Blogger TAG!!! I'm Thinking It's More Like 22 Random Questions, but Let's Not Split Hairs!

I was tagged by Martha from Quick Cheap and Pretty to do this tag, so here goes!
The “rules” are as follows:
·   Each blogger tagged must post 11 random facts about themselves ·   They must answer the 11 questions posted by the previous blogger ·   They must create 11 new questions to ask their tagged bloggers  ·   They must then tag 11 blogs with less than 200 followers apiece ·   The bloggers must be told ·   No tag backs!
I have my 11 Random Answers first, then my Answers to Martha’s Questions followed by My Questions for those I’ve Tagged who are listed at the end.

So let’s get on with it!
11 Random Facts:
1)  I never went to high school! I stopped going around the 3^rd Quarter of my Freshman year. I ended up with tutors until I was a Junior in high school at which point the principal actually recommended I drop out (I actually left because I was quite ill and unable to attend so the school district was legally required to give me the basics with home tutors – it was not really home schooling). Nice values in the American public school system huh? J I do have a GED and a BA, so I think I did just fine in the end! And I was thrilled to drop out of high school – I really was! :/ But stay in school kids!!!
2)  I make homemade bar soap, body cream & lotion, lip balms and can even make Lush-like bubble bars and bath bombs! I haven’t been doing it much lately, but I really enjoy it!

One of my soap batches - yup, it's ALL soap!

3)  I used to be a freelance photographer – but I only photographed musicians performing live! The last time I moved, I lost my camera and have never bothered to replace it…it would have to be digital now and I really can’t afford to replace the camera and the 900 accessories I used to use, especially since it didn’t really pay anything.
4)  I am scared of the dark! I fall asleep with lights and the television blazing. It is not pretty when the power goes out around me!
5)  I used to have dark blue hair. I still miss it too! It was such a pain to maintain…although so is being blonde!...and I got tired of people thinking I was a trouble-maker simply because of my hair.

Yes, it's me!

Flattering of the current VP, huh?

6)  I am a huge news junkie. The only cable channel number I know is that of CNN…and it is on virtually whenever I’m home as background noise. However, I hate newspapers, always have. I think it has a lot to do with teachers in grade school requiring students to do current events reports and the paper was had to hold, got black inky stuff all over your hands and was just so dry and dull to read that I learned from a young age that newspapers were bad. Lol! I do not mind news magazines, however. I guess I must only like things that are shiny and colorful! I am going to be kind of sad when the Presidential election is over – hopefully by the end of Tuesday! – but I’ll find a way to carry on. LOL!!!
7)  One of my cats, Moxie, had a litter of kittens in my closet! Moxie was a stray who allowed me to pick her up from the porch one day. I had only planned to help find her a real home, but that proved exceedingly difficult so I ended up keeping her. Around the same time, her pregnant-looking belly was confirmed as having kittens in it! So I watched her give birth and raise her huge litter of 2 baby girl kitties. It was an amazing experience and, if there were not a huge pet overpopulation problem, I would recommend every pet lover experience it at least once. The best part is that I fell in love with the 2 kittens and kept them as well. That is how I began my journey into crazy cat lady-hood! LOL! I already had 2 cats when I added Moxie so the babies made for 5! Sadly, one has passed since then, but I still have 4 little feline friends!

Moxie and her kittens THE DAY THEY WERE BORN!!!

8)  I love vanilla. Pretty much anything vanilla will do. I don’t know that it is my favorite flavor of anything, but it always tastes good and I think vanilla would definitely be my favorite scent. Pretty much any type of vanilla scent will do. YUM!
9)  I have the ugliest feet in the world. I think I was born with bunions. I know I had them by the age of 7 or 8 because my mom asked the wise doctor about them and he said it was nothing to worry about. Well, by 24 I had surgery to correct one foot and it still looks terrible, plus the surgery had the potential of increasing the pain in my feet – fortunately, it did not. The other foot is still in really horrible shape, but the surgery was so disruptive that I do not want to go through it again! I’d show you a picture, but they really are hideous! Lol!!!
10)  I am a perfectionist. I know it’s pointless, but I always aim for perfection. I have trouble revising anything because I end up rewriting the entire piece! It extends to virtually everything, but I know it’s impossible so I can easily let it go. Still, I am very critical of everything I do because of it.
11)  I do not feel like I grew up any one place, like a “hometown.” I have moved around enough that the only place that has ever felt like home was New York City, and I didn’t live there until I was about 19! When people ask where I grew up, I’m never quite sure what to say. My family didn’t move a whole lot, but often enough and at critical times so that I never really felt like I grew up in any specific area. Not attending a high school didn’t help with that either!

