If you've stumbled onto this blog and you don't know me, you may want to know a little more. If you do know me, you may already know some of this stuff, but here are 100 things about me, in no particular order.
1. My husband and I met in high school. We took a philosophy class together our junior year – friendship and crushes developed from there.
2. My husband and I reconnected after high school thanks to the internet and e-mail. I registered with Classmates.com one morning and by lunchtime, I had an e-mail from him. By the time I left work that day, we had plans for the weekend.
3. I believe that the DVR is one of the best inventions ever!
4. I love NPR. I listen to it constantly. In fact, I only have other radio stations programmed for when (a) they’re having a fund drive, (b) they’re repeating a story that I’ve already heard today, or (c) I drive out of range of the local stations.
5. I used to work for an NPR station. It was the worst job I’ve ever had.
6. I am a list maker. There is something so rewarding about doing something that you can physically cross off a list and see the progress being made.
7. I keep each pair of shoes in the original box they came in. When I bring them home, I take a picture of the pair of shoes and then tape it to the front of the box. This way, I can look in my closet and SEE where the shoes are that I’m looking for. I effectively utilize the high shelves in my closet. (Confession: in the days before digital cameras, I actually owned a Polaroid camera for the exclusive purpose of taking pictures of new shoes.)
8. I know nothing about my father. I have never met him – I don’t even know his name. I have some hunches about who he is, but I haven’t asked nor been interested in his identity since I was a teenager.
9. I walked in my graduation ceremony from Syracuse University nine credits shy of being completely done – despite the fact that I stayed there for five years. I didn’t earn my degree until 2004.
10. I have a B.S. in Communications from Syracuse, a B.A. in English from the University of Rhode Island, and an MAT in Secondary English from Brown University. I am extremely proud of my education.
11. I wish I had tried harder when I was an undergraduate in college. I did much better as an adult returning to college.
12. I lived and worked in NYC for two years after leaving Syracuse. I learned more about myself and my work ethic in those two years than I did in either high school or college.
13. I have four tattoos. I love three of them. I hate one of them and have had several treatments in an attempt to get it removed. The removal treatments are expensive and painful. I will probably just get it covered.
14. One of the tattoos is an infinity sign – my husband and I had matching ones placed on our bodies for our 2nd wedding anniversary.
15. Speaking of our wedding anniversary, I think the date we were married is a cool number: 08/04/02. Each number is half of the preceding number.
16. My husband and I were married in Las Vegas. It was not an impulse decision – we actually planned it. We even invited our parents.
17. I could spend hours just walking around in a bookstore. More often than not, this leads to purchasing something.
18. I didn’t have my own bedroom until my sophomore year of college. I shared a room with my mother until I was 18 and then with a roommate my freshman year of college.
19. Despite the fact that we were paired off at random by the housing lottery, my freshman year roommate, Fiona, is still one of my best friends.
20. I don’t wear a lot of makeup. I don’t spend a lot of money on makeup. But I think a good face mask and moisturizer are worthy of top dollar and am willing to pay top dollar for both.
21. I could eat sushi seven days a week.
22. I was the house mother in a sorority house for three years.
23. The sorority I was house mom for is NOT the sorority I was a member of – but I consider myself an honorary member!
24. My two dogs are named for Beatles songs. They are Penny and Lucy.
25. My two dogs are both adopted from shelters. I will never pay money for a purebred dog – there are too many good, unwanted and abandoned animals out there that need good homes.
26. I have only been outside of the country twice. Once in college to go to a formal dance in Niagara Falls, Canada. Once in 2006 to go to the Mayan Rivera in Mexico with my husband.
27. I hate surprises. I am too much of a control freak to let go – so, when I think something is afoot, I tend to badger until the surprise is ruined.
28. Despite the fact that I hate surprises, my husband managed to throw me a surprise party for my 30th birthday. I really enjoyed it – probably because I had NO idea it was coming.
29. I LOVE being an English teacher…but I hate grading.
30. I could reread Louisa Mae Alcott’s Little Women every year. Growing up as an only child, it’s always made me want to have sisters.
31. I buy books with the intention of reading them…only to see them sit and collect dust on my bookshelves.
32. I do not understand people who do not read for pleasure. If you have the ability to read and the access to material, I firmly believe you should take advantage of both.
33. I love assisting my students in becoming readers. There is no greater pleasure than to hear a student say something like “You know, this is the first book I’ve ever really READ in my life.”
34. I miss dancing. I used to take tap, ballet and jazz…but stopped in high school. Then I took up ballroom in college. I never stuck with it.
