Liebster Award

Thanks to Jeannie at Colorful Corporate who nominated me for a Liebster Award!  The rules are: you post 11 facts about yourself, then answer 11 questions posed by your nominator, then nominate 11 other blogs and ask them 11 questions.  Technically the 11 other blogs should have under 200 followers but I had some trouble with that...

So first:
1. I snort when I laugh, Urkel-style.  It is uncontrollable (trust me, I've tried).  My debaters rate how funny a particular joke/statement was based on my number of snorts, like giving a hotel a number of stars.

2. I am always always ALWAYS cold.  Unless it is over 80 degrees, I am wearing long pants and a long sleeved shirt inside the house.  I only own 3 pairs of shorts because even in the summer I get really chilly.

3. I hate needles. When I was having CJ, it was like “C-section? OK. Three extra residents in the room to observe? No prob. Magnesium drip so I don’t have a seizure? Checks. You want to put an IV needle in my ELBOW?” ::faint:: (I really did black out. In my defense, they had stuck me in the hand 3 times and brought in a second nurse to puncture me because the first was inept, but still.) I fainted when I got my ears pierced the first time. Just not a fan.

4. I always feel guilty for whatever I'm NOT doing.  If I'm at home, I'm feeling guilty for not going to work or at least doing work at home instead of relaxing and resting up for my next string of debate stuff.  If I'm at work or at a tournament, I feel guilty that I'm not at home with my family.  And I CONSTANTLY feel guilty for how little I get to see my friends.  

5. I am a politics junkie--BUT I hate talking about politics.  I think some of that is because I take politics so personally that it's hard to debate it with someone I'm friends with.  Even if that person agrees with me about 95%, that 5% is so difficult for me to swallow and so tied up in my emotions, that I always find it easier to just agree to disagree and stop debating it.  Which is weird, because I'm a professional debater (well, a debate coach, but about as close as you can get).  

6. I really don't like how I look in most photographs--even the ones I post on the blog.  Usually I make Tom take at least 10-15 each day and even then I have difficulty finding one that I like.  

7. When I was in high school, I really liked Star Wars.  Like...a lot.  Not just owning the movies--I owned all of the novels and actually wrote my own 200 page novel (obviously never published, pretty sure the floppy disk is still in existence somewhere).  When I found out that Disney bought the rights and is making Episode 7, I literally shrieked, threw my arms in the air, and did a little dance.  Nerd Alert!

8. I am an unashamed car singer/dancer.  Not like mumble along to the words and wiggle a little, we are talking full-on belting it out, dancing like no one is watching, waving at the people next to me at stoplights who are staring.  I secretly hope to be discovered, Susan Boyle style, when Simon Cowell happens to be driving near me one day.

9. I drink a lot of coffee.  A LOT OF COFFEE.  Not messing around.  Usually 3 cups a day.  More than that and I get twitchy, less than that and I get headache-y and mean.  I should probably stop or at least cut back, but in the realm of addictions it seems fairly harmless.

10. Even though I am a big nerd/policy wonk, I am still also a girly girl...I love manicures and makeup and trashy celebrity gossip magazines.  And shopping, duh.  One of my debaters the first year I was at Navy asked me for an extra pen for flowing--I offered him the choice of pink or purple.  His response was "Oh my God, when did we hire Debate Coach Barbie?"  The nickname didn't necessarily stick (thank goodness) but I still think about that and laugh.  

11. When I lose something, I wander around mumbling the Saint Anthony prayer...and it works!  Try it sometime if you've lost something: "Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony, please come down, something is lost and it cannot be found."  

Now, Jeannie's 11 questions for me:

1. What is your favorite place to get fashion inspiration? Magazines, blogs, pinterest? 
Definitely blogs--I don't really subscribe to fashion magazines, I get O, Real Simple, and Working Mother, which tend to skew a little older and more "corporate" in their readership.  I'm still fairly young and in academia, both of which mean I can get away with dressing a little less conservatively, particularly when I'm not actually in the classroom.  I am still easing my way into Pinterest...I'm almost afraid that I'll be full-on addicted!

 2. Cold, gloomy winter is coming.  What winter item or trend are you looking forward to wearing , to brighten up your days? 
No, you have it wrong: SWEATER WEATHER is coming!  It's my favorite time of year!  I wear a lot of cardigans anyway, so i think late fall and winter just takes my early fall style and adds a heavier sweater and tights.  On the advice of several people, I put together a fall "color story" which for me involves heavy doses of mustard yellow, blues, and purples.  So I guess sweaters and tights in those colors?

