Random Questions Tag!

Happy Friday! 

Today is a two post day so be on the lookout for the Friday 56 later this afternoon!

I was tagged by the lovely Bee at Bee Reads Books to do the Random Questions tag. Go check out her blog and say hello!

Do you like blue cheese?
In certain settings. One of my favorite appetizers uses blue cheese but it also has bacon, garlic, and artery clogging amounts of cream cheese in it so it all balances out. Click here for a recipe if you're curious.

Do you own a gun?
Not at the moment. My dad has guns and my fiance has guns so I'll probably end up with one at some point. I am building up my shoulder strength again so I can try out bow hunting though.

What flavor Kool- Aid was your fave?
Probably watermelon. It's a hard flavor to find sometimes though.

Do you get nervous before doc appointments?
I used to, but not anymore. I was seeing the doctors at least twice a month for a long time for various things so you kind of get over it really quick.

What do you think of hot dogs?
Love them. There's a new minor league baseball stadium in Birmingham and I love going there and chowing down on hot dogs and beer.

Fave Christmas movie?
White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. I adore the dances, dresses and the singing. I'm a big fan of musicals made in the 50's for some reason.

What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Cancer causing Diet Coke at the moment. I was completely off of my caffeine addiction in college for a while and then comprehensive exams happened. My coffee maker has a gremlin in it and hates me so for now, just easy simple Diet Coke. My favorite morning drink is a vanilla latte with an extra shot though.

Can you do push ups?
I can now! I used to not be able to because if I put my full weight on my shoulder, it would pop out of socket. Which was an adventure.

What’s your fave piece of jewelry?
I love my engagement ring but my favorite piece of jewelry is one I don't have. My great grandmother's diamond cocktail ring is my favorite but it is being passed down through the generations right now.

Do you have A.D.D.?
Probably not.

What’s your fave shoe?
I have these beautiful black suede pumps from Steve Madden that I'm completely in love with. They have a special place in my closet so they won't get dirty. I rarely wear them and they make me 6'3" but they are so pretty!

Mine aren't peep toe, but you get the idea

Middle name?
Louise

Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment.
What should I cook for dinner

I need to oil my boots

Hope the dogs are doing ok at home

Name 3 drinks you regularly drink.
Ridiculous amounts of green tea, lots of milk and diet coke

Current worry?
Getting the house clean before my fiance gets into town

Current hate right now?
Unsolicited wedding advice

Dum da dum dummmm, what is that?
Somebody's in trouble!

How did you bring in the new year?
At Taylor's (fiance) house with a movie on and the dogs on our feet. New Years is also our anniversary and he fell asleep before midnight.

Where would you like to go?
Barcelona

Do you own slippers?
Ugg house slippers. Don't judge. They are magical.

What color shirt are you wearing right now? 

Red-ish?

Do you sleep on satin sheets?
Hell no.

Can you whistle?
Yup! I can do both the pursed lips whistle where you can whistle a tune and the "call the dogs in" whistle where your eardrums explode.

Fave color?
Lavender

Would you be a pirate?
Sure, why not?

What song do you sing in the shower?
Anything by the Pistol Annies. Can't do the harmony but I like to think I can sing :-)

What’s in your pocket right now?
Spin pins. If you have long hair and you don't know what they are, you're missing out.

Last thing that made you laugh? 

The Guinness Sheep Dog Trials commercial. Tried to embed the video but it isn't cooperating.

Best bed sheets as a child?
I had pretty purple ones with flowers on them but I never had little kid sheets on my bed.

Do you love where you live?
Yes, but I'm moving to the mountains of Georgia. Birmingham is lovely but I want to be out in the country somewhere.

The Vulcan is a pretty badass statue to have in the city

Does someone have a crush on you?
I don't think so. I think he may have gotten over it a long time ago.

What’s your fave candy?
Sweetarts and Nerds. I know they are both pure sugar but whatever.

Fave. sports team?
How can I pick only one? Favorite soccer team is Liverpool but I want to see Barca play someday. I love the Atlanta Braves but they are breaking my heart at the moment. I am undeclared as far as football goes but I'm apparently turning into a Georgia Bulldogs fan when I get married. But in reality, I'll cheer for anyone to beat Tennessee and Texas A&M.

The three people that you're tagging?

Melissa at Ever So Mela

Raquel at Raquel Gabrielle's Blog

Jess at Jess Time To Read

Versatile Blogger Award

Hello everybody! To everyone in the eastern USA, I hope you are surviving our snowpocalypse and to everybody else, the same applies for Tuesday. I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by the lovely Rachel over at Rachel's Reading Corner.  I am beyond honored that anyone would ever consider nominating me so much love!  Y'all should check out her blog!

Rules:

The rules are pretty simple:

1. Nominate 15 other bloggers relatively new to blogging. (I used this somewhat loosely) 

2. Let the bloggers know that you've nominated them.

3. Share 10 random facts about yourself.

4. Thank the blogger who nominated you.

5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post.

*******

Let's begin with the nominations!

