Fun Monday – Dream a Little Dream

I haven’t done a FUN MONDAY post in a very long time, but Jill stopped by the other day and let me know she was hosting this week, and I love the topic, so I thought, hey, why not?

So, here is this week’s Fun Monday topic:

Strange Dreams. Do you have any dreams, particularly recurrent ones that you feel no one else has? Or, just tell us about an odd dream you had as a kid.

I don’t remember my dreams very often, and usually, even when I do, I only remember random bits and pieces, never the full dream. For the most part, my dreams never make any kind of sense, whatsoever, but that’s sort of par for the course with dreams, isn’t it?

I do, however, have a recurring dream. It’s not the same exact dream, but it is always the same theme. I’ve been having this dream for at least 10 years now, probably since I left college.

Here’s the general gist of the dream:

I’m in school. College. Back in my old haunts on Beacon Hill. Sometimes, I’m just visiting, as I am now, older, wiser, just stopping by to see an old teacher or something (something, which, by the way, I never do in real life). Other times, I’m actually still in school, taking classes, etc.

All is well until suddenly I realize that I don’t know my class schedule. I have no idea where I’m supposed to be. And I can’t find anyone anywhere to tell me what my schedule is supposed to be. And the worst part is, I realize that I have a class, a particular class (usually a math class of some sort, though not always), which I have NEVER attended, the entire semester, and there is an exam coming up. I HAVE to make it to today’s class, because then I’ll know what’s going to be on the exam, and I’ll be fine, even though I’ve never set foot in class all semester.

But I don’t know my class schedule. I don’t know where it is, on what day, at what time…

I usually wake up in a panic thinking I’m going to flunk out of college.

There are different variations of the dream, but the sense of failure and confusion is always the same.

The funny thing is, if you knew me, you’d know how ridiculous this is, because I? Was always the good student, always in class, always on top of things.

I realize I usually have this dream when I’m stressed about deadlines or something of the sort in my life, which would explain why I haven’t had the dream since I left my old job…until last week, when I was stressed about a deadline at work.

I’ve also learned, from talking to folks, that I’m not the only one who has this particular themed recurring dream…do you have it too? What are you recurring dreams? Go on over to Jill’s to join in on Fun Monday if you want to share, or just let me know in comments, I’d love to hear them.

Fun Monday – Useless Trivia

The crew over at Mama Drama are hosting Fun Monday this week and they have assigned us a fun little ditty:

Remember way back in elementary school when you had to do a report on James Garfield, the 20th President of the United States and you told the class all about how he was shot after only four months in office? You also remember that he recovered after a week, but doctor’s continued to probe at the healed wound causing complications and resulting in his death almost three months later? Okay, we all knew that about Garfield, but you also remember that James Garfield could write with both hands at one time and in different languages.!!! Why do you remember that? Maybe for you it wasn’t James Garfield, but somewhere in your past education, you picked-up some little bit of useless information that you’ve never forgotten.

Well, I am sure that I’ll think of a bunch more stuff right after I hit “publish”, but this is the one that came right to mind. One of my favorite subjects in school was always English, and in 8th grade we read Huck Finn and learned a bit about Mark Twain in the process. For some reason, that entire time is pretty clear in my memory. I really enjoyed Huck Finn, and became a big fan of Mark Twain. But, this is the useless bit of trivia I never forgot. Mark Twain was born exactly two weeks after Halley’s Comet made an appearance, and then died the day after it’s next appearance. The comet only appears every 75 or 76 years and Twain even said in his autobiography:

“I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year (1910), and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: “Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.”- Mark Twain, a Biography

I don’t know why, but that’s always stuck with me as an interesting bit of trivia.

There you have it, that’s mine. Go over to Mama Drama to learn some more fun stuff.

Fun Monday – I Want to Know

This week’s FunMonday is being hosted by the lovely and wonderful Lisa. And it’s an easy one too:

What is one thing you would like to ask your readers? Come up with a question to pose to your visitors and throw it out there on Monday. As we’re all visiting each other’s Fun Monday posts we should answer the various questions we come across.

