Favorite {Photo} Friday! #21 & a Contest!

Happy Halloween! I've been waiting for this day to show you this Favorite Photo! I can't believe I've been doing this for 21 weeks now! Thanks to Stella for the idea, it's so much fun! :)


This photo is from Halloween 2005. Our friends Donna and Mo threw an amazing Halloween party in their to-die-for Italian villa; here I am with my dear friend and then-co-worker, Debbie. At the time I had long blondish hair, but everyone at the party told me I should cut off all my hair and dye it red because they loved the wig on me. I'd been looking for a change anyway, so I called up the lovely Trisha, another co-worker whose "normal" (meaning not in Italy) job was as a hair stylist. We held our consultation in the hair-color aisle of the Base Exchange and decided on a blend of two colors. The next day I was a redhead with short hair and I haven't looked back since! I hadn't told anyone (besides Jason and Trisha) that I was even considering it, so everyone was completely shocked--I still remember walking into work and everyone totally flipping out, ha ha! People didn't even recognize me!

The great thing about becoming a redhead in Italy (or Europe in general) is that they wear a lot of crazy shades of red hair, from flame orange to deep burgundy, and I got to try them all out without people looking at me like I was crazy! :) I went brighter in the summer and darker in the fall and winter. When it got closer to us coming back to the States I started going towards more natural shades, which I think I'll stick with for a while. :) A lot of people are surprised when they compliment me on my haircolor and I tell them it's from a bottle; my coloring lends itself to red hair, I guess. My Grandma Lois is a redhead (and was a "Beautician" as they used to call themselves) so she was thrilled to finally have a redheaded grandchild, ha ha! When we're seen together people say, "Oh, she got your red hair!" and we just laugh and say, "Yep!"

When I look back at photos from when I had long blonde hair I feel like I'm looking at a different person; I feel more like myself as a redhead! People ask Jason if I have that famous redhead personality and he smirks at me and says, "Oh, she's grown into it!" Ha ha, my funny guy. :P

And now, the contest: the first person to correctly guess what I was in the above photo will win one of my bamboo pendant necklaces! Like this one or this one:


Swirls belongs to Sooz and Art belongs to Katie so it won't be either of these but now you know what I'm talking about. :) AND, just to be fair and fun and since it's Halloween and I want to give away treats and get as many comments as possible, I'll give another pendant away to a random person who posts a comment (on this post) and has their name pulled from a hat. Post a comment between now and, oh, say Sunday evening, and you just may be a lucky winner!

Since a couple of people e-mailed me to let me know they'd be stalking my etsy, I thought I'd let you know I've been having photography problems because I'm an insane perfectionist and I haven't been able to get the shot the way I want it. But here are a couple shots I can live with so I'll just post them here!

I have two sets in white/off-white:

And one set in dark green/brown/blue/plum:

The pendant is about 1 3/4" by 1/2" and the chain is 20", long enough to go over a sweater or turtleneck. :) They're very delicate and pretty, and handmade by me with freshwater pearls wire-wrapped with sterling silver wire onto a fine silver handmade and hammered "frame." The earrings are sterling silver hooks with wire-wrapped pearl drops. Each set of necklace and earrings is $45... e-mail me at createbeautydaily(at)gmail.com to order, first come first served, and please specify which color you'd like. :)

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Update: Heather was the first to correctly guess my costume! Great job, Heather, I should have known that you'd know it right away! :) Everyone else continue to comment and I'll draw names on Sunday evening! :)

Catch Up Seven Up

Like a lot of my friends I have been semi-absent from blogland lately. It seems that for many of us artist-types, Fall is the season of change; we're working on change in ourselves, our lives, our art, striving to become the women and artists we want to be know we are capable of becoming. Rock on, us! I've felt kind of lame for not being able to do it all lately and for not even being able to put into words what I've been feeling. But yesterday someone in my artist circle opened up about having similar feelings, and there's been a flood of e-mails from other members that indicates we're all going through this. Which is sort of pretty empowering, having a(n online) community of women in various stages of this struggle to talk to and lean on and get support from. Thanks to my tribe for being there and, well, being my tribe. ;) You gals ROCK.

