I got an award!

I remember someone on one of the panels at CybHer basically saying your blog wasn't worth much if you'd not won an award (which got a few backs up in my corner of the room, I can tell you), so I was chuffed to be the recipient of this...

The Leibster Award (German for favourite)!  OK, it's not exactly the MADS, or the Oscars, but what the hey?  I was tagged by the lovely, glamorous & mildly barmy Anna at Elanor's Nails, a friend and fellow snooker fan, as well as a nail blogger, and this is a tag & a bit.


For this tag, you need to do the following:
1. Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves.
2. They must also answer the 11 questions the 'tagger' has set for them.
3. They must create 11 more questions to ask bloggers they have decided to tag.
4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post.
5. These lucky bloggers must then be told.
6. There's no tag backs.


So, 11 things about me:

1. I watch snooker.  Maybe too much snooker, but that's open for debate
2. I own the complete set of Carry On Films.  Except Carry On Columbus, because that was a travesty (and wasn't included in the partwork)
3. Like many nail bloggers (even though I'm not one), I'm known at work as "the one with the nails"
4. For my wedding, I had a French manicure with silver blue tips.
5. I've got a list of films I never intend to watch, no matter how "classic" they may be, including all the Star Wars films
6. I'm more than a little bit addicted to pesto
7. My ankles collectively contain 10 inches of plates, 17 screws, and a piece of non-dissolving stitch that they couldn't get out.
8. I am a sneaky mystery shopper, and enjoy nothing more than getting paid to eat junk food or stay in a swanky hotel.
9. I've never set foot in the USA, though I have been to both Canada & Mexico, so it wouldn't have been too difficult if I'd tried.
10. My kindle is amusingly called "Kindle Mint Cake", and is almost entirely populated with free ebooks.
11. I deliberately make mix-cds that will annoy the brains out of me, filled with novelty hits & one-hit-wonders.

And the questions I've been asked:

1. New York or London?
New York, on the basis that I've never been.
2. Salad cream - work of the devil or not?
99% of the time, it's the work of the devil.  But a lettuce & mayo sandwich is not the same.  White bread, real butter, sliced iceberg lettuce & Heinz salad cream, takes me straight to my Gran's house for Sunday tea sometime in the early 80's.
3. Celebrity chef of your choice to call round later today and cook you dinner, and will also stay and eat it with you - who do you choose? 
Ooooooh.  I'd love to try some of Heston Blumenthal's food, but I don't think I could have a conversation with him.  I can't think of any Greek celebrity chefs, so I think I'd go for Aldo Zilli, because his enthusiasm seems so infectious, and I love Italian food.
4. You spill food all down your front but have to go out - change your clothes and be late, or go out with beans stains?
I'd more likely completely fail to notice.  But on the off-chance I'd noticed, I'd change & be late.  I'm pathologically early for everything, so I probably wouldn't be late in reality, just not early enough to be comfortable.
5. Cats or dogs?
Dogs. Cats are plotting a hostile takeover of the universe.  I caught one on a reconnaissance mission in my living room the other day, Squeaky slept through the lot. 
6. Are baby elephants the cutest things on earth?
Until a couple of days ago, I would have said yes.  And then I met a baby skunk.  Aside from not realising how little adult skunks are (they look bigger in cartoons), the baby was so teeeeeeeensy weensy and stripy and awwwww.
7. Best bit of the Olympics this year?
Until Saturday night, I would have said Jessica Ennis' win.  And then I saw Tom Daley & his crew jumping into the pool like at the end of "We Are The Champions", for a bronze.  I wonder what he would have done to celebrate gold?
8. Maple syrup on bacon - genius, or evil?
The work of an evil genius.  Like mango chilli kettle chips (please bring them back) it sounds so wrong, but somehow it's so very right.
9. You can have a free holiday to anywhere on earth, but you have to go tomorrow and on your own - where do you pick?
I'd take the chance to go to New York.  I know people there & nearby, so I could make a few calls and have company pretty quickly.  And while I was waiting, well, there's shopping to be done.
10. How well would you cope if you were stranded on a desert island?
Probably better than if someone tried to rescue me.  Desert islands have a nasty habit of being surrounded by water, and I really don't do boats.  I land up on a desert island, I'm staying there.  I could be the benevolent dictator of my own tiny empire.  Palm Tree, I am your master, do my bidding!
11. If you could swap part of your body, but only part, for anyone else's, which part and who's would you swap?
I'd take the amazing abs of Flavia Cacace - who wouldn't. I'm sure they wouldn't look as good with the rest of me, but if one bit of me looked like that, maybe it would motivate me to get the rest of me into the same sort of shape rather than eating doritos.

Phew.

I'm not going to actually tag anyone right now, I'm too lazy for that & it's past my bedtime.  But if you think you deserve an award, and you think you can come up with 11 facts AND answers to my random questions, then make a suitable noise in the comments & I'll see what I can do for you.