This is an idea/challenge from Momster’s blog! A ‘getting-to-knoiw-you’ of sorts that will hopefully spark some interesting discussion. The challenge to you is. . .take this idea and post it on your blog, but say where you got it from. . .like a track back. Try it out – it’s not as easy as it sounds!!  I DOUBLE DARE you to try it! 

1. When I studied abroad in London during college, I traveled from Paris back home to London one weekend with no money on me, no cell phone, nothing. The weekend in Paris proved to be a little more expnesive than I planned, and took the train back to London – where the rest of my travelers checks were. Oh the things kids do sometimes! When i returned to my host family’s home, my host mother, upon me telling her what i had just done proceeded to CHUG her giant glass of wine just to calm her nerves. Blind girl, traveling in Europe, no money? Nah, not stressful at ALL!
2. I don’t like mimes. they creep me out. I’m legally blind. . .so sitting there in an audience at a mime show? Kinda boring. I feel the same way about silent movies. nothing happens!! Not a fan of Charlie Chaplin at all.
3. I am the master of little trivial facts. Why all this stuff is crammed into my head, I do not know.  Ask me a question and I will spout factoids about almost anything.  One thing for sure, I ROCK at Trivial Pursuit. That’s the only thing its helped me with.
4. For the longest time, the only music I liked was classical. When my parents would be playing things like The Rolling Stones or The Beatles, I’d go into my room and put on Mozart or Beethoven.
5. I DETEST clutter.  Unfortunately in one of my ‘I’ve got to get rid of this, I don’t have room for it” I’ve thrown away some sentimentally valuable things, so have had to curtail my anticlutterness. 
6. I’m very specific about how nachos should be prepared. I know several people who prepare them incorrectly – this unlawful proceedure involves dipping the chip into each of the condiments piled on the plate. Unheard of!  I feel it is my duty to not allow this to happen.    It’s WRONG I tell you!
7. On a field trip in high school with my visually impaired class, we stayed at a hotel in Dallas where we met Ronnie Milsap.  At the time, I had NO IDEA who he was, not being a country music fan.  In fact, so much so, that recently I had to ask a friend of mine “Um, who was that guy we met. . . .”
8. I love to knit. Have loved it since I started about a year ago.  While I haven’t wavered from the simple scarf thing, I’m branching out and trying new ideas and starting new projects.  But, my love of colorful soft yarn is fulfilled, thanks to the cool yarn shops here in Austin.    My favorite thing is knitting while watching tv or a movie – quite efficient, eh?
9. I LOVE practicing piano.  I’m one of the few people who play piano who (that I have found anyway) loves the finger exercises commonly played on the piano – most notably the Hanon collection.  I think it’s cathartic, it feels like a warmup before a workout. 
10. I can read and write Latin.  I took 5 semesters of Latin in college, and still recognize quite a bit of it.  As far as vocabulary, I think it’s really quite amazing how it helps in deciphering words.  Granted, I can’t find anyone to converse with, but I loved it.  Especially the bits of grafiti found on the walls of Pompeii – I LOVED translating them!  It felt like it brought those people, who lived centuries ago, back to life!
11. I am deathly afraid of clowns.  My grandmother used to collect clowns, and when I would walk by her clown collection, my heart would skip a beat or two.   I never told her about this, I didn’t want to hurt her feelings – she LOVED her collection!  But for me?  Nooooo thanks!!  I can do without them.  I saw Stephen King’s It, and Something Wicked This Way Comes and I think that goes through my head. 
12. When I was a kid, I was deathly afraid of pirates.  Well, nore specifically the pirates in Peter Pan.  My teacher for my visually impaired class took all of us to see the high school performance of Peter pan – twice.  And. . .twice, I ended up on her lap.  The second act starts with the curtain opening up on the pirate ship – and it freaked me OUT! 
13. I go through what seems like a gallon of fresh brewed herbal tea per day.  I’m always making iced tea, always.  In the winter, I will have several cups of hot tea a day, but the INSTNAT it gets a little warm, out comes the iced tea.  I love it, I’m addicted. 

This was inspired by a post my sister-in-law made on their blog and then my brother’s response.

These are some of my favorite things – things that are either my joys, touchstones, or just sure to put a smile on my face.

• Food: Thieres hardly anything I DONT like, but thse are some of my favs – just about anything barbecued (chicken, steaks, burgers); any kind of cheese; Chuy’s jalepeno ranch dressing, any kind of Mexican food, my blueberry muffins (with so many blueberries you have to pick through them to find the muffin part!); almost any meal had with family and friends, something about the socialization makes it even better!
• Places: The Davis Mountains; Texas Hill Country – expecially when bluebonnets are in bloom; The British Isles – I want to go there someday with someone who can drive and I’;ll get some spectacular pics;
• Music: Where to start? Classic Braodway (Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, My Fiar Lady, Gypsy); some classical music; the older U2 stuff, Enya; Celtic Woman – just to name a few!
• Literature: Lord of the Rings trilogy; anything by Shakespeare; Maya Angelou, Betty McDonald
• Miscellaneous: Family- all of whom I don’t get to see nearly as often as I would like – and I’m looking forward to meeting my new nephew!; friends (here’s to friends I can chat with on the phone for hours on end!); my dog – who I wouldn’t trade for the world, she’s such a loyal, loving companion; relaxing on the couch with a good book and a glass of iced tea; cooking dinner and playing music in the background – it feels so homey!

