MemesTag Archives

Friend Makin’ Mondays: Short Answers

I haven’t participated in Kenlie’s weekly Friend Makin’ Mondays in a while, so I thought I’d jump back in today since it seems really fun.

Per Kenlie’s instructions: If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Short Answers

Mac or PC? I have both, but definitely prefer Mac. I’ve been a Mac user since the late 80′s.
Do you paint your own nails? Sometimes. I like going and getting pampered occasionally, too.
Beach or mountains? Living in southern California, I’m fortunate enough to have both in fairly close proximity. If I had to choose just one, I’d probably go with the beach.
What’s the title of the book you’re currently reading? Lover Mine (book nine from the Black Dagger Brotherhood series) by J.R. Ward
Do you dance? Not very often, but I enjoy it when I do.
CNN or Fox News? Neither. I usually watch MSNBC. I <3 Rachel Maddow and would happily run away with her if it weren’t for that pesky detail of her partner, Susan.
Do you ride a bicycle? No, but I own two of them. Don’t ask.
Do you get a yearly flu shot? No.
Best movie you’ve seen in 2012? I haven’t been to the movie theater yet this year. I watched The Help on DVD a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it.
Do you prefer to workout at home or at the gym? It depends on what I’m doing for my workout. If I’m going to walk or want to do an aerobics-type workout, then I usually just do it at home since I have a pretty large DVD selection. I usually hit the gym if I want to spin, swim, Zumba, etc.
Last airport you were in? Well, the last was technically LAX on a return flight from Dulles following a business trip to the D.C./NoVA area in December.
Married or single? Single
iPhone or Android? iPhone
Do you prefer to be in pictures or taking pictures? Definitely taking pictures. I’m not really a fan of having my photo taken.
Favorite brand of sneakers? It’s a toss-up between New Balance and Asics. I really like Brooks, too.
Do you like snow? For visiting, yes. For putting up with an entire winter, no, which is precisely why I live in southern California.
Do you have/want to have kids? I wanted kids, but couldn’t have them.
Summer or Winter? I actually prefer Spring and Fall over either Summer or Winter.
Do you know how to swim? Yes
Do you prefer to shop in store or online? With the exceptions of food & clothing, I do most of my shopping online. I’m not really a fan of malls and it just works better with my busy schedule to shop online.

Until next time …

23 January 2012

Misc.

2 comments

Friend Makin' Mondays, Fun, Kenlie, Memes

The Year in Review

As bloggers are wont to do, this is my obligatory year in review post. Rather than writing out everything about my year in paragraph form, here it is in meme form.

What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? I went to a blogging conference (FitBloggin‘ .
Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don’t make New Years’ resolutions anymore. I realized long ago that I always failed miserably at keeping them. These days, I prefer to set smaller goals throughout the year.
Did anyone close to you give birth? My friend and fellow Sisterhood writer, Heather.
Did anyone close to you die? My uncle.
What countries did you visit? None.
What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A significant other would be nice.
What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory? September 11. It’s difficult to believe it’s been 10 years already.
What was your biggest achievement of the year? Earning five (5) professional certifications.
What was your biggest failure? My weight loss efforts (or lack thereof).
Did you suffer illness or injury? I’m currently battling a bum left knee.
What was the best thing you bought? My new refrigerator!
Where did most of your money go? As always, given I live in southern California, RENT!
What did you get really, really, really excited about? Finally getting to meet long-time blogging friends at FitBloggin‘!
What song/album will always remind you of 2011? Toss up between Party Rock Anthem and Moves Like Jagger.
What do you wish you’d done more of? Staying on track with my weight loss efforts.
What do you wish you’d done less of? Getting derailed from my weight loss efforts.
How will you be spending/did you spend Christmas? Home alone with my kitty.
Who did you spend the most time on the phone with? It would be a toss up between my friends Tracy or Nick.
Did you fall in love in 2011? With a person? No. With my iPad 2, perhaps.
How many one night stands in this last year? None. I don’t do one night stands.
What was your favorite TV program? One of my favorite new shoes is Rocket City Rednecks on NatGeo, but that’s probably because I’m a space geek.
What was the best book(s) you read? Sadly, most of the books I read this year were text books. I didn’t have much time for pleasure reading.
What were your favorite films of this year? Ok, this is sad. I can’t think of any films I saw in 2011 other than stuff off DVDs. I *finally* got around to watching all of the Harry Potter movies. LOVED them!
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? My birthday is in February and I have no clue what I did. I turned 47 this year.
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Having a special someone to share it with.
What kept you sane? As always, my stitching hobby.
What political issue stirred you the most? Toss up between the ending of the DADT policy and marriage equality. Hopefully we’ll get there one day with the latter.
Who did you miss? My Gran. She’s been gone seven years and it still hurts knowing I can’t just pick up the phone and call her.
Who was the best new person you met? My new Weight Watchers leader Jacki. She rocks!!!
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. Even though it still makes me extremely nervous, I’m better at public speaking than I give myself credit for being.

