days like this

My husband just hand-fed me B-vitamins while I cried in the shower.  Because I am clearly in the middle of some sort of fit.

Eleven!

A little Friday Frivolity courtesy of my dear friend Lori over at I Can Grow People.


Like Lori, I probably won't "tag" people, but I'd love to see what you have to say!!


The Rules:
1. Post the rules (check!)
2. Share 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions posted to you from your tagger 
4. Come up with 11 new questions for the people you tag
5. Tag your peeps on Twitter, Facebook, or on your blog (I will probably bend this rule.)


Ok.  11 random facts about me!


1.  I don't really like hot liquids.  no soup, no coffee, only the once-in-a-blue-moon pomegranate tea or hot chocolate.   And those are never as good as I want them to be.


2. When I was in junior high/high school I wanted to be a sports journalist so I could follow the Phillies all the time and get paid for it.
  
3. I don't have just one favorite color.  It depends on what you are asking about.  Nail Polish?  Barbie Pink.  Clothes?  usually Red.  Eyeshadow? Copper.  Flowers?  White.


4. I have what I consider to be a serious addiction to Diet Coke.  I have, however, recently weaned myself down to one per day, and let me tell you - the migraines for the first week or so were wicked!


5. I love to bake, but I am not good at measuring when I cook, so baking is always an act in restraint for me.  When I'm cooking "real" food, I just throw stuff together until it looks/smells/tastes/feels right.  (Ask my friend Blair, who once asked for my hummus recipe and was told " ya know, some chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, and spices"...)  So I have to really focus on measurements when I bake, or else poor Jake would be stuck eating cookies like rocks.


6. I'm solar powered.  This has never been more evident than since we moved to Pittsburgh.  I fall into a cranky funk if it is cloudy/rainy for too many days/hours in a row.  I'm a summer baby :)


7. I love colors.  I love to paint.  Sometimes I even get paid to do it.  But the paintings I make at home, my own art, I am always afraid of sharing with people.  I rarely think they are good enough to show off.  ( I am getting better at this, however.  I recently made a painting for a friend as a wedding gift, and was actually really happy with how it turned out.


8.  Ever since Jurassic Park, I have had a crush on Jeff Goldblum.


9. I gave myself a buzz cut when I was 25.  Having an inch of hair is an amazingly liberating experience.  I'd love to do it again, but I am clearly larger and older than I was then.  I don't think it would be as cute this time around.


10. I have recently discovered a love of pig figurines/art.  My husband mocks me for this.


11.  Right before we moved to Pittsburgh, Jake taught me how to drive stick shift, because my car had died and I needed to learn to drive his.   Now I'm not sure I could ever go back to an automatic transmission.  My left foot would be bored.


Now for the questions from Lori:

1.  What color is your bedroom and did you pick it out?  Our bedroom is white.  We didn't have the time or energy to paint our apartment when we moved in.  I make up for it by using a lot of color in our furniture/linens.

2. What holiday could you do without?   Probably Halloween.  I'm at the point in life where it's just more candy on sale that I can't resist, and my ass could do without the extra sugar.

3. Your friend has asked you to come over this weekend for a barbecue.  You have to bring a dish to share: what do you bring?  Cookies.  I have an ever-growing collection of cookies cutters and a kick-ass sugar cookie recipe.  

4. What were you to be named if you were born of the opposite gender?  (If I was a boy, my parents were going to name me Jason Thomas.)  I don't know what I was going to be named if I was a boy, but I think I remember my mom telling me once that I was almost "Joelle".  And that my grandfather offered her $50 to *not* name me after him (So it's thanks to PopPop that I'm not "Geraldine"... Mom said she told him he didn't need to worry)  

5. What is your favorite kind of Girl Scout Cookie?  the apparently mythical Lemon sandwich cookies.  I asked Jake to order some this year, and he told me I was making them up.  But the Lemon Smiles are pretty tasty.

6.  Have you ever walked out of a movie/play/performance because you thought it was horrid?  Please elaborate.  Once.  It was at Yale Rep (Sorry, Lori!)  I don't even remember what the show was, but I remember my roommate and I looking at each other at intermission with the same bored look on our faces, so we went to the bar.

7. When did know your were falling in love with your partner?  I'm not sure I can pinpoint a moment.  I do know that it didn't take long into our relationship for it to feel so right that it was like we had always been together, and that was how it should be.

8. What is something that you learned in high school that, though you thought it was useless knowledge at the time, turned out to be very useful to you in adult life?  (I’m referring to standard school subject matter, not life lessons–but go there if you like.  For me it was the Pythagorean Theorem.)  Typing without having to look at the keyboard. I remember totally resenting the little typing games on the boxy school computers with a manila folder over my hands so I couldn't see the keys if I looked down.  Now, even though I really don't use the computer for work or anything important like that, I really appreciate the fact that I can type quickly without having to hunt-n-peck.

9. What is your go-to cocktail?  If you don’t drink alcohol, what is your favorite beverage?  I am on a never-ending search for the perfect Long Island Iced Tea.  The Copperhead Bar in Center Valley has the best one so far...

10. Everyone is struggling in this economy.  What is one thing that you have had to cut back on/give up/sacrifice for the sake of your budget?   Jake and I have only been to the movies a total of 2 times in the last few years.  We haven't had cable tv since we've been living together.  I have started making all of our bread instead of buying it at the store.  I'm not sure that's too much of a sacrifice, though - I love baking, and have found some fantastic recipes.   

11. What was your favorite cartoon when you were a kid and what were your Saturday mornings like?  I used to LOVE classic Looney Tunes.  The Tazmanian Devil was my favorite.  I have notebooks full of sketches and paintings I did of all the characters when I was a kid.

 Now for my 11 questions!

1. What is one habit you have that you would love to be able to rid yourself of?

2. Do you have a favorite scent (candle/perfume/food/flower), and what sort of emotions or memories does it invoke?

3. What TV series or movie could you watch over and over and never tire of?

4. What is a question that people ask you that you are tired of answering or explaining? (during baseball season I have to defend that I am rooting for the Phillies because I'm from there.  People in Pittsburgh don't like that)

5. What is your dream car?  No worries about money/mileage/safety/practical things.

6. What fashion trend (past or present) did you try and regret?

7. What exotic animal would you like to have as a pet? No worries about laws/money/practicality.

8. If you had a million dollars to donate to one charity, which one would you pick and why?


9 . What is your favorite word, in any language?


10. What restaurant would you eat at/meal could you eat all the time if calories and money weren't a factor?


11. What Sci-Fi weapon or tool (from movies/tv/literature) would you love to own?


Leave me a comment with a link if you play the game!!