Answer Me This, Vol. 4: Beards and Other Hairy Situations

This week Answer Me This is being hosted by Haley at Carrots for Michaelmas! Cuz Kendra decided to up and go to France of all the silly things. I love Answer Me This because it's a Q&A style thing that's way fun and easier than coming up with my own bloggy content. Here we go!!!

1. What's the scariest thing that's ever been in your yard?

In my childhood home, I swear I saw a coyote prowling around in our backyard once but my dad insisted I was dreaming (I maintain that I wasn't.). We know for sure we've had possums and raccoons and skunks and gophers and moles but nothing bigger than that. At my current address, the scariest thing in our "yard" was a drunken brawl involving a lot of screaming and breaking glass and such that had spilled out from across the street. That was a little scary.

2. Beards. Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Depends on the beard! If it's a short, nicely trimmed beard, I am all for it. But scraggly, all over the place beards that are bigger than a man's head? Not so much my cup of tea. I'm okay with a little 5 o'clock shadow or stubble, but it's not my favorite. I do think it's interesting that a variety of facial hair has come back into fashion.

very nice

not so nice

3. If stuff breaks, can you fix it?

Depends on the thing! If it's a domestic issue like a plugged up drain and drain-o and a plunger can do it, I'm on it. I like to think I'm pretty handy around the house, since I can hang curtains and usually put things together if they break.  I have this pink plastic tool kit my mom got me when I moved into my first college apartment which has come in pretty darn handy, too.  I'm good with glue and tape and hammers and screwdrivers but if the garbage disposal stops disposing, I'm calling Daddy. Major plumbing and electrical issues, I call a professional.

4. What was your first car?

I have SUCH fond memories of my first car. It was a 1974 Volkswagon Superbeetle and I loved that thing. It was light yellow, stickshift, looked like Tinkerbell's head (think her hair color) and it was wonderful. It was so me, too. I had it for about 2 years from when I first started learning to drive at 15 to when it finally died at the end of October in my senior year. Her name was Kiki, and she was a dream. From the crappy stereo that played my very first mix CDs to the sound of 3 backpacks rattling around in the trunk (which was in the front, of course) on the way home from school with my friends, to standing on the roof and singing songs from Rent with my girls in the senior parking lot, it was a great car.

Me and Kiki off to school. (Fall, 2006)
Yes, that is the all girls, Catholic school uniform.

Of course we had to replace the clutch twice and it seemed to always have something on it that needed fixing, but I didn't care, I loved it. When Kiki died I drove my mom's car for about 2 weeks until we found a replacement - my current ride, a 2002 Mustang V6 in bright yellow. I was bummed it was an automatic but it was truly much more reliable and "safe" (who gives a teenage girl with a love for speed a Mustang?) and Stefano Esteban (I ascertained fairly quickly that my car was a flamboyant Italian man) and I have been inseparable since then.

Me and Stefano headed to school.(Fall, 2007)
Love how I'm wearing my Senior Sweater.

5. How often do you eat out?
Far more often than I like or care to admit. Because I work so late most nights I'm not all that interested in cooking food at 8pm that I won't be eating until 9pm or later. I'm hoping that as my schedule returns to normal after The Great Office Move of Never Happening Again Ever I can get back to regular hours and feeding myself properly.

6. Why is your hair like that? 

Moderately well-behaved curls at a concert last summer.

I have naturally curly hair (and I mean curly, not wavy or or kinky, I mean frizzy and curly and generally unmanageable) and it's naturally part sunkissed blonde and part brownish blonde. I usually get the brownish blonde bits touched up so that my hair doesn't look like a weave with grown-out roots because I don't think that's very pleasing to look at. I had hair past my waist until I was 13 and I've had it between my elbows and my ears ever since. I cut it again when I went really ridiculously fun short when I was 19 because I was going to Germany for a week and didn't want to have to mess with it, and I chopped it off at the beginning of last summer for the last time in a long while. (Each time I cut it short I donated it to Locks of Love.) I'm trying to grow it out again and see if some length can make my hair a little more cooperative.

This was 2 1/2 years ago when my hair was longer
(still not quite to my elbows, though)

Also, I'm going to dye it pink this summer. Not all of it and not hot pink, but some sections will have a bit of pink, even if I have to do it myself (which no one wants).


