When I thought about conducting these interviews, I knew I would have to start with someone extra special. From here on out, though, I’ll draw names to see who goes next. That way, the order is completely arbitrary–no playing favorites!

Matt and my friendship began over e-mail, and then over the phone, before we met up in person Memorial Day weekend of 2002. During our first few hours of hanging out, we watched the Kings beat the Lakers (HA!) and he helped me make quesadillas for lunch. I felt comfortable with him immediately, like I had known him all my life. We’ve been married for 3 1/2 years now, and I say with confidence that Matt knows me better than anyone else. He can tell what I’m thinking just by the look on my face (although if it’s because there’s a dessert place nearby, it’s a no-brainer).

Matt is one of the humblest and private people I know, which meant I had to plead, flutter my short eyelashes, and nag (as wives do!) to get him to answer questions about himself for all the world to see. I even threatened to ask him random questions when he wasn’t expecting, and then post the answers without his knowledge. I finally backed off, which was when he agreed to do it. But since Matt doesn’t like answering hypothetical questions or even talking about himself much, he kept his answers short and to the point. I had hoped for a little more dialogue in the questions, but I’ll take what I can get.

I hope you enjoy this rare, public appearance of my favorite man, Mr. Matt I.!

1. One goal you’re striving for right now is…
What other career I might enjoy, if any, and make steps towards that.

2. One word others would use to describe you: grounded
One word you would use to describe you: reliable

3. The top three websites you can’t live without…
google, that pretty much covers them all.

4. What do you do for a living, and what do you like most about it? Least?
Graphic designer. Enjoy the creativity and flexibility the job allows me. People I work with are great also. Don’t always enjoy being in front of a computer all day.

5. If you could create any sort of career for yourself, what would it be?
Race car driver

6. If you could open a store, what would you sell?
In-N-Out burgers in Seattle if they ever franchised!

7. What is one thing you’ve learned about yourself since being married?
How selfish I can be.

8. What is one thing you’ve learned about yourself since moving to Seattle?
I enjoy investing time and energy with youth, though I don’t do it enough. Was something I never would have done if we had not moved up here.
Why wouldn’t you have done it?
Because I would be too comfortable with my life in LA.

9. What is your dream car?
Too many nice cars to try and choose one but Jazz from the Transformers would be pretty cool to have or the original K.I.T.T. from Knight Rider!

10. Which parent are you most like and why?
Think I’m a mix of both. Pretty organized and clean, like my dad, but also easy going and laid back, like my mom.

11. You’re stranded on an island and you have 2 books, 2 albums and 2 movies with you. Which ones would they be?
Books: Bible and can’t think of another, guess I don’t read enough.
Albums: Arrested Development: 3 Years, 5 Months, and 2 Days in the life of…, Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
Movies: Any of the Indiana Jones movies, maybe Temple of Doom is my favorite and something funny like Dumb and Dumber or Something about Mary

12. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why?
Somewhere they speak English enough for me to get by, though I’ve always liked South America or Central America so maybe somewhere there…Costa Rica since I’ve been there and enjoyed it. Has hiking, biking, and nice weather, though it rains a lot there. But I’m used to that now, and hablo Espanol un poco.

13. Name a book or movie character that you most identify with and why?
Ray from Everybody loves Raymond because I’m not a smooth talker and can say things that will often get me in trouble with the wife.

14. The thought that usually pops in your head when you first wake up is…
Gotta pee

Although Matt never reads my blog, I want to tell the world that today is his birthday! (And happy belated birthday to my bro-in-law, Jon, who celebrated his birthday on Monday–and is pictured below with Matt and the polar bear from the San Diego Zoo.)

If I could write 13 paragraphs about a brief weekend in SF, imagine how long this post would be if I wrote extensively about our four-day trip to NY? I’ll do my best to keep this succinct by giving you the highlights. Earlier this month, Na and I took a sisters-only trip to NY–after so many years, I was finally making my way there! After our red-eye flights from Sac and Seattle (Na’s flight times + layovers totaled 12 hours!), we both landed in NY around 9:30 a.m. (EST), ready (but exhausted) to make the most of our first full day there.

OK, I said this wouldn’t be a play-by-play recap, so let me jump to the ultimate highlight, agreed upon by Na and me: WICKED!! I had been wanting to see this musical for a few years now, and last year when it came to Seattle, it sold out quickly–and was here for just a few weeks. So going to NY and knowing Wicked was playing there, I sooo wanted to see it. Fortunately, we were able to get tickets at the box office the day of the show. After getting over the sticker shock, we were giddy about having the tickets in hand. We were finally going to see Wicked!! Was it worth it? YES! During the intermission, we already knew we wanted to get the soundtrack, which I’ve been listening to almost everyday since I came back. The music was good, the story was funny and clever, the performers were talented–and everyone wore green in the Emerald City! You can’t go wrong where one of the main characters is green.

The second highlight would be walking in Central Park on Saturday morning. We did a LOT of walking the whole time, and I mean a LOT. So much, in fact, that my pants have been looser ever since I came back. But it was a lot of walking down busy streets, darting around gawking tourists, and keeping up with the locals. There wasn’t much time for leisurely walking and taking in the surroundings. Until we got to the park. There were a ton of people out, but the park was so huge that you still felt like you had a piece of the park to yourself. I saw people lying in grassy areas all alone, enjoying the seclusion of the park, while still being in the middle of the city. I saw people playing cricket, croquet, volleyball, soccer. I saw three couples taking wedding photos, bikers, joggers, dog walkers. Finally, we could slow down, walk at a good pace, and look around without worrying about being bowled over.

