Walking With Nora

(First of all, I’ve been scouring the darn interwebs for an embeddable version of this video and I just can’t find it, so you’ll have to click through. Really. You should.)

I think I mentioned that last weekend I watched the Saturday Night Live Halloween Special which was maybe 90 minutes of absolute hilarity considering most of the skits were pre-1998 meaning they were really flippin’ funny.

One of my favorites? The LandShark. You can view it here. (Sorry, couldn’t find an embeddable one!) I don’t know why but it cracks me up every time.

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I have no idea why I remember this but one year my best friend and I decided to audition for the school talent show by doing a dance/lip synching routine to The Time Warp from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Actually, I have no idea why we thought that was a good idea. (Confession: I’ve never seen the entire film, either.)

Could you picture me doing any of this?

I don’t think we actually made it to the audition once our parents realized what we had chosen to do. Ah, to be young and innocent!

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So it’s Halloween tomorrow which means I have to be on my guard because, um, well I’m terrified of people in masks. It’s amazing to me how a mask can transform someone you know and love into a scary, freaky specimen of a person that you suddenly don’t recognize. The maintenance man at our building scares me every year (yes, every year, even though I know it’s him) by creeping up to my desk in one of his freaky masks. Uncool.

I think it all started when I was in high school, driving home from a Halloween party and a masked/face painted dude showed up out of NOWHERE and jumped onto my car and just stared at me. My friend and I screamed and just stared at the guy. He disappeared just as quickly as he showed up. My nerves were rattled for a few hours!

Here’s hoping that the kids who come to the house don’t scare me!

Do you have a Halloween fear/phobia or conversely are you the type of person who enjoys scaring the crap out of the rest of us?

It’s raining. It’s pouring. I wish I was snoring. This means I’m going to participate in Ten on Thursday which I found courtesy of the lovely Lisa D and evidently it was started by Chelsea.

1. What are you going to be for Halloween?

A girl from the TV Show Laugh-in, a la Goldie Hawn. Sort of and only because I already have the costume with pink go-go boots hanging in my closet.

2. Have you ever been on television?
I was in high school when I protested for Free Speech. I was in the Journalism program at my high school and one of our papers was published with some fairly controversial topics on the cover (forgive me but I can’t remember what it was). The principal pulled the paper immediately and so we all rallied outside the school with signs, posters and picketed our high school for infringing on our right to free speech. We were basically told that when we are on school grounds we didn’t have the right to free speech and that just added fuel to the fire. TV crews came out and so I was on the news as part of the protesting group.

3. Do you have a toilet paper preference?
I don’t like the scratchy kind if that’s what you mean. But other than that, no, I don’t really care if it’s up, down or sideways so long as it’s there when I need it.

4. When you’re pregnant, will you find out the sex of the baby? (Or if you’ve already had babies, did you find out the sex?) Why or why not?
Hmmmm. I am inclined to say yes because I’m an over-planner so how could I have a baby and not know the sex of the baby? That gives me hives just thinking about it.

5. What are three items that every kitchen must have?

The fixings to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch, an Ove Glove and ample room to spread out and create.

6. Do you enjoy Christmas shopping?
Yes! It’s one of my favorite things to do. I’m already starting to plot and plan what I’m going to get for everyone. I love wrapping presents, I love giving presents and I love the joy that surrounds my house during the holidays.

7. What is your go-to recipe? (The thing you cook more than anything else because it’s easy and mindless.) Please share the recipe.
It’s what Irish calls spicy chicken & big rice. Basically I season a few chicken breasts with some spicy spices and bake until done. In the meantime, I make big rice (aka risotto) which is simply risotto, 3 cups of chicken/vegetable broth, parmesan cheese and parsley to taste. I always serve with a side of broccoli. It’s pretty delicious.

