How Well Do You REALLY Know Each Other Quiz: Preston on MF

The questions are listed, 1-9, in bold; Preston's answers to the questions are in regular font; my comments on his answers are in italics. Because I wanted this to be as complicated as possible to understand. So remember, as I said yesterday, we each answered these questions without consulting the other. These are our honest to goodness, no cheating, first-reaction thoughts.

1. What is something that Mary Frances is looking forward to?

Preston: Being done with graduate school (like any sane person) and starting to teach.

MF: Preston's spot on here, which means that the (not very well-hidden) cat is officially out of the bag. Although I am enrolled in a PhD program, and applied to graduate school with every intention of finishing my doctorate, as soon as I started substitute teaching last year, I knew that the classroom was really where I needed and wanted to be. Although I'm not positive I'll conclude my graduate education this year (I receive my Masters Degree in May...knock on SO VERY MUCH wood), I will at the very least apply for middle and high-school Latin teaching jobs for 2010-11. That said, I'm also a teaching assistant in the Classics Department this year (I'll work with Elementary and Intermediate Latin students), and I am SUPER excited for that. I'm also really excited to run my first marathon (!) in November.

2. What is something that Mary Frances is nervous about (in this upcoming year)?

Preston: Finding a job.

MF: HOLY GOODNESS YES. I am apologizing in advance for the fact that I will spend a huge part of this year freaking out about employment. Really. I'm truly sorry. I'm also as nervous as I am excited about running the marathon. Can I maintain the training? Can I actually run for 4 straight hours? What happens once grad school, time sucker extraordinaire, takes over? Was it just totally cocky of me to assume that I could do this race? Moral of the story: I am really good at being nervous.

3. What is something completely trivial/ridiculous that scares Mary Frances?

Preston: Mice.

MF: Yep. I hate them, resent the fact that they invade my apartment every winter, am creeped out by their ugly little tails, and will continue to scream and jump up on furniture whenever I see them (in my defense, I have gotten a LOT better about dealing with them. As in, I no longer run out of the building...).

4. What made Mary Frances stupendously happy last year?

Preston: Getting your Coach purse! And of course, meeting Neil Patrick Harris!

MF: OK, yes. I saved up my money all year to buy a Coach purse (more on that later...) as my "You survived a year of graduate school! And you still have another year (minimum)! But at least you have a rocking purse!" present to myself. And Preston's right - I do love it. Meeting Neil Patrick Harris at the Liberty Bell was also COMPLETELY thrilling. However, I like to think I can find happiness in other (i.e. non purse and celebrity sightings-related) parts of my life as well. I was really happy with my Spring Semester performance. I worked my ass off on those papers, and my professors noticed (hurrah!). I worked really hard to be prepared for class, and it paid off: I learned a LOT. Also, when she wasn't making me cry, the addition of Ness did make me very happy. (Seriously. Ish.) I mean, when I don't totally hate her, she is a boundless source of laughter and energy, and I think that she and Callie (one day...in the distant, distant, far off future) will be good friends. It's been a lot of fun (again - it's been fun only when I haven't wanted to pull out my hair in frustration) to watch our family adjust to one another over the year.

5. What is one of Mary Frances' guilty pleasures?

Preston: Watching all of Christy multiple times in under a week. Peach André.

MF: WOW this is embarrassing. So when I was little, one of my Mom's favorite shows was the very family-friendly (kind of faith-based...there's a lot of God talk) show Christy, based on the Catherine Marshall book of the same name (it was produced around the same time as Dr. Quinn, and is very much in that O PIONEERS spirit...it takes place in 1913). With some of my leftover birthday money, a few weeks ago - on a total whim - I ordered the whole series (it only ran for a year in the early 90's) on DVD from Amazon. And y'all. I've already watched all twenty episodes twice. I don't get embarrassed very easily (see: this blog), but I am actually genuinely embarrassed to admit that I have watched 40 episodes of any show (not to mention this one) in the last ten days. And yes, Peach André (totally awful peach flavored champagne) is a huge guilty pleasure. It's probably made entirely of chemicals, has zero nutritional value, and I LOVE IT.

6. What does Mary Frances eat for breakfast?

Preston: Oatmeal and yogurt, generally. Recently, Kefir.