And now, some Catch-Up Seven-Up:

1. That documentary I couldn't wait to see? AHHHHHH. MAZE. ING. I cannot say enough about it. I cried. The lady in front of me, who I later found out is the filmmaker of this, cried through almost the whole movie. It was amazing and powerful; I think that all women artists everyone should see this documentary. Jason said that it made him understand me and want to support me and my art even more. That's awesome. I'm hoping to get a screening at next year's Inspired; I know everyone would love it.

In fact, I loved it so much that when one of the producers came out after the screening to do a Q&A, I was the first to raise my hand. I asked if there was a transcript or DVD available because there were so many quotes from the artists that I wanted to paint on my wall to remind myself of every day (there were lots of murmurs of agreement in the audience). Long story short, there's not. Bummer. They are hoping to have home-based screenings, however, in a sort of book-club format where the film can be discussed afterwards. Sweet!

After the Q&A I approached her with my contact card and told her that I used to transcribe a lot for a previous job (as an executive assistant at the Bellagio) and if they were ever interested I would be happy to transcribe the film for them because I think it would be a useful tool in post-screening discussions. Within five minutes she got the DVD back from the projectionist and handed it to me. I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to help in this small way! So I'll be working on that and I'm hoping Google helps me out in my search for proper formatting for a documentary transcript. :)


Here's Kerthy and I in front of the film festival sign, bundled up to go out in the rain. :) Next year I plan to buy a VIP pass for the festival and go to all the films (or a bunch, anyway). It was really under-attended and that bums me out. [I might do a separate post about Who Does She Think She Is? but we'll just have to see.] Thanks so much, Kerthy, it was great talking to you and I'll be in touch with the transcript! :)

2. Remember when I felt like Snow White? Well I'm putting on my apron and whistling while I sweep again, because last week I saw a fox in our backyard, which is awesome enough in and of itself, even though Foxy Brown only stuck around long enough for Jason to run upstairs and see her/him and not long enough for us to snap a photo. But then yesterday Ms. Doe joined us again, and she brought babies!


There were two fawns, a male and a female, and they all hung out and munched on the salad buffet that is our backyard. It was awesome. I'm so happy I was able to see this. I'm also a little leery about that garden I was thinking about planting next year, but that's another worry for another time. :P

3. The class I took with Donna on Friday was my favorite of hers so far. Bloom is beautiful and I was lucky enough to be a "guinea pig" for the first time Donna taught it! As usual I didn't finish in class but I'm a lot more finished than I usually am. :) Aren't these colors delish?


4. I've been making a lot of jewelry and finished up these little guys for Halloween. Aren't they cute?


5. More of these will be up on my etsy site tomorrow unless something goes wrong, which is entirely possible hardly ever happens around here. I'll tweet when they're up.


6. I'm still photographing my day on the 25th of every month, even if I haven't scrapped and/or posted them in forever way too long. (Click here to see what I'm talking about.) Here's my favorite photo from October 25th.


7. If you haven't signed up for this yet, what the heck are you waiting for? It's free and I think it will be awesome.


Go here and sign up! :)

Whew! Thanks for hanging in if you're still here. :) Abuzz behind-the-scenes of blogland lately is what a bummer it is to see your site hits go up but not get any comments... it leaves a blogger to wonder what people are thinking! :P So remember to post comments on your favorite blogs, even if it's just to say hi! :) Hint, hint. :) See you soon!

Favorite {Photo} Friday! #20

Duuuuuuuuuuuude. Dude. Where is the time going? Seriously. No, seriously, Dude. Where has the last week gone? It's suddenly Friday and I haven't posted my Dani recap or my birthday recap or any of the stuff I've been working on. The time is seriously flying, Dude.