8. Do you sleep on your back, belly, or side?
I fall asleep on my side but wind up on my belly by the morning. I am a frantic sleeper in that I move A LOT, thrash and kick. I’m told it has something to do with when I was in the womb and managed to entangle myself with the darn umbilical cord around my neck & knee resulting in me nearly killing myself. Fun, huh?

9. How do you feel about Tom Cruise?
Ick. I used to have a crush on him when I was in middle school. Top Gun was the soundtrack to our sleepovers. And then it was Jerry Maguire. And Cocktail. But now? He kind of freaks me out.

10. What books are in your “books to read” stack?
How much time do you have? (Sorry I don’t have complete titles/authors. I’m not in front of my bookshelves.)
Sookie Stackhouse Book # 6
Two Jane Green Books (Dune Road & Second Chances)
Vampirates (go ahead, laugh)
Kingdom Keepers
Ellen Burstyn’s Memoirs
An Anita Shreve Book
My Japanese Challenge book, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
Persuasion, Jane Austen
The Bridges of Madison County
Catching Fire
…. and many, many more.

Your turn! Answer in the comments or post this on your own to all, some or none if you like.

I’m not afraid of a lot of things. As a matter of fact the list includes: heights (namely in terms of flying in planes), roads with no sides (as in there is no guard rail), being alone when I’m old and horses, which I mentioned in yesterday’s post.

I’ve had three bad experiences with horses and as far as I’m concerned, that’s three bad experiences too many. It all started in sixth grade, at a friend’s birthday party which included a trail ride for all of us. Sounds fun, right? WRONG. I managed to get one of the only horses in the group that didn’t want to listen to the commands. So rather than enjoying a nice, relaxing trail ride with my friends, my horse took off into the woods after the one in front of us did. My best friend and I were stuck on these horses, screaming, limbs and leaves smacking our faces, terrified out of our minds. I don’t even remember how in the world we were rescued.

Fast forward about six years and this time I’m at Sixth Grade Camp as a Counselor a school district-wide week where we went to a local YMCA camp which is a pretty fun week except for the horseback riding event that all students and counselors must do. And guess what!? They give me the bad seed horse again. Doesn’t listen to commands. Doesn’t respond to the reins. Either stands there and doesn’t move or takes off into a run. So once again, I’m running wildly through the woods (though fortunately on the trail for a change) much to the enjoyment of my charges. This time I at least didn’t get any scrapes or cuts from the woods.

You’d think I’ve learned by now, but alas, not so much. I was a camp counselor twice because it really is a rewarding experience and so I had to ride the darn horses again. And would you believe they gave me the same horse the second time? Yup, they did. Same thing, only this time the horse was a tad more wild and decided to stand up only two legs while I’m on him and I really thought I’d fall off him and break my back.

So now you know the story of Nora & the horses. And why standing in a stall with a large horse (a Quarterhorse to be exact) was such a feat for me on Sunday. His name was Scott and he was quite interested in his hay + water combo he had going on so he paid little attention to me. That and I was very careful to move slowly, quietly and always stay within his eye sight. I confess, I even enjoyed it for a few moments. (Most of the stalls were empty as the horses were in pasture while we were there, but only females on Sundays it seems.)

I moved onto another stall where there’s a 25 year-old pony named Vera. The sign on her stall says she’s afraid of people and recovering from a bad broken leg of some sort so I approached her cautiously. Much to my surprise, she warmed up to me and even let me pet her. I instantly fell in love with her, for whatever reason and kind of hope she’s there when I go back. (Though really, it would be better for her if she’s adopted. Anyone need a pony? She’s only $100! She’s beauitful, too.)

I guess the next step for me would be to ride a horse but I don’t think that will happen anytime soon. Baby steps are just fine with me!

Tell me, do you have any animal phobias? If not, what are you most afraid of/do you wish you could overcome it?

This weekend was…

… driving 102 miles to see my brother and partake in the Homecoming festivities.

