Me, Me, Meme

I love me a good meme and Sherri at The Claw was kind enough to include me with some pretty fab bloggers in her tag list, so here goes with her Eight Questions:

1. best news you've heard in a while? Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth was finally made into a movie. Well, a miniseries. A great book, I hope they don’t screw it up.

2. first concert you ever saw? Toto, 1982, at a theater (vs. an arena). At the time I knew only one of their songs but the French exchange student who was living with us that summer was mad for them, and she was cool, so they must be cool, so I happily tagged along. We sat right in front of the speakers and I was deaf for at least a day afterward.

3. who was your teenybopper crush? Young Patrick Dempsey was a fave. Current Patrick Dempsey also, but wasn't he so cute in Can't Buy Me Love? Also, the whole cast of The Outsiders. Except maybe Ralph Macchio. Not my type. Also: too Karate Kid.



4. favorite new blogs you'd recommend? These aren’t new per se, but they are new to me: La Maison Boheme, Small Place Style, From Me To You (really gorgeous photography and food styling and I love the Diary of a Brocavore series of recipes and photos).

5. would you be interested in a bloggy pal meetup, and if so where do you suggest? New York! Or Chicago. I'll go anywhere.

6. total eclipse of the heart - crank up or change the station? Crank it up once for old times sake and a loud sing-a-long. Definitely not on repeat though.

7. currently reading? Catching up on stacks of magazines before diving into a new book.

8. karaoke - yes or no? I love the idea of karaoke, but the few times I have gone it seems to be very cliquey and elitist, and that is no fun. So ‘no’ on principle. Maybe we could have a private Total Eclipse of The Heart karaoke party at the blogger meet-up?

Want to play along (and I hope you do)? Answer my Eight Questions in the Comments or on your blog (and put a link in the Comments):

1. Favorite non-John Hughes ‘80s movie?

2. Cake or pie? Discuss.

3. Here is $100 cash, what would you splurge on?

4. Here is another $100 cash, but you have to donate it. To whom and why?

5. First job you ever had.

6. Something that you collected and have since stopped but people keep giving you (and what do you do with it now?).

7. Describe your perfect Sunday.

8. Look! Time travel is now possible! Where would you go?

And we take requests

My British agent, Sas of Sas' Magical Mystery Tour, has demanded that my band stop procrastinating and get our butts in the studio to finish our album (that's like a CD, for you young 'uns).



You, too can be a Jane Austen-quoting, Toddlers and Tiaras*-influenced Eastern European electronic klezmer rock star:

1. Go to Wikipedia. Hit 'random'. The first Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to Quotations Page and select 'random quotations'. The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to Flickr and click on 'explore the last seven days'. Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. I used the third picture down, since the third picture across was a cute little ladybug, flittering across a daisy, and my band is Eastern European electronic klezmer rock, not The Carpenters.
4. Use Picnik (or photoshop or whatever) to put it all together; I used my new favorite toy, Picasa. Then tell us about your album.
5. Comment with the link to your album

*seriously, why else is this child wearing this outfit?

For the record (ha ha, no pun intended, and for you kiddos, a "record" is also like a CD):

• Albota is a commune in Arges County, in southern central Romania.
• "Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way." is from Emma, by my girl Jane Austen.
• The photo is by NoSha.

When your band makes its album cover, don't forget to put your link in the comments!

New bird on the block No. 13 has been tagged

{Blue Bird Gift Tags from Ashleybug's Etsy shop}

This tag is cute, cute, cute, and so cheerful. Now, on to the other tag, sent by my best friend ML, whose birthday is tomorrow!

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. (Unlike ML, I follow directions.) Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

1998 - I was freaking out at turning 31 (30 did not bother me, but for some reason 31 did). I was working as a corporate event planner and contract rep in the commercial natural gas industry (i.e. the kind of company that supplies Your Local Gas Co), and since this was in the pre-Enron days, I had a huge budget and carte blanche to spend it. I was living in Litchfield County in a 1921 Craftsman Colonial whose charm still outweighed her monstrous reno needs (remember the Haney Place on Green Acres?), with a (soon to be ex) husband, two beagles, three cats and possibly a ghost (according to my friend Josephine). I was lead alto in my church choir, was avidly quilting and crafting, and was driving a 1990 Volvo 240DL station wagon with 100K miles on it (and adding 70 more miles a day with my commute).