In the midst of our running about last weekend--no, wait, it was two weekends ago! Holy crap where is the time going? [Siiiiiiiiiiiiigh.] Anyway, in the midst of running to and fro with Dani and Marilena, Jason had the brilliant idea to sit our tired asses selves down and watch a 3-D Imax show at the National Museum of Natural History. It was super great to sit down cool to see the ocean in 3-D. [And don't ask me, I have no idea what Jason ate to make his tongue that color.]

I chose this photo today because:
1) It's a kill-two-birds shot since I'm including a picture from Daniele's visit. :)
2) It cracks me up. From Jason's double glasses to Dani's funny smile to the odd perspective due to my being smashed up against them in the waiting area and trying to lean back as far as possible to take the photo, it's funny funny funny.
3) Lately I have felt exactly like I did during this movie. "Wow! This is so cool! Everything is rushing at me, I want to reach out and touch it all!" And also slightly out of sorts and thrown off balance and the teensiest bit frantic. :P

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Tomorrow I am going to the Baltimore Women's Film Festival to see Who Does She Think She Is? and I'm bringing Jason with me so we can see some of Baltimore afterwards. I can't tell you how excited I am about this film. The trailer makes a very deep part of me well up and say YES! Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. This film looks amazing.



[This plays faster in high quality, which I can't embed. If it's taking forever to load and doing that annoying stopping-starting thing, either press pause and go do something else for a minute, or click here and then click on "watch in high quality" at the bottom left of the video.]

Today I am rushing off to another Donna Downey class--yippee! I'm super excited which is probably why I woke up at 5 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep, damnit but I will miss Deitra because we had so much fun together at Donna's classes last month!

Have a great weekend and create some beauty! And if you're playing along with Scrap Your Day, remember to take photos tomorrow!!!

Alive and Kickin'

Yay! I had my birthday! And despite my unusual five-day absence from the blog I am still alive and kickin'. Kickin' so much, actually, that I'm only jumping on here for a minute to say hi and share a very funny photo!


After I posted my Korean Rock Star photo, (cousin-via-marriage) Ingrid sent me this photo of her daughter Francis. Ingrid's sister was living in Japan for a while so Ingrid and Brad packed up little Francis and headed across an ocean (brave, yes?). It turns out that Francis closely resembled a Japanese anime character and therefore was a huge hit in Japan. I remember all the stories Ingrid and Brad told after they got back; they were moved to the front of lines, given some special treatment, and mobbed just about everywhere they went with people asking to take pictures with their baby! Don't you just love how Francis is hanging out in the middle of a ton of Japanese teenage boys with that look on her face like, "Ummm, Mom? Dad? You guys have my back, right?" So Francis totally trumps me in the Rock Star department, which is just as it should be. :)

Tons to write about my birthday weekend (hopefully later this week), but for now I'm off to whip up a couple masterpieces. :) So I'll just say thank you, thank you, thank you for all the birthday wishes here and via e-mail and phone and Facebook and MySpace! And an extra-special thank you to Katie who did a whole blog post and sent me 504 several happy e-mails throughout the day! :) Way to make me feel loved, people; way to make me feel loved. I am so blessed; thank you.

Favorite {Photo} Friday! #19

I searched high and low for a birthday photo of myself that I could label as a "Favorite" but I just wasn't feeling it. And since everyone should feel like a rock star on their birthday (and since I recently found the photo album I couldn't find when I posted this) I scanned in this one!


