Eight (More) Things About Me

Deb at Your Destiny is Stone Golden tagged me. Make sure to check out her sight; she is also the proprietor of the most fabulous Brooklyn-based Bonbon Oiseau Jewelry. After this-go-round, I'm feeling just short of naked! But here goes . . .

1. I can wiggle my ears. This 'skill' can mesmerize and enchant a child for a good 15 minutes. Great trick for car trips.

2. I used to work for The Frick Collection in Manhattan. We would take a wood-panelled elevator up to the servants' quarters - which were our offices (the museum is housed in an old 5th Avenue mansion). The Frick also had a high-falutin' chef on the payroll - who cooked lunch everyday for the entire staff. For $2 per lunch - we would have incredible meals. It was good, cushy living. I left this to go do #7. Huh?!?

3. I did some ghost writing for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. I have to say, though, it was so 'ghosty,' I'm pretty sure he didn't know that I existed.

4. When I was in middle school, I had to be saved by a lifeguard at our local beach. I gasp in embarrassment when I think about how I was all legs and arms - gangly doesn't do the mental image justice. Ugh. But, I looked for that lifeguard the rest of that summer. All 70 lbs. of me - soaking wet. I was smitten.

5. My entrance into the gardening world was both humbling and a baptism by fire. I worked for a nursery in New York's Hamptons. Fresh from a move from Manhattan, I knew so little. I remember a customer asking for sedum. Stalling for time (not knowing the plant), I just repeated sedum over and over. The customer looked at me - and said it again, as well, 'Seeee-DUM.' The emphasis on 'DUM(b)' was *not* lost on me.

6. I am 100% Irish. I have the hair, skin and the map of Ireland across my face - to prove it.

7. When I first moved down to Charlottesville, I lived with my brother. His newly purchased, 14-room/on-the-verge-of-being-condemned-house was under major construction. So, for six months - during the winter, we lived 1. With one toilet and a meager, kitchen sink; we had to shower elsewhere; 2. Without a roof; and 3. In the only two rooms (that were sealed up) that had heat. Now here's the kicker - I look back at that time with rose-colored glasses. The simplicity of it just got to me. So did the out-and-out survival mode.

8. I grew up on a block on Long Island that had 37 kids - out of 8 houses. This made for non-stop games of kick-the-can, spider tag, wiffle ball and kick ball; lots of stoop-sittin'; - and an awesome annual block party. Almost none of us went to camp. Turns out, every summer, camp came to us.

I tag Brin at My Messy, Thrilling Life, The Garden Ho, Christian at That Girl . . ., Katie at Blackstar Jewelry and Matron at Down on the Allotment. Show us your stuff, ladies.