Meet me on Monday May 1st

Questions:

1. Tomorrow I am _________
Going to finish this submissions disc for a wedding magazine in England that is going to publish my work and mail the darn thing. I also have therapy.



2. When is your birthday?
March 24th. I celebrated by 25th birthday for the... 5th time...? this year.

3. What are you currently excited about?
Going to sleep and maybe doing some crying. I feel tense. No, really, that seriously sounds great. I'm not kidding.

4. Do you have any secrets?
Are you KIDDING me? Do you read this blog?

...Okay, actually, yes I do...

I watched the documentry called "Vegucated" on Amazon a few weeks back and was totally and utterly horrified and traumatized. It was supposed to be a fun introduction to veganism, and I'm always up for learning even though I had no interest in going vegan. Well, I was so freaked out and impacted by the film that I stopped eating meat and dairy right then. I went to Whole Foods and got vegan junk and looked up blogs and receipes and tried it out. It was the cheese that was getting to me though... No meat is no big deal, but cheese is hard. But the image of the baby cow being dragged away from his sad, mooing mommy was pretty flippin' hard too. I went about a week and then had cheese on a salad with my mom. When I realized that she had given me chicken when she shared her salad with me, I cried I was so upset. I think it's been 4 weeks since initial exposure, and 3 weeks with no meat. I even got a brochure in the mail from PETA. I'm scaring myself.

I also decided I am totally getting a little milk goat and keeping it in my apartment. If I can hand feed the baby and know he is emotionally ok (OMG... what is WRONG with me?) by having a bottle (I wrote "bubba" three times instead of bottle...) then I can take his mommy's milk and make chevre and I could live with just chevre.

I've officially lost my mind.

Watch the documentry HERE online.

Or purchase it HERE on DVD.

It's really not as bad as it sounds. There were only 2 scenes that were not so good for Emily. The rest was educational, and I had no idea the amout of green house gases livestock put out. Weird.

5. What do you normally eat for lunch?
If we are going to be honest, I'm usually asleep.

Now I am apaprently going to be eating a lot of vegetables for lunch given big reveal in #4.




I am obsessed with hummus and sun chips. It's a problem.

Meet me on Monday: Nacho Mania

1.  What is your favorite food?
Avocados. Guacamole and chips specifically. Love nachos too. I love the smooth and crunchy contrast. Dirty little secret? I LOVE fake cheese, the nacho cheese. Like Tostitos Nacho Cheese/Queso. Oh, it's so good! I don't like nachos with real cheese! Well, I do, but it's just not as good. I want the oohey, gooey runny fake stuff. Mmmmm. lol

2.  What color scheme is your bedroom?
White. In the past I have done reds (Pottery Barn's Poppy set, purchased off eBay and made my own duvet with a cheap $5 Walmart flat sheet), and blues, but I was really inspired by Charlotte York's white bedroom/house on Sex & the City and I liked how peaceful it looked. My walls are yellow, but the curtains are a flimsy, flowy white, I have a white decoratively pleated duvet cover, and a light gray bedskirt. I really like details on fabric, made out of fabric. Like pleats! Or ruffles. Things like that.

This isn't my room, (my room is tiny and full of crap) but when I have a house, something similar to this would be my goal, and my bedset itself is the same.I would want something softer, this has a touch of a western feel with some of the ivory touches and the blind treatments, but you get the idea.

3.  Do you carry a donor card?
I have the sticker on my driver's license. My dad's wife had a liver transplant last year. She had a rare and severe allergic reaction to a commonly prescribed antibiotic and it shut down her liver and put her into full liver failure in about 3-4 weeks. (She was NOT a drinker or drug user or anything like that. This was a horrific, one in a million freak side effect/accident). Luckily she got a transplant (from a twenty-something drug addict who overdosed in a park...) and is currently stable. She will be on huge amounts of medication for the rest of her life and her immune system is so suppressed a cold could be fatal because she has no way to fight it because of the medications she's on, but she has had a stellar recovery and has been very lucky. Since the transplant she and my dad got married and she is planning on retiring this summer. (Or so she says. It just keeps getting postponed but she says she means it this time.) Thank goodness the drug addict had the sense to do this one good thing in his life. A lost soul, but he ended his life in a way that saved so many others. Carry a donor card! You have no idea how many people you could save by doing so, and doing it yourself encourages others and that is so important.

