- When you typically read/write blog posts, or comment on blogs, where are you? I write posts from the armchair in my office. Sometimes I comment on posts from my phone, but I find that challenging for a bunch of tiny stupid reasons, so I much prefer to comment from my laptop, while sitting in the armchair in my office.
- What’s the most interesting thing in arm’s reach right now? My kitty cat. He likes to sit on his window perch while I type. Sometimes I reach out and fluff his tail.
- Which celebrity / movie / music group do you despise for no reason? I cannot stand Vince Vaughn. I don’t know why; he didn’t do anything to me personally. I also loathe Modest Mouse. Do you remember back in the early 2000s when “Float On” was popular? That was a dark time for me.
- Which piece of clothing do you no longer wear but can’t throw away? I do still have my wedding dress, which I cannot imagine throwing away. I also have a pair of jeans I bought in Atlanta the summer before I met my husband. They haven’t fit in decades, but at the time, they were the most expensive pair of jeans I’d ever owned. Didn’t hurt that they became my husband’s favorite. I felt cute every time I put them on. They currently live in a box of keepsakes in my basement.
- What was your worst year of school? Fifth grade was my worst year. I had an unusual academic situation that meant I was separated from my peers for half the day. My fifth grade teacher disliked me, or disliked being asked to accommodate me, and I missed a lot of pertinent material (I like to think this is why I had no grasp of US geography until my own kid studied it) and I spent the entire year feeling out of my depth and disconnected. Sunday nights were awful. I remember trying to fall asleep and having the dreadful feeling that I couldn’t swallow; in retrospect, these experiences were clearly anxiety attacks about the forthcoming school week. Somehow, my parents and I made it through the year, but holy hell was it rough.
- What is your signature scent? In summer, Gucci Bloom. In winter, Hermes Twilly Eau Ginger. While I love Gucci Bloom, I am currently on the hunt for a citrusy summer scent. My husband, who has become a bit of a fragrance expert (fragheads, I believe they are called) has been researching options and buying me samples to try. I love grapefruit scents the most.
- How do you feel about “cheating” on online games you play against yourself? Julie started a Connections group chat, which I adore participating in, and this question came up a couple of weeks ago. I support and admire those who play online games without any help. Your integrity is unimpeachable and I love that your morals don’t bend. My philosophy is that online games are supposed to be FUN, and if you need a little hint to help you move forward, go for it. With Connections specifically, I sometimes look up words – either to confirm they are part of the category I think they are, or because I am completely baffled both by the word and by what category it could possibly belong to. Once or twice there’s been a Connections that used icons instead of words. I definitely passed my phone to my husband on those occasions, because my brain doesn’t work that way and I feel infuriated instead of intrigued. When it comes to Wordle, I occasionally use WordHippo to help me narrow down my word choices. I enjoy using the Spelling Bee Buddy to help me get to Queen Bee. And if I’m doing any sort of crossword puzzle, I have no compunction asking my husband or kid to help me with a clue. Maybe this makes me a dirty dirty cheater and you have lost all respect for me. But I’m of the mind that struggle/challenge is only pleasurable to a point, and there’s no reason to endure torture when you are simply trying to have fun.
- Have you ever met a celebrity in real life? I met Charlie Gibson when my friend appeared on Good Morning America in the early aughts. I got a haircut from Nick Arrojo, of What Not to Wear fame; the haircut was a present from my in-laws. I once ate lunch in the same restaurant as Tony Danza; I realize this doesn’t really count as “meeting” him. I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting several poets and writers, but they aren’t celebrities in the way I’m interpreting this question means.
- What’s a weird thing you dislike about yourself? I am not a fan of my name. (Sorry, Mom!) It’s mine, and I’m not changing it, but it’s always felt sort of separate from me, if that makes any sense. I also think the sounds are a little harsh, possibly because of the long vowel followed by a short vowel sound, possibly because of the spondee-style stress on each syllable. Like I said, I’m not going to DO anything about it, and it only ever occurs to me when someone says my name out loud (which is less often than one might think). It’s not like I would have any idea what alternative name to choose for myself, and it’s meaningful to my mom, and it’s something I’ve grown accustomed to.
