Round 8 -- 60 Pictures

First up,
Happy Fourth of July!!


Now onto my 60 Pictures post...

Trying to finish this list! I've been at it for a while, I need to get it over with.

The Original List.



36. A picture of your ‘other half'.



He's handsome. One of my favorite pictures of this guy.



37. A picture of the people you spend most of your time with.



It's usually my husband. We like each other, so we like to spend time together. I also spend a lot of time with the kids at work, but I have no pictures of them obviously.



38. A picture of the best part of your day.


_{(Without the kiddos and usually on the couch...)}

Coming home to dinner with my handsome husband is a great way to end the day. We unwind and de-stress together, we laugh about funny things, we bitch about stupid things, and then we relax and watch a movie.



39. A picture of your favorite movie.



You seriously want me to choose? Have you met my husband's collection? (Note: it's gotten bigger since this picture was taken in April)

I'm not a favorites person. I'm indecisive, and I actually don't love movies as much as my husband. I'll take one or leave one in most instances. I prefer watching TV shows on DVD. We've been marathoning it through all the Burn Notice seasons, and it's one of my favorite TV shows...





40. A picture of your favorite Disney character.



When I was growing up, it was Sleeping Beauty. I loved the princesses, but wanted to pick a less common one than Belle or Cinderella. So I picked the one that spends her days sleeping...I don't think that was a coincidence.

Now I don't really have favorites. Indecisive!



41. A picture of your pet.



My two furballs, Guinness and Fiona. (Guinness is gray and male, Fiona is striped and female.) They couldn't make it to Japan with us, so they're getting spoiled rotten at my parents' house while they gang up on my parents' dog. I miss them every single day.



42. A picture of your dream house.



I'm not too picky about my dream house. Or maybe I'm not too picky about having a visual picked out?

I want
-A house with tons of windows/natural light.
-A house in a more wooded area, but close enough to take day trips into a large city and not have to drive hours for a grocery store.
-A house big enough to fill with all of our family, but small enough that I don't slave my life away trying to keep it clean.
-A house with a big kitchen, preferably with an island.
-A house with a backyard big enough to grill and enjoy the sunshine, and maybe install a pool. Or at least have some sprinklers outside.

If we were going absolute dream world, I'd want a huge house (because I certainly wouldn't clean if I could afford to hire someone), big enough for a library, man cave basement, backyard pool and grilling oasis, huge kitchen and living room made for gatherings, and lots of beautiful wood, moldings, stone counters, etc. In reality, though, I'm willing to give on a lot of my wants. Even some of the ones listed above are negotiable. Good thing we're not planning on buying a house for a while yet.



43. A picture of something you can’t function without.



I've tried to give it up. It doesn't work. I'm addicted and I'm sticking with it.



44. A picture of someone you’re told you look like.



See the resemblance? That's my mom. I look like a lot of my family on both sides. My mom, dad, and brother most definitely. But I've also heard aunts and uncles pretty frequently too. I don't hear celebrities or anything much, but I hear about family resemblances every time I'm anywhere with family.



45. A picture of your room.



I'll do my bedroom, since I have a whole apartment. I love my big, comfy bed.



46. A picture of where you wish you were right now.



It's been rainy and foggy all weekend, so I've been craving some sunshine on this holiday weekend. Somewhere sunny and with some water sounds fabulous. If it could include a hammock, I'd happily sit and read some fluff all day long.



47. A picture of your favorite place to shop.



It has everything, and its shipping cost and time is unbeatable. With the limited selection and stock at the BX, Amazon is a lifesaver. Its prices on books also keeps my husband from bitching about my need to buy a new book every other day.



48. A picture of your favorite actress/actor.



Again with the favorites and the indecisiveness. I do love Meryl Streep though.



49. A picture of where you live.



Here's our apartment building. It's summer now and those trees are green.
If you want to get specific, here's where we are on a map.





50. A picture of your most frequented place.



I'm a homebody, so I like spending a lot of time at my own place. I also spend a good chunk of time at work. But home is so much better than work.

Round 7 - 60 Pictures

I haven't done this in a while, so here you go!

The original list

31. A picture of a tradition you have.



When I think tradition, I think family...and garlic dip. The biggest tradition in my family growing up was getting together and enjoying good food and good company, and it's still my favorite part of the holidays and weddings and whatever other excuse we use for gathering on either side of my family. My dad's side, however, is known for one special recipe at each and every gathering: garlic dip. My dad and aunts bicker about how to prepare it (by hand vs. mixer is a constant argument), all the girl cousins double and tripled dipped the stuff until they had to have their own bowls (the boy cousins were never as crazy about the stuff, which I think is crazy...). It's something that instantly comforts me and makes me think of home and family. I still make it at holidays even if it's just Jeff and me, like Easter most recently. But really, it's the family and laughs and enjoying each other's company over food, rather than the food itself. It's a tradition I intend to continue for years and years. As soon as I'm back in the same country as all my family, anyways!