4.  In your opinion, is the glass half empty or half full?
Right now, half empty. I am so upset with my life right now. Is that more optimistic than saying I hate my life? I am upset with my life. This week, these last few days... this MONTH, this YEAR... when is it going to be over? How much longer? How much longer will I have to endure this? Can someone just tell me? "Are we there yet?" If you could just tell me how much longer, it would just help so much... please... :(

5.  Vanilla or Chocolate?
Depends on the context. Vanilla shakes, yes. Chocolate candy bars, yes. Chocolate ice cream, yes. Fast food restaurants tend to do a crappy job at chocolate shakes so I always go for Vanilla. 

Meet me on Monday "I talk to the trees..."

1.  What feature of the opposite sex do you notice first?

Before I was victimized I would notice faces and just overall appearances first. Just an overall impression and stance, like if they had a happy stance, way of being and such. Does that make sense at all? Since everything has happened, I notice their presence and go head down and turn away, cross my arms. I get really physically defensive, whether I am aware of it or not. I am usually aware of it, but sometimes I don't even notice myself tense up.

2.  Do you talk to yourself?

Occasionally. More often I sing to myself. I like to talk to the animals. But talking just to me, myself and I... It isn't like absent minded muttering, it's a conscious choice of giving myself a pep talk, or calling someone a bad word under my breath. lol

3.  What is your current relationship status?

Um... Traumatized? Is that a status? Or... "Stay Away"  How about... "Touch me and die"?

4.  Do you have a garden?

  

This plant is triple this size now... this is from last year and in a MUCH bigger pot. I'm in Southern California shooting a wedding right now, so I'll try to take some fresh pictures when I get home.

Of course. Mostly just flowers, hydrangeas, potato bush, bulbs- daffodils, snowdrops/galanthus, tulips, hyacinth, all of which are now fried by the sun. Also have some catnip, various flowering weeds I sometimes let grow just for the greenery since everything grows in pots on the porch and flowering weeds are better than empty pots, and then I have a giant strawberry plant that unexpectedly took over a pot much bigger than I planned on giving it and it's flowering and has tiny green berries. Lovely. Wish I didn't have so much sun on my porch... my guys like shade- and I like shade plants. Oh, and I have a blue agave from an ex boyfriend that has hung on all these years. :)

5.  What is your favorite licorice flavor?

 If I could ever find it, it would be HUCKLEBERRY! But I like all kinds, black, red, raspberry, strawberry, watermelon, they're all good to me!

Meet me on Monday: Reading in the Can

1.  What is was the last piece of candy that you ate?

A reese's a few days ago.... I was naughty.

2.  Do you "read" in the bathroom?

Is "read" code word for something grosser than just reading?

3.  I can't stand when someone _________?

Makes repetitive noises... Clicking tongues, shaking feet, tapping toes, sucking noises, humming... small repetitive noises. I remember we had to write reports on each other in the 7th or 8th grade and this was included in the interview about me. It STILL bugs me.

4.  Do you do daily, weekly or monthly grocery shopping?

Probably bi-weekly or every three weeks, sometimes weekly. I'm a random sort of gal. And yet some days I'm in there everyday.

If you haven't already, I re-wrote and posted my personal story right here, today. I could use some support, so thank you for being here. 

Meet me on Monday

1. What is your favorite bagel flavor?

When I nannyed for my first set of identical twins, Emily Nicole and Grace Kathleen, their mom used to buy Jalepeno bagels (not jalepeno cheese, and not the kind of jalepeno with the sliced rings all over the top- not tacky-ish... these were SOPHISTICATED Jalapeno bagels!) from somewhere that were SO GOOD! They were a little spicy, but not so spicy that the babies couldn't have them. I would toast it for them with real butter and OH MY was it SO GOOD. I still remember how good those were and I used to hope the girls wouldn't eat them so I could have them. SO GOOD. AH! I have looked high and low for those darn bagels but I have never been able to find them anywhere. I think they were Rayley's brand, but the Rayley's by my house doesn't carry them. I don't know if I have ever gone hunting for them at the Rayley's she used to shop at but maybe I should try that... It's been years and years... those babies are well through elementry school now, but WOW those suckers were GOOD!