The weather was amazing the whole time we were there, too. The forecast had said the temps would be in the mid-60s which I thought was pretty comfortable. However, the weather was in the 70s the entire time, and even in the low 80s one day. I was so hot in my jeans and long-sleeved tops! The evenings were so comfortable, though.

Another highlight (if you could call it that) was taking public transportation. While we walked more than we took the bus/subway around, I was once again reminded how much I loved taking public transportation around (did I mention that in my SF entry, too??). It makes me feel like such a part of the city.

Although the city was too crowded for my liking, I did like being around people from so many parts of the world. Walking up and down the streets, and even just hanging out in the hostel, I heard so many different languages. I also saw so many people from other countries. We shared a table at the Burger Joint with a couple from Germany, who also were on their first trip to NY. We roomed with a brother and sister from London and had fun hanging out with them our last night, comparing cultures and experiences in NY.

And, of course, another highlight was spending so much time just with my sister. There’s a certain level of comfort where you don’t have to try so hard to communicate, and you could be totally open about what you want to do (or not do). Or we could sit or walk in silence and not consider it awkward. We brainstormed about wedding plans, ate yummy desserts, and shopped. At first I felt a little bad that we weren’t meeting up with friends, but the last thing I wanted was a trip full of commitments–esp. if my sister didn’t know my friends. But by the time we got there, I didn’t feel bad at all. This was my vacation, and I didn’t want to turn it into my typical trips back to California where there are back-to-back gatherings. I know times like these with Na will become more rare in the future, so I’m really fortunate that we both made the effort to make this trip possible. It’s something I will never forget!

I’ve posted pics in my gallery–not sure why they are so fuzzy, but enjoy!

Once again, the seasons change…

Not to downplay the presidential elections or anything (which I hope all of you will be participating in!!), but my old friend Alonso needs your votes, too. Here’s the deal: He submitted a photo to a National Geographic contest. Each week, NG chooses a bunch of photos to feature in their “Daily Dozen” section. Alonso’s photo (below) was selected for week 3 of October. All the photos selected throughout October are open for rating, and one will be selected for publication in National Geographic. How awesome is that?!

What he needs you to do is:

1. Go to http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/your-shot/voting-machine

2. Under “Your Shot Voting Machine,” (red letters) choose Thumbnail View. Directly to the right of Thumbnail View, make sure you’re looking at Week 3.

3. Alonso’s picture is in the third column, fourth row down. Not sure if you can just rate his photo, but you also can rate everyone else’s photos. The last time I checked, the photo is on the second page of thumbnails, top row, third column, and I didn’t see any way around rating all the photos to get to it. There are some really cool shots in there, so if you have the time, it’s worth it to check out other shots, too. And the best news is that you don’t have to register!

Alonso says to rate the ones you like, but remember to rate his the highest. :) Voting closes on November 5!

During the past few rainy days, I neglected my vegetables and was greeted by an abundance of overripe tomatoes. :( Many had ripened on the vine and split in half, and although they are still edible, I just don’t like to eat them. I guess I imagine buggies crawling into the tomato “flesh,” so I only eat the ones that are still intact.

Check out this one tomato though…it has a big bootie. hehe…

This is the first weekend alone in the house since we moved in. Matt’s back in LA until Monday, so I’m on my own. Coincidentally, this is one of the rare weekends when I didn’t have any other obligations either–no meetings, no social gatherings. Just a weekend with a blank schedule. It’s odd to sit in the house alone, and all the little noises from the appliances and the house are magnified. It’s not like Matt is a loud character, but even when he is quiet, I feel his presence. So being completely alone in the house is an odd feeling. But it’s not a bad one.

Last night, I hung out with some friends to celebrate one of their birthdays. Strangely enough, three of us had names that started with “Mel”–and we were all short. We went out for yummy Cuban food and then came back here for several rounds of Speed Scrabble, which is pretty much the only version of Scrabble that non-word-game-loving people will play. I had a lot of fun with them, so I was a little sad to see them leave. Fortunately, one of the Mels stayed overnight since her husband also was not home tonight, so it definitely was nice to know someone else was in the house with me.

I got an early start at the mall today, attempting once again to find jeans. I went to Macy’s, New York & Company, Gap, JCPenney, Delia’s, and I don’t remember where else, and tried on pair after pair. I’m excited to discover that more and more stores are selling “short” or “petite” versions of their jeans. But New York & Company is the only store that *really* did it right. They actually placed their smaller/petite sizes at the lowest point of their shelving, where every other store put their smallest/petite sizes at the very TOP shelf, increasing in size down the shelf. Now, do people think that customers looking for the small sizes could really REACH the top shelf? So dumb. I ended up buying two pairs of jeans from NY&C (jeans are 50% off right now!). Hooray!

After a trip to Joanns, the library, and Safeway, I’m finally back home. The sky out is gray and cloudy, with occasional sprinkles, and the trees are blowing. The lights flickered a little last night, and I’m really hoping the power doesn’t go out at night while I’m home alone because that would probably scare me a little. Plus, I would be *really* disappointed if I couldn’t watch “Step Up 2″ tonight.

I hope you all are doing well this first weekend in October.