I know I’ll think of more, but these are just SOME of my favorites!

John Steinbeck once said that the scariest thing to him was a pencil and a blank sheet of paper.  Boy do I agree!  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve writen a blog post and then erased because either I don’t think it’s interesting, or somehow it didn’t end up being exactly what I wanted.  I have so many ideas, and I love jotting them down, but when I get finished with it somehow it doesn’t seem quite as intriguing to me.   A friend of mine kindly reminded me to quit worrying about what other people thought – so here goes! 

I think the writing ritual is insteresting.  I like to have a glass of tea beside me and music in the background – preferrably classical so I can hear myself think.    Whatever gets the creative juices flowing, right? 

In college, I knew several people who were majoring in English along with me who had career goals of ‘writing the great American novel.’  A lofty goal. . .and it makes me wonder what ever happened to them.  There are SO many writers out there that it seems like the American novel market is pretty saturated.  Particularly with college grads who would like to do just that. 

Curently, I’m reading Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes- an amazing read about the author’s adventures in Tuscany renovating an old villa.  Her storytelling style reads like a journal, like she’s spillng her thoughts to you as she’s having them.  In writing about the countryside, the people, the food – I now have a desire to go there.  She includes recipes in the book as well, some of which I would love to try.  Anything with truffles I would love to taste, as I’ve never had them before.   That reminds me. . .i think I shall add some posts in the recipe section of this blog!   

Ok, so it was August since I wrote my last entry – talk about a break!  I write 3 entries in one day, and then nothing for months.  Really consistant, eh?    Well, anyway I’m planning on writing a LOT more.  Here’s part of what I have planned for this blog: 

The Personal section will be updates on friends/family.  I’ll fill you in on the major news events in my life, including school, career changes, etc.   

As I love to cook, and I LOVE sharing recipes, the cooking section should fill up pretty quickly.  Get ready for some yummy recipes, and I’ll share my truimph and not so wonderful experiences with new recipes. 

I’m planning on sharing books I’ve read and want to read.  Please feel free to suggest books!  I love to read just about anything and everything.  Ok maybe not harlequin romance novels – but anything else goes!   

Anyway, that’s a little taste of what is to come.  Now to go post some entries to start this thing rolling!! 

Someone recently asked me how I dealt with ‘guy’ loneliness.  I told her I really don’t get lonely at all – I’m happy where I am.  So I was thinking more about it later, and realized that the way I came to this realization was by sitting down and really thinking hard about all this relationship stuff.  Who says I HAVE to have someone in my life?  Who says I have to be married by a certain age in order to be happy?  Why do I WANT a guy in my life, and for what purpose?   

A few years ago when I turned 30, I thought that I had better be married by the time I wa 40.  Months later I started thinking “Or else what?”  What would happen if I wasn’t married?  Would a hole open up in the ground and I would fall in?  I think not.  What force was driving me to force marriage upon myself? 

A few months ago, I had a dream that I was cleaning my apartment and thinking about when my husband gets home today he’ll ask me what I have done today and I would have to simply say “cleaning’.  Was thinking about what I would fix us for dinner, etc.  Whether or not this was prophetic, I can’t tell.  But the idea is kind of nice.  That would be nice and comfy, but it’s not my reality now.  And frankly, I don’t really care.  I live a quiet happy life, and I love it!  There’s not any reason I HAVE to have anyone in it to share it.  Which I believe is the best way to look at things. 

So, here’s to being happy with your place in life, and ‘getting it’ in terms of living the best life you can!

Have you ever Googled your name?  When I google mine, I get interesting things like “Jennifer Aniston’ websites.  It amuses me greatly – my last name isn’t even near ‘Aniston’, and yet I get that a lot.  People misread my name for hers.  I even had a paratransit person tell me once (I had my hair really long then) that I looked like her.  Um, honey you seriously need to get your eyes checked.  I look NOTHING like her!!  But, I suppose I should thank her for the compliment though.  I even went on a job interview and went up to the receptionist, told her who I was and who I was meeting with.  She called the person interviewing me, and announced me as Jennifer Aniston.  :O  That was so funny – I didn’t have the heart to tell her otherwise. 

So, nope I am not a celebrity, don’t even have the desire to be one.  i just wish I made the salary she does.