10 Day You Challenge: 1 picture

Last day! I will admit that I wrote the last 5 of these all at one time and scheduled them so this challenge didn't feel quite as challenging for the 2nd week. But I think it was a good way to get my blogging mojo back. I hope it sticks this time! I thought about posting a fun childhood photo but I can't get my scanner to work so I'll just post a recent photo with a cute child (a friend from college's daughter) and hope that she'll distract you from my lack of photogenic qualities!

10 Day You Challenge: 2 Songs

I can only pick 2 songs? I guess I'll just go with 2 songs I'm really enjoying right now. Because I don't know if I could every pick 2 songs that sum me up or anything.

+Skinny Love by Bon Iver

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+Honey Bee by Blake Shelton

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10 Day you challenge: 3 Films

Picking 3 films is a toughie. But somebody's got to do it!

+Grease. I can watch this on mute and still say  most of the dialogue. My childhood best friend and I used to watch this obsessively on repeat. I will admit that in high school I realized that they were talking about sex a lot more in this movie then I had realized at 8 or 9. Every time I watch it I find more things that totally flew over my head as a kid.

+A League of Their Own-I loved playing softball growing up and this movie served as inspiration and aspiration. A couple of summers ago we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame and I was so excited to see the AAGPBL exhibit that they show in the movie. Yeah...there is a tiny corner. It was really disappointing.

 +Love Actually. This movie gives me total hope that despite all the odds Love will find a way. Its a must every Christmas season and generally whenever I'm getting sad at the state of my life.

10 Day You Challenge: 4 Books

Oh god just picking 4 books will be nearly impossible. I think I'll narrow this one down and talk about the 4 series that helped develop me into a good reader as a child. 


+Boxcar Children. This was probably the first series of books I got into as a kid and I own about the first 100 of them. I read them way longer then was appropriate and cannot wait to pass them on to a important child in my life. I love their independence and the mysteries they solved. I always wanted them to turn it into a movie (preferably starring me!)

+Sweet Valley Twins/High-These girls seemed SO cool and awesome and I wanted to be like them. Their life seemed so glamerous. Also during summer camp these books were often read out loud around campfires and overnights.

+Babysitters Club-Who didn't want to have babysitters like them? The TV series was also one of my favorites and on vacation in early high school I met the girl who played Kristy in the series. I loved babysitting as a tween and teen so I wanted to be like these girls!

+Goosebumps. These were always a little gross for me but I liked the scary murdery mystery part of them.

10 Day You Challenge: 5 foods

Again the challenge is a bit vague so I am going to pick 5 foods that I miss a lot now that I have gastroparesis and can't eat a lot of the (fatty) amazing things I used to eat.

+Burgers-Red meat is out of the question because for the most part its too high in fat. I really miss bacon blue cheese burgers but any burger would do!

+Broccoli- I LOVE broccoli but its too fibrous and hard to digest for my poor broken digestion.

+Chicken Divan-in my family we call it chicken cheese and broccoli but its real name is Chicken Divan. Its one of my favorite meals ever. But as it includes velveeta, creme of mushroom soup, and chicken and broccoli its got way to much fat/fiber

+Ham Casserole-this is another family creation but involves creme of mushroom soup, noodles, ham, swiss cheese and its all kinds of amazing. But its got WAY to much fat and dairy for me!

+French fries-I've been able to sneak a few here and there in but I would kill for a big giant plate of steak fries with some ketchup and mayonnaise and just eat them for dinner. 

10 day You Challenge: 6 places

The challenge wasn't too specific about what these 6 places were supposed to be. So I think I'm going to with the 6 favorite places I've visited/lived.

+Cloudland, GA--I spent every summer from 10-18 living and working at Camp Juliette Low in Cloudland, GA. Its one of those places thats very much blink and you'll miss it. But it holds some of the best memories of my life and its the place where I met some of the best people who have blessed my life.

+Huntingdon, PA-This is where I went to college. Another small town. But also where I built some of the best memories and met a lot of fantastic people. Its one of the only places where no matter where I go in town or how long I've been away I always see people that I know.

