Coffee Break #30
Happy Spring, friends! Spring has sprung where we are, making my days a little brighter (literally and figuratively!) and my spirits a little higher. For this month’s behind-the-blog catch up, I’m doing something a little different (and a lot of fun!) I’m sharing a bunch of quick fun facts about me you might not know. Then I invited Greg to share some things about me from his perspective, and I’m giving you a turn to chime in too! I think you guys will get a kick out of this…so grab your favorite snack and beverage, and let’s get to know each other a little better!
You can catch up on all past Coffee Breaks HERE.
10 Things You Might Not Know About Me
- I Never Wear Makeup & My Hair is Always Back. Well, I will put on makeup if it’s a super special occasion or I’m getting pictures taken. Even then though, my hair is will still be pulled back in a ponytail, claw, or bun.
- I’m the Youngest of 4 Kids. By a lot…my siblings are 11, 14, and 17 years older than me. As a kid, I felt like an only child with a lot of older, bossy people in my life. But as I’ve gotten older, the age gap between us all has shrunk, and we’re now close like “normal” siblings.
- My Birthday is on Christmas. Yep – Christmas Day! And I love it; well, I didn’t always, but I’ve grown to. Although opening presents one day a year is kind of a bummer, it definitely has some benefits too (e.g., everywhere is decorated really pretty; there’s always good food and a plethora of sweets; everyone is off work/school; and we’re usually surrounded by family). Oh – and almost no one forgets!
- Speaking of birthdays…I’m Really Bad at Remembering Birthdays. Don’t ever expect a birthday card from me…or a birthday text…because I can never remember to send something along on time. I guess this is where Facebook would come in handy if I actually used it. I can’t tell you how many New Year’s resolutions I’ve made to send hand-written birthday cards…on time…just to my family. I think I typically make it to March before I start to forget.
- I’m a Strong Introvert. People who know me might be surprised by this because I do have some extroverted qualities (I can be VERY chatty when I know you well). But, I’m best on my own or in very small groups. I have a good bit of social anxiety in large crowds or situations out of my control, and I definitely re-charge by working alone on projects.
- I’ve Always Been a Horrible Speller. If you’ve been coming around here for a while, you probably don’t need me to tell you this. But it’s not just here…I’ve been a pretty bad speller my whole life. True story: I was the ONLY kid in all of my third grade class who went the entire year without a perfect score on the weekly spelling test (as noted by the sticker chart displayed in the classroom). Although spell check helps me out significantly and I’ve outgrown a lot of common mistakes, I still make some pretty good blunders (like this one and this one).
- I Can’t See. Much, that is. I’ve worn glasses since third grade, contacts since eighth. I can’t see the clock from bed, no matter how large the numbers are (which Greg loves in the middle of the night when I want to know the time, which is often) and I pretty much can’t make a move without my glasses on first.
- I’m a Group-Exercise Instructor & Personal Trainer. I’ve mentioned it here and there, so some of you might already know this one. I got my group-exercise certification my sophomore year of college and have maintained it ever since (going on 22 years!). I’m also a certified personal trainer, although the group class environment is by far my favorite.
- I Eat Dessert Every Day But Don’t Drink Alcohol. My Dad always gets a chuckle when we go out to a restaurant because I pass on a cocktail but order dessert every time. I’m not really sure why…I just love my sweets and don’t really care for alcohol. I pretty much have dessert after every meal, except breakfast…unless you consider coffee a dessert? I even keep a a stocked glass jar of DOVE chocolates on our kitchen counter at all times.
- I’m Catholic. Born, raised, married, and (trying to be) practicing. I went to 13 years of Catholic school (K-12), as did Greg (rival Catholic high schools!) Like many (I think), faith and religion have ebbed and flowed for us throughout our lives. We took a really long hiatus during the pandemic, but we’ve recently returned and are trying to get us all back in the (spiritual) groove.
Rapid Fire
- On our home speaker: Blaze and the Monster Machines soundtrack…our whole family seriously loves these catchy science tunes!
- In my earphones: These days…Dixie Chicks or Mamma Mia…super random, right?
- On my Kindle: Just finished Children of Blood and Bone and didn’t love it enough to read the next one. Just started The Girl the Sea Gave Back (after loving the prequel, Sky In the Deep).
- On our TV: We’re taking a break after 3 straight seasons of binging Homeland to catch up on the next seasons of Mrs. Maisel and Bridgerton.
- On my phone: I gave up all Social Media for Lent, so the only things I do on my phone right now is text and surf Amazon for wallpaper and rugs for our new home.
- On my plate: My favorite new meal in our dinner rotation is this Cashew Chicken.
