Question of the Week 9-15-09

Crystal: I am completely slacking...sorry! I was out of town last week and have been playing catch-up ever since at work...and my after work schedule is a whole other story....I'm just BUSY. I need another word for "busy" because I'm tired of saying it to everyone.

Anyways - question for this week (this is for all of our readers as well!):

What book are you reading right now?

Me? Surprisingly I am reading a book right now...usually my "busy-ness" doesn't allow me the room, but I started reading it on the plane last week and now I need to finish it! So I am currently reading Dean Koontz' Velocity. I love Dean Koontz' books...I've read quite a few to date...although there's many more to read still! I love the mystery books, and his usually entails a bit of supernatural along with the morbidity of human capabilities. So they're half realistic and half "out there"...and a whole lot of 'interesting'. :)

Whatcha reading Jen?? Readers??

Jen: I still need to give Dean Koontz a try. I keep saying I will, but I always forget once I enter the wonderland that is Borders!

I just started reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain! I don't know if you watch his show "No Reservations" on the Travel Channel, but he's awesome! Crass, controversial, politically incorrect and hysterical- I love him!

From my understanding, this book is what put him on the map. It gives you a low-down and dirty backstage pass to what really goes on in high-end restaurants. "A deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute cuisine."

Question of the Week 9-1-09

What makes for a perfect vacation?

Jen: I love getting away more than anything! I don't look for relaxation though (I can do that on my couch). I want adventure and sights, shopping and dining! I love visiting the downtown area in every city I vacation in.

Crystal: I think I'm exactly like you. My vacations usually end with needing a vacation to recoup from my vacation. Even though we use our timeshare places a lot lately, and they're gorgeous with full amenities - the type of place you go to just hang out at the resort and relax...we usually don't spend much time in our rooms or on-site....we usually get in, drop off our stuff, then go to our first destination.

For me personally, I like to plan my dream vacations around amusement parks. I'm a huge amusement park person....and my lifelong dream vacation has been Disney World.......luckily, that dream is FINALLY coming true....28 years later! This December we will be taking a really nice vacation there...sparing no expenses....it's gonna be a blast. I'm so excited. :) :)

Question of the Week 8-25-09

What is your favorite restaurant and dish they serve?

Crystal: LoL...I notice a lot of our posts commonly revolve around food. :)

My favorite restaurant would probably be based more around my favorite dish than vice versa....I go to a location for the food more than I do for the ambience, lol. :)

With that said...On the Border is one of my favorites because I LOOOVE their beef empanadas. They are right up my alley and I was so bummed to find out the one nearest me at the Howard Hughes center closed down....

My other favorite might be Chili's because they have the best chocolate lava cake that I've had to date...I'm always looking for some runner-ups...but I haven't found any that top Chili's yet. :)

Jen: I love Claim Jumper for the atmosphere, mainly because I tend to celebrate random accomplishments there! My favorite dish would have to be the Whiskey Chicken- chicken with a whiskey applesauce, mashed potatoes, stuffing and a biscuit with honey-butter. Yum!

I also love their Lemon Drops and carrot cake. In fact, they have one of the most fantastic drink menus ever!

Question of the Week 8-18-09

What has been your biggest hair horror story to date?

Jen: I've had quite a few, but I think the whopper was when I had red hair and I told my stylist that I wanted to go back to blonde. She actually whined about how much work it was going to be, and when she turned me around to the mirror in the end, it was brown! I asked her what happened and she said said decided to go brown because it was easier! The worst part was that it was actually slightly green, too. I left the salon completely mind-boggled. I mean, who does that??? I let my hair rest for a few days and then marched back in there and made her fix it.

Crystal: You have definitely had some of the craziest hair horror stories...I know that much....that one is pretty bad though - the nerve of that stylist! How dare she call herself a stylist actually....

I don't have many hair horror stories...I did my fair share of dying my hair when I was young, but I played it pretty safe for the most part...I do remember something about doing streaks (maybe it was with you??) and having this giant white-blonde streaks in the front near my face and it looked horrible on me (blonde is definitely not my color)....and the last time I got highlights I said I wanted a light brown color and they were orangey-white....horrible.

