A Cousin, Toast, and 4 Things

Today is my cousin's birthday. Not just any cousin, mind. This is the cousin with whom I spent much of my childhood and many a day getting into trouble. She's a few months older than me, so she was probably the instigator most of the time.

So I was thinking about Sandy (that's her name) and I remembered that she started a private blog some time ago. I'm not very good at following private blogs because I rely on google reader almost exclusively for new blog content. So I went to check up on her and it turns out that she regularly updates! Not only that, but she has great posts, cute pictures (she's a photographer and a mother of four cute kids), and she TAGGED me on one of her posts a few months back.

NObody tags me. Ever. Which is okay. I'm just sayin' . . .

So it was both nice to see that Sandy and her family were doing well, and also that, unbeknownst to me, Sandy thought of me as one of 8 people she entrusted with a tag. I propose a Happy Birthday toast to my good cousin, Sandy, and to her aspiration of traveling more often being fulfilled by visiting us either in Austin or Boston. Specifically, I suggest (for the toast) two pieces of toasted English Muffin with a mug of hot chocolate to fend off the winter chill.


Once you've finished your toast and hot chocolate, feel free to delve deeply into my answers to the questionnaire Sandy passed on to me (I changed these from 8 to 4 for all of our sakes):

4 Things I'm Passionate About:
--Learning
--Relationships
--Efficiency
--Music

4 Words or Phrases I Use Often:
--"You remind me of the babe."
--"Alrighty."
--"Gotcha'."
--"Why have you come here? I told you never to come here. Do you realize what you could have done? Get out!"

4 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
--Repent of all my sins.
--Go skydiving.
--Get a truck.
--Help people.

4 Things I Have Learned From the Past
--When we die, all we're left with are relationships and knowledge/memories, so it's better to be patient, loving, and friendly, and to always focus on the good in people.
--Saving money can be more fulfilling than spending it.
--The world is big, but not too big.
--Friends are just a smile, a handshake, and an invitation away.

4 Places I Want to See or Visit
--Australia - Sidney and kangaroos
--Africa - Lions, elephants, zebras - the works
--China - The great wall, big cities, the Three Gorges Dam, etc.
--Spain, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, India, Japan, and Canada. For starters.

4 Favorite Restaurants
--Bamboo Hut
--Bombay House
--The Flying Sumo
--The Tree Room

4 Things that Happened Yesterday
--I woke up sick, again.
--I nonetheless enjoyed another day of vacation
--Janssen fell asleep instead of watching a movie with me in the evening
--Janssen stopped me from watching Nicholas Nickleby without her. Which is just as well because it'll be more fun watching with her.

4 People I Tag (just if they're interested, mind)
--My brother, Doug
--My sister, Megan
--My friend of a friend, Angela Noelle
--A blogging friend, Revanche