- What’s your most specific piece of relationship advice? Well, “communication” is not specific. I think it’s critical to travel with a prospective spouse before you decide to tie the knot. Traveling with someone reveals so much about them – how they deal with stress, their preferences for a whole host of things (window seat vs. aisle; driving vs. being driven; relaxing beach lounger type vs. see all the sights in a big city type; hostels vs. luxury hotels; etc. etc.), their capacity for adapting to new situations, their tolerance for other cultures, and so much more. My husband and I traveled a lot while we were dating and it helped confirm our compatibility.
- Who is your “favorite” relative? I loved Lisa’s recent post about her nephews and her memories of the “aunt dates” she used to take them on when they were small. None of my relatives lived close to me when I was a kid, but I definitely had a “favorite” aunt: my mom’s youngest sister. She is beautiful and cool and wasn’t afraid to employ some light cursing if necessary. I always enjoyed being around her and wanted to be just like her when I grew up. My husband has an aunt I adore as well. She is also very cool and says what she means and has a glamorous job. Even though she’s not technically my aunt, I adore her and I’m glad to have her in my life.
- What is your dream car? My dad has always been a car guy – he loves beautiful vehicles and he enjoys rebuilding classic cars. While he didn’t quite pass on his love for rebuilding cars, he definitely passed on his appreciation for them. My absolute dream car is the 1955 Porsche 356 A Speedster.
- Which practical subject do you wish you knew more about? Speaking of cars, boy do I wish I had leaned in to my dad’s automotive knowledge when I was younger. I would love to know more about cars and how they work and how to diagnose and address common problems. Although, right up there with car savvy, I wish I possessed more general knowledge about how to care for my yard/plants. Yes, I do realize all this information exists and there’s nothing stopping me from learning it now.
- When it comes to romantic partners, do you have a “type”? Most of my romantic partners have been white and male, with dark hair and blue eyes. I tend to fall for Nerdy Jocks. Oddly enough, the majority of the guys I dated had names that began with the same letter. My husband is pretty much the exemplar: super smart, athletic, with dark hair and blue eyes.
- What is your favorite picture book? My friend and writing partner (who happens to write children’s fiction) asked me this the other day. It’s such a difficult question! The ones that come to mind are Where the Wild Things Are and The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses from my own childhood, and The Skunk from my daughter’s childhood. Where the Wild Things Are is so imaginative and relatable and wild and weird. The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses has a gorgeous, haunting story and the illustrations are stunning. And The Skunk is such a strange, hypnotic story that feels allegorical to me, even though I have never been able to decode the message; I think about this book ALL the time. Of course, there are dozens of other favorites. I could probably write about this topic all day and never run out of picture books to gush over.
If you’re interested in answering any/all of these questions (I am VERY interested in your answers!), here’s the list:
- When you typically read/write blog posts, or comment on blogs, where are you?
- What’s the most interesting thing in arm’s reach right now?
- Which celebrity / movie / music group do you despise for no reason?
- Which piece of clothing do you no longer wear but can’t throw away?
- What was your worst year of school?
- What is your signature scent?
- How do you feel about “cheating” on online games you play against yourself?
- Have you ever met a celebrity in real life?
- What’s a weird thing you dislike about yourself?
- What’s your most specific piece of relationship advice?
- Who is your “favorite” relative?
- What is your dream car?
- Which practical subject do you wish you knew more about?
- When it comes to romantic partners, do you have a “type”?
- What is your favorite picture book?
Q: When you typically read/write blog posts, or comment on blogs, where are you?
A. Writing blog posts must be done at my desktop. I have to upload photos from my phone to my desktop. It’s a whole laborious process.
Reading can be done on my tablet or desktop. Can barely read on my phone.
Commenting – on my desktop. For some reason, I have great difficulty commenting on posts on my tablet, especially when travelling.
Q: What’s the most interesting thing in arm’s reach right now?
A: My desk is an utter mess, with nothing interesting. I keep looking at all of it and it remains uninteresting but voluminous.
Q: Which piece of clothing do you no longer wear but can’t throw away?
A: My Uncle Sam costume. I used to wear it (and other costumes) to rallies for democracy and rights and such, to draw interest and provide light-heartedness. I kinda soured on it when I saw what people were wearing on that fateful Jan 6th. Maybe I will wear it again someday.
Q: What is your signature scent?
A: Emphatically none. Scents make me sneeze.