32. A picture of a crazy night.



I don't really have crazy nights, but this was definitely one of those "whyyyy did you keep drinking???" nights. I had malibu concoctions, beer, gin concoctions, more beer, and thennnn sex on the beaches. I cannot remember how they taste and I've never gotten them before or after, if you're curious. I've only had a handful of hangovers, due to my low count of crazy nights, and this one was a doozy.



33. A picture of the house you grew up in.



This is mid-paint job, but here's the house I grew up in. Due to a brighter than expected blue, everyone knew it as "that blue house". It made directions super easy, and it definitely stood out on the street. My parents recently had new siding installed, so it's a beautiful light gray color now. My brother and I were both planning to visit for Christmas, and we both joked we'd drive right past the house. Then my in-laws came to share a pizza, and they did actually drive right past it. So did my longtime around the corner neighbor and my husband's best friend when he came to visit. It was quite comical!



34. A picture of your currently most played CD.

I haven't played a CD in a long time... I have my iPod and iTunes on my computer.

But lately, I've been playing a lot of country. I really love the voices of Blake Shelton and Dierks Bentley.



And when I need super upbeat music, I've been picking songs like the ones from Burlesque. Cheesy and oh so predictable, but it has fun dance scenes and some killer Christina vocals. And it's impossible not to dance to, which makes things like cleaning the tub bearable.





35. A picture of your favorite place to eat.

A favorite is always impossible for me to pick...so I'll pick one we loved and went to on a regular basis and I am particularly missing. I can replicate pasta and burgers and fried chicken, but Mexican is something I'm not very good at, yet. And I love Mexican whether Americanized or authentic or anything in between, yum.









Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day!
It's about over here in Japan, but just starting in America.

Round 6 - 60 Pictures

The original list
Previous picture posts



26. A picture of something that means a lot to you.



My family is the most important thing in my life. These four people keep me going with love, laughter, and support.



27. A picture of yourself and a family member.



One of my favorites. My brother Sean and I at a Chicago Cubs spring training game in Arizona last year. I visited over spring break and had such a fun week, just looking at the picture brings back all the memories of good food, fun, and laughs.




28. A picture of something you're afraid of.



I love the water, I love going out on boats, but I don't love being in deep water. I'm not a strong swimmer, and it freaks me out when I can't touch ground. But, my husband has a strong desire to go scuba diving, and is probably going to become certified this spring or next, so I'm hoping to be able to overcome my fears and learn to dive with him. I think it'd be such an incredible experience, even if it scares the hell out of me.

That, and it's wayyy better than his plan to skydive.




29. A picture that can always make you smile.



My furbabies! I miss them terribly. Their personalities made our house even more full of laughter and fun, and it's extra quiet without them causing trouble and looking for love. They're causing a raucous at my parents' house right now, but this picture (really any picture of them) always brings a smile. They're so cute and loving when they're sound asleep!




30. A picture of someone you miss.



Flashback! Turnabout 2004! Snagged from her Facebook since I'm too lazy to pull out my external hard drive, but I miss my best friend terribly. We used to live a few blocks apart and would spend all summer meeting halfway. I can't wait until we're back within driving distance someday!

Round 5 - 60 Pictures

The original list
Previous picture posts




21. A picture of something you wish you could forget.




I'm generally in the mindset that things should be remembered regardless, history repeats itself, knowledge is power, yadda yadda.

But if I could, I would happily forget the hell of flying to Misawa. Delays, getting halfway to Japan and having to turn back to Seattle, etc. I'd also lump in the travels to Italy to visit Jeff in 2006, when the airline went on strike and if it weren't for my mother-in-law and her quick work with the telephone, I wouldn't have gotten to Italy period, then my luggage getting lost in Rome for weeks. Although both travel ordeals make good stories now, I wouldn't mind one bit if they had never happened!




22. A picture of something you wish you were better at.




I like working out...when it's over. I am absolutely horrible with consistency. I'll have a good run for a few weeks, then have an off day and have a hell of a time getting back into the routine. I generally despise cardio in any shape or form. I actually like weight training, I just can't motivate myself to remember how good it feels and want to get up and do it.

Sidenote: I never use weight machines because I'm generally too short for them to work properly. And I'm too lazy to downsize the weights after the manly military men finish working their biceps. I use my own free weights at home.




23. A picture of your favorite book.


Seriously, just one? I can't.
I'll show you some of my favorites. I really can't pick just one though.



