10 Facts About Bonnie and Mandy!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.
Every once in a while I participate in this one when I either
1) Like the theme, and/or 2) Have the time!

This week's topic:

10 Facts About Us!

Okay, okay.

This week's topic is REALLY to pick a topic you missed out on previously.

Bonnie and Mandy both really wanted to do the 10 Facts About Us topic a few weeks ago, buuuuut Mandy had literally just started blogging the day before. Don't you want to know more about her?

And you've been reading Bonnie's thoughts for a while now. Don't you want to know more about her, too?

So you'll forgive us for pulling out this topic now, right!? ^_~

In No Particular Order...

1)  SPRING IS MY FAVORITE SEASON.

The weather is PERFECT. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right, Goldilocks!!!

Plus, we're at the end of winter and ready for warmer weather. Green grass is sprouting, leaves are budding, the birds start coming back... What isn't to love about Spring!?
 
2) I LOVE MUSICALS.

You may already know this about me. My favorites are Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, The Last 5 Years, Hairspray, Rent, Jekyll & Hyde, Les Mis, Aida.........

I'm often playing musicals on my iPod. As I write this, I'm listening to the recently released, absolutely gorgeous rendition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and wishing it had transferred to Broadway! 

3) MY FAVORITE YA NOVEL IS...

If you ask me right this second what my favorite YA novel is, I'm going to tell you GRACELING by Kristin Cashore. (And my favorite middle-grade is ELLA ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine, and my favorite adult novel is MY SISTER'S KEEPER by Jodi Picoult...)

4) MY FAVORITE DISNEY PRINCESSES ARE ARIEL AND BELLE.

Because how can you decide between a mermaid and a bookworm!?

5) I'M NOT A FAN OF "WARM" COLORS.

While the fire colors look pretty when they're together, red, orange, and to a degree, yellow, aren't my favorites. Neither are gold nor pink nor that warm yellowy-brown color.

On the other hand, I love all the cool-tone colors! Purple and silver/gray are my favorites, but I also love blue and green (which make the beautiful AQUA!!!), as well as so many gorgeous shades of the deeper (especially the purple-hued) browns.

6) THE FIRST BOOK I EVER LOVED...

My dad says if he got a SINGLE word wrong from Dr. Seuss' classic ARE YOU MY MOTHER?, he would get in REALLY BIG TROUBLE with me. It was my favorite book in the world, and I had it memorized! I was a bookworm even back then!

7) MY FAVORITE ANIMAL...

I've been in love with dolphins since I "discovered" them when someone in my fifth grade class did a report on them. A lot of my favorite animals are actually water creatures, from playful sea lions and seals and otters to wondrous seahorses and starfish. I probably legitimately WAS a mermaid in a former life, so it makes sense that I love them, right!?

8) I DON'T THINK ALL "BOOKS TO MOVIES" ARE BAD.

A lot of books don't translate well into movies or aren't adapted faithfully (I'm looking at you, Percy Jackson!). But others are wonderful! I think The Hunger Games is a modern example of something beautiful brought to life. I actually prefer the movie versions of How to Train Your Dragon and Bridget Jones' Diary (the first one) to the books. Shhh, don't tell!

9) MY FAVORITE FOOD IS WEIRD.

Ask anyone what their favorite foods are and they'll tell you pizza or steak or something like that. Ask me, and I'll tell you STRAWBERRIES. No, they're not JUST a favorite food. They're my favorite ANYTHING. Mmmmmm, strawberries!!!

(But if I HAD to pick a meal, I'd tell you chicken fettuccini alfredo with broccoli!)

10) I'VE WANTED TO BE A WRITER SINCE FIRST GRADE.

We all had to write a "story" for the elementary school literary magazine.

I still remember mine!

The clown was sad. It was his birthday. A girl knocked on the door. The clown was happy. The end.

Brilliant and award-winning stuff right there, I tell you!

I discovered what the word author was that year and decided that I had to make books for a living when I grew up. My stories are much more complex now than they were then, but just as hard to get the way I want, of course! ^.~

1)  WINTER IS MY FAVORITE SEASON.

I'm a person that runs hot by nature. The Summer makes me miserable. Spring is okay...but I'm all about winter...when the cold wind blows so hard it takes your breath away. Snow...Christmas...it's a cozy time of the year filled with pumpkin spice latte and hot chocolate. 

And to be honest...it's the best time of year to cozy up under a blanket and read a good book.
 
2) PEANUT BUTTER M&M'S ARE MY SWEET TREAT WEAKNESS.

