My sister Kathie tagged me for a Liebster Award. I think that the last award I ever won was in 9th grade when I won the district science fair (nerd alert!), so I'll take it!
Remember when tagging other blogs use to be a common occurrence? This is taking me back to the good ol' days of 5 years ago. Should be fun. . . or at least a way to disguise leisure as productivity, which happens to be a favorite hobby of mine.
Here goes . . .
NOMINATE 3 OF YOUR FAVORITE SMALL BLOGS:
OK, I have to say that everyone I know who used to keep a blog has either gone the private route or they have stopped updating at all. Except Kathie, but I can't re-nominate her, can I? I do read several LARGE blogs, but I'm a little too insecure to nominate someone who has never heard of me before. They would be like, "who is this strange girl who is nominating me for some award I've never even heard of." So, I am going to skip this question. Or, instead I will change it to a list of the 3 websites that I check the most:
1 - Gmail
2 - Goodreads
3 - Salt Lake County Library System (I even have my long library account number memorized I have entered it so often)
I nominate all of them! (Kidding)
I am sorry blogging world that I am not playing by the rules by tagging someone else!
TELL 5 OF YOUR LIKES AND 5 OF YOUR DISLIKES:
Likes:
1 - Walking through the mountains after a rainstorm (the smell of heaven, I am convinced)
2 - Rocking a newborn baby while breathing in the scent of their head (the other smell of heaven)
3 - Watching The Voice with my husband while snuggled under a large quilt - well until Ryan Innes was eliminated this week, that is
4 - Watching the waves of the beach at sunset while my children run though the surf
5 - Pineapple, especially fresh pineapple straight from the tree in Hawaii (the food of heaven, I am convinced)
Dislikes:
1 - That feeling I get when I have disguised too much laziness as productivity. I just feel blah at the end of a day when I haven't accomplished much.
2 - Being woken up right after falling asleep, or really any time at all. I much prefer to wake up on my own. I am not one of those "lovely riser" types. You probably want to stay away from me for the first 10 minutes or so after I wake up and let the brain fog clear away first.
3 - Grocery shopping!
4 - Cold, slimy shrimp. Eating one feels like I'm crunching through their bones (shudder!).
5 - Being tailed while driving, especially when I am already going over the speed limit. Pet peeve!
If you were a color, what would you be and why?
Hmmmmmm. Definitely not white, I'm not pure enough. Or yellow, not sunny enough. Or red, not ambitious enough. I'm going to go with blue, because it is a color with so much variety (think turquoise sea vs. stormy sky) and I really think that I am that way. There are so many sides of me. One person might know me and think that I am completely opposite from what another person who knows me thinks. Truly, I have several dimensions to my personality and most people don't know them all.. . . Or maybe I just like to think I am more interesting than I really am. In any case, blue is my color. It was even my color on the Personality Color Test that used to be popular. Plus, I like blue. (OK, Kathie, I promise I was not copying you with my answer. It has been so long that I hadn't even remembered what you put. After writing my answer I went back and read yours to see what you had put. We must be sisters!)
What's your dream vacation?
Definitely a very detailed tour of ALL of Europe. The question did say dream vacation. I would want to have a historian with me on this dream vacation. Someone who could give me all of the nitty gritty details of everything I was seeing and make it all come alive. Let's throw in an artist for a travel companion too. Someone who can explain all of the great works of art to me and help me understand why they are considered masterpieces. The stops I would be most excited for would be all of France again (I have been there once and have been dying to go back and explore more), all of England (I have only been to London and would love to explore the countryside), Switzerland (because I like mountains), and Italy (because I like pasta).
What do you do to relax?
My very favorite way to relax is to read a book, of course. But I am also not opposed to snuggling with my husband on the couch and flipping on the TV or the DVD player. Going for a walk in the sunshine or warm evening air is nice too.
Do you have a coping mechanism for stress? What is it?
When I am stressed I do either one of two things. I either attack the problem head on and try to plan and organize and figure out the solution. When the cause of my stress is not something that can be easily planned or organized away or taken care of in some manner, then I do the opposite. I tend to ignore the problem and put off thinking about it. I avoid it. Yes, it's true. I will admit that I am an avoider. I also tend to get grumpy and less patient when I am stressed. . . . Not a good coping mechanism for sure.
If you had a free day to yourself, what would you do?
I would like to say that I would be productive and get a nagging project done that's hard to do when the kids are around. Something like organize the photo albums, or clean out my closet, or file all the papers on my computer desk. But the absolute truth is that if I really had no obligations for the day I would probably lie in bed reading until noon (not sleeping because my internal body clock rarely lets me sleep past 7:00). I would then take my time getting ready (and I WOULD get ready because I just feel icky if I don't), go and buy a smoothie for lunch and stop at the library to just browse. Then I would come home and make popcorn and pop on a chick flick. I would probably end up watching the entire A&E version of Pride and Prejudice or something. Then I would be sick of being alone and I would get my husband to take me out to dinner. Maybe we would even invite some friends along. I would miss my kids by then and feel like a refreshed and recharged mom! Are you reading this Josh?? Mother's Day, my birthday, and our anniversary are all coming up . . . Now you know what a great day for me would be!
