Something different – One Lovely Blog Award

I got a really wonderful surprise a few days ago when my sister-in-blogging The Endo Zone was kind enough to nominate me for the One Lovely Blog award. Her fertility story is one hell of a marathon of determination and persistence and you should go check out her blog and say hi. I have full respect for this warrior of a woman and I wish that her miracle baby comes along very soon.  She also has 2 cats and a dog, so that’s a sure sign she’s alright.

So what are the rules of this then?

1. Thank the person that nominated you and leave a link to their blog
2. Post about the award
3. Share seven facts about yourself
4. Nominate other people (15 at most)
5. Tell your nominees the good news!

 

So here goes… Seven facts about me!

1. I often describe myself as a child of the world because, although I am Australian, I left Australia when I was 22 to live in London. It was a bit of a whim and I never expected to spend more than two years abroad. Well, I ended up spending 10 years in London before moving not home, but to the Mediterranean country where I am now (my husband’s country). Despite having been away from “home” for more than 16 years, I still feel Australian at my core, nevermore so than during sporting tournaments! Each time I go home or even to London to visit I feel like I never left. It’s weird. It makes me feel like I have multiple personalities that only exist in each geographical location.
2. My father passed away a few days after my 16th birthday after a long struggle with cancer. He was only 50. I think his battle with the big C and subsequently his loss has coloured my life in more ways than I’m even aware of. The aftermath of how my mum dealt with his loss (or didn’t deal with it actually) really meant that I struggled for a long time to find my place in this world. I am also very conscious of the fact that – going by my dad’s timeline – I could have only 12 years left on this planet (or less). I know that’s not how these things work, but it certainly does keep me focused on the things that matter.
3. One of the best things I ever did for myself was take up marathon running when I was about 25. It was a bit of an accident that I found myself in a running club in London, but the inner strength and sense of self that I developed while pushing out those endless miles has only done me good. Marathon running is about 20% body and 80% mind! I hung up my marathon shoes a few years ago after six full marathons and countless shorter races, however I have continued to enjoy running on a more informal level ever since. I did quit running altogether (temporarily) about a year ago on the advice of my acupuncturist (it’s bad for my chi don’t you know) in order to help my pregnancy chances.  Well I am pregnant so there you go! However, my shoes will be coming back on after this baby arrives… maybe not immediately but at some point!
4. I am definitely a summer, sunshine girl. Now that I’m living in the wonderful Med which barely has a winter, I cannot believe that I lived in gloomy London for a full decade.  What was I thinking?! I love the beach, swimming, sunbathing (yes, I know, skin cancer, blah, blah), summer dresses, sand between my toes… I could go on!
5. When I first met my husband nearly 8 years ago I turned him down twice because I thought he was 5 years younger than me. In fact he’s 18 months younger than me but he has a baby face! When we did start dating it was like something out of the movies – we both knew the first night we kissed that this was something different and real. My husband promised me that night that he would treat me like a princess and take me on lots of nice holidays. I thought he was drunk and rambling so I kind of dismissed his comments, but that’s actually what life together has been like. Well not all the time, but he has certainly made good on his promise to look after me.  Even though we do have our moments, he is the best thing that has ever happened to me and he’s my best friend.
6. I worked out a few years ago that I have an intolerance to fructose, the sugar that is naturally occurring in fruit. This was a revelation and a bummer all at once! Before this, I couldn’t work out why seemingly healthy foods made me bloat out so very much as so painfully.  The issue with fructose is not so much the overall amount, but the ratio of fructose to glucose, i.e. if there is a higher amount of fructose than glucose that’s when I’m in trouble.  Some of the worst culprits are some truly beautiful fruits like apples and pears, but also would you believe lentils and other pulses are pure evil too (even though they’re tasty and very healthy). Citrus fruits and some melons (not watermelon) are okay so I tend to mainly eat those. Or I save the “problem fruit” for when I’m home so I can deal with the consequences in private.
7. I once had the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip (the Queen’s hubby), physically bump in to me at an event at Windsor Castle.  It was entirely mortifying, but I can at least claim to have been touched by royalty! How it came about was that the organisation I worked for at the time was hosting a charity event with Prince Philip as the guest of honour. As part of this event, I was stood talking to friends in the garden of Windsor Castle (in a part you can’t get to on the official tour – exciting!), but I had not paid attention at all to the location of Prince Philip (in my defence he often was late to these things because he drives himself in his Range Rover so I didn’t know if he had even turned up yet). Little did I realise, but he was in fact standing directly behind me with his back to me as he spoke to some guests. At some point he must have taken a step backwards as he clipped the back of my heel with his shoe and kind of bumped his shoulder into me. I spun around ready to glare – as you do when someone crashes into you – but then saw it was Prince Philip and promptly froze like a statue. I didn’t even say sorry! I mean, it wasn’t my fault, but still he is royalty! He, however, was delighted to have found he’d tramped on a 20-something blonde and proceeded to have a chat with me about the weather.  This was England after all! I contributed that very useful observation of “It is a lovely day today”, although it was sunny so I was right. That was until the CEO of my company came sprinting across the lawn like Usain Bolt so as to “rescue” Prince Philip from the common people, aka me. I still have not stopped laughing about this since and I have such a soft spot for Prince Philip as a result.

Now for the nominations! I look forward to reading the seven facts about these lovely bloggers:

1. Next Chapter: Baby 
2. Aliased
3. Dubliner in Deutschland 
4. Trying4BabyK 
5. Surviving Infertility
6. You Would Be Pretty If…