Good in Bed is one of my favorite "fluff" books. Aka-- a book not assigned in college, a book I generally read to take a break from academic work, and a book I expect very little out of besides a few love trysts and some good ol' life drama. This one is a little above the normal fluff reading, I think. It surprised me. The main character draws you in and makes you love her and sympathize. It's one that I finished and felt the urge to turn back to page one and start all over again. I only feel that way when I really like a book.



Lucy is one of my favorites from college. It's a short novella, so you can knock it out in an afternoon. It's may be short, but it's powerful. I wrote one of my best papers on Lucy's claim of power through her sexuality, and I feel like I could still add more and more to that discussion. It's one I could talk about for hours. It's deep and heart-wrenching and brutally honest, and I don't know if I want to love Lucy or hate her, but she stuck with me.



Black Water is another seemingly short but tremendously powerful read. It follows a doomed character you can't help but sympathize with. It was another one that I wanted to dissect and analyze for hours. The timeline and narration of the story are unique and dramatic, and I really love the way Oates wrote this. Joyce Carol Oates is a powerful writer in all her works. I'm quickly falling in love with her writing, and am working my way through her works. I've read numerous short stories and a couple novels, but this book sticks out to me the most.



Middlemarch is a book I powered through during the crazy hours of a condensed semester while I prepared to move overseas, while reading 6-10 other novels in between and during. To say my memories of this book are a little fuzzy is an understatement. I read it ahead of schedule for class, and would forget large chunks of the plot while the class was discussing what I had read a month ago. It doesn't help that this is a hefty book... with 838 pages in my edition. But it's a classic. And it has some amazingly complex characters. It was interesting discussing a book largely composed of what happens after you say "I Do" in a class mostly filled with single students. My experiences and beliefs about marriage were generally quite different, and have changed from before I said "I Do". My professor joked that she told her children they had to read this book before they got married. Besides that, it was a great read and one I plan to read at a much more leisurely pace sometime soon.


24. A picture of something you wish you could change.




I have flat feet. My heels start to ache if I stand on my feet too long. If I really overdo it, I get shooting pains. I can't run or jump in abundance. I can't wear heels or sandals. I also have old injuries in the balls of my feet from dancing, and my feet are apparently deformed because of one or both of these issues. My pain is relatively controlled after months of anti-inflammatory pills and a cortisone injection to get the inflammation and pain under control, followed by years of figuring out my personal limits. It's a pain.

Since my feet have been flaring up lately and giving me some pain, it's something I really wish I could fix. Unfortunately, pain management is my only solution. If the pain gets to be too much or too prolonged, I'll be back at the podiatrist for more anti-inflammatories or cortisone injections. I'm hoping I can continue to manage my pain without either of these aids for many years...




25. A picture of your day.




I slow-cooked some beef all day long for delicious beef sandwiches for dinner. I also baked some brownies and brought them to our new neighbor. We sat and chatted for a while and got to know each other. I worked on my crocheted afghan, which is a tedious and tiring process of sewing all the pieces together. It's been a pretty uneventful day.

Round 4 - 60 Pictures

To see the original list, click here.
To see the previous questions and pictures, click here.



16. A picture of someone who inspires you.




This was hard. I take a lot of inspiration from a lot of people, so I had a hard time picking just one.

Anyways.

Dr. Ruth Jenkins was my advisor and professor at Fresno State. By the time I left, she felt more like a friend or colleague than professor. She was one of the professors who really fueled my love for literature. She pushed my writing further, she pushed my discussion skills, and she encouraged me weekly to pursue graduate school. She's also an incredible person with a husband and kids. She has a life outside of the university. Considering one of my dream jobs right now is to teach at a university, she's a good life model! She inspires me to continue with my love of literature even if it makes me crazy by finals, even if I have to live on rice and water, and especially if my husband is understanding and supportive enough to encourage my studies even if it puts a cramp on our family life (which he definitely is).




17. A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.




Moving to Japan!
Our first PCS as a married couple, my first move overseas, our second home together, a new country to learn and understand, new road rules to master, new language to decipher...moving to Misawa has been the biggest change in my life.




18. A picture of your biggest insecurity.




It may not always be obvious, but I am ridiculously shy. I was the little kid that hid behind my mom's legs so I wouldn't have to talk to anyone. I would cry if adults tried to talk to me. After years of teaching myself how to walk without looking at the floor, and talk to strangers without hiding, and all the other little changes, I'm still shy and I still get anxiety when I meet new people or do new things.

The intensity isn't always the same. But it's always there and it's tiring to deal with. I'd love to be one of those people who can walk into a crowd of strangers comfortably and leave with all new friends, but it's just not me. Which makes moving every couple of years and especially moving overseas kind of terrifying. But exciting too.




19. A picture of you when you were little.




This is the only childhood picture I have on my computer, the rest are at home with my parents!




20. A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.




I just googled and picked the first clear image, so I'm not really sure where this is, but it's somewhere in Ireland.

