Me Myself & I link up #3 and games!

Sheesh, I haven't done one of these since December? That's crazy! I have got to get back on track with my blogging.

1. Do you celebrate Saint Patrick's Day? How?
Lol, I don't really, not even close. I actually went to a brunch with some friends on Sunday and as I walked up to the table I muttered, 'Oh fuck I forgot to wear green'. Then as I hugged a friend I hesitated and told him not to pinch me or he gets no hug hello! He behaved. He did not pinch.
I really just don't understand the big deal about St. Patrick's Day. Maybe because of a number of factors...
a) I don't look great in green. I look good in teal but people always say that doesn't count. Pft.
b) I don't drink that much.
c) I'm not Irish. I'm French!
d) Green beer? GROSS.

2. It's March which means spring break! We want to know how your spring break went or if it hasn't happened yet, what will your spring break consist of? 
I don't really get a spring break. I'm not in education. March to me means March Madness (by the way, if you want to join my bracket group, you can! The group is here and it's just for fun, no money, and the password is "bracket time") and playoff push.
However I do have some friends who are teachers and some friends who are in law school and last week was their Spring Break, so I was able to spend time with friends who I don't see much. Trivia night, game night, brunch! Good times. It was nice their Spring Break all fell on the same week.
One thing that we did was successfully complete this Zombicide mission. I have played this mission three times now, with experienced gamers the first two times, and failed miserably the first two times. Here's the second time we played it:

Zombies, don't eat my friends!

Well crap I got eaten (top right, the teal figure on its side). Eat my friends so I'm not alone!

But we did it! I almost died, half of our team DID die, but we did it! Now I can retire from that mission. I have some pictures of the successful mission but they're on my iPad.

3. A Zombie Apocalypse happens and you're stripped of all your luxury items. What beauty product would you miss the most?
Whoa... eerie. It's like MM&I knows I love zombies. I would definitely miss a few items... I wouldn't miss mascara. Bleh. But I would miss Lush's Rub Rub Rub salt scrub and lotion in general. Scented, with cocoa butter, whatever. I just love lotion and hate dry scaly skin.
Maybe I should set up my zombie plan bunker safe spot in a Lush factory....

4. What is the one cause that you feel most passionate about?
(Does backing Kickstarter projects count? No? It should!)
For the last several years, my sister and I have participated in the March of Dimes March for Babies walk. As more of my friends get pregnant, and I look forward to the days when that will be me too, I realize the importance of the work March of Dimes does. Every woman should be able to have a healthy pregnancy and if they do everything right, not have to worry about having birth defects or premature labor.

5. What's the #1 most played song on your ipod? 
I actually don't use my iPod anymore; at work I use Pandora for music when I'm going to be deskbound for awhile. But songs that I definitely wait to hear, or if I haven't heard in awhile, I'll go to Youtube and listen to:
Taylor Swift - "Red"
Maroon5 "Daylight" and "Payphone" (OMG I'M GOING TO THEIR CONCERT TONIGHT)
Train -  "Drive By" and "50 Ways to Say Goodbye"
Coldplay - "Viva la Vida" and "Yellow"
Oh and "Hoppipolla". I like Vitamin String Quartet's instrumental version of it. The original song by Sigur Rós is very cool too. Check out the video!

Time to pimp out the games I can't wait for, that I'm backing through Kickstarter!

Zombicide Season 2 (Prison Outbreak) + Expansion to S1 or S2 (Toxic City Mall) - I've mentioned this one before. I play the first game (Season 1) a lot. Hell I have a picture of it above. If you like zombies, if you like co-op games, get it! You play as survivors trying to complete some mission (some are easy, some are epic fail hard) and fight off the zombies. Some will live, some will die... some will be the hero (DON'T BE THE HERO!), some will be the bait. 12 days to go!
Dragon's Hoard - I've mentioned this one as well. 6 days to go!
Dungeon Roll - Mentioned this one too. You roll dice to see what treasure you'll unlock, what enemies you'll defeat, and how deep you'll delve into the dungeon. And when the dreaded dragon will show up. 10 hours to go!
SuperFight! - Another I've mentioned before. Really looking forward to this one. You have cards with characters that you chose to go against the judge's character, and then you have randomly selected powers/weaknesses cards. 8 days to go!

And some new ones!
Machine of Death - this seems like an interesting party game. So you're an assassin, and there's this machine of death that using a drop of someone's blood, can predict how they will die. So you get a card showing their method of death (cancer, old age, slipped on banana peel, etc.) and you have to make it happen. But maybe this person is on a space station, and you only have a few tools at your disposal. So how the heck are you going to make it happen? Well... you're the assassin. I'm sure you'll figure it out. 8 hours to go!
Story War - A storytelling party game! It's like Dixit meets Apples to Apples meets awesome. So you split into teams and there's a judge. There's a location and each team plays their character cards and some item cards and use their own creativity to argue why they would clearly defeat the other team. It's a more interactive Apples to Apples/Cards Against Humanity. Because while in those games you can argue for your card, in this game, it all comes down to HOW well you argue for your card. Debate club with cards? 3 days to go!
Flash Point: Fire Rescue - Extreme Danger -  I actually haven't backed this one, my boyfriend told me about and that he already backed it, so there's no real reason for me to back it. We did the same thing with Zombicide S2. It's an expansion to Flash Point, which is a co-op game where you play as fire fighters trying to rescue victims and put out fires and try to keep that building from collapsing in a fiery ball of wreckage. Which happens a lot... 28 days to go!