If you have a blog, answer the questions and link up with us over at Haley's in this post. Don't have a blog but still want to play? That's okay because this whole thing is made up and the posts don't matter - leave your answers in the comments either at Haley's post or right here! I'd love to hear from you.

love,

Willow



*Author's Note: The images of men with beards are NOT my property - all of the others are. All the text in this post is my property. Thank you for not suing.*

Answer Me This, Vol. 2 (Tea & Tears Edition)

Linking up with Kendra over at Catholic All Year for her Answer Me This Q&A type link-up, which is fun and way easier than coming up with my own original blog content.

Found on Pinterest via WeHeartIt

On to the questions!

1. Are you becoming your mother?

Yes. That's the short answer. The long answer is: in some ways I'm a lot like my mother and in a few ways I'm not at all like my mother.  I'm more open-minded to people who do things differently (living their lives or hosting parties, for example), whereas with her, she has very strict ideas about what is and isn't "classy."

She is a better adult than I am. I suck at adulthood so far. Managing my money is a daily challenge, keeping track of various appointments and prioritizing tasks and making sure I eat a healthy dinner each day... These are things I'm not very good at, but in these realms, she is a rock star.

She is tidier than I am, but I am cleaner than she is. Her house usually looks immaculate - everything in its place, uncluttered, nicely decorated for whatever holiday or season is current, etc. My house looks like a disaster - books and papers and paraphernalia all over the place in haphazard piles - but almost every surface has been dusted, wiped down, and disinfected (mostly because I live with someone who doesn't wash his hands after using the bathroom and goes around touching the whole house). My messiness drives her crazy, and finding spiders in her bathroom makes me nuts.

We're really different, though. I like knitting, sewing, and reading a variety of novels. She's the glue&glitter type of crafter who reads chicklit paperbacks and doesn't collect books like I do.

We're both short-tempered and devoted Catholics who put family first and love to travel. As I get older, I realize that I am becoming more like my mother than I would really like, but at the end of the day, she's pretty cool so I don't mind too much.

2. Coffee or tea?

A lovely little print found at this Etsy shop, WhimsyCollage
(Go check it out, there's some really cute stuff!)

Both!!! I love them both! I like my coffee iced and I like my tea any which way I can have it. I take coffee in the mornings usually, when I need to be functional at work. I like it with a ton of cream and usually 3 packets of sweetener (I've been told that I like coffee with my cream and sugar, rather than the other way around), and I prefer it iced or even at room temperature rather than piping hot. (My mother makes her coffee scalding hot - and almost exclusively drinks instant. Blech!)
I will drink tea wherever, whenever. I like it best as Earl Grey or English Breakfast in my little white teapot at the kitchen table on Sunday mornings or in afternoons with friends. I also like a cup of chamomile or green tea in the evenings to help me sleep.

Found on IWastSoMuchTime and Pinterest

3. What foreign country would you like to visit?

All of them! I've visited much of Western Europe already but would love to see more of it. The main places I want to visit that I haven't yet are Spain, Turkey and Greece. There are a zillion other places I want to go, but those are the absolute musts!

from AmazingSnaps via Pinterest

4. Do you cry easily?

This is difficult because I do and I don't.There are certain books, movies, songs, and thoughts that will always make me cry (Always.), but at other times I worry that I come off as heartless because I don't cry at funerals. I'll cry at baptisms and Confirmation masses, but not at funerals. I actually cry the most when I'm angry or feeling like I can't control a situation, rather than when I'm sad.

5. How often do you wear heels?

Once a week or so? It depends. Sometimes I'll go months wearing the same exact pair of flats, but then other times I'll wear a different pair of heels every day for a week. I really like wearing heels and I like the way they make me feel, but I don't like the way they squish my toes at the end of a long day of wearing them. I usually kick them off under my desk when I get to work to minimize toe-squish, but boy do I look good walking through the parking lot! 

6. Do you play a musical instrument?

from Pinterest but no idea where

Yes, yes I do. I'm a decent pianist and a seriously struggling guitarist (really, it's pathetic - I will not be a YouTube star this year). I used to be a really proficient pianist but being an adult really gets in the way of keeping up with it and practicing. I should probably make time for it again because I really love playing.


Aaaaaaaaaaand that's all for this round of Answer Me This! If you have a blog, answer the questions and link up with us over at Kendra's in this post. Don't have a blog but still want to play? That's okay because this whole thing is made up and the posts don't matter - leave your answers in the comments either at Kendra's post or right here! I'd love to hear from you.

love,

Willow


*Author's Note: The images used in this post are NOT my property - I have given credit where I could as best as I was able. All the text in this post is my property. Thank you for not suing.*