1. Have you ever had roommates?
Yes. My first roommate came my freshman year in college. Kara was tall, loved country music and had a boyfriend back home – I couldn’t figure out how we ever got matched up together. 15 years later, she’s one of my best friends and was the matron of honor in our wedding, those people in the housing department DID know what they were doing! Continue reading →
1. If you could buy any car, money not an option, what would it be?
This is completely a sell-out answer, but I’d buy the car we have, a Toyota Sienna, but one with all the bells and whistles and pay to have custom interiors done (I don’t know what I’d customize exactly, but doesn’t that sound cool?). As much as I dreaded being a minvan-driving person, it’s totally practical with kids. And it’s totally cool, check it out (in case you missed this YouTube series):
And since I totally saved money with the minivan, I’d also get a Ford Mustang convertible for tooling around with Simon, sans kids. A Mustang was the first car I ever wanted. The second car I ever wanted was a VW Beetle – my tastes took a dramatic turn from freshman year to sophomore year of high school.
2. What was your worst first date ever?
Gosh, definitely NOT the first date with my husband (our 6th anniversary is tomorrow – love you , honey!), that was a great date. The worst would have to be during the summer after freshman year of college. My best friend, Crista, set me up with her boyfriend’s best friend. The date itself was fine, I guess, I can’t remember much of it, I think we got coffee. But we went back to his house near MSU’s campus (he was a few years older and lived with a bunch of guys – so cool) Having just spent a year at college where I never went to bed before midnight, I didn’t think anything of the time or my parents expectations on when I would be home. We kept talking and were sitting up in his room where and he was showing me how to play chords on his guitar. All of a sudden one of his roommates was there saying that my dad was on the phone, sounding quite ticked off. I was mortified. This was in the pre-cell phone days and my dad had tracked down their number by calling Crista and was angry and worried about me because I wasn’t home. He was yelling and you could totally hear him through the phone, though I was trying to press it as hard as I could to my ear (see: mortified). I apologized to my dad and my date and hurried home. We never went out again.
3. How old were you when you fell in love for the first time?
Since it’s almost my anniversary, wouldn’t it be great if I said 25, when I met my husband? Cheesy, but totally sweet. And really, he’s the one I fallen the most deeply in love with but alas, I’ve had my heart broken a few times before Simon. I think I was 16 when I first fell in love and I’ll leave it at that.
4. When was the last time you reconciled your checkbook?
I could not tell you, with online banking and bill paying, the only checks I write are to church and daycare, with the occasional random one in there. I pretty much know the status of my bank account on any given do and keep no written record, just what’s online. Is that bad? Are my accountant friends cringing?
5. If you were going to fashion a “Wanted” Ad for a best friend, how would you word it?
Wanted: Good listener with a generous spirit willing to share their own struggles, joys and insights with a friend who seldom has it all together but tries her best. Ability to multi-task is a must and desire to be a team-player would be preferred.
Likes: Margaritas (beer/wine/mojitos are acceptable substitutes), children, food, laughter, pop culture, crafting
Dislikes: Gossip (unless it is about celebrities), self-pity/self-hatred, holier-than-thou attitudes
Please apply via text, email or Facebook, the phone intimidates potential employer and they often end up sounding completely dorky.
I love Easter egg hunts. With my kids we do them with the plastic eggs out in the yard but when I was growing up, my parents would hide all the easter eggs we had dyed around the house. And on Easter morning I would get to search all over the main floor of the house until I found them all, getting hot/cold tips from my parents. I used to beg them to hide them over again so I could search again.
2. Are you a “shower” or a “long, hot bath” kind of person?
If the long, hot bath is in a large whirlpool tub – then that’s what I’d go with but otherwise I am a shower girl all the way. Baths cool off too fast and are never as awesome as I think they are going to be. Plus you can’t wash your hair in the tub and the water always ends of sort of gray looking and ehhh-ish. But a hot shower – lovely – the only bad part is if you use up all the hot water.
3. Can you parallel park and if so when is the last time you did it?
Sort of – sometimes I hit it on the first try and look like a parallel-parking pro, but most of the time I end up going back and forth multiple times. Though I am pretty consistent with a small car, problem is we now own a minivan and a SUV – not so much on the tiny side. The last time I parallel parked was yesterday, in the minivan while stopping to get coffee… only took me three tries back and forth and I was talking on my cell phone while it was sort of snowing (Michigan in April – FTW). I am a brilliant multitasker (and so humble).
4. What is your favorite Easter candy?
Cadbury Creme Eggs – without a doubt. If they are fresh, I could eat the whole four-pack. The saddest thing is when they are too dried out in the center (yes, the very saddest thing).
5. Easter: do you go all out with the Easter Bunny or focus on the religious part of the holiday?
We definitely don’t go all out with the Easter bunny – we don’t visit it at the mall – but there is an Easter basket waiting in the morning for the kids. But we really don’t talk about it ahead of time – that just sort of shows up. Instead we talk about the reason for Easter and how it’s like Christmas in that we are celebrating something about Jesus and why it’s important. I bought books this year for the kids that tell the Easter story on their level. I think it’s possible to find a balance with the real meaning and something we do to celebrate the holiday – I’ll wait a few more years to answer the hard questions about why these two very different and unrelated things go together.