When I visited Jason in South Korea we traveled down to Jejudo, a tropical island much like Hawaii off the southern tip of Korea. We were there for a week and we saw two other white people the entire time. We got a little taste of what it must be like to be famous, because tons of people wanted their photo taken with us! This crowd of young girls was particularly excited so after they took their photos with Jason and I, I handed my camera to Jason and asked him to take one of me with them. They were so excited that I wanted a photo with them and it was so freakin' cute! Totally made me feel like a rock star. :)

Today I'm heading off to a craft show; I will be doing more idea-gathering and pricing research than shopping, I think at least according to my wallet. I'm also stopping by the office of a very nice lady who has been holding some old books for me for the past, like, two months. Tomorrow I'm dragging Jason to see my boyfriend Marky Mark in Max Payne. And Sunday we're having dinner at my aunt Susan's house. Yay! And I will try to not open two presents I've received until my birthday on Monday--man it's hard!

I might be back tomorrow with Dani photos, we'll see how it goes. :) Have a great weekend! :)

Transition

This morning I took Daniele into D.C. to catch a bus to NYC. And I'm not quite over him being gone yet. And neither is Jason; he's consoling himself by watching the Oregon State game he DVR'ed a few days ago (and somehow didn't hear the final score of, which is a minor miracle). So until we have snapped back enough around here to post photos and tell funny Daniele and Marilena stories, I thought I'd share the necklace and earrings I made for my mom for her birthday!


She loves it so that is super cool because she is really hard to find presents for! I'm ordering more of this fabulous chain and then I'll get a couple more of these beauties up on etsy. Really this time.

In other great news, I made one of these necklaces for my hairstylist who just had a baby, and she loved it! Within five minutes I had orders for three more from other employees at the salon, and then she e-mailed me one more order! Hooray!

Other than that I'm doing the usual catch-up post-houseguest stuff and trying to decide what I want to do for my birthday (on Monday). There's a craft show I might hit on Friday and I want to see my boyfriend Marky Mark's new movie, too; considering that Jason and I haven't been to a movie theater in the year+ since we've been back in the States, I'm thinking it's about time! :)

My Guys

Daniele arrived on Wednesday and we've been go-go-going ever since. I'll write more about that and post more photos later this week, but for now, here are my two favorite boys.


They're standing next to the Washington Monument (hence the flags). Jason's wearing the official Italia shirt for the Olympics this year; one of many presents Dani so generously brought us! I was so excited to see Dani but seeing these two together again (when we drove home from Philly) was really the best surprise and a true joy. [I love seeing boys excited and emotional but pretending to be tough.] :)

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!! :)

Favorite {Photo} Friday! #18

Iiiiiiiiiiit's Friday! [Actually, it's Tuesday. I'm writing this now and scheduling it for Friday because on Friday I'll be in Philly with Daniele and Mary!!]

In thinking about which photo to choose this week I just kept thinking about Happiness. I am so excited to see Dani again, and life in general has been just super; lots of happiness abounding. This past weekend I went to Alexandria for Art on the Avenue and had a great time. I picked up some yummy beads from LORiOLA and found my new favorite shirts, too. I wore one today (along with my black jeans and Secret Weapon red shoes--awwww yeah, Baby!) when I got my hair cut, as well as some jewelry I made. I was feeling pretty dang cute when I got back home! But I am not good at mirror self-portraits.

This one, though, I like! I had to flip it 'cause the message was backwards since I took it in the mirror. :) But I like how my necklace is cockeyed, and I like how my new haircut is peeking down a little on the left. I like that I am holding the camera sort of oddly because I was trying to keep the strap and lens cap mostly out of the way.

Mostly, I LOVE THIS SHIRT. It was meant for me. I used to hate my smile. I have a big scar on my heart from some very mean things that some very mean people said about me and my big ol' smile many years ago--the kind of thing that I can't bear to repeat out loud even to myself (so don't even ask). Booo! After my heart-scar had started to heal I consoled myself with the idea that people could say what they wanted but one thing was for sure; when I smile, and I smile often, I mean it! [I also consoled myself with the idea knowledge that it is much, much better to have an over-sized smile than an under-sized heart like those mean, mean people.] Since then many people very dear to my heart have told me that they love my smile (which of course has just made them dearer to my heart!) and it has almost made me completely forget those very mean things. :) So I love this shirt. Smile like you mean it, Dudes. Smile and laugh and love and dance and sing and play and create and kiss and hug and live like you mean it.

