Versatile Blogger Award

The lovely Adrienne of  The Rich Live on a Budget gave me a Versatile Blogger Award.

Thank you, Adrienne. I am very honored!

If you have not already discovered Adrienne's blog, I urge you to go do so now! She has  a wonderful knack for sharing the riches of her life, from fashion, health, food, and wisdom with her readers. Plus, if you did not already know, she is the one who convinced me to start a blog. So she's truly brilliant! ;-)

To accept this award, I am to tell you 7 things about myself that you do not already know. Now, some of you who I have met IRL may have already heard some of these stories but I'm hoping most of these are new and entertaining, if not also funny to read.

Here it goes...

1. Several Octobers ago, I had an unfortunate run in with two deer (not at the same time) in my VW Passat. I hit both deer (actually the second deer ran into me and was entirely at fault), just 5 minutes from my house, and within a 100 feet of each other. What are the odds? I had my car back from the auto shop only a few days after hitting deer #1, when deer #2 ran into me. My insurance agent and the auto shop could not believe I had hit a second deer when I told them what happened. They must have thought I was the WORST driver. My close friends jokingly refer to me as the "deer killer". In fact, here is a photo a friend of mine tagged me in on Facebook. I am so lucky to have such funny friends!

P.S. I am not sure of the condition of deer #1, but he was no where on the road when I came back up the hill so I like to believe that he was okay. And deer #2, after running into my passenger side front fender, got back up on all fours and trotted across the road going along his merry way!

Hey Jenny..this deer stopped us today and asked if we had seen a blond woman in a Passat who had taken out his cousin, oh and Uncle Buck is still waiting for prosthetic.

2. When I was in 5th grade, we moved down to San Pedro for two years. It was quite a culture shock for me. Going from a small town in Northern California (Monte Rio) to a big city all the way in Southern California. While in class one day, me and some kids were talking, and one of the kids asked me if I was a virgin, to which I promptly replied "No, I'm a Leo". I did not understand why they all broke out in laughter. What, were Leos rare in Southern California? I was still puzzled by their reaction when I got home, and asked my mom what a virgin was. She of course asked me why, and I told my mom what transpired in class and what my response had been. I'm pretty sure I turned three shades red when my mom explained to me what a virgin was.

3. When I was 16  I decided that I wanted to dye my blond hair a deep shade of burgundy. I don't remember why. Probably because I was a teenager and didn't think things through. What a ROYAL MISTAKE. Of course my pale skin looked even more pale with burgundy hair! I sent my mom to Safeway to purchase some blond  hair dye. 4 boxes later my hair was blond again but very fried. I think at box 2 my hair was a nice shade of old lady mauve. Too bad it hadn't been around Halloween.

4. In 2004 my husband and I were fortunate to travel to Paris for 2 days and all over Italy for 3 weeks with my family. My great grandparents on my dad's side were both born in Italy, so it was a very special trip for me. I fell in love with Italy, it's food, people, and land. We rented a van and traveled all over, staying at Lake Como, Florence, Padua, Spoleto, Sorrento, and Rome. And we saw so many beautiful places along the way, like Venice, Capri, Pompei, San Gimignano, Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Cortona, Assisi. I hope to go back again some day.

Siena, Italy: Jim, Me, Grandma Virginia, Aunt Gail, Aunt Debbie, David, and Grandpa John.

5. My great grandfather, Vincenzo Sconza, who left his home and family in Italy and arrived to America at the young age of 17 by the way of Ellis Island, started a candy company out of his basement and eventually grew his candy business into a large candy factory in Oakland in 1939. So if you ever find candy at the store made my Sconza Candy Company, that was my great grandfather's company, which is now run by one of his sons. 

My Great Grandmother Maria and my Great Grandfather Vincenzo, and his sons Jim and John (my grandfather)

6. 18 years ago, on July 30th to be exact, my husband called me up and asked me out on a date to the Sonoma County Fair. Up to that point we had been flirting at parties, but I could feel a connection between us, and I was so happy when he called me up and asked me out. He was ever the gentleman and paid for the whole date, which included a day at the fair, where we rode the carnival rides, bet on  the horse races, and walked around with big old grins on our faces. Afterwards we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Burger King where I believe we both ordered the whopper with cheese meal (so romantic!), and then he took me to the movies to see Sleepless In Seattle. I knew he was the one for me when I got him to see a romantic movie! And every year since we relive our first date.

While we did not do the photo booth on our first date, we have made a point to take our photo every year since. We have 17 years worth of photos, these are from 1994 - 1999.

7. In 8th grade I almost failed as a cheerleader. My closest friends were all cheerleaders in 7th grade, and I wanted to be one too. Mostly for the cute outfit. So I tried out and made the cheer leading team. Then came time to learn all the cheers. I have a horrible time remembering things. And the cheers and dance moves were almost too much. I was ready to throw in my pom poms and quit when my friends rallied around me and offered to help me work on the cheers over the summer. With the help of my friends, I managed to remember all the cheers and dance moves and had the time of my life cheering along my friends all of 8th grade.Go Guerneville Gators! And yay for friends!

8th Grade Graduation photo: Gina, Monica, Me, Allison, and Deanna. All of us were cheerleaders except for Alli. And we're still friends to this day.

I selected five blogs to pass the award along to. There is no pressure whatsoever to accept your award, but I think we all enjoy finding out little things about one another.


Always A Crafty Girl
It's Just Not Paper
This, That, and Other Crap
Baylor Says
Stranded In Cleveland

Jenny