1. Izzy at The Reading Izzy
2. Melissa at Ever So Mela
3. Kitty and Fari at My Little Corner For Books
4. Rocki at Raquel Gabriel's Blog
5. Myra at I'm Loving Books
6. Carole at Carole's Random Life
7. AJ at Read All The Things!
8. Kristen at Pretty Little Pages
9. Paranormal Blogger at Paranormal Books
10. Jennifer at Asterisk Pearl's Book Blog
11. Sandee at Book Ramblings of A Whimsical Reader
12. Jennifer at Heartland Reading
13. Killian at Leaf on the Breeze
14. Naomi at The Perks of Being a Bookworm
15. Courtney at Courtney's Reads 

Everybody needs to go drop by their wonderful blogs :-)

Alright...time for the "Getting to Know You" section of this...

1. I'm absolutely terrified of spiders, despite being in the environmental world. I moved out of my room for 3 months because I had found what I thought were two brown recluse spiders in my bed.
2. I won an international award for my photography portfolio in high school. I also used to write short stories and poetry and won some stuff with that but I haven't had the time to pursue any of that recently.
3. The color scheme for my upcoming nuptials are lavender, plum and steel grey.  Apparently the grey is depressing but it is one of my favorite colors.
4. I'm a shameless and obsessive Harry Potter fan. I was always pulling for Draco and Hermione to get together. Alas...my dreams were shattered.
5. I love shrimp and grits. I will order it from whatever restaurant I go to and have a killer recipe for it myself which leads to my next factoid...
6. I love to cook! My parents and brother got me a massive wok for Christmas and I'm having fun figuring out different ways to cook with it.
7. I am terrible at foreign languages. I have tried for years and years and I was nearly fluent in Spanish for a while. I can still communicate but I suck at it.
8. I'm a Liverpool fan. I tend to use this as self defense in the South where I get asked about my football allegiances. I also tend to look like an asshole doing this.
9. I use the word "y'all" deliberately. A fair number of people like to think that there is a dearth of well educated people from Alabama and I'm out to prove them wrong and still have a fun accent while doing it. 
10. I'm getting into anime again so if anybody wants to recommend any, I'm happy to hear it!

Alright y'all, that's it! I'd like to very sincerely thank Rachel for the nomination! It means a lot that other bloggers are nominating people and it's such a cool and respectful thing to do. 

Also, thank you to everybody who follows me and comments, both here and on Goodreads. It's wonderful to be able to discuss books with others and not feel so isolated in the literary world. Y'all make reading more fun than it already is and I look forward to interacting every day. I think people forget really easily what a single small act can do for others but y'all brighten my world and I'd like to think I do the same for a few as you guys as well.

Much Love,

Book Lovers Questionnaire!

I was tagged by the wonderful Melissa at Ever So Mela to do this book tag. I love doing these. You get to learn so much about other bloggers and get to explore your own reading habits!

1) Do you have a specific place for reading?

Can sort of be an answer here? I read the most in my bed, probably like most people. Sometimes one of the dogs joins me (only Beulah can make it up onto the bed by herself right now) but it's a nice quiet spot most of the time. I also read a lot outside in the yard during spring, summer and fall but right now it is just a tad too chilly for that. I'll read anywhere though. As long as I'm comfortable, I'll curl up with a book and ignore the rest of the world. 

2) Bookmark or random piece of paper?

I'm a bit of a kindle addict so I don't need bookmarks for the most part.  When I do have real books, it is usually a piece of carefully folded paper. I'll write down the page numbers for favorite passages on the piece of paper but it usually goes AWOL at some point. I used to dog ear but I learned my lesson after loving a few books to death.

3) Can you stop anywhere in a book or does you have to finish the chapter?

Can versus will are two completely different things here. Since I tend to read anywhere, I can stop in the middle of a page if necessary (like in a waiting room) but I'd rather not. If I'm about to go to bed, I always finish the chapter...and then the next one...and the next one...





4) Do you eat or drink while reading?

I try to drink while reading but I rarely eat, mostly because if I'm eating, then I'm getting stared at and I can't concentrate. I also hate having sticky or greasy fingers on my kindle, since it is a touchscreen. I compulsively clean it and I am always wiping it down to remove fingerprints. If I had food around it, I'm sure that I would only succeed at getting more neurotic about it. If I get really into a book, I'm known to forget entire fresh pots of tea and let them get cold over the course of a few hours so drinking is only successful part of the time.



5) Music or TV while reading?

I'm incapable of focusing on more than one distraction at once so I can't really read and watch TV at the same time. I can listen to classical music while reading and I have a sound machine next to my bed that is always on when I am in the room.  My windows are a bit too close to a tree in the neighbor's yard and whenever the wind blows, the branches brush up against the screens and make it sound like someone is trying to break in.  The sound machine muffles that so I'm not constantly freaking out.

6) One book at a time or several?

I vastly prefer only one book at a time but I'm capable of having multiple going, as shown by my currently reading list. High school and college sort of ruined me for only reading one book at a time since coursework was always reading. If I'm reading more than one at once, I feel like I'm not giving myself a full experience of the book if that makes any sense.