… walking all over campus and my college town realizing that it looks nothing like when I went there yet somehow still the same

… realizing that I’m NOT young anymore. In bed by midnight on a Friday after two beers? Yes please, and thank you.

… laughing at the wave of bad cologne that hit me when I walked into one of my favorite college bars.

… laughing even harder when there were a few guys I know who are still there. In the same bar. At the same table. Looking exactly the same.

… a reunion with one of my nearest and dearest BFFs, her husband and her parents.

… eating fried food with reckless abandon and being thankful that we walked a total of at least 3 miles in less than 24 hours.

… cheap beer and food, one of the many benefits of being in a college town.

… feeling giddy when I was carded over and over and over again.

… reflecting on my life and resolving to figure out a few things that have been nagging at me.

… taking the first step towards figuring out the issues and instantly feeling better.

… watching Saturday Night Live Halloween specials with my parents.

… waking up at 6:30 am on a Sunday to pretend to be a ranch hand.

… having doubts about being a ranch hand after a 55 minute drive out into the country.

… mucking stalls for four hours. Four hours.

… conquering my fear of horses as I was alone in a stall with a giant horse for 30 minutes while I cleaned up his poop. I lived to tell about it.

… laughing with Darling as we were the only ones who followed the rule to wear our volunteer shirts.

… laughing with Darling four hours after we were done mucking stalls because we were both so tired and sore.

… deciding that we will go back for more ranch hand-ing in the hopes that we can do something other than muck stalls for four hours.

…  spending a tad too much money at Michael’s on Christmas Card supplies, a few little gifties and prints for the bathroom rennovation I’m working on.

… slurping delicious taco soup with warm bread for dinner.

… falling asleep on the couch at 8pm due to sheer exhaustion.

… memories, laughter until my sides hurt, new experiences and adventures, hope and love.

Darling & Dad bought me some new running gear on Sunday, just because they can (and I suppose because they love me). Running gear, you say? How boring. WRONG.

As part of my 26 List, I’m running one 5k a month with the intent to work up towards longer distance runs like 10ks and half-marathons. I must have mentioned this to the best parents in the world because on Sunday night, during my favorite dinner ever (Beef en Croute, potatoes, broccoli and some amazing bread), they surprised me with these:

Nike Dri Fit socks with arch support. Seriously, I know, I’m blogging about socks but thanks to these socks I had one of the best runs of my life on Monday night. No foot pain. No joint soreness. I ran the whole way without stopping which is probably the first time in a week I’ve been able to do that (I recently added a series of hills to my runs). I also kind of love that they tell me on the sock which one is for my left foot and which one is for my right foot.

And if that wasn’t enough, they got me one of these, too:

A Dri Fit shirt, only mine is in white. It’s amazing what a difference the lightweight material makes and how I’m really not sweaty after running in it. I kind of want to wear it everywhere because it’s just so light weight and awesome.

So, I’m in love and going for runs any excuse I get. Of course, any suggestions for other running must-haves, let me know as I”ll be sure to add them to my Christmas list! If you’re not big into running, what’s one of the best presents your parents gave you for no reason at all?

(Disclaimer: Nike in no way approached me with these products nor did they approach me to write about these products. I’m writing about these products by my own free will and am in no way being compensated by Nike or any other sporting good store or company.)

Considering this winter is fast & furiously upon us, I’ve gotten a tad cozier with my Netflix movies lately. (Which is a good thing since I have over 130 movies on my queue right now!)

Last week I received Confetti, a BBC mockumentary about weddings and wedding planning.  It’s very clever and evidently it was mostly improvised which I suspect is true of most mockumentaries. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You may or may not wonder what your life would be like if you had a musical wedding complete with dancers and singing vows. If you’re looking for 95 minutes of something different, give this one a try.

What’s your favorite mockumentary? Any movies (or TV shows)  I must add to my Netflix queue?

