Hawaiiangirl

I am a stay at home mom after working in the financial markets in downtown Chicago for 19 years. I have a daughter named Elizabeth who just turned 2 in April, and right now (and maybe forever!) I'm pretty happy with just one child. I have been married for three years; my husband is from Russia and has been here in the US for 11 years. And I can't believe I just turned 40--I still feel like I'm 25!!!

I've been palling for over 10 years now (love llp's), enjoy cats (currently have one) and can't wait to someday have the time to raise a Pomeranian puppy again. (We had one for a short time, but with a husband always at work and a baby at home, it was almost impossible. Believe me, it broke my heart to have to give him up, but I was going crazy here!) I also enjoy reading (both books and magazines--I go crazy over bookstores), shopping, the summertime, and traveling to anyplace tropical.

Some of my favorite places to travel to are Hawaii, Las Vegas, and Florida. I've been to Hawaii seven times and I would love to live there someday--I even have a book called, "So You Want to Move to Hawaii." (Las Vegas would probably be my second choice; I have a book about moving there too, though it doesn't seem as inviting to me as Hawaii--no beaches.)

I am registered on ebay (my name there is honestseller001) and have a 100% positive rating. I am quite interested in the cultures of other parts of the world, especially Scandinavia, Russia and Hawaii. I still need to get to Russia, as well as Iceland and Denmark, and can't wait till my daughter is old enough so I can get back to Disney World!!!

I love all things Partylite, Princess House and Tastefully Simple. I am currently a Jordan Essentials representative (family friendly and affordable bath, body and spa products containing no harsh chemicals), and anytime you want, you can go to www.jordanessentials.com to see my webpage. Just remember to enter 10119 as the rep code to get to my page.

Some things I like receiving are stickers, candles, bath and body products, stationery pads and different candies. I am a sincere long letter writer and swapper as well--I love sending and receiving goodies in the mail--and I love sending extra goodies when I can. I ALWAYS send out my swaps, and, of course, I always have room for another pen pal!!! :)

I love Big Hair Bands and Classic Rock--music from the 70's and 80's. My husband and I just saw AC/DC in concert and it was awesome!!! I love the "oldies" station too--kind of odd for someone my age, but I guess that's what I grew up with. I also love such artists as Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Wayne Newton and John Denver--and yes, my husband rips on me all the time about this.

I used to love books by Stephen King and Dean Koontz, but I got tired of reading a really good story only to find out that the whole thing was due to a huge spider living in the town's sewer or something crazy like that... I am currently reading all the books by Anita Shreve and Jodi Picoult. I start getting nervous when my stack of unread books starts to get low. I also recently joined paperbackswap.com; in my opinion it is great! (If you decide to join at all, please let me know, so you can out my name down as a reference.) :)

I like comedies--some of my favorites are the goofier ones--Dumb and Dumber, Joe Dirt, Borat, 40 Year Old Virgin, Vegas Vacation, Knocked Up, Shrek. Romantic comedies like Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail are good ones too. I always look forward to the new "scary" movies, but am usually disappointed in them. I'm also a big fan of the 80's "classics"--Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, etc. (At least those of us who were in our teens in the 80's consider them to be classics!!!) :)

Seinfeld is my favorite of all time--I finally have all the DVD's and can watch them over and over--but I also enjoy House, American Idol, The Office, Reno 911, The King of Queens, Family Guy, The Brady Bunch and The Simpsons. (My goal in life is to have a Brady Bunch house someday, and I really did hope to marry someone with the last name Simpson, so I truly could have been Lisa Simpson. Got one of those last names with millions of consonants in it instead.)

My daughter, Lizzie, turned two in April. Her favorite color is purple, and her absolute favorite character is Elmo, followed by Abby and the other Sesame Street characters. She also loves Clifford, Care Bears, Hello Kitty, Spongebob, Disney Princesses, Dora, Barney, Curious George, the Simpsons (!?!) and the Teletubbies (can't find any Teletubbies stuff here). She's still pretty much a baldy head, so she doesn't really need any hair items yet.

