Belated Blogoversary: Giveaway and Award

WOW!

I can't believe that Nutrition, Food, Travel and More is over 2 years old.  I guess what I can't believe even more than that would be that I missed my blogoversary by just over 3 months.  See, we had arrived in Japan just 2 days before my actual 2 years of blogging, and needless to say, I was a little preoccupied.

But, I am getting caught up now, and I am ready to wish myself a happy blogoversary!  Also in need of congratulations, this is my 500th post!

When I started my blog it was mostly to entertain myself while living overseas.  I had no idea what the Azores would be like and what I would be doing while I was there.  My initial intention was to write about nutrition, food and travel.  I think I was mostly successful with that goal.  I found over time I did more traveling than I thought so there was a lot more about travel to write about, which in turn gave me more about food to write about.  Blogging also gave me more purpose in the kitchen and I have found that I can cook and do not lose focus and get bored anymore.  It helps to take pictures throughout the process, at least for me.  I know over the past few months, with the move, and just plain falling behind, I have gotten away from nutrition based posts.  

I am a dietitian of course, but there are many other dietitians out there writing great information about nutrition daily, so I don't feel as guilty getting a little away from that, and I know that my experiences overseas make me unique in what I can post about.  I hope everyone likes reading about life overseas, especially since we have just under 4 years left here.  Although, I do plan on getting back into writing more about nutrition, as I work to get caught up on all the pictures and things I have left to share, including things from the island.  Another major plan is to start doing Thursday Thoughts again.  Don't worry, I have not forgotten about that.  Trust me, I have plenty more to say in those posts.

So in honor of my belated blogoversary I am doing a small, but meaningful, giveaway.  Since I live in Japan, and this is a blog about nutrition, food and travel, I thought giving away some chopsticks would be most fitting.  I am offering two pairs of chopsticks (not disposable ones of course) to each of two lucky readers.

I also want to take this time to thank the wonderful Spicy RD, who did disclose her name when she won this award, for giving me the Versatile Blogger Award.

For this award, I  get to share 7 things about myself with you, and pass on the award to 15 of my favorite bloggers, who must then link back to the blogger who shared the award with them, and also share 7 things about themselves.

So here goes...7 Things You May Not Know About Me

1) I loved going to sleep away camp as a child.  I first went when I was around 7 years old, but when I was 11 I started at the best camp every, and even worked there when I was in high school. (yeah, not so glamorous, I worked in the kitchen, go figure)

2) I used to work at an amusement park called Dorney Park while I was in college.  Strangely, my husband has also worked at an amusement park.  Other than people I worked with, he is the only other person I know that worked at one.

3) What happens in Vegas, doesn't always stay in Vegas.  That's where I met my husband.  He was stationed at Nellis and I was living, working and going to school out there.

4) I have 2 bachelor's degrees and 2 master's degrees.  Undergrad degrees are in biology and nutrition (from 2 different schools) and graduate is in public health and human relations (also from 2 different schools).  I did attend two different undergrad schools at the same time.  They were just miles apart.

5) I first traveled out of the country when I was 11, but that was only to Canada.  In fact, it was so I could get to summer camp.  My first trans-Atlantic flight was when I was 16.  I went to England.

6) When I was 16, like many Jewish kids my age at the time, I went to Israel.  What makes my trip different was that I went with a British youth group, not an American group.  Why?  My friend Jessica is British and I let her pick the trip we went on.  That's when I got bit by the travel bug.

7) I am planning 2 major trips in 2012...so stayed tuned for more details and awesome blog posts!

Now I would like to pass this on to some very amazing versatile bloggers:

Andrea from Andrea's Wellness Notes

Ameena from Fancy That...Fancy This

Astra from Food for Laughter

Beth from 990 Square

Gina from Candid RD

Jessie from The Happiness in Health

Kristen from The Swanky Dietitian

Kristen from Eating RD

Nicole from Prevention RD

Sophia from Burp and Slurp

Certainly there are many more amazing and awesome bloggers out there, but these are just to name a few as I can't list everyone (seriously, I need to get back to work!).

Last up, the giveaway rules:

Just leave a comment here with a random fact I may not know about you, and you will be entered.  For additional entries you can tweet this or post about this give away on Facebook, which may help people remember that I am still here, still blogging, just working on getting caught up and settled in to life in Japan.  If you tweet or post on FB just leave an additional comment letting me know.  Giveaway ends Tuesday November 22 11:59 PM EST.  Winners will be chosen at random.

Good luck and thank you to everyone for reading, whether it's been the whole 2 years or just 2 days.