[Find the shirt and more here. I want them all.]

Whirlwinds and Swirls

I have been busy, busy preparing for Daniele's visit and a whole mess of other things which suddenly all had "#1 priority" next to them on the ol' To Do list. So I have been somewhat absent, and now I'm driving to Philly and Dani and Mary and I will be running around there for a few days before heading back here where Jason will run around with us, too! So I thought I'd write a quick note now, and I already have Favorite {Photo} Friday scheduled to automatically post for me so that I won't go a week with no blogging. :) I'm sure I'd be missed, ha ha! :)


Here's a little necklace I made for Sooz as an I'm sorry I suck and didn't send you this package forever, I'm trying to make it up to you just because gift! She love swirls and is a swirly lady. :)

Okay, must go, Dani and Mary are already on a plane somewhere over the ocean and they will be in Philly in five hours. HOORAY! I hope that Mary is as understanding as she is beautiful (which is very!) because I will be hugging him constantly for the first several hours. :) I'll take lots of photos of our adventures while he's here so I'll have lots to show you next week! :)

October is Birthday Month!

Happy, happy birthday today to my mamma, Sally! Here she is back in August serving with Dad as my hometown's King and Queen of the Colony Days. Of course my niece Emma decided that made her a princess so she wore her gown and kept talking about how nice it was that they had a parade for her, ha ha! :) [The girls didn't actually ride with them in the parade, don't freak out about no car seats, they're just posing!]


I hope you have a great day, Mom! Sorry that your birthday is on a Monday especially since that means mine is, too! Your present is, of course, sitting on my work table. :P I'll get it in the mail asap! :)

Last Thursday was my sister Tauni's birthday! She is now celebrating her last year as a twenty-something. Actually, I have no idea if she's celebrating it or not, I don't think she gives a rip, but this is her last year as a twenty-something in any case! :)


She did not, in fact, have a happy birthday, and that is a bummer. She had to work, which is enough of a bummer if you ask me because she's a nurse in a NICU unit. I would cry every other day I think! And then you see that little large-eyed blond person on the left? The one who is looking so sweet and innocent and cuddly? She is three; need I say more? She is a tiny little wild three-year-old stubborn button-pusher, that one. Adorable, oh my goodness, yes, and I love her! But when I visited I decided that Emma needs at least three adults around at all times; she is the child they mean when they say, "It takes a village to raise a child." :) And that other cute one, eating her pacifier ribbon? My beautiful God-daughter Lily? She is now mobile. If you put her down somewhere she will very quickly not be there anymore. Which is, you know, a lot more difficult. The other adult member of this family, my lovely brother-in-law Erik, was away for the weekend serving as both best man and officiant at his best friend's wedding.

Tauni saw a piece of jewelry she really liked on etsy so I decided to try to replicate it for her birthday! And I did!

And she absolutely loves it! So imagine her great disappointment when she arrived home from a very unsuccessful shopping trip involving a tantrum (from Emma, not from Tauni, although could you blame her? I wouldn't!) and looked in the mirror and realized that, ummmm, the necklace was bare. The entire thing--circle and both name tags--was gone! I use these jump rings on almost all of my jewelry but I do not have an eight month old pulling on my necklace while a three year-old for whom I am responsible throws a temper-tantrum in the middle of the grocery store. So I have ordered the little blank tags again and will make another one, this time with super-strength jump rings. Thanks to Tauni and necklace-pulling Lily for the field research! :) From now on I'm switching to a smaller gauge (which means thicker wire) hopefully toddler-yank-proof jump rings! :) Sorry for the tears, Taun, I'll make you another one! [Thanks to Kellie for making and sending me extra rings!! I knew they'd come in handy! :)]

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I am finally getting my studio organized to semi-resemble the vision in my head. It is a lot of work and a big pain because it is a big shuffle game--move stuff over here so it's out of the way and then do that and then move this stuff back and organize it over here and then move this other stuff out of the way.... But it's happening, finally. It's coming together, slowly slowly. :) Jason stopped by Ikea on the way home to pick up the last few things for the guest room so Daniele and Mary will be comfortable. I'm so excited to see Dani!