All the tiny green buds popping through the ground – it never ceases to amaze me that they survive the winter and the moment it gets warm, back up they come. My favorites are the hyacinth we have planted in the backyard that were from our wedding, always blooming right around our anniversary. Kind of perfect!
2. What was your best birthday ever?
This is a hard one… having a mid-summer birthday I was never in school to celebrate with my friends (except the year I took summer school gym and got hit in the mouth with a softball on my birthday – that would probably be my worst birthday). I think this year will be pretty good as we’ll be seeing U2 in concert just days before; I’ve wanted to see them live since I became a fan almost 20 (!) years ago. But I’d say my favorite birthday celebration was my 30th – some of my girlfriends and I who were all turning 30 took a trip down to Key West (sans kids). It was a such a great time full of laughter, sun and coffee (and perhaps a few bottles of wine), I only wish everyone could have been there from our group of friends. Now I am quite fearful that I am forgetting something special Simon did for me but he bought the U2 tickets, so I’m good because I mentioned that. Right?
3. What is your favorite dessert?
Sticky toffee pudding ice cream, which is no longer made by Haagen Dazs. HUGE sad face. Simon and I learned about this goodness from watching something on the food network about a competition the company had to come up with new flavors, sticky toffee pudding was one of the winners. It is just delicious and I’m sad for you if you’ve never tasted it. I’m also sad for me because it was limited edition. Though I did just learn there is a facebook fan page with others like me who are trying to get it brought back. Sticky toffee pudding is pretty good itself, but something I’ve never tried to make, probably because I’m intimidated by the prunes in the recipe. Better put it on the list.
4. What is the best excuse you’ve ever used to get out of a ticket?
I’ve only had to get out of one ticket. I was on my way to a meeting when I was about 6 months pregnant with Jack, driving through a neighborhood with a reputation for having fairly stringent cops. I had just driven by the 25mph sign when I drove by the cop, who immediately turned his car around to follow behind me because of course I was speeding. In a school zone. Whoops. So the cop pulls me over and asks me if I was aware I was speeding. In a school zone. Long story short, I ended up saying that I was just trying to make it to my meeting without throwing up. I must have looked green enough to him because he totally let me go without a ticket. Even though I was indeed speeding. In a school zone.
5. Do you wake up before your alarm, with your alarm, or after hitting snooze several times?
Depends on what I have going on. If I have a reason to get ready, I just get up when the alarm goes off, but if I know there is nothing pressing, I hit snooze a few times. Though for the past year or so, Jack has pretty much been our alarm because he is quite the early riser. We might not need to get up but we don’t have much of a choice. Thankfully that’s gotten pushed back to 6:30-7:30 lately, never knew I’d be excited to sleep in until 7 a.m.! That’s a little sad.
1. If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be?
My temper — my husband and I are both “hot heads” and I wish in the face of his irrational anger about stupid things I could just take it in and calm him down, instead I get offended and my anger flashes and escalates the situation. I’d love to just be able to say, “I’m sorry honey, that stinks” and move on.
2. Write about a time when you got lost.
When I lived in Chicago we went to IKEA quite a few times – for apartment things and because every time someone came to visit, that was one place they wanted to go. The first time we went there, I had a pretty good idea of where it was and had been there before but I wasn’t driving. Somehow I missed the exit and we ended up driving past the big blue building with very sad faces. unfortunately we were also on a toll road so we couldn’t get off the highway right away and then didn’t want to have to pay to get back on for a few minutes so we decided to just try and find it (this was in the pre-GPS days – remember those?). 20 minutes later we retraced our steps and paid to get back on the toll way to try and get back to IKEA. We drove by it again, missing the exit but on the third try (without getting back on the tollway this time) we finally arrived at the lovely little mecca.
3. Camping or 5 star hotel?
I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in an actually five-star hotel but I know I would love it. As long as I wasn’t the one footing the bill. Otherwise, camping all the way – I grew up spending weeks during the summer sleeping in a camper and running around outside all day long – best memories ever!
4. Have you donated blood?
No but I should. There is just something about where they place the needle that freaks me out. On a related note, I was a little over gleeful when I learned that my blood type is B+ – you know, like “be positive.” What a nice little reminder for life!
5. Do you have a budget or do you ‘fly by’ most months?
Theoretically, we have a budget, but nothing set it stone. This is something I’d definitely like to work on. We have too many friends who have had great success with Dave Ramsey and the whole envelope system. I don’t know that I could ever do that and we don’t have huge debt issues (or any, aside from car and house) but it would be nice to be more diligent so we could retire EARLY!
Hi, I'm Michelle, married mother of two active boys (plus one 9-pound poodle). I'm a proud Michigander, having lived here all my life (besides the 10 months I lived in Chicago during/after college). I love family, friends, God, food, enjoying life and continually striving for improvement.
ememby 