Q: How do you feel about “cheating” on online games you play against yourself?
A: I am pro-cheating when it comes to games related to relaxing. For Connections, cheating is definitely allowed – you can only win that game if you can get into the head of the creator, and anything you can do to further that along is allowed.
Q: Have you ever met a celebrity in real life?
A: Hmm. Does the Governor of Pennsylvania in 2018 count? I shook Tom Wolf’s hand and said something inane but thankful to him.
Q: What’s a weird thing you dislike about yourself?
A: This question is a mine field. I will just say here that I dislike my acrophobia, because it prevents me from doing some fun things with the group. However, I object to the notion that it is irrational to fear heights. It’s entirely rational.
Q: What’s your most specific piece of relationship advice?
A: Spend time together doing nothing in particular. See how it goes.
Q: Which practical subject do you wish you knew more about?
A: The inner workings of cars, how to write SQL code, climate change.
Q: What is your favorite picture book?
A: It might be the Dr Seuss book of three stories, “Yertle the Turtle,” ‘Gertrude McFuzz”, and “The Big Brag”. My favorite story was Gertrude McFuzz, who had only one feather, when Miss Lolla Lee Lou had two.
Most interesting thing in arm’s reach? Me. lol. I’m always within my own reach.
I sold my wedding dress about two weeks after my wedding. I remember my mother-in-law and sister-in-law being particularly horrified by this fact. I loved my wedding dress – it was beautiful and I felt incredibly hot when I wore it – but I knew I was never going to wear it again, it was taking up space in our tiny apartment, and it was depreciating in value with every second spent just hanging in my closet. So I sold it. I have never regretted it. Sometimes I read about people who still have theirs and I wonder if there’s some sort of sentimentality gene I am completely missing. I don’t have a single piece of clothing I don’t wear. *shrug* It did hurt when I had to throw away my favorite shoes – they were no longer repairable and I sort of wanted to cry about it – but I did just toss them.
I love these kinds of posts! I’m going to keep this idea in mind for a future blog post.
Getting your hair cut by Nick Arrojo?? That is pretty amazing. What a lovely gift!
I saved my wedding dress, but I didn’t have it preserved. So it’s been in the basement all these years and probably couldn’t be worn now, but maybe my daughters can use it in some capacity.
I loved reading your answers and getting to know you even better. 😘💜
YOU HAD YOUR HAIR CUT BY NICK ARROJO??? OMG, how amazing. I cannot even imagine.
I wish I had sold my wedding dress right away like Engie did. It is SO out of style, and of course I will never wear it again. It has huge puffy sleeves. If we had waited a few years maybe I could have gotten a beautiful slip dress like Carolyn Bessett, though of course I wouldn’t have worn that again either. I also have a wedding sari, we were married in a Hindu ceremony with a western (not country western) reception. My great aunt spilled punch on my sari, and I stupidly put it in the washing machine. UGH. I DID wear that again once, to a wedding, though that was before I washed it. You can hide a lot on a sari by just arranging it a little differently. Should not have washed it. Should have left it alone or taken it to the dry cleaner.
Before we started our Connections chat, I would sometimes use hints that I found online. If I do that now, I will have to tell you all in the chat. I WISH I had done that yesterday, that was a big fail.
I love that your husband is getting interested in perfume and bringing you samples to try.
I’m somewhere in between willing to cheat and not willing to cheat on games. I’m 100% with you that they are SUPPOSED to be FUN, and if I need a hint to keep it being fun, I will take a hint. But I also wish there were a way to MARK the ones I took a hint on, because mentally I put them in a different category than the ones I won without a hint.
I am here for this post! You and I are equally attracted to Vince Vaughn. I am a huge fan of “cheating”/getting an assist with solo games.
I loved my wedding dress, but the day after when my husband packed up the tuxes that he rented for him and the boys and I was stuck with something that took up a lot of space that I was never going to wear again, I knew that donation was the answer. I very much enjoyed sending it on and hope that it made the next person very happy.
This was so much fun to read! I like to write and comment on my desktop in my office. I can’t type on my phone for anything! I kept my wedding dress for several years, then, like Birchie, realized it was taking up so much space in the closet, and I had lots of photos of it, so I donated it to our local thrift shop. Also, like Birchie, I felt such good vibes about sending it on! It was a great feeling!
