many times my arachnophobia (plus a great dislike of anything else that crawls, flaps and buzzes) and my morbid fear of flying. But I also have a slightly irrational fear of birds flying in front of the car when I’m driving… I worry they will go splat! across the windshield, and I can’t stop myself ducking behind the steering wheel every time one flies in front of me.



.........................................................

And secondly...

What the Award entails:

"Pass on the award to 8-12 fabulous blogs who take your breath away with how they inspire you! Post on your page who you are giving the award to, so others can visit them as well. Make sure to let them know you are honouring them! If you are a recipient of the award, please take the time to answer these questions, so we can get to know more about you!"

1. What inspires you?
To write? A piece of music, an evocative scent, a newspaper headline, a shaft of sunlight breaking through the trees as I walk through the forest…. anything can trigger a memory or provide inspiration. It can hit when I’m least expecting it.

2. What is your favourite season and why?
It’s definitely spring... this is the sunniest season in the UK and although not yet very warm, it does not have the awful humidity of summer. I love the snowdrops, crocuses and daffodils in bloom, followed by the carpets of bluebells, the cherry blossom and the budding trees. The promise of new life, the lambs on the farms….the expectation of a long hot summer that sadly never seems to materialise.

3. What are you most looking forward to this year?
Getting back to normal life after a couple of years of constant worry, the chance to travel and spend time with family and friends living far away.

4. If you could write a book about anything, what would you write about?
I’d like to write a travel comedy…but I need to travel a lot more before then, and become funny (as in funny ha ha, not funny peculiar!)

5. What is your greatest passion?

Travelling and capturing my travels in photographs… I wish I could spend more of my life doing so, but sadly there are bills to pay.

6. If you could change one thing about your life or yourself what would it be and why?

Greater self-confidence. In so many ways, I am still that painfully shy child inside a grown-up’s body.

7. Lastly, what is your favourite novel?
As I mentioned earlier, I have almost zero capacity for retaining information about most of the books that I read. One novel that has stuck in my mind though is “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini… this book really moved me and will probably haunt me forever.

OK, that's more than enough about me. Now I’d like to pass this award onto the following inspiring bloggers….

Archie and His Family

Being Brazen
Bossy Betty
come sit by my fire
Eloise In NY

From Chaos Comes Happiness

Meowlissa The Domesticated
Patrick Tillett
The Vegetable Assassin
Verbal Diarrhoea
Wandering Saffa Chick

I’d also like to pass the award onto some photography and travel bloggers that I admire greatly... they may not want to take part in a personal writing post, but I still want them to get the recognition they deserve...

Alan's Photo Blog

Life Is A Road Trip
Message In A Milk Bottle

Postcards From Malaysia

Sleepless in Gainesville

transient travels

The Retirement Chronicles

By the bye, I've been taking part in the Free Photo Competition hosted monthly by Joan at The Retirement Chronicles.... you should really have a look at all the entries for January and February.

How Did I Do?

As the year draws rapidly to an end, it’s time for me to revisit my Hope To Do List For 2010 and see how I got on with my goals...



1. Become Master Ninja at Aikido

Ha! This is never actually going to happen...I struggle to work out my left foot from my right most of the time. Then there's the minor issue of a morbid fear of rolling head over heels (break falling). Amazingly, I did manage to pass my first grading though.

2. Get superfit and svelte

I’m certainly fitter (thanks to the energetic Aikido classes and boxercise sessions with Muscle Man) but as long as there is a source of chocolate on this planet, I’m never ever going to be svelte...

3. Run the 10 km Race For Life

Well, it was more of a jog/shuffle/hobble than a run, but I did it, raising £175 for Cancer Research. Then I walked a half marathon, raising £225 for Macmillan Cancer Support. I’m very glad that I took part in both.

4. See the Dutch bulbfields

I really tried to...but I hadn’t counted on a $%^&ing Icelandic volcano spewing an ash cloud into the sky and shutting down European airspace, just a few days before I was scheduled to leave. I am still fighting for my travel insurance to cough up the money they owe me for my cancelled trip, and along with hundreds of thousands of equally conned people, I’m waiting on the Financial Ombudsman to make her final decision. I'm not holding my breath...

5. Take a city break in Berlin

Didn’t happen. I was a bit put off city breaks after the Amsterdam fiasco. I did get to see Lisbon (briefly as I was at a conference), somehow managing to fly in and out between ash cloud disruptions, and I was wowed by the beautiful city of Seville during the Andalusian adventure. 