**Edited to add** I used to like to take the butter and the cream cheese and mix it all together and then spread it on the bagel piping hot out of the toaster so it would all melt together and be nice and gooey. Because if you just put the cream cheese straight on there alot of times it still stays cold, but if you whip it together with the butter, the little fat moelcules spread out everywhere and the whole thing just melts and goo-i-fies. Oooooh, it is so good. Try it. It's naughty!

2. If you had an extra $100 right now, what would you spend it on?

I'm boring. I'm a money hoarder and I would put it in my bank account and save it, or put it towards bills or student loan debt.

3. What is the last thing that you felt guilt about doing?

I did a photoshoot in Livermore today, and on the way home I drove through Stockton, and I don't know if I am just blind and never noticed in the 100 other times I have driven through Stockton, or if it's new, but I noticed a KRISPY KREME sign as I was driving home on the freeway, and I got off at the next exit, flipped a U, got back on the freeway, and marched right in there and bought a piping hot box of a dozen glazed doughnuts. WHY DID I DO THAT?  The only other time or place I have had Krispy Kreme in my life is in Utah because we don't have a store in Sacramento anymore and I wasn't interested in it when it was here- I had never had one, so I thought the hullaballoo was ridiculous. Then my friend took me there a year ago and now we have a little problem. Because you know who is going to eat those 12 doughnuts? ME and THE DOG.

4. Soft serve ice cream or hand dipped?

I think soft serve. I like melty ice cream. Specifically, I like McDonald's cones. They are low fat (or claim to be) but they are just a nice vanilla flavor, and are so fatty and creamy and melty. They are delicious! When I have ice cream at home I am constantly pouring milk in it to make it runny.

Oddly enough, I prefer all ice cream to come in a cone, not a dish. This is probably why I like soft serve. Because if I have to put milk in it, I can't put it in a cone.

For the record though, I do enjoy ALL ice cream and will eat any and ALL offered to me.

5. Are you allergic to anything?

Yes.

Cleanliness.

Meet me on Monday (Peanut Butta Freight Train)

 
1. Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?


I like both, and it kind of depends on what the purpose of the peanut butter is. To each just straight out of the jar, I like crunchy. It makes it more like a whole snack because you have to chew it. (I am VERY into chewing things. lol Okay, that's funny, but I swear I am not making a joke. Like, I could live on Slim Fast Shakes if I could chew some portion of the meal...)  When I cook with peanut butter is should be smooth, and I like smooth. I guess you could say that since I am a bonafide peanut butter lova, I am not picky and enjoy it in all forms. You know what would be a good idea? A peaut butter TASTING! We could have a peanut butter party and do a taste test of all the brands and kinds! OOOh! How fun would that be?!

...I think my peanut butter issues are starting to surface.

Here's a peanut butter pie recipe I know you are DYING to try. I went digging for this online after watching "The Joy Luck Club" one too many times and staring at that pie in that one scene... torture.

http://adventuresinemilyland.blogspot.com/2008/07/emily-is-posting-recipe.html
And here is my attempt at Java's (NGO) peanut butter eggs, or Reester Eggs, as I call them. I modified both recipes to my liking. :)

http://adventuresinemilyland.blogspot.com/2010/04/reester-eggs.html

2. What is your favorite color Rose?

Hmmmm. I guess it would depend on the bouquet. Roses really aren't my favorite flower (I love hydrangeas, lisianthus, peonies, rununculus, poppies, etc... FLUFFY flowers!) but I like them, and I would love to receive them. In FACT, I went to church in Virgina last week and they gave all the adult women roses. But the people I was staying with offered to take it back to the house to put it in water and I forgot about it and never saw it again. :( I only got to hold it for a couple minutes.

Oh, I feel sad now.