+Steliacoom, WA-A friend of mine from college lives in this small town (sensing a theme) outside of Tacoma, WA and near Ft. Lewis. From her house you can see both the Puget Sound and Mt. Rainier. Its only 45 minutes from Seattle so you can still get a taste of city life when you need it. The town itself isn't much to speak of but is completely gorgeous. This is where I hope to move when I move to WA.

+Edinburgh, Scotland-I only spent 36 hours here but I completely fell in love. The history, the mix of old and new, the fact that you're no more than an hour from city, sea and mountains. The kilts and accents don't hurt either!

+Rehoboth Beach, DE--we spend a week here every summer. I love the beach and the boardwalk and ice cream and its just a place of complete calm.

+San Francisco, CA My Aunt and Uncle and grandparents on my dad's side live in the Bay area so I've visited a handful of times over the years and once in college for a conference. I love the city on the water idea (mostly I just love the water) and the diversity.

10 Day You Challenge: 7 wants

Oh hey 2nd post in one day. Sorry about that! I'll be back to my regular once a day tomorrow but now I'm all caught up! Also, I am sort of sad how quickly I came up with these. I need to work on being more satisfied with what I've got that's for sure!

+A Job. Preferably doing social work with veterans or active duty servicemembers. My dream job would be working with severely wounded servicemembers and their families as a recovery care coordinator.

+For the Army to make a decision. I have been pending for almost 2 months on a dream job doing substance abuse work with Active Duty servicemembers. I have felt paralyzed waiting on this decision.

+A Boyfriend. For the companionship and the um...fringe benefits.

+A good group of friends who live close by. I have lots of friends from high school, college, camp etc but for the most part they're all scattered across the US. I don't have a lot of close friends here in DC. I have a few people I talk to and hang out with regularly-ish but they're more the happy hour once a month friends then the drop everything if your car gets a flat friends. Those are the kind of friends I'm desperate for.

+A New Car. My currently car is still in fantastic shape so this is truely a want rather a need but its 11 years old and looks like its been through ramallah due to an unfortunate run in with a hail storm about a year ago. I'd really like to get a small SUV (like a RAV-4 or something)

+A new stomach. Things have been going pretty well these days but it would still be fantastic to wake up every day knowing that no matter what I ate as long as it wasn't rotten I would feel okay.

+A fancy set of kitchen knifes. I love to cook and my parents have a great set of cutco knives that I love using when home. Where as I am using old hand me downs from my grandfather's apartment and ones I bought in college at the Wal-Mart. I'd love a great fancy set of knives.

10 Day Challenge: 8 Fears

Sorry I really meant to get this posted yesterday but here in the DC area we're getting a bit of a monsoon and getting home was a disaster. Because of this you're going to get a double post today!

+ Vomit-my number one MAJOR fear. Like panic attack fear. Its actually a legitimate phobia known as emetephobia. I am significantly better than most people with the disease. I mostly just get panic if someone tells me they feel ill or if I feel ill. This makes it SUPER fun to have a disease that causes you to be nauseous constantly. I also don't feel very at ease around SUPER drunk people due to their proclivity to vomit.

+Bees/Wasp/Hornets/Things that sting. I react fairly poorly to regular bug bites but stinging insects are even worse. I don't need an epi pin or anything but they get red and huge and welty and not fun. I have been known to run away screaming and flailing.

+Never finding "the one". I sometimes fear that I am never going to meet someone who makes my heart flutter, my pupils dialate and my stomach all a twitter. But I also fear that I am not going to find the person who does all that AND wants to be with me. I've dated a lot of losers so I'm sort of loosing hope there is a winner.

+Finding "the one" too late for my dad to walk me down the isle. My ideal plan would be for both my parents to walk me down the isle as thats a Jewish tradition but also because my Mom is so important to me but Dad isn't the worlds most healthy eater so I fear that at some point his Type 2 diabetes or other health issues will cause him to not make it to my wedding.

+Breast Cancer. My grandmothers both died from Breast Cancer (one just after age 40), my mom and maternal aunt are survivors as well as some cousins. I've already had one scare and will have to be checked closely as I age. My boobs and I are on tenous terms. If they don't watch it they're going to meet an untimely demise.

