Category: me

1. When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I didn’t have any high hopes and dreams, but I do remember having a vague thought of wanting to be a photographer before I really knew anything about it. When I was a little older I wanted to be an athletic trainer or a physical therapist. So that’s more along the lines of what I actually ended up doing.

2. Name 3 of your irrational fears.
The only thing that I know for sure that I’m irrationally afraid of is touching live shrimp. That, and having a roach crawl on me in bed. I have experienced both, and both caused me to have mini-breakdowns. The fears are irrational because shrimp and roaches can’t do anything to me other than creep me out.

3. If you had a $200 gift card to any store, what would you want it to be? (Nothing responsible allowed. Can’t be used for groceries or anything)
If it’s only $200 I’d love to have a gift card to somewhere like Ross where I could get a decent amount of new clothes, because that’s something I never buy for myself. OR a place like Crate & Barrel or Williams Sonoma would be nice. Ooh Ooh OR to Sephora, THAT would be awesome.

4. What is your most (blog-friendly) embarrassing moment?
I have one specific most embarrassing moment, and it was bad. It’s not something that I would write about here. But I do have a runner-up. I was taking computer lit in summer school (to get ahead) in junior high. The class wasn’t in my school, so I wasn’t used to the layout. After class one day I went to the bathroom. I was in the stall doing my thing when a bunch of boys walked in. That was my first clue that I was in the wrong bathroom. So I did what anyone would do; I stood on top of the toilet so my feet wouldn’t give me away. I waited there until I didn’t hear any more noise at all, then I crept out. To my shock and horror, there was a boy directly in front of me using the urinal. That was my second clue that I was in the wrong bathroom. Let me tell you, you’ve never seen anyone move faster than I did in that moment. Because when you’re in junior high, this is tantamount to the end of the world.

5. If you were only allowed to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
I think cereal. I wonder how long I would last?

6. What was your favorite toy growing up?
I had a teddy bear named Meisha that I was extremely attached to. I couldn’t fall asleep without her. My brothers liked to torture me by using her as a football, and she lost an eye and an arm that way, which my mother lovingly repaired. One year I took her to camp, and when it was time to pack up for home I rolled her up in my sleeping bag. My dad forgot to load my sleeping bag in our car, and I didn’t notice until we got home that it was missing. I was heartbroken. My mom actually contacted every child’s family that she could from that week of camp hoping that one of them had it. But Meisha was gone, never to be seen again. Sad.

7. Do you have a “go to” outfit? What is it?
I feel really good in a nice pair of jeans, brown heels, and a cream colored, short-sleeved tunic sweater.

8. Who was the best teacher you ever had?
Oh gosh, I don’t know. I don’t think I really started appreciating my teachers until high school. I had a really awesome teacher for statistics, because I actually enjoyed that class and scored a 4 on the AP test, which ended up placing me out of math classes for the rest of my life. My junior year English teacher was the one who really taught me to write a good essay. And my senior year English teacher made me appreciate books on an entirely new level, and I made a 5 on that year’s AP test which I am still proud of.

9. If you could buy any car right now (something at least SORT OF within the realm of reality…so, you know, a Rolls Royce may not qualify), what would it be?
I want a Prius so bad. I’m all for hybrids (even though I know they won’t save me money), and the Prius is so cute and functional.

10. How do you reckon that Chelsea comes up with 10 of these questions every week? It was hard! What’s your theory on how she’s so creative? Are you going to help her?
Chelsea must have some kind of creative gene that I lack. I may take a shot at coming up with ten questions one of these days, but not until this NaBloPoMo thing is over with!

The temperature here in Houston has dipped into the range that can officially be labeled “cool,” and it has actually lasted more than two days. In general, I would much rather be hot than cold, but I’m trying to look on the bright side of life. So in the spirit of optimism, here is my list of things that I like about this weather.

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The clothes. Are winter clothes not the best? There is just something about a sweater. I would wear them year-round if I could, but instead I’ll just enjoy the 2-3 months that I can pull them off without sweating myself into dehydration.

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Warm drinks. I mentioned that I’m enjoying coffee lately, and now I can tell you that it’s SO much better when it’s not a hundred degrees outside. Sometimes–when I am dragging myself out of bed before 5 a.m., or facing up to the fact that there is not enough hot water to stay in the shower forever–the thought of a warm cup of coffee gives me the motivation I need to take that step. I just cannot believe I have turned into one of those people.

