Saturday, March 26, 2011

Getting to Know Me ...

Kelley
Sometimes I'm a bit slow to follow the pack and do what is reasonably expected, but my motto is better late than never.  Here's more information than you'd want or need to know about me.  This is in response to some surveys that have been floating around encouraging more open sharing about oneself. Now, *why* do we want to share more personal information about ourselves? I can never remember the answer to that one lol. Anyway, in the interest of feeling included I'm answering the survey, doing a little interview with myself I guess you could say. Included are a few photos of some of the people and/or activities in life that mean a lot to me.  Above right is a photo of me taken in our front yard .. you'll see more of this in a 'what I wore' post later.

The next photo up is my darling husband Rick (bearded, which I don't like, so he only gets to be bearded on occasion). He's pictured with our granddaughter Ellie when at a year old (she is now 2 yrs).
Rick and Ellie

You'll see 'what she wore' photos of Ellie from time to time as her mom is turning her into quite the fashionista at not yet 3 yrs of age. She has a wardrobe any girl would envy and she's pretty darned cute to boot!

Next up is a photo of my three daughters, the youngest Hannah and her sisters Whitney and Jess. (Ha yes I was spoofing Woody's movie title). I also have two sons who'll get mentioned from time to time.
Jess, Whit, Hannah

Later in the post you'll see one of my favorite nature/bird photos I've taken of a mama Canada goose and her gosling. It reminds me of Spring as there are TONS of these little pests running around watering holes of all sizes in the Spring but they are SO cute. Finally the last photo is a Belgian Tervuren dog I am the breeder of named Major who lives up North in Michigan as the scenery reflects (his owners live on a lake year around.) Can't wait to get photos of Major in the same venue but this Spring and Summer.

I have owned and raised Belgian Tervuren Shepherd dogs for 18 yrs. Our dogs compete in agility, herding, obedience, etc., and we raise the occasional specialized litter of them to place in working and performance homes (in addition to activities I mentioned their owners do work like Search and Rescue with them.)

This is Not On the Survey ..
Warning, I'm not an absolute, black-and-white answer sort of person. I make a slow decision maker and a lousy judge.  In other words I can't answer one favorite of most things it will involve a list of items lol. I'm fond of many thing. Variety is the spice of life, it really is.

What song always makes you happy when you hear it?
Love Shack (B-52s), Teach Your Children (CSN), Good Day Sunshine (Beatles), Stay Up Late (Talking Heads), Come See About Me & Can't Hurry Love (Supremes), Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes & Pump It Up (Elvis Costello), Red Neck Friend (Jackson Browne).  I would probably give a diff list on any given day, or hour lol.

What was your favorite sitcom growing up?
All In The Family, Family Ties, Flying Nun, Gilligan's Island, Brady Bunch, Leave It To Beaver, Family Affair .. in retrospect if I picked one favorite it would be All In the Family as it was an amazing show for it's time in every way.

What favorite food puts you in a great mood?
A melange of fresh fruit: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, banana, kiwi, grapes, maybe a couple other surprise fruits depending on what looks good at the market -- with cream cheese fruit dip -- lots of cream cheese fruit dip. Yum Yum.

Who's the funniest person you know?
My husband Richard aka Rick. He's never serious, ever. It's like he was born the class clown and he just never stopped being the class clown.  It drives me insane, or already drove me insane but most of the time it highly amuses me -- necessarily as It's much better or me to remain highly amused than worry and fret too much:P

What was the best vacation you ever had?
Two come to mind and I haven't had all that many, well maybe two and a recurring come to mind - most recently husband and I did France for 12 days for a dog show and associated activities plus face to face meetings and socializing with some folks we previously knew only from Internet, that was in 1998; as a teenage child went to Florida every Spring break for a week to ten days and I do miss those days in the sun and on the sand, it's been too long; and as a young child remember going somewhere in the Smokey Mountains where you rode a chairlift to the top of a mountain where there was a staged ghost town and Tony Dowel from Leave It To Beaver (Wally) was there, dressed up in western gear, giving out autographs at the ghost town. lol  I am pretty sure this happened and I didn't dream it:)

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
Rick, almost always. We are both retired from the rate race, yet we talk to each other on our cells gazillions of times a day lol. I guess he gets lonely, maybe I'm the only one who laughs at his jokes lol. Nah, kids do too, lots of peeps do. I argue with Rick about using cell phone in the house to communicate. I think walking to the next room is perfectly acceptable to communicate with someone.

What is the first thing you notice in the opposite sex?Well, if he is tall, dark, and handsome, that's the first thing I notice. If he has curly or wavy hair and a nice smile, all the better. If he's not tall, dark, and handsome it would be the other traits mentioned I'd notice first, oh and broad shoulders I really like broad shoulders on a guy. Have you seen my husband? Tall, dark, handsome, curly to wavy hair, broad shoulders. lol

Whats your middle name?
That be Lynn. Both my parents are from Eastern Kentucky in the foot hills of the Appalachians. We visited down home almost every weekend when I was young, and there ya'll got two names - first and middle whether in trouble or not. I was Kelley Lynn pronounced: 'kay-lee' 'lee-yun'

What music are you listening to right now?
Not listening to music at the moment. I am watching the movie Stigmata for the millionth time, gotta get my Gabriel Byrne fix since HBO is not currently airing old episodes of In Treatment, then I'm going to watch In the Name of the Father for only the 3rd time, great movie, great cast, great story loosely based on the false imprisonment of the Guildford Four (accused of an IRA bombing in 1974)- great soundtrack for what that's worth. Later tonight when Rick falls asleep might put my headphones on and listen to who knows what. My tastes in music runs the gamut, but I mostly like alternative or classic rock from the Beatles era thru the late 90s. I'm not really up to date on anything more recent unless my kids have exposed me to it, I need to work on that.

