Tag: Braids, Baking, and Playing Favorites

Another tag, given by another Elizabeth - The Country Handmaiden. This time I'll actually do the "eleven things about me" part.

1)  My life motto is pretty much "better late than never."
2)  My middle name is Annette.
3)  I stay up way too late sometimes (don't we all?) and regret it horridly in the morning.
4)  I get very protective of certain unappreciated/misunderstood fictional characters.
5)  Sometimes I really really really wish that I had red hair, but in reality I would look horrible if my hair were any color other than boring ol' brown.  (My skin has an olive/yellowish tone.)  Guess God knew what he was doing.
6)  My favorite mystery of the Rosary is the Annunciation.
7)  I prefer pearls to diamonds and silver to gold.
8)  I wear scarves indoors.  (And occasionally hats, too.)
9)  I had to put a block on my favorite websites so I wouldn't get so distracted during school hours.  What do you know, I still find ways to get distracted...who knew paint programs could be so engrossing?
10)  I use the aforesaid paint program to color internet coloring pages. It's great fun. *grins*
11)  I love things that are almond-scented.

Now for the actual questions.

1.  Who is your favorite author?
You know how parents aren't supposed to have favorites among their children?  Well, that's kinda how I feel about books and authors, see.  But I will say that J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Elizabeth Gaskell are all high on the list.

2.  If you were to go to one place in the world, where would it be? 
Just one place in the world? Oh dear. Um...some place in Europe...I'd be quite happy just going back to Germany, actually.

3.  What is your favorite color?
My first favorite color is blue, and green second.  Actually, I'm particularly fond of the shade on my blog background.

4.  What do you usually do with your hair day-to-day?
Well, on lazy days (read: most of the time), I just put it in a braid.  If by chance I'm feeling a bit fancier, though, I'll probably do a diagonal dutch braid ending in a side bun, or something of that sort.


5.  Pumps or flats?
Flats for everyday, pumps for Sunday.  Especially because they make me a bit taller, which is always appreciated.

6.  Cats or dogs?
I hate to be giving equivocal answers to all of these, but once again...both?  I had a dog once of which I was very fond, but I do like cats as well.  I just don't like it when they decide that they're too good to be petted.


7.  Do you like baking, or are you better at cooking?
Definitely baking.  I enjoy it more than regular cooking, and it generally comes out better, too.  I'm not very talented in the spicing department.


8. Would you rather work with paint or clay?
I'm gonna say paint.  Clay is messier and, in my opinion, more difficult - though I'm not much of a painter, either.  But I do like painting, even if my masterpieces could be mistaken for a ten-year-old's.

9.  What is the weather usually like where you live?
It's surprisingly rainy here in southern Virginia.  The sky is nearly always cloudy.  I don't mind, really, because after growing up in Germany, I rather like cloudy days.  They're sort of calm and cozy - but don't get me wrong,  I love sunlight too.  A shaft of sunlight just makes me think of Heaven.

10.  Do you have a favorite hobby?
 I have multiple favorite things to do, but I don't know if any of them could be considered a "hobby."  I guess editing pictures is the closest thing that I have to a hobby.  I also make poster-y things with photo editors and random quotes, like this:

My other activities include reading (and reading-related activities such as looking up little-known tidbits about books and drooling at library shelves), keeping a very irregular diary, and perfecting the art of procrastination.

11.  Where would you rather get lost: a craft store or a bookstore?
No hesitation here - A BOOKSTORE.  As a matter of fact, I recently had dinner with a friend I haven't seen in nearly a year, and after we ate we strolled over to Barnes & Noble, where we spent probably about two hours.  It was delicious.  (The B&N, I mean.  The food was yummy too, but the books were the icing on the cake.)

Well, that's it for this time.  I believe I still have two more tags to do...

