It looks like I've been tagged...

*Here's how you play....once you have been tagged, you have to write a blog with ten random facts, habits, or goals about yourself. At the end, choose ten people to tag, listing their names and why you chose them; don't forget to leave a comment on their page letting them know "tag you're it". You cannot tag the original people/person back that tagged you first, but let them know when you have posted so they can read your blog.

so here we go... although I feel like an open book so I don't know what in the world you don't already know.

1. I'm a verbal processor. That means I need to say things out loud before they make sense to me. What this means is that I actually HAVE to journal or my brain gets muddy and congested. It means that I have out-loud two sided conversations with myself all the time. It means I might tell you too much of story, I might tell you the same story three times, and I might tell you something and then turn around and tell you something else that totally contradicts the first things I said. I'm not lying. I'm not completely unstable. I just cant' make sense of things quietly inside the bones of my own brain. There's just too much swimming around up there- it's too crowded to lay things out and look at the properly. I have to extract the thoughts and turn them into words before I can land. What this also means is that I am super quiet in a group of people. It has nothing to do with shyness - or lack of ideas - but because in a group I rarely get the space to process . In a group you have to talk in soundbites - you only get to throw out one or two of your most important sentences - but I can't seem to get to the point where I know what those one or two important things are quite yet because I haven't gotten to actually think about what we are really talking about. Give me an hour and a notebook or someone to talk it through with and I'll have lots to say.

2. All the "get up and go to work" jobs I've had have had to do with fun. My first job was at restaurant that was the big turn-around spot on the Cruising line in my town. Yes, we all cruised Main street when I was in high school. Call me a hick. Go ahead. Then I worked in a cookie store, as a live in nanny near NYC, at a candy store, I spend a season picking apples, and at a bookstore. Now I'm a photographer and get to play with people and catch them in their most beautiful moments.

3. I love stones. I pick them up and carry them home from places we visit. My living room is full of them. Stones from the countryside in Africa, the caves on the beach in the Caribbean, the ocean side in Maine and the roiling slate-covered hills in Missouri and even from the walk I took with the kids by the stream when they were small. I hold them in my hand and feel their weight. I marvel at the design, the colors, the shapes, the history they hold.

4. The kids and I have eaten popcorn for dinner 5 of the 8 nights Bill(y) has been gone. But we have been having salad and home made soup and good stuff for lunches so it all evens out. Right?

5. I am way too afraid of failure. Not of working hard, I actually like working hard, but I'm too hung up on a completely irrational fear that I'll work hard at something that is important to me and then suck at it. This stupid , non-sense fear has kept me from doing too many things I really hold close to my heart and long for. Playing the piano, guitar and cello... spending considerable time hiking and backpacking... investing more of myself exploring inside my creativity .... being a rock star... playing Mimi in Rent or Eponine in Les Miserables. I am working out this irrationality. It is something I am very proud of.

6. I hate raw or scantily cooked onions. Hate the smell, hate the flavor, hate the crunch. But 80% of my meals start with sauteed onions. I find reasons to put them in most everything - even breakfast.

7. I love , love , love fancy drinks. I'd almost rather have something fabulous to drink than anything. It is my security blanket - especially now that it is getting cold out. Current favorites: cherry french soda with whipped cream :: lots of Malibu and Grenadine in Coke :: hot apple cider mixed with chai tea (thank you Laura!) :: homemade cocoa DiCocco :: black cherry tea :: almond steamer

8. Growing up, I either wanted to be a zoo keeper or a probation officer. I still want to be a zoo keeper.

9. I hate coats, I'm not that great of a winter person, but i love knit hats and scarves and gloves (especially my one pair without fingertips so I don't feel like a clumsy snowbeast). I often wear my hat, scarves and gloves just because. I pair them with sweaters and brave the cold just like that. I wear them indoors because knit hats are so cool and I love the way my hair sticks out the bottom. And I love how warm a scarf makes you feel - even when it is just hanging on your shoulders. Am I right ?

10. and I still, to this day, can't hear Cyndi Lauper singing "True Colors" without a lump swelling up in my throat. yes, I am beautiful like a rainbow.... and so are you.

There... now I'll go tag my ten...

Holley - because she isn't busy enough-ha Madyline - because she loves to write on the computer and she's been cracking me up lately Harrison - because I love his mind Mike , Ken, and Jae - because they have lost the blogging lifestyle and I miss evesdropping into their lives Marianne - because she lives too far away Adam - because, even though I've heard hours and days worth of stories, he somehow still has more Grace - because she lives in a town I have never actually lived in but know and love as if I did and Thya, you'd be my number 10 if you had a blog. Wait... why don't you have a blog?