Liebster Award

One of the main reasons I started blogging again was the community feel of it. For all its problems, I truly believe in the power of the Internet to bring people together (I even met my bearded half online!) and wanted to join all the other amazing women documenting, in their own ways, the weird and wonderful world of motherhood. So I was very happy to be nominated for the Liebster Award by the lovely Franky from franky says. I love Franky’s blog (and it seems we share the love for all things Aldi. And Chanel). So thanks a lot!

The idea of the award is to discover and promote new blogs. It comes with some very interesting questions to be answered (I have a long history of giving fake interviews in the shower with the shampoo as a microphone). And you get to make your own questions for your nominees (which appeals to the journalist in me). So, all in all,  I’m very IN!

Here’s how it goes:

1. Write a blogpost about your nomination, displaying an image of the award.
2. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
3. Answer the 11 questions the person who nominated you asked you in his/her blogpost.
4. Nominate 5-11 other starting bloggers who you think deserve this award, and come up with 11 questions of your own for them to answer.
5. List these rules in your blogpost.

Here are the 11 questions that Franky asked me…

1. Who’s your number one style icon?

If Olivia Palermo and Carrie Bradshaw had a baby, that would be my ultimate style icon. I love Olivia and Carrie’s (or Patricia Field’s!) ability to mix unexpected things and make them look so fresh. And, since I’ve become a mum, Shana, from the amazing blog The Mom Edit, has been a constant source of inspiration.

2. Is there anything you said you’d never do as a parent but now you do?

So. Many. Things. Just to name a few: bribery, more than 2 hours of TV, cartoons on my phone so I can get some shopping done, the occasional mummy hissy fit…

3. If you could pick only ONE beauty product to use forever what would it be and why?

Concealer. I suffer from genetic under eye circles and have to answer to “Why are you so tired?” a million times without it.

4. What’s your favourite restaurant ever?

It’s called Tanuki, a small Japanese restaurant in São Paulo, Brazil, where I’m originally from. It’s where my friends and I always meet up and I’ve never left the premises sober. Ever.

5. What is your favourite piece of clothing that you will NEVER throw out?

A little lacy cardigan that belonged to my paternal grandmother. We weren’t close and I don’t have many happy memories of her, but this cardi always makes me smile.

6. What’s your favourite time of day?

The beginning of the evening, when you can see the lights coming on in the horizon. Pre-baby it was because of all the fun possibilities ahead. These days, is because I get to bathe and read to my little one  (when she doesn’t have a meltdown!) and then have some much needed time to myself.

7. What’s been the most emotional part of your journey as a parent so far?

Pregnancy and birth were both very emotional. I suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum, so had to be in hospital for a while and had a really tough time for most of it. And birth was it’s own craziness, with an emergency C-section under general anaesthetic. Holding my baby for the first time though (once I stopped tripping on morphine) was the lovely cherry on the emotional cake.

8. How would your friends describe you?

I’d like to think: funny and stylish. But it’d probably be: too much information and bargain obsessed.

9. Other than your own mama who inspires you as a mother?

All my friends who are mums really inspire me. Not because of anything special they do (although they do many special things), but because they kept an open heart and a non-judgmental mind for different ways of mothering and didn’t close their eyes to all the other things in life (when time permits, of course!).

10. If one person in the public eye could read your blog who would it be?

Ru Paul. And then we’d become best friends forever and start a very successful project together combining the worlds of mums and drag queens. My love for drag queens knows no boundaries.

11. If you could have any job in the world what would it be and why?

I’d love to travel the world looking for fashion inspiration for brands: textiles in India, crazy trends in Japan, embroidery in Turkey…

And here are the 11 random facts about myself….

1. I was interviewed by Oprah
2. My first and only imaginary friend growing up was Zuul from Ghostbusters. I was so terrified when I watched the film as a kid that the only solution was to become Zuul’s buddy, and somehow the friendship outlasted my fears.
3. The only thing I will never eat is beetroot
4. I can make a mean sushi
5. I’d live in Japan in a heartbeat and Tokyo is my favourite city ever
6. I don’t like lipstick on myself
7. I cry every time I listen to August and Everything After, by Counting Crows
8. My sister is my soulmate
9. I’m scared of heights and geckos
10. When I was little, I was convinced I would grow up to be very intelligent and very ugly
11. My working history includes Topshop, a sushi restaurant and the BBC

The blogs I nominate are…

Mumma on the Edge

A Cold Cup of Chloe

Ready for a Cuppa

Jo-Ann at a mum and then some

Mum Lane Life

And my 11 questions to the lovely blogs I nominate are…

1. What is the biggest lesson that motherhood taught you so far?
2. What’s your guilty pleasure?
3. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
4. What makes a great party for you?
5. How do you deal with your fears?
6. What does blogging mean to you?
7. How would you describe your style?
8. What can’t you live without?
9. What is your most treasured possession?
10. What do you love the most about yourself?
11. How do you want to grow old?

This was FUN!!!!!!!!!