Tag: Classic Books, Tea, and Sandwiches

This is what happens when you're lazy. Your tags pile up like crazy and the nice people who tagged you probably think you're ignoring their niceness. Bad Victoria.  So I have four tags to do, but I'll be good and put them in separate posts.  Also, I uh... *cough*...I will not be following any rules.  At all.  On any of them.  (Well, aside from answering the questions, of course.)  Sorry.  Don't execute me, please.

First from Elizabeth at The Endless Road:

1. I have heard it said that some people  don't want to read classics because they are too long. Yet some of these same people read Harry Potter(and those are not short books). Do you think is really the length of the book, or something else? 
No, I do not think that it's the length of the book at all.  I think it's the level and style of the writing.  I have never read Harry Potter, and never mean to, but I've come across excerpts and I've seen the writing level.  It's not that hard.  (Not bashing - the books were written for kids, so they can be excused for being easy reading.)  Classics, on the other hand, often have advanced vocabularies, as well as unfamiliar colloquialisms and antiquated styles.  They're usually not action-oriented, and sometimes they have a sleep-inducing amount of description.  (Yes, Dickens, I am looking at you.)

2. If you could pick a dead author to talk to who would it be: Jane Austen, one of the Bronte sisters, Mark Twain, or Thomas Hardy? 
Jane Austen, hands down.  She seems like she must have been such a funny lady.  I've never read Hardy, I have a healthy dislike of Mark Twain, and the Brontes scare me.


3. Do you have a favorite board game? 
Hmm....not that I can think of.  I like Battleship, but that's not really a board game.  Do checkers count?  I like that.

4. Who is your favorite actor? And what is your favorite character they have played? 
I like Richard Armitage and David Tennant.  Richard Armitage's best role was, of course, Mr. Thornton in North & South, and David Tennant...he was brilliant as the Doctor, and I also really liked his rendition of Hamlet.

 5. Do you think being a fan of Jane Austen is becoming/is a fad?   
Among certain groups, perhaps.  To be honest, I don't know.  I don't care, if it makes more people read worthwhile books.

 6. We all pick out names that we like that we say we will name our children. What are some of yours? 
Um...I don't think I've ever done that, so I'll make something up now.  Let's see...well, if I had children, they'd all be named after saints.  I should like one daughter to be Rose, another Imelda, maybe Catherine as well.  For boys, Paul and William and maybe Thomas.  There, that wasn't too hard.

 7. Would you call yourself a morning person?
DEFINITELY NOT.  No way.  Don't get me wrong, I love the early, peaceful sorts of mornings, but those are few and far between and soon over.  In normal life, I'm basically miserable until two in the afternoon.

 8. Tea or Coffee? 
 Tea.  There was a time when I would have said "both," (see here to know what I'm like when I drink coffee), but now coffee makes me inexplicably sick, so I just drink tea.  Anyway, tea is more refined and British-y and, let's face it, it tastes better.  So I'm not too bummed out about not being able to drink coffee - unless my mom starts making puppydog faces at me when she needs a coffee-drinking companion again.  Who know that drinking coffee was a social activity, right?

 
 9. Have you come across a book where you liked the movie version better?
 Nobody kill me for saying this, but when I first saw Prince Caspian I decided that I liked it better than the book. *cringes*  I know, blasphemy.  Allow me to say, however, that I no longer hold this heretical position, and I can proudly say that I have never harbored such thoughts in regard to any other movie.

10. What is your favorite place to read a book? 
Well, the best place ever is the novices' recreation room at St. Joseph's Novitiate, but at home, the best is lying on my bed with the windows open (not during the winter) with a snack of some sort.  I have a terrible habit of eating and reading at the same time.

11. Do you have a food that you don't like, but everyone else does? 
Do you know, I don't believe that there is a food in existence that isn't disliked by someone.  In general, though....I am a bit particular, but I don't think I have any extraordinary dislikes. Ooh, but I don't like condiments on sandwiches and I have to have the cheese melted.  I guess that's a bit odd.