Fun Facts Friday

Happy Friday!  As promised, today I'll take the time to answer a few questions about myself.  Thanks to all who humored me  played along with me.  I'll do my best not to ramble and hey, maybe you'll learn something new!  First, here is today's outfit.  Nothing horribly special.  It's Friday and it's a jeans day.  Date night later. So the top is pretty and fun, but the overall feel is casual and comfortable.  Can't beat that.  

All righty, let's dive into the questions!  

1. What do you enjoy about blogging and why? 

I enjoy the challenge of mixing my wardrobe and playing with my clothes.  I started the blog because I was bored, both in general with day to day things and also bored with getting dressed for work.  I can safely say that is not the case anymore.  And I love the blogging community I have found myself in, that is almost more what it's about for me now, I have made so many friends across the world and I love connecting with all of you.  I feel like it's a daily virtual coffee date and I wouldn't have it any other way!

2. What's up with the Pants Monkey?  What's the origin of that?

I get asked this a lot, so it's time to try to explain the whole thing.  I'll keep it as simple as I can.  First off, when I started the blog, I was going to keep it more anonymous, so I didn't want to use real names.  I had been reading Kasmira's What I Wore 2Day a lot at the time and noticed she called her husband "Beefy Muchacho."  So I thought, ok, I'll give my hubby a nickname too.  As for Pants Monkey itself, he came up with that persona years ago.  He went through a phase where he thought "pants" was a funny word and kind of made it his "thing" - he'd write it on stuff or that would be his response if you asked him a question, he was just being silly.  And then monkeys are his favorite animal.  He put the two together and bought the domain Pantsmonkey.com awhile back and used to keep it up as a website/blog but hasn't updated it in years.  Then we started homebrewing beer and built a keg system/bar in our basement for the beer and I decided our "brewery" needed a name - so we called it the Pants Monkey Brewing Company.  Flash forward back to when I started this blog and wanted to give him a nickname, it was a no brainer to me that he would be the Pants Monkey.  He doesn't really care if I use his name or not at this point and if you're friends with me on FB, Twitter or Instagram you have probably seen his real name now.  But I kind of like using his nickname here so I'll keep doing so.  It'll be kind of like Wilson's face on Home Improvement, one of those great secrets in life.  Or something!

3. Have you always lived in Minnesota or did you grow up somewhere else?

Minnesota born and bred baby!  It's actually kind of sad, I only live about ten minutes away from my childhood home.  The furthest I lived from home was when I was in college and even then, it was only about a half hour across town.  I love this state though, I love Minneapolis AND St. Paul - I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis and went to college in St. Paul, so I think both cities have a lot to offer.  We have a thriving arts community - theatre, music, visual art, you name it.  We have awesome restaurants, the craft beer industry is exploding, and we have some of the best state parks around.  Plus, Northern MN is beautiful, I love going "up North", especially in the summer.  Plus, I love all four seasons (and yes, that does include winter).  I have traveled plenty, but Minnesota is home and always will be.

4. What is your favorite meal?

This is so hard.  The Pants Monkey loves to cook and we love to eat out too.  I'd say we're borderline foodies.  I think my favorite if I have to pick is Mr. Monkey's spaghetti and meatballs - he makes sauce from scratch that is to die for.  We make Bobby Flay's meatball recipe and they are fantastic as well.  Add a bottle of Chianti and you have one happy Bethie!

5. If you could be any literary character, who would you be?

This may sound dorky, but Winnie the Pooh.  He may be a bear of "little brain" but his life is so simple and it takes very little to make him happy - a honey pot, his dear friends, and a little love.  And there are some beautiful quotes in A.A. Milne's books.  If you've only ever seen the "Disney" version of Winnie the Pooh, I highly recommend reading the classic books.  Also, I named my blog after Winnie the Pooh (that's where Bethie the Boo comes from).

6. What's your superpower?

What's my actual superpower?  I can type like nobody's business and I'm a major multi-tasker.  What superpower do I wish I had?  The ability to control time.  I don't know that I would stop time all together, but say you're having one of those amazing moments that you wish could last longer?  Then I would freeze time to savor it.  Likewise, let's say you want something over faster, like a dental appointment or something? Then I would speed time up!

Thanks for letting me share more about myself!  This was a lot fun.  I'll do it again sometime!  I'll leave you with a picture of my Taylor cat - it's her cat-i-versary!  We've had her for six years today!  Time flies.  I love this little furball!  

Outfit rundown:

Shirt - Christopher and Banks (From cousin)

Jeans - Old Navy

Shoes - thrifted via Clothes Mentor

Earrings - Stella and Dot