50 Things...

A few years ago, I posted some of this on facebook. Now, I've expanded the list. Fun times!

1. I'm glad I was never offered drugs as a teenager. I give into peer pressure pretty easily.

2. I was the first girl in 50 years born to my dad's side of the family.

3. I used to think it is rather unfortunate that my birthstone is a diamond. That's just crazy.

4. Although I am very fond of diamonds, I love pearls. They're so feminine. I have so many pearl earrings, and I have to talk myself out of buying more.

5. I don't mind that it took 5 1/2 years to complete my bachelor's degree. Not only did I spend 1 1/2 years taking only music courses and then change my major, I spent every summer in college with babies in a Romanian orphanage. My life is forever changed by those summers. I learned what summer sessions could never teach.

6. The friends I made in Romania 2001 are some of the most important people in my life. I love, love, love them. God knew what he was doing when he put 12 Type-A personalities together. It worked beautifully.

7. I love to plan parties. Big parties. Dinner parties. Birthday parties for two. Surprise parties. Wedding showers. Baby showers. I love them all!

8. I wish I were more confident about my artistic abilities. One day, I hope to have an income from things I create.

9. I love to decorate cakes. (Mom, this is not an offer to work on the weekends.)

10. I have knack for arranging books & stuff on bookshelves. Ask me to hang a picture, and it's sure to be off-centered and crooked with 14 nail holes behind it.

11. I love living in an old house. It's has the charm & character I knew it would. It also has cold floors in the winter and stuffy rooms in the summer. Maybe one day, I'll have a new house that looks old. For now, we're happy with our new house that is relatively new!

12. My favorite color is either red or green, depending on the day. Sometimes, it's both.

13. I love cities. San Francisco and Chicago are probably my favorites. In that order.

14. I finally figured out how my dog, Crickett, got her name. In the movie Little Women (the Winona Ryder version), Marmi refers to Beth as "Cricket." I added the second "t" on the end. I like it that way.

15. I love to make lists! It gives me such a feeling of accomplishment to check something off.

16. I hate the process of doing things to achieve a result, which is probably something I should work out with a therapist. Ha! I love a clean house, but hate cleaning house. I despise the getting ready process--both in the morning and at night. Showers? Ugh. Brushing my teeth? Do I have to? (Yes. Yes, I do.)

17. I work hard not to have an East Texan accent. Most of the time, I'm successful at it.

18. My mom owns a bakery, but I do not enjoying baking. I don't have the patience for it. It requires precision and attention that I'm not willing to give.

19. I judge books by their cover. Yep, if I like the cover, I read it. I've only been let down a couple of times.
20. I spray painted my dresser black because the paint the sales guy told me to buy wouldn't "stick." Four cans of spray paint later, I had a black dresser. Six months later, feeling returned to the tip of my pointer finger. (Seriously, I thought that I damaged the nerves so badly that I'd never be able to feel the top of my finger again.)

21. I still get carsick. My brothers don't believe me, but I do. They think it's a 31 year plot to always get the front seat. Silly boys, I'm the oldest, the only girl and the favorite child, I'd totally get the front based on those things alone.

22. I love magazines! I'm perfectly content reading magazines for hours at Barnes & Noble. I only have subscriptions to two, Real Simple & Country Living, but I read them repeatedly each month. I just donated about 250 magazines to two different charities. Hoarding much?

23. I love Hobby Lobby & Target more than the ordinary person. Hobby Lobby is like a worship experience. Seriously. The one in Tyler is huge, and they play instrumental worship music. I can be in the worst mode when I go in, but one trip around the store, looking at all of the 50% off merchandise can brighten my day. I don't even have to buy anything.

24. When I'm cooking at home with no one else in the house, I sometimes pretend to have my own cooking show. I look at the "camera" and explain step-by-step how to make something. I even have commercial breaks. :)

25. When I was 8 years old, my brother was fishing. I needed to walk behind him to the other side of the pier. I said, "Paul, don't cast. Let me walk behind you." Of course, he decided it was the perfect time to cast. The nasty fishhook caught my eyelid. I don't really remember what happened next. It didn't require stitches, though.

26. Both of our pets have middle names: Crickett Marie and Persephone Jane.

27. Sometimes I like a tuna fish sandwich for breakfast. And I'm not prego.

28. I like for the covers on my bed to be a certain weight. I like to feel that the bed is hugging me.

29. Many perfume/candle/spray scents make me nauseous. When I was in high school, I got sick almost every morning after taking a shower. We finally determined it was the Honeysuckle scented products from Bath and Body Works. I stopped using them, and I stopped getting sick. To make certain I avoid this, I stick to food flavored scents and powder scents. The perfumes I wear are Burberry Brit and Donna Karen  Cashmere Mist.

30. I also cannot stand the smell of shoe stores. I get sick if I'm in them too long. Sometimes clothing stores have the same effect.

31. I'm a coffee snob. I do not like Starbucks; they over-roast (burn) their beans. Yuck. I'm a huge fan of Distant Lands Coffee, which is roasted locally and also supplies beans to McDonald's. If you haven't had McDonald's coffee, you should try it.

32. I love to snuggle in a blanket, even in the middle of summer.

33. I love ice cream in the winter. I probably crave it more then than I do during the summer.

34. I had my tonsils out when I was 18 and had no problems. Seriously, I didn't take a single pain pill and was talking as soon as I was out of anesthesia. Not so with my wisdom teeth removal last October. Worst pain I've ever had. (And I had a friends mom tell me her experience was worse than childbirth. Here's hoping!)

35. I super love Bethenny Ever After. I like to pretend that we'd be friends in real life. Maybe eventually BFF.

36. We also huge Top Chef junkies. On our honeymoon, we ate at two restaurants owned by the top three finalists of Top Chef Masters. While en route to Fleur de Lis in San Francisco, I commented that if I met any chef of those three, I'd want to meet Huber Keller. As we were waiting to be seated, Chef Keller walked through the front door of his restaurant. I was speechless. He was so kind and gracious.

37. I have a goal to attend the Aspen Food and Wine Festival.

38. I laugh at my own jokes. Sometimes before I finish telling them. That means I'm funny, right?

39. I don't like Chick Lit. The phrase or the genre of books.

40. While we were in Czech Republic, I really enjoyed the beer.

41. While we were in Austria, I really enjoyed the homemade sausages. Amazing.

42. We're love TV...too much. Regularly recorded on our DVR: Bethenny Ever After, Top Chef, Castle, Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Cougar Town, Body of Proof, White Collar, Burn Notice, Psych and a couple of other shows that Husby enjoys.

43. I love to wear black.

44. I cook using recipes. Sometimes this stresses me out if I can't find a recipe for something I'd like to make. Although I can create food without a recipe, I prefer to use it as a guide.

45. I'm a planner. I like to have a plan in advance for meals, trips, weekends, going to buy groceries. You name it. I'll plan it.

46. I listen to NPR.

47. I sometimes have to act quickly when a decision must be made. I mull things over way too long, in hopes that I won't regret the decision. This could be healthy for some things, but not all. When I decided on paint colors for our new house, I was at the store getting them mixed before I could change my mind. Now, I love them!

48. I think about Christmas pretty much all year. Already, I've begun a list in my head of gift possibilities.

49. Where I used to love warm colors in a house, I've turned the corner and love cool colors. Strange.

50. I love working at a school. My brain has always thought in semesters: August-December, January-May, summer.