- On my feet: You’ll find me either in these Converse or these boots pretty much every single day!
10 Things I Wouldn’t Tell You But Greg Will
If you’ve spent any time in the Comments section of the blog over the years, every so often you’ll catch a witty comment from my charming husband Greg. I know many of you get a kick out of his…ahem…contributions…so I invited him to join us this month with his own “roast” of yours truly.
- Megan Loves Showing Off the Inside of Her Kitchen Cabinets. To long time readers, this may not be shocking; however, Megan goes beyond simply posting photos on the blog. She takes care to not only open these cabinets, but keeps them open for all to see indefinitely. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen her actually close a cabinet door.
- Consistently Ensures the Rooms In Our House Are Ready To Be “Seen” At Any Time. How can you possibly take in the grandeur of room without the lights on? Megan stays ahead of this problem by keeping the lights on in every room as much as possible. It is not unusual for me to come home to find her out on an errand, but the house lit up for anyone’s viewing pleasure.
- Megan Loves Having Boxes For Her Shoes. This great organizational tip has transformed our closet into the Jenga tower that everyone hopes to have inside a tight, walk-in closet. Some have criticized that it could easily fall on top of you due to the weight, but Megan mitigates that by keeping no less than one-third of her shoes on the floor in front of the closet to prevent such a catastrophe.
- If It Was Available, She’d Sleep Under a 100 lbs Weighted Blanket. Since shifting to a weighted blanket in recent years, Megan keeps upping the ante on how heavy a blanket to put on our bed. Despite a neck-brace I wore for several weeks following an attempt to make our bed, she is still looking for an updated blanket filled with small kettlebells.
- Dedicated to Keeping Cold Weather Clothing Stored. Dealing with seasonal changes can be tough; especially when you need to pull out hats, gloves, and heavier coats to face colder temperatures. Megan takes the changes of climate in stride by simply leaving all of that cold weather gear stowed in neat baskets. This way, she can simply wear the same vest year-round and only have to make mention how cold she is every 15-minutes when we go out.
- Megan Suffers from ECF (Extreme Cold Feet) Syndrome. Unrelated to her devotion to keeping outer-garments safe and secure, Megan can never warm her feet. Despite her children providing her with the plushest of socks and the coziest slippers, it seems that her bare feet on our wooden floors all day are unable to retain heat.
- Can Find Anything, EXCEPT the Person Who is Shedding This Long, Brown Hair All Over the House. Several investigations have been initiated by the 4 boys who live with her to determine who the culprit is with no results. Of note, the boys have a combined hair-length of 3 inches, so unless they are in cahoots and braiding their hair together we’ve ruled them out.
- Megan Suffered from Tuberculosis as a Child…except it was a variant that only bugs get. I have been advised by my lawyer, doctor, and the FBI to not complete this section.
- Is a Classically Trained Dancer…but has only retained the ability to tell me when I’m off beat. As someone who doesn’t need much convincing to get out on the dance floor, I’m often surprised that a lady who went to a dance conservatory is reticent to join me. Though perhaps she is intimidated by my flawless execution of the Kid ‘n Play.
- Megan Has Carried our Family’s Home from House-to-House…and always found a way to make it better. She might talk about the “homes” she has made, but to me it is the same home that she refines, as our family has moved and increased in size over the years. She has perfected the ability to evolve and meet the current needs of our family despite where we are located. Whereas, you all see what she has done in the bedrooms, kitchens, and garages over the years; I believe all that belies her true purpose within the home she has created for our family. Megan is our foundation and our family could never thrive the way it has without her.
Rapid Fire From Greg
- On our home speaker: The Avett Brothers
- In my earphones: Let’s Go On a Run by Chance the Rapper
- On my Kindle: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- On our TV: Just started The Dropout
- On my phone: Facebook and Wordle
- On my plate: I love a plate of cheese and crackers
- On my feet: My favorite slippers from Megan a few Christmases ago
You can probably now see why I’m the luckiest gal in the world to have such a fun companion to navigate life with, but also why our home is constantly filled with laughter! Yes, he’s really like this all the time. And yes, the part about having tuberculosis is actually true (it’s why I have a huge scar on my neck…if you’ve ever noticed and wondered!)
Thanks for stopping by, babe!
Your Turn!
Let’s do something fun…pick one (or as many as you want) of the “Rapid Fire” questions below and leave your answer in the comments:
- On your home speaker:
- On your ear pods:
- On your Kindle:
- On your TV:
- On your phone:
- On your plate:
- On your feet:
I can’t wait to read your responses!
