Bad Blogger

I was tagged ages ago by Julia, and then again a few days ago by Julie for the same thing. I'm sorry it has taken me so long, you two! I actually feel very special to be chosen by both of you, despite how long it has taken me to get around to doing this...

I have to answer 6 questions about myself. At the end of the post, I then tag 6 people and post their names, then go to their blogs and leave them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read my blog. Then, I must let the person who tagged me know when I’ve posted my answers.

What was I doing ten years ago

Hmm, I was still in high school then. So I had probably just started summer break and was doing my summer job, which was working as a nanny. There is plenty that has changed in the last ten years, but looking back on that sentence you wouldn't know it, since my grad school recently ended and I am, uh, working as a nanny. Great.

5 things on my to do list for today

Today is almost over. The only things on my to do list are finish this blog and go to bed. So maybe I'll cheat and let you know 5 things for tomorrow. :)

* Make a Father's Day card (yeah, I know, I'm behind!)

* Wrap my dad's present.

* Have brunch with my dad (so the two things above need to be accomplished early!)

* Laundry.

* Write my second One Local Summer post.

Snacks I enjoy

Now this is a tough one. No limit? Not three snacks I enjoy? Or five snacks I enjoy? Ok, well my taste is all over the place. If I am feeling refined there is nothing I like better than Comte cheese with a baguette and a glass of white wine. But I also love Samoas (the Girl Scout cookie). I could eat a whole box in one sitting. In fact, I have. Recently. I love apple slices with peanut butter (creamy) spread on them. Oh, and graham crackers dipped in apple or grape juice (but maybe that's just because I spend too much time with kids). And really, I should be given a limit when I get questions like this. I'll just stop now.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire

This is another tough one. I think, for the most part, my life wouldn't change drastically. I would probably do all the same things that I do now, minus the stress of worrying about making the money for it all. I would stop working and I would write children's books. I'm going to try writing children's books without being a billionaire, but it would nice to not have to worry about whether you could make a living off it or not. I would volunteer my time at different places. I would put some of the money in savings, and I would use some of it to travel, and I'm sure I'd do some shopping. ;) I would also like to donate some of it to organizations that I feel strongly about. I would not move to a bigger house or buy a fancy car - none of that flashy stuff for me. But I wouldn't mind an apartment in London or Paris or somewhere equally as lovely...

Places I have lived

St. Paul, Minnesota

London, England

Caen, France

Besançon, France

Paris, France

Florence, Italy

6 people I want to know more about

It was hard to find six of you who hadn't done this already! I think I managed, but I may not have looked far enough back in your blogs. Sorry if you've already been tagged for this.

Emily of Inside a Black Apple

G of doe-c-doe

Kajsa of Syko

Laura of Cupcakes for Clara

Melody of biglittlesister

Westy of Westy Art

If any of you ladies don't want to do this, I won't be offended!

Mosaic

I got this from Domesticali - I didn't do it at first, because I thought you might have to have a Flickr account. But hooray! You can do it without one.

1. Katherine 2, 2. Black Apple, 3. Blake, 4. Let's Get Green! Please take a moment to read..., 5. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, 6. Rose champagne - infinite bubbles - If you like it fav it or leave a comment please, 7. Europe, Greece, Santorini, Greek Islands, Oia, 8. mmm, cupcakes, 9. Veterinarian's Office, 10. Family Portrait, 11. Thank God for Dogs, 12. kitten and mitten

Here's what you do:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The questions:

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One word to describe you.

12. Your flickr name.

Here's what I typed in:

1. Katherine

2. apples [It was hard to pick just one! But that's what I wanted at the time, so...]

3. Blake

4. green

5. Jonathan Rhys Meyers

6. champagne

7. Greek Islands [I've been to Athens, and I wouldn't object to going again, but really I just long for those beautiful white buildings with the blue doors and cats wandering around, with all that sparkling water as the backdrop. Ahhh...]

8. cupcakes

9. veterinarian [That was the first thing I ever wanted to be. It is not what I am doing now, and I'm ok with that! Did you really think I wanted to be a duck?]

10. Softies! No, really I put 'family.'

11. empathetic

12. kittens mittens [Ok, so I don't actually have an account, but if I did it would certainly be something like that.]

I've Been Tagged!

First of all, I would just like to thank all of you who responded to my last post. Reading your comments has been very helpful, so I appreciate that you took the time to help me out. I will respond to each of you individually, as well, but I just wanted to put that out there now in case I don't get to it right away.

Flowers for you...just because:

Secondly, I've been tagged! The lovely G over at Doe-C-Doe tagged me, and this is historic as it is my first tag. There may come a day - who knows? - when I will not appreciate a tag, but as of right now I find it all very exciting.

So, I need to list seven random things about myself. I have to admit, I've read the lists on other blogs and thought about what I myself would put down, but now that the time has actually come I can't seem to think of anything. We'll see what I can come up with:

1. I am slightly obsessive-compulsive (my husband might argue that it's more than slightly). I feel as though it's mostly small things, and I don't think it affects me adversely. I would say my obsessive-compulsiveness ranges from useful to unobtrusive. Umm...an example: I recently realized that I MUST pepper my food before I salt it. I do not like to put the salt on first. In fact, it didn't occur to me until the other day that you could put the salt on first, when I saw B salt his food while I had the pepper. I thought to myself, 'But he hasn't peppered it yet!' Then I realized that maybe that wasn't an issue for him.

2. I never go anywhere without my camera. And extra batteries and memory cards.

3. I play the drums. Er... I am learning to play the drums. Some day I hope to be good enough that I can leave it at 'I play the drums.'

4. I am an avid reader of children's books. I'm getting my Master's in elementary education, so I like to claim it's a 'professional interest,' but to be honest with you I was crazy about kids' books long before I started in on my chosen profession.

5. I love to sing, but I have been told my whole life that I am bad at it. The only person who has ever told me that I sing well is my husband. My mom says that love must be deaf as well as blind. Ha.

6. I grew up without a TV. Now we have a TV in our house, but purely as a screen for DVDs. I never actually watch TV at home (we do, however, enjoy getting certain TV shows on Netflix).

7. Seeing as how I am currently not making oodles of money, I can't afford too many 'luxuries,' but the one that I cave into is pedicures. They are wonderful. It's so much more than polish on your toes, and if you haven't had one before, I highly recommend it.

Now I am supposed to tag people, but I think this has already been done on the blogs I read regularly. So, if you have commented on my blog at any point, and you either haven't done this before or you want to do it again, consider yourself tagged.

On a different note, if you are looking for cool, free things on the internet, you should check out the pdfs that G has for you at Doe-C-Doe.

I always make my own cards instead of buying them at the store. Sometimes this is a problem as I don't remember soon enough and I end up scrambling to make one at the last minute. Now I have my solution - G's vintage fabric cards. If I can't make my own, at least I can have a beautiful one made by another crafter!

Last Saturday I was going over to my friend's house and I had her birthday present all ready to go, but I realized I hadn't made a card yet. I was already running late, so I just cut out one of G's cards that I had printed earlier (luckily!) and I took that:

My friend M loved it! She commented on what a beautiful card it was, and asked where I had gotten it (and that's a big compliment, cause M makes some of the most beautiful hand made cards I've ever seen!).

So, if you need a birthday or thank you card...check these out!