the great interview experiment: I am somebody

As you know I am participating in The Great Interview Experiment. I interviewed Frogdancer and Bri from Under the Arch interviewed me. She asked me some wonderful, thought provoking questions:

When not listening to "kiddie" music, what genre do you most often turn to for your music fix?

You know I have not bought a CD for myself in two years! My CD case is filled with Little 'Ny's CDs. But, at work I listen to VH1 radio so that I can stay somewhat "hip".

Right now my "fix" is Justin Timberlake. I *heart* him. He makes me want to tap my feet and shake my booty.

I love to dance (even if it is in my living room with Little ‘Ny) and sing (even if it is very badly in the car), some of my favorite “booty shaking” musicians are Black Eyed Peas, Gwen Stefani, Beyonce and Madonna (I am a child of the 80s). I never get sick of their music!

When I want to chill I put on Jack Johnson or John Mayer (I particularly like his Room for Squares album). I also love Faith Hill and Tim McGraw (brings out the wannabe country in me).

What is funny is that one of my daughter’s favorite musicians, Ralph Covert, also puts out some great grown up music too. I love his Birthday CD. Wonderful to relax to and great for getting Little 'Ny to nap.


What books or other reading materials can be found in your home? (fiction, reference, magazines, children's books, etc?)

I have a BA in English and my focus was British literature. I used to have books written by the Bronte sisters and Irish authors (like Roddy Doyle) piled up in my apartment ... but that was pre-Little 'Ny. I still love British literature, but in particular it is now the Harry Potter series that has captured my attention. I still love the classics, but never have time to read.

You will find parenting magazines (Parents, Baby Talk, American Baby, etc.) and my husband’s Sports Illustrated piled up in our house.

Little ‘Ny has inherited my passion for reading. I can’t list all of the books she reads regularly, but her all time favorites are any of the Curious George books.


Now, time to get a little more personal....Did you grow up in San Diego? If you moved there, what was the reason? What are your favorite and least favorite things about the city?

I did not grow up in San Diego. I originally am an LA Valley Girl! You can still hear the vocal inflections when I say words like “totally” or “dude”. I first moved to San Diego to attend university (where I was teased constantly for my Valley Girl accent). After I graduated the trend was to move to San Francisco to get your foot in the dot com explosion -- which I did. I lived in a great flat in the Maria and had a fabulous job as a producer for gap.com and bananarepublic.com. Five years later I met my husband to be. He is originally from San Diego, so after we were married it only made sense to return to be closer to our families.

My favorite thing about San Diego is that there is ALWAYS something to do – beach, museums, zoo, shopping, etc. What is even better is that the wonderful weather that always allows these wonderful activities to happen.

My least favorite thing is how crowded San Diego is getting. When I first moved here it was a quite beach city -- no traffic, low crime rate, low housing costs. That was actually what I didn’t like about back then. Stupid, right?!?!?! Well, I was young and loved the hustle and bustle of a city which is why San Francisco was so appealing at the time. Now that I am older and a mom I miss the slower life ... and REALLY wish the housing costs would mellow out and traffic would disappear.


How long have you been married? How would you say your parents' marriage effected what you want/expect in your own?

Hubs and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in November. We are very opposite people, but for some reason it works. My parents have a wonderful marriage – coming up on 39 years! I only hope Hubs and I can sustain that many years together. But, what I have learned from my parents is that family is everything. I support my husband and he supports me. We believe in each other's dreams, we understand each other's weaknesses and we respect that we are different and nurture that in each other.


What made you decide to be a stay at work mom? Did you decide before 'Ny was born or after?

Being a “Stay-At-Work-Mom” was not what I wanted in life. I always wanted to be the quintisential Domestic Diva -- a modern day June Cleaver. But that is not what God had planned for me. Staying at work is what I have to do to provide for my family. My husband is a painting contractor and unfortunately work is not consistent. I make enough money so that during my husband’s “down times” I can support our family.

I am proud to be the breadwinner, but at the same time it is exhausting to have to play this role. I recently read a great book: How She Really Does It: Secrets of Success from Stay-at-work Moms by Wendy Sachs. It helped me realize that my time away from Little ‘Ny is just as important as my time with her.

I am still trying to find a way to change my career so that once Little ‘Ny is a “tween” I can be home during her school’s “off time”. Those are such important years to really be there for your child.

I was really moved by your entry about 'Ny and the parts of her face. What are some of her personality traits you can tell came from you or your husband?

Hubs and I have always said that if she could develop his street smarts and my book smarts she would be perfect!

As I mentioned before, she has inherited my love for reading. She as also inherited my passion for the arts and (unfortunately) my shopping.

From my husband she has inherited his love for music and singing. She loves to sing along to her CDs in my car, her favorite cartoons and sometimes just to herself.

What she inherited from both of us is her silly humor, her stubbornness and being very dramatic. She will be a force to reckoned with when she gets older!

It looks like you took a blogger site and changed it to one you host yourself. What are you using now? What was the transition like? What would you recommend to someone wanting to make the same change? (hint, hint) ;)

My blog is still hosted by Blogger. I have simply customized it with a banner from SAJ, chose a very flexible template so I could change the font style and colors, and have actually linked it to another blog to display all of my links. Pretty tricky, huh?!?!?! Well, not really, but it has given it a very personalized look which I like. I don’t pretend to be a savvy blogger or HTML coder. I only have so many hours in a day, after all!