Knowing me, knowing you.

It might be obvious, but I have a fondness for a certain Italian citizen, my What's Cooking Wednesday friend, the lovely Sognatrice over at bleeding espresso. So you can only imagine my excitement on my daily visit to her site when I saw this fun little interview game. Somebody had interviewed her and now she was offering to interview any and all who applied. To which I yelled a hearty, sign me up! Then I sat at my computer repetitively hitting the "load email" button until my questions arrived. So without further ado I give you the interview....

1. Do you have a large group of close friends or just a few? Do you like it this way?

Not to brag or anything, but yes, I do have a rather large group of close friends. I'm lucky to have worked for a very long time with an amazing group of women. We've laughed a lot together, we've cried some too and over the years we've become a pretty tight little group. The kind of group you can take a year away from and then step right back in like you never left. Then there's Auntie Yoli, who appeared rather late on the scene, showing up in full force sometime after Abby was born. But she kept her head down, put in the time and worked her way up to being Maya's Godmother. She's incredible and I'm not really sure how we managed without her. Let's not forget Robin, my Oprah. True sister of my heart. She needs an entire post of her own (and she'll likely get one) for me to fully explain just how awesome she is. Those are my closest, my nearest and dearest. I didn't include family, I could, but I think it kind of goes without saying.

So do I like it this way? Absolutely. Some of the greatest gifts in my life are those ladies. I wouldn't give up a second with any of them. Except maybe for that time Kaffy got a "little tipsy" and wouldn't stop arguing with me, but probably not.

2. Your teenage years: best time of your life or sheer torture?

Well I can't say I'd call them the best time of my life and while there were moments of sheer torture I can't dismiss the entire era as being that. Most people know that my father passed away when I was 12, just on the cusp of those turbulent teenaged years. I have alluded to the fact that it was sudden and unexpected, but I rarely come out and say that he committed suicide. It's information I keep to myself for a myriad of reasons. It's not that I am embarrassed or ashamed, I mean it is what it is. He wrestled with his demons for as long as he could. I can't change a single thing about it. In the last 22 years I have found a way to live with it, the anger, the sadness, the ache. At 12, there was no way I could wrap my head around what had happened to our family. It was a rough go of it, I was angry, so very angry and devastated and sad and some times hateful. If not for the intercession of my Mom and some hard core counseling... well God only knows what could have happened, but it wouldn't have been good. So me as a teenager was hard to take. I cornered the market on mood swings. I was argumentative and sometimes just an all around bitch. My poor brother, I am more than a little thankful that he still loves me, because I wasn't always good to him and I apologize for that. So yeah, it was far from the best and pretty damn close to the worst.

3. Talking on the phone -- love it or hate it? Has your attitude changed over the years?

Oh the hours I have wasted talking on the phone. Well I guess they weren't really wasted what with all the relationship building that was going on. Plus I live in a village. Do you have any idea how small a village is? However small you think it is, it's smaller. I mean we only got sidewalks last year. There really was nothing else to do. My Mom was really great about not giving me a hard time about spending so much time on the phone, for the most part anyway back when she still had the authority to kick me off the phone. Of course she's a bit of a phone junkie herself. Even now most of our phone calls clock in at about the hour mark. Back in the day Robin and I used to talk on the phone everyday for at least an hour. Ten o'clock every night without fail. Of course that was before either of us had kids and her husband was out of town all week and Mike worked nights. Now we have 6 kids between us, her husband is still out of town, but mine's off nights and has a serious ebay/facebook addiction (with dial up internet access). More often then not we IM these days, but not even that as much as we should. Still do love talking on the phone, I just don't have the time for it that I used to.

4. Do you consider yourself a girly girl (defined as you wish)?

I would have to say no, not really. PJ's and a pony tail are just so much easier. Although thanks to What Not To Wear I am choosing better clothes for myself or so I think. I do indulge my girly girlness with Abby though. She's all about the shoes and dresses. And that's good for now.

5. You've just been granted your dream holiday. Where do you go, for how long and who's coming with you?

Okay I'm going to answer this in three parts.

First, my dream vacation, just for me, would be a girls' weekend at a cottage. A boozy, gossipy, calorie laden weekend. Staying up late, sleeping in, sitting by the water and the laughing. Oh the laughing we'd do. Where do I sign up for that?

Second, my dream vacation, as one half of a couple, would be New York City with Dave and Mel. Mike and I are quite confident that we could not tackle NYC on our own. We need to go with people who are way cooler than us. Who better than my world traveling and uber cool brother and his wife. I'm thinking maybe a week in the fall.

Third, my dream vacation, as a Mom, would be Disneyworld with Robin, Tim and the girls. Yes, Disney with 6 girls would be utter chaos, but oh the memories. Since it's a dream vacation why not go full out and do the Disney cruise too. Then stay right at Disney in a treehouse. I can see the pictures already.

So there you have. Everything you always wanted to know, but were afraid to ask. Want to play too? Here's how...

1. Leave me a comment saying "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.