Hm....  I'm noticing a definite trend to my preferred types of games.

Me, Myself, & I link up #2. And cookies!!

It's that time of the month again (no not THAT time of the month) - the Me, Myself, & I link up party. My second time doing this, I believe!


1. What was your favorite gift given to you as a child?
Let me paint the picture! It was 1991... I was 10 years old, sister was 13, brother was 15. We had banded together and asked for the Super Nintendo game system. It was all we wanted for Christmas! Christmas Eve we exchanged the family gifts, all good stuff, but no SNES. But that's okay, Santa had yet to come (and yes I think at this point I still believed in Santa - is that weird??) So Christmas morning comes, we get our Santa gift and still no SNES so we're all three a little bummed and then my dad's all, 'Hey, what's that behind the tree?' The end of this story would be terrible if it wasn't an SNES. Well it was! Man, my siblings and I played so much Super Mario World that Christmas break. And that next summer (I think) sooo much MarioKart.
There have been a lot of great presents over the years, but this was definitely the most memorable.

2. Christmas is almost here, what is that one Christmas song you could listen to on repeat?
Carol of the Bells and O Holy Night. Practically any version. I could also watch that video of the house lights synced with a Trans-Siberian Orchestra song constantly. 

3. What are a few of the items on your Christmas list this year?
New set of pots and pans, food processor, blender... It's a very kitcheny Christmas! Not a Kitschy Christmas. That's different. 

4. Do you and your family have any special holiday traditions?
We exchange family gifts on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning is all about Santa gifts! It's a little different as we get older... since Santa doesn't visit adults anymore. We're still figuring it out. But usually when we're around the tree exchanging presents, alcoholic beverages are involved. 

5. Which do you prefer: wrapping paper or gift bags? Why?
I love the look of wrapping paper and beautiful bows, but do enjoy the ease of gift bags. When you know what you're doing with tissue paper, you can make them look nice. All gift wrapping is really wasteful though... but I don't really care!

Let's see... what else is going on this week for me.

Oh, so no cookie swap party for me as it turns out. As usual, I way overbooked myself this week (seriously. I really need to work on that) and left no time to finish my Christmas shopping and gift wrapping. So I was looking at my schedule, workwise and lifewise, and realized I had one remaining day of vacation hanging out in my balance that I'd been saving for something or just wanting to rollover. I actually debated taking it off or not because I really wanted to go to the cookie party. I had my cookie picked out (holiday confetti cake batter cookies) and I had heard from a new commenter on my blog that the chocolate mint cloud cookies would totally work, since you're essentially making a meringue which bakes fine... AND she told me about a new cookie I should look for, and I totally did and will have to try out sometime (strawberry cake mix and cool whip cookies - yes I am a little obsessed with all the cookies I can make from cake mix! But hey, I had such success with the chocolate chip pumpkin spice cookies, why stop there?)

But I had to. I have the day, I need to take it, I have so much to do. I would have been going crazy Friday night. I also need to take advantage of the fact that there's the long weekend and I get presents and see family and friends and I can just BREATHE... before the year end mess and January busy'ness hits me and hits me hard.

Maybe I'll just make some cookies tomorrow. I have having lunch with a friend who's on holiday break from law school and back in town. Maybe she'll make cookies with me! It all depends on where I am come lunch time with my private gift wrapping party.

This week I also bought my Christmas present to myself -- 4th generation black iPad with 64 gig. I LOVE IT. MERRY CHRISTMAS, SELF.

In case I don't have a chance to blog again in the next few days, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! And have a good weekend to those who don't!

Me, Myself, and I - link up party #1 (for me)

Holiday questions make me happy.

1. What are your top 5 favorite movies to watch during the Holidays?
I really only have two movies I watch almost every holiday season -- A Christmas Story. A classic. Thanks TBS! I watch this in bits and pieces, every Christmas Day when home with the family. "You'll shoot your eye out!" And Love Actually. For several years now, a friend and I usher in the holiday season by watching this movie "together". She lives in California, I live in Texas. We pop it into the DVD player at the same time, queue it up, and just enjoy the fluffy holiday good times. I usually add in hot chocolate to my viewing.

2. It’s the month of giving thanks, what are you most thankful for?
Family, family, family! I have the most amazing family. We're very close and get along. My sister is one of my best friends.
My parents. I know, yes they're part of my family, but they have their own spot. I owe so much to them, I really cannot express in words how much I am thankful for the parents I was blessed with. They raised me right. They offered me opportunities a lot of people aren't lucky enough to have... They put up with me when I was a bratty teenager. They've never let me give up on myself.

3. If there was a quote or verse to describe your life, what would it be?
"The best part of life is not just surviving, but thriving with passion and compassion and humor and style and generosity and kindness."
 -Maya Angelou

4. Who in your family are you most alike?
Probably my sister. 

5. What is your favorite drink order at Starbucks?
I honestly don't go to Starbucks much when whenever I do, if I have a gift card or whatever, there are really only two things I order, depending on the season:
Hot Vanilla (when it's cold) - think hot chocolate, but vanilla. Steamed milk and vanilla and sugar. And that's it. Yum.
Passion Fruit Lemonade Tea, sweetened (for the other 350 days in the year when it's not cold here in Houston, TX) - I discovered this drink when I worked at Target years ago, and we have a Starbucks in the store. The grocery ETL brought venti's of this for everyone. Yum!