From the lovely Almsie, the Interview Meme. If you'd like me to interview you (five questions), say so in the comments.

1. As a youngster, did you have a place as your personal sanctuary?
Yes. The house we lived in from the time I was about seven until 13 was amazing. It was an ultramodern place on four levels (including a finished basement). The kids' rooms were all on the ground floor, and the master bedroom was on the top. On the "kids'" floor was an extra room with a fireplace, and my parents hung a ton of bookshelves in there and put in our old brown velour sofa. There was a built-in butcher block desk at the far end of the room, under corner windows. That room was my haven. I taught myself to type on the old manual typewriter, and wrote stories. I curled up on the sofa with my dog to read. I loved that room.

The next house we lived in was a vintage place my parents rented for a year while they looked for a house to buy. My bedroom was great -- small but with windows on three sides. And on the main floor was a gorgeous, window-lined formal room. Nobody ever used it; it had two ivory sofas, a bunch of plants, and my mom's grand piano. I taught myself the Moonlight Sonata in that room.

The next house, where we lived until I finished high school, was a split-level built into a hillside. It was basically a ranch with delusions of grandeur -- a huge finished basement with a ton of rooms. I used to go down into the maid's room (once we no longer had a housekeeper) and do my singing there.

2. Have you ever been outside the US?
Yep. Twice (unless you count a trip to Toronto when I was little, but I don't remember it). When I was 19, my parents took us to Spain on our winter break from college. It was their last blast family vacation. We spent a week in Barcelona, where I attempted very little of my five years of Spanish but just soaked up the atmosphere; I loved the whole way of life there. The second week we spent touring up Costa Del Sol, which was really gorgeous. But I got very sick (my brother had brought some hideous flu home from Syracuse with him) so the end of the trip was a blur.

When I was 31, my company sent me to London for a week. It was amazing.

3. Have you ever been skinny-dipping?
Do jacuzzis count?

4. Is there a teacher from high school or college that you'd like to thank?
Ugh, college. I had horrible teachers in college. But in high school, Barbara Patterson was amazing. She was the drama teacher at my high school (home of John Malkovich and Gary Sinise), and just an absolute inspiration. My senior year was her last year there, and a scholarship was established in her name. I was awarded "her" scholarship when I graduated, which was a huge honor and meant the world to me.

5. Besides your immediate family, who has been the biggest influence on your life?
That's a really tough question. I'm probably going to have to say my late grandma Ruth. I've written about her before. She was an amazing woman. She had this incredible capacity for love and life, even though her life had been really hard. If Grandma is considered immediate family, I'm going to have to ponder this one....