Megan
22 Comments on “Coffee Break #30”
Hello Megan
-On my home speaker: None
-On my hear pods: Songs in French and English of my childhood and early teenage
-On my Kindle: Classical French novels
-On my TV: some French short series or talk about books
-On my phone: Everything as it’s as my computer (which broke two years ago at the 1st lockdown…) Reading and answering to your nice coffee break 😀 and the web, Facebook, Twitter and so on
-On my plate: Nice recipes from the south east of France
-On my feet: Warm socks and shoes as I always have my feet cold too…
Have a nice day dear Megan and I’m so happy to read you and your lovely blog which inspires me so much even if I apologize not to often commenting.
Love
Michèle
Loved reading this and Greg’s remarks 😂😂 My Dad has a clock that puts the large display on the ceiling. Maybe Greg will thank you if you include it in your Amazon searches 😉
AirPods: SmartLess podcast or Shut Up Mommy’s Talking podcast.
I LoVE this post so much! You guys seem amazing.
On your home speaker: none – can’t figure out how to do more than set a timer
On your ear pods: never tried them – should I figure them out?
On your Kindle: on my Ipad – the fantasy series 1631
On your TV: Call the Midwife, Mork & Mindy, Incredible Dr Pol
On your phone: Scrabble, Wordscapes
On your plate: toast and cheese (cheese anything)
On your feet: Birks
Your Greg makes me miss my DH
Fun post! You two are a match made in heaven! Humor can overcome everything. Can’t wait to see picture of your soon to be new home.
on my phone – Wordscapes, texts with my sister and a close friend
on my feet – Minnetonka slippers, wear them everyday indoors
Have a great weekend!
That was adorable! <3
This is so fun! I was also practically blind until I got Lasik in 2011. Best thing I ever did! I also have my hair pulled back 95% of the time, am a strong introvert and am not a great speller (I also often mispronounce words because I pick them up from reading!) You and Greg sound like such a fun couple!
On your home speaker: I would love to have music in our home, but I have not figured out how/when to incorporate that. We enjoy Story Pirates in the car!
On your ear pods: Audiobooks! I’m almost done with “How the Word is Passed” and it has been so eye opening.
On your Kindle: I read a lot of fluffy romance when I’m stressed, but I recently read “The Clockmaker’s Daughter” and it really enjoyed it.
On your TV: I’m terrible at keeping up so I’m still trying to finish Gilded Age (on HBO) before I can start Bridgerton!!
On your phone: Wordle! My 5 year old loves to enter the letters. Also Instagram which I’m trying to keep to 30 minutes/day
On your plate: I recently switched back to salads for lunch (I like hot lunch in winter) and am back to telling every person I meet about mason jar salads!!
On your feet: I love Merrell solo origins hiking shoes for everyday wear and own 3 pairs in different colors!
On my home speaker: BTS (apparently I am a 12 year old girl?)
On my Kindle: Miranda Tapsell’s biography “Top End Girl”
On my TV: Just finished Bridgeton! It’s great.
On my phone: Drowning in emails, if I can wrestle it from my four year old.
On my plate: Corned beef because I just discovered all three children will eat it. It’s a miracle!
On my feet: Ugg boots because I also suffer from ECF Syndrome.
I too would rather give up alcohol than dessert, and I think giving up social media for Lent is a great idea. I’m sending you smooth kid party vibes which I assume is on this weekend because it is happening in our house too.
Also, if Megan is part-bug as the tuberculosis would imply, she cannot be responsible for the long brown hair as insects don’t grow hair. You may want to consider the far more likely scenario that you have a ghost in the house.
I love this so much! My family also complains about my hair everywear and my girls both insist that I always have my glasses on and hair up.
On your home speaker: Encanto soundtrack
On your ear pods: podcasts specifically Fletch Vaughan and Hayley, Hamish and Andy
On your Kindle: I’m a physical book person. Currently reading Casey Wilson’s Essays
On your TV: Superstore
On your phone: wordle
On your plate: homemade pizza
On your feet: slipper socks
On my home speaker – classical piano
On my kindle – The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
On my ear pods – all ABBA all the time unless I need to listen to something for work
On my TV – Brewers when they finally start playing!
On my phone – family text strings (especially during march madness) & the homes I have made!
On my plate – pizza and red wine
On your feet – I walk four miles a day but COVID and cold weather have disrupted my obsession – ugh!
Great post – love you both and Greg adds fun and love to our entire family!
I’m reading “The power of regret” by Daniel Pink
Up next is “Here and Hereafter” by Tyler Henry
On your Kindle:
Please See Us
On your TV:
RuPauls Drag Race
On your feet:
Thongs
I love your Emails! I have my friends looking at you too.
