I couldn’t decide whether to post this here or on my professional blog….so I’m posting in both places!

So a while back, I saw the #11questions thing going around Tumblr, then I started seeing my friends being tagged on Facebook. If you’re reading this, you can thank Kyle Wood for asking questions that made me answer with extremely verbose answers!

Seriously though, I’ve been a horrible blogger, and what better shove in the direction of getting back to it than this challenge? So here goes…

 The Guidelines of Your Challenge:

1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
4. List 11 bloggers, excluding the blogger who nominated you.
5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you have listed to answer.
6. Let the bloggers know you have nominated them.
7. Post back here in the comment section a link to your post.

11 Random Facts About Me

1. It is really hard for me to work or be in silence. I can read in silence, but nothing else. It’s rare that I don’t have TV (or something on the iPad) on just for background noise at home, or earbuds in listening to music at work. Both help me focus.
2. Breakfast is my favorite. I have breakfast for dinner a couple times a week usually, and I love the days when my dad calls to say he’s cooking breakfast so head over, or we go out to breakfast.
3. I used to make fun of people who treated their dogs/pets like children. I totally am that person now. Sometimes, I wonder if I’d be able to love my kids as much as I love Bailey and Echo.
4. I can’t handle watching ASPCA commercials or news stories of animals being abused, abandoned, or mistreated. I have to turn the channel, close the browser, whatever because I just can’t deal.
5. I have never ever been as proud of myself as I was when I finished the Tower of Terror 10 Miler. I was so scared in the days before, and kept thinking, “I’m not a real runner, what am I doing here?” If it hadn’t been for my dad traveling with me, I probably would have found an excuse to not even start (sorry, Amanda! I was scared!). But actually doing it, and finishing? The best feeling in the whole world. Also…that whole silence thing in number 1? I ran the whole thing by myself with no headphones. So basically, alone with my thoughts…and it was really pretty great to have to push myself through something hard like that.
6. Disney is my happy place. As a kid, I liked it, but as an adult, I absolutely love it. Everybody does Disney differently, but for me, it’s all about staying on property and immersing myself in that Disney bubble. It’s the one place I can forget reality exists for a few days at a time. We have just as much fun trying out resort restaurants and just soaking up the atmosphere as riding and being in the parks.
7. That being said, if I could afford to move to the Outer Banks and had a job waiting for me there, I’d be gone in 2 seconds or less. Sometimes I crave the ocean…just sitting and being.
8. As a teenager and in my early twenties, all I wanted was to get away and be on my own, away from my hometown. Now, I can’t imagine not living close enough to my parents to visit just for a walk or to head to Target with my mom.
9. I really, really, love music. What genre depends on my mood, and I’m not ashamed to admit (anymore) that sometimes this just means really liking popular, Top 40 stuff too.
10. I miss my brother. Now that we live so far apart, I really hate that we weren’t closer in high school. I wish we could go back in time and get along with each other back then like we do now.
11. I don’t mind random people on the internets reading what I write, but it freaks me out sometimes to think that people I know read it.

Kyle’s Questions for those Accepting the Challenge…


Of your current interests or hobbies, which could you trace back farthest in your past? This would have to be reading. Sorry if that’s kind of a boring answer! The thing is though…I have so many memories tied to books and reading. Back in elementary school, I remember hiding my open book inside of desk and straining my eyes to read just a few sentences or pages at a time when I was supposed to be listening to a teacher or doing something else, and sneaking my book into bed under the sheets way after I was supposed to be asleep. In middle school, when my parents were building our house, I loved laying in what would become my room when the house was nothing more than a frame, reading my book while my parents were going over details with the contractor. In high school, I could sit on our front porch or by the pool for hours reading, and there were plenty of nights when I actually looked forward to coming home and crawling in bed so I could finish whatever book I was in the middle of. My love of books and escaping in them stayed with me all the way through high school and college…and reading is still one of my favorite things to do, and one of my favorite ways to relax.

You are in a convenient store. Describe your most likely meal for the next leg of your 10 hour drive. Well, this depends on a couple of things, 2 of which are the time of day and the season. If it is morning…I’m having coffee of some sort, hot or iced depending on the weather. I’m also probably grabbing a water, a granola bar, and Chex mix. (I mean..10 hours is a long time and you’ve gotta cover salty and sweet, right?) If it is afternoon, switch the coffee out for a fountain drink (Coke or Dr. Pepper depending on my mood) and something chocolate and Chex mix.

If you had one sentence to describe your personal philosophy what would it be? Be true.

You get to read one more book, hear one more song (or album), eat one more meal, and hug one more person. What/who are they? Welp. I guess I’d put on the Avetts, eat a huge country breakfast, get out my Bible, and hug my parents (is a group hug cheating, cause I can’t just pick one).

What qualities made your favorite teacher so great? A willingness to be human. When I think about any of the teachers I’ve loved, I think that is what it all comes back to. As teachers, sometimes we are so afraid to be seen as anything other than “teacher.” My favorites have stayed professional, but not been afraid to form relationships with their students or even mess up every once in a while.

What is the most embarrassing fashion trend in which you have participated? I tried to do the whole “grunge” thing in middle school. Which was a complete joke and waste on this shy, preppy girl. My interpretation of grunge was baggy-sh cords and a shirt that was a little bit more loose than the skin tight cropped shirts everybody else was wearing with their low-rise jeans. I think the phase lasted for like 1.5 weeks.

You have become a billionaire rap mogul and have to assemble a “crew” because all of the other billionaire rap moguls have one. (These people don’t rap; they just go with you everywhere.) Who are your first five picks and why? Okay so truthfully…I don’t know that I can think of 5 people I’d want to be in a “crew” with all the time, everywhere…because I really kind of like and need my space. I mean, this isn’t a homework assignment so I can answer without really answering if I want to, right?

If you became independently wealthy, what cause would you choose to support most? Why?  Most definitely some kind of pet adoption or rescue organization. Animals can’t take up for themselves, and don’t ask to be put in abusive homes or bad situations.

Two movies are made about you. Who plays you in the comedy? in the drama? Kristen Bell. I just finished re-watching all 3 seasons of Veronica Mars and I just love her. I think she could pull of the comedy and the drama…and add just enough of that Veronica Mars snark to both.

What is the coolest place you have ever visited? Why? I think Vancouver, BC. It was just so freaking clean and beautiful, and there’s the juxtaposition of huge city right there with wilderness of the mountains and sea all together. I’ll never forget going for a run along the sea wall. I want to go back, rent bikes, visit all the parks, and take the ferry to Victoria Island and have a picnic.

What is your favorite word? (Thank you, Lisa Montgomery and James Lipton.) 
Still. Because I’m trying to remind myself to take moments every day to be still and relax, and be in the moment instead of constantly thinking about what comes next.

My Questions for You 

1. How long can you last without checking some kind of social media (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, etc…) 

2. What’s the one tv show you always have to catch? 

3. What’s your dream job/career, and do you think you’ll ever be working it? 

4. Do you have a mantra or philosophy you live by? What is it? 

5. What’s one place you’ve always wanted to see but haven’t yet? Explain. 

6. If you could pick the words someone would use to describe you, what would you choose? 

7. Once you retire, how do you hope to spend your days? 

8. Do you have a favorite movie? What is it and why? 

9. You have to choose one meal to stick with for the next year…breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Which meal do you choose and why? 

10. Are you doing what you saw yourself doing when you were a kid? 

11. What are most excited about for 2014?

New addiction…Mad Men. Being able to stream on Netflix? Not good.