Oh, right, colors. Um... My favorite used to be the fallish colored ones- yellowish orange with the reddish tips... when I was a little girl I loved "sterling" which is the purple/lavender rose. Now... hmmm. I am having such a hard time! What colors do roses come in again?  Uhhh... Red is beautiful. I dunno, maybe the fall colored ones?
3. Do you remove your shoes when you walk into your home?

I flip 'em off across the room. Is that the same thing?
4. What is your favorite season?

Fall. It is the season of anticipation and new beginnings for me. Thats my favorite. I liked being teased with things to come I guess!
5. Approximately how many hours a day do you spend blogging?
Ugh, on my work blog, on the days I do blog, it can take me 4-6 hours to do a post. WHY? Because of the re-sizing of the images, applying the watermarks, creating iage storyboards in photoshop, sometimes touchups because stuff looks funny resized... redoing things because it doesn't work. Then after you finish the images, you upload them, and write the post (although I try to do it at the same time and usually do.) It's hours. It's a time suck for sure. Sometimes I can do them faster, but blogging is time consuming when you're doing designing as part of the post. For awhile I was doing sooo good and had a bunch of posts pre-scheduled, but that ran out. :(

Meet me on Monday

1. What is your favorite kind of muffin?

I think I'm with Java on this one... Blueberry! (I always gravitate towards the stuseul topping too, but really, I think just regular blueberry muffins best. I like that little sheen they get on top. So good! Which is why I never make or buy them... I'll eat them. lol)

2. What was the first car you ever owned?

OWNED-OWNED as in, bought, made the payments and paid off myself? My 2004 Toyota Corolla Sport!

My client made this parking cone for me at a recent wedding I shot. I even got to keep the cone! I call it my car's "party hat" lol

If we're talking first car that was "mine" but I didn't really own and the parents could seize at any moment? 1988 Toyota Van, and a 1988 Toyota Corolla. I did end up owning the Corolla actually. So maybe the '88 is my first. Oh, well, I already posted the picture. But, the '04 is the first I ever bought and paid for myself. :) AND still own!


3. Which TV Show were you sad to see end?

Road to Avonlea, and Roswell.  Avonlea went off the air in 1996, and Roswell was more recent, 2003 I think.
Still sad about both and I own the complete collection of Roswell and have slowly collected the Avonlea series (it wasn't available at first, and when it was only certain episodes and only on VHS... I got those, but now I have to switch over to DVD... Poop.) I do still love and miss  Designing Women , but thank goodness for late night tv! That show still cracks me up when I can catch it! lol


ADDED! How could I have forgotten? My beloved Sex and the City? :) A show that shocked and appauled me when I tuned in at first, but as the show was ending and I was a little older, I realized it was just about men, women and relationships, despite the title that so freaked me out as a college kid. :) I miss it! And I love the re-runs. It really makes me want to go back and work on my French too.

4. What is your lucky number?

24 My birthday is March 24th, and I always looked forward to turning 24, and so I think it must be my lucky numba!

 

5. Pretzels or Potato Chips?

Oh, gimmie the fried potatos. Come on. Is that really a question?

Meet me on Monday

1. Caesar Salad or Garden Salad?


Oh, Caesar, all the way! I'm not going to CHEAT like Java though and cross two types of sald though! You can't have Caesar salad with Ranch dressing! That doesn't count as Caesar! lol

My favorite salad though is spinach with dried cranberries, bleu cheese, candied walnuts and champagne vinagrette dressing from Nordstrom. (Yeah, the department store. Mine has a cafe in it that sells bottled dressing???)
2. Will you be watching the Royal Wedding on April 29th?

I think so! I work from home for my wedding photography business so it's almost homework, don't you think?
3. Last thing you spent lots of money on?

I just bought a new back up camera for my business and it has video capabilities which I was hoping would take my business in new directions, but I am currently pretty freaked out because it's really hard to do, and it cost alot and it took alot out of my savings. I'm questioning whether it was so smart now.... I don't know if I was ready to do it. :( Especially since business slowed down ALOT this month. Which is really freaking me out.
4. Window seat or aisle seat?

I do both. It depends on how long the flight is and whether I anticipate having to go to the bathroom.
5. Do you know your blood type?
 
