This confessional post is brought to you by LaFreya, aka Karen Simpson, aka Grace’s Creator, aka Nyla’s Mom, who tagged me for my very first meme.

Here are the rules:

Link the person who tagged you.

Mention the rules in your blog.

Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.

Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.

Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.”

I can just hear some of you murmuring that you know damn well how quirky I am.  Save it for the comments section…which I get to moderate just in case anyone tries to overshare.

Here goes:

1) I have a thing for accessories - shoes, bags, jewelry…while this may not seem particularly quirky, it is for someone like me who is a pretty low-maintenance woman, and even more so for someone who works in the grassroots environmental advocacy movement.  We’re all entitled to our guilty pleasures, right?

2) While there are plenty of evil foods that I adore - including classics like chocolate, fries, and mac n cheese -  my favorite food is broccoli.  I used to beg my mom to make broccoli.  Love it!

3) A lot of revelations about my novel and intricate plotting happens in the shower.  I’m a shower thinker.  Instead of singing, I work out my characters and plot twists.  When I’m done with the shower, I throw on pajamas and race over to my desk to jot down notes or start typing.

4) Anyone who has ever been grocery shopping with me knows that I can’t stand the thought of warm dairy products.  I won’t buy things like milk, yogurt, or sour cream unless I’m at one of the stores closest to my house where I can rush them directly home to the fridge.  Maybe I was meant to be the person who transports coolers of transplant organs?  One of the obvious related things to this is that the concept of a glass of warm milk makes me shudder, so please don’t ever suggest that’s what I need to relax.

5) While I can sleep perfectly fine while the cats fling things from shelves, slam cabinet doors, and throw themselves against walls, or while the dogs rearrange positions 400 times (all within inches of me, of course) and chew nylabones on the pillow next to my head, I have the total mom instinct of flying awake if anyone whimpers, groans, or paces uncomfortably anywhere in the house.

6) I can’t keep plants alive.  You know those “air plants” that aren’t even in dirt, you just spritz water on them every so often?  Yep, I’ve killed one of those.  Last year I bought a perennial for my garden and it died within a week.  I guess I can maintain a flower bed of annuals for a few months because they’re destined to die anyway.  In my defence, I am very good at caring for four-legged mammals!  And at least I don’t have to worry about keeping plants in the house that might be poisonous to the critters.

Over so soon?  I suppose that’s enough quirks for one day.  Now it’s time to share the love….

Halley, Adrianna, Fritz, Jose, Mulitia…you’re up!  (Yes, I know that’s only 5. Looks like I need to find more friends who blog!)

…doesn’t understand why the big cats won’t play with her;

…is fearless in the face of Sierra’s rather large face;

…has the largest feet I’ve ever seen on a little female kitten (not counting Hemingway cats)…someone is going to be a big girl;

…thinks all laps are there for her to curl up on, even when the lap is on the toilet;

…has finally stopped covering my pants in kitten snot; and therefore,

…will only continue to comandeer my bathroom for another couple of weeks and then she, like the dozens of fosters who left the Feldstein pack and went on to find homes of their own, will return to the humane society as planned.

She’s a sweet little kitten who will get along in whatever home she ends up in.  My cats have made it clear that they’re not interested in adding to their ranks, so who am I to argue?

…you start drooling over things like “30 of the Most Creative Bookshelves Designs.”

These bookshelf stairs are pretty cool, too. 

My whole life I’ve wanted to have a room with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, complete with rolling ladder.  I still love that classic look, but now these give me something else to think about!

(Okay, time to stop daydreaming about my fantasy library and get back to writing.)

While LOST is on hiatus (only for another week and a half!), some well-meaning friends put Showtime’s Dexter in my hands.  So, I dutifully lost sleep while visually binging on the first two seasons of the show as quickly as possible.  The show is fantastic. 

It’s based on the novel “Darkly Dreaming Dexter” by Jeff Lindsay (which I own, but haven’t read yet), about a man who is a blood spatter technician for the Miami police department by day and a serial killer who takes out murderers the system let loose by night.  The premise alone should give you an idea of the wonderful characterization in this series.  The main character, the protagonist, is a killer who has some serious issues.  But you like him because he’s charming and does a lot of good things (although you’re often left to wonder how much of it is an act and how much he’s sincere about…you’ll have to watch it to really get that).  But Dexter isn’t the only complex character.  Nearly all the characters have their sympathetic moment and the moments you want to see them go down (or get killed by Dexter, despite his moral code).   Even the characters who are portrayed as almost all “good” still have depth and their goodness is important to Dexter’s character, which makes it significant.  This show is an excellent example of how to create balanced characters. 

 And it’s fun to watch.

Apparently today is Blog Action Day, where bloggers around the world are posting about environmental issues.

I’m too tired to compose a post about my pet environmental issues, so instead, I’m going to post a few of my favorite sources:

Ecology Center - an excellent organization working on environmental issues, from setting the standard in local land use and waste reduction programs, to working on toxics reduction in health care, auto, and chemical industries.

Grist - for daily news on all things environmental and progressive, with a twist of humor to it make more digestible to those who aren’t issue wonks or who those are entrenched and want to lighten the doom n gloom a bit.

Treehugger - trendy, funky environmentally living and news.

Green Press Initiative - a nonprofit working to making the publishing industry more environmentally friendly, including info for publishers and resources for authors.

PoppyMart is here!

If you like dogs, like shopping for a cause, like cool stuff, or are just an ebay junkie, check out PBRC’s annual online auction: http://stores.ebay.com/PBRC-Poppy-Mart

 100% of the proceeds go toward Pit Bull Rescue Central’s good work to help rescued dogs and restore the image of the pit bull.

 Happy Bidding (as long as it’s not against me)!

Today’s theme is The Network…

Find me on MySpace!

Find me on Facebook!

Check out my updated website!

For those of you who operate off-line, I also have business cards now…just in case anyone begs for my contact information at the Pitch n Shop Conference next week.

I’m also on Flickr, but haven’t gotten active with photo tagging and whatever else is involved with Flickring.  For the future, I have ideas for more internet fun, including YouTube and CafePress.  Did I miss anything?

Just goes to show you can find anything on CafePress!  Pick your search term, such as ”writers,” and you can find a t-shirt (or sweatshirt or mousepad or bib) with just about any design you can imagine.  You can lose hours on this site.  It’s great!  I hope to set up my own little CafePress shop someday…especially since my webmaster just designed this really adorable logo for me.  Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted when that’s launched.

 What am I procrastinating on these days?  I need to put some work into my pitch before I head to New York in two weeks.  Sometimes boiling down your novel to a few paragraphs can be harder than writing the entire 250 page book.

Back from a week of hiking and swimming up north.  Not sure who had more fun…me or the dogs…

 {I’d love to post pictures, but flickr isn’t being my friend.  You can check out my kodakgallery album from the trip here.}

…And by regular, I mean the same level of sporadic posting that we all enjoyed earlier in the summer.  I hope to be a daily blogger when I grow up, but for now, it’s unlikely.  I’m off to Northern Michigan next week, leaving my internet connection behind, and I’ll be very busy in preparation for my trip to New York, as well as with my day job, over the next few weeks…But I missed cyberspace, so I’m back to updating when I can!