19 Questions: The Liebster Award

I might not have made it to the finals of the BiBs awards (a big thank you everyone who voted for me though!) but I did have a couple of nominations recently for the Liebster Award from Grown Up Glamour and Diary of An Imperfect Mum.  Whilst there aren’t any trophies for this particular award, there are fun questions to answer and it’s always a great way of finding out a little more about the bloggers behind the blog.  So without further ado, here are my answers to the questions posed by these two lovely ladies:

1) How did you pick your blog’s name?

I wanted a name that reflected our life as a heart family but one which would also be appropriate for describing our normal everyday family life.  I’ve often said that Jessica’s half a heart overflows with love and the thought process led me to the name Little Hearts, Big Love.

 

2) Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your 13-year-old self?

Hold your head up high and try not to worry about what others think of you.  Keep writing and escaping into your own fantasy world – because none of the people who try to put you down can follow you there and the love of writing will help you through many challenging situations in life.

 

Needless to say though, my 13-year-old self would probably not listen to me – after all, you have to learn most of life’s lessons for yourself.

 

3) What’s your favorite TV show?

I very rarely watch TV but I love Call the Midwife – it reminds me so much of the way I used to work when I was an independent midwife.

 

4) What are three things you cannot live without?

My husband and my two daughters.

5) Who is your favorite fictional character?

Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables because of her spirit and the way she always remains true to herself.

 

6) What is your most prized possession?

My wedding DVD – it so beautifully captured one of the happiest days of my life but what makes it extra special is the recording of my dad’s speech.  He had Parkinson’s disease and dementia and his brief speech was a real struggle for him on the day, but it ended with him saying in a voice full of emotion: “I just want to tell my daughter how much I love her.”  My dad died five months after I got married and to be able to still hear him saying those words even though he is no longer here is unbelievably precious.  I nearly didn’t have a DVD done of our wedding and I’m so thankful I did.

7) Describe yourself in three words.

Loving, loyal and feisty.

 

8) What is your guiltiest pleasure?

Dancing and singing along to musical theatre songs in the kitchen whilst cooking.

 

9) What single quality do you most appreciate in people?

Kindness – the world could do with a lot more of it!

 

10) What’s your favorite post that you’ve written?

My Stick Man trail post – I wrote it up in the style of the book and it was such a fun way to look back over our day out.

11) If money was no object, what would you do all day?

Go out and have adventures with my girls.

 

12) Where do you most want to travel, but have never been?

I’d like to go to Salzburg and do the Sound of Music tour.

 

13) What is your favourite memory?

Going to the children’s Christmas party at 10 Downing Street when Sophie was just a few weeks old – we got to meet some of the Strictly dancers and celebrities and briefly appeared on the TV with Sophie Ellis-Bextor mentioning having had cuddles with baby Sophie!  It was an amazing experience and we had a wonderful time.

14) What has been your biggest challenge?

Being a heart mummy and accepting that there are so many things that I have no control over.  Seeing your child ill on intensive care and being unable to do anything to help them other than just being there is so hard.

 

15) What does your perfect day look like?

A day when the four of us are all together, going out and about together in the sunshine, exploring somewhere new and being able to completely enjoy the moment without having to worry about anything else.  We are always at our happiest when out for a walk together as a family.

 

16) University or life experience, which do you feel best prepares you for life?

That’s a difficult one – they both taught me a lot.  University can give you so many different experiences in such a short space of time and most of what I took away from my university days had nothing to do with what I was studying at the time.  Life experience is better preparation for the “real” world in many ways (being at university can feel like being in a bit of a bubble) but university helped give me a huge amount of confidence and discover who I am and what I really love in a way that might have been harder to discover outside of that experience.

17) What is the one thing that should be taught in school that isn’t already?

Being able to budget and manage finances.  I certainly wish I’d learnt how to do that at school – it would have saved me a lot of debt later on!

 

18) If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to?

I’d quite like to go back to 1996 and be 17 again but with the extra wisdom that the last two decades have given me! I had a lot of fun that year – to have the fun and not the teenage angst that went along with it would be great!

 

19) Which animal best defines you and why?

A swan – calm on the surface and frantically paddling underneath!

 

Thank you ladies for the nominations and questions.  I’m tagging the following bloggers to join if they would like:

Mummy Here and There
Hot Pink Wellingtons
Dear Bear and Beany
Life is Knutts

Here are my questions for you:

1) Why did you decide to start blogging?

2) Which of your own blog posts is your favourite?

3) Marmite – love or loathe?

4) What’s your favourite book?

5) If you could only go back to one of the places you have visited on holiday, where would you go and why?

6) What’s your favourite childhood memory?

7) What’s your top blogging tip?

8) If someone made a film about your life, who would you like to play you?

9) Is the glass half full or half empty?

10) What’s your top tip for getting organised?

 

Look forward to reading your answers if you decide to take part!

 

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