I don't... but I think one of my parents was typed as O at some point so I might be O. I think one was O and one was A, so I must be O or A!

Meet me on Monday

This weekend was horrible. Horrible. I had a run in with the police. I will post on that later. It did not go well. If you follow this blog you know that that is the absolute worst possible thing that could happen to me for my anxiety and everything that happened to me last year. (Read "Notable Posts" on the sidebar if you are new.)

Meanwhile, back to our reguarly scheduled programming.






1. Who would be your dream celebrity date?


OMG, I cannot even imagine this right now. It sounds horriffic and terrible and awful. Dating? I want to curl up in a ball just thinking about this. No one. Please. Go away.

Who would I have said a year ago? Ugh. Probably no one anyway. Except maybe Gus Pike from Avonlea (been off the air since 1996!). He played the fiddle. I loved that! I always wanted to walk down the aisle when I got married to the love theme between him and Felicity from that show. No one probably has any idea what I'm talking about.

I also always liked Gilbert Blythe. Yes, I'm obsessed with Lucy Maud Montgomery. I've even been to Prince Edward Island. It's a sickness.

2. Do you have any food restrictions?

Nope. I'm a pig. And I go hog-wild.

3. How much time do you take to get ready in the morning?

I work from home so I'm typically unconcious in the morning. What are you talking about.

...If I am getting ready to go somewhere if I'm organized, typically 20 minutes, but I am a major dawdaler so it's really better if I plan a couple hours to get ready... so I can dawdle... lol

4. Sausage or bacon?

BACON!  Gimmie that bacon!

5. Do you Google, Bing or Yahoo?

Oh, dude, Google. Is there anything else? Well, actually, there is. I am a HUGE Swagbucks fan. I do actually use Swagbucks first before I google. Swagbucks is a search engine where they randomly award you "swagbucks" when you do a search which you can cash in for amazon.com gift cards, cash or other stuff. No strings. Last year I earned $400 in amazon gift cards which I put towards my new work camera (which was over $2 grand, so that was helpful!) Not to make a huge sales pitch, but I am a HUGE fan of their site.

Here is a sign up link if you are interested!  :  http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/auntyem4

Or you can click on one of these buttons below.  ( If you sign up and win any bucks I do get bonus bucks so I do appreciate you giving it a try! It is kind of like playing the slots. lol) No catches, I swear!





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Meet me on (a weepy) Monday

1. If you had to eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?


I dunno. Probably potatos. :) Baked, fried, stuffed, hashed.... Mmmmmmm.

2. Do you write your blog posts in advance or the day you post them?

Both. For awhile I was so good with my Wednesday wondering posts and had them all prescheduled so I didn't even have to thnk about it for this blog (for my work blog everything is prescheduled, good girl em!) but I fell off the wagon. Usually Meet me on Mondays I write and post live, like this one, or if I haven't written in awhile, I will just post live.

3. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?

Thank goodness no. (knock on wood.)

4. What is your favorite candle scent?

Fruity smells... cucumber melon, or Bath and Body Works Fresh Linen is nice.

5. Coffee or tea?

I like BOTH. I like fruity teas (white tea?) like huckleberry, blueberry, raspberry... very hot and with lots o' splenda. I NEVER drink it though. I think the last time I had tea was when I was sick with a bad sore throat maybe... 18 months ago? I do also really like coffee, but only when you put so much stuff in it it tastes like dessert. :) (Like a frappuchino, or a white chocolate mocha [basically rich white milky hot chocolate with a tiny bit of coffee flavor.]) I really like the smell of coffee too. It makes me think of my mom... she started every day with a cup of coffee all the time I was growing up. I haven't had any regular coffee in a couple years either I think.

Meet me on Monday!

 1. Did you watch the Superbowl?

LOL Um, the dog and I went to the dog park at 3pm and where there for over two hours, what do you think? (Because the game started at 330pm, right? lol)

We are watching the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet now though and the kitten half time show though!!! :D

2. What is the last book that you read?

After becoming a history major in college and being forced to read the worst, dryest most horrid, narrowist written history books- 500 pages a week, every week, and then going to law school, I really stopped reading for pleasure. However, since I found out about Matt, I started reading self help books. I pretty much had to. With something this devastating and shocking... You need to know what to do. What on Earth are you supposed to do when your world comes crashing down around you and the rug is pulled out from under you? These were the last three I read... Fun, huh?