Okay, lots to do before I leave for Philly on Wednesday morning! Have a great week! :) Happy Birthdays Mom and Tauni!

Favorite {Photo} Friday! #17

At this very moment on the other side of the globe thousands of people are drinking enormous steins of beer and eating cheese and bacon pretzels and reveling in Germanness. Two years ago, I was, too:


I'm mostly German and Norwegian. There are some other bits in there, too, but the heritages that I grew up with--in certain ways, anyway--are those two. A tiny town near my hometown in Oregon celebrates Oktoberfest every year and some of my fondest childhood memories are from Mt. Angel's Oktoberfest. I had a friend, Alison, who lived in town there and I would go stay with her for the weekend. Her uncle seemed to be in charge of the Volunteer Firemen's booth which sold--glory of glories--strawberry shortcake. The homemade kind, not that prepackaged foam cake crap kind. So as kids we would volunteer to work in the booth in exchange for a bunch of deserts, which we would then take around to the other booths and exchange for their food (in addition to the strawberry shortcakes we would eat, of course!). Pretty good deal, if you ask me! Sausages and sauerkraut and pretzels and oh my goodness, I love German food. Then we'd work off those calories by running around town completely free. Mt Angel is so small and Alison's family is so big that she was related to half the town it seemed, so we would leave her house in the morning and spend the day running around and working and eating ourselves silly and running around some more and Polka-dancing until midnight and then we'd return to her house, crash into bed, and wake up and do it all over again, rarely reporting in to adults other than happening to bump into her aunts and uncles and cousins and parents. It was heaven. I have fond, fond memories and Oktoberfest has a big ol' chunk of my heart.

Anyway, we were living in Italy in 2006 and our friends Nikki and Joe decided they were driving up to Munich for a weekend for the original Oktoberfest. Jason and I are great at jumping onto other people's plans so we decided to all go together. Oh did we have fun! I especially loved that they served dark beer in the tents; Nikki and I would share because neither of us drank fast enough to get to the bottom of a liter before it was warm. Jason and Joe did not have the same problem, hence those hats. :P Outside every "tent"--which is really not at all tent-like except for the roof--were carts selling the most amazing pretzels. Cheese and bacon pretzels... oh my goodness I don't think there is a more perfect food. Cheesy salty bacony carbs? Does it get any better? I don't think so. I truly don't.

The great thing about Nikki and Joe is that they are exactly like me and Jason. Joe would be obnoxious and Jason and I thought it was hilarious while Nikki was, as his wife, annoyed as all get out. Jason would be obnoxious and Nikki and Joe thought it was hilarious while I, as his wife, was annoyed as all get out. Funny how that works, huh? :) Somehow this balanced us all out and we ended up laughing instead of being annoyed which is a miracle considering how much beer was consumed and therefore how obnoxious the boys were.

All in all it was a great weekend. We saw a lot of Munich, found an amazing outdoor market, got into most of the different beer tents (they fill up so you often can't get into them), ate some glorious food, and laughed and laughed and laughed and made some great memories. Perfect!

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Today I am running around picking up some organizational supplies because I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet--DANIELE IS COMING TO VISIT US!!!! He and girlfriend Mary arrive next Wednesday into Philly; I'm driving up to pick them up and we'll stay with friends John and Amy for a couple days before heading back here. So my butt has been officially kicked into gear to finish up a few things around the house; I'm finally organizing my studio. More importantly, I just can't tell you how excited I am to see Dani.

