Liebster Love

Last week, my awesome friend, Audrey from Oh So Lovely, passed along a Liebster Award to Loose Of Limits. I was SO excited!!! Our very first (and probably only) blogging award! 'Liebster' means "favorite" or "dearest" in German and is given by bloggers to bloggers with less than 200 followers. How cool is that?

First of all, a bit about Audrey. I went to college with Audrey and we were (and still are) sorority sisters in Delta Zeta. She was a design major in school and has always been crazy creative and quirky. (her pets' names are Edgar Bucca Di Barko, Marley de Leon and Lulu la Resistance....seriously.) These days, not only is she working as a graphic designer full-time, but she's started doing photography, freelance design and event planning at Oh So Lovely. She's incredible and, while we were friends in college, we've found a stronger bond and camaraderie since then in our love for all things wedding and design. Her tutorials and ideas have been featured recently at KCMag.com in her recurring column, Entertaining Made Lovely.

Moving on - I love the idea of this peer-issued award. Chances are, if you're writing a blog, you're reading a lot of blogs, and that's certainly true of me. Wedding blogs, fashion blogs, design blogs, cooking blogs, home improvement blogs, fitness blogs... And now, of course, travel blogs. So now - some blog love for some very deserving peeps.

1. We Go Round The World
   After reaching out to another blog (Almost Fearless) to ask about travel insurance, I received an email from another woman who is heading out for a year of travel with her husband. And now, I'm loving how similar Tom and I are to this traveling couple, Emily Sue and Dustin. Like us, they're stepping aside from their current lives to live out of a backpack. Also, like us, they're already blogging but haven't started their big adventure yet. Stay tuned though, because they leave on July 2! I.can.not.wait to follow their adventures.
2. The Impatient Traveller
   Let me tell you about my friend, Stephanie Stokes. She's amazing. She (like Audrey) is a sorority sister of mine from college, where she studied to be a teacher. You should know that Stokes is such an enthusiastic teacher that I've considered moving around to wherever she is when I have children just so they can have her as a teacher. She had been teaching school in Missouri for a few years before getting a serious travel bug and finding a gig teaching at a school in Surrey, England. Something you should know - she set out on this crazy adventure without ever having left the United States before. Talk about courage! Now that she's based in Europe, she is doing some serious European globetrotting and I am so proud of her.
3. Always Twirling
   Right now, I'm obsessed with finding other travelling couples and Peter and Susana just speak our language. Every time I read a post, I find myself nodding my head in agreement. Whether it's a post about the activities they do on their trip or their philosophy about travelling and budget, I feel like I am constantly having a mind meld with them. They left for their trip in November, 2011.
4. Freedom Year
   I found this blog while Googling "squat toilets." True story. And I'm so glad I did. (Here's the post that introduced me to the Freedom Year blog. And you KNOW how much we love to talk about toilets.) I love the concept of a "freedom year." It seems so similar to Tom and I's plan to say "yes" as often as possible. This trip gives us the freedom to do that...a Freedom Year to say yes. Sounds like an awesome mantra to me.
5. Food, Shoes, Booze
   This is shameless promotion of my BFF, Lauren. She hasn't posted on her blog for awhile, so this is me, pressuring her into posting more often. Do you want to know why? Because she is HILARIOUS. She's witty and interesting and I hate living far away from her and I wish she would give detailed and Gilmore-esque accounts of each and every aspect of her day. Lauren, get with the program!

Congratulations Liebster Winners!

If you choose to participate, the rules are:

• Post about your win on your blog.
• Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award - Loose of Limits
• Copy and paste the award button to your blog.
• Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that have fewer than 200 followers that you think should be recognized.
• Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

Disclaimer: I have no idea how to validate exactly how many subscribers a site has, so I'm making some assumptions in this situation. I hope they don't strip me of my Liebster award, a la Vanessa Williams and the 1983 Miss America title.