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Cuddling. Even though I hate being cold, I have convinced David to leave the heater off for as long as possible because I have turned into some kind of money-saving madwoman. It probably dips below 50 in our house at night now, but that’s fine with me because this way David will cuddle up next to me all night long. I don’t think I have ever slept better than I have these past few days. The only problem is, getting up is a real drag.

That’s it. That’s the end of my list. Now what about you? What do you love about cold weather?

Thank you to Chelsea for providing me with something to write about. It’s hard to get a post up on 12-hour shift days. I should probably schedule posts in advance, but I haven’t mastered that skill yet. So enjoy today’s Ten on Tuesday!

1. What are some of your family traditions?
We usually go to a movie on or near Thanksgiving, and on Christmas we make Lil’ Smokies for breakfast. That’s about the extent of it. (Any member of my family care to chime in?)

2. Do you know how to change a flat tire?
I do not. It would probably be a good thing to learn, though. I also need to learn how to fix a flat tire on a bike.

3. Do you subscribe to any magazines? What are your favorites?
A few. Real Simple is my favorite and the only one I pay full price for (even though I hate their recipes). I bought a subscription to Southern Living even though I had never read it before because it was $5. And now I get Town & Country because it was free online somehow. That magazine is just fascinating, because I am NOT the intended audience. I know this because their holiday gift guide goes up to $10,000.

4. What are your top three favorite office supply items? (If you don’t share the love of office supplies with me or if you are male, you may skip this question.)
Papermate mechanical pencils, rollerball pens, and fresh notebooks.

5. Are you a good public speaker?
Yes, I think so. I have had to give so many presentations in my life I’ve lost track. I also took a preaching class in college, and since then I have given several sermons. I’m not the funniest or most dynamic speaker by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t get too nervous, am fairly articulate, and I don’t use distracting filler words like “um.” My director actually volunteered me to give a presentation THIS THURSDAY for the hospital. She gave me one week’s warning. Fun!

6. How do you feel about acronyms?
Oh, I think they’re fun. My husband and I like to speak to each other in acronyms to see if we can figure out what the other person is trying to say. However, I am usually the last to figure out what popular Internet acronyms mean, and I generally have to look them up on Urban Dictionary.

7. What’s the most creative things you’ve ever done? (Bloggers, feel free to include pictures!)
I made a scrapbook of my trips to Greece and Russia that is decent. I like to make cards, although I usually steal the design from someone else and adjust it to fit my needs or the supplies I have on hand. And, um, this blog? Yeah, I’m not a very creative person overall, but I really want to be.

8. I’d rather jam a pen in my eye than…
…get cancer, or have someone I love get cancer.

9. What company has the best advertising?
I don’t usually pay much attention to this, but the other day David and I were watching TV and a commercial came on and after it was over we both looked at each other and said, “That was really good.” It was for Macy’s, and you may have seen it. Just so classic.

10. When is your birthday?
February 5, and I’ll be 28. Most of the time I think I’m 28 already, but I just checked and I’m still 27. But happy birthday to Chelsea, who is halfway to 50 today!

I’ve mentioned that I went to college in Kansas for my first degree, and out of four years I think I only flew there once or maybe twice. I got really good at that 11-hour drive. I am going to share with you an anecdote that happened to me as I was driving home from Kansas one day, simply because it’s something that made me say to myself, “Did that just happen?” And things like that should be put down in writing for posterity.

So I was driving, and I had made it to the small towns of Texas. I only had a few hours left, and I was feeling weary. I may have been listening to music, talking to myself, or perhaps I had even resorted to car dancing. Hey, whatever it takes to stay awake. Out of nowhere, two birds came flying at my car. I kid you not, one of the birds shoved the other one directly into my path. I witnessed a bird murder. I had no time to dodge. I hit that bird with the front right corner of my vehicle, knocked out my headlight, and lodged the bird’s body in the newly-formed cavity where the headlight used to be. I knew the bird was stuck there because I could see one of its wings flapping up in the wind.

I watched that wing flap for at least an hour, and my only thought was, “What am I going to see when I get out of my car, and how am I going to get it out of there??” I was not excited about the answers to either of those questions.

And then! Something happened that I ordinarily would NOT have been excited about. Randomly, the rubber covering of my front right tire came loose and flew off. I don’t mean I got a flat tire, because the inner tube was full. Only the tread unraveled. As it came undone and launched itself from my car, it knocked the bird’s body out of place, dislodging it from the headlight.

Of course, I still had to deal with replacing my tire and headlight, but at the time I was much happier to deal with that than bird guts. The only evidence that it had ever happened at all was a few stray feathers.