I will gather myself around my faith

What's your favorite ingredient to cook with?

GARLIC! and olive oil.  this household goes through a ton of both of these things pretty often.  We also go through a lot of cheese (esp. of the parmigiano or asiago variety)

I took a test on LiveJournal recently along the lines of "which country should you belong to?"  My results were a tied Italian and German (quite accurate, I'm only a little Italian by blood but ridiculously Italian in personality, and I am hella German, that's about 90% of my family's heritage...), and second place tied to Irish and British (There's a fair amount of both Irish and British on my dad's side of the family, makes sense).  But yeah, especially as far as the kitchen is concerned, Italian is pretty damn accurate.

Also: our freezer looks like it belongs to an Italian nonna these days, I made a huge batch of tomato sauce about a week ago, ate some, froze the rest, there is now no room in our freezer for naan...and we eat a lot of Trader Joes' frozen naan.  We may need a second freezer.  These are the times when I wish I kept my mini-fridge...

Imagine the perfect first date. Where do you go and what do you wear? Now think of the last first date you went on. Describe please!

Actually, my last first date was pretty darn perfect.  And kind of the only real first date I've ever been on... until then I'd had a pattern of randomly falling into relationships without there being any very obvious starting point and without a first date... it's usually been about just ending up spending more time with a person, realizing you have feelings for each other, and then before you know it, it's a relationship.  And somehow the first date thing never really happened.  

But it did, in my current relationship, after a lot of silly flirting that made me feel like I was fourteen sometimes, and made all of our mutual friends roll their eyes at us quite a bit (probably thinking "okay, we know, you're crazy about each other, please do something about that fact so you can stop annoying us with it!") ...April 23rd, 2008 marked my first official "date" with anyone, ever.  And it really was perfect. 

He picked me up from my knitting class (it was a Wednesday-night first date, as I didn't have a job at that point and he didn't have to work early the next day).  I wore a denim knee-length pencil skirt, can't remember what top I wore, and can remember that it was still quite cold and I wore my black peacoat as well.  Possibly legwarmers, too.  And I'm fairly sure I wore my brown heeled boots. We went to dinner (a pizza place that is in between fancy/casual), spent all of dinner loving the food, talking, and laughing, and then went to a movie ("21"), smuggling in our own soda and candy from a trip to the dollar store beforehand, because let's face it, movie theaters are overpriced.

And the entire night was perfect.  We had a great night together, and the comfortable, fun, happy atmosphere of that first date still hasn't faded, just two months short of a year later.  So, yeah, definitely counts as a perfect first date to me :)

Show us a picture you keep on your desk.

Mr. Frodo

this one... my mister frodo, because I miss him way too much....

...and this one, because I also miss Caleb way too much (that's the understatement of the year..)... and it's just an incredibly sweet picture ... :)
...and this one -- abby (roommate) and I on my 21st birthday this year.  my birthday was also the presidential inauguration, which explains the swarms of people surrounding us. 

Click here to go to the Threadless website...

they released the most wonderful shirt design today....... the tmnt namesake artists in tmnt masks...

Show us a picture of your shadow.

shadow in gardens, Verona.

Have you ever volunteered for something? If so, what?

haha, what great timing... just last week i started volunteering at our local animal shelter.  not the first volunteer work i've done (a few random things in high school, and volunteered for the obama campaign earlier this year), but definitely the most challenging.  the shelter is trying to become a no-kill shelter and therefore needs a TON of help and it's hard, hard work.  worth it though - when I see every day how spoiled my family's pets are in comparison to the animals at the shelter - all animals should get the chance to have a loving family just like our pets do, and being housed in a no-kill shelter with volunteers who really care and want to find homes for them gives them a better chance... i'll probably be writing more about the shelter in the near future, as working there is currently draining me of my essence and I'll need to rant at some point or another, but right now... I have to get up at the buttcrack of dawn to go there tomorrow and so I need some sleep.

Show us your favorite coffee mug.

okay vox friends, i need some assistance. 

My boyfriend refuses to tell me what he's going to be for Halloween.  However, he's given me hints and said I can use any resources I'd like to figure it out... I've done all that I can think of and still haven't a clue, so here are the hints he gave me:

-- It's a main character from a movie based on a video game, released this year (both in theatres and out on dvd this year)
-- Character wears a tux with a red bow tie
-- Character is bald

...... no one I know has been able to help me and even after a few pretty in-depth searches online, I can't figure it out.  So if anyone can help me out here...that would be great.

Also: I don't know what to be for Halloween! I have three dresses that would be perfect for these three costumes, so, vote please!

What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day?

--Curl up on the couch or in bed with a book and a big cup of tea.

-- Knit.

-- Open the sliding glass door so that I can smell the rain, put on a sweater so I don't get chilly, put on good rainy day music (Norah Jones, Jack Johnson, John Mayer, The Decemberists), and write. 

-- Watch movies (best when I have someone to cuddle with)

-- Go outside and walk around in the rain (best with someone else as well)

Show us the picture on your calendar for October.