35 Things

I nicked this from Epic Fail's blog so if anyone else wants to take it, feel free to!


1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

My Granny, although she is a Margaret and I'm not. I'm just a Maggie :)

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
A few weeks ago when I found out my wonderful childhood friend's dad had passed away. He was a great man and will be hugely missed.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
No, I'm a lefty and in typical lefty fashion, have terrible handwriting.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Italian salami, grilled in the oven on toast with sliced tomato, capers, and a strong cheese then topped with rocket (US translation: arugula) when it comes out.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
I wish people would stop asking me this as it's really starting to bug me that other people seem to have a problem with my husband and I liking our time together and say we are 'selfish' to not want them yet. I married him, not my future children!

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Sure but I don't think we would be allowed to hang out since it would be too much sarcasm and banter for one room.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
It's the only language I'm fluent in.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes, and they are gross and I sometimes wish they were gone but they have been 'nice' to me so I have no reason to evict them.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Not a chance in the world.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
I have an odd relationship with cereal. We have a very "on again, off again" relationship. At the moment we are on a break and this is just due to me being weird and only able to eat a cereal for about a week before I'm sick of it. When I was a kid my favorite was Rice Crispy Treats cereal, which was just a bowl full of crispy sugar basically.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
I only wear one pair of shoes and I have to untie them because they are hardcore walking shoes that I have to lace up to my ankles so just slipping them off isn't possible. If you would have asked me this questions 4 years ago, I would have asked you what untying your shoes meant as I only wore high heels...oh the joys of not having a car and having to walk over a mile to get everywhere...(although now I don't complain as it's great health wise!)

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Parts of me are strong but isn't that how we all are? I don't think anyone is strong in every way. It took me about a year and a half to go to the grocery store by myself here so I would not consider myself strong in that aspect, but on the flip side, I am able to live halfway across the world from my family to be with the man I love, so I know I am strong that way. He does kind of make it easy to be strong that way though ;)

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Coconut or cookie dough, as long as the cookie dough is in vanilla and not chocolate ice cream, as chocolate ice cream is the only flavor I don't really like...and the only form of chocolate I don't really like actually.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
If they have noticed me or not. I like to lay low in groups of people I don't know or in public, so I observe people to make sure they haven't observed me. Standing out in a crowd would be mortifying to me, even if it was for a good reason.

15. RED OR PINK?
Red as I'm not a massive pink person. Plus Branden likes me in red.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
Funny you should ask as this has changed recently. Since high school, I have had major issues with my body, nose, hair, whatever. Throw in some not so great past relationships that vocally emphasized their dislikes as well, and it had created a mind that wouldn't even really believe my own husband when he said he liked everything the way it was. The voices that would contradict his praises have recently stopped and I actually like all of me now! It is a breakthrough and even though I'm not a small sized girl, or 'skinny', I actually really like every part of my body! I have been dropping inches (and thus probably losing weight but I don't own a scale) which is fine but I also don't want to lose what I have and love now. So as to the question, even with my personality quirks, anxiety, depression included, I don't think I have a least favorite thing. I like me.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
It's been almost 2 years since I've seen family so I am missing all of them. If I had to choose though, I would have to say our nephews. Of course our parents miss us and we miss them, but they expect us to go away and build our own life for ourselves. Our nephews are at the start of life, learning all sorts of new fun things, and it's hard to miss a lot of it. Without skype it would be extremely difficult. We make our videos for them to give them something they can have all of their lives so they can remember how much we love them and miss them. We can't play with them and be with them in person so we try to achieve that in the videos and when we are on skype with them.

18. WHAT IS THE TECHNIQUE THAT YOU NEED TO WORK ON THE MOST?
My knife and fork cutting technique is actually really sad. I'm a lefty and I grew up in a righty house. It's hard to learn from people who use a different hand for everything so my cutting skills are weird and I often switch my cutlery between both hands all the time. It's particularly bad with steak, and if we are at home Branden often cuts it for me.

19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Flesh colored...I'm barefoot.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
A Cadbury chocolate chip brunch bar as that is my breakfast now in replacement of cereal. Only 155 calories and I get to have chocolate for breakfast every morning while still losing inches.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Branden's playing on his Ukelele. We bought it while on our honeymoon and it was the first instrument we brought with us when we first moved to Scotland after our wedding. I love that thing.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Cornflower blue. It has always been my favorite crayon color even though my favorite general color is green.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Lilacs, Branden's hair, Christmas, and bakeries

24. HOW IMPORTANT ARE YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS TO YOU?
I suppose important, but I don't consider myself to be very political in the first place. I've lived in 3 very different countries so my thoughts on US politics have changed a lot since looking at it from different eyes and a couple of different perspectives. I think this has taught me ultimately that it's ok to not be so set politically as I grow and change because my views need to grow and change with me.

25. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?
This is a tough one as I have issues with both. A mountain hideaway makes me think "spiders!" where as a beach house makes me think of how crazy I go having the ocean waves making non-stop noise and I just want to finally shout at the tide "Shut UP!" so I can have a moment of quiet in my head. I'm going to make up my own choice then and say a house on a nice hill up from the beach, enough to have a great sea view but without the constant noise. Don't get me wrong, I like the sound of the tide, but only for so long.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Formula 1, rally car racing, and motocross.

27. HAIR COLOR?
I've heard it called anything from "mousey brown" to "dirty blonde". You can take your pick. I don't dye it either (obviously)

28. EYE COLOR?
light blue

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Sometimes

See: Hair color, eye color, and contacts.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
Cheese and chocolate. Especially when you wash both down with wine.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy Endings! I hate scary movies and don't even do well with basic suspense movies.


32.. SUMMER OR WINTER?
In what country?? They are practically the same in Ireland! I'd go with summer as it was my favorite back in the States.

33. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
"God Calling" by 2 anonymous women written ages ago. A dear friend of mine in my church and volunteer group gave it to me as I've been going through all the struggles with my Granny's cancer and being far away. It's a great little book of daily 'devotions' which are basically like little notes from God to help you through difficult times. I like it because it doesn't try to say you can't be depressed or struggling emotionally, it just meets you where you are, just like God does with me all the time.

34. FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC?
Emo Rock...not to be confused with "Elmo Rock" as that would be ridiculous.

35. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Technically Amsterdam, but that was only layovers in the airport, so Inverness, Scotland would be the furthest of places traveled to if we consider where I grew up in the States as "home".