6. Visit Canada (or China or Japan)

O Canada!  I had a fantastic trip to Vancouver Island and the Rockies in June that you may have read about in my couple of dozen posts. Absolutely loved it and hope to return soon. As for China or Japan...watch this space as we’re hoping to squeeze in a visit somewhere in the East in the second half of 2011.



7. Stop worrying about things I cannot control

Definitely didn’t happen. I have spent a large part of the year worrying about something or another, most often my dad’s health, which has unfortunately not been too great lately.

8. Overcome my fear of driving

I was forced into this.... with B being away for business and my dad in and out of hospital in another part of the country, I had to do some hairy driving on Britain’s motorways this year. Now, with the icey weather upon us, I’m trying to get to grips (literally) with snow driving.

9. Let go of people who bring me down

Again, this didn’t really happen, although I’ve learnt to sometimes screen my calls….some days I just can’t deal with anyone else’s (really quite trivial, self-inflicted) problems.

10. Plan and save for a new kitchen

This became quite urgent earlier this month, when the door fell off our oven…it’s back on now, but we broke the handle in the process, meaning we now have to prise the door open with a knife and burn ourselves senseless. I've decided I want a sleek black and white kitchen….the designs are in, finances are under review, so watch this space.

11. Learn to cook properly

While having a decrepit oven doesn’t inspire me to undertake anything too complicated, I can make some damn good lamb stew (in the slow cooker), roast chicken and lasagna, and I can bake a great banana bread. What else would anyone want? Best thing I bought this year…an egg poaching pan.



12. Watch 3 classic films

Does watching 'Love Actually' for the tenth time count? Just never found the time this year…probably because I was too busy watching rubbish TV.

13. Watch less rubbish TV, read more good books

Epic fail on this one (see 12 above).

How did you get on with your new year plans in 2010?

It's A Winner!

Remember a while back I asked you, my faithful readers, to help me pick my entry for a photography competition? Well, it seems like all your good advice paid off, as (amazingly!) I won with this one....

Long shadow

Thanks again for your help!

Now I'm going to check out Amazon to decide how to spend my vouchers...

We Interrupt This Broadcast...

Well, not exactly breaking news but a quick update of some blog changes and upcoming events on Just Nat.

Blog Pages
You may have already noticed the new stand-alone pages that have appeared at the top of my blog....this was inspired by Pat Tillett (who recently added this feature to his great blog), and is an attempt to categorise some of my blog posts, including those from way back when I first started throwing random stuff together here. If you’re really bored one day interested, you can read more about me, my travels and my life in the UK by clicking through the links on any of the pages. I’ve included a separate page for the posts about my Canadian trip as these are getting quite numerous, and there’s a couple or so still to go...yes, I’m really milking this trip for blogging material!


New Tuesday Feature
Some of you may remember that I used to participate in ‘Where In The World Wednesday’, a travel photo feature that was hosted by Classy In Philadelphia. Without wishing to blatantly pinch Classy’s idea, I’m thinking of starting up my own similar feature called ‘Wish I Was There Tuesday’ and it would be great if any of my readers who wanted to joined in too.

Seeing as I hate Tuesdays (forget Mondays, bad stuff always seems to happen on Tuesdays... any rejuvenation from the weekend just passed has evaporated and the next weekend is still too far away) this would be a momentary escapism from an otherwise crappy day...the idea being to post on somewhere wonderful in the world you’ve been, will be going or even just dream of going to one day. It could be somewhere really close to home, or on the other side of the planet or even galaxy, and could be a real or imaginary place. Let me know what you think....


I was recently very flattered to be awarded the Glam Blogger Award by TK....you really should take a look at her vibrant blog Postcards From Malaysia. Thanks, TK!

Who, Me?

I am very suprised and flattered to have been awarded the all-new, original Shutter Bug Award by the brilliant writer, photographer and all round blogger extraordinaire, Pat Tillett. If you're not already reading his blog, you really should be as he has led an amazing life and has many fascinating stories to tell and great pictures to share....plus he is a very supportive blogger buddy.

Thanks, Pat!

patricktillett.blogspot.com

A very warm welcome to my new followers and a big thank you to all my early, faithful ones for staying onboard :-)