35. My senior year of high school, I was a regular at Stupid Dance Party on Thursday nights at Club Babyhead. It was the best dance party ever.
36. I love reading the Sunday paper. I dive into the flyers & inserts first – they’ve always been my favorite part. There’s something satisfying about reading a physical copy of the paper that cannot be replicated by reading it online. I rarely do this anymore, however, because today’s version of “news” is suspect.
37. I spent a summer working for the local newspaper inserting the flyers into the Sunday paper.
38. I could spend hours just sitting on the beach.
39. When I was in high school, my best friend’s mom drove a Volvo. The first time I drove it, I fell in love. The Volvo has been my dream car ever since. We bought out first one in 2004 and our most recent one in 2009. We just sold our first one and replaced it with a Ford. Volvos are pricey to repair.
40. I was on the debate team in high school for two years and in college for about two and a half. In hindsight, I wish I had stayed with the activity both times.
41. I spent 4 weeks one summer at debate camp at the University of Vermont.
42. I now coach high school debate – I am building my own program from the ground up at the high school at which I teach.
43. I think nice jeans, a solid-colored tee shirt, and a blazer is the appropriate outfit for any occasion. It is dressy enough to be taken seriously, but casual enough to wear every day.
44. In 2004, I went to New Hampshire the weekend before the primary and saw/heard ALL the presidential candidates speak. It made me appreciate how accessible our democracy is – I can’t wait to do it again in my lifetime. Maybe someday I’ll get to do it with my daughter.
45. I vote in every election for which I am eligible – primaries, too. This has become a challenge since moving to California where we vote on EVERYTHING.
46. I rarely go to see movies in the theatre.
47. I miss living on the east coast because we would go to New York City every year and see a play on/off Broadway. Travelling theatre just isn’t the same.
48. I was a vegetarian for 6 years.
49. I tried to be a vegan. It was my freshman year of college. I learned that it’s difficult to be a vegan when you’re reliant upon cafeteria food for sustenance.
50. I smoked my first cigarette when I was 8 years old. I stole one from my mother’s pack of Virginia Slim Light Menthol 120’s and locked myself in the bathroom to try it.
51. I became a social smoker by the time I was 16. I was a pack a day smoker by my high school graduation.
52. Quitting smoking has been the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. I still crave cigarettes all the time…and I know if I have even one, I will start smoking again.
53. My first job was as a waitress at the Newport Creamery on Smith Street in Providence, RI.
54. I had my first kiss in the back row of the Castle Cinema movie theatre. I believe the movie was the Rob Lowe hockey classic “Youngblood.”
55. I love going to Red Sox games. When I lived & worked in Boston, my company bought tickets to opening day at Fenway every year. My roommate worked for WEEI, the sports station, and would get extra tickets to games all the time.
56. I would like to write a book someday. I would like it even more if people would actually read it!
57. I have a small, round scar on my right cheekbone from the chicken pox. I was about 8 and my mother spotted the pox, thought it was a zit or a scab and picked it.
58. I miss my Mac. While I can use a PC, I prefer the Mac.
59. I don’t understand how people kept in touch before e-mail and facebook. I loathe long phone conversations, but have no problem sending a lengthy e-mail.
60. I don’t understand people who do not check their e-mail on a daily basis.
61. I love plants. However, I do not have a green thumb – plants regularly die in my care.
62. I have a crush on Dr. Reid from Criminal Minds. Not the actor who plays him (though he is quite handsome), but the actual character – he reminds me of my husband.
63. My husband is the funniest person I know. He cracks me up.
64. My friends and I auditioned to be extras in the Cher movie Mermaids back in the early 90s. Some of the swimming scenes were filmed in RI. Sadly, we were not chosen.
65. When I was at Syracuse, I had classes with Donovan McNabb. He was a Speech Communications major, too. He was also a VERY nice guy considering how in demand he was on campus.
66. I spent the 3 years before moving to California as a member of a secret women’s debate society that met once a month. I debated for them once each year before moving. I miss it dearly.
67. I love playing board games. I think this is because I was an only child and never really had the chance to play them much when I was younger. People generally don’t like playing board games with me, however, because I am INSANELY competitive.
68. I went to Catholic school for 9 years – kindergarten through grade 8. 10 years if you include Nursery school at St. Mary’s.
69. Of all the people with whom I am friends, I have been friends with Hebert the longest. We have known one another (and kept in regular contact with one another) since we were 5.
70. When I was a girl and people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up my standard answer was: “The first female president of the United States of America…or a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall.”
