I am a violet

This is a fun (if not random) quiz, especially for my gardening sister-in-law, Brooke (Happy Birthday!). It is sort of the same idea as the Jane Austen heroine quiz two posts ago.

I am a Violet What Flower Are You?

The description: "You have a shy personality. You tend to hesitate before trying new things or meeting new people. But once people get to know you, you open up and show the world what you are really all about."

Sort of fits, I guess.

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever

Last weekend we went to the beautiful Thanksgiving Point Gardens. It has been an annual tradition in my family for the past four or five years to go there in a joint celebration of my brother's and my sister-in-law's birthday. I love seeing all the beautiful flowers! I don't know the names of most of them, but someone else in my family always does (usually Brooke). My favorite place is the Secret Garden, a beautiful walled-in garden with nooks and benches and fountains. (The fountains are perfect for water fights, by the way. Just ask Alan and my nieces and nephews!)

Here are a bunch of pictures highlighting our day:

The clan

My cute sister and bro-in-law

Me on the Monet Bridge

Alan, Jared, and my nephew Andrew looking at the fish

All of my cute nieces (minus baby Charity)

My cute nephews and Jared

I love this picture of my nephew Scott and the Buddy!

I can't wait to go there again!

Dancing the Night Away...

Alan and I signed up for a community ballroom dance class that meets once a week. It is so much fun! We each took a ballroom dance class in college but forgot most of what we learned, so this is good review. We are currently learning the foxxy and the swing, and we will soon be learning the cha-cha and the waltz.

The best part of this dance class is that Alan and I are getting a once-a-week date night! Up until now, there have probably only been a handful of nights where we have gone on real dates without Jared. We are so lucky to have two of Alan's sisters living only a block or so away from us, and they have so graciously offered to babysit. They are such wonderful aunts!

Jared showing Aunt Amanda how he claps

I love dancing with Alan, especially now that we are learning some real moves. It is so terribly romantic. Ahhhhh... We are definitely planning on taking subsequent dance classes.

Jane Austen Heroines

My friend Jamie put this fun quiz on her blog. Go to this website and answer the questions to see which Jane Austen heroine you are most like. A few of the questions are a bit obvious as to which character your answer is choosing, but it was still fun nonetheless. I'm most like Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility. What about you?

P.S. If you haven't seen the new BBC version of this movie, it is wonderful! I like it every bit as much as the Emma Thompson version, and perhaps even more.

Top Ten Movies

Alan and I enjoy many of the same types of movies. I'm actually a HUGE wimp when it comes to scary movies and even a lot of dramas, so Alan is sweet to watch the types of movies I like with me. However, out of all the movies we watch, there are several that are definitely "my" type, and some that are definitely "his" type. (I still don't get what is so funny about the movie "The Man Who Knew Too Little.") Here is my top ten movie list, in order:

1. The Parent Trap (Hayley Mills version)
2. Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea (yes, I'm going to cheat and group these together)
3. Pride and Prejudice (A&E) and Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightley version) (more cheating going on, I know)
4. While You Were Sleeping
5. Little Women (Winona Ryder version)
6. Return to Me
7. Sleepless in Seattle
8. Beauty and the Beast
9. The Music Man (I don't even own this one! I just borrow it frequently from my mom.)
10. Meet Me in St. Louis

I definitely notice a trend in this list. However, I can watch these over and over again and not get sick of them! Alan's top ten list would probably include anything starring Bill Murray.

What are your favorite movies?

The Billies and How We Came to Be

Yesterday I saw my Billies. Well, two out of three of my Billies. What are the Billies? you ask. I'm glad you asked. My Billies are three of my many former roommates. We all lived together for practically two straight years (some of us more), and we have been wonderful friends ever since.

I actually stole the term "Billy" from my high school friend Ryan (inside joke and a long story), but somehow it transferred to my freshman roommate Ashley. I called her Billy the whole year. Then when Caroline and Ann-Marie joined us, they also became Billy. Sometimes for clarification purposes, we called Ann-Marie Billy-smalls. (Those who know and love her know why.) I could call on the phone, identify myself as Billy and ask to talk to Billy, and each of us knew whom I wanted. It was amazing, the connection we had with each other.

Then one day, Billy Ashley got married. She lived nearby for another year, then she moved far away to Indiana. All of us other Billies were sad. Here we are on her wedding day, along with Ashley's little sister Melanie:

Melanie, Billy Caroline, Billy Ash, Billy Ann-Marie, and me at the Nauvoo Temple

Yesterday, the other two Billies and I (and a couple of husbands and children--but they aren't really part of the Billy story, except for the fact that I suggested each of the Billies name their children Billy or Billie, after me) had yummy tin-foil dinners and s'mores at Caroline's house. It was so fun! They are such good friends of mine, and we always pick up right where we left off. Here is Ann-Marie with Caroline's son Lincoln and my little Buddy:

Lincoln, Ann-Marie, and Jared

I owe much of who I am to my sweet Billies! I love you guys!

A Few of My Favorite Things, or My Top Ten Everything

I have this mental list of my favorite things in life. When I think of a new addition to this list I'll say to Alan, "I'm going to add this to my Top Ten." Some of them are foods, some are places, some are objects, some are events (although I'm sure I could think of a Top Ten for each of those categories.) Anyway, I have decided to write them down to help keep my thoughts organized. You will notice that my list is incomplete. I'm still adding to it.

Here they are, in no particular order (I know, it defeats the whole idea of a top ten countdown):

1. Long, hot showers on a wintry day.

2. Breyer's peach ice cream.

3. Champery, Switzerland. I spent a couple of days of paradise here the summer after I graduated from high school. It is a tiny little resort town where it's snowy in the winter (good skiing, apparently) and green and lush in the summer. Every home looks traditionally "Swiss" and has flower boxes outside every window. I took a lovely walk with some friends around the town, and the people were so nice. One evening as I was in my hotel room I heard a man outside the window yodeling to himself just for fun. Someday I would like to go back. This picture does not do it justice.

4. Christmas music. Not the cheesy pop kind on the radio, but traditional songs sung by oldies like the Carpenters, John Gary, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, the Lettermen. . . my family knows what I'm talking about. I am one of those weirdos who pull out the Christmas music as early as September sometimes.

5. Singing in a good choir in a place with awesome acoustics. This has only happened to me a couple of times in my short choir career. To my fellow high school choir bloggers, do you remember singing "Walking on the Green Grass" and "Beati Quorum Via" in Gardiner Hall for the Festival of Gold?

6. Spending time with Alan, especially if we are going out to dinner at an Italian restaurant. :)

7. A short, lesser-known piece of music called "In the Christmas Tree" from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. It is such a beautiful segment in between the battle scene and the snowflake scene where the Nutcracker is first transformed into a prince and he and Clara dance together. Anyone who knows me well knows my obsession with The Nutcracker in general, but I honestly think this is one of the most beautiful classical pieces ever composed. It has such beautiful French horns and violins, and I listen to it over and over again at Christmas time. You can listen to a few seconds of it here on track number 9.

8. My cute little Buddy sleeping or resting with his head on my shoulder. He does this every time I am about to put him down for a nap or at bedtime while I sing him songs.

9. ??

10. ??

There are plenty of things I love not listed above (such as chocolate, Disneyland, picnics, Arches National Park, naps, the Anne of Green Gables movies), but I don't know if they are good enough to make my Top Ten Everything list. Maybe they are runners-up.

What is your Top Ten Everything list?