Tagged!

Well I have now been tagged four times that I know of, so I thought I better get my act together and respond to these sweet ladies!! Great big thanks to Michelle, Vicki, Corie and Shannan for tagging me!!! I really appreciate it! This is the '7 things about yourself' game of tag - I played a while back, but I'll try to think of 7 more things about myself, what the heck! ETA: Oops, Sophia tagged me too!! Thanks Sophia!

1. I am having some bad insomnia lately. Hence the tag response at three in the morning! I cannot stand just lying in bed when I can't sleep, I have to get up and do something! This list will probably put you all to sleep, so hopefully it will have the same affect on me! ;-)

2. I spend July watching the Tour de France, I'm a huge fan!! We started watching in '99, the first year that our hometown hero, Lance Armstrong, began his 7 year domination, and have been hooked ever since! (my husband loves all sports, so no surprise there - but a bit more odd for me to HAVE TO tune in daily to something like this!) I'm a bit heartbroken that so many of my other favorites (Basso, Ullrich, Landis) have been caught doping recently - it makes it a little harder to believe that Lance played fair all those years - but I still do believe, and prefer to think that he's just SUPERHUMAN! This year I'm pulling for Levi Leipheimer, who I've always liked because he's American and has such a cool name :-), and now that he's riding for Discovery, it's a no-brainer! Can't wait for those mountain stages!!!!

3. My favorite animal is the Golden Lion Tamarin! Is that random or what? My DH and I like to watch nature shows, we are big animal lovers in general, and one Saturday afternoon we watched a show that talked about these sweet little monkeys and the fact that they are endangered due to habitat loss. Not just endangered, but with only ~1000 left in the wild, they are the rarest animal in the world and on the brink of extinction. So anyway, watching this show made us feel like seeing some animals up close & personal, so that Sunday we made our first visit to the San Antonio zoo - and when we went into the primate house, there they were! Actual Golden Lion Tamarins, playing in a cage - the cutest little things I've ever seen! Turns out San Antonio is one of the zoos very much involved in the efforts to keep these little guys around! Very cool! And btw - being an animal lover, I sometimes wonder if zoos are good - I've decided they are DEFINITELY good - not only are many zoos active in programs like this to help endangered species, but they also help nurture future animal lovers by exposing kids (and adults!) to these amazing animals!! However, bad zoos, with small cages and neglect - I think are absolutely criminal.

4. When I went off to college (Michigan State - Go Spartans!!) :-) my major was pre-veterinary, and my dream was to become a veterinarian at a zoo! Ok my actual dream was to be a veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo, and occasionally bring animals onto the Tonight Show like Joan Embery. (no sense having small dreams!!) :-) But college was full of twists and turns for me, and I left the place with a chemical engineering degree instead. Sometimes I regret not becoming a veterinarian, but then I realize that if I stayed on that path, I never would have met my husband, we never would have traveled the world, I wouldn't have my sweet son, I would never have moved to Austin and met all my wonderful friends here, my friend Christina would have never introduced me to Stampin' Up, and I wouldn't have a blog today! So, I think I made the right choices. :-)

5. I'm a triathlete. Very hard to believe if you saw me, but it's true - I did the Danskin a few years ago, and it's one of my proudest accomplishments! I am not a strong swimmer, I was taking lessons up until race day and at times thought I might actually drown (but who was I kidding, I don't sink!) but I did it!!!!!!! For the bike portion, of course, I just imagined I was Lance Armstrong tackling those hills! :-) If you've ever had any inkling of desire to do the Danskin, I highly recommend you go for it - there are women of ALL shapes & sizes, and also many cancer survivors, out there swimming, biking and running (or walking in my case!). It is so incredibly inspiring!

6. I'm a proud member of Zonta International, a service organization dedicated to advancing the status of women worldwide. This year I'll be serving as our Austin club's treasurer, and also service committee chair. This is a fabulous & fun group of women, including some of my sweetest friends and fellow stampers (shout out to Diane, Leigh, Amy & Lisa!!!) :-)

7. I don't hate Martha Stewart. Shocking and unpopular to admit, but true!!

Wow I'm really long-winded sometimes! If you made it this far, you deserve a medal.

As much as I like hearing interesting facts about all of you, I'm not going to tag anyone tonight. (Although Leslie if you feel like listing 7 more things about yourself, I'd be very interested in reading them! :-) But no worries if you don't!)