12 Questions from Home Says Hello

I've been tagged for the 12x4 blog survey which requires participants to provide 12 facts about themselves,  answer 12 questions asked by their tagger, and come up with 12 questions to ask to 12 more bloggers. 

I am sad to say , I don't think I have 12 readers to whom I can ask 12 questions, but I am happy to answer those that were asked  of me and to come up with 12 questions for passerby to answer. (Just make sure you leave a comment letting me know where to find the answers! ) 

The Rules:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them! 

12 Facts (fun or otherwise)

1. Today is the first day in AGES that I have not spoken to my parents. I usually call them every single day. 

2. I honestly don't know how Californians can live with themselves, selling citrus that is SO inferior to their Floridian counterparts. 

3. I keep three kinds of  flour on hand at all times ( Unbleached-All Purpose, Whole Wheat, and Bread Flour)

4. I am a fan of the Oxford Comma. 

5a. Brad and I started watching Star Trek the Next Generation in the Fall, and we are now on Season 6. 

5b. Brad thinks Commander Riker is awesome in a harmlessly cheesy and hilariously pompous sort of way. I think he's a walking STD. If it has a vagina, William T. Riker wants some. He's gross.  

6. My valentine to myself was submitting my application to graduate with my Master's of Public Health!

7. I love glittery things!

8. When I go to someone else's home, I am most comfortable in their kitchen. 

9.  When I'm being mischievous and slightly annoying, but still lovable ( in other words, when I'm just being myself) Brad's term of endearment for me is "El Poopo".

10. My newest Trader Joe's "discovery" is the General Tsao's Sauce. DELICIOUS!

11. This whole Warner Brothers/Flixter thing to prevent piracy is LAME. I paid for my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II and I had to jump through so many hoops to download a copy because the DVD does not play on my laptop for fear that I will illegally copy and sell it. I feel punished and insulted by this. It really grinds my gears. That is all. 

12. I've had an idea for a new scone recipe knocking around in my head for a couple of weeks. I think I'm finally going to do something about it tomorrow

Answers to Home Says Hello's 12 Questions

1. What's your idea of a cozy, comfy afternoon?   Last January Brad and I met up with some friends in New York City, and we went to 2nd Ave. Deli. There was liver pate while you waited for your table,  a variety of house made pickles while you waited for your food, amazing pastrami sandwiches,  and to top it off, complimentary chocolate soda to finish the meal. It was an old fashioned, beautiful space. I think catching up with good friends helped too. I wouldn't mind spending my afternoons in a cozy booth, catching up with old friends at 2nd Ave. Deli, on the regular. 

2. Are you an extrovert or introvert?  I am an introvert. 

3. What stresses you out?  Truly wasting time. By that I mean,  sitting around bouncing back and forth between Pinterest, Facebook, 9gag and YouTube. It always makes me feel like I'm digging myself further and further into a hole of a wasted life. Even reading a book, or walking aimlessly around Boston would be more productive. At least then I would be enjoying REAL life.  Then I feel like I shouldn't do those things either because I've already wasted my arbitrary, self -allotted, "fun time" and I have to get down to work. But I don't want to do the work. That's why I'm being lazy in the first place. It's a vicious stressful cycle. 

4. What calms you down? Anyone who knew me as a child would be shocked to know this, but I actually find it to be very calming to do dishes. There is a catch though, I have to have my "food porn" on. By that , I mean, I like to bring my lap top into the kitchen (AWAY FROM ANY WATER!) and watch an episode of  "The Best Thing I Ever Ate". I love food, I love funny-personal stories, and I love the feeling of accomplishment. It is mindless, but useful and it helps me get out of my lazy rut. 

5. If you could take a week long vacation anywhere, all expenses paid, where would you go? Sydney, Australia...Ooh, wait! I changed my mind...I'd take one of those week long tours on The Orient Express!

6. If you could start a nonprofit organization, what would you choose to do? Easy. I would love to design a chain of primary care clinics specifically for under-served communities, that operate independently of health insurance systems. 

7. What's your favorite book and how many times have you read it? For a long time my favorite book was hands down, The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern, abridged by William Goldman, but I haven't read it in a few years. I think now, I should just admit to myself that I am a REALLY big Harry Potter nerd and I've read those books more times than I can count  (especially Prisoner of Azkaban). 

8. What's the worst movie you've ever seen?  I got through about 20 minutes of "You Drive Me Crazy" starring Melissa Joan Hart and Adrian Grenier. Does that count as having "seen" it? 

9. What is your most treasured possession?  My engagement ring. 

10. Where did you grow up? In the conventional sense, I grew up in Central Florida. And it was awesome. But if you're asking where I became a grown up, I'd have to say that happened in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. 

11. Why do you blog? I blog to have some way of communicating to the world who I am without the immediate threat of disapproval. It's like a diary, in that I have "less of a filter" but I am free the fear of shame if somebody found it. This blog is utterly Nissa. 

12. What is one thing you wish to learn how to do this year? I have this sewing machine and lots of fabric doing a whole lot of nothing in my bedroom right now. I'd like to learn how to make some use of it. 

12 Questions for YOU, Dear Reader

1. What is the best thing you ever ate? 

2. What is the last treat you purchased for yourself?

3. What is your favorite thing about your hometown? 

4. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Discuss.  

5. What is the best feature of your home? 

6. What do your shoes say about you? 

7. What designates the beginning of Spring for you? 

8. Do you prefer tons of blankets when you sleep or just a sheet? 

9. Are you a country mouse or a city mouse? 

10. What did you do last Saturday?

11. In what year were your grandparents the age you are now? 

12. Is the glass half full or half empty? With what? 

My most loved book

Tina, over at the English Muse posted a wonderful question for her readers to consider, " What is the most tattered book you own?"

My response is a little embarrassing, because it's not really what most would consider a literary classic, as it has not yet proven to be endearing through the ages. But I think, in time it will become one. My most worn in book is my copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Seriously. I don't even know how many times I've read it (the last time being over my winter holiday from school)! When I first acquired it, I was in 7th grade and I would cram it into my backpack at the beginning of the day, in the hopes of a substitute teacher assigning independent reading time. If there was no such luck to be had, I would pry it out from between entirely too many text books and binders for one student to carry (Just like Hermione, OMG!  Haha! ), and I would sneak a page or two at a time during dimly lit lectures accompanied by over head projector visual aids. <-- Now, I'm showing my age!

That was more years ago than I care to admit, although I will give myself a little cushion by saying my copy is not a first edition. I'm not that old. Today, my copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has some wrinkles on the cover of the book jacket. The edges of the jacket around the spine are soft and fuzzy from being perched on my chest, for  many late-night-marathon-cover-to-cover reading sessions. The binding for the first and and final thirds are still attached to the spine, but that middle portion is completely detached. It is simply placed there, for safe keeping. I'll probably have to tell my kids to get their own, rather than share my own treasured installments of the stories because they will be in too fragile a condition for any hands other than my own.


Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite of the series because I think it's the most revealing about who the characters really are. If you want to know what makes each of them tick, I refer you to this book. Plus you get to see Diagonally, Hogsmead, and other parts of the wizarding world in satisfying detail. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's my favorite book ever...but it is definitely in my top 5.



Should you feel so moved (as I was) to write about your most tattered book, please be sure to post a comment and a link!