10 things...

My friend Lee posted a writing-prompt. A couple of days ago, I asked to play along and I received my letter: S
The rules of the game are simple. Once assigned a letter you are to post 10 things that you love which begin with that letter. It took me a couple of days to get my act together, but I did manage to find ten things that start with the letter "S".
(If you want to play, leave me a message saying you want to play in my comment area. I’ll assign a random letter and on and on it goes.)

In no particular order:
1. Starbucks…Do I even need to explain this one? Not only do I enjoy the coffee there (yes, I know there are better coffees out there), but I also enjoy the seasonal flavors, the fun retail stuff that they usually have – and who doesn’t like to sit in a coffee shop with a friend to chat?
2. Singing…I’ve enjoyed singing since I was very young. I will never forget being forced to sing in a vocal solo competition in the 9th grade when I lived in Germany. I didn’t want to do it. I enjoyed singing as much as the next guy, but didn’t want to do it in front of anybody – especially by myself! The day of the competition, my pianist had a problem and didn’t show up. It was too late for a replacement and I ended up singing acapella. I was so nervous that I panicked and forgot the very first line. I was mortified. They told me to begin again and at that moment, I decided I should just do it and get it over with. Guess what? I took first place that year. I was shocked. It gave me the confidence I needed to stay interested in singing and I am thankful now that I did not quit that day.
3. Scrapbooking and Stamping…I know – that’s two things, but they go hand in hand. I love to scrapbook, because I feel it’s important to properly preserve and document our memories. I also think it’s important to take care of the amount of money with invest in taking and printing the photos. However, scrapping is more than just making a bunch of albums and playing with paper. It is like a therapy for me. I love the creative side of it and I love that it’s something I can do with my hands that will be around for years to come. The stamping goes along with it and with card making and crafting. It is definitely my favorite past time.
4. Seafood…I love just about all seafood. Crab legs, shrimp, mahi mahi, calamari…yum. The fresher – the better!
5. Sundays…I love to go to church on Sunday to be in the house of the Lord. I love the worship time, I love teaching, I love to listen to preaching that is always encouraging us to examine and better ourselves, I love the music and I love being with my church family.
6. Sightseeing… I am one of those people that, unless you are like me, you don’t want to go to a museum with. I like to read every single sign, take my time looking at the details, etc. I love to learn more about places that are unique to what I am used to, things that I am unfamiliar with, people that lived before me or in another place.
7. Seasons – Actually, this is a stretch…it’s the change of seasons that I love. I love it one season makes an obvious appearance after the other … my two favorite seasons are summer and fall. I love the summer with it’s carefree days and I love the fall that brings in all the rich colors and the holiday celebrations with family and friends.
8. Siblings – I am the oldest of 5. I have one brother and 3 sisters. The youngest is just turning 21. There was a time during and after college that I felt really sad about not having a real relationship with them. I went out of state for college and then, after college, I moved to California. I love them so much and I am happy to say that through Verizon, visits, Facebook, and blogging – we’ve gotten to know each other and I now consider them to be some of my very bestest friends! We even have a little blog called “Quint”essential. We each share a photo a week and it gets posted every Friday.
9. Son – I have 3 girls and of course, I love them more than I can even say, but then there is my son. *sigh* He is almost 17 months old. He has brought us so much joy (and anxiety =] ). He is so wild – but, I love it!! He usually has a mischievous grin on his face. You can usually find him climbing something dangerous, putting something from the dirt in his mouth, or about to stick something sharp into an electric outlet. When he isn’t stressing us to the limit, you can find him showing us “nice”, giving us kisses, enjoying butterfly kisses, or counting to 10. Yes, he’s the apple of my eye!
10. Spa – I have been lucky enough to have experienced a few facials and massages in my lifetime and I LOVE them. I would love to get them more regularly. My pet peeve though is getting any kind of treatment where it should be full-on pampering and instead the person is curt or very impersonal. I mean goodness, at least try to put a smile on your face before you give me the rub down! Sheesh!... Can you tell my last experience wasn’t my best? =]
BONUS: Sherry - I just thought I'd throw this in at the end! It wasn't until recently that I've really learned to love myself. No, I'm not perfect, yes, I am a work in progress...but I am okay with all of that now. I think the last 2 years or so have really helped me to know who I am and who I want to be!