Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Bitten: I've been MeMe'd Now, too

Last week I got an interesting note from a fellow expat blogger, Diana, at Raising Expats. She had tagged me in a meme blog and challenged me to carry it on. Since I'm fairly new to the blogging world, I was unaware of memes passing through the community. If you're also a little late to the game, a meme is "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture" and here's a meme primer for you.

Diana, an American raising two young children in Germany, replied to a series of questions sent to her, and then penned her own for me and ten other lucky bloggers to oust ourselves with, whilst passing the baton to yet another set of bloggers. It's blogging chain mail. But no one promised me 10 years of luck if I participated, nor threatened me with gross bodily harm if I broke the chain. And since I'm feeling game today, I'll play along.

First, here are THE RULES as shared with me:
  1. You MUST post the rules.
  2. Answer the questions the tagger sent for you in the post, and then create 11 new questions to ask the people you've tagged.
  3. Tag 11 bloggers, however, you can break the rules and tag fewer people if you want. Make sure you hyperlink their names/blogs.
  4. Let them know you've tagged them!
  5. Have fun!

Now, here are Diana's questions for me, along with my ADMISSIONS and CONFESSIONS :)

1. What is the craziest thing you've ever done that you will admit to online?
I jumped out of an airplane! A few years ago I went parachuting and it was the most amazing, exhilarating experience!

2. Are there any choices you would have made differently knowing what you know now?
I’d like to think not…everything in life is a lesson, good, bad, funny, sad....Learn from the past, but keep your feet and smile forward.

3. What is your earliest childhood memory?
My grandfather entertaining me and my brothers with magic tricks, like pulling a quarter out of my ear. Gramps died when I was 16, during my exchange year. Still miss him.

4. Was there one event in your life that changed everything?
Definitely: Winning the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship to Germany and heading off to a host family and school in a country where I did not speak a single word of the language was a life-changer in every way.

5. Have you ever had your heart broken?
Very much so.

6. Ten years ago, did you think you would be doing what you are doing today?
Not sure any of us can really imagine what we’ll be doing in 10 years, but living in Germany was not off the radar.

7. Follow up on Q6, what did you think you would be doing 10 year ago?
Ten years ago I was living in Maryland, pregnant with my fourth child, and on a brief hiatus from my career. I must have suspected in 10 years I’d still be in the US, have rebuilt my professional life and been a pretty “normal” working mother-of-four juggling kids’ sports and laundry. And that is exactly where I was one year ago, before the sudden relocation to Europe! 


8. Where do you want to be in 10 years from now?
I definitely want to be out working again, with lots of opportunities to travel! All four of my kids will be adults and I’ll have the freedom to spread my wings. Joining the Peace Corps is also not out of the question.

9. Have you been to your High School reunion?
No. I considered going to my 20th reunion, but the timing for the trip to NY didn’t work out.

10. How many countries have you lived in?
Just lived in two: the USA and Germany. Have visited a handful of others.

11. What unknown musician would you recommend?
I wouldn’t call them “unknown” but perhaps lesser-known. I’m a huge fan of the recently disbanded group “Fools and Horses” but their leader is still doing solo music and I strongly recommend you check him out: Matt Hutchison
    Next, are my QUESTIONS FOR YOU, now in the hot seat:

    1. How would you describe yourself with exactly six words?

    2. What’s a great book you can recommend for my next vacation read?

    3. What are the top two countries you want to see that you’ve not yet visited?

    4. Do you collect anything (what)? If not, is there something you’ve thought about collecting?

    5. If you could name a lipstick color, what would it be?

    6. What outdoor activity do you most enjoy?

    7. Which non-profit organization do you (or would you like to) passionately support?

    8. Which household chore do you most loath?

    9. What’s the earliest “appropriate” time of day to have a glass of wine?

    10. If you could have one of the following personal service providers come to your home free for a year, which would you most want to have?
    a)      house-cleaner
    b)      a meal planner/cook
    c)       a personal trainer/fitness instructor
    d)      a masseuse
    e)      a nanny
    11. What’s the oddest thing anyone ever asked you?

    Finally, the awesome BLOGGERS I'm tagging in this game are:
    Check out their pages, because they are all amazing, interesting women from across the globe! Reading their blogs is like taking a trip around the world right from your living room (Many of them can be found on the Blogger Map).


    1. Land of Bean
    2. Emma's Expat Adventures
    3. Hip As I Wanna Be
    4. Somewhere between facebook and flickr sits fiona
    5. KettwigeFrau
    6. Blah-Blob-Blog
    7. das Blog
    8. Latte Love
    9. Sabje's Blog
    10. Life in Lajes
    11. Decoy Betty

    So, thanks for playing along. Later this week, back to our regularly scheduled programming :) Have a beautiful day!

    5 comments:

    1. Thanks for the tag Karen!! I've got your questions answered and up on my blog.

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    2. Just to let you know I have nominated you for a little Liebster over on http://somebodyislovingyou.blogspot.de/

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      1. Thank You! Hope you and your beautiful baby are doing great and love the Baltic! I lived in the little Baltic village of Wisch (Schleswig-Holstein) during my exchange year. Very near and dear to my heart!

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    3. Hello, and thankyou for nominating my blog! I'm goig to have a little browse through the other blogs now...

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    4. Ah fun! I will try my best to get my answers up soon :D

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