Random Thoughts Thursday!

Happy Random Thoughts Thursday!

I've been TAGGED by my sister Nicole from http://deendivas.blogspot.com to answer these questions. Since it's Random Thoughts Thursday, I thought I'd post my answers here today. If you've been tagged, you have to add one more favorite thing to the end of the list:

Favorite color: Purple
Favorite perfume (guys): Aqua Di Gio
Favorite perfume (girls): I like the Coach perfume I got for Xmas
Favorite pj brand: Val got me a Vicky Secret night shirt and I love it!
Favorite clothes brand in general: Gap
Favorite person in the entire world: My sister
Favorite country : USA baby - we elected President Obama!
Favorite car: an SUV
Favorite sport: Football
Favorite sport player: Donovan McNabb...haters!
Favorite spot in America: my sister's house
Favorite animal: My cat - Cole
Favorite movie: The Color Purple
Favorite singer: Not sure I have just one
Favorite day in the week: Saturday
Favorite time of the day: lunchtime
Favorite holiday season: Thanksgiving
Favorite number: 6
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite chocolate: Hershey
Favorite cartoon: Bugs Bunny
Favorite blogger: ME! Ha! Nah...don't have just one
Favorite flavor ice cream: Strawberry
Favorite Mobile Brand: They're all the same to me
Favorite name: too many to name
Favorite hobby: Blogging!
Favorite room in my house: my living room
Favorite vacation spot: so far, Jamaica
Favorite quote/verse: I have many, but the first to come to mind is, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1

Now..I will tag Rene, Latinegro and E. Serena did something similar already on Facebook, so she may re-post here.

Everyone I know on Facebook has been tagging each other with their 25 Random Things about themselves. Since I do Random Thoughts Thursdays every week, this was hard for me to do since I feel that most of you know so much about me already. I'm posting this note on Facebook as well, so feel free to leave a comment on either site if you're on both. Here goes:

1. I kiss my cat Cole....and NO...not on the mouth. My nephews do though and it drives my sister and her husband crazy.

2. I haven't had a real boyfriend in over 5 years, yet somehow it doesn't feel like it's been that long. It only seems long to me when I say it out loud.

3. I procrastinate A LOT! I think I do it because I know I do my best work under pressure, but the stress isn't worth it sometimes.

4. I secretly wish I was the Editor-in-Chief of Essence Magazine. I have an aunt that used to work there and I got to spend a day with her and the staff to see how they operate. I had so much fun! I can dream right?

5. I wish I had continued playing the piano when I was younger. I hated going to the lessons (Mrs. Dees would tap my fingers with a red pen if I made a mistake) and practicing always crept into my play time. But I always felt so proud when I finished playing my piece to perfection. I played for 3 or 4 years and the last piece I played at my last recital was The Fifth Symphony by Beethoven. I even curtsied at the end. Whenever I see Alicia Keys play I wish I'd never stopped.

6. I was born in Okinawa, Japan and I want to learn to speak Japanese for that reason. I minored in Spanish, but I would also like to be fluent in French. I should learn to speak Arabic though so I can keep up with my nephews. Can you tell I like languages?

7. I was valedictorian of my junior high school. I wasn't even aware of it until they surprised me with an award right before our 8th grade graduation. I always wonder if there was another Black valedictorian at Armstrong before me. I should check that out.

8. One of my 8th grade teachers, Mrs. Miller, named her daughter after me. Mrs. Miller wrote in my yearbook that by giving her unborn daughter my name, she hoped that "some of what I have rubs off on her"...whatever that means. She named her daughter Brooke Ashley Miller, and I always wonder who this person turned out to be and if I deserved or lived up to that honor.

9. I'm terrified of falling down steps.

10. From 6th grade to 12th grade I played field hockey, basketball and did the high jump, triple jump and long jump in track. You'd never know it by looking at me though. I miss my athletic self.

11. In 10th grade, I entered an essay contest honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. My essay was titled "Soaring on the Wings of Justice." I won the essay contest, $500, and the essay is currently engraved in gold on a plaque hanging in the Hall of Fame in my high school where it will live forever. I wonder if there's an essay hanging there written about Barack Obama? I hope there is.

12. I love sudoku.

13. I've been 5'10 since I was 14 years old and, like Yolanda, have worn a size 11 shoe since I was 11 years old. My right foot is actually an 11 and a half.

14. Syracuse University is the only university or college I applied to. Good thing I got in! I don't know what I was thinking, but I knew that's where I wanted to go and there was no other option. My years there were some of the best years of my life! Not only did I get a great education, I forged friendships that will last forever.

15. The next time my sister, Fouad and the kids go to Morocco, I'm going with them. There is no real reason other than money that I haven't gone with them yet. Just wack on my part.

16. I never go on Myspace anymore. Facebook has taken over for me because there are just SO many more people to connect with there. I feel like I have a birds eye view of what everyone that I ever knew is doing. And I don't even have to talk to them :)

17. I have a cousin who I just recently reconnected with on Facebook. We were VERY close growing up and we lost contact when we all went away to college. It's a shame that we had to get re-acquainted via cyberspace, but I'm thankful that we did and that we didn't get reconnected under different, potentially worse circumstances.

18. I love blogging! I thank Amanda and my sister for constantly encouraging me to do it. It's fun and cathartic for me sometimes, and I feel like it keeps me sharp for all the other writing I have to do for my job. Now...the BOOK!

19. I hate writing self-evaluations. I wish I could just write, "pay me what I'm worth" and be done with it. I have to get over my guilt of asking for what I feel I deserve when most people are happy to simply have a job. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to come to work everyday and I love my job - but come on...even in a global economic crisis, a sista needs a good raise. Anyone want to write it for me?

20. Sometimes I wish I could be hypnotized to NOT like bread, butter, sugar, salt, carbs or anything else that Dr. Oz says is bad for you. I feel like asking him, "dude, then what do you EAT?" I have been eating much better, but hypnotism would make it so much easier :-)

21. I have a feeling that 36 is going to be a GREAT year for me. I was further convinced of this when I realized we are in the Chinese Year of the Ox - which is me! (and Barack Obama! yay!) I read the predictions and I feel like this year will be my year to shine. Who wants to shine with me?!

22. I say I don't believe in horoscopes, but I read them all the time. I get upset when I read a bad horoscope for the day and I try to make sure that whatever negative prediction I read, I reverse it. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. I'm a Pisces, so maybe that's how Pisces people are ;)

23. I miss my step-father James. He passed away going on 5 years ago and I think about him all the time. The Sugar Shane fight was on the other night and James LOVED the fights. When someone got knocked out, he would yell, "BABY SEAT!" and I would crack up! I miss him so much, I feel like he's one of my angels.

24. The only time I didn't have a cat was when I was away at school. My cats' names growing up were Heather, Plato, Tigger, Jasmine, Morgan and now Cole. I also had a Great Dane named Jason and a mutt named Sugar Bear.

25. Every time I've had a fish dream, a friend of mine or someone I knew was pregnant. I don't know what it is about fish dreams and babies, but I haven't been wrong yet. My great-grandmother used to have the same dreams and she is the one who told me that if I dream of fish, that means someone is pregnant. Now I wonder if she told me that because she knew I would have those dreams too, or if it's just a coincidence. By the way, I had a fish dream over the weekend. So who is it?

Okay...GO!

-b