meme

I was tagged by fellow PNW runner/triathlete/pregnant person Kristen, and I was super excited, because that means I will have a blog post today!

Here are the rules:
1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!

Eleven Random Things

1. I prefer to run at about an 8-9 on the busy/stress level scale. I function really well when I have a LOT to do. The downside to this is, of course, that it doesn’t take much to send me from “perfectly functioning” to “overload” status. Kind of like right now.
2. I eat oatmeal with peanut butter for breakfast every morning I’m at work.
3. I love trail running more than any type of exercise that exists, and someday want to do a trail ultra
4. I secretly want to buy a biggish-little piece of land outside of the city and have a tiny farm. Not a South Dakota style farm. Just some chickens, goats, a cow, a mini orchard, and ginormous veggie garden.
5. I read every day. (Not just the internet, or school, or work; actual books)
6. I am a terrible housekeeper. I want to have a clean house, but when I actually have free time, there are so many better things to do (like sleeping!).
7. I really have no idea what I want to be when I grow up, from a practical standpoint. There are things that I’d love to have as options, but unfortunately, I enjoy “money” and “owning a home” and “eating out once a week” too much at this point in my life to make those kind of changes.
8. I love Sapphire gin martinis with 2 olives (I really prefer bleu-cheese stuffed olives, but bleu cheese gives me hives, so I tend to skip it), and am looking forward to the day when that sounds good again.
9. When I can’t work out at the level I prefer (because of foot surgery or pregnancy, for instance), I get obsessed with training plans. I have a 2012 training plan that starts in mid May so that I can run an October half marathon, complete a July sprint triathlon, and to get my base mileage built up for a spring 2013 marathon.
10. There is a giant bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies sitting on my desk as a thank you from one of the scientists I work with, and it is mocking me. I am supposed to share them (and there are about 2 dozen cookies in the bag), but chocolate chips cookies are the one sweet that I can never walk away from. (you complete me, chocolate chip cookies!)
11. I hate flying a lot. I have nightmares in the days leading up to getting on a plane. I get super tense – both about missing a flight & being stranded AND about plunging to my death. This gets in the way of a lot of my travel plans. I was once prescribed some anti-anxiety pills to take while flying, but it turns out that the thought of taking anti-anxiety pills made me super anxious, and I never did take them. Instead, I just locate the nearest airport bar. Unfortunately, the last time I flew, that wasn’t so much an option since I was about 6 weeks pregnant at the time. First 100% sober round trip in YEARS. I hated every minute of it.

The questions Kristen gave me….

1. What is your biggest pet peeve? It’s a tie between crappy drivers and terrible grammar. Depends on the day (and whether or not I’m currently driving).
2. If stranded on a desert island what 3 personal items (not including survival tools) would you want? My Nook (assuming that it is now capable or recharging via solar cells), my running gear (shoes, socks, shorts & a sports bra, minimum), and the architect (he’s a personal item, right?)
3. What’s the one food you could never give up? Cheese. I love cheese.
4. What’s your best quality? I think my sense of humor, which almost never fails me.
5. What was the last thing you really laughed over? Oooh – this is hard. I feel like this hasn’t been a laughing month. Most of my laughter has been “on-the-verge-of-hysteria” types, like when the tree fell on the architect’s pickup. I feel fairly certain, however, that there was a LOT of laughter at the New Year’s Eve beach house weekend, so I’m going to say that whole weekend was a laugh fest.
6. What is your go-to book recommendation? The one book I keep multiple copies on hand because I’m always giving away is Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett.
7. What’s your ideal time of day to workout? Mid morning. Too bad I’m usually at work then!  I definitely prefer mornings to late afternoon or evening…or at least I did before getting knocked up!
8. What’s the last food you ate? Oatmeal & peanut butter (with raisins & craisins).
9. Who is your favorite athlete (dead or alive)? I don’t really have one. I used to be totally into tennis & loooooooooved Pete Sampras, but not as much anymore. I do admire certain runners (Kara!), but really don’t watch any sports or sporting events enough to have a favorite athlete.
10. What’s the last movie you watched and would you recommend it? The last movie I went to in the theater was Breaking Dawn, and I would absolutely recommend it if you wanted something cheesy bad. I don’t get out much.
11. Toilet paper over or under? I prefer over, but we keep ours under in our house, because it makes it harder for the cats to unravel it.

My Questions for the tagged:

1. What is your #1 best memory – the one that will always make you smile
2. If you could do anything (career wise), and money was no object, what would that be?
3. What is the most awesome place you’ve ever visited?
4. What is your go-to comfort food?
5. What is your guilty pleasure (that you’re willing to admit to in a public forum?)
6. Favorite way to relieve stress?
7. Favorite book?
8. Favorite movie?
9. What are you good at that hardly ever gets recognized? (example, are you a masterful karaoke singer? do you plan a mean harmonica? is your hidden talent hopscotch?)
10. What did your 10-year-old self want to be when you grew up? Do you still want that? (Are you that?)
11. What’s holding you back?