I don't dye my hair anymore though. :) I'm just gonna keep it au naturale. :)

Question of the Week 8-11-09

Crystal: Better late than never I say :) :)

Hopefully by the end of this week and then for the next couple of weeks I will be able to keep up on this blog a lot more than I have been!! I should have a little more downtime....I'm looking forward to it!!

So the question this week is:

What is your favorite Etsy shop and why?? (Yes - it can be your own!)

Mine...currently, besides Jennifer's lovely lomo shop, is BeeLoveLee. I just got my pouch in the mail the other day and I am in love with it!! I use it for my makeup and it just makes me smile when I pull it out of my purse...I posted a blog about it before, but I hadn't seen any of the products in person til now...not to mention her prices are absolutely affordable!!! :)

Jen: I love The Black Apple shop on Etsy! I adore the art and they have periodic sales that keep me coming back for more!

This shop has had over 24,000 sales, so I'm not the only fan!

Crystal: Wow - that's a neat shop! It seems like it's right up your alley in terms of style. It reminds me of those books...uhmmm...what are they called???? The 3 little kids with all the bad luck or whatever....oh! A Series of Unfortunate Events....yea - the style reminds me of the art in those books. Very neat! :)

Question of the Week

What is your most ridiculous and irrational pet peeve?

Jen: I hate washing cheese graters. Hate with a passion! Nothing will get me muttering under my breath like a crusty grater!

Crystal: That's a good one! I don't own a cheese grater - but I have in the past and I remember them being horrible....kinda like a colander if you get pasta pieces stuck in it or something - I always feel like I can never really get it clean and then I'm grossed out by it!

I have many pet peeves....a ridiculous and irrational one though...hmmmm....

Well I was talking about this recently, but I HATE to do things twice or backtrack at all...goes for everything whether it's telling a story to 2 different people (why I love facebook and blogs because i can post it once and just refer people to it), driving somewhere and then having to backtrack on the same road to get somewhere else - sometimes I'll purposely go the longer way just to not have to drive on the same road again...writing an email or blog only to send/post it and receive an error and then it's lost!! Most times I just won't rewrite it...I'll give up because I can't stand to write the same thing over again!

This probably bugs most people, but for me I think it's a little more extreme in terms of how it affects me, lol.

And another quick one - I hate when cars stop at a light and leave a whole car's length or two in front of them....for whatever reason it bugs the crap out of me...just move up! You're not gonna hit the car and you're already stopped, so I don't think the car length rule applies here!!

Jen: Backtracking seems like a pretty normal pet peeve, but with you I know it's different! Going the long way just so you don't have to take the same road twice is a little extreme- or OCD, lol! Isn't it funny how we're all crazy in our own wacky ways?! I embrace the crazy, though.

Question of the week

Crystal: So i was sitting here trying to come up with another blog topic....major blogger's-block right now....and I decided to google 'question of the day' and see what came up....

And just to give credit where credit is due, this is one of the sites that popped up: http://questions.vox.com/

And the first question says: If you could eat only one cereal for the rest of your life, which one would you pick?

So I'm thinking maybe we start a question of the week post...? And we'll come up with (or find if our minds are being blocked by the unknown) an interesting question every Tuesday (??) and post it for our answers as well as our reader's answers :)

So here's mine:

I'd have to say...Honey Bunches of Oats. It's one cereal that I never seem to really get sick of....I usually go on trends where I'll eat boxes of one cereal for a couple weeks, and then I'll get sick of it and switch to a new one, but then eventually switch back to the original one...........but I think Honey Bunches of Oats is ALWAYS good. :) :)

What about you Jen?

And our readers??

Jen: I love the "questions of the week" idea, and Tuesdays work for me!

If I could eat one cereal for the rest of my life, it would have to be Frosted Mini Wheats (preferably the brown sugar variety)! I never get tired of them!