The Sunshine & Liebster Awards!

This is seriously the best community ever! I love my fellow bloggers, and all of the amazing people I’ve met through social media. Everyone is so positive and supportive! We all have one goal in mind – to help others, and to spread the message of just how amazing real food is.

I was nominated for The Sunshine Award by Meg over at adashofmeg.com, and the Liebster Award (2.0) by Laura over at mangiapaleo.com! If you haven’t checked out these blogs yet, you’re missing out! Both are some of my very favorite blogs to follow!

On her blog, Meg shares her positivity, self-love, reviews, super yummy recipes, and so much more! Laura is a fellow IBD fighter, who is keeping her Ulcerative Colitis in remission through real food! Laura shares some seriously amazing recipes and all sorts of knowledge regarding IBD! Both women are incredibly inspiring to me, and have both overcome some major obstacles in life. Thank you Meg and Laura for being so wonderful! Now, onto the awards!

The Sunshine Award –

The Sunshine Award is for bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere and requires those who are nominated to do the following:

1. Display the Award Certificate on your blog.

2. Announce your win with a post and thank the blogger who nominated you.

3. Post 10 interesting things about yourself.

4. Nominate some fellow deserving bloggers for the award.

5. Link your nominees in the post and let them know about their nomination with a comment.

10 things you may not know about me:

1. I spent a couple years working full time as a fashion designer and dressed up and wore high heels every. single. day. Now I’m clearly making up for that, as 90% of the time you’ll find me in my workout clothes, with no makeup and my hair in a bun. Working from home certainly has some major perks!

2. Just a few years ago I hardly cooked at all. In fact, I was a pretty terrible cook, I’d spend hours in the kitchen making the most simple dish! There’s hope for anyone!

3. I really, really love change.

4. I love naps. Like LOVE them.

5. I’ve actually had five surgeries, and along with removing my large intestine, I’ve also had my gallbladder and appendix removed. Clearly it’s possible for me to thrive without all my organs, eh?

6. My absolute favorite place to be is the beach, it’s where I feel most at peace and centered.

7. My husband and I would move to Hawaii in a heartbeat!

8. My biggest outlet is through creativity. When I was sick as a kid, I painted, drew, and sculpted things (mostly food, haha) out of clay all day long. I absolutely loved going to school for fashion design, and will always have a passion for fashion (and food!)

9. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a fashion designer. I used to design clothes for my barbies! I can still see design as a part of my life, but now I’m just going with the flow and am working on what feels right in my heart. That’s helping others in any way that I can. Sometimes life doesn’t turn out how we expect, but that doesn’t make it any less amazing!

10. My dreams and all that I want to accomplish absolutely terrifies me. That’s how I know I’m doing something right!

The Liebster Award 2.0

The Liebster Award is intended for up-and-coming blogs, and helps new blogs get some visibility and also connect bloggers to each other. As part of the award process, I get to answer some fun questions and pay it forward to other awesome and deserving bloggers whose work I enjoy. Now onto my answers to Laura’s questions!

1. Give one fact about yourself that many people don’t know.

Hmmm…one more fact? Okay! Before I changed my diet I honestly wondered how a life without grains would even be possible. It made zero sense to me, what would I eat?! Safe to say I figured that out, and eating this way is so much more fun and so creative! I don’t miss my old way of eating whatsoever! 

2. What is your favorite spice or herb?

Hmmm, that’s a tough one, my spice cabinet is huge now! I really love all spices, so I’ll go with my favorite herb – parsley! I grow all my own herbs, it’s so easy and saves a ton of money, and I love tossing chopped parsley on all of my food!

3. How did you first hear about the paleo or SCD diet?

Years ago, a few friends of mine were talking about Paleo, but I didn’t know much about it at the time. All I heard is all of these amazing results they were getting, and none of them were even sick, so it sparked an interest. A good friend of mine who happens to be a nurse practitioner had asked me if I had an allergy to gluten. I said no, but when I started to think about it, I realized that I really didn’t know for sure, as I was eating gluten on a daily basis. That was the question that changed everything for me, it was enough to get the wheels spinning in my head and gave me the push to try this “crazy” way of eating!

4. If you had to eat the same meal everyday for a year what would it be? Why?

I love food! You probably know this by now, ha! Burgers, yam fries, ranch, and lots of veggies, is one meal I just never get sick of, so I’ll go with that! 

5. What’s the most interesting comment/message/email that you’ve gotten from your blog?

The emails I receive almost daily are what inspire me the most. It’s hard to pick just one, as they’re all so interesting and unique! SO many people are suffering in this world, and when I’m told that my story gives someone else hope, it makes me push even harder to get my message out.

I hope you enjoyed learning something new about me! Now it’s time for me to nominate blogs that I love!

justloveyourguts.com– Heather not only creates amazing paleo recipes, but also shares incredible information about health! She’s not only a Certified Wellness Coach, and a Personal Fitness Trainer, but is also studying to become a Nutritional Therapy Consultant!

therecipeforhealing.com – I first met Megan through Instagram, and it instantly became clear just how hard she fights for her own health. She makes delicious recipes, and has incredible knowledge regarding health!

mangiapaleo.com – I know Laura got to me first with the Liebster Award, but I wanted to nominate her for the sunshine award, because she’s such an amazing and inspiring woman! She doesn’t let anything stop her, especially her Ulcerative Colitis!

beyoutifullydelicious.com – I first met Candace through Instagram, and I quickly learned just what an amazing woman she is! She makes insanely drool worthy recipes, and she is completely hilarious! I just love reading her posts! 

slightlylostgirl.com – I met Mika through my blog, and found out that she also has Crohn’s Disease, and is fighting it with real food! She recently started a blog (as well as Instagram and Facebook) and I just LOVE her posts!! She lives such an interesting life, as she recently moved with her husband from Brazil to Mexico! 

Here are my questions for my lovely fellow bloggers, if you choose to accept the Liebster Award:

1. What’s your favorite thing to do in your free time?

2. What is your favorite food ever?

3. What are you most proud of, or what is your biggest accomplishment?

4. What is your dream job? Or, do you already have it?

5. What would you love to see change in this world?