1. I won a writing award in junior high. I still have the trophy on my bookshelf in my bedroom.
2. I have a picture of my maternal great-grandmother and great-grandfather sitting in a horse drawn carriage. It was their first date. My great-grandmother was the daughter of Irish immigrants. She was a wild card. One story I’ve been told – She was 17 and had recently moved ‘out West’. Out of boredom, she and a friend saw horses of soldiers tied up outside a saloon. They untied the horses and took them for a bit of a ‘joy ride’. When her husband found out, he was pretty upset. One of the most vivid memories of her I have is when I was 10. She was in her 90s. She walked up to me and told me she would never get married again because the only thing men wanted was to get their ‘worm in her pants’. It was my first ‘sex talk’ with an adult (other than my mom giving me the book, “You and Your body”). I was horrified.
3. I was an adjunct professor for a semester several years ago. I taught two classes and LOVED it. It is a career I would love very much if I ever had the chance to do it again.
4. My grandpa used to call my grandmother Charlie. And to make her mad, because I was the first granddaughter, he called me Michael. (My middle name is Michele.)
5. When I paint, I’m incredibly messy. In fact, my art teacher would only get so close to me because she was afraid I would somehow get paint on her.
6. Speaking of messy, I used to bake biscuits at KFC in high school. It was my first job. I loved working in the kitchen, covered in flour, cutting biscuits out of dough. When I really got into it, I would sing “Take Another Little Piece of My Heart”. It wasn’t uncommon for me to leave work with floured hand prints on my butt. (My own.) It also wasn’t uncommon for it to get in my hair, my clothes, on my nose…. However, I did get pretty good at biscuits for awhile. I had one friend who would invite me over for dinner and then say, ‘oh since you’re here, would you make your biscuits?’
7. When I worked at McDonald’s, my second job, I hated it. HATED it. But – I did learn a strong work ethic (never sit still is the philosophy. Always work to be done.)
8. I have this thing. I think my index finger is fat. When I tell people, they roll their eyes and look like I’ve totally spaced out on them.
9. In high school, boys used to tease me and call me Jessica Rabbit. In retrospect, there were many worse things they could have called me.
10. If someone walked up to me and told me I was being sent to Beverly Hills for breast augmentation, a tummy tuck, a bit of lipo and lasik, I would think I’d died and gone to heaven. Say what you will, I want it for me.

And, if this bores you and you are a woman, I thought this photo might make you feel better. It is Girls Day after all. So why not celebrate with a Girl’s fantasy?

Now for 10 for Tuesday.

1. I now have blue hair. Or at least streaks. But if you’ve been reading this blog you know already.
2. I have a new found love for Tango and Empanadas, thanks to @adbert
3. I am working out every day now thanks to @gethoneycutt
4. I just rearranged my living room furniture. (I know – now that you’ve read this your day is complete.)
5. I still have my prom dress in my closet. And my goal is to be able to wear it again. I’m just happy I didn’t go to prom in the 80s.
6. I love the rain.
7. I am not a fan of the Wiggles.
8. But I am a fan of Monty Python and I look forward to going to Spamalot in May.
9. I want to skydive someday.
10. I am getting custom made Texas-themed pillows for my bedroom at http://www.fabulouslyfierce.com/ , featuring pinup cowgirls & the state flag.

1. I modeled for a while. When I was 4.
2. I went to prom with husband #2. See picture below. I would have posted a picture but it appears my scanner is not compatible with Windows Vista. (Ugh!) We reunited through classmates.com when I was online reading about my 10 yr reunion.
3. I’m a natural blonde. But, I dye my hair dark red because I like the way it makes my eyes pop. Of course, two years ago I went all platinum on everybody. It was way fun, but too much work to maintain. People thought I was her daughter.
4. One of my favorite books is Wuthering Heights. I love the tension between Katherine & Heathcliffe. My favorite quote? “” . . . he’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same….”
5. Rachmaninoff rocks my soul. There is something about his compositions that make me feel he was reading a piece of me when he wrote them. I discovered him in Fiji. We played his CDs at night while enjoying the ocean view and drinking tea.
6. If I had to limit myself to 3 foods for the rest of my life, I would choose bread, wine and cheese. Everything else I could do without.
7. I’m an ex-smoker. And I’m happy about it. But – if I knew without a doubt the very minute I would kick the bucket – I would start smoking and drinking heavily. Just to enjoy it one last time. With my luck, however, I would find the cigarettes tasting like crap and hate the smell so much I couldn’t enjoy it. For now, I’ll enjoy the clear feeling in my lungs.
8. I have small toes. None of that ‘wow, your toes look like fingers!’ for me. And I find most men’s feet unattractive.
9. I eat PB&J with cheetos on it. Don’t know why, just always have. And it’s yum – my favorite comfort food snack. That & grilled cheese w/ tomato soup.
10. I once wore a wreath of flowers in my hair to school on a dare. Yep, I was cool alright.

So what about you?

