Tag, You're It!

OK, unofficially tagged by Denise

Here are the Rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

1. I cannot go anywhere without chapstick - I but it in bulk! I have some in my purse, my desk at work (at least 3 tubes), 2 tubes in the stand near my recliner, 1 in my nightstand. Right now, I probably have at least 2 dozen chapsticks in my possession.

2. My current favorite commercial is for Jeep Liberty. The coyote just slays me - Rock Me Gently

3. I am a food porn addict. I read cookbooks and magazines. I watch Food Network religiously. I won't make half of the recipes I print or clip, but I have two binders full of them. I subscribe to Cuisine at Home and Everyday Food. I own 58 cookbooks and refuse to throw out my collection of magazines like Food & Wine and Gourmet. Why? I don't know. In fact, I'm watching Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello right now.

4. I read runes. I haven't done it in awhile but I did a personal reading last night, and it was so right on. The reading is a separate post, but it answered a lot of questions for me.

5. I have weird celebrity crushes. Granted, some are typical like George Clooney and Liam Neeson, but I am really attracted to Pete Carroll (coach of the USC football team) and Mike Rowe (host of Dirty Jobs).

Off to start the morning... Please feel free to play along!

A Book Meme

Of course I invite anyone interested to do this and post on their blog...

1. Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback? Whatever I can get my hands on, although if I start a series as one kind, I’ll want all the following books to be the same. For instance, I have all the Harry Potter books in hardback.

2. Amazon or brick and mortar? I love browsing at a brick & mortar, but I do have a 8-page Wish List at Amazon.com. I tend to buy more on line, but will spend more time in a real book store.

3. Amazon or the Co-Op Bookstore? I’d have to say Amazon.com since I prefer new books, but I would have no problem browsing at a co-op.

4. Barnes & Noble or Borders? Doesn’t matter – B&N is closer, though.

5. Bookmark or dog ear? Bookmark!

6. Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? Harry Potter

7. Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? Chapter breaks if possible.

8. “It was a dark and stormy night” or “Once upon a time”? “It was a dark and stormy night…”

9. Buy or Borrow? Buy, because I tend to forget to return borrowed books.

10. New or used? New!

11. Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation, or browse? All three. One of the functions I like from Amazon.com is the “Other readers who bought this book also bought…” It’s turned me on to some new authors I might not otherwise have tried. I also enjoy the Employee Suggestions at B&N.

12. Tidy ending or cliffhanger? I don’t mind a good, satisfying cliffhanger.

13. Morning, afternoon or nighttime reading? Whenever I have a chance, although my favorite is out on the deck on a summer day.

14. Stand alone or series? I read both, although if I read a series I have to read them in order from start to finish.

15. Favorite series? The Ballantyne series or The Courtney series from Wilbur Smith. Both are sweeping multi-generational sagas about Africa. They are very engaging, informative and fun.

16. Favorite book of which nobody else has heard? This is a hard one, but I will go with the trilogy, “His Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman.

17. Favorite books read last year? “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini or “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

18. Favorite books of all time? Way too hard, as this will change by day, how I’m feeling, who is asking the question, etc. Right now I am recommending Amy Tan’s “Saving Fish From Drowning.”

19. Favorite genre of books? I love historical fiction (Wilbur Smith, Edward Rutherfurd). I also enjoy off-beat fiction/humor by Christopher Moore and Tom Robbins. My escapist reads are series by Sue Grafton and Janet Evanovich.

20. Favorite classic author? Tennessee Williams

21. Favorite modern author? Wilbur Smith

22. Favorite children’s author? Laura Ingalls Wilder – I have my mom’s hardbacks of the entire “Little House on the Prairie” series and have read these book many, many times. My second favorite would be Anna Sewell who wrote “Black Beauty.” I could recite the first four or five chapters verbatim.

23. Favorite local author? Minnesota has a ton to choose from – F. Scott Fitzgerald, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Garrison Keillor, Charles Schultz, Sinclair Lewis, Tami Hoag, etc. My current favorite, although not born here, currently resides in Minneapolis, is Neil Gaiman.

24. Keep or recycle books you’ve read? Must. Keep. All. Books. Period. This is why I have a 7+ foot bookshelf in our den, three 4 foot bookshelves in the office (one shelf is double stacked), 2 small bookshelves in the kitchen (1 is overflowing with cookbooks), 1 bookshelf in the master bedroom (packed) and books scattered in both guest rooms. In fact, the one guest room only has books to be read (currently at 50+).

25. Do you read one book at a time or multiple books? I have a book for upstairs that I read before bed (currently “Marley & Me”) and a downstairs book for reading out on the deck (currently “The Once and Future King”).

26. Favorite reading spot? On the deck, although curled up on the couch on a rainy day with a blanket and the fireplace on isn’t half bad, either.

27. Do you stop reading a boring/bad book or continue to the bitter end? For the most part I will finish the book, although I have finally allowed myself permission to give up and try again if it’s just not grabbing me. The only book I have tried to read multiple times and just can’t get through is “Little Women.”

28. Any big reading plans for the summer? I have about 50 unread books, and I’m really looking forward to several of them, including “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert and “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini. And, of course, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

29. Are there any books or authors that everyone raves about but you just don’t get the hype? I’d have to say the Alexander McCall Smith/No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. I read the first two, but just couldn’t do any more.

30. Fiction or non-fiction? I’ll read either, depending on my mood.

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Bee-Bop. I haven't done a meme in a long time, so here it goes - First, the rules: each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. Since this is going around, I won't tag anyone specific, but feel free to do this and let me know...

Random Fact #1 - I constantly crack my knuckles. I've done this forever, and my mom used to tell me that my joints would get big, which is an old wives tale. I also crack my hips by putting one leg up on a counter/table and stretching to the floor. It feels soooo good.

Random Fact #2 - I am a huge Dallas Cowboys fan. Yes, I know I'm not from Dallas, nor do I live in Dallas now. Heck, I've only been to Dallas twice in my life. But, I was stuck watching a football game - Dallas versus Houston, I think - when at my grandparents' house and I thought Danny White, the QB, was cute. I was 7.

Random Fact #3 - My favorite number is 14. I think I chose that number when I idolized Mike Scoscia, the catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers (now the manager of the Anaheim Angels). Again, I thought he was cute. I was probably 13 at the time... A lot of my passwords have 14 in them.

Random Fact #4 - I don't understand light/lite beer. If I'm going to drink beer, I want it to taste like beer.

Random Fact #5 - I love thunderstorms. I will even go to a window to watch, or, once when I was living in NYC, actually went to the roof to watch one. A lightening strike on a park bench across the street sent me running for cover, but I am fascinated by them.

Random Fact #6 - I shower in the same way every day - get wet (back to the shower head, of course), wash my hair, wash/exfoliate my face, rinse hair, condition hair, soap up, rinse, rinse hair. My after shower routine is also the same - do a quick dry, wrap towel around my waist, wrap smaller towel around my hair, clean my ears, clean face, moisturize face, apply under eye cream, towel dry hair, comb hair, blow dry hair, finish drying my body, put on lotion and then spritz with body spray.

Random Fact #7 - I have been known to give up my place in bed for the dogs. If Baja starts to crowd me at the top of the bed, I will often reverse my position - my pillow and head at the foot of the bed, spooned around Jager with Baja on my legs.

Have fun with this!! I probably could have listed several more, but thought this was insightful!!