Easy right? So, here’s my question to all of you: What is one book you have read that you would recommend everyone read? And why?

And since I can never follow rules, and I’m looking for help before I go drop 100′s of dollars on a new phone, I’m doing a Part B to my question. I plan on getting a new phone soon, and am looking into either a Blackberry or some sort of Palm…anyone who has one of these types of phones, what should I get if I plan on attempting to mobile blog?

Happy Monday everyone, I’ll be doing my rounds when I get home from work tonight.

Fun Monday – Paint Me a Picture

Here is today’s Fun Monday assignement from our hostess at AOJ and The Lurchers:

Show me your favourite photograph and tell me why it’s your favourite.It can be one you’ve taken yourself or one someone else has taken, a snapshot or a more professional image. Is there a story behind it? Do you love it for the memories it gives or just because it’s pleasing to the eye?Show me and tell me!

Well, that sounds easy as pie, doesn’t it? Yeah, except, if you read my Fun Monday post last week, or this post, than you’d know how I feel about the word “Favorite”. If you didn’t read that post (and why didn’t you?), let me see if I can explain it to you succinctly. Let’s see…favorites…ACK! I can’t do it. I can’t pick favorites.

But, you know what? Our lovely hostess said we could cheat, so…if she said we could, well then…

Still, I’ll try not to go crazy, and I’ll limit it to three of my favorite photos. I’m going to go with photos I’ve taken myself, because although this photography thing is new to me, I’m really thrilled with some shots I’ve taken in the last year or so. I’ve shared some of these previously here at Candid Karina, but they should be shared again.

This first I took on a trip to Mexico. We went horseback riding on the beach, and this was our instructor.

I can’t tell you how much I love this photo. The camera I used to take it with is an old 35mm camera. I had a black and white film lying around for years, and decided to take it with me to Mexico. This moment presented itself, and I took the shot. I had no idea how it had come out until I developed the film upon my return. I love it. I love the wind in the trees, the sun glaring off the sand…and the sentiment of “solitude” yet peace that it evokes in me.

This next one is from a series of shots I took on the way home from work on day last November. I literally shot this one out of my car window while stopped at a red light.

And this final one might just be the best picture I’ve ever taken:

It has a “painting” feeling about it that I just love.

Okay, I lied…here are two more from that day:

There you go…I’ll stop here. Please go visit our hostess, her photo is gorgeous, and she’s got the lsit of all the other participants up as well. You must go see what they’ve all chosen.

Next week’s Fun Monday is being hosted by Lisa, be sure to go and sign up!

Fun Monday – Word To Your Mother…

This week’s fun Monday is being hosted over at Mothers of Brothers and here is the Fun Monday Topic: Wordly Wise. She says:

Words are our building blocks, our stepping stones, and, for many of us, our salvation. We string them together so quickly at times, we often lose sight of how precious they are. So tell us about your favorite word… or if you can’t pick just one, tell us about a few. Are there certain words that feel good the way they roll of your tongue? Do some words make you feel smart? Or silly? Or happy? Which words do you find yourself selecting to put in your posts? Since this response could be a short one, feel free to poll your family and friends and include some of their favorite words as well. If you think a definition is required, please share one. Please keep the words rated G for all audiences. Any language is acceptable, but please provide a translation. And stick to real words as opposed to ones made up along the way. We then challenge everyone to visit the posts on Monday and try to use other bloggers’ favorite words in your blog next week. We can’t wait to expand our vocabulary!

When I read that, I couldn’t help but be a little excited about it. I LOVE words. Of course I love words, I am a writer. Without words…well, we’d have a whole lot of blank pages, wouldn’t we? So, without question, I would be participating in this FM and sharing with you some of my favorite words.

But wait…did somebody say favorite? As I explained in this post, I don’t do favorites very well. Ask me my favorite color, song, or food, and you’re bound to get a blank stare and a long “ummmm”. Or, you might get a list. A long one.