TAGGED! (I am tagging the last few people who’ve commented on my blog that weren’t Kristen or tagged by Kristen AND that have blogs; I know there aren’t 11, but if you feel left out, consider yourself tagged!)

1. Cat at Breakfast to Bed
2. Bobbi at 0 to 26.2
3. Heather at Just a Girl with a Hammer
4. Carolina John at Smoke Training
5. Marie at Cheaper than Therapy
6. Lelo at Lelo in NoPo
7. Claire Helen at esprit de l’escalier

I am nothing if not a late-to-the-party sheep. Also, I didn’t have anything else to say today. Between work & school & my volunteer shit & trying to get ready to run a 5K on Sunday & being mostly sick the last week, I have zero brain cells left for interesting, informative stuff.

ALTHOUGH – if you’re lucky (and you will be, trust), in the coming weeks, you’ll get informative posts on BEER! CHEESE! BACON! SAUSAGE! LAUNDRY DETERGENT! and maybe, eventually, a couple of brew reviews.

ANYWAYS! the meme:

(A) Age: 34
(B) Bed Size: Queen
(C) Chore You Really Dislike: Pretty much all of them, although I don’t mind laundry
(D) Dogs: None. Three cats, though.
(E) Essential Start To Your Day: Meditation & a fruit smoothie
(F) Favorite Color: Green; pretty much all shades
(G) Gold or Silver: Silver (although my wedding ring is titanium)
(H) Height: 5’2″
(I) Instruments You Play: Ha! lots – I play piano, organ, flute, piccolo, and the bassoon. I can also play “Blister in the Sun” on the guitar. I can do a few recognizable songs on the clarinet, I’ve played a recognizable xylophone, marimba, and in high school marching band, played the bell lyre.
(J) Job Title: Grant Administrator
(K) Kids: None. See Letter D.
(L) Live: Portland, OR
(M) Mom’s Name: Marie
(N) Nicknames: the Gazelle. Also Grace (in college). The high school nicknames will never be revealed. I’m kinda partial to “that hippie chick.”
(O) Overnight Hospital Stays: One – I had my gall bladder removed in January 2007
(P) Pet Peeve: reply to all, “could of,” people who talk during presentations, the trashy neighbor who lets her dog shit in my garden & doesn’t clean it up
(Q) Quote From A Movie: “Faster. Faster. Faster would be better!”  (Serenity); “What a wonderful smell you’ve discovered, princess.” (Star Wars IV). And many, many things from Monty Python.
(R) Right or Left Handed: Right
(S) Siblings: 1 younger sister, 1 excellent older sister (in law), and a  couple of brothers-in-law (also not too shabby, of course)
(T) Time You Wake Up: Work days – about 5:30 most days; Fridays at about 7, Saturdays at 8, Sundays at 7ish…and I’m in bed by 10 most nights. I am a party animal.
(U) Underwear: Big fan.
(V) Vegetable You Dislike: I love vegetables. I’m even finally warming up to radishes. I’m not a huge fan of mustard greens – too horseradishy. And, I guess by that token – horseradish.
(W) What Makes You Run Late: The internet. Sometimes I get distracted. I hate being late, though, so that doesn’t happen too often.
(X) X-Rays: Where do I start…most recently – right foot (several times both pre- and post-surgery); right knee (at least three separate times, it’s also been MRI’s more than once), left foot (tragic falling-down-the-stairs incident in college), right ankle (skiing accident), right arm (fell off the swingset in elementary school), head, neck, and back (car accident in high school), dental, of course.  I think that just leaves the left arm, left leg, and right thigh region un-X-rayed.  I should get on that to complete the set.
(Y) Yummy Food You Make: The architect suggested my roasted Brussels sprouts, my lasagna (it is fantastico) and my cornbread. I would also say that I make a really awesome red velvet cake.
(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: I love the Zoo. I’m partial to Burrow Owls (I like you, Stuart!), but my favorites are the medium cats – ocelots, cheetahs, cougars, bobcats.

I have been spending a lot of time thinking about my life lately. Most of this has been ridiculously boring. I am halfway done with school at this point (18 months ’til it’s finished; also – 18 months ’til I turn 35…2012 is my year, bitches).

I’ve been thinking about things I’ve done & things I want to do. I’ve been thinking about the goals I had as a child and the goals I have now and how this interact.

I’ve been trying to decide what I want to do after graduation(it sure as shit does not involve staying where I’m at right now).

And then, today – I saw this on Blue Girl’s site. She says she stole this from Jaquandor. There is no way that I will ever do all 200 things on this list. There are a few things that I have no desire to do. But it’s nice to think about all the things I have accomplished so far.

I am working on a list of 100 things that I actually really want to do, but this is a nice resource in the meantime.

Things I’ve done are in bold.  Things I have no desire to do, ever, no matter what are crossed out. Things I really, really, really want to do are in purple.