Friday, February 15, 2013

About Me: More Stuff You Might Find Interesting


ABOUT ME

Name: Tina Downey
Blogs: Lifeis Good
Publications: Until They Have Faces, an anthology of stories of the homeless, a fundraising coffee table book
Other Places to Find Me: Twitter: still can't believe I did it...@TinaLifeisGood. I don't do other social media, it's just too much to keep up with. I'd rather write...

10 GETTING TO KNOW YOU QUESTIONS

1. "Where do you hail from?"
I'm a first generation immigrant, born in Sweden. In 1974 when I was almost nine, we moved to America for “just a year”. We lived in Silver Spring, MD. However, for my senior year of high school, The Swede got a big promotion and we moved to Colorado. Well, he dragged me kicking and screaming across the country is more like it... I shouldn't have wasted that energy, though. Colorado is my dream home. I love almost everything about this state except the hot summers. The smallish community (formerly farming, now high tech silicon valley stuff everywhere) with the magnificent view of the foothills and Longs Peak/Mt. Meeker is a wonderful place to raise children. They're living my childhood in Sweden – go knock on a door and see who's free. Or what happens more often, there's the knock on OUR door. We're THAT house where everyone gathers and I love that.

2. Would you ever join a team that was headed off to colonize Mars?
Yes, I actually would. I'm a die-hard sci-fi fan, and The Engineer is an inventor, and dreams of doing this. So how could I say no. It's a pretty safe “yes” though...I can sound like the supportive, adventurous wife, but with little risk of ever leaving my beloved Colorado. There are parts of this adventure that DO appeal to ME too though: the whole fresh start thing...and space travel...

3. "Who is your favorite fictional character and why?"
I should probably pick some Jane Austen or Mark Twain or other “classy classic” character, but I like Eve Dallas of JD Robb's futuristic cop series. She's my exact opposite, so that's probably why. When I need a break, I splurge $7.99 and buy the next book in the 35+ book series. I think I'm seven behind...good mind candy, and since I'm hypoglycemic and can't eat REAL candy, it's my justification.

4. "If you were a contestant on the CBS show "Amazing Race" and could pick ANY movie character to be your partner, who would it be and why?"
James Bond. Let's be more clear, Daniel Craig's James Bond. C'mon, who else could do ANYTHING they'd throw at us? I love this race. It is amazing (haha) to see places and cultures I might never, ever see. I don't have much time for TV anymore, and we don't have cable (got data plans for smart phones instead, something had to go...) so I haven't seen it in a while. I'm confident he could “carry” me, and I love martinis, too. We'd both be seeking the same thing at the end of the day.

5. What's your biggest frustration in blogging?
Not enough time. I'm a schedule woman, so I try hard to carve out my time for it, but I'm also a wife, a mom, a volunteer teacher, and there are only so many hours in a day. Setting priorities is hard, but it's life.

6. "Have you ever wanted to be a rock star?"
No, but I wish I could sing on key. What I REALLY want is to be a best-selling author...sigh.

7. You're house in on fire, assuming your kids, pets, and other living things are safe, what do you grab as you head out the door?
My mom has made me some amazing Creative Memories photo albums, and I've made some myself, waaaay before the blogging bug infected me permanently. I'd grab those. Two of them are the boys' baby books. Of course, they're not done. The Transporter is 6 months old, and OYT has ONE picture affixed in it, the rest lying loose on the pages...some day...

8. "Where do you go to "Get away from it all"?
We go camping in our 1968 Forester camping trailer. The Engineer has redone all the systems, so it's still peddling along despite its need of another new paint job. We pull it with our prison van. Not kidding. The van still has the outline of the “Colorado Department of Corrections” logo that adorned both front doors. It seats twelve and then has a huge cargo area behind it. Nothing like having two teenage boys separated in the car by an entire bench seat...We prefer state and national forest parks with bigger sites, no hook-ups, and more privacy. The only thing I don't like about camping is pulling out of the site and heading home...I could seriously be a campground host.  I think. I've got enough bossy in me to do the job...

Thanks for making it this far. We're supposed to do 10 questions, but I'm so far over the word limit you get 8. I promise to be more brief during the challenge, but it's hard to get to know someone in a few words. Especially a wordy, talky person such as...me.

I'll be writing about “Adventures in America” - what it was like my first year as a Swedish immigrant. Last year's #atozchallenge I taught a word or two of Swedish a day, included a picture and a childhood memory. I'm thinking this will be similar, but you won't be learning a foreign language...hope to see you then!