Until next time …

30 December 2011

Misc.

2 comments

Memes, Year in Review

ABCs of Travel (Photo Heavy)

Travel ABC's

I saw this really fun meme today on Cynthia’s blog. Since I love to travel, I thought it would be something fun to do. A lot of the questions are about international travel. Even though most of my travel has been domestic (I’ve been to 47 of the 50 U.S. states so far), I decided to play anyway. As always, you can click each photo to biggify it.

A: Age you went on your first international trip: Ok, this is a little bit of a sad way to start, but my first international trip was in 2005 when I was 41 years old. My friend Tracy and I went to Mazatlán, Mexico together. Loved it!

B: Best (foreign) beer you’ve had and where: I don’t think I’ve ever drank beer in a foreign country. I’m not much of a beer drinker. When I do drink it, it’s generally Guinness. I blame it on my Irish heritage.

C: Cuisine (favorite): This one is really difficult. I love so many ethnic cuisines — Mexican, Italian, Greek, Indian, Thai, etc. The list could go on and on.

D: Destinations — favorite, least favorite and why: One of my favorite destinations thus far has definitely been Hawai’i. I went to there three years ago with my BFFs Terri and Tracy (I keep hoping if I link to her enough that she’ll start blogging again ). It was just so gorgeous there and we had a blast! Here’s a photo of the sunset at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. That’s just a raw photo without the use of filters. It really doesn’t do it any justice either!

One of my least favorites would probably be Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It’s not because it’s wasn’t beautiful because it clearly s as evidenced in the sunset photo below. The reason I didn’t care for it was due to the inundation of people selling things on the beach. Literally every two to three minutes, another local would come by trying to sell some sort of trinket. I realize they rely on the tourists to make money, but it was just a bit much. It made it very difficult to have fun. Once you got away from the beach, it was much less intrusive, thankfully.

E: Event you experienced abroad that made you say “wow”: That would probably be on a Mexican Riviera cruise I took in 2007. I ended up with a horrible case of Montezuma’s Revenge and missed out on a couple of days of the cruise, including our port of call and planned snorkeling excursion on a private beach at the edge of a rain forest near Puerta Vallarta. I was stuck in the stateroom on the ship sick as a dog. I just kept saying, “Wow, I don’t remember the last time I was this sick.” These photos are courtesy of my traveling companion who I insisted should still go on the excursion since we’d already paid for it. It was bad enough that we were going to lose my money for it, no need for both of us to throw away our money!

Memes, Travel, vacation

Oooo, I’m Stylish!

I managed to set aside a little more time this weekend for working on my Winter Band Sampler. This is such a fun stitch! I wish I had more time to work on it, but between work & school, I just don’t. Here’s my updated progress photo of my band sampler:

Click to biggify

I joked on the Facebook group tonight that at the rate I’m currently able to stitch, it may take me until 2014 to finish my 15 projects for the 2011 Crazy UFO/WIP Challenge. It was meant to be a joke, but there might be a certain level of truth to it as well.

I also wanted to thank my dear friend Tiffany for giving my blog the Stylish Blogger Award. We met through a website called The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans that I discovered a while back through my weight loss efforts. (The editors there recently honored me so much by asking me to join them as a Contributing Writer.) Tiffany and I went on to both be members of Team Shrinking Jeans last year to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through Team in Training. She’s an amazing woman and I feel blessed to call her my friend!

So this award comes with a few rules, so here goes…

Rule #1: Give thanks. Done – see above.
Rule #2: Share some things about myself. I know some of you will know many of these already, but here we go.

I once appeared in a TV commercial with Johnny Cash and Richard Petty.
I am a baseball fan and have visited over 30 major league baseball parks.
I’m a college football junkie, especially when it comes to the University of Tennessee. My running joke is that you might take the girl out of Tennessee, but you’ll never get me out of my orange leisure wear.
I’ve sang on both the stage of the Ryman Auditorium (former home of the Grand Old Opry) and of the Opry House (current home of the Grand Old Opry) in Nashville, TN.
I grew up in Lynchburg, Tennessee which is the home of Jack Daniel’s Distillery. Throughout my childhood, the population was listed as 361 people, but the county went metropolitan in 1988 so the population is now listed at around 5700. Notable residents (past and present) include frontiersman Davy Crockett, University of Tennessee legendary coach Johnny Majors, and rock & roll legend Little Richard.
I worked in the country music industry in Nashville for nine years and once attended a pool party at the home of Tammy Wynette.
I have visited 47 of the 50 US states. The only ones I still haven’t visited are Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
A few years ago, I appeared in an infomercial for Leslie Sansone‘s WalkBlaster workout series.

