*The Handcrafted Life*: tags

Over last week I saw that I was tagged again, this time by Abby of From Scratch.

I was having difficulty thinking up 7 random things about myself, so I decided to just sit on it for a few days. But then, as I was eating my very exciting dinner of a Safeway Eating Right brand TV dinner, I looked down, and there was a random fact staring right up at me.

Yes, I’m one of those people. I don’t like my food to touch, and unconsciously separate the different textures, so I can eat them by themselves. Oddly, it’s ok for the rice to touch everything, but no way do I want an edamame and a green bean in the same bite.

I’m weird, I know. Apparently I’ve been like this since I was a kid—my mom
used to joke that she was going to get me those cafeteria plates with the dividers for your food to not touch. Mainly it’s a texture thing with me, like I hate corn in beef stew (you’ve got soft meat, soft potatoes, soft carrots and then a super annoying crunchy thing in there, yuck!), and will pick out the different items in trail mix, but never just reach in and grab a whole handful of everything.

Every time I dish up my meals, my plate looks like this, with space between everything, least they dare touch each other:

Oddly though, there are two things I like to be mixed: I love to smush my pumpkin pie and whipped cream together, so it looks like barf, and I love mixing my Thanksgiving turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy all together. Although now that I think about it, it’s not that weird, because all those things are somewhat soft and not weird textures mixing.

So yeah, there’s another random fact about me. And since I don’t quite know how to end this, I’ll share one of the grossest things my dad ever tried to make me eat growing up: a pasta + rice + ground beef dish. Seriously? Pasta and rice should not even be eaten in the same meal (unless you’re at a buffet or something), and NEVER in the same dish, touching.

*Shudder*

You may have seen tags going around the blog world as of late, and I’m the newest victim. Kelly from Ordinary in Indiana tagged me this weekend. I have to answer some questions she picked, to help everyone get to know me a little better, and then I get to pick some questions that I’d like to have answered, and tag some bloggers myself.

So here goes!

1. If you could pick any one animal to have as a pet, what would you choose?

I really want a dog. I know, not very interesting. We already have 3 cats and 1 leopard gecko, but I don’t think any pet is as wonderful as a dog. Their love for their humans is just remarkable, and they always want attention, unlike cats. I really like Goldendoodles. Mainly because we used to have a golden retriever, and they are such smart, soft and pet-able dogs. I like that with Goldendoodles you can breed a golden retriever with a smaller sized poodle, to get a smaller-than-golden-retriever sized dog. Plus, their fur is very hypoallergenic (I’m allergic to some short hair dogs), and they are very intelligent. And also, very expensive. Growing up we always had dogs from breeders, but I think I would in reality probably like to get a dog from the humane society. One of our cats was a stray we took in, and another is from the humane society, and it really made me happy to provide a loving home for animals that were in need. I’d love to do that for a dog someday too.

This was Lar (pronounced like Lair, the nesting place of a wild animal), which is Latin for family and household protector. He was the last family dog we had, who had to be put down about 3 years ago at almost 13 years old. We drove down to California from Washington to get him when I was in 7th grade, since at the time there was only one breeder of Briards this side of the Mississippi. These days Briards are slightly more popular, they’ve been featured in several animal movies, and even a hefty bag commercial. Also, the dog in Married With Children was half-Briard (with uncropped ears).

(We kept his hair groomed short usually, because a dog with 6 inch long hair in a rainy backyard is just asking for matting.)

2. What is the weirdest injury you have ever sustained?

Hmmm, this is a hard one, because I’ve never really been that injured. Maybe it’s weird that I’ve never broken a bone? I did have to go to the emergency room when I was about 3 though, because I had been doing pirouettes in the kitchen and cut my foot open on the in-floor heater grate. Then I apparently mocked the doctor for having a foreign accent. I was one of those precious children who embarrassed their parents by listening to what adults talked about and then announcing things really loudly. Like one time, at the grocery store, as the checker swiped the Pepto Bismol, I loudly told her in a sing-songy voice that “my dad needs Pepto Bismol because he has diarrhea!” But yeah….no real weird injuries for me.

{Source}

3. What is the worst insult you’ve ever received?

I’d have to go back through my Weddingbee archive comments for this one. People be snarky bitches when they’re online. I was told I had cankles, and that my engagement ring was hideous, and that I’m a snob. But that was just some trolls, the internet is full of them. I’ve never been majorly insulted in real life, at least not that I can remember. Probably some snarky comments in high school, but I have a pretty thick skin, so nothing is sticking out at me.

4. Which character from Friends was your favorite? And if you didn’t watch Friends… who the F are you?

Joey! I actually loved all the Friend’s characters (I have the box set on DVD, and the trivia game….I LOVE Friends with a capitol L), but Joey was always best for the one liners.

{Source}

Monica: My motto is get out before they go down.
Joey: That is so not my motto.

Phoebe: Joey, if you had to give up sex or food, which would you pick?
Joey: I don't know it's too hard.
Rachel: Come on, you have to answer.
Joey: Okay... sex. No, food. No, uh... I want both! I want girls on bread!

