25 Random Things About Me (Not that you asked...)

I got tagged on one of these and thought I would give it a whirl...

1. The year I turned 10 was a pretty bad year. In addition to some family problems, I stepped on a piece of glass and had to get it cut out of my left foot and rode a horse for the first time and promptly got kicked off. I was grateful to see 11.

2. I love to read, and my guilty pleasure is YA fiction. I am still young at heart and will pull out Ramona, Judy Blume, or Laura Ingalls Wilder for an afternoon.

3. My husband and I are high school sweethearts. We have been together since we were 16.

4. My mom had me pretty young (19) and I have found that the older I get the more like friends we become. I tell her everything and we talk on the phone daily.

5. I love dessert; it is my absolute fave. I would probably eat it twice a day if I could. Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.

6. In college I developed a huge addiction to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the TV show). I own all 7 seasons and have watched them all the way through more than once.

7. After college, I had a hard time "finding myself." I interned and worked crap jobs for about a year until I finally decided to try something I had always wanted to do: teaching. It was the best decision I've ever made.

8. Piggybacking off number 7, the summer I spent as a counselor for a summer day camp and attending night classes to get certified to teach was the best summer of my life.

9. As a child, I was painfully shy. I think I am still shy inside, but have learned to overcome it.

10. I am a very anxious person. I get nervous about big events, vacations, the dentist, the doctor, talking in front of large groups of people (this excludes the classroom), missed calls on my cell phone, and sometimes for no reason at all.

11. As a child, I would spend numerous hours talking to myself and making up games and stories. I did this for far longer than was probably normal, but I was sad the day I realized I no longer did it, because it meant I had grown up. 

12. It is my dream to one day write a novel. I love to write and I have lots of ideas, I just don't know how to go about it. I think I need more life experience to write something really good.

13. I have naturally curly hair and I have days where I love it and days where I really hate it. 

14. I took dance classes growing up and absolutely loved it. I was never very good, but there is always a part of me that wishes I could have been a ballerina.

15. I am a very picky eater and don't like my food to touch.

16. I love to play board games.

17. I've kept a journal since I was 13. Two are completed and I am currently on my third. 

18. Recently, I discovered that I am allergic to bananas and melon. They make my throat itch and my tongue gets little sores.

19.  I love summer and winter, but spring and fall get on my nerves because I want the weather to be either really hot or really cold (I can't stand the iffiness of the other two). 

20.  If I had to pick one thing to drink for the rest of my life it would be iced tea. I live on it.

21. I have been out of the country three times in my life, but traveling outside of the U.S.  makes me nervous. 

22. When I flew to Washington state in September of 2008, I had a connection in Phoenix and caught a glimpse of the mountains from the airport window. I fell in love with the western part of the United States in that moment.

23. I share my birthday with my paternal grandfather and my name with my paternal great-grandmother.

24. I am the oldest child and I think it's the reason I am so bossy, opinionated, and take-charge. 

25. I am a long sleeper. Eight hours doesn't really cut it and I usually require nine or ten, but have been known to sleep about twelve on occasion (okay... every weekend).