That’s probably more than anyone cared to know so I’ll stop now. Here comes the fun part. Now I get to pass along this award to some other bloggers so we can all learn more about them, too. Since I know most of my fellow Sisterhood ladies have already received the award, I’m going to pass this along to some stitching/crafting bloggers that I think are pretty stylish:

Tracy
Terri
Annette
Missy Ann (despite her questionable taste )
Michele
Valerie
Jenna

Ok, that’s it from me for now. It’s getting close to bedtime and I still need to go sweep up the kitchen because my new dishwasher is being delivered and installed tomorrow.

Until next time ….

31 January 2011

Challenges, Cross Stitch, Misc.

4 comments

Award, Crazy 2011 UFO Challenge, Memes, WIPs

One Word Meme

I grabbed this from Annette.

The only rule is:

You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
No.
Explanations.

Not as easy as you might think…

1. Yourself: evolving
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband: nonexistent
3. Your hair: red
4. Your mother/stepmother: estranged
5. Your dog: none
6. Your favorite item: computer
7. Your dream last night: forgotten
8. Your favorite drink: tea
9. Your dream car: Beemer
10. The room you are in: living
12. Your fear: loneliness
13. What you want to be in 10 years: happy
14. Who you hung out with last night: nobody
15. What you’re not: thin
16. Muffin: caloric
17. One of your wish list items: books
18. Time: 23:04
19. The last thing you did: read
20. What you are wearing: nightie
21. Your favorite weather: cool
22. Your favorite book: LoTR
23. The last thing you ate: almonds
24. Your life: transitioning
25. Your mood: contemplative
26. Your best friend(S): amazing!
27. What are you thinking about right now? change
28. Your car: Toyota
29. What are you doing at the moment?: blogging
30. Your summer: busy
31. Your relationship status: unclear
32. What is on your TV?: nothing
33. What is the weather like?: chilly
34. When is the last time you laughed?: earlier

So, if you wanna play, you can either copy and paste this to your blog or you can answer in the comments at Calli’s place, where this meme originated. Either way, make sure you stop by and tell her you played.

The Final Week of 2009 Meme

I saw this meme on the Sunday Stealing blog. I thought it would be a fun way to recap my 2009.

Here we go …. The Final Week of 2009 Meme:

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Took a driving tour of the lower peninsula of Michigan. Highlights of the trip included a surprise (to me!) dinner with friends from Indiana in South Haven, Holland, Traverse City, climbed the dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, went on a tapas tour of the Chateau Chantal winery, ate some wonderful German food and drove by Bronner’s (they were closed ) in Frankenmuth, and then back to Detroit.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t make “resolutions,” but I did set a few goals. I met some of them, others … not so much.

3. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve?

At home, stitching

4. Did anyone close to you die?

My cousin’s husband accidentally ran over and killed their toddler son.

5. What countries did you visit?

Mexico

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

Not that I lacked it in 2009, but I would love to spend more time with friends in 2010.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

January 20 – the day President Obama was inaugurated!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Earning another professional certification for work

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not losing weight

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Yes, I tore the meniscus in my knee.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

An Olympus E-600 D-SLR camera followed closely by my Wii

12. Where did most of your money go?

I live in California, so where do you think? RENT!

13. What song will always remind you of 2009?

“Single Ladies” by Beyoncé, but only because of the scene in Glee of Kurt & the girls performing it in his basement.

14. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Exercising & losing weight

15. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Commuting & working long hours

16. What was your favorite TV program?

Glee!

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

18. What was the best book you read?

I can’t pick just one in the series, so I’ll go with the entire Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. R. Ward.

19. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Straight No Chaser, an amazing a cappella group from Indiana.

20. What was your favorite film of this year?

Sadly, I think I only made it to the movies three times this year. I enjoyed all of them, so since it’s such a short list, I’ll provide them all: The Proposal, Public Enemies, & New Moon

21. What did you do on your birthday?

Went to Disneyland

22. What kept you sane?

Stitching!

23. Who did you miss?

As always since she passed away, my Gran

24. Who was the best new person you met?

While not technically new since I’ve known “of” her for about 10 years, but I finally got to meet Tracy’s mom, Anita, in person this year.