Joey: Hey, I started working on what I'm going to say at the ceremony. Wanna hear it?
Monica, Chandler: Yeah.
Joey: We are gathered here today on this joyous occasion to celebrate the special love that Monica and Chandler share.
[Monica and Chandler look impressed]
Joey: It is a love based of giving and receiving as well as having and sharing. And the love that they give and have is shared and received. And through this having and giving and sharing and receiving, we too can share and love and have... and receive.
[later]
Joey: Okay, you guys, I've got a little more written... are you ready?
Chandler: Yeah, yeah. Okay.
Joey: When I think of the love that these two givers and receivers share, I cannot help but envy the lifetime ahead of having and loving and giving... and then I can't think of a good word for right here.
Monica: How bout receiving?
Joey: Yes!

Joey: Why do you have to break up with her? Be a man. Just stop calling.

Monica: Joey, what would you do if you were omnipotent?
Joey: I'd probably kill myself.
Monica: Excuse me?
Joey: Hey, if "Little Joey"'s dead, then I got no reason to live.
Ross: Uh, Joey... Omnipotent.
Joey: You are? Ross, I'm sorry.

Rachel: See? Unisex.
Joey: Maybe *you* need sex. I just had it a few days ago.
Rachel: No, Joey, U-N-I-sex.
Joey: I wouldn't say no to that.

Joey: Rach, you gotta find out if he's in the same place you are. Otherwise, it's just a moo point.
Rachel: A moo point?
Joey: Yeah. It's like a cow's opinion. It just doesn't matter. It's moo.

5. What is the best “go-to” recipe in your arsenal?

Super Easy Chili Dip—great for bringing to parties

1 package whipped Philly cream cheese
1 can of chili
1 ½ cups of cheddar cheese
Garlic powder to taste
Disposable pie tin

Layer in the pie tin: cream cheese, chili, cheese, garlic. Bake for 60 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with chips!

6. If you could go back and change one detail of your life, what would you change and why?

Can I pick being born to parents who like to travel? That’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do, travel. Growing up we only took 1 day road trips, and went to Nor Cal, that was pretty much it. So I’ve been pretty much everywhere in Washington State, and a lot of places in Oregon. I feel like I’ve really missed some great life experiences by not getting to travel, heck I’ve still never been to Disneyland!

But I am working on it, since graduating college I’ve been to the Grand Canyon, Vegas, LA, Mexico, and Hawaii. And in the next 6 months I’ll be traveling to Colorado, North Carolina, Florida and Louisiana. That will increase the number of states I’ve been to by over 50%, which currently is only Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Cali, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii!

This is a screenshot of my Picasa photo albums map. West coast, that’s it. Sad.

7. Which of the 50 United States would you least like to live in?

Washington State. I know, I know, I grew up there. But I cannot stand the weather in Puget Sound. 9 straight months of rain is just miserable, and I will never, ever move back. At my high school graduation, which they stupidly held outside, we all had to wear plastic garbage bags under our gowns, because apparently the blue material would bleed on everyone’s clothes if it got wet. I had 5 umbrellas growing up, one for your car, one for your backpack, one for your locker, a mini one for your purse, and a back up at home. It is ridonk! But at least it was green and pretty in July and August.

Seriously though, I’ll take heat or snow over rain any day of the week!

{Source}

8. What was your favorite class in high school or college?

In college my favorite classes were Retail Merchandising and Fashion Merchandising. In fashion we got to design store window displays, from miniature sized ones in a shoe box to a full scale one with live models for our final. So, so much fun, even though the credits didn’t count toward my degree or my minor. But I went to school year round for my last three years so I could have the opportunity to take some fun classes. My Retail class was part of my marketing degree, and one of my favorite projects was doing all the research and legwork to open your own retail store, including putting together the branding, logos, store layout, etc. I’m actually using the name of my store from that project as the name of my future Etsy shop (once, you know, I’m actually home for a weekend and can beef up my inventory).

Alright, now for my questions to other bloggers:

1. Who is on your list of 5 (famous people you can be with), and is your list laminated?
2. Sweet or Savory--what is your favorite type of food?
3. Approx how many pairs of shoes do you have, and describe the last pair you bought.
4. If money is no object, what is your ultimate dream vacation?
5. Favorite new TV show this season?
6. The new leggings fashion trend, are you for it or against it?
7. What is the sweetest/nicest thing your hubby does for you?
8. Have you ever had a bad haircut? What did you do to get over it?

And who I'm tagging (so many of you have already been tagged, this is hard!):

The Perpetual Party Planner
Bicoastal Bride
A Chocolate Lover's Confessions (for when she gets back from her honeymoon!)
A Creative Bride (Hi, date twin!)
I Get Through Life, One Shoe At A Time
My Simple Everyday
The Adventures of Alvina & Tim
And Kelly, I'm tagging you again, 'cause I love that you have a funny story for everything!

Looking forward to reading everyone's answers!