jldown2

---Hello, everyone: I realize I am very late getting swaps to several people. I understand that you must rate me fairly as you see fit. I have been very sick in the past months. I thought I could keep up, but realized I was wrong. I haven't been able to see well enough to use the computer in the past bit, but I'm slowly recovering. When I am able to go to the post office, I promise they will all be out.

I live in the beautiful (coughcough) cornfields of Central Illinois. I'm newly married and just finished my MA in Communication. (now onto the rat race). Much to our family's chagrin, we consider our home full with our tiny (6 lb) cat and hilarious looking pup (Basset-Sheltie- Lab). I love crafting, sewing, cooking (I'm a vegetarian), baking, gardening, and reading. . .though those hobbies seem not to stand out much around here.

I recently re-found the joy of reading (grad school hurt my book lover's soul a bit). I tend to read mostly non-fiction--good, interesting biographies in particular. I do love a well-developed fictional novel from time to time though.

Recently, my husband has put George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series into my hands--my friends no longer have to talk in hushed tones to discuss them. Maybe he'll win me over to fantasy novels yet.

My T.V. line up is a bit embarrassing to list, but I think reflects my interests well. In the day-to-day, we don't watch much T.V., but when we do, it tends to been on Food Network, TLC, the History Channel, or HGTV.

Series-wise, I could watch the West Wing over and over. And over. I'm trying to get into Mad Men, am embarrassed to say how much I like Greek, and don't particularly care for reality-competition based shows.

Crochet

Quilting

Sewing

Drawing

Photography

Card Making

Scrapbooking

They're not "crafts" per se, but I also enjoy baking, cooking, gardening (flowers and veggies), and reading

Bracelets and bangles

Necklaces

Yarn

Buttons

Card making supplies

Scrapbook materials

Stamps and Stamp pads

Handmade greeting cards

Stationary

Headbands

Chocolate

Vegetarian Recipes

Cookbooks

Bold, cool colors

Clean Lines

Coffee

Nuts

Spiders/Snakes

Crunchy Foods--Mainly Raw Vegetables, which shouldn't be a concern here, but also things like brittles and coconut

Fantasy characters--Faeries, Dragons, etc

Rum-flavored chocolate/sweets

Pastels

Glittery/Sparkly Anything

Kawaii

Americana/Country decor

I'm one of those who usually cops out and says I listen to everything. This isn't really helpful to you though, I supposed. But, forced to choose, I would say I don't always care for hard rock, metal, hip-hop/rap, or R &B.

I tend to favor alternative, country, bluegrass, indie, etc. Carbon Leaf, Old 97's, and Ben Folds are what I'm looking at currently in my line up. I'm also a sucker for popular chart-toppers and oldies of all sorts.

I seem to be drawn to movies with relatively simple plots and complex characters. And documentaries. Could watch 'em for days. Netflix has brought down my productivity level considerably.