Todays’ post is all about my mom, Darling. Why? Just because I feel like it and I know that I’m incredibly blessed to have a mom like her. So, here’s the list of why my mom is fabulous:

* She reads Vogue which makes her an excellent person to turn to for fashion advice.

* She introduced me to Sex & The City.

* If it’s your birthday, you get to request your favorite dinner and cake with homemade icing.

* She loves Jack as if he were her own dog.

* She’s the best cheerleader I know.

* We have our own rituals. Like shopping & IHOP the day after Thanksgiving. Hot fudge sundaes once a month, just because.

* She was the one who encouraged me to blog.

* She calls me on my bad moods and bullshit (rare that I’m that way, but it happens and she tells me so).

* We laugh so hard it hurts more often than not.

* She has a pink cell phone.

* She wrote me a children’s book, just because. I have it tucked away for if/when I have kids.

* Darling knows when to hold my hand through certain situations and  when to let me fly (and maybe crash) on my own, but she’s always there to pick up the pieces.

* She’ll gladly get on stage to sing with my dad’s band. She’s also pretty darn good at it too.

* She’s given me a list of nicknames as long as my arm, including things like Beeps. Smoodgie-San. Laser. (And no, I don’t know what they mean specifically.)

* She has a kick-ass blog. No, really. You should read her especially if you like photos, book recommendations, poems and anything else literary.

* She still gets excited about Christmas and repeatedly tells me and my brother NOT to go in my parent’s closet because we’ll run our surprises.

* We share our movie collections with each other (and not surprisingly, love the same kinds of movies).

Who is the most influential woman in your life? Does she read Vogue?

I’m enjoying this series because there are so many songs that speak about love, on so many different levels and each one speaks to me in a different way. So I’m sharing them with you, just because I’m generous like that!

Todays’ song is from O.A.R, “Love & Memories.”

Happy Friday!

Special thanks to Katie from Loves of Life for organizing the Scarf Swap this year. My Scarf Swap partner is the lovely Ashley from Breakfast at Ashley’s. Though I’m new to her blog, if you aren’t reading her you totally should be. Same goes for Katie.

Part of the rules of the Scarf Swap? Post a picture of yourself wearing the scarf. I had a bit too much fun with this so here are a few of my favorite photos of me in my scarf which I LOVE.  (And if you want to see what other people received, check out Katie’s blog.)

Eek! I'm not great at self-portraits

Hair Crisis

Practicing my Zoolander Face

Bottom line: I’m thrilled with the new addition to my scarf collection and have already worn it three times since the weather has decided to go from Indian Summer to freakin’ cold.

Go here and here to see the first two parts in this series.

* I’ve only seen one episode of Glee. The one I saw I loved but for some reason I forget what night it is on and I’ve failed to Hulu it after the fact.

* This is the first year I’ve been kind of excited for Halloween, though I’m not sure why as I don’t have any apparent plans. Maybe it was because Target has such an awesome section of decorations and other Halloween-related things that we don’t need but are fun.

* I’ve only tried coffee twice in my life. I’ve spit it out both times.

* Sometimes I growl after I get off the phone with someone who has upset me.

* I’m great at buying and preparing packages for friends. Not so great at sending them. I owe several of you packages so hopefully writing this down will send me to the post office sooner rather than later.

* I’m afraid to look at my Google Reader.

* I’m not sure I can run a half-marathon because I don’t think my body (namely my hips/lower back) will cooperate. This makes me sad.

* I would love to be 20SB featured blogger of the month some day.

* I wait to get my oil changed until the very last possible minute. Something about going to the car dealership/repair shop stresses me out.

* I stole a campaign sign out of someone’s yard in 2004.

* I can still recite 95% of the lyrics on all the Backstreet Boys albums. In case that made you throw up, I also know all the Beatles lyrics from the White Album and the anthologies that came out in the late 1990s.

* I wish it could be acceptable for me to wear my rainboots everyday. They’re cute and comfortable.