"WORDS ARE, IN MY NOT-SO-HUMBLE OPINION, OUR MOST INEXHAUSTIBLE SOURCE OF MAGIC. CAPABLE OF BOTH INFLICTING INJURY, AND REMEDYING IT." ~ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Honesty is the Best Policy



A big thank you to Shannon who gave me the Honest Scrap blog award!

So fun! I get to pass the Honest Scrap award on to 10 other blogs - all worth following... trust me! (Also, these are in no particular order!)




And now the moment I'm you've been holding your breath for... (Or pretty much I suggest duck and run because the blogs listed above probably have way more interesting - and more applicable content today...) I also have to list 10 more facts about me!  So. I kind of think I've already run out of interesting ones, but let's see what I can come up with. 

#10. My one year wedding anniversary is this month on the 13th! Yep, we had a Christmas wedding... I mean, it wasn't totally decked out with Christmas stuff - but here are some pics to show you what I mean:









#9 I could eat sushi (rolls) every single day of every single week. I love it. LOVE IT (them).

#8 I've always searched for diets (I know, I know... healthy lifestyles are the way to go - blah blah) but I found the perfect one! WRITING A NOVEL. I forgot to eat sometimes and lost like 8 pounds during the process. Too bad I'll probably gain that much if not more in the next month!

#7 My husband and I are signed up to run the ING half marathon at the end of January in Miami. He signed up because he wanted to stay in shape. I signed up because... hello - Miami in the winter? Yes please. I haven't run in months. Woops.

#6 I come across as extra bubbly online because I know how hard it is to read tone through e-mail so I naturally use a lot more explanation marks and smiley faces. I'm bubbly in real life - but absolutely not to the extent that you probably think I am.  In fact, ask my husband and he'll definitely tell you there are times in which I'm the exact opposite of bubbly... (Snarky. Bitchy... Frustrated for no reason - believe me, it happens!)

#5 I get really really nervous giving feedback on other people's writing. (Like sweaty palms nervous) For two reasons: I know how much heart and soul gets poured into writing and, even though everyone needs constructive remarks, I hate tearing into it.  Also, sometimes what I read is so good that on the parts I remark on I end up doubting my own knowledge! Once I've published (if I do) I'll probably feel more confident with this part of it. But for now? I bite my nails.

#4 I was on the dance team in college! And every year the alumni get to go back and dance at a men's basketball game. I look forward to it for months! And then am completely terrified when we go out to perform.



#3 Yesterday, I wrote a guest post about being a NaNo Rebel on K. C. Collins' blog - you should check it out! (And follow - because his posts are always interesting!)

#2 I have two half-siamese kitties named Piper and Lilah. I love them as much as my own life. Hence the next 6 pictures (out of about a zillion on my computer). They alternate back and forth starting with Lilah.
Call me a cat lady. I don't even care ;-)














#1 I'm leaving this open ended! Ask me anything you want to know in the comments section and I'll answer it!



♥ me

18 comments:

  1. Congratulations are in order - again! You're going to run out of blogspace at this rate...

    You look simply gorgeous in the wedding pics. Congrats on your first year of marriage too by the way.

    I love Siamese cats. I had two up until recently. They died at the ripe old age of 21.

    Good luck with the marathon. Rather you than me, let me tell you. :)

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  2. Sara! Thanks so much for my Honest Scrap award! It means a lot to me! Your wedding pictures are amazing, truly beautiful! Happy one year anniversary! Did you save your wedding cake?? If so, enjoy! Thanks again!!! :)

    xoxo -- Hilary

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  3. Thank you Sara! You're such a sweetie.

    Love the wedding photos. Your climate is just a tad warmer than mine - I was expecting at least a little snow! And a marathon in January?? With snowshoes? Maybe a snowplow to clear the way?? Okay -- Miami -- still hard for me to imagine :)

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  4. Awwww, thank you!!! You are the sweetest ever. And I happen to love that you're bubbly, in whatever form and shape and extent! Your'e the best ever. LOVE LOVE LOVE the Christmas wedding!! How beautiful. You were a beautiful bride, to be sure. And the kitties? Oh my goodness, adorable! And can I just say, you look like a dancer. That one pic of you jumping off the bench? Ah, Miss flexible athletic acrobat...hello! That's super cool! There was a time I wanted to be a dancer. By the way, you are the best at critiquing writing. I adore you!

    Thanks again for the award! I'll get it posted this week!

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  5. Thanks for the shout out! You rock!

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  6. Don't get nervous about stopping by my blog to give comments. I've been inviting readers to give me critiques on my writing or style or whatever. I get some nice comments, but I want someone to step in with the red pencil like my professors from college used to do.
    My comment about your site (and maybe this has more to do with my computer settings or something) is that I have a hard time reading it. It looks very pretty and all, but I have to highlight all of the text in order to read it. I've noticed this on other sites as well. Sites that have plain white backgrounds with black text is okay for me (like the comment box that I'm typing in right now), but some of the sites with the fancy templates and pretty colored backgrounds just get too muddled for me. Have you had anybody else say this? Any suggestions for me about the way I'm viewing these sites?
    Lee
    http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/
    Lee

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  7. Oh my goodness oh my goodness those kittens are soooooo cute! *melts* I'm so jealous of you. I want one!

    Haha, I get scared giving feedback, too. Sometimes I worry that I just didn't "get" the other person's work, and everything I said is not only useless to them, but offensive as well because I clearly wasn't being a good reader because I understood none of it. The other problem is that I'm very often impressed with the level of polish and work that's obviously gone into the things people send me--so I really don't have many comments so much of the time. And then I feel like a cheerleader and a bad cp, cuz all I ever say is "omg! this is great!"

