11 Things

No doubt you've seen this going around, I found it on Jen's blog yesterday. Though I wasn't tagged, I personally love reading little facts about people, so I'm taking the bull by the horns and posting 11 of my own:

1. One of the best days I've ever had was two days before our wedding: it was about 95 degrees out and Chris, my brother, and I went to our favorite swimming hole near where we grew up. My brother had been working on a stone dam there all summer and the water had risen so it was super deep. After so much stress of wedding planning, etc. We were brought nearly to tears at how great it felt to let loose and just go swimming. That is one of my most cherished memories.

2. My sister, Caroline is autistic and developmentally disabled. I've never known how to bring it up on my blog before. So, there I just did. I get nervous talking about personal stuff because I worry that I'll come across as "woe is me".

3. I'm not a very good cook. Chris cooks most of the meals around here. If left to my own devices, I would probably eat brown rice and sweet potatoes every night. Luckily, the man knows how to cook. I do make a good dessert though...which lead me to:

4. I really, really love sweets. Too much. It drives me crazy when people bring donuts in to work, which seems to happen daily. I can't not eat them.

5. I've been missing my family a lot lately. I get a little weepy when I think that the last time I was home was December. I feel a great deal of responsibility towards my family, it's hard to be away, but I can't wait to visit this summer.

6. I feel really old and cranky when I hear people talk about current pop culture. Mostly because I have no idea what they're talking about. I'm embarrassingly out of touch with new music. I recently had to have a coworker explain who Lana Del Ray was. I might be 80.

7. Overt "romance" makes me giggly and uncomfortable. The mere thought of a candle-lit dinner for two with roses makes me itch. It's not that I'm not romantic, I just don't like planned "romance" (i.e. typical ideas of what it means to be romantic). This also counts for PDA...shiver.

8. I wasn't a very good student. Many people seem surprised about this fact, but I came close to not getting into college (I did end up being a very good student in college). I think my teenage slacker-ism is why I sometimes over-extend myself now, I take on lots of projects to make up for all that time lost skipping class. (I know I should just get over it, I'm 28...jeesh).

9. I get very nervous about making the right face when people give me gifts. Because of this I hate opening gifts in front of people. I worry that I'll either look disappointed or not excited enough, I want them to know how much I appreciate that fact that they even thought of me. Giving me gifts basically results in a ridiculous amount of inner turmoil.

10. I know absolutely nothing about make-up. I've been doing an approximation of the same routine since I was 19. One of my goals for this year is to get better at make-up.

11. I hope to someday be able to move back to the Maine coast. I daydream about Maine and the ocean on a daily basis. There are many places I would love to live in this world, but in the end I hope I end up back in Maine.

Jen’s 11 Questions...
1. If money, schooling or time was no obstacle, what career would you choose?
Honestly, I'm happy to say that I'm really, really happy with my current job. But... I always thought that extreme movie make-up would be so much fun to do. Like, horror movie/ zombie movie make-up. I did a few projects post-college using prosthetics, mostly just creating fake wounds for one of my former art instructors, I always thought that it would be so much fun to do as a career.

2. What’s the one thing you look forward to every day?
Breakfast. I know it sounds silly, but I love breakfast. When I have time to make a cup of coffee and eat breakfast before work, I'm very happy.

3. What is your number one, all-time, favorite blog?
It changes daily.

4. Biggest online pet peeve?
I'm going to have to agree with Jen here: I can't stand the rampant negativity that surrounds blogging. It's so easy to just not read a blog if you don't like it. The fact that people spend so much of their time dragging down people they don't even know upsets me. There's so much positivity to be had, why be negative? And yeah, I know to just shrug it off, but c'mon.

5. What is your all-time favorite book?
I love the Chronicles of Narnia. But really, anytime I have to read is my favorite.

6. What would your “last meal” be?
Steamed lobster with butter and corn on the cob. And a gallon of guacamole.

7. Do you believe in love at first sight?
Nope. Personally I think a strong relationship needs to go beyond physical appearance, and friendship and mutual respect trumps good looks any day of the week.


8. What would your ideal Sunday morning consist of?
Waffles and/or cinnamon buns, lots of good, strong coffee, then packing up and going on a hike.

9. Why do you blog?
So many reasons but mostly for community and to keep myself thinking creatively!

10. If you had to choose one color to wear forever, what would you pick?
Navy blue

11. What is your all-time favorite band?
The Ramones...always and forever.

I'm tagging anyone who wants to do this! If you do, let me know in the comments section! I'm keeping the same 11 questions above because I think they're good ones...

Here are the rules..
1. Post these rules.
2. Post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3. Answer the questions set for you in the original post.
4. Create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them.
5. Go to their blog/twitter and tell them you’ve tagged them.