1. I’m a horrible jack of all trades. It’s nice in a way because I always seem to find something in common with people. Breaks the ice real good. But, I manage to get good at something (but not great) and then leave bored ready to tackle the next challenge. Which explains why I can did play the flute, piano, sax (tenor & alto), marimba, bells, xylophone, cymbals, piano and organ. And why I have a guitar sitting in the corner of my bedroom. I’ve written poetry, composed music, sang at one time in front of people (biggest crowd was 200+ folks), oil painted, grew roses, had several small businesses in college and beyond, speak/read a smidgen of Spanish, am learning German and have a ‘Learn French’ DVD set in my closet. I had a total of 4 majors in college before I finally settled on a BBA in MIS. And then when I graduated, I wished I had added Marketing to the list and would go back to college in a heartbeat for at least 1 more Masters degree (MFA) and 2 Ph.D.’s (psychology & literature) if I could. The only constant desire in my life is my desire to write and I’ve had that one since I learned to read. I could read before I started school.
2. If I could – if I dared – I would die pink streaks in my hair and get a nose ring. And then I’d get all mod beatnik on people and wear black and write poetry.
3. I’m a big defender of the underdog. I stood up to my arch nemesis in band (we kept beating each other out for 1st chair, but that’s another story for another day) when he picked on a girl for being obese. I have no idea what I said because when I get angry like that it all spills out. It sounds good and makes sense, but if I wanted to repeat what I said or write it down, I wouldn’t be able to do it.  I also stood up for a friend of mine that was a little slow. She’d survived a diabetic coma at the age of 3 and it affected her. She had just enough of a handicap to speak slowly and take a little longer than the rest to catch on. I got sick and tired of this one boy making fun of her day after day so, one day before class started, I shoved his books  off his desk and spewed a string of curse words I had not known I could string together previously. There’s a little more to the story, but I’m not going to share ALL of it. Let’s just say I nearly got kicked out school and surprised the heck out of everybody because I’m not aggressive or violent, nor do I like confrontation. But my 14 year old self had just taken all she could and wasn’t going to let anyone diss her friend in such a cruel, cruel way.
4. I was a preacher at one time. I preached a total of 2 sermons and 1 mini-sermon. Two sermons were for a youth group and the mini-sermon was because people weren’t ready for a lady preacher so I was only given 15 minutes. I had big dreams of going to some 3rd world country and working with poor, indigenous people and somehow make their lives better.
5. My dad was a preacher until my mom divorced him. I was 2 years old. My dad went to a Free Methodist church and they didn’t allow preachers to be divorced for any reason. So he quit. But, knowing what I know which I won’t share, I can’t blame my mom. I would have done it too.
6. Speaking of divorce, my ex gave away the last dog I had that I was truly in love with. She was a black cocker spaniel. Her name was Molly and she followed me everywhere, slept at my feet and completely and totally had me under her spell. He gave her away to hurt me and I’ve never been able to get close to a dog since. Someday, I hope to meet another dog that wins my heart completely because I miss that connection.
7. I have a thing for big noses. My grandpa had a big nose and was the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen. I think that’s why I now am fascinated by men with big noses. (Can you say Adrien Brody?)
8. For a short time in high school, I changed the spelling of my maiden name (from Lee to Lea) because I was mad at my dad. I never changed it legally but for some reason the school honored my request to print my diploma with the new spelling . Now I have a concrete reminder of the 5 months I was Tawnya Lea.
9. I can see the water from my  house. Ducks, sea-gulls and other various birds often gather in my backyard. It’s really quite cool. It’s a nice contrast to all the airplanes flying overhead.
10. I was in 2 plays in high school. In the first, I played an aging starlet with big boobs. In the second, I was a farmhand from Louisiana and my husband’s name was Hy Muckleroy.

Till next time!  As usual – please share something of yourself and pass this along if it amuses you….

Feel free to join in with a few of your own.

Ten Things You Don’t Know and Maybe You Don’t Want to Know

1. I consider cooking an art form. I rarely follow a recipe and love to experiment.
2. I paint with oils.
3. I like to sleep in complete darkness. So much so, I’ve started using one of those sleeping masks. I love it.
4. When I get excited or otherwise emotional, I wiggle my toes.
5. I have a tatoo somewhere on my body. It’s a red Chinese character meaning Love and was done by an artist named Bean. He had a copyright symbol on his neck and tiger claw scratches on his cheek. (They were a tatoo, not actual scratches.)
6. The only foreign countries I’ve traveled to were Canada, Mexico and Fiji. Fiji was by far my favorite. I stayed for 3 weeks and went alone when I was 20 years old.
7. I love to fly. In an airplane, not a broom despite what some might think.
8. My heroes are: Oprah, Pres.-elect Obama, Samuel L. Jackson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Molly Ivins and Cormac McCarthy.
9. I think Stephen King has more genius than he gets credit for.
10. My first cat was named Puck.

That’s it for today. Tell me a few things about yourself and throw in a link to your blog/website. I would love to learn more about you.