I WILL travel to Ireland at some point in my life. I want to see Dublin and the country. I want to have an Irish beer in an Irish pub and quite probably get drunk and Irish dance in the pub. (I was an Irish dancer for 10 years.)

In my dreams, I imagine spending months traveling around Europe and leisurely exploring town after town. If we somehow become rich in the next couple of years, maybe that will happen. More likely we'll take an amazing vacation that was entirely too short and we'll dream of going back every night. But my husband and I are both determined and we WILL go.

Who knows, maybe next time we'll move to Europe! Jeff loved Naples and we'd both go back to Italy in a heartbeat. We both doubt that's in the cards for us, but we also doubted moving overseas at all was in the cards for us, and look at us now...




Also, an update on the fire alarms!
We had SEVEN total this past weekend. Yes, SEVEN. We were thrilled. The last one was 6am on Monday morning, ew.
Monday afternoon maintenance was in our lobby checking out the machine for a few hours, so I'm hoping that fixes the problem. We haven't had another one yet *cross your fingers* And since it's currently snowing so hard I can't see the buildings across the street, I would really love it if the system didn't malfunction again!

Round 3 - 60 Pictures

For the full list and questions 1-5, click here.
For the rest of the questions, click here.



11. A picture of something you hate.




One of my biggest pet peeves is willful ignorance, especially when it's coupled with arrogance. I'm a big believer in knowledge being power. If you don't know, learn. Not knowing and being okay with that is frustrating. And a little disgusting.




12. A picture of something you love.



This is kind of a double whammy. I love books. Obviously my blog title kind of clues you in to that little fact. But I also really love learning about cultures and history. I find any cultural study fascinating. It's one of the reasons my husband and I frequently explore museums, it's one of the BIG reasons we plan to travel in the future. We both love diving into history and learning all we can about different customs, beliefs, traditions.




13. A picture of your favorite band or artist.



I like listening to music, but I'm not very particular to bands or artists. I'll pretty much listen to anything. But I do have a soft spot for Paramore's album All We Know Is Falling. It's probably my favorite music of theirs. If I had to pick, I'd pick them.




14. A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.



My older brother is a very important person in my life. I've always looked to him for advice and know-how. We like to laugh and have fun and we do that together as much as possible. We've been separated by miles for years, but we've always visited and always had a wonderful time doing it. In my list of the closest people in my life, it usually runs from husband to brother to parents.




15. A picture of something you want to do before you die.



I recently finished my bachelors and am loving a break from the stress of papers and exams and no time to do anything but bury my head in a book. But. I intend to go back for my masters in literature. And eventually, my PhD in literature. I thrive under the challenge of reading a book and pulling something different out of it than someone else sees, then making them see what I see through written or oral words. My graduate school plans are on the back burner right now, but they will be in the forefront at some point in my life.

Round Two -- 60 Pictures

See the original list and the first five pictures here.


6. A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day.




This is Amanda and she lives in Italy. (And I'm a creeper and borrowed this picture from her Facebook!) Living in Europe is one of my dreams, especially since my lucky husband has already lived in Italy for 2 years! The languages, the food, the culture, the history, it's all amazing and I can't wait until we get a chance to travel through Europe. And maybe live? I can dream!




7. A picture of your most treasured item.




My rings mean the most to me. They may not be the most expensive thing we own (that'd be our car!), but they definitely have the most sentimental value. The stone in my engagement ring is taken from my grandmother's engagement ring. They were married for over 50 years, so I figure it has to be some kind of good luck!

I also have two pearl necklaces from each side of my family. One was made specifically for me and one was passed down through the family. They both mean a lot to me, but are tucked safely into my parents' home so they don't get lost or damaged in all the traveling I've been doing. I don't have any pictures of them, but imagine beautiful pearls.




8. A picture that makes you laugh.




This would be my cat standing on the door frame. I don't know why he decided to do this in the hotel we stayed at while we were in San Diego. He'd never attempted a door climb in our home. He did it repeatedly though. He's a jumper, planner, and daredevil. Since he's been staying with my parents, he's continued his habit of finding weird favorite spots...






9. A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.




I'm cheating and listing two people, but they're a pair! My parents have obviously been around for me the longest, but they're two people I can go to for anything. I can ask anything, tell anything, and they'll listen. They'll give advice without being pushy. They'll help if they can. From little things like making my favorite foods when I visit to big things like taking care of our cats and car while we're in Japan, I know they're two immovable pieces of my support system, which also includes my brother and husband.


10. A picture of the person you do the most messed up things with.




I don't really do "messed up" things, but if I do anything slightly crazy my husband is usually nearby. Most recently, I've been having a lot of fun with the group from his work, so I figured his uniform could signify that since I never pull my camera out ;)