20 Questions

Note: This post is written as part of PAIL's "20 Questions" request...I'll update with a link to the other participants once it becomes available...

1. What was the last thing you threw in the garbage?

A Lipton tea bag. I drink 2 cups every morning.

2. What's the #1 most played song on your iPOD?

Actually, this is a funny story. When I was living with my brother Luke before he died, he used to get ahold of my phone and as a joke change the ringtone to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" all the time (not sure why that song, he didn't even like Michael Jackson), and then I'd be traveling for work and my phone would ring and I'd be embarrassed...so unprofessional.

And then one day I realized he'd downloaded "Beat It" onto my iPod and he must have spent all night one night pressing play over and over because it was the #1 most played song by a WIDE margin.

Because he's no longer alive, little memories/reminders like this are so precious...glad I got to think about this this morning...

3. What is your favorite quote?

One of my favorites, because it talks to the simple magic that so many of my days these days are made of:

"It's not every day that the world arranges itself into a poem." --Wallace Stevens

4. What chore do you absolutely hate doing?

Weeding. Followed by putting away the laundry.

5. What is your favorite form of exercise?

Used to be surfing for many years, now I want to say snowboarding...I used to have a season pass and go all the time, but since I've had kids I haven't been able to get it together to go, which is OK, I'll snowboard again. What I actually do these days is hiking and hot yoga.

6. What is your favorite time of day/day of the week/month of the year?

I love the light in the evening, just before the sun goes down. And Fall is my favorite time of year, especially in Colorado.

7. What is on your bedside table?

Stacks and stacks of magazines (mostly New Yorkers and Poetry, the occasional Vogue), much to my husband's chagrin.

8. What is your favorite body part?

On me? I used to love that I had a flat, flat stomach...but not so much since having twins. 

9. Would you use the power of invisibility for good or evil? Elaborate.

Good for sure...I have a hard time being evil. I'm waaaaaay too nice, which is not necessarily a good thing...

10. If you could choose to stay a certain age forever, what age would that be?

Whatever age involves having little kids all around me...this time is so happy and precious...so afraid of it passing...

11. What is the first thing you would do if you won the lottery?

Buy a slopeside condo in Crested Butte, CO, a cottage on the beach at Rincon (Santa Barbara, CA area), a bungalow in Seattle. Then spend my time traveling amongst the three.

12. What is your biggest pet peeve?

People who do crappy/sloppy work.

13. If you could know the answer to any question, what would it be?

How do you survive tragedy and keep yourself intact? I feel like I've barely made it through things life has already thrown at me, and it's inevitable that there's more to come.

14. At what age did you become an adult?

Late 30s.

15. Recommend a book, movie, or television show in 3 sentences.

One of my favorite books ever is called "Holy Land" by D.J. Waldie. It's tiny little essays about a tract home development in Southern California, which sounds so boring but the writing is absolutely brilliant and so incredibly its own. My deepest wish is to write something as cool as this book.

16. What did you do growing up that got you into trouble?

Pretty much nothing (see #9 above). I did bite my brother in the bathtub when I was a little kid, and then said to my mom, "But Mommy! I didn't bite him! I had my mouth open and he fell on my teeth!"

17. What was the first album you bought with your own money?

I can't remember. I'd like to think it was some cool grunge band like Nirvana, but it was probably some horribly shallow and vapid '80s pop thing.

18. If someone wrote a book about you, what would be the title?

I've written a book about me (more specifically, about my time in Santa Barbara), and I can't come up with a title. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know...

19. What story do you wish your family would stop telling about you?

See #16, above. I've actually recently told my mom that she only gets to bring this incident up 5 more times, so ration wisely. :)

20. True or false: The unicorn is the greatest mythical creature. State your case.

I'm actually partial to the mermaid, given my love of the sea...

XOXO