I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by my sister Annee. Since I don’t post very often, these may be longer than most people’s answers…

The rules:

A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.

B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog, for these rules.

1. I am a planner. And I live by my agenda book. For the last three years I’ve used the basic DayMinder BYU version which I loved. But this year I decided to branch out. I found a planner at Paper Source while in Boston that has almost an identical layout to the planner I used to use. And it’s much prettier. I seriously don’t go anywhere without my planner. At the end of everyday I write down everything I did so it doubles as a journal. This probably comes from my dad who has years of planners bundled somewhere in his office. Along with planning, I’m a big fan of post-it notes. I especially love the longer ones with lines – these are perfect for making my lists. My planner and my post-its are never far from me.

2. I’m a huge Dr. Laura fan. I listen to every hour. I signed up a few years ago for the podcast so I’m able to download each show. I’ve always loved talk radio and could listen to Dr. Laura in particular for hours. It’s my favorite way to drive anywhere, do the dishes, clean the house, fold laundry and fall asleep. It’s probably the best $5 I spend each month!

Every now and then I run into someone who really dislikes her but usually this hatred is unfounded and out of date. Most often I have people tell me they hate her because when they were little their mom listened to her show in the car all the time and they got sick of it. What’s more frustrating is when people dislike her because they think she’s a crazy, man-hatter. Nothing could be further from the truth! To summarize Dr. Laura’s main points: people must take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences of those actions as the results of their own choices. In my opinion she gives great advice and her moral consistency is commendable. Here are just a couple quotes:

“That something is difficult should never be an excuse not to do it.”

“What you feel only matters to you. It’s what you do to the people you love that counts.”

“Choose wisely, treat kindly.”

“Eat less, move more.”

“The people and the circumstances don’t make me who I am, they reveal who I am.”

“The fears will never go away, but they will subside as you impress yourself with your courage to do what needs to be done to achieve your dreams.”

I am very grateful for my iHome thing my mom gave me for Christmas last year. I use it everyday and it has earned a permanent spot on my desk.

3. I have a weird issue with buying gas. Meaning, I do it as infrequently as possible. You’d be surprised how long you can drive around in my car with the gas light on. I think I’ve gone 6 full days before. Granted, it usually ends with me out of gas in some parking lot far from home. It all comes down to me being an accountant. I have a monthly budget in which I allow for one tank of gas per month. This clearly is not enough but I try every month to make it work. Ken gets frustrated with this since I am the one making my own budget and I could just increase the gas allotment without much effort. Furthermore he says I’ll be using the same money today or next month, the only difference is the date that will show up on my Quicken transaction list. All good points. Nonetheless, I’m usually very out of gas.

4. I love throwing pottery on the wheel. I learned in high school ceramics and I was never REALLY good but it’s something I really enjoy. I don’t have much time or access to a wheel these days. But I always picture pottery as that thing I’ll pick up again when I have a mid-life crisis, or when all my kids are in school or out of the house and I’m feeling lost and in need of a hobby. My projects from high school are scattered around my sisters’ houses which is kinda fun to see.

5. I have something against tap water. I know, I know, it’s irrational. Some studies have even proved that tap water is cleaner than bottled water. And I live in Utah which has better water than Los Angeles. I don’t care. I drink bottled Arrowhead water only. That’s all we drank growing up (with some brief periods of Sparklets) and I’ve continued it since I’ve been at school. I buy flats of them from Costco, four at a time. I watch the prices of water bottles like a hawk and stock up when it hits the spot I like.

Once they were having a crazy sale at Smith’s on Arrowhead bottles. They were all out of flats on the shelf so I asked them to look in the back. The silly high school kid came back and said he didn’t see any. I didn’t believe he really looked so I made Ken go into the back room to check for himself. He confirmed there were no flats back there. I got a raincheck coupon good for the whole month. Yes, I was that crazy lady who asked for a raincheck on an item at the grocery store.

It’s not rational but those who love me allow me this oddity. We all have our things right?

6. I love Paris. Especially in the fall. I miss it terribly right now. It’s been almost two years since I visited. The fall I spent in Paris for my study abroad is one of the tenderest memories I have. It still makes me sick to my stomach that I lost basically all of my photos. I plan to visit again soon, either at Christmas when I go out to see my parents or next summer. Of course it’ll never be the same as living there again, but who knows, maybe I’ll have the chance to do that again someday. I feel like I could do it much better the second time around.

So there you go! I'm glad I finally got that done, I've been working on it for a few days. I have more ideas for posts, I've been taking pictures everyday. So there will be more to come soon. <3>