The Tag

Ok! I've been tagged by both Shannon and Patty. So it's time to write five things you might not know about me:

1. I like to cook. My specialty is rustling up something creative at the end of a long work day, using whatever is already in the pantry and fridge. But when I have time, I really enjoy planning out a special dinner, which always includes wine and homemade bread. From rustic country loaves to refined brioche bread, I love the whole baking process.

2. I served in the U.S. Army for almost five years. In the 1980s, I served in various U.S. locations and what at the time, was known as Western Germany. I was a platoon leader in a Signal Unit for a mechanized infantry division (Third Infantry Division - the "Rock of the Marne"), and spent lots of time living in the German woods, tents pitched on snow, waiting for the Soviets to come through the Fulda Gap. NOTHING I have ever done since leaving military service has been as difficult as what I did while serving in the Army. No sleep for three nights straight, going without a bath for more 10 days, eating only highly processed cold food for weeks, and bunking in sub zero cold with only a sputtering diesel stove to keep warm, doing my best to lead and motivate soldiers to achieve our mission. And WE weren't even being shot at! (The Third ID is headed to Iraq for the third time as I write this.) I've never worked with better people than when I served in the Army. I left the Army because my husband, Nick, also an Army guy, was medically discharged in 1989, and I didn't want him to have to become a 'trailing spouse' to me. All Nick had ever wanted to be was an Army officer. Now he's in commercial construction and designs military strategy games on the side.

3. Clamming is one of my favorite activities while at the New Jersey shore. Put me in the old aluminum boat, give me low tide, a few quarts of water to drink, a hat and a rake, and I'm havin' a grand ole time in the mud flats. (See number 1 above - I love to cook the clams, too!)

4. I am very allergic to cats. So I take a nasal steroid to control the symptoms. It works pretty well, since I'm not going to give up Fremont the Brown Tabby Cat.

5. I have an MBA degree. Despite my lack of aptitude with higher mathematics, which proved necessary in some of my finance and econ courses, I gutted through this degree, part time at night. Why? Because I thought it would look good on my resume. But, frankly, I don't know if it's helped me or not!

So those are my five things! I'm not going to tag anyone new, because I think everyone I know has already been tagged :).