Cue the Music: Getting to Know Me...

Gina of The Candid RD, a gorgeous blog full of Gina's extensive and delicious nutrition knowledge, just posted a fun interview-style survey entitled "Getting to Know me," and I had such an enjoyable time reading her answers that I decided to take her up on the invitation to her readers to answer the questions on our own blogs! I also want to pause for an enthusiastic moment and highly recommend Gina's knowledgeable, colorful, energetic blog! She's written extensive posts on everything from fiber to farmed vs. wild salmon - a girl after my own heart!

(One of my favorite photos from the last time I was in Israel, Fall of 2006... It's been too long... We're saving up for the plane tickets, a little at a time!)

Getting to Know Me... (Does anyone else suddenly have the urge to start singing the soundtrack from The King and I? :-)

What is your current obsession?
Fresh strawberries. Pineapple. Cantaloupe. Avocados. More strawberries. I love summer!

What is your weirdest obsession?
Our cat, Fritz, is obsessed with shoes - specifically dragging our shoes up the stairs even though Zach's shoes are nearly as big as Fritz is. Now that's a weird obsession...

(Fritz sitting in his homemade cardboard box cat bed, looking very innocent)

Myself, I'm obsessed with cold breakfast cereals. If I'm home alone for lunch, I almost always have cereal, and I've mentioned before that when Zach is out of town I sometimes have cereal for supper... *sheepish expression* Zach worries that cereal is an inadequate lunch, but I think plain shredded wheat, skim milk, homemade peach yogurt, and a banana are both nutrient dense and tempting, no? :-) And I promise that most days I have salads for lunch... :-)

Starbucks or Peets?
Oh dear, I've never been to a Peets either! I would likely say Starbucks anyway - Earl Grey Tea Latte with skim milk, please... :-)

What's for Dinner?
Jalapeno chili, homemade whole wheat bread, and a salad with spring greens, almonds, raisins, and balsamic vinegar!

What would you eat for your last meal?
I'm the mushy type, so it's hard for me to write this without choking up, but definitely my Grandmother's black-eyed peas, stewed tomatoes, and cornbread.

What was the last thing you bought?
Oh dear, this isn't exciting at all... Shampoo. It was, um, raspberry shampoo... On sale... Hmmm, still not very exciting. Well, the most recent interesting item I purchased was a 1.5 pound wedge of Parmesan cheese at the bulk foods store...

What are you listening to right now?
Birdsong and the washing machine cheerfully washing clothes... The CD currently in my car is Arm's Way by Islands. Awesome!

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
I absolutely cannot decide between Marble Slab's Cake Batter ice cream or Godiva Belgian Dark Chocolate... Trust me, I've been trying to pick a favorite between those two for years! A noble quest, I believe... :-)

What do you think of the person who tagged you?
Although I only know Gina through the blog-world, I am so glad I "met" her across the web - I truly admire her knowledge and joyful spirit!

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
To Israel with Zach, to have supper in the old city of Jerusalem, up the stone steps and around the corner from the Western Wall, sitting at a cafe table beside my favorite falafel stand (the one where, uncertain about the role of French fries as a side dish, the stand owner tucks French fries into your falafel-filled pita...)

Which language do you want to learn?
In terms of learning a completely new language from scratch, it's always been one of my dreams to learn Russian, captivated as I am by the beauty of the language and it's literature. I'm still determined to do so, although my tentative attempts have proven to me that the task will likely take me a while! More immediately, I'm working on improving my Spanish, which is functional but far from eloquent!

What is your favorite color?
My answer is always black. However, this statement usually leads to a brief argument about optical physics, a topic which I am not qualified to debate quite so passionately. Depending on whether one is thinking in terms of refraction or absorption, black does not refract visible light (leading some to inform me that black is not a "color" per se), because, instead, black absorbs all frequencies of visible light (leading me to reply that black is therefore arguably all colors, one of the many reasons it remains my favorite color). I've given this entirely too much thought, as I'm sure you can tell... Regardless, when it comes to clothes, eyeshadow, cars, and general optical philosophy, black is always my favorite color. If I'm decorating a house or planting flowers, however, I default to my second favorite color, purple... (*high five, Gina!* :-)

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
Oh goodness, that's a hard question... I sympathize completely with Gina's words about being a student on a budget (or a recently graduated, soon to be once again student, in my case... :-) and therefore not being able to justify purchasing new clothes... I can't remember the last time I went clothes shopping for myself! (I do love picking up clothes for Zach every once in a while - it works out perfectly that he doesn't like clothes shopping, but gets all excited about new clothes, while I love clothes shopping for him... :-) I still have entirely too much fun mixing and matching funky outfits from my recycled, mostly second-hand shop clothes collection, though, and I think my hands-down all-time favorite single piece of clothing is a pair of perfectly fitting jeans that I found at a second hand shop for only two dollars... There's nothing quite like the nearly-elusive ideal pair of jeans...