MF: I used to eat oatmeal (without yogurt) religiously, but for the last year or so, I've eaten the exact same stupendously boring thing: Trader Joe's Bran with plain lowfat yogurt or lowfat Kefir. Recently, I've started substituting TJ's Kefir for the yogurt (it has slightly more protein, and a thinner consistency than yogurt), and I really like that. I always have something hot and caffeinated to drink (either black tea or coffee). In his defense, Preston does not know any of this, because I am almost always up before him; we never eat breakfast together.

7. Name some Mary Frances' favorites: book, color, place, TV show, food, drink.

Preston: Book: I Capture the Castle

Color: not sure, pink?

Place: Wintergreen (although spots like Loches and Oxford are probably also pretty high on the list).

TV Show: close call between Gossip Girl, How I Met Your Mother, and 30 Rock. I think it comes down to Gossip Girl (because of the conversations with Margaret) and HIMYM (because of meeting Neil Patrick Harris); at the moment, I think the latter has the upper hand because it's fresher, but GG may gain the ascendancy in the fall.

Food: Leek soup! Just kidding; this is tough, because you like so many different foods. A few that spring to mind: fresh, crisp apples, Very Mini Vanilla Meringues, my mozzarella pasta (I hope!); I don't know that I could narrow down the many vegetables, but perhaps salmon in terms of proteins?

Drink: Dirty vodka martini, narrowly edging out Belhaven, Guinness, and Peach André.

MF: Book: While I have many other books that I love, I Capture the Castle is an eternal favorite, and has remained so through many rereadings. It's magical.

Color: As my closet will attest, yes, pink is my favorite color. I have to make a conscious effort to branch out.

Place: Blue Ridge Mountains are high up there. I love trees and mountains and the familiarity of Wintergreen - I've already admitted that it's one of my favorite places on earth. I also love our apartment, both for the family that lives inside it, and because it's the first place I've lived that's decorated exactly as we (and by we I mean I...let's be honest, here) want it.

TV Show: Yep. All three. Gossip Girl is a favorite mainly because of my AWESOME facebook IM conversations with my best friend Margaret (also because of its fine acting and realistic story lines, obviously). HIMYM and 30 Rock are also favorites.

Food: Preston's right - I like almost everything. If I were to pick a favorite, I would probably say a good, crisp apple. I eat at least one a day, and never get sick of them. I like almost all vegetables, and try to eat them seasonally. Preston's mozzarella spaghetti is delicious, though I think part of the reason I love it so much is because he makes it without any help from me - I just have to serve my plate, and voilà! Pasta, tomato sauce, and cheese deliciousness. I also love cheese of all varieties, homemade hummus, and almost all kinds of bread.

Drink: OK, well thanks for making me sound like an alcoholic, Preston. I do love a good dirty (very dirty) vodka martini and a pint of dark beer, but I also LOVE coffee and tea (probably a little too much). I'm trying to make myself love water by drinking at least a Nalgene full a day, but mostly it just makes me pee a lot.

8. What makes you (Preston) proud of Mary Frances?

Preston: Everything. Being able to go through the immense pressures of graduate school, especially first year graduate school, while being married, having dogs, substituting, etc. Being a normal, sane, and very successful graduate student while having a real, meaningful family life that you devote time and energy to. Being an incredibly supportive and loving wife and friend throughout.

MF: Damn straight. Just kidding. I'm touched.

9. What is your song (i.e. yours and MF's song)? And why?

Preston: Your Song, by Elton John. When I was driving back up after "that weekend: (the week after Thanksgiving break, before we started dating), I put that song on repeat, and just sang it most of the way up, thinking of you, particularly because of the line, "How wonderful life is, while you're in the world." As I recall, shortly after I got back (though it could have been a bit later), we were emailing back and forth, and I mentioned that in the email...and that's pretty much how it became our song. I also remember calling you quickly on my drive back up, I think just before you performed with the chorale at St. Stephen's; I don't think that's when I mentioned it (I don't think I would have been brave enough to say it - only write it), but I suppose it could have been.

Mary Frances: That's the story (and it was fun to compare with my version below). Also: HOLY HELL I WAS STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL. Ahem.

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So. After all that, I feel pretty justified; we do know each other pretty well. HIGH FIVE. Hope that you enjoyed reading so much more than you ever wanted to know about either of us. Regular blogging to resume shortly. Happy almost Friday!