Nikitaland

N is for Nikitaland

Today I’m featuring my ~~long-lost sister~~ good friend Valerie who along with Nikita & Bella (along w/ Val’s sweetie) are in charge over at Nikitaland! Valerie and I met through our blogs and have become great friends. We have so much in common that we’re both convinced we were separated at birth. Her dog Nikita also looks a lot like ZuZu so naturally I think she’s adorable. But don’t count out Bella…she’s such a cutie too!

She blogs about Nikita & Bella, gardening, crafts and everything in between. I love to follow along as she posts about her garden and try to guess how many vegetables are growing in the garden. She’s also been fundraising for the Pledge for Pets. They’ve raised over $1000 already!

Nikitaland

INTERVIEW WITH NIKITALAND

Besides blogging, what are your hobbies?
Besides blogging, I love being creative. I grew up always watching my Father create things and watching my Mother quilt, so I guess I got the “creative bug” from them. Since my Sweetie and I love Halloween, I love creating our own Halloween props from anything from handmade wood tombstones, cement skulls, and paper mache pumpkins.

How long have you been blogging?
I started blogging about four years ago after we rescued our first puppy from the APL. I thought it would be a great place to post new photographs of Nikita and the things that she got into, and everyone knows how many photographs you take when you bring a puppy home! Now, four years later, my blog has evolved into a place where you can call home, make great friendships, learn a lot about gardening, try out a new craft project, and follow along with our two rescued dogs. I would give up other things if I had to, but I would never give up blogging as it brings me so much happiness, not to mention some of the best friends in the whole world, whom I have never met. That is what is so great about blogging, the relationships that you form with your followers.

If you were to write the story of your life, what would you title it?
The story of my life would be named: The Invisible Girl. I grew up in a household of four girls, me being the youngest. One would think that the youngest in the family would get the attention, but that was not the case at all. However, I have felt like I was always invisible around my older sisters, and still feel that way today. I guess not all families get along like they do in fairy tales, but I had always hoped that we would grow into a close knit family.

If you could have one wish (and it actually came true) what would it be?
One wish, eh? That is an easy one! To win lots of money and never have any financial worries ever again. I owe a great deal to my Sweetie because I live with him and he takes the best care of me & our dogs! If my wish came true, I would buy us a nice new house with a huge yard for the dogs & a huge garden for us, and maybe a nice car for me too.

What is the perfect Sunday morning like for you?
A perfect Sunday morning is waking up to the smell of coffee brewing, taking the dogs outside, and Nikita and I head down the driveway to get the Sunday paper to look for any “Big Doggies”. (aka Deer) Then we catch up on all the new “pins” on Pinterest!

What is your favorite thing to eat?
Picking out a favorite food is hard to do, as we have so many. For Nikita and Bella, their favorite snack is definitely getting “treats”! For us, we got hooked on Red Baron pizzas and told Papa Johns to hit the road! I love to cook and some of my best reviewed meals are my lasagna, rolled chicken with red peppers and onions, and my balsamic marinated chicken breasts over rice, and I can’t forget to mention our chicken skewers on the grill! But, now that Summer will soon be here, enjoying a great seasoned steak on the grill is the best! Oh yeah, did I mention that I have a chips & salsa fettish?

What’s your theme song?
I am not sure it could be called my theme song, but we love Law & Order so much, that both my Sweetie and I have the Law & Order theme song as our ring tones on our phones!

If you could sit down to dinner with any living celebrity or public figure, who would it be?
I love this question because I have actually thought about this one before. I would love to sit down to dinner with Vincent D’Onofrio (Bobby Goren) from Law & Order, and if he was not available, it would definitely be Christopher Meloni (Elliott Stabler) from Law & Order. Can you tell I love Law & Order?

What is your favorite beverage?
Hands down my favorite drink is Diet Coke, but when it gets close to that 5:00pm time, I have to change to a nice cold glass of Barefoot Pink Moscato wine. If you like sweet wine, then I recommend you try this one!

What is your best trick?
Nikita’s best trick is knowing what time it is. She must have an internal clock because she always knows what time it is that she gets treats. When we ask her what she wants, she nods her head in the direction of the treat jar to tell us!

And Bella’s best all-time trick is boxing with Mommy! Every time Mommy puts on two oven mitts, she immediately goes into action and we box, but….. when Mommy says “ding ding”, Bella heads to the carpet (her corner of the ring) and sits down. The second Mommy raises her hands, they are back at boxing again. This goes on forever, and Bella always sits when she hears the “ding ding”. One day I am going to have to get this on video and you would laugh your head off!

Do you have or have you had any nicknames?
Ever since I can remember while growing up, I was always called Weezer, because I have asthma, but I have not been called that in a long time. My Sweetie calls me Sunshine and I like that better. As for Nikita and Bella, geez that list of nicknames is so long, but here are a few that they answer to:
Nikita: Poo Poo, Booblee Boop Bella: Bell Bell, Bella Boop

What is the first thing you notice when you meet someone new?
The first thing that I notice when I meet someone new is their personality. I love happy people as it shines through them. Negativity is a big turn off for me.