Friday Fun

The other day I "awarded" 2 blogging awards from fellow bloggers.

I thought it would be fun to play along today and answer the questions associated with them to learn some fun facts about me.

First up was the Sunshine Award from Mrs. Mid-Alantic

1. What is your favorite Christmas / Holiday Movie?Favorite Holiday Movie = Hocus Pocus.  Greatest Halloween movie EVER! 

Favorite Christmas Movie = The Santa Claus probably. 

2. What is your favorite flower?Hydrangeas.  The pretty blue ones!  

3. What is your favorite (non-alcoholic) drink?
Since I no longer am drinking soda, I rarely drink anything besides water or coffee.  I guess I can claim my blueberry coffee as my favorite non-alcoholic drink now... Oh or unsweet tea, I do drink that on occasion! 

4. What is your passion?
Passion...I really LOVE math.  Im a really big nerd, but I really like it and all the things that numbers can tell you.  I would do math problems all day long. I love statistics and algebra and calculus.  

5. What is your favorite time of the year?
Probably right now... I  love the cooler weather for its clothing options, I love Halloween, a crisp fall morning, Thanksgiving, Leah's birthday, and the entire Christmas season! 

6. What is your favorite time of the day?
Um, anytime I am up before the rest of the house... the quiet, alone time. 

7. What is your favorite physical activity?
I really miss basketball and everything related to it. I miss practices, shooting drills, the commodity of such a small team (A team of 10 is able to bond so much more than say a team of 18 soccer players) and I even miss the sprints! 11s in 1:06 anyone?

But since that will not be coming back into my life for a bit (I am totally coaching Leah's team, with my bff Kate, who we both were freshmen on Varsity in HS, as soon as she is old enough!)  I am really enjoying running.  I like pushing myself to get better.  I love seeing my time, distance, and pace after a run. 

8. What is your favorite vacation?
Hmmm.  Our Honeymoon to Jamaica was pretty awesome.  All Inclusive resorts are the way to go!!  But also love the trips to the FL beach condo with Brian's family.  A week on the beach is always needed!   Im definitely getting excited to go again this spring! 

Yep, I wanna be there right now! 

And then I was given the Liebster Award from Poisoned Perception

My 11 things:

1. I have a freckle/mole in between my toes.
2. I have a big scar on the side of my leg as a result of working on a 4th grade project of building a house out of cardboard. Do not try to cut cardboard on your lap, with an exacto knife. ... go thru the cardboard, go thru your leg. 
3. My first broken bone, was a bone in my mouth from a fall at Disney World when I was almost 4.  I was running up steps, slipped and hit my mouth on the corner or the step.  Yep, surgery in FL, mid vacation.  I was a 3 year old with braces for a month to pretty much hold my teeth in place.  I then had a month long diet of only soft foods. It began my love of eggs and ketchup. 
4. 2nd broken bone was in 6th grade, I was a pitcher. Threw a wild pitch so a girl tried to steal home. I went to cover home, she did not slide, fell on top of me, my hand, with the ball in my glove were underneath both of us.  She was out, but I crushed my thumb and had 3 pins put in it the next day. 
5. Staying with the random facts about my body... I have Alopecia.  Annoying. Actually 1 in 5 people have it, most just do not know it. My uncle has the extreme form where he has no hair on his entire body.  Hopefully I never get to that point, but if I do, Brian says he will still love me! And hey, I wont have to shave! 
6. When I was in 5th grade I won a year supply of happy meals from a McDonalds Disney trivia contest. My question was ridiculously easy too... 
7. For my senior trip in 2003, I went to Spain with a group of kids, the day after the War on Iraq began. Our first night in Madrid there was a giant riot/protest right outside of our hotel with hundreds of thousands of people.  We just watched from the windows in amazement.  The next day the city was covered in graffiti   It was kind of scary since it was our first night, but the rest of the trip was great. 
8. I took a cryptology class in college and it was awesome! All of our tests were songs that our teacher would encrypt and then we had to decode them. A guy in my class actually works for the government now as a decoder! 
9. People always tell me I have perfect teeth.  They may be pretty, but they are weak. My family does not have very strong teeth. 
10. I had invisalign when I was a sophomore in college.  I had 1 crooked tooth and I guess my dad thought it was related to my accident in Disney and felt bad so he requested that I get braces.  Of course I said only if I can do invisalign! It was when it very first came out so it was WAY expensive. I only had it for 6 months but it was awesome.  Only 1 person ever noticed that I even had it, and he was teeth obsessed. It really is clear.
11. Invisalign is also a great diet. To eat anything you have to take it out... which is GROSS! So I pretty must stopped snacking all together. A bite of something was totally not worth the effort of taking them out.  I only ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and probably was the smallest ever weight wise.  (I weight about 6 lb more than that right now.) 

1. If you could be any animal, what would you be and why? I honestly have no desire as I am not the biggest animal fan. I would much rather be a boy for a day.... 
2. What is your favorite healthy version of an unhealthy meal? Ummm I like to use turkey as an easy substitution for multiple items in dinners.  Or the Pumpkin filling + cake mix muffins.  
3. Think back to when you were a kid. What is your favorite memory?  hmmm I have so many memories of just playing sports and playing with all the neighborhood kids. I just remember being outside all the time, coming home when the sun went down, doing the things kids should do! 
4. Most embarrassing moment. Or at least one that's pretty high up there.  I honestly cannot think of one! I usually just stay stupid things that probably make people question that I have a degree, let alone an Applied Mathematics degree!  I might be great at calculus but I suck a simple addition! 
5. Favorite TV show(s)?  Right now its New Girl. But I barely have the time to catch up on my DVRed episodes! TV with 2 little ones is a rarity! 
6. Explain one of your major goals in life. What, why, how, the works. Becoming a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA).  Basically you can learn about it HERE  I am almost an Associate (ASA) which has to be met before coming an FSA.  To become an ASA you have to take 5 exams, 3 VEE courses, 8 modules, 1 Interim Assessment, 1 Final Assessment, and a professional course.  I am done with 4 exams, 6 modules, waiting on my grade on the Interim Assessment, and currently working on my final VEE course. I hope to get my ASA in early 2014.  (I passed my first exam in  Jan 2009)  Then to go on and get your FSA there are 2 more exams, 3 more modules, and another professional... I hope to get my FSA by the time I am 32, but who knows!   Overall it takes most people 7-10 years to become an FSA.  With all the work I put in I probably should have been a doctor or something!  ... Each exam usually needs 300+ study hours with most people not even passing exams on the first try.  It is VERY SMART people who take these exams, and the pass rate is anywhere between 30-60%! I am smart, but compared to others in the profession.... I feel like I am in the bottom range!  Its alot, but in the end, Actuaries are a very very respected profession.  It always ranks as one of the top 3 careers. Here is a list of articles on it.  It should all help me meet me other goal of making more than my husband! I totally want to be the bread winner! 
7. Favorite room in your house? I love my kitchen.... or my bathroom. But they still need alot of work, AKA tiling.  
8. Would you ever go bungee jumping or sky diving? uh....it really does not interest me. But if the opportunity was given to me, maybe. 
9. What what the first thing you thought about this morning? uh, how I was going to work at home instead of heading to the office.... 
10. Most preferred form of exercise? I really prefer to play some sort of sport/game.  Then I do not even notice that I am working hard or sweating, or exercising.  I am just playing. 
11. If you were a pirate, what would your name be? (Or some other fact about alternate universe pirate you)  I have no idea what pirate names typically are......... 

Well this was fun.... Happy Friday!