CarCrashHearts

Hi there. I'm a 30-year-old nurse who recently moved back to middle Tennessee after spending over a decade in upstate New York. My hubby and I have been happily married since 2000. My favorite things are baseball (go Cubs!), Harry Potter, parrots, reading, llamas, poker, pina coladas, cooking, tea (not green or white, though), chocolate, baking, writing, eating out, coconut, and stuff you'd find at a Sci-Fi convention or Renaissance Festival. We collect bobbleheads and baseball ice cream helmets. I dislike coffee, lighthouses, chewing gum, Disney characters, and religious material. I feel fortunate that my parents raised me to be what I call "gastronomically adventurous". I'll try anything edible once, except for insects. My phobia holds me back there. I am the proud parent of a parrot named Hoppy (that's her in the picture) and two parakeets named Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue (think Steve Miller Band). I also have two cats, Squeaker and Pixel. I do have a number of environmental allergies, so I'd appreciate not being sent anything artificially scented (like candles, sprays, and such) because they really bother my nose. I'm a big-time anglophile. Anything to do with England will be a big hit with me, especially if it's historical and has to do with the monarchy. I must have been a royal in a past life, because I can read about English queens all day.

I have a pretty wide taste in music. I love pop/punk/emo stuff, especially Fall Out Boy. I don't know where I'd be without Bjork, Lady Gaga, Tori Amos and The Beatles. I'd love to see Peter Gabriel and Brad Paisley in concert. Aside from that, I'm not opposed to country, hip-hop, disco, rap, club music, and 80s corny pop. I dislike big voices like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, and Whitney Houston, and I really don't like oldies, blues, or jazz. And I'll never understand why they call it easy listening when it's soooo hard to listen to.

I wish I had more time to read because it's one of the things that I truly deeply enjoy and always have. My favorite genres are science fiction, historical fiction, historical nonfiction, and Certifiably Important Books (you know, high-school-reading-list type stuff). Fave authors are J.K. Rowling, Kurt Vonnegut, Orson Scott Card, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Antonia Fraser, and Diana Gabaldon. I also love the Arthurian legends, even modern versions of them. I'm not into romance novels at all, nor self help books.

My taste in movies is as varied as my taste in music. My all-time favorites include Shaun of the Dead, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Love Actually, Gone with the Wind, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Spirited Away. I adore high school movies, like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Can't Hardly Wait, etc. I also enjoy the same movie themes that I like in books. I don't like horror or action flicks and I'm not big on thrillers.

My husband and I had an interesting conversation once. I was watching the Food Network and an advertisement for The Next Food Network Star came on. Here's a sampling of the dialogue: "No," Bob said. "No what?" I responded. "No, you're not going to get into another reality show." "What do you mean? I don't watch a lot of reality TV. I only watch American Idol, The Amazing Race, America's Next Top Model, The Surreal Life, Beauty and the Geek, Hell's Kitchen wait a minute when did I start watching all this reality TV?" I watched The Next Food Network Star despite his objections. I also love Good Eats and pretty much anything else with Alton Brown in it. Other than reality TV, I love Glee, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Ghosthunters, How I Met your Mother, and The Big Bang Theory.

I've tried a few handi-crafts, and I'll admit I'm not terribly skilled. I may try a few of these types of things, but not many and not often. I'm really here for writing swaps and store-bought swaps. Turns out I'm much more creative with my brain than my hands.

My favorite colors are pink, blue, orange, and dark purple. I don't care much for solid black and solid white. I love pink and chocolate brown color combination; it's my favorite. I like stuff that celebrates nurses, though not in a trashy or saintly manner. I'm neither of those. Like I've mentioned above, I love Harry Potter stuff. I've officially been sorted into Hufflepuff.

I'm ridiculously punctual. Chances are, if your swap is postmarked after the swap end-date, I'll give you a rating of 3. To me, the simplest way you can show respect to someone is to show up on time. If you sent me something late, I may rate you a 3 but I'll at least be polite about it. It's easier to catch flies with sugar than with vinegar, so if you have an argument with how I rated you, I'm more likely to change my rating if you're polite back.

I sign up for a lot of chocolate swaps, so here's a run-down of what I love and don't-so-much-love in chocolate

Likes: really dark chocolate (60-70%), coconut, nuts, chili peppers, dried fruit, caramel, peanut butter, marshmallow, and pretty much anything not listed under dislikes. If someone sends me a Dylan's Chocolate Bar, I will send you my firstborn child. I swear to God, there's nothing better.

Dislikes: buttercrunch, white chocolate, orange and lemon creams, banana (I don't like banana when it's not combined with chocolate, either), Palmer's chocolate, and sugar-free chocolate (what's the point?!?)

In the past, I've gotten a lot of items with $0.17 postage due. If you have any thoughts that perhaps the postage isn't correct on what you're sending, please check with the postal staff before you put in in the box. I'm not going to automatically rate poorly for postage due, but I'm more inclined to look upon the swap less-favorably. If what you sent is on the borderline, it might be enough for me not to give you a 5 or a heart. It's kind of unfair to make your swap-to person have to cover part of your responsibility for the swap.