Have a great weekend! :)

Hitchcock Blonde Kit

This will be long on photos and short on chatter for once. :)

I've been playing with my Hitchcock Blonde kit by Technicolor Postcards. And let me tell you, it is awesome. Cynthia designed her own papers which are so beautiful I have had a hard time cutting into them. She also included a ton of really cool coordinating supplies, too, including a bunch of amazing vintage stuff. Here are a few things I've made so far; everything I used was included in my kit with one (noted) exception (click on any picture to open it bigger and/or read the journaling):

"It" Girls. The red is a piece of gorgeous burlap--normally I would say "gorgeous burlap" is an oxymoron but in this red? Hello. The strip that looks like film is cut from her gorgeous "Film" paper. Love it.


"Secret Weapon." I told you you'd see this photo again. :) I love these shoes! [The big {} shapes are not from the kit.]


But this little card was! It had buttons sewn onto it so I took them off and used the card, too. :) These shoes are definitely not washable but they are guaranteed fabulous. :)


I altered photos of the shoes and printed them out in a big strip. I mounted that on a piece of amazing vintage ribbon and then added the buttons on either end. The red knots on each button are from a thread I pulled off of the red burlap.

I had all these lovely flowers and buttons and vintage jewelry pieces on my work table and I kept pushing them around and lining them up and grouping them as I was working on the layouts, but I just wasn't feeling flowers on either layout. And by the time I finished the layouts I was sort of attached to these beauties as a group, a unit, so I decided to leave them that way!


I had this little shadowbox just waiting to be used, and it seemed perfectly suited to this project. I mounted the "Vertigo" paper on the inside and then mounted all the flowers and buttons and jewelry and little pearls on top.

Here it is opened, since it was hard to photograph with the glare from the front.


And a closeup, of course!

I also have enough stuff--including the coolest black chipboard 5x12" album!--to make a ton more projects. So don't be surprised to see more later on in the month! :)

Now, the best news is that Cynthia is doing a super-duper special on her blog! Head over here and leave a comment and you could win all of the amazing papers that she's created, as well as the Hambly overlays and some Thickers chipboard letters!! She's also doing a special on the kit, if you leave a comment you can get $5 off the kit for a special price of $29.99! So go here and leave a comment and then go here and buy the kit!

Thanks for looking! :)

Weren't You Just Dying to Know? :P

The lovely Tena Sprenger tagged me for a questionnaire, so how could I resist? The "rules":
A) People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs & replace any question that they dislike with a new question. [Oh, I love this rule!]
B) Tag 8 people to do this quiz. [See below.]

1. How many songs are on your iPod?
It's not an iPod, it's a ZEN, and I don't have any idea. Too many! I got overzealous and put everything on there. I need to create some playlists so I can just listen to what I'm in the mood for at any given moment.

2. What music would you want played at your funeral?
This is a tough one! I'm not sure. I'm Lutheran and I really love the hymn "A Mighty Fortress" (it's sort of the Lutheran anthem, ha ha). It's not really funeral music but I really love it, so I'll just say that one for now. :)

3. Which magazines do you have subscriptions to?
Real Simple and Scrapbooks Etc.

4. What is your favorite scent?
I love the smell of cloves and cinnamon. Last winter I stocked up on the closeout fall candles and scent oils so I've had my autumn scents all year, ha ha!

5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it?
I would pay one of those consultants to come in and help me organize my home and studio the way I want it but can't seem to quite wrap my brain around how to do it! Then I would pay off the mortgage. And put in a jacuzzi bathtub and a sauna. And then I would invest the rest because all the stocks are so cheap right now and by the time we retire they'll probably be worth something again (hopefully!!!). :P

6. What is your theme song?
Mmmm, another tough one. At this point in my life it's Just Showed Up by Sara Groves. (Danger, clicking the Just Showed Up link will take you to a window with audio! For all you at-work blog surfers! :))

7. Do you trust easily?
Yes, I do, but I trust my instincts more! :) And they usually serve me well. :) So I easily trust people worth trusting. :)

8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think?
Ha ha. I definitely overthink before I act! :) Except, like Tena said, sometimes when it comes to scrapbook shopping, ha ha! :)

9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
Yes.

