A List of 8. . .

I came upon this while reading one of my favorite blogs - - Cheaper than Therapy. I thought it was kinda cool and thought I would take a stab at it:

8 things I have a passion for (it understood/assumed that my daughter and hubby would be in the top two, so let's just get to the others and not bore you with the ones you know I'm supposed to be passionate about):

1) Chit-Chatting...I am an amazing chit-chatter!! Just ask Allie & Rich - they have to tell me to start saying goodbye 30 minutes before we need to leave. . .I love my girlfriends!

2) Blogging. While I was an English Major in school, I never thought of myself as a "writer". But I am falling in love with blogging and writing articles on my website and for various other on-line magazines. I don't even consider it work. Ok, I guess the $100/month I bring in doesn't qualify as income - so I really can't call it work yet, can I??? :-)

3) Eating. I am passionate about my food - not saying that is a good thing, just telling you like it is! No one gets between Mommy Meryl and her sushi, chocolate or chips & salsa!

4) My friends. I treasure each and every one of my friends and love each one of them passionately!

5) Living, Loving & Laughing. There is no better way to be.

6) Comments on blogs. While I have only been blogging for a few months, I have come to understand and appreciate the power of a comment. Not only are they great to read, but they show the blogger that someone took the time to read the post, think about it and comment on it - if my post inspires someone to comment then I'm a happy blogger!

7) Movie Popcorn. Yes, you read that right. I'm extremely passionate about my movie popcorn. Its the one consistent food that I have always had in the movie - regardless of the time of day or diet that I am on. Often, I don't know if I am more excited about the movie or the popcorn that I'm going to have at the movies! I have to be honest, a movie without movie popcorn is extremely unsatisfying - its almost as if it didn't really happen. . .

8) Okay, I couldn't leave it alone, My daughter. Whether its laughter, frustration, fun, enjoyment, fear, worry, companionship, or love - my relationship with her is all about the passion of being a Mom.

8 things I want to do before I die (or my bucket list!):
--have another baby
--watch my daughter get married
--be a grandma and spoil my g-kids ROTTEN
--be thin (okay, not just lose a few, be thin!! - hey, why shoot small, right?)
--take a dream family vacation (where you ask? ohhh - too many places to name!)
--go away on a little get away with all of my girlfriends - now how fun would that be?
--know that I was the best wife and mommy I could possibly be
--renew my vows with my hubby - after almost 13 years of marriage you have a whole new appreciation for what they mean - how cool would it be to get married again to your spouse and really "get" what it means?
--if I can't win the lottery, then I just want to leave knowing that I lived, laughed and loved at least a little bit each and every day - and for days that laughing and loving just weren't possible, then hopefully I had a enough chocolate to make it all better! :-)

8 things I say alot:
--OMIGOD!
--In my perfect world. . .
--Oy!
--Do you have to go potty?
--At this 5 seconds. . .
--Oh, sh*t!
--Allie Fofallie, Allie Ballie, Missy Miss, Alzers
--Use your words

8 movies i've seen (at least) 8 times:
--RENT
--Grease
--Dirty Dancing
--HSM - just being honest!
--HSM2 - gotta keep it real!
--Pretty Woman
--JAWS (I know, kinda weird. I also LOVE Shark Week on the Discovery channel)
--Camp Rock (I'd be lying if I didn't tell you its been on like 10000000 times in this house since it debuted!).

8 drinks I enjoy
--diet coke
--iced tea
--ice-cold water when I'm really hot (and that is quite often during summer in AZ!)
--iced-chai tea w/ soy @ Starbucks
--Smoothies
--Ice Blended drinks at Coffee Bean & Tea
--hot chocolate when its cold out
--wine coolers (I know, why haven't I matured since college?).


8 of my favorite books:
--Memoirs of a Geisha
--The Kite Runner
--The Red Tent
--anything by Jodi Picoult
--Ladies Auxiliary
--Falling Leaves - Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter
--Beach Girls
--The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood


Please feel free to use this on your blog!