I don’t know if they’re famous – but they have definitely been documented and acknowledged. I have gone on record as not liking memes. But I haven’t had much time to think about blogging this week (damn that day job) and I don’t have the will to dredge up anything in the way of inspiration tonight. So Q&A it is!
The first meme I was tagged for came from my favorite blog commitaphobe, Regardez Moi. She has decided to take a blogging hiatus two times in two weeks. AND postponed a guest post for me oh, mmmm….about….TWICE in two months. But what can I say – she is one of my favorite online friends and I think I’d forgive her pretty much anything. And when she decides to reopen the doors of Regardez Moi (which could happen at any time from three days to 30 days) – I will hold her at gunpoint for that damn guest post. I will not be ignored (name that movie – I’ve quoted it before).
So here is my first real meme:
All About Me
10 years ago: I was 26 years old and hadn’t been dating my now-husband, Chris for even a year yet. I can’t remember that much about what I was doing at this time since it was a blur of going out to dinner at restaurants without kids’ menus and meeting friends out for drinks. Oh right – and shopping at stores that don’t carry both women’s apparel AND dog food. It was like heaven, or Eden. Or a Disney movie.
8 years ago: I was 28 and had just gotten married. I was horrified by how much weight I managed to gain on my two week honeymoon in Spain (I mean – it wasn’t a TWO MONTH honeymoon in Spain). Apparently red wine and cheese aren’t diet food. Who knew! I was also vowing to never fly anywhere on Spanair again. I don’t know what it’s like now, but at the time, I explained it as: “I sat down in my seat, and then someone sat in my lap, and then someone sat in their lap…and so on and so on. Like a Breck commercial with no leg room, 30,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean. When one of us wanted to recline and sleep, we all had to recline and sleep. And I wasn’t all that sleepy. I was too busy eating leftover cookies from my reception.
6 years ago: I was 30! I had been 30 since April though, so I was very worldly and jaded about it. Very “been there, done that.” I didn’t mind turning 30 at all. To me it was like being given a youth pill. Suddenly I was in a brand new context. I was in my “thirties” and I was the youngest thirtysomething around. I was like a baby to the thirties…a novice…an ingénue. I’m telling you – this age thing is all about context. Don’t compare yourself to people ten years younger than you. Compare yourself to people ten years older than you. THAT’S the ticket.
2 years ago: I was 34. Feeling like less of an ingénue, but too busy with my 18 month old son and newborn boy/girl twins to care. I may as well have been 94 at that point. I just wanted to sleep. I was on maternity leave and tried to follow the “sleep when the baby sleeps” rule. But guess what? Twins don’t sleep at the same time. So I generally looked like something from one of those Night of the Living Dead movies. And I barely ever left the house, unless I needed to go to Babies R Us. Which actually sounds like the beginnings of a plot for a horror movie – so I was already halfway there. But seriously – newborn twins! It was a magical time.
Five yummy things:
1. Egg nog lattes from Starbucks. I LOVE egg nog – could drink a gallon of it. Grossed out? Good – more for me.
2. Italian ricotta cookies with sugar frosting. I make them every holiday season.
3. Chocolate and heath bar blizzards from Dairy Queen.
4. Honey mustard anything (sandwich spread, salad dressing…anything – I’ll eat it with a spoon).
5. Red wine
Five songs I know by heart [that aren’t on any of my kids’ DVDs]:
1. Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstadt
2. Begin the Beguine (I prefer the Ella Fitzgerald version though, and couldn’t find a link to anything that does it justice. No even to close. So just buy an Ella CD.)
3. Best of my Love AND Desperado (Eagles) – there are more, but those are the ones that I will sing first.
4. September (Earth Wind and Fire) – actually I LOVE Earth Wind and Fire, but this is the only one that I know by heart
5. Beyond the Sea (Bobby Darin)
*I know my answers to this category sound really lame (not ONE song from the past five years) – but I was trying to be honest about knowing all the words. And these were the first five that came to mind.
Five places I would like to escape to [there are TOO MANY – so I’m listing five places where Chris and I have had great vacations]:
1. Spain of course! Andalucia with a long stay in Seville.
2. Quebec City
3. Italy (Anywhere really – but we were only in the Milan area together and we had a lovely weekend in Stressa.)
4. Iceland. No seriously – have you ever been there in March? It’s so cold that pretty much anywhere you go is amazing – if only for the reason that you are just thanking god that you’re not outside anymore. Freezing cold aside, Reykjavik was a fun city and we toured the surrounding area as well (lots of cool Viking history and GEYSERS! Who doesn’t love geysers?) And we went to the Blue Lagoon on our way to the airport. There is nothing like sitting in a hot spring while it’s snowing and people in parkas are walking around. Seems I have a lot to say about Iceland… Either I really loved it or feel defensive about my choice to include it in this list…
5. Rehoboth Beach, DE – but only if my friend Nancy comes with me.
6. BONUS: How could I leave out London – after I just wrote about our fine dining experiences there? I’ve never had a bad time in London (in all of the 2.5 times that I’ve been there I mean). Who wouldn’t love a place where even small children use words like “lovely” and “brilliant?”
