Tagged!

My sister and I dying Easter eggs yesterday

My friend Brady tagged me in one of those "getting to know you" posts and I thought, "I have lots of work to procrastinate, why not!?" (No, I really did think that.) So without further ado....

THE RULES:
1. Post these rules
2. Post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions provided by the one who tagged you
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag
5. Tag 11 people

The Random Things

1. I'm really curious about the Amish.
2. I looove baking.
3. I've been highlighting my hair for so long, I'm not totally sure what color it is. I think it's just some boring shade of dark blond - the worst hair color known to man. (Um... no offense if that's your hair color. It looks really good on you.)
4. I love cheesy 80's and 90's movies. Favorites include: Troop Beverly Hills, Sister Act, Forrest Gump, and For Richer or Poorer.
5. I think about food and eating well all day. (Then hate myself when I eat a piece of pizza. Then forgive myself and move on.)
6. My happy place is anywhere in Northern Michigan, especially on Lake Michigan.
7. I hate optical illusions. 
8. I remember at least one dream per night. And they're weird.
9. I think that "Dad with the fat wallet" Subway commercial is really funny. I know I shouldn't - I mean, it's really cheesy. Makes me laugh every time though. 
10.  I'm a huge fan of road trips.
11.  I love babies. 

New Questions:

1. Do you enforce a bedtime for yourself? What tricks do you use?

No. I have no self discipline when it comes to bedtime. Nighttime Elizabeth doesn't care about morning Elizabeth. I love sleeping but hate bedtime. It's so boring.

2. Which do you prefer and why: Hummus or Baba ganoush?

Hummus for sure. Pretty sure I'm allergic to eggplant, so I try to avoid baba ganoush.

3. If money were no object, where would you travel in the world?

After typing a long list of places I'd visit, I decided it would be better to just say: where wouldn't I visit? I'd like to see a bunch of National Parks across the country though.

4. What was the last book you finished?

A book of fairy tales my friend Elise wrote. They were so good!

5. What is the seed for your favorite Pandora station?

Halloween party radio

6. Why is Ford superior to Chevy?

Sorry Brady, but having been raised by a dad who's worked at GM his whole life, I'm going to have to say Chevy is superior. 

7. What is one of your pet peeves?

When people have to one-up everything you say. You have a headache? They have a migraine. Your car is making a sound? Their car exploded. You twisted your ankle? They don't even have an ankle. 

Oh, and you're vs. your. People, I beg of you: learn the difference!

8. What’s the nerdiest thing about you?

It's hard to choose just one thing... my love of history probably. Oh, and my place of work.

9. Doctor Who or Sherlock? Discuss.

Have never seen either. Maybe I'm not that big of a nerd?

10. Why did you choose to respond to this tag?

Seemed like an easy way to write a blog post. :)

11. When people ask you to name a favorite anything, is it easy or hard for you? Why?

Not really hard. It kind of annoys me when I ask someone their favorite ice cream or whatever and they go into panic mode. These questions aren't binding, people! Just chose your top three if it makes you feel any better! (Oh, this is one of my pet peeves too, I guess.)

New Questions:

1. What's your favorite drink?
2. What animal are you most afraid of?
3. What is your favorite thing to do on vacation?
4. Do you like your name? If not, what do you wish your name was?
5. What are your top three favorite movies?
6. What are some characteristics you look for in a friend?
7. Do you consider yourself creative? In what ways?
8. What's your favorite season, and why?
9. Do you believe in ghosts?
10. What is your ideal weekend? (Relaxing at home, time outdoors, getting work done?)
11. Are you a dog person or cat person? (Or "other")

People I tag:

April, Heather, Ryan, Sarah, Sara, Lizzie, Melanie G., Kara, Kelly, Brenda, Taylor

If you don't wish to do the tag, it's totally fine. You'll just have nine days of bad luck (I don't make the rules). If I didn't tag you, I'd still love to hear your answers! Let me know if you post it on your blog! Or answer in the comment section.

Arizona Adventures

I've been home from my vacation for over two weeks now but I still have some Arizona adventures to tell you about! One of the nice things about my vacation was the new things I experienced.

"Oh, what new things did you experience?" you ask? Where do I even begin?

* For one, I ate an ostrich burger at an Ostrich Festival with a blogging friend (who's identity is top secret). It felt slightly strange eating the thing I was supposed to be celebrating. I'm just glad it's a tradition that doesn't carry into other celebrations (birthday parties come to mind). The ostrich burger was really good by the way, though it tasted like buffalo. Who would've thought?

* I met two blogging friends. And they were both awesome - it felt totally natural to hang out with them! Have you ever made friends through blogging?

* I saw my dear old friend Vaughn who happened to be in Phoenix the same weekend as me. Some of you might remember Vaughn from this post. It was the first time we've seen each other in four years! Vaughn pinched me to see if I was dreaming. Pretty sure that's not how it works. Then when saying goodbye, he said we should wait eight years this time. I know he didn't mean it though. He misses me terribly.

