Inquisitrix

About me…

1. Left handed. Although slightly ambidextrous. And I kick with my right leg. I play a mean game of kickball.
2. Born in Billings, Montana.
3. Studied Design and Painting at the University of Kansas. Professor John Swindell and Professor Norman Gee both changed my life.
4. Left art school to gain a Business degree from a private Methodist school, Baker University.
5. I use both sides of my brain quite a bit.
6. Went on to become a software developer at an engineering firm. It was interesting, but I am glad to leave the details to someone else.
7. Moved to Los Angeles for 4 years.
8. Became a project manager. A babysitter of grown adults. Sigh… Training for children someday?
9. Now I work as a Director for that Engineering firm that I worked at before I moved to LA. I love my boss.
10. I telecommute. Yes, occasionally I work in bunny slippers and my bathrobe.
11. I am lucky to count my brother as one of my best friends.
12. Have no cavities and have never had braces.
13. Hope to make a move back into Art - Painting, specifically, sometime this year or next.
14. Don’t regret my foray into business - I think it will help me be successful as an artist. But I still don’t balance my checkbook.
15. Moved back to Kansas City after 9/11 to be closer to my family and buy my first home.
16. Lived there for a year and a half and met my husband, who is Australian, online (shock-horror).
17. Decided to move to Australia in early 2005 and made the move in December 2005. Have I mentioned I couldn’t have done this without my incredible friends and family?…
18. Married in May of 2006.
19. Lots of my family and friends came over from the States for the wedding. I could not believe how lucky I was. I have the best family and friends, period!
20. The Wookie’s family and friends came from all over Australia and the UK. We truly had an international affair.
21. Our wedding cake was the best. It was really an inexpensive triple-tier mudcake of vanilla, caramel and chocolate with white ganache. People still ask about it.
22. With the help of family and friends, we made all of the flowers for the wedding. Looking back 1) I was insane, and 2) they were the most gorgeous flowers I have ever seen.
23. Am a lucky girl because my husband loves to cook. And he cooks really good Thai food. Yum.
24. Married a guy that really gets me. It’s scary sometimes how in tune we are.
25. Am just getting over my culture shock. And I have lived here for a year.
26. Have made some very cool friends since moving here.
27. Started a knitting group that meets at my house once a month. We almost never get around to knitting anything.
28. Really love Melbourne - It’s a very cool city with lots of very interesting things to do.
29. My favorite place in Melbourne is the Royal Bottanic Gardens. I could spend a whole day there and never see everything.
30. Love to take photographs.
31. Bought a Canon 20D a year and a half ago. I am just starting to learn how to use it. Hey - I have been busy!
32. Love to use my macro lenses on flowers and plant life.
33. Plan to incorporate my photograph images into my painting.
34. Never want to retire - I only want to continue to create art until I die.
35. The Wookie and I have two cats, Monty and Becker.
36. Have always wanted a dog. A big dog. One that will eat the little annoying yappy dog that lives across the street from us.
37. Hate birds. They are interesting to look at.
38. Hate spiders more. Specifically big, hairy Australian Huntsmen spiders that take up residence in my office in the wee early hours of the morning. Intruders of my home must die. I have pictures of the criminal.
39. Love color, I used to favor cooler colors, but lately my favorites tend to be warm like red or orange.
40. Don’t really like warm weather unless there is air conditioning.
41. Am a crabby witch on hot days. Had an air conditioner unit (c.1964 - seriously, it fit in an entire doorway), but it died a horrible death recently. Glad that Melbourne has dry heat.
42. Love to cook, but I hate to be rushed.
43. Do not cook if it’s hot in the house. I am a big fan of grilling in that case.
44. Tried to be a vegetarian once but didn’t bother with the nutrition aspect and gained weight.
45. Need to lose weight and want to be as healthy as possible.
46. Love working out on an elliptical. I have felt that runner’s high after about 45 minutes on level 8.
47. Like Pilates.
48. Am incredibly flexible. Would like to do more Yoga, but I have very loose joints so holding the postures is difficult and painful for me. That and I am far too lazy.
49. Work from home, which I like. I don’t miss pantyhose, but I miss the people contact.
50. Cannot, for the life of me, put on an Aussie accent. When I try, my husband thinks I am making fun of him.
51. Can, however, put on any other accent. In a former life, I was seriously into acting.
52. Love to design jewelery. In LA, I was approached by a Nordstrom rep sell my designs, but I was busy moving back to Kansas City and never followed up.
53. Tried my hand at metalworking but I don’t have the patience. Let’s just say that I understand why handcrafted metals cost what they do, and are worth every penny.
54. Not much of an outdoor-sy type girl. My idea of roughing it is not having a hair-dryer with the proper wattage.
55. Am really getting into the whole ‘green’ thing here. Here recycling is not an option. Our trash bin is half the size of our recycling bin, so we must recycle. And it is really interesting. Makes me think more about how much we consume, how much of an effect we can have…
56. Hate being late. Feel like I am constantly rushing because of that.
57. Am not offended if anyone else is late.
58. Consider myself to be a B+/A- personality.
59. Like to say that I am half-geek.
60. Someday will write a novel. Probably a thinly-veiled account about my transition to Australia. There will be an evil dwarf involved. You have been warned.
