Getting to Know Collette A

My name is: Collette Arens

My favorite dinner is: Steak with onions or roast beef.

My favorite dessert is: Cookie Monster!!!

My favorite flower is: Not a single favorite, but I love wildflowers.

My favorite hobby is: Horse-back riding on a sunny summer day.

My favorite restaurant is: My favorite does not exist. My favorite would include fried mozzerella from Olive Garden, steak from Pantrucas, fries from Sammy's, pork burritos from Costa Vida etc etc. I'm picky. However, one of the best all around restaurants is Das Duetchman Essenhaus--a German Amish restaurant in Indiana.

A game I like to play is: MarioKart and ConnectFour and MadGab :)

 

The music I listen to most is: Think Depeche Mode, Enya and then the Scorpions. I like either really chill music or rock with a great melody in the vocals and guitar. I also like music that makes me feel like I'm living in an 80's movie.

My favorite thing to buy is: Food. It is my weakness. I don't like shopping for anything else.

A book I highly recommend is: For guilty pleasure the Fablehaven series, for intellectual enlightenment Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, and for spiritual nourishment The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox or The Great Divorce OR Screwtape Letters OR Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. By the way, I love to read :)

A movie I watch over and over is: I don't like to watch things usually more than once every year or two. Lame I know, but it's no fun for me if I remember everything. Although lately I've been dying for Gladiator to show up on TV because I love it and TV edits it for me :)

A smell that makes me pause is: bacon

The city country I would most like to visit is: For pleasure: Iceland. To do something meaningful: Ghana

My favorite thing to do on a date is: eat and sleep :) mostly because they are my two favorite things to do in general.

The best vacation I ever had was: Ya know, I really enjoyed going to Zions last year and hiking the Narrows. We hike quite a bit but that was probably my favorite.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? Wow this question has me stumped! Peter says he would be one of the X-Men but that would be a little too much adventure for me. The serious answer to this will take much too long to decide, so I'll go with Tarzan because only wearing a loincloth and talking to gorillas, among other things, would be pretty awesome.

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? I would love to learn to not be afraid. I'm afraid of water, bears, broken bones, blood... To rid my life of fear would be awesome!

What chore do you absolutely hate doing? Dishes.

When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time? If I havn't read my scrips I do that, if that's done I blog or turn on the tele. I'm all for passive entertainment.

What do you think is your very best feature or characteristic? I'm teachable, which has really helped me in everything I do.

What is the "thing" you are most grateful for? Good food.

What is your dream vacation? It's not the place that matters it's the amount of comfort. I don't want to be tired or hungry or too hot or too cold. Haha I just realized that probably means I should just stay home :)

What's the coolest thing you've ever done? I had a concussion from a slip and slide and don't remember an entire day of my life.

How did you meet your husband? How did he propose? We met at EFY in 2002. No, we didn't like each other. He proposed in a mountain, but almost didn't because it had snowed, but I insisted that we "go on a drive" hehe I was sick of waiting :)

The best thing about being married is: having a companion with the same eternal goals to work with them on every day.

What do you and your husband like to do together? Play ConnectFour and go hiking and camping. And eat :) Mini golf. Swim occasionally

What would be your perfect day? 77 sunny. Open field with yellow flowers. Me and my hubby on horseback. Of course, there would be good food included.

What was the best advice you got/would give on marriage? Quite a few said "remember, the wife is always right" which was actually the crappiest advice although I wish it were true :) I would say that perspective is important. Remember, celestial marriage is requisite for exaltation because it is what refines us. Don't give up because it's hard! Realize that we all have developed unhealthy habits and that now is the time to turn them over to the Lord and change.

What story does your family always tell about you? Well my oldest siblings like to talk about how I was a siren and if you inflicted any pain on me your consequence was to hold me while I wailed :) My dad likes to tell me about one particular day at the beach (I grew up on Lake Michigan). I was jumping the waves--my favorite beach activity--all alone. My pops came over to me to jump with me. I looked at him and shouted, "No! You're messing up my waves!" This is important because we now use the phrase to describe a lot of situations that still upset me. For example, I had a mission call when Peter decided to marry me and I told him he was messing up my waves. The end.