a little sunshine: award!

     Erin tagged me with the Sunshine Award! Erin has fantastic taste in books and owns the Most Gorgeous Cardigan in the World (with epaulets! I covet it every time it's on the blog).
The rules for the award are:

1. Include the award logo in a post and/or on your blog sidebar.  Yup.
2.  Link to the blogger who nominated you.  Yup. And her cardigan! :)
3.  Answer 10 questions about yourself.  Yup. 
4.  Nominate 10 other fabulous bloggers and ask them 10 questions.  7 folks will have to do. 
5.  Link to your nominees in your post and let them know about the award.  

1. What's your biggest fear, realistic or not? I only get one fear? No plurals? I'm a little like Scaredy Squirrel in that regard ... I have quite a list of fears. But my biggest one would be to not grow and not change for the better. Second would be drowning. 
2. Favorite superhero movie? I'm drawing a blank. If you have a must-see superhero movie, leave me a comment and I'll add it to my to-watch list. :)
3. If you had to pick one genre to read for the rest of your life, what would it be? 
Probably YA fiction because right now that genre is full of fearless authors writing meaningful books (Kristin Cashore, John Green, Chris Crutcher). And, there are a lot of childhood favorites in the field that I could happily reread forever.
4. Is there a show that you just can't stop watching, even when it's bad and the characters do stupid things?  Probably "Chopped" and "Cupcake Wars," if by characters you mean real people who cook for a living. :) I talk to them and give them advice, such as, "That cupcake with hot dog bits in it sounds like a bad idea ..."
 5. If you could go forward in the future, what question would you ask your future self? How did you learn to stop procrastinating? And how did you learn to get organized?

 6. What basic annoyance gets on your nerves more than any other (lateness, rudeness, etc)? People who have their "me-goggles" on all the time. These folks take up the whole sidewalk with their group of friends, and don't move aside so other people can use it. It's the driver who figures out that he or she is in the wrong lane and will hold up traffic to make a last-minute dive into the lane they want. I guess this could be classifed as rudeness, but the real issue is obliviousness to or lack of concern for the needs and comfort of others.
7. Pie or cake? Or no sweets like a really annoying person I want to slap? At the risk of sounding like a glutton, if both are available ... I'd take a piece of each! Dutch apple pie (the one with the crumbly topping), pumpkin pie, and lemon meringue pie are all divine. So is any cake that involves a lot of chocolate. Mmm, chocolate ...
8. What's been your best (or alternately worst) Halloween costume? When I taught 4th grade I made myself a very minimal ladybug costume ( an oval piece of red felt dotted with black felt dots, with ribbons so I could wear it slung over my shoulders, a headband with red pipe cleaners). One of my partner teacher's students dressed up as a ladybug, too - but she had the most awesome ladybug makeup ever. Yeah, there's nothing like getting shown up by a 9-year-old ... 
9. What's the best band/singer you've discovered this year? I saw the movie "Once" on DVD and was captivated by Marketa Irglova's voice and music.
10. What's the best thing that happened to you in the past week?  I spent the long weekend sleeping in! :)

My nominees
1. Maria of Style Test Dummies
2. Ally of Shybiker
3. Katie of An Alaskan Weredork
4. Kat
5. NewLife
6. Katie at Hems for Her
7. Ashley of The Pharr Side 


My questions: 

1. What fall/winter trends are you smitten with and/or have added to your closet?
2. The best teacher I ever had was ...
3. Strange food aversion you have ...
4. What is your favorite post on your blog, and why?
5. Favorite cereal: 
6. Describe your ideal home:
7. What makes someone beautiful to you? (can be physical attributes, personality, or both)
8. Last book you read: 
9. Handwritten letter or e-mail?
10. If your style was an animal, what would it be?