I have SO many favorite picture books! I could list authors/illustrators: Richard Scarry, Mo Willems, Janet Yolen (How to Dinosaurs say Goodnight is so brilliantly illustrated!), Laura Numeroff, Jan Brett, Nancy Shaw (Sheep in a Jeep!!! I love that one!) Of course, OMG illustrated by my friend Rebel Challenger!
You’ve given me another idea for a blog post!
Q: When you typically read/write blog posts, or comment on blogs, where are you?
A. In my recliner with a laptop. Usually with a mocha next to me.
Q: What’s the most interesting thing in arm’s reach right now?
A: My cat is lying up above me in the recliner.
Q: Which piece of clothing do you no longer wear but can’t throw away?
A: Some of my teacher clothes. Sentimental only–I couldn’t fit into them now.
Q: What is your signature scent?
A: Light Blue by Dolce and Gabbana. I love its fresh scent!
Q: How do you feel about “cheating” on online games you play against yourself?
A: I don’t take hints but I have no objection to them. I’m trying to test my brain and accept the occasional failure.
Q: Have you ever met a celebrity in real life?
A: Ronald Reagan before he was President. I shook his hand.
Q: What’s a weird thing you dislike about yourself?
A: My laugh. It’s like a cackle.
Q: What’s your most specific piece of relationship advice?
A: Spend time together and spend time apart.
Q: Which practical subject do you wish you knew more about?
A: Home repairs!
Q: What is your favorite picture book?
A: I like travel books–do they count?
Missed some of the questions since I copied and pasted from another comment. I am a cheater after all! I seem to end up with handy guys, electronic whizzes with no college degrees but lots of intelligence and problem-solving skills. My ex boyfriend and current one both worked for Boeing and were leads in electronic labs on the military side.
Sophomore year in college was terrible. I gained a lot of weight and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Also, boys.
This is fun!
Yes to Vince Vaughn. I find him irresistible. I was starting to feel like there was something wrong with me.
Random questionnaires are so fun… things that might NEVER come up in a regular conversation or blog post! Ha! 🙂 I still have my wedding dress. I actually tried it on when I was at my parents’ place last summer and I was happy that it a) still fit and b) still has a timeless appeal. I cannot imagine parting with it… although there won’t be any opportunity to wear it again.
This was a fun post. I feel sad about your 5th grade year. *sob* I have so much guilt for leaving Lad in a school where he was unhappy. I feel like that really set him up for failure. Kids were mean and of the 2 teachers, he always ended up with the horrible one.
Well let’s see- I’ll start with the first couple. I’m sitting at the kitchen table right now, reading and commenting, and coincidentally my cat is right beside me. This is my usual area, or sometimes sitting on the couch.
Okay, #3 is going to be controversial. I feel bad saying this 9fr obvious reasons) but I can’t stand Robin Williams. He just drives me nuts. And, Rod Stewart. His voice grates on my nerves.
Least favorite year of school was 7th grade. Ugh. No other year even comes close.
I’ll agree with you on the car thing! I mean, we all drive cars, things always go wrong, and it’s maddening not to know ANYTHING about how to fix it. I always feel like we’re at the mercy of the mechanics, and it gets expensive! I really envy people who can fix their own car.
Ooh, I think I am going to steal this for my blog to mix things up since all my posts are book reviews or weekend recaps. Neither of which might appeal to most people, but so it goes.
I love the name Suzanne! I would take that over Lisa any day of the week. I do not like my name either! My dad named me and he named me after a soap opera character! My dad is a super manly man – worked in a trade (electrician), wore wranglers and his “Paul’s Electric” shirt to work every day – but loved soap operas. He would watch them during his lunch break. My middle name was supposed to be Suzanne but then my initials would have been LSD. So instead I’m Lisa Anne. BORING. Not that you want a name to be exciting but you know what I mean.
I look up words in Connections all the time. Where do they get those words, anyway? And on occasion, will use a word unscrambler in Strands.
I LOVE your name. I mean, it’s super special! Who else has a Z in their name? Not too many, that’s who. 🤣
I’m laughing so hard because I actually love Vince Vaughn (I can’t even tell you why because I don’t really know) and I love Modest Mouse! HAHA
I’m really sad for Fifth Grade Suzanne. I’m glad you made it through and had another chance to polish your geography skills with Carla.