A few weeks (months?) ago, I was reading Glamour, and the issue featured a Q&A with Justin Bieber. I think he’s done a decent job turning his career back around and redeeming himself, don’t you? He uses so many dancers in his videos and on his tours, and I appreciate him for that. The questions were sort of fun, and since I have lots in common with Justin Bieber, I decided to answer them myself. And put my answers on the internet. For no reason at all.
(I’m doing a lot of writing elsewhere, so sometimes it’s nice to just do totally mindless things, especially when I’m feeling grouchy, like taking these surveys and Buzzfeed quizzes called “Which potato food are you?” I’m a potato pancake.)
Here you go…

Favorite iPhone app: Instagram and Two Dots. Instagram is so pretty (I’m @aliontherun1 if you’re into that), and I’m waiting for more Two Dots levels to come along since I beat the game. Though now that I’m getting healthier, I play it a lot less. Yay for not being in the bathroom as much!
Most-used emoji: The double hearts (for when I love something or want to show sympathy), the dancing twins (because I like them), the elephant (for when I’m talking about Ellie), and the enthusiastic double high five (high 10?). Why is there still no giraffe emoji? (Also I only started using emojis a few months ago, so I’m still really excited about them.)
Last song you sang in the shower: “The Lonely Goatherd” from The Sound of Music. AKA the greatest scene from any movie musical ever. (If you disagree, you are wrong. I love those little singing goats.) I also really like “Another Day of Sun” from La La Land even though I shamefully haven’t seen the movie yet.
What is your greatest fear: Snakes, hairless cats, Ellie running away
Somewhere you haven’t been that you’d like to go: Italy, Greece, Spain, San Diego, San Francisco, Egypt…




What would you want as your last meal on earth: This is my favorite question! Warm, buttery bread with salt and butter, the lemon spaghetti from Supper, and chocolate soufflé with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. (I’m happy to report that my dairy-free experiment is going well, but also that if it were my last meal on earth, I wouldn’t care, and I would eat all of this dairy-based stuff.)
The TV show you’re binge-watching now: Everything in moderation! JK. I’m not speed-watching anything at the moment, but I did re-watch all of This Is Us over the weekend, and enjoyed it so much more the second time. Here are my thoughts, after two viewings of each episode:
- Jack is such a dreamboat. Those push-ups…
- Mandy Moore wears great hats.
- Little Randall is my favorite. So is grown-up Randall. I love Sterling K. Brown so much.
- The first time I watched it, I was super bored with Kevin and his storyline. Now I like him! And Little Kevin is so cute.
- I love Beth.
- Beth and Randall’s daughters are my favorite characters on the show.
- Please don’t die, William. DEFY THE ODDS.
Last person you kissed: Possibly Brian. Probably Ellie. Lots of tongue.




Which living person do you most admire? My parents, of course, and Ellen DeGeneres also comes to mind. I love that she is so unabashedly herself and is so likable and charitable and funny without conforming to societal ideals or standards or whatever people wanted her to be when she was starting out in Hollywood. Go girl. And Michelle Obama. And Lin-Manuel Miranda. You knew this answer already, I bet.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I would have more patience. And I wouldn’t procrastinate.
What trait do you most value in friends? I need my friends to be non-judgmental, non-gossipy, non-assholes, and supportive. It also helps if they like to watch/sing along to Pitch Perfect. And #mustlovedogs.




Three words that best describe you: Obsessed with Ellie?
What’s the craziest thing someone’s said to you on social media? What a fun question! Where to begin? I’m so offensive! So controversial! But I don’t expect everyone to adore me. (I do, however, expect everyone to adore Ellie.)
I choose not to read or engage in the backstage nonsense, so I’m oblivious to most of it, but an acquaintance told me that people (or one person, IDK) on a website did all the research to price out my honeymoon. Like looked up the cost of flights and all the places we stayed in Africa and everything to find out how much we paid to go to Africa. (If you had asked me, I would’ve just told you! The internet’s fascination with how people/random strangers choose to spend their money fascinates me.) That was pretty crazy and LOL-worthy. (Because truly, who has time for that? And if you hate me, why do you follow me or read my blog or pay any attention to me? Why can’t we be friends? Is it because I have Crohn’s and you think I’m gross?)
Favorite time of the week: Sunday mornings. I wake up early to watch an episode of Scandal and read the paper while the sun comes up. Then I go to a spin class with my friends. I don’t know how this weekly routine started, but it’s quiet and I love it.




Childhood crush: Zack Morris, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, my cousin Jeffrey (don’t worry, my family still gives me plenty of crap for that one).
Most recent tattoo: No tattoos! I guess this is the only thing The Biebs and I don’t have in common.
Would you rather have a chauffeur, a chef, a personal trainer, or someone to clean your home for you? A chef, no question. I don’t mind driving or cleaning, and a trainer would be cool sometimes. But I would love for someone to cook all my meals and, better yet, to do the grocery shopping (and putting the groceries away).