So, how was I then going to be able to narrow down all the words in the English language to just one (or a few) favorites? And even worse, she said “any language is acceptable”…I speak three! This was getting to be quite overwhelming. What was I to do? How was I to choose? Where would I begin? Before the hyperventilating kicked into full gear, I decided to take a deep breath, and just go for it. And then I started laughing, because the following memory popped into my mind.

The other day I was playing “Loaded Questions” with a group of friends. If you’ve never played this game before, I urge you to go out and get it right now…it’s a good time in a box. One of the questions was to name a word that made you laugh. Picking just one word proved near impossible for all the players involved, but we managed to do it. For me, it was instant…a word I probably hadn’t heard and/or thought of in a decade immediately popped into my mind. That word? Fahrvergnügen.

I’m not even entirely sure it’s a real word (truth is, I’m pretty sure it’s not), but it became a word, very much like the word Text has become a verb, or yada yada yada has become a part of our language. Pop culture has a way of doing that to our vocabulary. And I love that fake word. Go ahead, say it, I dare you to do it and not laugh. See…not possible.

So, maybe I would do this post with just funny words, it might make it easier to narrow down, right? I could give you words like “nincompoop”, “indubitable”, and “humorous”…great words one and all, and the type that make me smile every time I hear them.

But then I’m neglecting such an enormous amount of words I love. How about neglected words? You know, the ones we don’t use all that often, but when we do, we go “I love that word choice”…words such as: obscure, unscrupulous, peculiar, and deplorable. Seriously, how great are those words?

Then there are the pretty words: airy, lacy, shiny; words that immediately bring to mind feelings of girly things.

Or, how about the words I love because of their meaning? Words like Sale, shoes, sushi, chocolate? Or the ones with power behind them because of the emotions they elicit? Friends, family, God, faith.

And then there are the Portuguese words I can never get enough of: amor (love), Deus (God), minha mae, minha filha (my mom, my daughter, words I exchange jokingly with mom on the phone weekly), papo seco (my favorite kind of Portuguese bread).

Or, I could go with the words I use on a daily basis, over and over again. Lately, they are things like “text”, “blog” and “twitter”. But they’re also things such as “blessed”, “love” and “fun”.

How could I possibly just pick a few favorites then? I thought about it, and I decided that I won’t do it. I refuse, decline, reject, repudiate.

Maybe someone else followed the rules, go check out what their favorite words are here.

And before I forget, next week FM is being hosted over here. Make sure to go sign up!

OH, and do come back again tomorrow, won’t you? I have a goal to post EVERY DAY this week…I haven’t posted daily in quite a while, but I decided that just for this week I would do so, so…come back please…It’s lonely lately here at Candid Karina’s!

Fun Monday – Who me? Eccentric??

Fun Monday this week is hosted by one of my very favorite bloggers EVER, because I just think she’s a fantastic person, and an amazing photographer, and I just love her. Oh, right…Fun Monday…this week, being hosted by Lisa, who has this to say:

“A quirk is defined as a peculiarity of action, behavior, or personality; mannerism. We are all unique individuals, having quirks that help make us who we are. I would like to know what your quirks are. Confess to one, confess to ten, you decide. Just come back Monday ready to spill the beans, the rest of the world may look at you like you are from Mars, but you‘re among friends here. We won’t laugh, in fact that eccentricity just may endear you to us more.”

Well, I’m full of quirks, so I knew this would be an easy Fun Monday to participate in. But then I sat down to write this, and it seemed harder than I initially thought.

Okay, so here’s one of my main quirks, something that is quite possibly more than just a quirk. It’s my tendency to need to do things in order. What do I mean? Let me see if I can explain with a few examples. Cleaning my house, I always begin in my kitchen, then move through the rest of the rooms in my house, always in the same order, ending in my office (which might explain why my office is always a mess, by the time I reach it, I’m too tired and give up). When I log into my computer, I always check my various email addresses and other websites in the same order, every time. There are so many other things I do this way…I’m a bit OCD that way, I know. It’s a quirk, right?