71. I do not meet the minimum height requirement (5’6”) to be a Rockette.
72. I love getting pedicures. I almost always have nail polish on my toes – my default color is OPI’s Kennebunkport Red.
73. I find people on the East Coast to be more polite than people on the West Coast. I do not know why people claim to find New Yorkers to be rude. I would take a New Yorker’s manners over someone from Southern California any day.
74. While most of the population tends to put their socks on first and then their shoes, I prefer sock, shoe, sock, shoe. Then I tie both. I never found this odd until a friend in college pointed it out and remarked that they thought it was odd.
75. I taught myself how to tie shoelaces when I was a child. I was industrious enough to figure out the bunny ears method of tying all by myself. Because of this, to this day I am not comfortable using the loop-swoop-and-pull method of tying. I still tie my shoes with bunny ears. Mostly, though, I wear slip-ons.
76. I am an overly cautious driver. My hands are almost always in the 10 and 2 positions on the steering wheel and I find nothing wrong with travelling AT the speed limit. My car gets passed on a regular basis.
77. I cannot whistle. Never could. Still can’t.
78. I have had stitches in the same spot (under my chin) twice in my life. The first time, it was Easter Sunday and the combination of new patent leather shoes on my Aunt & Uncle’s new deck led me on an adventurous ride to the ER when I was about 5 or 6. The second time, I was in college and thought it would be a good idea to roller blade to and from class the first week I had the blades. After falling face-first into the pavement, I realized it was not a good idea and spent a few hours in the ER getting stitched over the existing scar.
79. I am generally an accident prone person. When I was about 13-14, my mother and I walked into the North Providence Emergency Room and before asking for our names, the woman behind the desk asked my mother “What did she do now?”
80. My most interesting injury came in college. I broke my right wrist in two places playing pudding Twister at the Sammy house. (We actually hadn’t started playing yet; so, technically I slipped barefoot in pudding at a fraternity house…which sounds so much more subdued.)
81. I love the bathtub. I could take a nice, warm, bubble bath every night of the week. I do some of my best reading in the tub.
82. I get nervous every time I see a logging truck on the highway. One of my college debate coaches, Sam, thought he was going to be killed in a car accident with a logging truck. I have adopted his phobia and steer clear of them on highways.
83. I don’t entirely trust Wikipedia…yet it is the first place I go on the web if I want to find information about something new.
84. I inherited my cousin’s paper route when I was younger. It was my experience with this job that first led me to realize that I had a knack for organizing things.
85. Every few years, I cut bangs. Only to spend the next few years growing them out. It is a vicious cycle that I have been trapped in since I was a young girl.
86. My first concert experience was supposed to be The Grateful Dead. Shawn and his father invited me when I was 13. I thought every other concert after this would be a disappointment, so I wanted to see something before the Dead. I went to see Expose…but when people ask, I always tell them it was The Dead.
87. I have been involved in two AWESOME practical jokes in my life. First, when Lowell and I convinced Ned that I had a prosthetic leg. Secondly, when Jon & I announced the “new house parents” with the fake profile from the Asian people who applied.
88. I swear WAY too much.
89. One night, shooting craps at a casino, I rolled the dice for more than an hour. I made more than $1,000 for myself and probably 3-4 times that for my father-in-law.
90. I have been to 33 of the 50 states and have driven from RI to CA twice.
91. I love to cook.
92. As a girl, I always wanted to have curly red hair and green eyes. I wanted to look really Irish – pale skin, freckles, the whole nine yards.
93. I love fresh Christmas trees! While the clean-up is probably A LOT easier, I just don’t think it smells like Christmas in a house with an artificial tree.
94. I don’t think I ever really knew what love was until the day my daughter was born. I mean, I know I’m loved and I know I love other people…but the feeling I have for her cannot be described by this tiny, little, four-letter word.
95. I think marijuana should be legal. I can’t remember the last time I actually smoked it – it’s been YEARS – but I do think we should just regulate it, tax it, and use law enforcement officials to solve serious crimes.
96. I would like to go to Europe before I die. I want to see the Mona Lisa, climb to the top of the Eiffel tower, visit a concentration camp, see Stonehenge, and all the other places I’ve read about in history books.
97. I have a habit of starting projects and not finishing them.
98. I had a pet boa constrictor names Salome until I donated her to a pet store in Boston.
99. I have a ripped earlobe. My left earlobe ripped, though not entirely into two pieces, when I was a young girl. I was unable to wear stud earrings for the longest time because I was able to pull the earrings right through them.
100. Being a mother is the single most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. I am prouder of my daughter than I am of any other accomplishment in my life.