THAT’S IT! Care to share? Answer some questions because it’s good for us to stay close. Also because maybe, like me, you’re into procrastinating and need something to pass the time before your next deadline!
PS I JUST WROTE A WHOLE POST WITHOUT REALLY TALKING ABOUT CROHN’S DISEASE YAY.
19 Responses
Love this! So fun.
Zack Morris, yes. And he’s still looking good. Those promos for the baseball show (which I haven’t seen) he’s on are amazing and I could stare at them all day.
I would want my last meal to be spaghetti parm, because your last meal is the time for dairy. Also my friend said she’d just want chips and salsa which sounded weird to me but also chips and salsa are the best.
I looked up how much the giraffe hotel cost when I first heard about it, because it sounded amazing! I did not post it on an Internet hate site however.
Hi Ali,
This is going to sound very strange, but I was reading your last few blog posts, since I haven’t stopped by in a while, and you had a review of your colonoscopy, and it reminded me that when I initially saw your intstagram post, I was really surprised that you used miralax as your prep (I can’t believe I haven’t started a new sentence yet either!) Anyhow, as someone who has had countless colonoscopies, this was unfortunately very interesting to me. But really though, miralax is such a rough prep, such thick liquid and magnesium citrate in preferably grape but cherry isn’t that bad either, is so easy and to me less painful. All of that thick liquid is tough to keep down. So, I had to write that. Because I was going to a month ago and maybe now I’ll let it go.
I really hope you feel better soon. This is the anniversary of a time when I was very sick and couldn’t leave my apartment and had a fissure and wanted to shoot myself so I know how tough being sick in the winter can be. Just remember, your body is designed to heal itself.
Oh, and the person I admire right now is Laird Hamilton, because I was just reading he rode an 80-100 ft wave. That’s super big! I started reading his book but all of the chapters were only a couple pages each so you can download the kindle sample and basically read all you need. Anyhow, hope your injection kicks in.
Two camel emojis and no giraffe. What a sin! Although, I am happy they FINALLY came through with a “Fingers Crossed” emoji. I was getting really tired of “Praying” for people when in reality, my non-religious self was just crossing my fingers.
LOL. Wait, what?! Someone who hate reads here, actually took the time to price everything out? Why? Why do people care so much?? OMG, if I hated someone, the last thing I would do is read their posts and especially waste time on THEIR honeymoon.
Thanks for making your fun distraction into a fun distraction for others! 🙂 One question: how How HOW did you get past the lotus section in Two Dots?! I swear it is 1) twice as long as any of the others, and 2) twice as hard. It’s going to drive me bonkers.
I’m not the person who looked up the honeymoon info, but I’ll admit to looking up the cost of the giraffe hotel you stayed in … not because I judge how you spend your money (other peoples’ money isn’t a thing I care about) but because I WANT! And oh yes, Zack Morris …
Zack Morris was my crush as well and I saw him in the airport once when i was 13 and I almost died. I started crying and my parents were so confused. I wish I had the courage to say hi. Oh well.
Love the survey. Ellie and her pal are so cute!
i also sing lonely goatherd in the shower.
so glad you’re feeling a little better girlfriend.
First I have to tell you I had a dream last night I was flying to South Dakota and you were sitting next to me. You were doing some sort of blog related event. I was going to a race. Anyway we talked about our obsession with our dogs.
I want to go to Hawaii, definitely pick the personal trainer and my favorite part of the week is Thursday evening. It’s date night with my boyfriend 🙂
I used to have a crush on Scott baio. Totally dating myself.
I only have one tattoo and I got it 16 years ago. It’s in memory of my late husband.
I love the poop emoji and the thumbs up.
Not related to this post but this morning my dog Duncan banged his leg and is limping. I’m hoping it’s not broken. He is clumsy like his mom. 🙂
And I loved your sunrise photo this morning.
Sorry, a follow up! After MONTHS of proving that I’m not absorbing b12, I finally get my first injection! Any experience with this? I can’t wait! (This crohnie is sick of mouth ulcers and tingly feet and hands!)
Well hey if you ever make good on that San Diego trip… *waves*
Can I add another question?! How did you get started with blogging? I blogged for school and miss it so much!
Also I wish I could leave you a picture of my cat peanut, she’s been practicing some pretty legit poses.
Happyhealthy2017
I also was in love with my cousin. Now it’s a family joke, too. Very fun.
Agree on the chef. Do not love cooking.
So much fun reading this Ali!
This is fun! I think I would take all of the above – chef, chauffeur, cleaner and trainer! I love all your thoughts about This Is Us. I hope a new episode is on this week! I also realized I haven’t sung in the shower in awhile. Time to fix that ASAP.
I work in market research with a bunch of people who are obsessed with figuring out random stuff, and pricing out some stranger’s honeymoon totally sounds like something one of us would do if we were feeling especially distractable at work. But also, I swear it wasn’t me.
And as for my answer to the question about craziest thing on social media… this isn’t that crazy I guess, but one time I posted a picture on Instagram of my flexed bicep, and somebody I didn’t know commented “Hahahahahahahaha.” So many sad face emojis for that one.
Hahahaha. I got the impression it was less “market research” and more, let’s say, critical, but your comment made me laugh. But NOT the second part about the Instagram! I would give you the double-high-five (high 10) emoji for sure.