The Liebster Blog award

 I was nominated for the Liebster Award by heatherly loves. Thanks so much! Liebster Blog - that translates to "favorite blog"  so that's a really cool award! (Sorry I have to disagree with the definition that usually accompanies the award - but for anyone who's interested: lieb means sweet, kind, nice etc., and as a superlative you could say it means sweetest, kindest, nicest etc., but in German that combination just doesn't make any sense.)

Rules:

Tell us 11 random things about yourself. 
Answer the questions that the person who tagged you asks.
Create 11 new questions for the people you tag.

Tag 11 blogs and link them to your post.

Contact them and let them know they have been tagged. 

But apart from disagreeing with the definition, I'm totally going to comply with the rules and tell you 

11 random things about me:

1. I am a redhead.
2. I suck at ball games.
3. I had my first currywurst (a typical German sausage with a very spicy sauce) as a two-year old. My dad was so proud of me ;-)
4. The first film I ever saw at the cinema as a child was "Benji", a story about an abandoned dog who rescues some wild baby animals (I have no idea what they were - bobcats?).
5. I hate grammar or punctuation mistakes. For instance, getting a brochure with a mistake, I go ballistic because they should have had someone proof-read before printing a couple of thousand of those, right? (I'm totally aware of the fact that I make some mistakes in English ;-)
6. I was the best student of my year in high school.
7. I don't eat baby animals. That means no veal, no lamb... Even though I'm not strong enough to be a vegetarian, I think that gives the animals the possibility to grow up and have some sort of a life before they are eaten. (Please don't tell me that my theory sucks, I couldn't come up with a better one.)
8. I hate, hate, hate cucumbers. Even the smell of them makes me sick. Same thing with pickles.
9. Michael Jackson and I share our birthday.
10. I didn't get married in white. Still, that is one of the best decisions I ever made.
11. When I buy new nail polish, I have to try it. If I buy several colors, I have to try them all out at once. That might lead to orange toe nails, navy right hand nails and white left hand nails. Of course only for the day and not to work on the next day ;-)

Here are the 11 questions that Heather asked us:

1. What inspired you to start blogging? - That's easy. Having read blogs for a while, and a particularly dull afternoon in my holidays.
2. What's your favorite season? - I like to complain, so I have something to complain about in every season. Too hot, too cold, too rainy, too windy, too humid, too dry... If I absolutely have to choose, it'll be spring.
3. How many animals do you have? - One that counts (the other one is a terribly big spider living in my garage - hopefully not for long): Coca, my adorable dog, my blog's namesake. We adopted her four months ago, before that she was a stray in Turkey.
4. What's your favorite thing to do? - Sleep. Read. Watch DVDs. Talk on the phone. Eat.
5. What's your favorite TV show? - I don't watch a lot of TV, we basically only watch DVDs. That's because we hate commercials and like to go on watching without having to wait a week to continue. Best show ever: Friends!
6. Are you a coffee drinker? - That's a rhetorical question, right? 
7. What is your best recipe? - I make a mean pork loin in Calvados sauce. 
8. Do you prefer online shopping or shopping in the store? - I like a mix of both, couldn't decide on just one. If I know what I need I go online, if I like to browse around and find something unexpected, I go to the stores. (I actually never find what I'm looking for at the stores, but I usually come home with something really pretty.)
9. Do you have a favorite candy? If so, what is it? - I could make an alphabetized list. I love chocolate (Lindt is my favorite brand), but I also love gummibears. Don't get me wrong, American gummibears are not nearly as good as German ones! You have to try Haribo, or Katjes! My favorite kind are little pink piggy faces with ears in different berry flavors. (I know that I'm sounding like a five-year old right now.)
10. Do you like to read books? If so, what are you reading now... and what is the best book you have read? - I do. However, when I'm busy at work, I prefer magazines for reading in the evenings, e.g. Spiegel (which is a little bit like Time magazine, I think.) At the moment I'm reading Anna Karenina. My all time favorite is probably The Secret History by Donna Tartt. 
11. What is your favorite flower? - I love roses or lavender. I also love hydrangeas, gladioli, hyacinths, carnations, tulips... I guess that means I don't have a favorite flower. But I most definitely hate orange ones!

Here are the eleven blogs I have nominated (this is not a ranking!):

(Even though there are many other blogs that I like I tried to choose blogs with less than 300 followers. Of course, I don't want to insult anyone who actually has more followers than that!)

• The DIY Dreamer
• Be Freckled
• Paint Speckled Pawprints 
• Snaps and bits
• From Needles to Nails
• Shabby Sweet Tea
• Craftbotic
• Julie Rose Sews
• All things fee
• Candace Creations
• Lilla Hilla Hus

 And here are the eleven questions for the nominated bloggers:

1. Are you an older sibling, a younger sibling, an only child...? What is typical for them, in your opinion?
2. What's your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
3. What's the thing that makes you really angry / frustrated / upset when you see it in another blog?
4. Who would play you in a movie?
5. What is your best blogging advice?
6. Did you find it hard to come up with eleven blogs to nominate? (Because there were not enough or there were too many good ones to choose from?)
7. What is a true cliché about your nation?
8. What is the skill that you are proudest of?
9. Have you ever gotten suspended, thrown out of a classroom, been sent to detention?
10. Have you ever been to Germany? If yes: What did you like / not like about it? If no: Would you like to go?
11. What was first: the chicken or the egg?

I have to say bye-bye for now. My fingers are hurting like hell because I have worked in the garden all day. I'm going to take a nice hot bubblebath now!

PS I'm sure you heard me complaining about my fingers, right? Yes, this post was a lot of writing. And thinking. So feel free to answer the questions (or not). Feel free to answer them now (or later or never). But I'll be looking forward to reading what you wrote! And most of all this award is supposed to make you feel good about yourself and your blog, not to make your to-do list even longer!