    I'm afraid I come across as extra... weird online, because I do the bubbly thing, too, just to make sure people don't take what I say the wrong way, but then I'm also a huge geek... :-P

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  8. Thanks for the award!
    I would be running 1/2 marathons but I've come down with nasty tendinitis that won't go away.
    I want to see more dance pix!

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  9. Q - thanks so much for your kind words! I'm sorry about your kitties - but 21 years? They must have had excellent lives with you :-) And there's a distinct possibility that I won't be running the half marathon, haha. (Now... don't you have a survey to be working on or something?) ;-)

    Thanks Hilary :-) And we actually didn't save any cake... They delivered the WRONG one! And it was grosssssss.

    Jemi - LOL no I'm not running in snow shoes! It will be warm still in Miami that time of year. And we kinda hoped for snow too, but it still ended up being beautiful weather (which was my second choice!) When did you get married? And was your wedding in Canada - because I'm sure yours was colder!!

    Carol, I adore you TOO! And how do you know how I critique? I'm... still... waiting... (dying) to read more of your stuff! ;-) Also, it's never too late to dance! Maybe we'll have an #amwritingparty dance night, haha

    Anne - NP :-) I enjoy your blog

    Arlee - I won't be nervous about it, promise. I haven't heard that about the site before... Maybe the text is set to a smaller setting for your computer? Sorry if it's hard to read!!

    Alexandra - you're pretty much the coolest geek I know <3 I'd love to offer up one of my babies, but I'm sorry I just can't. Go out and get you some though! You know you want to - kittens make life SOOOO much better!! And we're definitely on the same page about feedback! But maybe that's the point... If you don't "get" it - then other readers might not "get" it either - so it's good to point that stuff out.

    Iapetus999 - I'm sure I'll post more someday. I have to find my old "real" dance team pics on another computer - it rarely starts anymore though, sigh. Sorry about the tendenitis! I'm pretty certain that I'm going to come down with a major case of lazyitis the day of the race. Do they make ice packs for that? haha.

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  10. I love the wedding pictures! And your dress is gorgeous. I got married at the end of August, and the main thing I remember is wanting to get out of my dress because I was soooo hot.

    The cats are so cute. We have three, so I guess you could say I'm a cat lady, too.

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  11. Wow. I thought I had a lot of bridesmaids! You put me to shame (I only had 5) Great list and you know, the more I learn about you, the more I realize we have in common (not sure if that's a good thing for you--you do realize I'm weird, right?) I could totally relate to #2 (except I have 5 cats-esh!), #5, #6, #8, and #9 (though I can't do rolls with salmon--but everything else). So yeah, it's bizarre.

    Oh, and as for number 1, I think it's only fair you share something embarrassing (since I have to do it ALL the time) so I want one of your top five most embarrassing stories and I want it now! *Evil Laugh*

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  12. Thanks for the award, Sara!!!

    I'm with you on #1 and 2! Our 5th anniversary is the 17th of this month! What a lovely wedding you had!

    I need to be more bubbly too. Everytime I write something, I stop and think, man, that came out sounding way too harsh!

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  13. I think for online we all kind of do an exaggerated personification of ourselves. We turn in to those cartoon avatars for the sake of ensuring our intent is well understood since the tone of voice & facial expression route available in person is non-existent. I tend to go to the extremes online in all traits except for the one which in person appears to be Hiroshima going up in flames. If I took that to extremes the interent might melt.

    I did want to answer your sweaty palmed moments for giving feedback. When I hand over my work to be critiqued that's exactly what I want - someone to tell me where I've gone wrong - even if it is the smallest detail. You don't want to be mean, but unless you provide an honest, frank assessment you are not doing the author any favors. Even if you absolutely loved the work & it did its job, there is always something you can comment on to help the author improve either the work in question or future works. In reading my own stuff - even after being "done" I always find things that need to be changed.

    When providing feedback, you are one voice, one opinion that provides YOUR perspective. The author then chooses whether to act on your feedback or not. I have received contradictory feedback from different people, and then decide which feedback best applies to my work. Any feedback is good - even when negative - or maybe I should say - especially when negative.

    I started off with a writing teacher who didn't believe in sugar coating, & I learned that lesson well. My husband frequently refers to me as Mrs. Simon Cowell (now aren't you all clamoring to have ME read your WIP's? he he)

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  14. Thank you thank you thank you!! I will be posting my 10 things on my blog tomorrow!

    Your wedding looks seriously beautiful! And, as a sometimes wedding professional myself, I definitely know what I'm talking about. :)

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  15. Thanks for the award Sara! That's adding another to the list of thank-you blogs I'll be doing this week, but that's perfectly okay. :)

    And is there a Youtube video of you and that dance team? That'd be awesome! ;)

    Seriously, good lady--you're a gem.

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  16. Oh! Great post, great facts! Congratulations on the bloggity award. :) From what I have seen on Twitter and here, you are absolutely amazing and you desrve nothing more than all the best.

    Keep on keepin' on! :)

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  17. Those bridesmaids dresses are gorgeous! It looks like your wedding was pretty spectacular - happy anniversary!

    Congrats on your awards - I love your blog!
    www.shannonkodonnell.blogspot.com

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  18. Aw! Those kittens are so sweet! And hey, we were married Dec 7th!

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Yay! I love when you have things to add :)