Keeping The Game Going- TAG!

A fellow Blogger, A New Poison... tagged me in a fun question and answer game. The rules are:

1). Post these rules.
2). You must post 11 random facts about yourself.
3). Answer the 11 questions the tagger sent you in their post.
4). Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5). Go to their blog and tell them you've tagged them.
6). No writing "you are tagged if you are reading this" in the tagging section. Please tag 11 people. (I wonder how I'm going to accomplish this myself since I only have 5 followers and 1 of them started this!!!)

Ok, 11 random facts about me that I haven't mentioned already? Hmmm...

1). I played the flute from 4th until 12th grade. I brought it with me to college and never cracked the case. Can you believe I got the flute back from my sister a couple of years ago, along with the sheet music from high school band, and I could play the dang thing! I can't remember all of the notes by sight, but my hands remembered the songs!! Insane!

2). My husband was my one and only boyfriend. (Ok, stop feeling sorry for me! LOL!). I did start dating him at 19, so it's not THAT pathetic!

3). TMI WARNING!!! I have a birthmark shaped like Long Island above my buttcrack! And I LIVE on Long Island! We've been joking that I should have a star tattooed where my hometown is, like on a map!

4). My brain contains a wealth of useless knowledge. My favorite game show is Cash Cab, where I put all of that trivia to good use from the comfort of my couch. (P.S. Watched 'Who's Still Standing?' last night and got most of the questions right, like who remembers mitosis? Me.)

5). I can watch a movie that I love over and over again, ad infinitum. However, if I had to pick my favorite movie it would probably be 'You've Got Mail.' I love romantic comedies, and this one is set in my favorite place on earth, NYC! I'm such a huge fan that after watching the bonus feature where Nora Ephron maps out all of the filming locations, I took my family to the city and spent the day visiting most of them! We went to the shop, Cafe Lalo, Gray's Papaya for a hot dog, Riverside Park, Verdi Square... I was in HEAVEN!

"Here it is. Cafe Lalo."

6). My family and I like to play the conversation game at the dining room table. It's where you pose questions like "If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?" I'd say I could probably eat pizza every day. This game either gets everybody hysterical laughing or in a heated debate!

7). Even though I'm married, I pretty much sleep alone every night. For the first 11 years of our marriage, my husband worked nights as a truck driver for Newsday, our local newspaper. He would wake up around 1am every day for his shift. He would go to bed at around 8pm and I would be downstairs with the kids. When he left, I'd go up to bed. Now that he works days, he'll stay up late playing his baseball game and I'll go to bed early. He winds up on the couch most nights. ;) I just sleep better alone.

8). I'm a morning person now that I have older kids. When they were babies and nursing, I remember being up watching Howard Stern on E! at 1am. Since I have to get my son up and out the door by 6:30am, I'm up at 5:30am. I take care of the dog, clean whatever dishes are in the sink, make my daughter's lunch, waste time on the computer..
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9). Growing up, we were only allowed to have outside cats. No animals in the house (the 7 of us were enough for my mother!). My husband and I adopted my 1st dog ever, Sally, a black lab mix, in August of 1992, one month after my husband bought the house (we weren't even engaged yet) and was robbed!

10). My first flight ever was my honeymoon, to HAWAII! Talk about a baptism by fire! From the east coast to Oahu, it's 2 flights. After a few days we island hopped to Maui, then Hilo, then back to Oahu to come home. If you're counting, that's 7 flights in total in just 10 days! But the trip was worth every hair-raising minute on each and every flight! Now, flying CAN'T seem like a big deal.

11). I don't know if you know this one or not, but I LOVE New York City! I think my husband may have started it because on my 1st birthday with him he surprised me with a limo to take us in to see 'Cats' and then on my 2nd birthday with him (my 21st) another limo took us to dinner at The Water Club and then a carriage ride through Central Park. That's when he proposed to me! We celebrated with champagne at The Plaza hotel. How could the city NOT be my favorite place after that? All I associate it with is love and romance!! (He's a gem! And he's mine!)

Now here are the questions that were posed to me:

1). What do you want done with your body after you die?
I'm an official organ donor, it says so on my driver's license. I guess after harvesting (LOL!), I'll just be buried.

2). Would you rather receive a practical gift you need or something silly that means something special?

Isn't she a beauty?

I love practical gifts. In fact, this Christmas I finally got a Kitchen Aid stand mixer that I've always wanted AND from my niece Joanna, who picked my name this year out of the hat, I got the Spice Stacker to organize my spice cabinet AND a batter dispenser (for filling cupcake liners with ease) and a cupcake plunger. It hollows out the cupcake so you can stuff it with yummy fillings!

3). How many pets do you have and what kind?
I have one dog named Molly. She's a Boxer/Great Dane mix and is my baby. She just turned 6 and we've had her since she was 6 weeks old. She's a nut and a handful, but I love her so much.

When we could carry her around... now we can ride her!

4). If money weren't an issue, what would you buy?
Well, we've never had a new car, one without issues and in constant need of repair. I'd love to get my husband a beautiful new Dodge Charger or Challenger and I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a new Chrysler 300!!! Oh, and some new pocket books. I don't have any "name brand" bags. I like Coach, Dooney & Burke...

