I’ve been tagged for a “little known facts about me” meme by Debbie over at Midnight Musings. I haven’t added to my “little known facts page” (upper right corner) in quite a while, so this is good prompting. I’ve been doing a little recipe research/menu planning lately, so I’ll get some food facts out of the way first.
1. I like “clean” food. Not really a “sauce” person. Especially sweet sauces. Or thick sauces. FirstHusband is a sauce man.
2. I almost ALWAYS order salad with dressing on the side. I don’t care for salad soup, where there’s a puddle of salad dressing at the bottom of the bowl when I’m finished. Instead, I dip my fork in the little bowl of dressing before using it to stab some salad. At home, I can measure and add just the right amount , so it’s no big deal.
3. I love mushrooms. In anything. Cooked or raw.
4. I hate salmon. I went to London on an MBA class trip and was inundated with salmon everywhere we went. My classmates were convinced I would like it if I tried it baked. or grilled. or smoked. or poached. or whatever. I finally said, “How much salmon do I have to try before you all believe I DON’T LIKE SALMON?”
5. Sometimes, when we go out to dinner, I ask FirstHusband to “surprise me” and place my order for me. When I’ve made enough decisions for the day – or maybe for the week – and I just don’t want to make even one more, no matter how small, he graciously does this for me. Knowing my anti-sauce, anti-salmon, dressing on the side and mushroom preferences, among other things, he always does a GREAT job.
6. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a vocalist, but I’ve been too lazy to post any clips. Well, I finally took the time to figure out how to capture video from my antiquated camcorder, convert it to the “right” format and upload it to youtube. FavoriteSon was the camera man and he’s new at it, so we’ll cut him a break. I cut the beginning of this song because there was a dad/kid dispute near the camera which was louder than the music. This is Mary Did You Know, performed by me on Christmas Eve.
My daughter and I also performed a duet, singing Away in a Manger. She sang the first verse, we sang the second together and I sang the third verse alone. Two things of note. First, when she leaned over and whispered into my ear, JUST before we started singing the second verse, she whispered, “I accidentally farted.” (NOBODY tell her I posted that!!!) Secondly, notice her sneaky grin at the end of the song on the last few notes – JUST before she “bunny eared” me.
This last song is one of my favorites, Breath of Heaven, originally made popular by Amy Grant, but more recently by Nicol Sponberg, formerly of the group Selah. My camera man had a little trouble in the beginning, was too shy to tell a guy in a suit that he was blocking the camera in the middle and the tape ran out at the end.
7. I’ve probably mentioned that I also do a little public speaking, but until last year, I didn’t have a recording of any of my presentations. (And I didn’t know anything about uploading videos to youtube). This was recorded last May at a Mother’s Day Brunch. Please forgive the quality of the video, the lighting was not conducive to videotaping, but the audio guy did a great job!
So, Debbie, THANK YOU for the meme tag. It prompted me to FINALLY do this! I was recently asked if I had any recordings of my work and I knew I needed to get that May 2007 video up on youtube, but I was just dragging my feet. done. It’s after 1:00 a.m. – Kristin – are you up?
UPDATE: October 2009 – Uploaded more speaking samples to my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JulieStilesMills
It is 1:54am and I am indeed up, but I am on my way to bed…honest.
I haven’t listened to your music yet, but I tell you I’m dying to do so! I don’t have any headphones and I don’t want to have to have my sound on almost mute, so I’ll do that in the morning.
I love salmon, but only when cooked properly – I had some pretty awful salmon on the cruise ship a few weeks ago. I love mushrooms – cooked or raw. I hate ordering in restaurants and now that I’m a diabetic it seems like the choices are few and far between (because I’m not eating carbs at restaurants) – and I do the salad dressing thing as well. Dip in fork, spear salad. I don’t know if my husband would be willing to take on the task of ordering my food – he almost always loves what I order more than what he ordered LOL
I’ll be back tomorrow (later today) and take a listen. I can’t wait! Thanks Debbie for tagging her!
Kristin
Great to see you and hear you too – love that accent!
Loved the squirrel story, and your approach to parenting.
Thanks for sharing (but there will be pigs flying over blue moons before I ever post a video of me walking and talking, never mind singing!)
Julie – I totally felt “caught” when you asked if I was up – it was hysterical. I did go right to bed after posting on your blog. Thankfully – I was up until 4 the night before.
So, I loved the music – just beautiful. I’m so glad you posted it. Now the squirrel in the chimney had me riveted to my couch. I could totally see the tunnel to the front door – and the baby powder idea was brilliant!!! You are a marvelous speaker. I’d pay to see ya!
I did detect a hint of an accent, but I’m from Michigan and my dialect is almost void of accent. It’s where newscasters used to go to learn how to speak. I guess they don’t do that anymore lol
I didn’t notice an accent. But then I’m from Texas.
It’s great to hear you sing and speak. Lovely voice. (And I KNEW you had black hair! LOL) Loved the squirrels in the chimney story. Makes me think of our raccoons in the attic!
Mushrooms – ick. Salmon – ick.
Great videos! I continue to be blown away by how much we have in common–authors, and now even singing (for me in the distant past, before children) and speaking, and an old video camera so that I can’t figure out how to get things onto YouTube.
I’d say the accent is subtly southern/midwestern. I grew up in the SW and can easily slip into a Texas accent when I’m around one, and now my family says I’ve developed a Midwestern accent. Whatever that is.
Kindred spirit. You had me at the M&Ms sorting. You astound & mentor me in organizing. You thrilled me with the singing & speaking. It is what it is & you are kindred spirit. Today’s highlight, no doubt about it.
Totally with you on #3.
It seems like just yesterday when you first put a picture of self on the ol’ blog. Yesterday a profile pic; today the video! Loved it!
Ah, Julie, what a beautiful voice you have! I love to sing, sang an occasional duet with my husband, but am just too smitten with stage fright to do it for real. (Did my first karaoke in front of co-workers at a work retreat in Oct.)
The first time I heard Breath of Heaven, (which has been my favorite Christmas song but is being challenged by Faith Hill’s “A Baby Changes Everything”) my friend in choir, Deanne, sang it for the choir’s Christmas program–and she was 8 months pregnant. Not only did she have a lovely voice, the pregnancy just made it all the more real.
Love the squirrel story. Baby powder? Who woulda thought?
Great Post!
Now, since I can’t put Breath of Heaven on my everyday blogger’s playlist, name another song (non-Christmas) that you like to sing!