Getting to Know You

Kick Back Moments has been picked up by my hometown newspaper, The Saratogian, so for anyone dropping by through that feed, welcome! Saratoga Springs is a small city in upstate New York that is charming and fun. I love living here.

Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY

My kick back challenge of the week came from a fellow blogger, Raani. She tagged me on her blog to answer some questions that involved about five directions. My first response was, "Oh no!" I hate chain letters because they take time, and I don't have time. Or do I? As I read over the questions, I thought they were sort of fun and they got me thinking, so I figured, what the heck. I mean, it wasn't like one of those fear based e-mails that pop up on the computer screen and orders you to forward it to ten friends within one hour or the angel of doom will sit on your shoulder for seven years. Yikes! This was different.

As I started answering the questions, I decided it was definitely fun. And what a good way for new people stopping by to get to know me a bit. Now, there's never homework here at Kick Back Moments, but try answering these questions along with me. You may learn something about yourself.   

1. What is your favorite color?
Love them all and don't most of us. Isn't that why rainbows, sunrises and a freshly opened box of Crayola crayons are so popular? My favorite colors, however, are brilliant sky blue and evergreen, especially when combined.

Taken by Keith on the Prospect Mountain trail in Lake George, NY

2. If you got a plane ticket - for free - to go anywhere you'd like - where would you go? 

I would travel to Greece. My grandparents were born there and owned an olive farm in a small village. I would love to go and meet some of my relatives, not to mention tour the Acropolis and swim in the Mediterranean Sea.

3. Is there anything in your life you always wanted to do and never had a chance to?
I've always wanted to go on a mission, maybe to Costa Rica and work in an orphanage for the summer. I think the experience would be life changing.

4. Which is your favorite old movie (let's say older than 20 years)?
Easy - The Sound of Music! Second favorite? Not so easy. Hmmm. Maybe, When Harry Met Sally.

5. If you were a blonde - would blonde jokes bother you (and, of course, if you are a blonde, do you mind them? )

I am a blonde, and although I can't speak for all blondes, jokes about fair hair don't bother me. If, however, the jokes are a little too much and go on a little too long, I just spout out names like Diane Sawyer, Hillary Clinton, Meryl Streep, Kristen Gillibrand. Like 'em or not, these women sure aren't dumb.

6.  What is it that always and with 100% certainty makes you laugh?
Other people laughing and my father's jokes, always, my father's jokes!

7. Where do you usually put your clothes?
My drawer or my closet unless I'm lazy or coming in late, then, the floor.

8.  Does wind bother you or do you like it?
I love it!!! Unless I'm riding up hill on a bike or counting dollar bills. Grrrrr.

9. What is it that you hate most about high school reunions?
The diet that precedes them. The South Beach Diet and I don't get along.

10. Are you a cat or a dog person?
Dog, although I've never owned one--Awwww.

11. Can movies/TV make you cry easily? When was the last time?
Are you kidding? I cry at Hallmark commercials and American Idol. The question for me is, when was last time I didn't cry during a sentimental entertainment scene?

Finished and  it only took me a few minutes.I hope you played along. Please share an answer or two in the comment section, just because it's fun! Thanks Raani for the idea. By the way, Raani has a great post on her blog this week. Check it out:  http://raaniyork.wordpress.com/2012/04/06/letter-to-george-clooney/
     
KICK BACK SONG OF THE WEEK:

Question 11 made me think of movies that made me cry and question 6 made me think of laughing and question 4 got me thinking about favorite old movies. So here's the question, What movie made you laugh and cry at the same time? For me, the final scene from When Harry Met Sally. WARNING: If you haven't seen this movie, don't watch this video. Leave this site immediately and order it from someplace--one of the best romantic comedies ever. It Had To Be You, from this great scene, is the song of the week:

KICK BACK BOOK OF THE WEEK:

Question two reminded me that I want to go Greece, which reminded  of a great book that I read awhile back that is set in Greece, Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
Here's what Amazon says, "A New York Times Notable Book of the Year Winner of the Lannan Literary Fiction Award Winner of the Guardian Fiction Award in 1940 a boy bursts from the mud of a war-torn Polish city, where he has buried himself to hide from the soldiers who murdered his family. His name is Jakob Beer. He is only seven years old. And although by all rights he should have shared the fate of the other Jews in his village, he has not only survived but been rescued by a Greek geologist, who does not recognize the boy as human until he begins to cry. With this electrifying image, Anne Michaels ushers us into her rapturously acclaimed novel of loss, memory, history, and redemption.As Michaels follows Jakob across two continents, she lets us witness his transformation from a half-wild casualty of the Holocaust to an artist who extracts meaning from its abyss. Filled with mysterious symmetries and rendered in heart-stopping prose, Fugitive Pieces is a triumphant work, a book that should not so much be read as it should be surrendered to."

A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA:

Question 8 got me thinking about wind which reminded me of riding on a roller coaster, pinwheels spinning and leaves rustling down the street . So here's to the wind: