So I recently read a list of 100 things about my friend on her blog and thought it would be an interesting challenge. Can I really come up with 100 things all about me? Guess we're about to find out huh?
Hmm maybe I'll just start with the easy stuff and go from there.
1. I've been happily married to Chad for almost 4 years.
2. Pretty much every anniversary we have has happened on the 14
th of the month: Our first date was Valentine's Day, we were engaged 3 months later on May 14
th and married 3 months after that on August 14
th. We miscarried on January 14
th and then miraculously conceived again one month later on (I'm 99% positive) on February 14
th.
3. This is my 2
nd marriage. I married my "high school sweetheart" when I was 19 and then divorced him at 21. Not a good 2 years but I learned a lot about myself and how strong I can be.
4. I don't think I have, but most everyone I know thinks I've moved around a lot. I was born in Minnesota, lived there until I was 4. Moved to South Dakota and lived there until I was 16 when my family moved to Arizona. I lived there until I was 22 and then moved here to Utah.
5. If you count all the different houses I've lived in, then yes I've moved... way too much. MN: 2 houses. SD: 1 (and a half if you count the house we lived for a couple months). AZ: 7 houses/
apts. UT: 6 houses/
apts. For a grand total of 16. :P
6. When I was younger, I would write skits and plays and make my siblings help perform them.
7. We also came up with great games that only we know, such as the "Plunger Game". :) If you want explanation on that, you'll have to ask.
8. I've always been content just being by myself. My mom tells me I've been that way since I was a baby. If I've had several days in a row with people constantly around, I crave my alone time.
9. I've always wanted a pet snake or lizard. But since I apparently married a sissy (love you Chad), I'm never allowed to have one.
10. I blame my mom for my love of all animals, both warm
and cold blooded. She used to catch gardener snakes in our backyard and let us hold them. She even kept one for a few days in a glass bowl in our garage until it escaped.
11. Because of my mom's love of animals, we could pretty much sucker her into letting us bring animals home. They ended up with a dog and a cat because they "followed us home".
12. The dog that "followed" us home, I actually stole. :) I smile because I stole him and 3 of his brothers and sisters because they were being abused by their owners. We kept Odie, gave 2 to neighbor families and donated one to the Children's Miracle Network to be auctioned off for charity. My parents still had Odie until about a month ago when they finally had to put him to sleep, he was almost 15 years old, pretty good for a black lab.
13. Though I love animals, bugs pretty much creep me out. I'm not afraid to kill them but they still give me the willies! The only bug I make Chad kill is earwigs... I just can't bring myself to get near them.
14. I was never scared of bugs or spiders when I was younger. We used to collect the pill bugs and millipedes on the playground and put them in wet paper towels. I'm not sure why! I remember putting them on the desk of a substitute once though.
15. I used to hate my name. I remember always changing it to something new when I was in 2
nd grade. :) My teacher never said a word though. The only 2 I remember for sure was Virginia (ugh, I can't believe I liked that name!) and Tiffany.
16. I was in Girl Scouts from kindergarten through 5
th grade but always thought the Boy Scouts would be better. They always got to do the fun stuff and get dirty!
17. I've never been
girly (my sisters cornered the market on that one) and it took me until I was in my 20's to even be able to curl my own hair. I think I've found a healthy mix now between
girly and tom-boyish.
18. I'm glad to be having a little boy because little girls scare me. One, because I'm afraid I'll end up with a
girly-girl and won't know what to do with her. And two, because I was a horrible teenager and I'm afraid of retribution for how I was toward my parents!
19. Having this baby both excites me and scares the
bejebus out of me! As mentioned previously in #8, I enjoy my alone time and I'm afraid I may go crazy if I don't get that every once in a while. I also worry that I will totally screw up and be lost as to what to do.
20. I'm quite a voracious reader. I love books... especially history. And it drives me crazy when people tell me they hate to read. I just want to smack them in the forehead like on those V-8 commercials. :P
21. I failed Word Processing in high school but can now type about 100 words per minute. I didn't fail because I couldn't type, I just had a crazy teacher.
22. I had horrible grades in school, not because I didn't know the info but because I didn't care and quite often didn't turn in my homework. Chad doesn't understand how anyone can be like that.
23. I failed Geometry twice because my brain just does not work that way! But I used to drive my teacher crazy because I would sit and draw my "optical illusions" in class and they are quite geometric in nature.
24. I finally went back to school at 26 and love it and worry about my grades. I'm quite proud of the fact that I have a 3.6
gpa and was asked to join the International Honor Society.
25. I've never ditched (or
sluffed for you Utah people) school. My parents basically put the fear of God in me about ditching.
26. I have however, ditched plenty of seminary. I basically went once a week the whole 2
nd semester of my junior year and 1st semester of my senior year. I often went home and hung out with my mom though and she was okay with it because I had a horrible teacher. I still graduated with 4 years of seminary though!
27. A lot of "Utah" words drive me crazy...
Sluff being one of them. The Utah accent also drives me crazy.
28. I think Utah is beautiful but really worry about raising my kids here. I think that being surrounded by "the church" and a high population of members is actually detrimental to gaining a testimony.
29. I've been baptised twice. I was sprinkled as a baby and then dunked when I was 8.
30. My parents are converts to the
LDS church and both are amazing examples to me of what it means to have a testimony.
31. I love to learn about pretty much everything and retain quite a bit of information. A girl I used to work with called me
Rainman because I remember the most random stuff.
32. I have a complex about eating in restaurants by myself... I just can't do it. I blame it on the fact that I had no friends in 9
th grade and ate by myself every day in a lunch room packed with people.
33. I used to be very shy and quiet and usually let people walk all over me just so that I had "friends".
34. Moving to Arizona was the best thing that could have happened to me because it made me break out of my shell and become more outgoing.
35. They call me the mean one at work because I'll tell it like it is and won't hold back.
36. I'm much more protective of my friends and family than I am of myself.
37. I often forgive people repeatedly and let them back in my life no matter how badly they may have hurt me or screwed me over in the past. It's a flaw but I'd rather be more forgiving than bitter and angry.
38. I have an insatiable need to "fix" people. My parents used to call my friends the stray of the month club because they were usually very screwed up in one way or another and I would try to help them.
39. The only people that I'm still friends with from when I was a child are my sisters and brother. Chad finds that weird because his group of friends has not changed and most of them are like family.
40. My absolute favorite song is
Pachelbel's Canon. I heard it at a symphony when I was 7 and I've loved it ever since. If I'm ever upset, sad, scared, etc. all I have to do is turn on that song and it calms me down... works every time!
41. I love all kinds of music. Chad calls me a human
juke box because I know most songs that come on the radio.
42. I love to sing and must say I don't have a bad voice. My mom made sure all her kids took choir and music classes and we all enjoy singing.
43. I played the flute from 5
th grade through high school. I've lost a lot of my ability but can still play the scales pretty well.
44. I marched in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1994 with my high school band (yes, I was a band geek).
45. I've never been very good at sports. I usually went off in a daydream (much like JD from Scrubs) and was oblivious to what was going on around me.
46. I scored a goal for the other team - twice - when I played soccer when I was 6. I was more interested in doing cartwheels on the field.
47. Even though I sucked at organized sports, I rocked at 4 square!
Haha probably had something to do with the fact that I was almost always the tallest kid playing.
48. I'm between 5'10" and 5'11". My height used to make me really self conscious and I would slouch horribly to appear shorter. I love it now and confidently wear heels that make me as tall as my husband (6'3").
49. My mom is 5'1" and my dad is 6'3" so you know where I get my height from.
50. Hallelujah, I'm half way done. I should really be working right now but it's very slow and this is keeping me entertained.
51. I have 2 dogs,
Kallie and Rocky. Rocky thinks she's my child and will whine if she doesn't get her daily cuddle time.
52. I love to just go for drives. Though the mountains are pretty here, I miss being able to go out driving in the Arizona desert in the middle of the night.
53. My friends and I used to drive to the Denny's in
Payson, Arizona (about 45 minute drive from Mesa) in the middle of the night even though there was a Denny's less than a mile from our house.
54. I love to people watch. I always wonder what their story is and love to hear about my friends lives and their families.
55. Genealogy is so interesting to me. My family is related to Jesse James and the Younger Gang and Chad's great-great-great Grandfather was one of the people that rowed Joseph Smith across the Mississippi river to escape
Nauvoo right before he was arrested and put in Carthage jail where he was killed.
56. Though I sometimes get burned out with working, I love my job. I'm so grateful that I can work at home now and still do my job. Though most people think the hours are crazy, I really don't mind.
57. I take pride in my work ethic. One of my biggest pet-peeves are people who flit from job to job and don't do their best when at those jobs.
58. I was laid off of a job for being "too fast and efficient". No joke! They told me I worked too hard and was too fast at what I was doing (graphic design) and they just couldn't keep me busy.
59. I think I'm a good listener and a good shoulder to cry on. I'll happily sit and listen to my friends vent for hours if they need it.
60. I've been referred to countless times as not normal for a
mormon. And I'm quite proud of that living in Utah. I love that my opinions and my beliefs on a range of topics differ from the masses.
61. One of those opinions: I'm all for gay rights and was very happy when California passed the law saying that gay couples could marry.
62. I hate when people judge others because of their lifestyle, religion, race, etc. I try very hard to be accepting of everyone and hope I can pass that on to my children.
63. I have very strong opinions on things but hate to argue with someone who disagrees. I love to have discussions with anyone on their opinions but I will usually sit back if someone starts telling me what I believe or should believe. I fully believe that everyone has a right to their opinion and beliefs and no one should try and force theirs on another person.
64. I wish I was more comfortable in my own skin. I'm envious of people who don't have to struggle with losing weight or keeping it off.
65. It drives me up a wall when said people complain about being fat when they have absolutely no reason to think that. I usually think they are trying to get people to tell them they look great just so they feel good about themselves.
66. I was my mom's biggest baby at 9lbs, 4oz and 22 inches long. And as I stated in #49, my mom is a little lady just barely over 5 foot tall. I fear that I'm going to have a 15lbs baby just as payback for what I did to my mom.
67. I'm the oldest of 4 kids and often mother everyone whether I realize I'm doing it or not.
68. Though we often wanted to kill each other as kids, I love my sisters and brother and know that I can always count on them.
69. I love having inside jokes and stories whether it's with my friends or family. It just makes me feel like I have an unbreakable connection with that person.
70. I didn't realize it would take so much effort to find 100 things to say about myself but I'm impressed that I've been able to find at least 70 things!
71. I have 3 all time favorite books that I've read several times each. 1st is the Count of Monte
Cristo (6 times), 2
nd is Roots (13 or 14 times) and 3rd is Gone With the Wind (10 or more times).
72. I like the movies that were made for Count of Monte
Cristo and Gone With the Wind but they do no justice to the stories themselves. And I just can't watch the mini-series for Roots because they changed the story so much!
73. I love to watch movies. We own around 500
DVD's and our family room is decorated with movie posters, only one of which is not a rated "R" movie.
74. I love working in our house and seeing rooms transformed. We've slowly changed most rooms in our house since we got married and I love it!
75. We're currently redoing our kitchen and downstairs bathroom and it drives me nuts that I can't help with the painting etc.
76. I'm an extremely independent person and hate asking for help when I know I can do something on my own. The girls I work with keep telling me to play the pregnancy card but it's just not in me to try and get out of doing something I know I'm perfectly capable of doing just because I'm
prego.
77. I enjoy going on vacation but am always ready to come home after about a week. I'm more of a home-body than I ever thought I would be.
78. I've lived in Minnesota and Arizona and have never been to Mexico or Canada. In fact, I've never been out of the country.
79. If all goes as planned, I get to go to Prague next year for work and I'm so excited!
80. My life is not at all as I pictured it would be as a child and teenager but I wouldn't change any of it.
81. You never think you'll appreciate the trials in your life when you're going through them but I'm grateful for every single one I've been through. They've all molded me in one way or another.
82. I associate music with events in my life. It always fascinates me that I can hear a song from high school and instantly remember a person, or place or event and remember just how I felt then.
83. I can't believe how fast time goes once you graduate from high school. It's hard to believe that I graduated 10 years ago and I wish I could go back and tell my younger self to slow down and enjoy that time because it will be gone before you know it.
84. I hate people who are two-faced (who really likes people like that though?). Don't pretend you like me or that you're my friend and then talk smack the minute my back is turned. I'd much rather people were up front with me. If you don't like me, too bad. I know who my real friends are and I don't need fake people in my life.
85. Our baby's name will be Tristan. People ask me all the time what happens if he doesn't look like a Tristan and I just think that's silly. :) I think it was meant to be; Chad and I both decided a long time before we ever knew each other that we each wanted to have a son named Tristan. It's fate!
86. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I was pretty close to suicidal as a teenager. My mom tells me now that I had her really worried for a while. All the poetry and stories I would write were about suicide and being lonely. My journal is full of statements basically saying that I didn't want life to go on after death, I just wanted it to be over.
87. I realize how precious life is and how our behavior can affect others around us. I've tried very hard to show my young women how their actions affect their friends and enemies.
88. I'm not a secretive person... what you see is what you get and I have no problem sharing with most anyone.
89. I'm grateful for all the people that Heavenly Father has placed in my path, both good and bad.
90. I love my husband very much and am so happy he's never given up on me... I know it's been hard sometimes.
91. I'm excited for the next stage in our life with this coming baby and all the changes that will result because of him.
92. I have stacks and stacks of my drawings as well as a book full of them but I've never done anything with them. I wish there was an easy way to share my creativity (or insanity depending on how you look at it) with others and possibly make some money.
93. I can hear the boo's and hisses now but I don't really like Disney Land. Haha Chad hates it because he and his family love to go there.
94. I do love rollercoasters and thrill rides. I would much rather go to Six Flags and give myself whiplash from all the rollercoasters any day than go ride the teacups in Disney Land.
95. I've wanted to go sky diving for the longest time but I've never actually done it. Maybe I'll be that old lady on her 70th birthday finally jumping out of a plane. It's definitely on my "bucket list".
96. I love to buy foods that my mom never let us have as kids. Especially Kraft Singles and white bread. Haha they make the best grilled cheese sandwiches but my mom was always thinking of our health... blah!
97. I'm now craving a grilled cheese sandwich and am going to make one as soon as I can come up with 3 more things about myself.
98. I haven't had any weird cravings with my pregnancy. I've noticed more what things do not sound good... like Cafe Rio! Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love that place! This kid is crazy!
99. Haha he must know I'm talking about him because he suddenly started kicking me and moving around.
100. I now feel rather narcistic because I've been talking about myself so much... and yet, strangely satisfied.