 3. What is your favorite all-season clothing item, that you can wear in the heat of the summer and the dead of winter? 
I am a dress addict.  You can wear the right dress by itself in the summer and layer up with the aforementioned sweaters and tights to make it more cold-weather-appropriate.

 4. What trend did you say "NEVER" to, and ended up loving? 
Skinny pants.  I am short and have what are sometimes called "chicken legs"--thick thighs, skinny calves--so I couldn't imagine that they would be flattering, but I now own 4 pairs of J Crew Minnie pants and I love them.

 5. On the other end of the spectrum, what trend did you love at one time, and now you say "I can't BELIEVE I wore that!"
I don't know if it's really a "trend", but in college I gained the freshman 15 and HATED how I looked, so I wore baggy jeans and men's sweaters for basically the whole year.  I was actually really really ridiculously thin when I graduated high school (weighed under 100 lbs), so looking back, I probably honestly looked good.  (Or at least that 15 lbs gained put me right at the weight that I'm at now, and I think I look pretty good now, so...)

6. What is the craziest thing you ever did in pursuit of an item you had to have in your closet? 
Nothing too crazy...probably just the patented "Ebay Overpay"...where I could have bought it on sale for less than half the original price, dither, miss out, and then buy it on Ebay for at or above original retail.  Classic.

7. Do you set a monthly budget for clothing purchases?  How do you decide upon a number?
Not just for clothes...we use Mint.com for our household budget and so my husband and I each get $300 in discretionary money for the month.  That's supposed to cover lunches and then any other non-household incidental expenses.  Usually that ends up translating to about $150 to spend on shopping.

8. Do you have any items in your closet that have lasted 5 years or more, that you still wear consistently?  If so, what are those items? 
I don't think that I do!  Honestly, I think my pregnancy/post-pregnancy weight shifts meant that I got rid of a lot of things.  I guess I have 2 pre-CJ suits in there that I've worn a few times since being able to fit in them again.  My style 5 years ago was much less colorful, because I had bought clothes in law school thinking I would be a lawyer and need a bunch of dark suits.  When I went this route instead, I continued to "suit up" as long as they fit.  So I've only recently come out of my fashion shell!

9. Have you always loved fashion, or is it something that became more interesting to you as you grew older?
Really only in the past 2-3 years.  I went to Catholic school K-12 and so wore a uniform pretty much every day, then had a few years of mostly jeans and tee shirts in college and law school (with some sensible Hillary Clinton-esque pantsuits for debate tournaments and internships sprinkled in).

10. What is your opinion on vanity sizing?
I love it because I'm vain.  Just kidding!  I'm actually vaguely worried I'm going to get sized out of some brands that I love.  It's ridiculous that I'm wearing a size 00 pencil skirt!  Brands should keep sizes where they are and expand the number of sizes that they make.  If today's 12 is 1996's 16, maybe we should go back to that old standard of a 12 and brands should make sizes 16 and 18.

 11. How closely do you tie self-acceptance and self-love to how you present yourself?
Wow...this is deep!  I know that I defintely feel better and more confident and happy when I look good (as subjectively determined by me, no other opinions required).  

Now for the blogs I've selected:

Mom Cat Diaries 

The Delightful Find

J Crew Is My Favorite Store

A Trail of Sequins

Tweed and Toile  (over 200)

Stuff Jewish Girls Like (WAY over 200)

I Wanna Be A Domestic Goddess (also WAY over 200)

And...I ran out.  I don't think I'm supposed to re-nominate blogs who've already been nominated, though if I did I'd nominate Colorful Corporate, Apples and Pencil Skirts, Anthromollogies, and One Can't Get Over The Habit, so that would make 11.

Now for my 11 questions:

1. What is your favorite thing about fall?

2. How do you balance your "work self with your life me" (thank you, Liz Lemon!)--do you feel like you have a good work-life balance or do you feel like you are constantly playing catch up in one of those areas?

3. Do you have a favorite recipe?  What is it and why?  (Post a link if you can, if not just a description would be great!)  (This is obviously for selfish reasons...trying to diversify my arsenal...)

4. What is the most expensive thing that you own (besides your house/car/furniture)?  Was it worth it?

5. What is your least favorite current fashion trend?

6. Ok, now how about your favorite fashion trend?

7. What is your biggest "pet peeve"--something you just can't stand?

8. Do you have a mantra?  If so, what is it?

9. What is the one thing you never leave the house without?

10. What is your favorite book?

11. Who is your role model and why?