Likes--anything with pineapples or palm trees on it, anything tropical or Hawaiian, candies and snacks and souvenirs from other parts of the country or world, paper bookmarks (the kind without the tassle), things with the old fashioned travel motif on them, anything Hawaiian Disney or vintage style Disney, vintage style holiday cards and decorations, notepads (the non-sticky kind), goodies and trinkets from The Cracker Barrel, stuff from The Stupid Factory, Avon stuff, Clinique stuff, Pomeranian stuff, Mary Engelbreit, Sanrio (I just recently found out there's a lot more to it than just Hello Kitty), Happy Bunny, stickers, writing paper/stationery pads, candles, deep hair conditioners, bath and body stuff. Things I can use as compared to knick-knacky stuff.

Dislikes--anything cheap looking or smelling (believe me, I do love WalMart and the dollar stores--you can find some really neat things there, but you can also find a lot of crap there too), neon colors, religious stuff, kiddish stuff (Sanrio and Happy Bunny are exceptions), knee or crazy colored socks (little white socks with or without a design at the ankle are good, though!) Don't get into glittery or crazy colored makeup or nail polish. (Have to say I'm not into glitter anything--glitter is kind of like a phobia to me!!!) Not really fond of single notecards, single sheets of writing paper or little sticky notepads. Not really into handmade, ATC's, postcards, crafts or scrapbooking just yet.

Foodwise, my favorite fruit flavor is probably raspberry. Chocolate is always great, and so is coffee. Have been getting into tea a bit lately. I'm willing to try pretty much anything though, especially if it's something I can't get here!!! One major dislike though, is black liquorice. I don't know how people eat that stuff. And not too fond of ginger, either. Would like to try some real red liquorice.

Scentwise, a few scents I don't like are: peach, maple, rose, spice, mango, pumpkin and patchouli. And I am pretty picky on coconut--a lot of coconut I find smells like car wax to me.

I like peppermint scented candles and bath and body things a lot, and have been looking for orange-vanilla scented things lately but haven't had much luck finding any.

And even though I love scented soaps and shower gels, I like unscented body lotions rather than scented ones.

And this will really sound picky, but when it comes down to it, I prefer quality over quantity. I'd rather receive a couple of nice bigger things as compared to lots of tiny little things. Believe me, it will be appreciated! :)

Raspberry candles from Partylite (both the scent and the color are raspberry). These were retired a couple of years ago, and in my opinion they are the best in the world. If you have any (votives, tealights, half used pillars...) to pass on to me, I would love you forever!!!!!

Unflavored coffees and dark chocolates--the first thing my husband asks me when he sees I've received a new package is "any new candy?"

Would love to try some of those soaprocks or sliced soaps;

Norwegian/Swedish/Finnish bath and body products;

One of those Japanese figurines (the kitty or the round head guy)--when you put it in the sunlight, its head moves from side to side;

Ultra fine Sharpie in fuschia or aqua;

Unfllavored lip balms--in tubes, not tubs;

Anything from Russia;

Writing paper from hippopotamus (a Norwegian company);

Anything from Aune Publishers (if you are from Europe you know this company);

Anything Hawaiian;

Hula Hoops Chips (original flavor) from Ireland;

Anything I can't find here in Chicago or in the US.

I take being flaked on very seriously and very personally!!!

Serenarose--chocolate lovers' swap--10/17--FLAKED (angelled by Agnetha--thanks!!!)

Toffi--makeup bag fill #2 swap--10/18--FLAKED (angelled by Agnetha--thanks!!!)

shana10212--who likes tag (HK)--10/22--FLAKED (angelled by Agnetha--thanks!!!)

fairyandgnome--home business swap--11/23--FLAKED (angelled by crweixelman--thanks!!!)

MandiNoel--12 days of christmas--12/01--FLAKED (angelled by 3YorkieMom--thanks!!!)

camille--your trash swap--12/15--FLAKED (angelled by Agnetha--thanks!!!)

niblet--whatever happened to swap--02/19--FLAKED

RACHEL--candy swap rating--08/13