It kind of spills over into the way I watch television, or read books, or do any other number of things. I can’t ever read a book that is part of a series out of order. I can’t begin watching a television show in its second season, without first watching the first…I can’t tell a story without filling those who don’t know about the background. For me, things need to have a beginning, middle and end. It’s a weird quirk that way, but it is something that makes up my personality in so many ways.

Other quirks? I should go visit some of your blogs and see what you put down, because I’m pretty sure I’ll remember some of mine then…but I’m drawing a blank right now.

So, instead I direct you to Lisa’s, to go see what everyone else is quirky about.

By the way, if you’d like to know what’s going on with my new job, click here. Also, The Two Coreys are back, and I had a little something to say about that over at Cafe Karina.

And, I know I’ve been slacking in my blogging duties lately, but I’ve got some great stuff coming up this week. Please come back to find out about bacon lollipops, the ABCs of me, me, me, and how Traveller and I partied like rockstars at Nascar.

Fun Monday

Been a little while since I’ve done a Fun Monday, and I missed you all!!! So, today’s Fun Monday is being hosted by HulaGirl. She wants us to share the clothes we just can’t “part with”. I have OH SO MANY of these.

We can start with this batch right here:

Those, my friends are just SOME of the pants I don’t quite fit into right now, but firmly believe I will again, someday soon. I have a whole other plastic bin full of them, but the ones in the plastic bin are pants I haven’t fit in for several years now, but keep telling myself one day I will. One day, I will get rid of them.

Then, there are my concert t-shirts. For example:

Somewhere, I also have a Boyz II Men concert T, and better yet, somewhere there is a New Kids on The Block T…I couldn’t find it for this entry, but trust me, I have it somewhere.

There is also this shirt, which I haven’t worn since high school:

but will never part with. I was a “Peer Leader” in H.S. and it was one of those times in my life I’m really proud of, and the shirt has loads of sentimental value.

Also sentimental:

My grandma, “The Teacher” gave me this T for Christmas one year…over a decade ago at least…possibly a lot longer than that. The writing and the angels? Glow in the dark. I never wore this T-shirt once, but after my grandmother passed away, I could never bear to part with it. Just recently, however, while helping out on a youth retreat, I wore the shirt for the very first time ever. I’m so glad I never parted with it.

And then there’s this dress:

I bought this dress for $7 at a consignment shop in California at least 6 years ago, possibly longer…definitely longer. I fell in love with it, I had to have it. I brought ithome, hung it up in my closet, and never had occasion to wear it. Then I gained weight, and have not been able to wear it since. In fact, the price tag is still attached. But I LOVE this dress and can’t bear to part with it.

I could share so many more stories of the type, but I’ll stop here.

By the way, I just realized that I wrote up an entire post about my new job the other day, and was convinced I’d posted it, but it turns out it’s still sitting in my “drafts” folder. So, come on by tomorrow if you want to hear all about my new job.

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!

Be sure to go to HulaGirlAtHeart‘s to see who else is playing today!

Fun Monday – The stuff I made

I have this great thing I want to share with you all for Fun Monday, but I was away helping out on a youth retreat all weekend and am too exhausted to participate…I’m sorry folks, I really did want to.

HOWEVER, I ask that you please come back either later tonight or sometime later tomorrow, and I will have it up! Better late than never, right?

Oh, and the youth retreat? I have no words. Amazing doesn’t even begin to cover it. If these are the kids that are out future, well then, we’re in good hands. I’ll tell you more about it this week as well, I promise.

Fun Monday – It’s Memorial Day

Before I get into Fun Monday, I just wanted to take a moment and acknowledge that today is Memorial Day. More than it just being a day off work for some, a reason to hold a cook-out, and an excuse for retailers to hold huge sales, today is much more important than that.

Especially in the times we are in today, with the country at war, and thousands of our troops so far from home, we should remember what this day stands for. Regardless of how you feel about this country, about our current government, about the war we find ourselves in, please take a moment today to thank the men and women who are putting it all on the line so that you can run out today and buy that plasma television at 30% off. While you are enjoying that burger with your family today, say a prayer for the thousands of families unable to so.