Five things I would never wear:
1. Bangs or feathers in my hair (Does hair count?)
2. Boyfriend jeans – especially if they’re pegged (Famous last words again?)
3. Mother/daughter outfits
4. Purple
5. piercings that aren’t in my ears (Ouch! My various body parts hurt just thinking about it.)
Five favorite TV shows:
1. Lost
2. Heroes
(I know – nerd alert!)
3. Brothers and Sisters
4. Ugly Betty
5. Grey’s Anatomy
*I’m very mainstream when it comes to TV. And really girly when I think about it. My old favorites have included Designing Women, Friends, Felicity, Gilmore Girls and Sex & the City. I am on estrogen overdrive when it comes to TV.
Five things I enjoy doing:
1. Reading
2. Traveling (Even the actual travel part – I can read on a plane and listen to a book on tape in the car.)
3. Going out to dinner with my husband (Not that we’ve done that in like three years.)
4. Writing
5. Shopping (This sounds kind of obvious – but I really do love shopping. I’ve never had a runner’s high in my life. But a shopping high? Absolutely.)
Five Favorite toys:
1. Laptop
2. iPod
3. Jewelry and eveningwear (What – you don’t play dress up?)
4. Us Weekly
Okay I’m having a hard time with this one. I don’t really like toys or games. I’m just not a very playful person.
Five people who I am tagging to fill this out:
1. Anastasia at The Gift (to get her back for tagging me on the SECOND meme that I have to do
2. Marinka at Motherhood in NYC
3. Baking with Plath
4. Cyndy at Photocynthesis
5. Jessie at The Lucky Stone
That was a long meme! I’ll have to get to the second one tomorrow. And if you’re interested in doing this one? I tag you as honorary #6.
I need the Italian ricotta cookie recipe. Please.
Glen Close? Fatal Attraction?
I love egg nog lattes, too, but I’m all like: double tall, half decaf, half egg nog non-fat latte, and the SB people look at me all sideways. What? I like my drink the way I like it.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had a shopping high. Buyer’s remorse, though: mos def.
Seriously, I want the recipe for the ricotta cookies too.
I’m with you on Spain. I spent a month their after college and would go again in a heart beat (even if it made me fat).
I’m an asshole, what can I say?? It’s fact.
Also – I never thought I’d wear purple until this year when I held something purple up to my face and realized how absolutely stunning I looked (ahaha). So now I own a purple shirt.
And Lost is both of our favorite TV shows. I knew there was a reason I loved you. :)
Egg nog lates make me a little queezy but I drink them I do
My husband flipped out when he turned 30. I’ll have to keep this perspective in mind to help when he turns 40.
quebec city? that is an interesting one!
as a child, we always took a winter ski trip there (as we lived in toronto). the people had their moments of being polite and being very rude but that was my only dislike.
i loved the history, the architecture, and the feelings of city pride :)
good. we have some similarities!
Mmmm. How about dunkin’ those ricotta cookies in the egg nog? Riiiight>
Great job, btw, for someone who hates memes!
Oh, and I didn’t know you have twins and another child only 18 months older! You totally rock!!
Finally, I now know what a meme is! Really enjoyed it – always nice to get more perspective on my wonderful daughter.
This WAS a long meme. I’m glad you chose to participate – I understand you’re general dislike of meme’s but readers seem to enjoy them…
You’ve traveled many neat places! Lucky you. I liked “Designing Women” too – it was wonderful!
(I get shopper’s high too!)
That whole thing is one meme? Wow! Okay I’ll do it since it’s only the second time I’ve ever been tagged. But I think that’ll be about it more me. But it is fun reading about people in list form.
That “more” was supposed to be a “for.” It would be nice if I learned how to proofread, wouldn’t it!
Thanks A LOT! :)
You know what happened the last time I did a meme (the A v. J debate began). My answers are always a little on the crazy side but I’ll give it a shot.
I loved reading your answers though. A little surprised by your places though. No Italy?
Of couse, loved your LOST choice, you know how much I love LOST.
I’d write more, but you’ve given me the urge to run out and get a heath bar blizzard!
i can’t believe everyone wants louie’s grandmother’s italian ricotta cookie recipe that i made her give me when i was in high school. just a forewarning – they are not the best looking cookies but they are the best tasting!
You really have me craving a blizzard from DQ right now. And I had those cookies once, I think, at a cookie exchange. I’m with Kirsten, could you share the recipe?
(Apparently, I have food on my brain tonight.=)
Iceland. I mean really. I’m fascinated.
Okay, my favorite, favorite thing that you said you would never wear was mother/daughter outfits. I would never wear that either. I just don’t get that.
Hi Kate! We just got home from the UK and now I have a weeks worth of blogs to catch up on and of course yours is the first one I’m reading. Do you get notifications when you get comments? Hmmmm….I’ll still write comments on posts from this week regardless. Loved reading the list – and it made me laugh because I love purple, and am so happy to have my first matching mommy/baby outfit – a pink/purply dress/onsie number from my mom! I’ll have to post a pic when we wear them.