12 Things

I've been gone a while.  And, I have no excuses.

Well, I kind of do.  I've been working through some things negativity lately, some of which I may write about when I find the words to do so, and some of which I may not.  I have not yet decided.

But for now, I wanted to write something a little light-hearted and completely not related to fitness or healthy living.

I'm sure y'all have seen the status updates on the Book of Faces: "Here are 17 facts many people don't know about me.  'Like' this status, and I'll give you a number."  I "liked" a friend's status, but only because I thought what she shared was interesting.  Clearly, I did not read the instructions.  She sent me the number "12" last night.  Since I think that'd be an awfully long Facebook status, I decided to write a blog post.

Here goes!

1. Before I went to a Kid Rock concert, I learned every single lyric to Picture, just in case the female vocalist lost her voice last minute and he needed someone to step in to replace her.  (The replacement would be found via a karaoke contest through a local radio station, duh.)

I'd totally be his Sheryl Crow.
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Alas, he did not utilize my angelic voice for that concert, but I did get a decent rendition down for our semi-regular karaoke adventures.

2. My first job was as a soccer referee.  While it paid well, the toll it took on this sensitive girl's emotions was just not worth it.  How middle-aged parents get off screaming obscenities at a 15-year-old girl is beyond me.

3. I used to absolutely despise broccoli and cottage cheese, and now they are two of my favorite foods.  My intense hatred of peas, on the other hand, will never change.

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4. The first author I ever met was Vicki Grove, and her books (The Fastest Friend in the West, Goodbye my Wishing Star, etc.) were some of my favorites growing up.  I remember being starstruck when I met her -- not once, but twice -- and thought she was just about the coolest person in the universe.  It would be so cool to talk to her now (and read her books again!).

5. When I was younger, I watched the movie Now and Then on repeat.  While I had the entire movie memorized, I tended to focus on this scene:

Devon Sawa was soooooooo dreamy.

6. My favorite smell in the world is my mom's bathrobe.  (And........now I sound like a creeper.)  My mom used to wear a peach terrycloth robe, and it had the best smell, likely because she put it on every night right after taking a bath.  When she got a new robe, I took the old one and put it in my closet at home, trying to preserve that smell.  (Yep........super creepy.)

7. I love traveling, and outside of the United States, I have only been to Germany and the Caribbean (Grand Cayman, Mexico, and the Bahamas).  One of the places I would love to visit most in this world is West Africa, specifically Sierra Leone.

Seriously, how pretty is that?!
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8. If I ever leave my career in public education, I would like to work in the prison system.  (However, The Boy is not so sure he would like that career choice for me -- something about safety, blah blah blah.)  At Drake, I took a class called Community Writing, which was a collaborative writing circle between the women at the university and the women at the women's prison.  It struck a passion in me, to say the least.

9. I sure had to "kiss a lot of frogs" (as my mom so lovingly put it), but I finally found my Prince Charming, the man of my dreams.  We met in 2008, reconnected four years later, and have been so happy ever since.  I love our story and would not have it any other way.

Hands off, ladies.  He's all mine.

10. I dropped AP Calculus in high school.  I mean, I was going to be an English teacher and therefore didn't need to take it, it was hard and was going to be too much work my senior year of high school, and I wanted to take more art classes.  Well, you know what they say about karma.  As soon as I got to Drake, they told me I did, in fact, have to take calculus since I tested out of algebra.  I went to every single "supplemental instruction" session, bugged my professor to no end, harassed upper-classmen to tutor me, and ended the semester with an A.  Now, I have no idea what calculus is.

11. Ever since seeing the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, I have wanted a blue kitchen.  (Kate Hudson has a blue kitchen in that movie, I swear.)  Someday I, too, will have a blue kitchen.

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12. If I have the time to do so, I would much rather take a cross-country road-trip than fly.  I think exploring new parts of the country -- even if it is just driving through -- is so interesting.  When The Boy and I drove from Long Beach to Des Moines, we were in awe of the desert heat in the middle of Nevada, the amazing rock formations in Utah, the mountains and valleys in Colorado, and the expanse of the prairie in Nebraska.  And when BFF and I drove from Des Moines to Daytona Beach, we loved counting the federal penitentiaries, the adult superstores, and the Waffle Houses.

I hope you all have been well, and hopefully I'll be back soon to write some more.

Peace out!