* I held a gun for the first time in my life! This was Vaughn's doing. He was outraged that I've never held a gun and wanted to remedy it as soon as possible. Don't mind my face in this picture. I had just woken up.

* I went to a site where a meteor hit the earth 50,000 years ago! Yes, this is one of the nerdiest things I've ever done on vacation. And yes, I loved it. Me and all the retired couples there that day had a blast.

* I saw the desert and cacti... I felt weird calling it "cacti" so pretty much every time I was talking about more than one cactus, I'd just say, "cactuses....cacti." I don't know why I couldn't just say "cacti" the first time. Probably because we don't have cactuses....cacti in Michigan so I didn't want to act overly familiar.

* Speaking of not understanding lingo, I had the same experience with "froyo" or as I call it "frozen yogurt." I'm sorry, I'm just not ready to call it froyo yet. It's too soon in our relationship. Though I haven't hesitated to express my love to it. You guys, it was so good. It wasn't my first time eating frozen yogurt,  but in Arizona they're more into it than we are in Michigan, ie more toppings, more flavors, more hype. And that's not a bad thing. It was divine.

Mochi, fruit, etc.... My mouth is watering.

Those are just a few of the new (or new-ish) things I experienced on my Arizona adventure. Is it any wonder I already want to go back?

What I want

Life is good. I got some new running shoes today, I took a nap, and if I do say so myself, I had a pretty darn good hair day. But sometimes, even when life is good, you just want a little more. Not a lot more, just a little more. You know what I mean? Here are some things I want tonight:

* I want to NEVER have my butt featured in one of those "America's fattest cities" articles. I saw this tonight and wondered once again, did the reporters ASK? And what would they say?? "Could we feature you in an article we're doing? It's about obesity and your gigantic derriere couldn't be a better visual. No offense." "Oh, none taken!" was the response, I'm sure.

(not actual size)

* I want to NOT really like the new Justin Bieber song. I know I should keep this to myself but I have always been very honest with you all about my music guilty pleasures, so why stop now? Darn that Justin Bieber and his Justin Timberlike sounding voice in the song "Boyfriend"! Here's a link but only listen if you're willing to risk liking a Justin Bieber song. If you never have before, this could be a game changer for you. Not something to be taken lightly (link).

* I want to not be in 35th place out of 41 in my work bracket competition.

* I want my grandma to settle on ONE news anchor who's hairstyle I should get. So far she can't decide which would be best on me. If there's one thing my grandma has opinions about, it's the hairstyles of female news anchors. She told me today that one anchorwoman looked like a complete mess the other day and clearly hadn't had time to get her hair done before the news started. She pays very close attention to their hair and uses that information to give me tips. She likes the way I've been wearing it lately, though she prefers it the way I wore in that one time (I don't even know).

* I want to be able to eat three cookies tonight without looking like the butt picture above....

K, I guess those are some of the things I want this evening. I had written more but backspaced over those paragraphs... In other words, this post was juicier five minutes ago (but not that juicy).

What are some things you want tonight?

Wednesday Thoughts

Wednesday Thoughts.... Wednesday Thoughts.....

I'm trying to figure out what my thoughts are this morning and it turns out I don't have many. Or I have too many...I'm not sure which it is.

One thing I know for sure is that I'm achy! Last week, I went on a nice long bike ride with Sarah and Katherine. While on this bike ride, Sarah informed Katherine and me that she was going to run some races this summer and that she'd chosen us to run them with her. We both just laughed in response to this, because neither of us are runners.

But later I started thinking about it, wondering if I could become a runner...? So I decided to give it a go, and this week I started the "Couch to 5K" program. So far, so good! Sarah, ever the optimist, is already trying to get me to sign up for a half marathon in June. While I appreciate her enthusiasm, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around running a mile, let alone a million miles (pretty sure that's how many miles are in a half marathon). Sarah tried to encourage me by saying we could totally run 13 miles in under six hours, but she may as well have said, "we can totally run across the United States in less than 2 years" because that's how long the half marathon sounds to my non-runner's brain.

If any of you have any advice on the best running shoes, by the way, I'd love to hear it! Also, have any of you tried the Couch to 5K program?

In other thoughts, I'd thought I'd share a couple funny things with you today to get you through the midweek slump. The first is a pinterest find that I found hilarious!

Next, this video that my friend Jesse showed me yesterday. The more you watch it, the more you need to keep watching. You're going to think it's dumb at first, but then you're going to need to watch it again. You've been warned.


Happy Wednesday!

Sites

It's springtime and Michigan is blossoming. I forgot that the air smells like blossoms here in the spring time. In the winter the air has no smell at all. Sometimes it smells like snow, but this year we got practically no snow (strangest winter of my life), so the air just smelled like nothing. Well, either nothing or car exhaust.

Anyway, the blossoms are blossoming and they're beautiful and fragrant. I love being able to spend more time outside too. We've had record highs all year so it's been wonderful to be outside. (This week it's getting cold again, but that's beside the point.)

