Friday's Five: Karen

Welcome to Friday's Five, my weekly feature that asks a fabulous follower 5 random questions.

I'm chatting today with Karen, an aspiring novelist who blogs at A Peek at Karen's World. She writes about books, movies, rock concerts, professional baseball games, and all the other fun stuff that Californians get to enjoy! She's a warm, friendly, and generous person who just returned from Paraguay, where she volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.


1. Technically this is not a question, but . . . please tell us a little about your recent trip to South America. Oh, wow. Where do I begin? About a year ago, while dealing with a very difficult personal crisis, I decided that the best way to get through it was to find something to get excited about. I'd been getting monthly emails from Habitat for Humanity's Global Village program for years, but never had the money, time, or courage to join one of their building projects. I finally decided to go for it. To make a loooooong story short, I ended up on a team bound for Asunción, Paraguay where I spent 9 days working and getting to know the city and some of the people. It was hard work, but so worth it. And I came away with some wonderful new friends in the process. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to finish the house we started building for this amazing mom and her four kids, but we walked away knowing that we'd given everything we had and that we could be proud of the job we'd done.

After our build in Paraguay, a few of us made a side trip to Buenos Aires. Despite the fact that it's winter there and actually COLD, we had a great time, ate way too much, and learned that it really would have been useful to study Spanish in school.

2. When and how did you become interested in blogging? I originally started blogging to keep up with some of my friends back in August of 2007. I moved, they moved, and blogging seemed like an easy way to stay connected. (This was in the days before I was sucked in by facebook.) About a month or so after I started my blog, I realized that I longed for the time I used to set aside to write regularly, because writing has always been a passion of mine. I branched out from my regular "How I Spent My Weekend" posts and started talking about things that were more interesting (to me, anyway), like politics and entertainment and stories of things that happened when I was 12. 

Once I discovered entire networks devoted to bringing bloggers together? It was all over. I was hooked.

3. You're a movie buff, so tell us: what 3 movies should we see before we die? Only 3?? How about 300? Okay, fine. Three it is.

It's a Wonderful Life

When Harry Met Sally

Stand By Me

4. What's the best and the worst thing about living in California? The best thing, hands down, is the weather. I've lived in places that have this crazy thing called "winter" and I have to say I'm not that big a fan. Okay, yes, snow is occasionally pretty, but why do I want to be bundled up and still freezing, when I can drive around town with my sun roof open in the middle of January?

The worst thing? Traffic. It doesn't matter if it's 8am or 11pm, there are some places that will automatically take an extra 30–40 minutes just because the roads are crowded.

5. What did you have for dinner last night? I'd love to say something exotic and yummy like sushi, but I had leftover fried chicken and a bowl of watermelon.


Thanks, Karen! I first saw It's a Wonderful Life when I watched a remake on TV starring Marlo Thomas. I thought it was such a great movie, and then, of course, later discovered the original classic with Jimmy Stewart. And what do you mean, you're not a big fan of the freezing temps of snowy, icy winter? Why, that's just crazy talk.  Speaking of crazy talk, see you all back here next Friday when I interview another fabulous blogger!

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Friday's Five: Karen (Karen's Journal)

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