5). What is one thing you plan on doing before 2012 is over?
I plan on running my first half-marathon in October. I'm already signed up for the Divas Half-Marathon and it looks like it will be a great time!

6). How did you spend your last birthday?
Well, on 9/13, I turned 40! Two days before my husband planned a surprise party for me at my favorite local Chinese restaurant, which was really sweet. With all of the generous gifts from my family I bought myself a Garmin Forerunner because I loved trying out Runs For Cookies (Katie's) Garmin for 2 weeks. So, I strapped on my Garmin and ran 6 miles on my birthday! I was training for the 10k for 9/17, so I knew I was ready!

7). What are you hoping your next non-scale victory will be?
I definitely want to do well at the half-marathon in October. I think I set my pace for 2:45, but I'd like to come in under that! But that's in October. I am working on my speed, so I'd like to run at 7 mph for 30 consecutive minutes. Maybe when I lose another 12 pounds I'll be in a size 4.

8). What is your favorite healthy snack?
That depends on if healthy means really good for you or just lower in fat and calories. I really like reduced fat Triscuits with a little bit of cheese or Special K Cracker Crisps. I'm just not that into fruit and veggies. I will eat them, but my downfall is sweets. Fiber One brownies are great, Quaker Chewy granola bars, Chocolate Chex cereal... I can go on and on.

9). Do you like crunchy or creamy peanut butter?
I haven't had crunchy in years! My husband hates it because it tears up his delicate white bread. My teeth probably wouldn't appreciate it either anymore! We're strictly a creamy household.

10). Do you wear your shoes inside your house?
Sometimes, if I know I'm going out again, I'll keep them on. Most times I'm in my socks or completely barefoot. I hate hot feet! My feet can usually be found outside the covers, as well! My son is always barefoot. My dad calls him Huck Finn.

11). What kind of car do you drive?
I always get my husband's hand-me-down since I don't drive much at all and he needs the more reliable car to get to his job, so right now I'm in a pea-ish green 1999 Hyundai Sonata. It sounds like a rally car because something needs to be done with the exhaust system (so it'll pass inspection in February) and my driver's side window is stuck down about 3 inches, so I have a ton of packing tape to seal the window shut. It is so ghetto it's not funny. Oh, and there's also a leak in the trunk so I have about 4" of water in the spare tire well. And my husband doesn't understand why I'm embarrassed pulling in and out of the gym parking lot!

Now I have to tag 11 people to keep this game going. I only have 5 followers! So, some of you may be blindsided with a tag. Sorry!
1). Runs For Cookies
2). Fluffy Nurse
3). Journey To The Marathon
4). Finding My Way
5). Losing 100 pounds and...
6). A new poison...
7). Healthy & Sane
8). When One Door Closes
9). Czesia Lives!
10). Fat So Sarah
11). Aww, frick, I don't want to bother anyone else!

Now for the 11 questions you should answer:
1). Do you have any tattoos? Do you regret it/them? (I'm fascinated by tattoos and love the idea of getting one. Recently I saw that people are getting "13.1" and "26.2" tattoos. THAT I think is definitely worth marking your body for!)
2). What is one food that you couldn't live without or could eat every day? (Mine's probably pizza or pasta or chocolate...)
3). What is one of your favorite memories of childhood? (Holidays with my huge family for me! Grandma's strufoli every Christmas, putting up the tree on Christmas Eve while listening to our Alvin and the Chipmunks RECORD!)
4). What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you fulfill your dream? (I wanted to be a doctor. After my first year in college I realized it wasn't for me, so I switched my major to sociology. I loved courses like The Sociology of Addiction and Psychosexual Diversity!)
5). What's the farthest you've been from home? (Hawaii, but I live 2 miles from my childhood home!)
6). Is there something that you love that you'd sort of be embarrassed to admit (Dungeons and Dragons, maybe)? (Our family are HUGE 'Lord of the Rings' movie fans!! Maybe it's Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom that does it for me!)
7). Are you a side/back/stomach sleeper? (I used to be a stomach sleeper. Now I lay on my left side, facing the tv (with a DVD playing!) with a whole bunch of pillows propping me up).
8). Have you ever met anyone famous? Who? (Clifton Davis, the guy from the sitcom 'Amen' was at our high school graduation- turns out his son was graduating. I met Richard Simmons and he sang to me at a local Walmart grand opening. This past summer I got to talk with Ann Curry while watching a broadcast of the Today Show and we also saw Morgan Freeman at Jacques Toress' chocolate shop in SoHo.)
9). Do you have an actor/actress/entertainer that you're infatuated with/fantasize about? (I LOVE me some Justin Timberlake!)
10). What's your least favorite household chore? (LAUNDRY!!! It never ends! Get the dirty clothes to the basement, sort them, wash them, dry them, get them upstairs, put it away...)
11). Do you have a bucket list? If so, what's the one thing you REALLY want to do before...? (I'd really love to get to Europe, especially Italy.)

If you do this, have fun!! Thanks!