I mean, wouldn't you want to read here too?

7) Reading at home or elsewhere?

Anywhere and everywhere. The botanical gardens is within walking distance here so I can amble down there and read in the rose garden during the summer. My kindle has its own little pocket in my purse and goes with me whenever I leave the house.

8) Read out loud or silently?

The only time I read out loud is when its a children's book and I'm babysitting.

9) Do you read ahead or skip pages?

Nope. I'll skim but I always read the entire book, cover to cover.

10) Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

Ugh, I hate it when spines are broken on books. It's one of the reasons used book stores freak me out. I have to keep my bindings crisp and new.  One of my friends considers it therapeutic to break the spine and it makes my skin crawl watching her do it.

11) Do you write in your books?

Only textbooks or course books. My copy of The Sound and The Fury is covered in highlights and notes but all of my "fun" books are kept pristine.  The kindle lets me take notes in books without having to mark anything up which is awesome. I can remember what I want to bring up in reviews and why I liked whatever quote I've highlighted.

12) Who are you tagging?

Booknut 101 at 21st Century Once Upon a Times
Olivia and Sarah at Brewing Up Books
Carina and Haley at My Addiction: Books
Samantha at Bookish Serendipity

Christmas Carol Book Tag!

Merry Christmas Y'all!

I was tagged by the lovely ladies, Fari and Kitty, over at My Little Corner For Books to do the Christmas Carol Book Tag.  Go check their blog out, it is wonderful!  This may be my last post for a week or so, depending on how present wrapping goes in the morning.  I'm off to Tennessee for another week with the family so only my phone and Kindle for internet access.

1.) "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" - Name a villainous character that you can't help but love to hate.

Good gravy, this is a hard one.  I'll always lean towards Draco Malfoy with this, mostly because he is so overly damaged. I know he is a coward but I always felt like he was just manipulated and I wanted to help him.

Only somewhat related but it cracks me up

I do have a close second and it's the Darkling from The Grisha series.  Perfect bad boy that you adore.  He has become the standard for most for their evil male leads.

2.) "All I Want For Christmas Is You" - What book do you most want to find under your Christmas tree?

I have a funny story about this song involving a bunch of fraternity guys, Southern Comfort and Mariah Carey playing over the speakers during a party.  Moving on...I'm going to have to dive into my TBR list for this one.

It has beautiful photographs. I can't help it.

It has amazing photography and is a wonderful portrait of the region that I'm in.  Also, if you are going to do a photo book, do a hardcover and that is a bit out of my price range.  Do want.

3.) "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer" - Name your favorite character that had to overcome a major obstacle. Why are they your favorite?

Can I pick two?  They are from the same book.  I have to go with Mr. John Thornton and Margaret Hale from North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.  Their obstacles are basically self-created, be it prejudice of location or pride but I love their story and I adore the BBC mini series.  They have a perfect love story in my mind and it is because they both realize their mistakes and atone for them.

4.) "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" - Which character to do you think is at the top of Santa's "Nice" list and which is at the top of his "Naughty" list?

Jeb from  Splintered has to be at the top of his "Nice" list just because he is so flipping good.  On the other hand, Morpheus is at the top of his "Naughty" list, from the same book.  I mean, they are perfectly opposite of each other.

5.) "Frosty the Snowman" - What book just melts your heart?

I have to go with Mariana by Susanna Kearsley.  All the feels.  The story of Mariana is just so sad and if I could write a cross time love story, this would be it.

6.) "Feliz Navidad" - Your favorite book that takes place in a country other than your own.

I have an entire shelf for these books on my Goodreads page.  The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning is pretty much on target for this one.

7.) "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" - What book do you read to get you in the Christmas spirit?

My mother would read The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry to my brother and I every year before Christmas when we were little.  Now that there are little babies in the family (older cousins, not me), we are passing it on and it always puts me in the right mind set for Christmas.

Also, the illustrations are magical

8.) "Sleigh Ride" - What character would you most want to spend the holiday with?

That's such a hard one!  The Weasley's would be pretty awesome to spend Christmas with.  They have a wonderful family atmosphere and are so welcoming to all.  

9.) "Baby, It's Cold Outside" - Which book do you hate so much you'd sacrifice it to the fire to stay warm?

I'm one of those people that blocks out the memories of horrible books so I have to go to my 1 star list on Goodreads for this one.  Ah...yes...

My friend in high school gave me the entire series for my birthday one year before a long trip and I read them all on the 16 hour total drive.  I should have just watched the trees pass on the highway.

10.) "Do You Hear What I Hear?" - What book would you recommend to everyone?

The Casquette Girls by Alys Arden.  I cannot say enough good things about this book!

And that is all for this tag!  I feel like I'm the last one in the blogosphere that hasn't done this tag but if you haven't YOU ARE OFFICIALLY TAGGED! 

I hope everybody has a wonderful and safe holiday!  Spend time with loved ones and spread the love and joy of the season around!