Encyclopedia of Me - P (Stacy)

Paula Abdul - She is the perfect person to put on here to represent my love of pop music (yes, really) and all things 80s. While she may not be my all-time favorite singer, I have always loved Paula Abdul ("Straight Up," "Forever Your Girl," etc.) and I still do. Remember her video for "Opposites Attract?" with the animated cat? Oh, I love the 80s! That's when music videos were awesome. I also love watching shows like American Idol (and now X Factor) as a family, so much so that I even write snarky reviews of the shows after viewing. My daughter has also picked up this hobby, so now I do AI reviews and she covers X-Factor. We're like our own entertainment review empire here. I love that Paula isn't afraid to show emotion, I love the ten-dollar words she uses when praising a contestant, and I think she's totally petite and adorable. Represent!

Pixar - Ah, I love Pixar! The sight and sound of that jumping lamp, the music, the animation . . . I get so excited when their movies start! It's an annual family tradition of ours to go to the movies every spring to see the Pixar movies in the theater. We tend to watch most movies on DVD since it's cheaper (or free, since we use our library so much), but for Pixar, we splurge. And it's always worth it. My all-time favorite Pixar movie is Toy Story 2, but I love all three of them. Our family has also watched the documentary "The Pixar Story" and it's an amazing, inspiring, compelling story about how the company started. Watch it if you get the chance - it's on Netflix.

Politics/Peace - When Mark and I started college, we were both enrolled as political science majors. Over time, we both switched majors and neither of us has pursued legal or political careers, but my enjoyment of politics continues. I'm a news junkie and while it can often be aggravating and tedious (and way too long), I do like the excitement of election season -- everything from the debates and the news stories to the SNL parodies and Jon Stewart. Also, I've always been someone who does not like contention and fighting. I am a big fan of peace.

Pereira - This is my Vavô's last name, my mother's maiden name (don't worry - I don't use that for password protection), my dad's middle name, and so on. I love my Vavô dearly. I miss him. He was a wonderful grandfather to me. I used to love to sit and cuddle with him and I liked to kiss his bald head. It's great that I'm wearing so much purple (another P-word) in that picture (that was also very me as a kid - I loved purple!). My son's middle name is a variation of this name, after my grandfather. I love that this name represents to many things to me. It's not a very common name, so I also think it's pretty cool that Thing 2 and his best friend share the same middle name.

Potstickers - I love Asian food, all kinds. I especially love Japanese food, but I also love Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc. We have pork potstickers (only we call them gyoza) from Trader Joe's for dinner now and then and they are always a part of our big, annual, Asian New Year's celebrations. Dumplings? Filled with goodness? Rolled in a soft wrapper? Dipped in delicious sauces? Eaten with chopsticks? I'm in!

Puzzles -I love puzzles. I especially enjoy 500-piece jigsaw puzzles that are collections of things (teddy bears, ice cream sundaes, buttons, etc.). Jigsaw puzzles calm me when I'm feeling anxious. I remember when my Dad was dying and we were trying to tie up loose ends here (we had just moved, just opened our business, etc.) so that we could get up there and see him. I could barely concentrate on anything, I was so nervous and worried. I worked on a 1000-piece "12 Days of Christmas" puzzle and it was the only thing that could hold my attention and calm my worry a little bit. We usually have a puzzle going on our dining room table and it's fun, relaxing, and calming to work on together. I also enjoy crossword puzzles, fill-in puzzles, and pretty much any kind of word puzzle.