I’d love to make the Cashew Chicken Recipe but I don’t see any measurements! Could you please send them to me, or how about to to all of your readers?
Please keep writing to us & enjoy your Spring Break!
On your home speaker: Don’t really have a home speaker ( old school)
On your ear pods: Don’t use ear pods either – unless we are working in office together and I am listening to political podcasts shows for fun
On your Kindle: goofy romances nothing but light weight stuff
On your TV: We are boomers, so there is lots of CBS drama stuff except for Chicago Fire and Chicago PD
On your phone: a few of my contacts, no photos
On your plate: we had fish sticks tonight
On your feet: slippers from Costco ($10)
On your home speaker: Meditation on Amazon
On your ear pods: I don’t own ear pods
On your Kindle: The Bible
On your TV: News all the time (it’s my husbands thing) hence the meditation on the speaker!
On your phone: really nothing, a few text and a lot of pictures
On your plate: Hungarian chicken
On your feet: flip flops, I live and will probably die in flip flops
Love reading you post. And hearing from Greg. Very nice picture of you bother. Thank you for all you do on your blog.
Oh, Megan, I had so much fun reading this Coffee Break! You should invite Greg more often. The mystery of the hair had me LOL (I can totally relate). I love learning more about you since I have been following you for quite some time. So sweet to know you are Catholic. So am I, trying to make my way back to church now that we have some normalcy.
Rapid Fire:
On your home speaker: Country Heat
On your ear pods: Calm
On your Kindle: The Case for Easter (does hard copy count?)
On your TV: Raising Dion
On your phone: Hallow App
On your plate: Almond flour chocolate and banana muffins
On your feet: Black socks (all.the.time)
xx
“She might talk about the “homes” she has made, but to me it is the same home that she refines, as our family has moved and increased in size over the years. She has perfected the ability to evolve and meet the current needs of our family despite where we are located.”
Print this out and put it where you can see it every day! What beautiful praise!
On your home speaker: We ask “you know who” to play random songs daily. Usually we have any number of SiriusXM channels or Amazon music streaming – 80s on 8, Lithium, Classic Rewind, Jazz for our dogs when we go out, etc.
On your ear pods: I don’t like ear buds (they fall out too easily). If I have headphones on (not often), it’s to listen to podcasts (Dani Shapiro Family Secrets, serial killer podcasts, Henry Rollins)
On your Kindle: Don’t own own. I don’t like e-readers. I prefer a good old-fashioned book.
On your TV: We just finished 1883…sooooo good! It’s the prequel to Yellowstone, which is also excellent. I recently binge-watched Call the Midwife, which I adore! I watch a lot of British shows.
On your phone: I scroll through Facebook and Instagram throughout the day.
On your plate: Korean beef, orange chicken, loaded nachos, to name a few. I love making recipes from Budget Bytes. I eat very little for breakfast and I don’t eat lunch (just a healthy snack). We are after dinner dessert people! Gotta have some chocolate or cheesecake here and there!
On your feet: I hate socks! I’m barefoot as much as I can. I wear socks when it’s necessary. I don’t even wear slipper socks like I used to. I think it stems from the multiple foot surgeries I’ve had. I was in a boot and other braces for many months.
Loved this “getting to know you”, Amy! You should have your boys do the next one! Wishing you a smooth move. Thank you for all that you do for us.
Oh! I think you meant shoes for “on your feet”. I primarily wear different styles of Skechers as they’re easy on my sore feet (re: surgeries in past).
Wow, we have multiple things in common. I felt like I grew up with two sets of parents. Question- How do you group teach exercise being an introvert? I love Zumba and once in a while debate about teaching, but then I think about having to always be smiling, etc and I chicken out.
HI Heather!
I know – it doesn’t seem like those two things can go together, right?!?
I actually grew up as a dancer, and going into group exercise felt like an extension of that once I quit dancing. I’m also a fairly confident “presenter” in a professional setting (not a social setting!) So when I stand up in front of a class, that “performance” experience meets the “professional” presenter experience and it kinda works.
I can say for sure I am MUCH more animated and outgoing when I’m standing in front of a class than I am in day-to-day situations. I think it comes from a sense of confidence – I really, really know how to give a good exercise class. So I can stand in front of the crowd confidently and deliver. It’s when I have to chit chat before/after the class that I get anxious 😂
I would encourage you to give it a try if you love it. Teaching group exercise is SOOOO much fun (to this day, it’s still how i prefer to exercise). And with Zumba, there isn’t much “talking” anyway! Once you get comfortable opening/closing your class, it will eventually come naturally!
Keep me posted if you do decide to “go for it!”
~Megan