Most of us can agree that chocolate and peanut butter is a heavenly combination. Peanut butter M&M's are my weakness. You guys remember those old school "What would you do for a klondike bar" commercials? That's me with these heavenly little morsels.

They happen to be my go to snack when I'm reading. Melts in your mouth, not in your hands...which makes it easy and safe to turn the pages of your current read without getting your snack all over them.

3) I CAN'T PICK FAVORITES.

I'm quite hopelessly incapable. What's your favorite color, Mandy? Shoot...today it might be green...next week it could be purple. I especially can't pick favorites when it comes to books. Each one is special; each one touches me in different ways. I'm far more capable of giving you a top five list of what I'm currently obsessively reading or re-reading.


4) I LOVE DISNEY VILLAINS.

Listen...I love the princesses as much as the next person, but the villains are what make a good movie for me. Maybe I like them so much because their personalities are so deviously different from my own. As a child when I played make believe with friends, I wanted to be someone else. I wanted to explore things I'd never do when I was myself. Villains give you so much room to explore.

Ursula happens to be one of my most loved villains. Lately we've seen an outpouring of Origin stories for a lot of our favorite fairytale characters. I'm going to sit here with my arms crossed pouting until someone gives me an origin story for my beloved Sea Witch.

5) ONE OF MY WORST PET PEEVES: THE GROCERY STORE.

Is it just me...or are grocery store aisles getting smaller and smaller? I'm not typically a claustrophobic person, but the grocery store makes me feel like I'm in everyone's way. Not to mention it's full of people who park their carts in your way, and then walk off to the other end of the aisle. 

Normally I'm a calm person, but between the pumpernickel bread and the eggs I start to turn into The Hulk.

6) THE FIRST BOOK I EVER LOVED...

A BIG BALL OF STRING by Marion Holland. I memorized that whole book in record time...but somehow convinced myself that I'd magically mastered the art of reading. The story is about a boy who is home sick, and is told by his mother that he must stay in bed. Creativity has him rigging up all sorts of ways to stay entertained, with the help of a big ball of string that will allow him to pull and interact from beneath his covers. 

Of course...he has to get OUT of the bed in order to rig up all these thing...which don't you know, sort of ends up defying the whole purpose.

7) MY FAVORITE ANIMAL...

I've never recovered from that girlish love of horses, ponies, anything similar. I was never much of an artist as a child, but I can remember getting a book from the library specifically on drawing horses. To this day they are the only thing I can sketch with some semblance of talent, and that is because I spent ages practicing.

I'm normally a very loud, outgoing person. But put me near a horse and I am rapt, silent, teary eyed affection in a quivering skin. All I want to do is pet them and feed them carrots.

8) I HAVE A B.A. IN PSYCHOLOGY.

Whoa nelly, I'm breaking out the big facts now. This one surprises a lot of people. Those who know me expect to hear that I majored in English or Education. I love words...I love people...and it's true that for a long time I wanted to be an English Teacher. But I fell in love with Psychology when I took an AP course my senior year of H.S.

Turns out getting your feet wet in the world of clinical psychology is hard with a B.A. I'm perpetually stuck in that place where I'm over-educated and under-experienced, which is highly stressful. But one day, I hope to get my Master's and carve out a career in which I counsel children and adolescents who have been through trauma.

9) I EAT MY PIZZA ODDLY.

We all have a few quirky little food habits. I've got more than one, but the most visually noticeable is when I'm enjoying a slice of cheesy saucy heaven. Instead of gripping the crust like a normal person, I sort of balance a slice on the tips of my fingers. This has a purpose...because it aids in the rotation of my delicious treat.

Rotation? Is this pizza or a merry go round? I know it's weird. But I don't like dry bready substances. So what happens is that I take a bite of the crust, and then I rotate the pizza so that I can take a bite with sauce and cheese. For reasons unknown to my own mind, this is just how I have to do it.

10) MY AGE IS THAT OF AN ADULT, BUT I'M ON THE SLEEP SCHEDULE OF A TODDLER.

I am not a night owl. Never have been, never will be. My friend's call me Grandma because staying up late for me means going to bed at eleven. Meanwhile they're all up watching Adult Swim or playing video games till the wee hours of the morn. I try sometimes...I have coffee, I sleep in late...I'm positive that I'll be up till at least midnight for fun and mischief with friends. And then boom, I'm out at 10.30, snoring in a corner.


What do you wish you knew about us? Comment below and we'll respond!  ^_^