10. What do you most like about yourself?
I like the personal journey that I am on; I like the things I am figuring out as I'm getting older. I like that I love to help people and am always willing to lend a helping hand to whomever I see who needs it, whether I know them or not. I like that I can look at beautiful things and often think, "I can make that."

11. Is being tagged fun?
I'm thrilled that Tena thought of me! She's super talented... oh, wait, I think this is a separate question... :)

12. How do you spend your social networking (Facebook, etc.) time?
I started on Facebook a zillion years ago when you still had to have a .edu address to sign up! Nobody was on there yet; seriously, nobody from my high school and only a couple from college. So I later switched to MySpace since more of my military friends were on there. Now Facebook is huge and I keep finding more and more friends on there. Another way I do my "social networking" is by visiting all my friends' blogs and leaving comments, 'cause I know how much I like comments (hint, hint!). :)

13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately?
Uh, finding friends via the "You might know..." feature on Facebook, ha ha! No, I have been addicted to creating... scrapbook pages (check back later today!) and jewelry and a collage and photography, I am just feeling it all. And I've had a longtime love affair with sudoku, too. :)

14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Tena is such an inspiration! She was an instructor at Inspired in April and she is soooo talented and soooo nice! I found myself in awe of her work and how down-to-earth she is. I bought two books she co-wrote with Carol Wingert (here and here) and I had a couple of questions, so I e-mailed Tena, and we've been e-mailing each other every-so-often since! I'm so happy that she's teaching a mini-workshop at next year's Inspired, it will be great to see her again!

15. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?
Tena wrote Mercy by Duffy so that's been in my head since then. :)

16. What’s your favorite item of clothing?
I have a pair of CK Choice jeans that fit me like a glove. Of course Calvin Klein stopped making their Choice line, dangit!! And one of the back metal buttons is falling off, I need to figure out how to fix that. I also love my black Apple Bottom jeans. Yes, for real. Especially with those red shoes I mentioned yesterday; black jeans with red heels? Oh, just try to stop me!

17. Do you think Rice Crispies are yummy?
I don't like them as cereal but I love homemade Rice Crispy treats! It's a dang good thing for my waistline that I don't like to clean marshmallow goop out of my pots, because when I see them at a party, you'd better grab one quickly before I scarf them all up, yum yum. :)

18. What would you do if you saw $100 lying on the ground?
Well, I would of course see if I could locate the person who lost it! If that wasn't possible then if I found it today I would buy this and this. Yes, I don't have enough hobbies obsessions passions; now I want to learn silver fusing, too. :)

19. What items could you not go without during the day?
Oh, well, I could go without most things, of course. I like to have a little caffeine, a chat with my husband, a little creating, and to keep my e-mail inbox to around 30 messages. :)

20. What should you be doing right now?
Any number of the 837 things on my To Do list. Next up: laundry, more Hitchcock Blonde art (check back later today!), and lunch. :) After that: big plans. BIG. Go!

Now, I am generally not a big fan of tagging. It's a little bit of rebel sneaking out, I think; "Oh no you di'n't just tell me I have to do this!" :) But I was happy that Tena thought of me and since I could change any of the questions I thought I'd play along for once. :) So I'm going to go ahead and "tag" eight people, too, but take it from me: you don't have to do it if you don't want to. :)

My eight are: Katie, Kellie, Sooz, Aimee, Kerry, Cynthia, Jen, and Heather. All cool chicas whose blogs I check regularly... and you should too. :) Especially check out Jen's photos of her husband Brett eating asparagas... oh my stinkin' heck that is hilarious. :)