~Tina, and yes, Life really is Good, even when it sucks, because I'm breathing WELL

P.S This is a repeat of a post that is over at the A-Z Blog, where we're doing a series of "get to know your co-hosts."  But I know some of my nearest and dearest only get my posts by email, so I put it here for you. You know who you are and I love you, my sweet Valentines.






21 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Read that at the A to Z Blog this morning!

Anonymous said...

Nice to get to know you better, Tina.

Hope you get a chance to check out camping on the West Coast...beautiful wooded sites, within walking distance to the Pacific Ocean.

Good for you keeping social media to a minimum. It is a lot to keep up with, I agree. Being a busy mom with too many things to do, is more than enough to keep us on overload sometimes.

Robin said...

Enjoyed this very much. I spent a summer when I was in college out in Colorado. It is a GORGEOUS state, and I totally understand why you love it so much. Having come from the Midwest and all its humidity, the heat didn't even bother me. I just adored it. The mountains are simply amazing. I would love to visit it again someday. It definitely leaves you with a "Rocky Mountain High"...:D

Brian Miller said...

oo good choice on bond....and i would def go to mars...i have a travellers guide to it already so i can show you the sights...and where you can get the best souveniers....smiles...

Jenny said...

Very fun getting to know you, Tina. I love Colorado, too. I'm a native of Fort Collins and don't want to leave until I get old and can't handle winter. I'll keep an eye out for your Dept. of Corrections van!

Anonymous said...

Read your wonderful blog this morning,
I am Yvonne from Yvonnes Poetry Corner, I am with Arlee Birds team, I wish you well with the Challenge and look forward to read your blog during April.

Enjoy your week-end.
Yvonne.

Murees Dupè said...

You have some really great answers! It was definitely nice getting to know you better.

JoJo said...

Do you get back to Sweden often? How cool that you were born there!!

Annalisa Crawford said...

I'd love to be THAT house too - at the moment my kids like to play with their friends online... it's a different childhood to the one I had.

Anonymous said...

The camping trailer sounds awesome. Relaxing!

Jo said...

Nice to know more about you Tina. Never made it to Sweden, only to Norway and Denmark.

Will be checking you out during the A2Z

Hope the hyperlink works, something wrong with it I think.

<a href="http://henderson-jo.blogspot.com/>JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE</a>

Jo said...

No, sorry it didn't work.

Unknown said...

Nice to get to meet you Tina! I'm originally from Colorado, now living in California. I miss Pikes Peak, Manitou Springs, Garden of the Gods but I don't miss the snow!

I'm looking forward to reading more during the AtoZ Challenge.

Connie
Peanut Butter and Whine

Arlee Bird said...

I thought I was experiencing deja vu!

I used to do a lot of tent camping and frequent backpacking excursions, but now a camping trailer would be more my speed. Actually a nice hotel room with restaurants near by would suit me even better.

I want to see the trailer pictures.

Lee
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Tina .. that's a great intro - and no I won't join you on your trip to Mars ... and if you do the packing and unpacking I'll come and camp with you - but I must say I'd love to see Colorado someday and see those vehicles ... there's a film there somewhere ...

Your theme for the A - Z sounds very interesting and will be a great record ...

Cheers and see you around a lot as minion me gets to work .. Hilary

Andrea said...

I was wondering how your breathing was after all you had going on months go...yay!

Elliot Grace said...

...very nice getting to know you ;)

I agree, too much social media sucks the writer out of a perfectly tranquil evening.

El

Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

Greetings, loved your answer to #2 - you sound very adventurous :). I love sci-fi too, but I think I'd rather be ground control - unless they figure out transporters, I could go for transporters ;).

Good thinking with James Bond there too.

Great post. Off to investigate more of your blog now :)

S.P. Bowers said...

Oh, man, I better not tell my hubby about your prison van. He wants a hearse but he'd probably go for a prison van. Mostly, I just want a car that runs.

Philip Verghese 'Ariel' said...

Hi,
Tina, though I read this post I could not post a comment, today while I was about to connect this link to my new post i have noticed and thus this comment. Sorry for the delay in sending a feedback to this post about the Terrific personality :-)
Good to know more about you and your activities here at the web world and outside.
Keep it up.
Keep Going
Thanks for adding me into the list of that terrific ones :-)
Best Regards
Phil

Amanda Trought said...

Tina, it was great to get to know you, looking forward to seeing some of your other posts.

Amanda - Realityarts-Creativity
Art Blog