The truth - and nothing but the truth

Last Friday I opened up my blog to questions from all of you. I'm not ashamed to admit that part of my motivation behind this was pure laziness in coming up with things to write about. The questions started off slow but in the end you all came through! So here we go - hope you enjoy -

The first set of questions comes from Krystal at Krystal's Kitsch

1. How long did you do gymnastics for and did you ever compete?

I did gymnastics for about 10 years all together. I competed for 8 of those years and made it to level 9. My first competition ever was a disaster at best. I think my beam score was in the 4's. Yeah - we definitely weren't thinking Olympic material at that point. My first full season  my sister often compared me to a robot in my routines. I was methodical to say the least! I eventually did come into my own though. After "retiring" from gymnastics I coached for another 6 years and would still love to open up my own gym one day.

2. What is your favorite college memory?

I think Krystal only asked this because she is engaged to one of my dearest friends from college and has heard plenty of very, very interesting stories. Many of which I cannot repeat since they may be incriminating. I don't think I have a single favorite college memory. Honestly - I loved it all. I had a great group of friends who I could always count on to cheer me up or make me check my priorities. Here's one of my favorites that involves your man though Krystal. Shortly after I moved into U-club Scott was going through another one of his "I'm quitting smoking phases" (These were quite common and never lasted long.) I smoked at the time and had no intention of quitting. I believe Scott was on day 2 of not smoking at this point. As I was pulling into my parking spot I see him come running across the parking lot to me. Before I have a chance to turn the ignition off he has reached in the car and taken my pack of cigarettes. He then smoked two at the same time followed by another. He would also often call or text me to see where I was on campus so he could bum smokes off me rather than buying his own.

3. What are you most excited for this year?

I think I'm most excited for just continuing to get everything ready for the baby and experiencing this pregnancy. I waited for this so long and struggled to get here that even when I have days where I feel like crap and just want to cry I'm still enjoying every second of it. Its also been very exciting to see how much closer it has brought Joey and me together. I was afraid it might be a damper on our relationship with the added stress but so far so good!

4. Next year?

Baby Jellybean of course!

5. Are you going to come to our wedding (haha this is kind of a joke, I think you'll be like 9 months, Scott's joked that you can still come, I said dude she could pop at any moment then!).

I would love to come to the wedding especially since Scott somehow managed to make it to mine but the wedding is right after my due date so I don't think I'll be able to swing it with a newborn. I'm thinking I should be able to do your bridal shower or make a visit after the honeymoon. It kills me that I probably won't be able to make the wedding itself though!

6. Are you a coupon clipper?

Yes, but I've been slacking on it lately. I love a good deal though and try to save us $$ whenever I can.

7. What was the best and worst thing at your wedding (the paranoid in me is curious!)?

The best part of our wedding was the ceremony itself. I only had eyes for Joey the whole time and it was so perfect. He wasn't nervous at all and just sat there and held my hands the whole time to calm me down.

Would it be cliche of me to say there wasn't a worst part really? There are things I wish I had spent more time planning out though - like our shot list for pictures, checking my cd's to make sure they worked before the wedding, etc. I thought I would regret how rushed it all was and how much work we had to do ourselves but now it makes it more special because we did have a part in our entire wedding so we appreciate it now.

8. What was you & Joey's first dance song?

"Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts



9. What is your favorite flower?

Gerber Daisy - I used these in my wedding bouquets!

10. What do you do for a living?

I am a Marketing Project Manager for a dessert manufacturer. I do everything from thinking up new items to label design to coordinating trade shows. It can get stressful but I enjoy my job.

cfoxes33 at See Foxes? asks

What is your favorite fall activity?

The county fair! It rolls in every year and always straddles my birthday. I won't be able to do any of the rides this year but that still leaves the food and the concerts.

What is your favorite time of day and why?

During the work week dusk is my favorite time of day - it finally starts to cool off and I run into all the neighbors when I'm walking the dog. On the weekends I like my mornings before hubby wakes up. I get some time to work on a few chores and just veg a bit before we start the day.

Jenn at Gaffney's Gabs was nice enough to reask the questions I had suggested so -

I have a tooth implant too!! So why do you have yours??