The closest thing to home?

Martha’s Questions & My Answers:
1)  If you could spend the day with any celebrity, male or female, living or dead, who would you choose and why?    I’m not really that interested by most typical celebrities, but I guess if I had to pick someone it would be either Ivan Watson or Tristan MacManus. So…I guess step one is, who the hell are these guys? J Ivan Watson is a CNN International Correspondent. I find him fascinating, though I’m not sure why, other than I have a crush on him – again not sure why, but I would love to learn more about field reporting as well as journalism in general. And who wouldn’t want to hang out in Turkey, where he’s based, for a day? Tristan MacManus is one of the newer professional dancers on Dancing With the Stars and, again there’s the crush factor – he’s Irish with the cutest accent for crying out loud! – but I would love to learn more about what it’s like to grow up as a male ballroom dancer, and who better to teach me all about Ireland? That would be a really cool way to spend the day – strolling around Ireland and learning the cool, local flavor.
2)  If you could live inside the world of any book or movie for a day, which would you choose and why?    I think I would pick a TV show – is that cheating? I would live on the island in “Lost”. I’m not interested in crashing on a creepy island that cannot be found on a map, but it was so stunningly beautiful. The community formed by the characters was fascinating as well. Plus, there was rarely a dull moment! It was just a fascinating show and I would love to inhabit that world for at least a day!

One of the cakes I've made - ALL edible,
except the posts between cakes!!!

3)  What is your secret skill?    I guess if I have a secret skill, it would be that I’m at least adequate at virtually every craft I try. Artistic things I am terrible at it, but if it looks like something homemade, I can probably do it! I have done basket weaving, cake decorating, clay “sculpting,” cheap jewelry making, knitting, sewing, soap making, etc!!!

Entirely edible and made by me!!!

4)  If you could use just one makeup item for a month straight, which one would you choose?    If I could only use one makeup item for a month, I would probably choose mascara. Mascara just makes me look a little more awake, my eyes are a bit more defined and it’s quick and easy for days you either don’t feel like wearing makeup, or are rushing out the door. If I had to pick a specific mascara, I think I would pick the Tarte Amazonian Clay Smart Mascara.
5)  Which do you prefer: salty snacks or sweet treats?    I prefer salty snacks at times and sweets at other times, but I think I favor sweet treats more often.
6)  Do you read the book first and spoil the movie, or watch the movie first and spoil the book? And how much do you really care if the two are different?    I read the book first and ruin the movie! The movie is very rarely, if ever, as good as the book. I started this when “Jurassic Park” came out. I was pretty young, but I was determined to get through the book first even though I had probably never read something that long in my life! I stayed up half the night before the movie opened and finally finished it. Of course, I was disappointed by the movie! J There have been a few occasions where I liked a movie so much that I read the book though.
7)  What's your biggest online time-waster? (Mine is Pinterest!)    I probably waste the most time watching beauty videos on YouTube. However, I’m gonna give a second answer because I’m not sure that does not count as research! Lol! I feel like I waste a lot of time deleting junk email, but again that doesn’t feel like a real answer. Sooo…. I probably waste the most frequent amount of time online shopping on ModCloth.com – I check it about 5 times a day for no reason and rarely buy anything, though there are always tons of things I love. When I think to look at it and have a chunk of time, Pinterest is an excellent time sucker! Especially around the holidays. But is Pinterest really a waste? ;)
8)  What is your favorite holiday or special occasion, and what do you do to celebrate it?    I think Christmas wins, hands down. I don’t think I really do anything special to celebrate it. My family puts up a fake tree and decorates around the beginning of December. A few years ago I was really into genealogy and I made a bunch of handmade ornaments. I took clear glass balls and filled them with old photos of distant relatives and red or gold tinsel. We added some red and gold ornaments as well and it looked really beautiful. We still try to do the same thing, but I don’t try to make it as perfect as I did the first year – I think I took a good 5-7 days, with breaks of course, to complete the tree decorations. Crazy! J We have stockings that we fill with small, usually inexpensive gifts and then put our “real” presents under the tree. When I was a kid, I could open one present on Christmas Eve, but now I actually prefer to wait, while my parents usually open one. It’s almost always a box of candy because we get at least one box of See’s Candy every year – a tradition started by my grandparents because my parents moved to the East Coast before I was born and See’s was only sold on the West Coast Since there was no web store back in the olden days of my youth and my grandparents were all still there, they would send a box every Christmas. We looked forward to it sooo much because it was all of our favorite kind of chocolate. Christmas morning begins with the stocking presents and many eye rolls from my mom since my dad and I often put silly things in her stocking. Then we move on to the presents under the tree – after giving the dog about 200 presents that he plays with for two seconds before ignoring and begging for a new one. Barclay LOVES presents and will actually cry if he doesn’t get one often enough! He also is excellent at unwrapping them and we let him help with each package. It takes twice as long, but he loves it! Once the presents are opened, everyone kind of goes off and does his / her own thing – usually that is taking a nap – and we come back together for dinner. I always make a Tofurky since I do not eat meat and my parents usually have some sort of Beef Roast. When I was a kid, we would go to church services on Christmas Eve, which was probably the only time I ever looked somewhat forward to going to church. We would also buy presents for less fortunate people through the church. I wish I still did this, but I never really put enough effort into finding places to give gifts – I know there are places like the Salvation Army and plenty of other toy / gift drives, but I always seem to look into it after it’s too late. Maybe this year I’ll do better. That’s about it – a nice meal, a tree and some gifts. And, thankfully, time with loved ones.