+Squishy Lake Mud. On a less serious note. I am really really squicked out by the squishy lake mud with like reeds and stuff in it that you have to walk through in order to wade into a lake. Honestly I prefer to not walk through a lake if I can help it and rather just jump off a dock.

+Revolving doors. This is an completely irrational fear but I cannot go through a revolving door if there are other people going through. I end up standing outside one like an idiot waiting for a break in the "traffic" so I can go through solo. Or I just use the door.

+Not Making a difference. My soul purpose in life is to make a difference in the lives of others. Sometimes I fear what I'm doing isn't/won't be enough and I'm not making enough of an impact.

10 Day You Challenge: 9 Loves

+Hot chocolate. I love hot chocolate in all forms and from most places. I adore it with Hazelnut syrup (tastes like Nuetella) or with Peppermint Syrup (melted thin mints!) 

+Flip Flops. Specifically, the reefs pictured below

+ Fire Trucks and ambulances. I worked and volunteered in college as an EMT and sirens still get me excited. Which is an interesting departure from earlier days when the noises were too loud and I would hide.

+Peace Signs. I have peace sign purse, shirts, jewelry etc. I like it both for its history and for pure aesthetic sense.  

+The Military.  This should come as no great surprise considering my career goals. But it has to be said of course

+Music. Folk, Bluegrass, Rock, Blues, Pop, Dance Hall. I pretty much love it all. A day is not complete with a little music. Today I forgot my headphones in the car (must remember to get a pair just for work) and it made me sad because I couldn't rock out to Pandora today while doing data entry.

+Books/Reading. Reading has been my escape for as long as I can remember. I love book stores and I always have a book in my purse. Though with the kindle now I have 15-20 books in my purse at any given time. It is FANTASTIC.

+ Sweatpants. I can get dolled up like the best of them but if we're really being honest with ourselves I would love a job where I could wear big giant sweatpants all day. I tend to buy them a couple of sizes too big so that they feel like big hugs.

(hey look military a sweatpants! 2 in one)

10 Day You Challenge: 10 Secrets

In an attempt to blog more regularly and personally I am going to attempt this 10 day challenge. I have also been given more hours at my temp job and no additional work so it will give me something to do in the excessive amounts of down time.

+ Sometimes I forget to shower for more days in a row then I would like to admit. Like its gotten to the point where I have forgotten the last time I showered. I never smell and its never when I've been sweaty or dirty or anything but on an average temperate week I might only shower twice. 

+ I joke around with my mother about my future children. Talk about how I want to have girls so I can send them to the camp I went to growing up. But honestly, I am not even sure I want children. I am afraid I am too selfish to give up part of my life and my heart to a little person who could break my heart into a million pieces. Or keep me from traveling on a whim. 

+ Despite the fact that I've lost 30 pounds over the last year due to being sick and that I eat very low fat and very little food in general. I still think that people judge my food choices at restaurants because I am still slightly overweight.

+ I love excel. I know this makes me incredibly nerdy. But I really enjoy manipulating data and organizing it. 

+ Along the same lines, I have tracked every book I've read--title, author and page numbers and now month finished--since I graduated from college in an excel spreadsheet. This is partially just to track it for my own knowledge (and prevent from reread) and partially to challenge myself. But its also been really interesting to see where my interests have shifted over the last 4 years. I have read well over 200 books not including required reading for school.

+ In 3rd grade, faked a stomach ache to get out of a spelling test. Its the only time I have faked sick in my entire life. I'm a terrible speller but I don't remember what about that particular spelling test had me so freaked out.

+I have never seen a single Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, or Indiana Jones movie. I don't really regret this fact.

+  I got dumped a week into college (by a Marine that I met at a night club about a month before) and am pretty sure that is the major reason I failed organic chemistry and had to drop premed. Sometimes I wonder if I would have been a doctor if I had not met him. (Honestly, unlikely as I had not taken chem in high school and Ochem was WAY over my head)

+ I have insane road rage. Like sometimes I wish people dead or wish that I could go all Towanda on their asses in parking lots. 

+ Sometimes I think God made me fat because he knew that I would dress incredibly provocatively if I had a better body!