What was the last thing you ate?
Sirloin burger, no bun, A-1, American cheese

Who was the last person you hugged?
Husband Rick

How is the weather right now?
Can't remember it keeps changing from lovely, balmy Spring to wintry ick, could be snowing in 24 hours but I think it's in the 50s right now.

Sign of Spring
photo by Kelley Hoffman

3 things you cannot live without?
Aside from the obvious food, oxygen, family, friends and so on .. sunshine, a computer, a TV but maybe I could go without a TV and take a car instead lol.

Favorite song?
Again I have many subject to change on a whim. Right now with Valentine's Day around the corner the following for lovers come to mind: Allison: My Aim Is True (Elvis Costello) , Wild Horses (Stones and I like most covers of it), True Colors (Cyndi Lauper), Old Man (Neal Young), Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (CSN), Wish You Were Here (David Gilmore/Pink Floyd), Gypsy (Fleetwood Mac) , Hurt (love Johnny Cash cover or original Nine Inch Nails), Mr. Jones (Counting Crows), Round Here (Counting Crows), Rain King (Counting Crows), For Everyman & Doctor My Eyes (Jackson Browne), Blackbird, Eleanor Rigby (Beatles), Ruby Tuesday, Sympathy for the Devil, Jumpin Jack Flash (Stones), Roxanne & Every Breath You Take (Police), Sweet Jane, Walk On The Wild Side, I Love Ya Suzanne (Lou Reed).

What are you afraid of?
Death, rejection, public humiliation

Are you a giver or a taker?
Oh I'm about 68% giver and 32% taker lol

What are your nicknames?
Kel, Kels, Kel Bell, Babe, Baby, Mama, Mother, Mimi, Meems

Whats your favorite color?
I don't think I have just one favorite as I love all color in all forms bright, saturated, desaturated, pastel, etc. and I also love neutrals especially all shades of brown from dark to ecru and ivory and off white. I am okay with black, don't have a lot of black.  If I favor colors it's relative to things, i.e. in home decorating I favor blues, browns, whites and creams, yellows, teals, grays. I it's automobiles I favor red and white and blue. If it's clothing I favor jewel tones browns and creams in winters and pastels and white or black or tans in spring or summer. If it's food I like bright colors, orange, green, red, purple.

What are the things you always take with you?
Drivers License, means of paying, cell phone unless I forget.

What did you wanna be when you were a kid?
First a dancer, next a gymnast, then an orthodontist, then a doctor, then a lawyer, then an actress, then a teacher, then stumbled upon a career in computer software development, design, training in the health care industry, now retired.

Are you very sarcastic?
Oh, I'm afraid I'd have to say yes much of the time lol

Do you still have your tonsils?
Yeppers, still get tonsillitis on rare occasions.

What's your latest must have?
Shoes, lately I want many different pairs of Jeffrey Campbell shoes, amongst others, or if I should be aiming higher a tummy tuck rofl. Ain't happenin' unless Rick gets a 'Vette which ain't happenin'

Hottest actor
Recently and currently it has been Clive Owens, but others starting to catch my eye include Sam Worthington, maybe James McAvoy, maybe a couple more who just aren't coming to mind at the moment. I've also always loved Hugh Jackman and Leo DiCaprio as far as hot looks, but one of the best actors has got to be Daniel Day Lewis.

BasqueLaine "Major" - Belgian Tervuren

Best Movie
There are way too many exceptional movies over a long period of time to select just one!  A few of my faves off top of my head and in no particular order are Gangs of New York, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Little Miss Sunshine, V for Vendetta, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Fargo, Burn After Reading, Step-Brothers, Sophie's Choice, Schindler's List, The Big Chill, Best In Show, The Others, Far and Away, Australia, Moulin Rouge, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Mississippi Burning, Babel, A Beautiful Mind, The Quick and the Dead, Gladiator, Lost In Translation, The Godfather, The Godfather II, Children Of Men, The Village, Splice, The Pianist, Tootsie, The Big Chill, Of Mice and Men (Malkovich and Sinise version), To Kill A Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Castaway, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford ,  ... I just need to stop or I'll list great movies forever as I haven't even really touched the whole core of my favorites list  lol.

Show that better never get canceled?
I know they all DO get cancelled as most don't have the longevity shows used to have years ago (like MASH and All In the Family and Seinfeld) but I just found HBO's In Treatment this year on season three and am hoping it comes back next year I enjoy it and am all caught up now. The only other shoes I really watch regularly are American Idol once they get to Hollywood (hate the audition shows) and Dancing With the Stars. Oh, and I like Pawn Stars and American Pickers and Gold Rush or my stupid reality work shows lol.  Season finale of Alaska Gold Rush is tonight so I'll be tuning in to see if they hit a motherlode to recoup their investment of I'm thinking 275K plus make some or if they have just loss their asses in Alaska lol.

4 comments:

  1. In that photo, Whit looks very much like you. I love the photos of the animals. You have a great eye!

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  2. look at youuuuu!!!! Starting your blog up. Keep it up! You take such slammin pictures. I love them all. The one with the ducks is so cute! I'm going to follow you. hooray. =)

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  3. looks like you have a lovely family! great photos!

    <3 steffy
    Steffys Pros and Cons

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  4. ♥ Oh. Nice post.) Love your blog.)) ♥

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