What is your dream job?
I am so fortunate to be able to say, the job I have right now - working as a nurse in a hospital, spending whirlwind nights and days helping people recover, sometimes watching people die, crying and laughing with patients, deciphering Doctors' illegible orders, holding hands, saying "big stick, sorry" while starting lots of IVs, cleaning giant gaping wounds, trying to make pain go away, walking 2880 steps each day at work (thanks to a pedometer, I counted!), and loving every minute of my 13 hour shifts.

What is your worst habit?
I am so indecisive about small decisions... I know it drives Zach bonkers, although he's so patient with me. Sometimes he has to "bribe" me into making decisions, such as "If you pick the movie we're watching this weekend, I'll make the salads for dinner..." I'm trying to work on my small-decision making, really, but I find it quite challenging as I tend to be analytical about decisions, and, well, with small decisions there's nothing of major impact to analyze, leaving me and my mental algorithms at an impasse. Major decisions, though, such as "Should I change careers?" No problem!

If you had $100 right now, what would you spend it on?
I'd put it towards our next mortgage payment on the house, which is due again at the end of the month... I know, so boring and pedestrian of me.

Do you admire anyone's style?
Yes! You've heard me mention before how my friend Kathleen is so winsome and glamorous? She's my style inspiration - both in terms of grace and elegance in navigating life, and in terms of clothes and fashion!

What are you going to do after this?
I worked last night, but I haven't gone to sleep yet because because I'm off work today and I want to savor every glorious moment! I'll probably take a tiny nap, then clean the house, and then meet Zach for lunch at a Japanese restaurant near the hospital where he's currently rotating! Yay for surgery days when Zach gets a longer lunch break if the O.R. isn't too booked!

What are you favorite movies?
I Heart Huckabees, Miracle (yep, the Disney hockey movie :-), the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Medicine Man (an obscure early 90s Sean Connery movie), all of the Original Series cast Star Trek movies, and definitely, definitely, Pride and Prejudice, both the miniseries and the newer movie.

What is your favorite fruit?
Glorious, glorious fresh pineapple...

What is your favorite book?
If I had to pick just one, William Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom! However, I've had four favorites that have been close to my heart for years and years: Absalom, Absalom!, of course, and also Shakespeare's Othello, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Of books that I've read for the first time very recently, I'm awed by John Dufresne's Louisiana Power and Light.

Do you collect something?
Zach and I collect books, in mammoth, out of control quantities... We have, I jest not, thousands of books stored on shelves, windowsils, and decorative piles all around the house... I actually think I have a book-collecting problem...

What is your favorite smell?
Fresh baked bread, and, before the bread is in the oven, the scent of proofing yeast! Thank you, Steph - I'm so glad I'm not alone! :-)

What are you most proud of?
The fact that I've always, once I knew a decision was right, followed my dreams and instincts even when family members and friends have levied upon me everything from doubtful looks to shouted criticism. If I had listened to skepticism and hadn't followed what I knew was true for my journey in life, I never would have found my dream job in the career where I belonged, Zach and I wouldn't have purchased the fixer-upper house with kicked-in doors and no working toilets that is now our gorgeous, peaceful home, and I might not have gone to hear the Red Stick Ramblers play on a Tuesday night in Baton Rouge when I was supposed to be lesson planning for the course I had to teach the next day and consequently I might not have met Zach... but I did, all of these things, and my life is infinitely fuller and filled with joy as a result.

How many times do you press the snooze button before you get up?
I confess I don't press the snooze button at all - I'm one of those people who, when required to get up at a certain time, will fling myself out of bed at the first tone of the alarm. Zach usually presses the snooze button 2 or 3 times if he reachs it first, though... :-)

Cats or dogs?
Both! :-) There's a kitty sitting in my lap right now as I write this...

What do you dislike about yourself?
Physically, there's a reason you'll rarely see a photo of me with my hair pulled up (even though I always wear my hair up in a French twist at work) - I don't like my ears! They're just a little too big, if you ask me...
Personality wise, see "indecisive about small decisions," above... Sigh...

What do you like best about yourself?
Physically, I like the fact that I'm really tall! Very useful for reaching glasses on the top shelf and climbing over fences...
Personality wise, I'm glad that the one thing for which I want to be remembered is compassion, even though some people tease me for being a softy. I'm soft-hearted. And I laugh a lot. I'm grateful for both of those traits.

Complete the following: Love is...
Love is knowing that whever my love is, now that I've found him, is home for me... and knowing that one thing, that simple, pure thing called love, is my everything. The rest is just tables and chairs.

Back in the kitchen, Zach and I are going bulk foods store this weekend, so I have a feeling all the mozarella, parmesan, and tinned tomatoes from my previous trip are about to make an appearance on the blog soon... Especially since the tomato plants in our garden are hinting that we should use up the tinned tomatoes before we're innundated with fresh ones!

Till next time... Cheers!