Barclay LOVES unwrapping presents!!!

9)  What no-fail recipe do you whip up to impress dinner guests?    Hmm. I’m not a huge cook. I would probably order take out! Then I would bake a fancy dessert because that I am good at! For Thanksgiving I’m planning on making a Pomegranate Cheesecake. I made one last year and it was delicious! Thank you Pinterest for the recipes ;)
10)  If you could only wear heels or flats for the rest of the year, which would you pick and why?    I would definitely wear flats. I rarely, if ever wear heels. I’m 5’11” and feel slightly awkward when I’m almost a foot taller than a lot of other girls, not to mention other guys! My daily footwear is a pair of Converse All Stars – dark purple high tops for the last couple years – and I kind of feel like I can make them go with anything ;) I’m sure I’m lying to myself, but I think they work just fine with dresses! Maybe not an evening gown, but an everyday dress is just fine with me! Lol!

The purple pair's not there, but I'm impressed that I found
a photo of shoes! :)

The grandfather I never met

11)  If you could time-travel to any period and place in history and spend some time there, when/where would you visit?    I think I would go somewhere in Ireland or Scotland. I’m not sure what time period though. I just really want to go to my ancestral homelands! If I had to pick a time and it could be independent from place, I would want to go back to a time where I could meet my dad’s father who died before I was born. I might also go to meet other ancestors – or try to uncover some mysteries in my mom’s family with her parents’ families.
My Questions for You:
1)  If you could travel to any place in the world, where would it be and why? 2)  If you could live comfortably anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? 3)  What non-physical characteristic(s) do you like best about yourself? 4)  What is something you are proud of, or like about yourself, but rarely admit to others? 5)  What is your favorite memory of childhood? (I’m using the term “childhood” broadly to mean under, I don’t know, about 20.) 6)  What is your favorite makeup brand and which specific product is your favorite? Why is that product your favorite? 7)  Do you ever buy products just for the packaging? Lol! I certainly do! 8)  What is your favorite thing about the holidays that occur around this time of year? 9)  Are you more introverted and quiet, or are you more of an extroverted life-of-the-party kind of person? 10)  What’s the best advice you’ve ever received and who gave it to you? 11)  What is the best advice you’ve ever given someone else?

Tell Me About YOU!!!
Now for the lucky bloggers I am tagging! I welcome anyone and everyone to do this TAG and feel free to post links to them in the Comments below. Since I have to tag 11 bloggers, I TAG the following (and I tried to make sure they all have under 200 followers through GFC, but I apologize if I goofed anywhere!):
Nicky from Dizzy Nicky’s Makeup Amusement Park Heather from The Glambulance Katie from Music ~ Life ~ Beauty Helen from Unevenlemming Jessica from The Crown Wings JoJo from JoJo’s Beauty Guide Harriet & Phebes from Moments Unexpected Sarah from Knickers and Nail Polish Jenny G from Beauty and the Biryani Orla from Hall of Mirrors Hannah from Little Miss KME
So enjoy ladies and thank you so much for tagging me Martha! You should all go check her out at Quick Cheap and Pretty  because it's wonderful!!! Hope you enjoyed this bit of randomness!
-Christine