Liebster Award

J. over at Cygnus Opus tagged me on her Liebster Award.  (A way to recognize tiny blogs.  Like this one.  Hooray for teeny!)  I'm not going to tag anybody, but if you want to join in, go for it!

I need to list 11 facts about me, and then answer her list of questions.  I'm not sure I can find 11 things you don't already know!

12/12, Grand Canyon


Eleven Facts about Myrnie:

1. I'm a twin, and my sisters call me Myrnie.
2. My hands fit inside of a Pringles can.  You should see the size of my wedding ring, it's tiny.
3. My husband and I got engaged after dating three months (too short! people said), and were married 6 months after that (too long! people said.)
4. I was married a few weeks after my 22nd birthday, and Ernie was born 18 months later.
5. Two summers after high school, our college choir trip to Vienna was canceled after 9/11.  My sister and I used our ticket money for that and bought two tickets for a brand new cruise ship that was sailing from Dover to Barcelona.  I booked plane tickets to London, and then found a man with a van whose business it was to pick folks up in London and drive them to the docks in Dover.  (Turns out he also owned a bed and breakfast.)  We saw France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, etc.  and booked a few extra days at a hotel in Barcelona at the end and then flew back to Seattle.  At the time it was amazing, and now it's just incredible.  I can't believe we did that!
6. I started college when I was 16- our area has a program that allows high school students to complete their high school requirements at the local community college and pays the tuition.  We actually got our Associates Degree a week before our high school diplomas.  
7. I earned my Bachelors at the University of Washington- business, with an emphasis in accounting.  I also minored in music.
8. I've been teaching piano since I was 17.  I also worked as a house cleaner and babysitter for a family in high school, and spent a few weeks in the summer helping out at a bakery while all their workers were at camp.
9. I love cooking food from all around the world.  I love good food, but am too cheap to buy really great food.  So, I have to make it myself!  
10. My favorite thing about having these three kids of ours is seeing how insanely talented each child is, in their own way.  I'm convinced that every child is a genius, if we can focus long enough to find out who they are.  
11. I love to create things.  I love to paint, write, draw, cook, dance, sing, play piano and organ, and make jewelry.  I'm not extremely talented or trained, but I believe we all have a need to create.

Hello Cocoa, you smooshy ball of love.  We took this self-portrait about 6:00 a.m. on a family trip to the lake.  No one else was up yet so we went on the deck to watch the sun come up.

1. Tell me about one of your most embarrassing moment that you wouldn't mind sharing.
You know, I can't think of any!  I get embarrassed a lot, because I tend to say excessively dumb things whenever I go out in public, but there's not really any great stories.  Just me doing dumb stuff, like being invited to a baby shower at Ichiro's home (yeah, the baseball player, his wife is a sweetheart) and then refusing to take home the flowers she offered because I didn't understand that they were for me.  And then I told her I couldn't eat her sushi, because I was pregnant.  Like THAT isn't offensive to a gourmet Japanese cook.  Oh, and mistaking the high-end boutique she bought my gift at for a consignment shop.  See?  I'm a recluse for my own safety.  

2. Name someone you admire that is still alive.
So many people!  This isn't a fair question, because most of the people I admire are reading this *right now.*  (Hi family!)  Let's see.  Is Corrie Tenboom still alive?  

3. If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?
Woah.  Paris, for sight seeing.  Disney World for the Epcot Center.  Wales for the country side.  Italy, for sitting around and eating gelato.  Japan, for just eating.  Chicago and Washington D.C. for the museums.  Somewhere sunny, just for sun.

4. If you could travel in time where or rather when would you go?
Oh boy.  I'm not sure- I feel so insanely blessed to be alive right now, I'm not sure there's a time I'd rather be in.  We have so many freedoms, and such incredible knowledge about the world just at our finger tips.  

5. What do you most wish for the future generations?
I wish they could remember that there IS value in doing things simply and the "old-fashioned" way.  The more we learn, the more we find out that maybe grandma was right even if she didn't know why.  Highly mechanized and efficient isn't the best way for the human race to be.  

6. Name something you would fix in the country you live in?
The way the economy and benefits are handled.  Stop handing out more money than we have, and figure out a way to give government help ONLY to those who really need it.  Teach people to be self-reliant, and stop punishing people who are successful at what they do.  Stop making knee-jerk-reaction legislation every time something horrible happens, because it doesn't stop the next horrible thing from happening, it only makes life harder for people who try to do the right thing.  (HELLO SARBANES-OXLEY, I DESPISE YOU.)  

7. If you could be a teacher/professor, what would you teach?
HA!  I already teach piano, sunday school, and second grade.  I guess I'd like to have some sort of class where I could just brain dump everything I've learned over the years about cooking, childhood development, and how to make stuff myself.  Is that narcissistic?   I've spent so much time studying, and it seems like I could save people some time if I just got it all compiled into something usable   Like that book I keep starting and stopping.

8. What hymn means the most to you?
Oh My Father.  I love the words, and I was able to perform a solo section in a CES broadcast when I was in college.  President Eyring spoke, and our Seattle UW Institute choir combined with the University of Idaho choir to sing at the monthly broadcast.  It was filmed at the U of I, in the Kibbey Dome- I also helped accompany a four-handed choir piece written just for the occasion (a mash-up of Army of Helaman and As Sisters in Zion.)  I have a copy of the video, but it's not in the online archives because it wasn't broadcast from BYU and for some reason that made a difference?  

9. What's your favorite flower?
Anything in bloom?  Let's see, I love fuscias because Grandma grew them.  I love hellebores because they bloom in January.  I love daffodils and quince because they bloom in February.  I love wild roses because they taste good.  I love nasturtium for the same reason, and they're SO COLORFUL.  I love trillium because finding them feels like finding a fairy hideout.  I love tulips because they smell like tomatoes, and I think it's funny to see them grow so tall in their vases of water.  I love peonies because they're huge and showy and don't care who knows it.  I love rhododendrons because they are EVERYWHERE in Seattle- there's not many yards that don't include a few of those old standbys.  

10. What was your favorite cartoon as a kid?  I don't remember having a favorite.  We liked Jem, because it seemed so grownup and cool and glamorous.  Looking back, it was probably completely inappropriate for 6-year-olds.  

11. If you were at Baskin Robbin's what flavor of ice cream would you choose?  I really, really, love vanilla ice cream.  Lately we've been choosing frozen yogurt, so I can get popping boba on top.  Om nom.  

Myrnie on the left, two weeks before Ernie was born.  That's a skinny and in-love Aunt LoLo on the right.  She's two weeks from getting engaged- poor thing!  He wouldn't propose until after the baby was born, just to make sure she wouldn't get called away for the birth while he was trying to get the question out.