Okay, moving on to Fun Monday then…

This week’s Fun Monday is being hosted by RDH Mom, and she wants us to share our faorite vacation stories and photos. I had some wonderful vacations growing up, with my family. Every year we would head to the White Mountains in New Hapshire, rent a few cottages, and have a great time. Once I got older, I’ve taken some great trips on my own. A cruise to the Caribean with some girl friends, Spring Break in Florida to celebrate my 21st birthday, and various other trips to California, Florida, Canada, St. Louis, Arizona, Las Vegas. I’ve been lucky to travel a lot.

But, my favorite vacation to date, took place two years ago. It all started with a random conversation at Christmas time, and turned into a fantastic Family vacation. I travelled to Mexico on an all-inclusive trip with my parents, my grandfather, my brother, my brother’s godparents, and their daughter. We spent 7 days in a fantastic resort, sunning it up, and enjoying each other’s company. A family vacation when you are in your 30′s and your brother in his 20′s is not easy to come by, but all the stars aligned just right, and it was a fantastic time. It was also my last official vacation and/or trip. I haven’t been on a plane since, and man, the travel bug is itching to go somewhere again. Alas, now with the new job (starting tomorrow folks), who knows when I will have vacation time again.

Till then, these photos will just have to tide me over…enjoy:

(Ah, the beach at the resort)

(there were monkeys everywhere throughout the resort grounds)(Yes, we did) And horseback riding on the beach?Yes, I did.

And here’s the whole group of us.

Sigh…wish I was there again.

Please do come back on Wednesday for the Launch Party, won’t you? There will be ice cream cake and prizes!

Fun Monday – Collections

This week Mariposa is hosting Fun Monday, and she wants to see our “collections”. Officially, I only collect one or two things, and I’ll share those with you in just a minute. However, “UN-officially”…I’m really a huge collector of all things. You all know I collect shoes. It could also be said that I collect purses, perhaps even clothing, definitely accessories (earrings, necklaces, etc.). Also, as an avid reader, I tend to collect books, though I’m getting better at letting those go once I’m done with them. I have, in recent years, begun collecting cookbooks, here are just a few of those:
A few years ago I used to collect Anne Geddes photography books, and still have a few of those around the house. Then they came out with these little dolls:

based on her photography, and I thought I would collect them all. But after I bought the few you see there, I never found any others.

I also have a decent sized collection of “angel” stuff, but this one qualifies as an unofficial collections because of all the things pictured below, I didn’t buy a single one, they have all been gifts, randomly received over the years, not because I collect them. I call it my “accidental collection”:

The same could be said for my collection of “stuffed monkeys”. I have about 8 or 9 of them (sorry no photos of these guys, I forgot about them until this very moment, and am too lazy to go do it now), and they are ALL gifts from various ex-boyfriends. I’m not sure we should delve into the “why” of the reasons behind guys choosing monkeys as the stuffed animal of choice to give me. Too much analysis and I may either be offended or embarrassed, so I think we’ll leave that one alone, shall we?

As far as official collections, I’ve shown you before my collection of shot glasses. These I collect ONLY from the places I’ve visited:(though I am missing a few…does anyone have a shot glass from Flagstaff and/or Phoenix Arizona? How about Montreal, Canada?) I guess I’ll have to go back to those places and pick some up.

And then there is my one truly official collection, which I have been adding to myself and thanks to gifts from any and everyone throughout the years. That is, my Betty Boop collection. I couldn’t possibly show you ALL my Betty Boop stuff, because she infiltrates pretty much every area of my life. I have BB floor mats, steering wheel cover and other random bits in my car. BB keychains, wallet, watches and other assortment of accessories. BB magnets on my fridge. BB screensaver on my cell phone. BB mousepad. And lots of other things I’m sure I’m forgetting now. And then there is my official Betty Boop “collection display” area:

Some close-ups:

There you have it. I hope you enjoyed my collections. Go on over to Mariposa’s to see what other things Fun Mondayers collect. And make sure to visit Allison (RDH Mom), because she’s hosting next week.

Come on by tomorrow and I’ll tell you all about my 3 plus hour lunch with one of my favorite bloggers last Friday!