pieces of me

Last week, I found a very interesting  idea on a blog called The Interview Experiment and was very excited about becoming a part of this experiment.

I was asked to interview Robin from Life is Not a Movie. Right away in reading her 100 list, I could see we had a lot in common, not to mention her hobby of taking pictures, and she has some AWESOME pictures too! This was so much fun!

Here are her questions and answers below.

1. After looking at your photo blog http://accidentalbeauty.net And also your Flickr account, I am curious, when and what motivated you to start taking pictures and then to blog about them? Do you have a favorite set or a top 5?

I’m honestly not sure when it happened, I wish I did. I took a photography class in high school, back when it involved film and a darkroom. I loved it. Then it all kind of fell away into the background. It’s probably after we got our cats Aurora and Pilot that I really got into it again, they just beg to be photographed, even if it’s subconscious.

I actually started just regular blogging long before I started photoblogging. I decided to bring my photography online a few years ago when I got really excited about it and wanted a community to learn from and share with.

I just went through my popular set and these are my favorites from it I think, I might change my mind tomorrow.

2. Swimming With Sharks, Why has that movie made such an impression on you?

Again I’m really not sure. It’s a great movie and Kevin is really really great in it. More than anything that one line really hit me when I first heard it and always stuck with me. I’m a romantic person at heart, a Pisces all the way through. I tend to be in love with love and trust people way too easily. The line that life is not a movie is kind of like my mantra, a reminder to me that life is in fact not a movie and that there is no script to follow.

3. Who would play you in the movie of your life?

I’ve actually thought about this too much and written a post or two on this subject. I think the person who could get my personality down and has similar looks to me is Lauren Ambrose, best known for Six Feet Under. She’d of course have to have brown hair and glasses but I totally see it.

4. You have three tattoos, of what, where are they and what significance do they each have in your life?

I must not have updated my information, I now have 4 tattoos. My first is my ahnk, which is above my butt (or hip if you like), which I got in Montreal when I was 19 because it means life and my Hebrew name means life. My crazy Pisces tattoo on my back I got when I was like 20 I think, because I’m a Pisces, it’s my biggest tattoo and I actually want to change it a little. My third is my Hebrew name which is near my pelvis, it’s a reminder to me my Jewish side. The last one I got in Dublin on my honeymoon, it’s a triskele. There are a lot of ideas of what the symbol means but to me it means strength, honor and fortitude.

5. You love quotes. What is a very important one that you always reach to for inspiration?

Wow, I love so many quotes, as you can see. I particularly seem to love Dr. Seuss Quotes and Anais Nin quotes.

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. ~ Dr. Seuss

I am a neurotic — in the sense that I live in my world. I will not adjust myself to the world. I am adjusted to myself. ~ Anais Nin

I also have this one quote on my wall at work that I look at from time to time:

I always introduce myself as an encyclopedia of defects which I do not deny. Why should I? It took me a whole life to build myself as I am. ~ Oriana Fallaci

6. You make lists, what is one you list you made where you were able to accomplish everything on it?

I think the only list I’ve ever checked everything off on was my wedding list but then again I had like 27 lists but I’m sure somehow in all of that I got one entire list done. If not, I choose to believe I did so I can sleep at night.

7. If you could change one decision you made in your life, what would it be?

Oh wow, you are really making me think aren’t you? Well ok then. I wish I had known better and handled better my husband’s divorce from his first wife. I was only 25 when I met him and had no idea how to deal with all the emotions and drama. I could have handled it better, much better, but sadly I had no “how to” book.

8. What is most important thing you have learned so far about being married?

That marriage is no different than being a serious committed relationship or that it shouldn’t be. Especially if before marriage you were living together and paying bills together. For me getting married is just having that right, as a couple, to be considered a family.

9. What’s the one song that brings on a childhood memory, and where does it take you back to, is it a happy time?

It’s funny, one song I always mention that reminds me of my childhood is Maxwell Hammer by The Beetles. The only reason is that I remember loving that song as a kid and listening to it several times at least. It probably says a lot about who I would turn out to be as an adult.

10. This is the last day of your life, what will you do with it?

Since I don’t have time to move to Ireland and die looking out over the countryside I think I’d watch some American Beauty (I’m all about irony), go for a boat ride on my lake, cuddle with my husband and furkids for a few hours, have some yummy food and maybe watch the sunset. I don’t know, I probably wouldn’t do things much differently than most other days.

bonus question just curious……..Who is Gwen and what does she mean to you?

I laughed out loud when I read this. Gwen is a girl I met online like 3 years ago through another person’s blog and we immediately hit it off with our love of Kevin Spacey. I hadn’t met another girl who loved him quite like I did, until I met her. Turns out we had a lot of other stuff in common, not so much hobbies but the way we thought and the way we see the world, which is rare I think. She’s basically an awesome online friend whom I’ve been lucky enough to hang out with in person and have found to be a great person to talk to on so many occasions.

Also check out Robin’s photo blog at http://accidentalbeauty.net

Jen =)