I thought I'd share with you some instagram pictures from the past few days. Some are from a service activity I went to in Detroit over the weekend, and some are from a couple walks I went on yesterday (in Ann Arbor).

The area in Detroit where we were has an artist community, with some very cool and/or interesting works. You'll see what I mean...

I debated about posting these because I suppose picture posts are not overly interesting, but a friend of mine often sends me instagrams of where he lives and I love it. I love seeing different parts of the world and country! I hope you enjoy it as well.

Mural on wall in Detroit.

Paint going down drain in street

My friend Liz and me

Art installation in Detroit

Ann Arbor

Mural in Ann Arbor

Looking into the Robot Repair store window

Grafiti in Ann Arbor

More blossoms in Ann Arbor

The Great Divide

The Hunger Games movie comes out today, and with it the typical reactions that come from whatever the BIG thing of the time is. Whether that thing is an anticipated movie, book, sporting event, or website (Pinterest comes to mind) the reactions always seem to be the same. While there are plenty of people who are simply indifferent to the BIG thing of the time, there tends to be two groups that are most vocal about THE THING. Here's how I see the breakdown of the two groups:

1. The excited group: These people love the BIG thing. They post on their blogs about it, on Facebook, on Twitter, and they talk about it a lot. You can recognize them by their facepaint, costumes, online posts, t-shirts, and tear streaked faces on the night of the event. They exhaust their friends who have no interest in the BIG thing with nonstop countdowns, chatter, and squealing. They debate over who should have played so-and-so in the movie, then complain that the movie didn't do the book justice. They camp out for hours to get tickets. This is the thing that gets them through their mundane lives for the time being and they want everyone to know how awesome it is!

2. The above-it/exhausted crowd. This group is so above the BIG thing. They can't be bothered with the posts or mania. Their interests are more elevated. They're more sophisticated. They're busy being productive members of society and don't have time for this, thank you very much. They post things on the internet asking if they are alone in this. They pretend to be burdened by the idea that they might be alone. They see such cultural phenomena as the thing that divides the masses, and they're happy to find themselves among the elite, high above the rest of the plebeians. They are free thinkers; they don't do what society tells them to do, man.

At this point some of you might be thinking, "is she talking about me?" Well,  don't get all worked up because I'm probably not. In fact, I'm probably talking about me (in both groups). I'm also talking about lots of reactions I've seen over the years from others. And I should mention that a lot of people are in group 3: they just don't care. They're not above it or beneath it, they're just involved with other things. That group isn't as much fun to talk about.

I have found myself in all the groups, depending on the event. When it comes to The Hunger Games, I'm more in group 1. Though I have, at times, found myself annoyed with people within my own group. It happens. I consider myself a more mature, elite member of group 1. Some people in the group are acting very immature. I, however, consider the whole thing to be a fascinating study of literature and culture.* See, while I may be in group 1, I have a bit of group 2 in me.  (I'm both excited and pretentious.)

Here's which group I've landed in on some of the BIG events that come to mind:

Star Wars movies (all): 2, all the way.
Star Trek movie (most recent): 2, but I saw it and it was "ok" (mostly because of Chris Pine). I'm still above it though.
Harry Potter books: 1, completely. Book release party and all.
Harry Potter movies: Somewhere between a 1 and 2. More of a 1 though.
Baseball: 1
College football: 2
Pinterest: 1, as you well know.

Which group are you in?

*Lies. I liked the books and am looking forward to seeing the movie for pure entertainment purposes. I'm so not above it.

As Seen on TV

My coworker, Ann, sits at a cubicle about ten feet behind mine. I recently asked her what she thought was a strange question, "if I were using a thigh master at my desk, would you be able to tell from where you are sitting?" I'm not sure if it was the visual of me using the thigh master at work that made her laugh, or simply the memory of the long lost 90's product the "thigh master" that amused her. Either way, I haven't bought one yet.

But I want to.

If I had it my way, I would own ALL the exercise doo-hickies. I think ALL of them are the key to getting my abs in perfect shape, or the jiggle completely out of my arms and um...other areas. Luckily, lack of space and insufficient funds have prevented me from buying everything so far. I still have a bunch of stuff though - a mini trampoline (you might recall), a stair climber, pilates equipment, a foam roller, weights, arm bands, and more.

But I also want the thigh master, the shake weight, and any of the many products to make my abs even more fab than they already are (hard to imagine, I know).

Like this ab roller machine. It looks like something you'd see in your gynecologist's office, right? But no, it's actually the magic solution to the best abs of your life. (Or so it promises.) And I want it.

I don't buy it though because I figure I can probably get the same results from doing sit ups and crunches. But the problem is, sit ups and crunches are boring! I want the crazy contraptions! Not because they're magic solutions but because they're more fun. And they're magic solutions.

What is the best exercise doo-hickie you own? What's the craziest? Which is the one collecting dust in the corner?