Well, we all know that I am a very reasonable, rational person who does not take too many risks in life. So it only makes sense that I had to get a tooth implant because I decided at the ripe age of 23 to take up skateboarding since you know my boyfriend at the time was a semipro skateboarder. So I decided to drop in on this ramp at a skatepark and I zoomed to the bottom smiling like an idiot since I was so darn proud of myself. Where the board shot out from under me and I came down on my tooth and only my tooth. Where it shattered like glass - into over 50 pieces. The oral surgeon was actually removing pieces from inside my gum. A few thousand dollars later I realized that was definitely not one of my smarter moves.

I'd like to know why you have a small zoo in your home?

Well it all has to do with boy meets girl. When Joey met me I already had the bunny and the cat. Neither one was going anywhere. I have actually attempted to give the bunny away since then and Joey won't let me. he had his dog and suddenly we were one big happy family. We have added and subtracted animals along the way fish, dogs, bearded dragon, etc and for now we have 4. I'm sure that will increase at some point.

and how you met Joey???

I had to break my car. Twice. He was my mechanic but apparently lacked the cojones to introduce himself the first time. Even though I totally noticed him and was sending a friend of mine text messages about the things I would like to do to the hottie mechanic on the hood of my car. That was in October. My car acted up again in December so I went back to the same shop. That time he made in inside the shop before I had a chance to walk in the door and asked for my number within the first half hour. I'm pretty sure he got nothing accomplished that day but he did meet his future wife!

CardiffScot at Confessions of a Somewhat Confused Scot had the most amusing questions

Do you still have all your organs or have you had anything removed?

I've managed to hold on to all my body parts other than a few teeth so far. Of course if Jellybean keeps using my bladder as a punching bag I may have that removed and just put a catheter in instead!
 
What's the significance of Jellybean's real and blog names?

The blog name is easy to answer. At my dating ultrasound I asked if the baby was that Jellybean looking thing. The tech typed Baby Jellybean on the printout and thus it stuck!

His real name was a point of contention between us. I had my heart set on Nathaniel which Joey wasn't wild about, we tossed around a few others like Sebastian, Sawyer and some obscure ones I just wanted to throw him off and steer him towards Nathaniel. My dad started reading off some names from a Polish dictionary when we were over one day and Joey and I both liked Dominik. We went back and forth between Nathan and Dominik until one day Joey said - let's go with Dominik. The name Dominik is actually pretty close to my maiden name which was cool to me and it also happens to the name of the church I was baptized in and received my first communion at.

Linda at Reflections & Renegades kept the Jellybean in the forefront of her questions -

How many children do you want?

I would love 3 or 4 but we may stop at two just because of finances. Hopefully the Lord will bless us with a way to support more!

How soon do you want another?

We will probably start trying around the time Jellybean is a year old since it did take us almost two years to conceive him. Hopefully this pregnancy will regulate my cycles somewhat and it will go quicker this time!

How do you plan to adjust your pets to the new baby?

I actually just asked my vets office about this last weekend and he felt that since my pets have been exposed to kids aplenty we really don't need to do much. I'll play some baby shows so they get use to crying and Joey is going to bring a blanket home from the hospital so that they can sniff him out before we bring Jellybean home.

Why do you blog?

Because Joey got tired of hearing me talk all the time? :)

Sometimes it's easier for me to write out what I am thinking rather than to verbalize it. I also love the sense of community between the bloggers.

If you were stranded on an island and you had to be there with a famous person who would it be?

I am so out of the loop on famous people right now I couldn't answer without sounding like a complete dork!

If you won a million dollars and had to spend it in a day and none of it on you or your family what would you do with it?

I would donate it to people like my dad who don't have insurance and need medical attention. Its a crying shame our country doesn't do more!

Do you mow the yard or does your husband?

We actually have a family member who owns a lawn business so he usually comes over and does it. Otherwise its mainly hubby. I have tried a few times but my back can't handle it for long after my car accident.

Share household chores or all on you?

Mostly me but Joey will pitch in when things get overwhelming for me or he has a sudden cleaning frenzy attack!