I read this book every day. It is a daily devotional. When I was in the outpatient crisis program at kaiser they read us a passage out of it about ddenial and it just hit me. One day I was having a really hard time and I ended up in the office of one f the psychologists/case workers and she gave me this list of things to do. It said things like, Eat something 3 ttimes a day, sleep every night, and to read this book. I left that meeting, went to Borders and bought it. I've read it regularly ever since. I can open it at any time now, on a random day at a random page and find something immediately relevant to me. I just ordered another book by this author. It's been really helpful.

This book was harder for me to read. It was more real. It was the one I read last.

3. What is your favorite kind of cake?

Chocolate Chip cookie cake! It is a secret family recipe, and I will never tell you what's in it, but it is most similar to a 5 inch thick chocolate chip cookie but it has alot of peanut butter in it and you frost it with peanut butter. It is amazing. It also has some healthy stuff in it. Again, it's a secret family recipe so I'm not sharing. MUA HA HA HAHA!

(Looks similar to this, but that's definetly not it. Ours looks better. And again, the frosting is peanut butter, not butter cream)

4. Do you snore?

At a minimum I am a heavy breather. At most, my brother loves telling a story where I fell asleep on his couch and started snoring really loudly. His dog, puzzled, came over and started staring at me. He cocked his head to one side, then the other. Then he took a step closer and LICKED the entire inside of my mouth. I smacked my lips, and went back to snoring. He whimped a bit, gave me another HUGE tonsil make out session and THEN I woke up and started gagging while my family watched the whole thing, laughing hysterically.

CAUTION! FOUL LANGUAGE!

5. Do you play an instrument?

Piano! I took 4 years of piano from 2 different teachers. I did 2 years with one teacher and then I she really ticked me off during one lesson (pre-teen angst) so I informed her I never practiced my lessons anyway and didn't like her and she told me never to come back. (Wasn't I a dear? And yes, I wrote her a letter of apology and saw her for a period of time after that incident...) So we switched teachers (to the lady who played piano at our church actually, who I LOVED) and she tested me, since I had been playing for over 2 years, and she promptly started me back at level ONE because I was so awful! Apparently the first teacher didn't do a very good job with me... (she taught me finger numbers instead of notes and I had no idea how to read music...). So I spent another two years in piano building up to level 2 again, and then my piano teacher fell in love with the very married choir director at our church and quietly resigned her position because she couldn't be around him anymore and moved away. She wanted to do the right thing, but that also meant I couldn't take lessons anymore! Turns out though that the choir director had feelings for her and after a year or so he divorced his wife, tracked her down and they got married. Bizarre! (He also left our church because he was so ashamed.)
  

Meet Me on Monday

1. What do you put on your hot dog?

The only place I ever really got hot dogs was when I was growing up at the USC football games at the Collesium. My dad and I would each get a collassal dog. I'd get mine with ketchup, mustard and chopped onions. It was the only place I really fixed it up like that. I always got as many onions as possible, because you know if you've ever watched football that those games go 4+ hours and I'd be starving by the middle of the second half and my Dad did not provide additional snacks. I'd stealthily whip out the hot dog wrapper and lick out the remaining onion/ketchup/mustard goo in my starved state.



2. Do you play Sudoku?

It sounds like a sneeze. No.

3. What is your favorite vegetable?

French Fries!


I mean... Potatoes!



4. Do you color your hair?

Who? Me? Dye my hair? I don't know what you're talking about. And if I did, I wouldn't have done that in years. And it would have only been wash out dye. I SWEAR. Just because I left it on for 45 minutes and it never washed out does not mean it was permanent.

5. What is your favorite brand of clothing?

Hmmm. I dunno. I don't really have a favorite brand of clothing. Where I shop most often? Probably Old Navy.


Now, my favorite places where I would like to shop, but never do?

SHABBY APPLE! (SWOON!)




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