Sunday Stealing

Getting to Know You

If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time? Write better and longer emails. (Or maybe even letters!) My old friends and I don't just blab on the phone like we used to anymore, and now I find myself keeping in touch more and more by text. It's quick and easy, but it's woefully inadequate.

What’s your favorite piece of clothing you own / owned? My Gloria Vanderbilt Amanda jeans. They're comfy and they wear well.

What hobby would you get into if time and money weren’t an issue? I'd like to ride. It's an expensive and time-consuming hobby, but I do love horses.

What would your perfect room look like? I love the rooms at the Colonial Williamsburg Lodge. Lots of wood, warm colors and clean lines.

 How often do you play sports? Never

What fictional place would you most like to go? Camelot. The weather is perfect (July and August cannot be too hot, and there's a legal limit to the snow) and the even the simple folk manage to escape their blues.

What job would you be terrible at? Driver's ed instructor. I am truly desperately awful behind the wheel.

When was the last time you climbed a tree? The 1990s. I don't remember when exactly, but it was at my grandmother's house. I loved climbing her apple tree as a child and I tried it one more time as an adult.

If you could turn any activity into an Olympic sport, what would you have a good chance at winning medal for? Worrying. Or, as a friend used to refer to it, "awfulizing." Taking any situation and imagining it turning out as badly as possible.

What skill would you like to master? FOCUS. It's my oneword for 2017. I even wear a pendant with the word on it to remind me. And I still haven't mastered it.

What would be the most amazing adventure to go on? I'd like to follow my Cubs on a road trip and cheer them on in every park in the league.

If you had unlimited funds to build a house that you would live in for the rest of your life, what would the finished house be like? I'd like to live in the condo on the top three floors of Chicago's Palmolive Building. I'd renovate it (I don't require a special game room for the billiard and poker tables I don't own and don't want) so we can call it new. First of all, it's a gorgeous and historic old building that's been lovingly preserved. Secondly, I'd have truly astonishing views of Michigan Avenue and The Lake. And last, it was once the Playboy office suite. I think Hugh Hefner was a dangerous man, and I love the idea of this unreconstructed 1970s-era feminist putting her feet up there.

That little, well-lit building behind The Drake is my dreamy Palmolive Building

What state or country do you never want to go back to? Never is an awfully long time, so I don't have an answer for this.

What songs have you completely memorized? I know a lot of songs. So I'll share a rather obscure one with you:

You made the coat and the vest fit the best
You made the lining nice and strong
But Sam! You made the pants too long!
You made the teak lapel look so swell
Who am I to say you're wrong?
But Sam! You made the pants too long!
They got the belt, and they got suspenders
So what can they lose?
But what good are belts and what good are suspenders
When the pants are hanging over the shoes? 
I feel a winter breeze up and down my knees
My belt is where my tie belongs!
Cuz Sam! Sam! Sam! You made the pants too long! 

What do you consider to be your best find? My cats. Shelter rescues, all. And just as dear as any pedigreed pet could ever be.

Are you usually early or late? Yes. I'm either early or late. I'm never on time.

What pets did you have while you were growing up? When my mother was swimming in a little lake in Michigan, a turtle landed on her shoulder. We took him home. For some reason, my kid sister named him Bobby Joe and I thought, "why not?" Bobby Joe lived a nice, long life in a plastic bowl on my desk. He loved freeze dried worms and would come out his shell to "sunbathe" when I turned my desk lamp on to do my homework. 
 
When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with? Wordy stuff. Just today, my former coworker Tom asked me for help with his resume.

What takes up too much of your time? Farmville.

What do you wish you knew more about? Oh! So many things! Lately I've been wondering about two famous incidents in history -- the disappearance of Amelia Earhart and Jim Jones and Jonestown. I'd love to just read and research those until I was sated. Then I'd move on to something else. Like some of the First Ladies that pique my curiosity -- like Grace Coolidge and Pat Nixon. Oh, I could go on and on. I'm such a geek and you're probably drifting into a coma of boredom.

What would be your first after waking up from being cryogenically frozen for 100 years? Where are the Cubs in the standings?