61. Favorite drink is iced tea. Sadly, a lot of Australians still fancy themselves as Brits and think iced tea is an abomination. My mother in law (step-monster to the Wookie) told me upon my arrival that iced tea was not ‘proper’ tea. Did I mention that there would be an evil dwarf in my future novel? Whenever she gets on our nerves, the Wookie and I scream “PROPER TEA” at each other in an over the top British accent.
62. T2 is my favorite store. They have iced tea samples in the summertime and are working to convert the masses. Together we will unify to start an iced tea revolution. Spread the word, good people.
63. Yes, I do drink hot tea, but only in the morning. English Breakfast tea. PROPER TEA!!!
64. Drink coffee in the afternoon, only. White with 2 sugars.
65. Am a compulsive list maker. I have recently decided that it is a sickness and I must be cured.
66. Don’t watch much television. I feel it is mostly a waste of good brain cells.
67. When I do, I like to watch cooking shows, how-to’s, or biographies.
68. Have a hard time noticing American accents anymore. I knew a woman for two months before I picked up that she was from the States. California to be exact.
69. When I first moved here, I couldn’t understand anyone on the phone. I had a particularly hard time with the lovely Armenian man that owns our favorite pizza place. That, and I kept telling him that I wanted ‘take out’, instead of ‘take away’.
70. Love to people watch. Could sit on the train for hours and just observe.
71. Miss my girlfriends in the States so very much. Funny, don’t feel that way about any of the boyfriends…
72. One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is to get up early, have breakfast in a cafe and shop at the local farmer’s market for yummy fruits and veggies. The Wookie likes to sleep in, so that hasn’t happened once since I have arrived, but that’s okay.
73. I LOVE the vegetables in Australia.
74. My favorite food here is Vanilla yogurt. It tastes like rich custard. Simple pleasures. Have I mentioned that I like food?
75. Cannot hang my underwear outside on a clothes line. No one here uses clothes dryers. I told the Wookie that hanging my underwear outside was grounds for divorce. About six week after arriving, we became proud owners of a new (albeit very small) Fisher & Pykel electric dryer.
76. Have enlightened the Wookie to the joys of fabric softener. My Aussie brother-in-law is an ecologist, so I feel a twinge of guilt like I am committing a crime against nature every time I use the dryer. But we have soft, fluffy towels that smell wonderful and life is good again.
77. Yeah - I know, all that blah blah blah about liking being ‘green’ and I am waxing poetically about having a clothes dryer - Let’s just say I am a work in progress.
78. Nectarines are my favorite fruit. We have a nectarine tree in our back garden. I am in heaven
79. I will always wear my hair long and straight if I can help it [I have lots of natural curl]. The last time I had short hair about was about ten years ago and it is my worst fear to look like a soccer mom. Besides my hair balances out my ass.
80. Favorite destination in Australia thus far has to be Sorrento and the wine country in that area. The Wookie took me there for my birthday last year. I have never seen such a gorgeous coastline.
81. I have recently discovered that I am getting old and in the ranks of the tragically un-hip. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I will defiantly wear boot-cut jeans for the rest of my life. Those skinny leg jeans will scoffed at in a few years and I will get my last laugh
82. I like all sorts of music, but cannot deal with rap. You don’t hear a lot of rap in Australia. Thank God.
83. Wine is rampant in Australia and I have been more than happy to partake. My favorite is a good Cabernet Sauvignon. The Wookie knows his wine like nobody else. Yet another reason that I am a lucky girl. He picks, and I drink.
84. My favorite artist is Chuck Close. He is my hero. I have a print of his self-portrait (post embolism) in my office that everyone says either looks like a convict or a wrestler. I love it.
85. If my house were burning down, I would grab my husband, our cats, my camera and my Chuck Close print.
86. When I was growing up I always wanted to get rid of my last name. Now I can’t give it up. So I am adding the Wookie’s to the end of mine.
87. Have the attention span of a gnat.
88. Guess the endings of movies all too frequently and get bored.
89. Love ice. I joked with my husband that he could get me an icemaker for our anniversary. I was not kidding.
90. Have moved approximate 22 times. I would love to say that I will never move again, but I would be struck by lightening.
91. Have a problem with authority.
92. Love holidays, but unless we have family or friends over for dinner, I don’t decorate.
93. Love my husband. He told me that I am a LOT prettier than Scarlett Johannson (!) and that when I take off my reading glasses I go from ‘Sexy Librarian’ to ‘Supermodel’. Have I told you how much I love the Wookie?
94. I am quite tall - 5′10″ or 178cm. The Wookie is quite tall - over 6′3″. Our children are going to be juggernauts.
95. Love fabric and texture. Have to touch everything.
96. Will kick almost anyone’s ass at Texas Hold ‘em. It’s all psychology.
97. Had leads in almost all of my high school’s plays and musicals. Won forensics tournaments. Everyone thought I was going to go on to become an actress. I can’t stand the ‘theatre’/acting/celebrity culture today. It is so rare to find anything worth my time.
98. Same with singing. I have a very good voice (I turned down three music scholarships because I didn’t want to pursue it) and have perfect pitch, but I won’t sing a note for anyone anymore. Can’t be bothered.
99. ‘Ratbag’ is my favorite new slang.

And finally - 100. Must have something on my lips at all times. Chapstick, lipgloss or lipstick. I admit it. I am an addict. And I don’t find anything wrong with that.