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

Well, I took the day off since I worked all weekend at my friend's winery (I will have a huge post about this, with great pix, come back later), so this will be my day today:

1. Clean apartment, as it hasn't been done since before I left for Chicago and Cape Cod.

2. Go to new Penzeys Spices store to stock up on saffron and curry and whatever else tickles my fancy, and get inspired about what to cook for my Birthday Dinner Party on Friday.

3. Buy and plant annuals and herbs for window boxes on balcony.

4. Read Board pre-meeting package for Condo Association meeting tonight (yeah, I am the Queen of Procrastination).

5. Have BF come over and fix whatever I screwed up on new HDTV that makes the HD channels have a big black border around them, effectively turning what should be a 42" widescreen picture into a 32" widescreen picture (yes, I measured).

3) Snacks I enjoy:

1. Cheese. Any kind of cheese. Goat cheese, cheddar cheese, brie, swiss. Melted, sliced, grilled, shredded on garlic toast and popped under the broiler. Mixed into mashed potatoes. Cream cheese with spicy chutney. Fondue. Gorgonzola crumbled in a salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Cold ricotta spooned on hot elbow macaroni with peas and caramelized onions in chicken broth. Um, I guess I've digressed from "snack" to "entree"...

2. Chocolate

3. Olives. I used to hate them because I had been exposed to only canned black olives and green salad olives with pimentos. Then I tried kalamata olives and I was hooked on all kinds of olives. I love them as a snack, in salad, on a cheese tray (see above), or skewered on a pick and bathing in a Ketel One martini, dry, up.

4. Cherries, which are just coming into season. Mmmmm....

5. Ice cream. Between this and the cheese if I ever become lactose intolerant it will be the end of me.

6. Wine. I know it is not a "snack" but I do enjoy it!

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Quit my job and open my own business. Take Italian lessons in Italy. Rent a villa there for a month and fly my family over to enjoy it with me. Donate more generously to the charities that I think can actually effect change rather than just employ lobbyists and pay their CEOs monstrous salaries. Hire a personal trainer. Take painting lessons. Buy a cottage on a lake (or possibly the ocean, can't decide). Invest.

5) Places I have lived:

in order:

Bridgeport, CT

Milford, CT

New Rochelle, NY (college)

Milford, CT

Plymouth, CT

Hartford, CT

I did work in Manhattan after college, but I took the train...

6) Who I'm tagging:

First, I am miffed that ML tagged LittleByrd and Mrs. French before I could, but my list is so long it was hard to pick just 5 or 6 anyway.

1. Robin at A Little Bird Told Me. She is an amazing young woman who has lived a lot of years in a short period of time. She writes beautifully and pairs her posts with lovely and unexpected photos, and has cultivated a wonderful circle of friends.

2. Diana at Please Sir. She has a great sense of style and I always love her finds, her photos, and her comments.

3. Debby at She Knits by the Seashore. I first met Debby in real life at a bike event - her husband and my dad are biking buddies (she also bikes). Then I re-met her via my blog and in subsequent emails we found out how much we had in common, especially with regards to books and movies (particularly those of the British variety). I'm not a knitter, but she is prolific so she is picking up my slack.

4. Stacy at La Boudoir, and not just because I won a prize on her blog. Mostly because I think she will have some interesting answers to this tag, but after her trip to London & Paris I think she will have some really interesting answers to this tag, specifically Question 4 (that being said, Stacy if you do this tag you have to clarify the answers that are L&P inspired!).

5. Julie at Hooked on Houses, because I just found her blog and it is a great way for me to fulfill my need for voyeurism (of the "looking at other people's houses" variety) and want to share the joy.

6. My Mom, aka "Mumsie" in my comments, because she is wise and fabulous and one of my best friends. She doesn't have a blog but she likes to answer questions like these, so I will post her answers as a guest blog.