I've seen this here and there throughout the blogosphere and thought I'd participate!
1. I had cancer when I was 3 1/2. My father picked me up one morning and noticed a hard lump on my side. My kidney had formed into a tumor the size of my head but it was only a stage 0 or 1 cancer, since it hadn't spread. My kidney was removed and I had chemotherapy for 6 months. Haven't had any problems since, except the celiac disease, which I think (without any medical knowledge) might've been triggered by the trauma.
2. I have an ever-worsening fear of trains. Not sure where it came from. It started on a trip from New Hampshire (maybe 4 years ago), when we saw the arm of the crossing thing come up. It scared me and now I can't look at the front of a train without crying and feeling nauseated. I also hate small spaces and big machines, which explains the anxiety attacks I have in the car wash.
3. My husband and I met for the first time in high school. However, my mother worked with his father 5-10 years earlier, and his stepmother was my sister's kindergarten teacher. Somehow we never met before high school.
4. I told Rob that I loved him the first night we got together, after a 3 hour long conversation.
5. I have always hated the "Happy Birthday" song. When I was a kid I forbade my family from singing it to me and if they did, I plugged my ears until they stopped.
6. Before I put my deodorant on the in the morning I have to smell it. I thought this was totally out there but apparently my cousins do it too!
7. When I use the bathroom in a public restroom (hey, I travel, it's a pretty frequent occurrence), I have to plug my ears when I flush the toilet with my foot. It's really loud and stresses me out in such a tiny space.
8. Rob and I have already figured out the names of our future children, if we decide to have children. He could never figure out a boy's name he liked until his brother came up with Robert, so we could call him R2.
9. I have weird rules around watching movies and TV shows. When I want to destress I watch shows like Seinfeld, Family Guy, and Mystery Science Theater 3000, because they don't require any significant emotional investment. I don't mind watching the episodes over and over either, simply because they aren't stressful.
10. Similar to #9, I hate suspense. Sometimes I'll read ahead just so I don't have to stress about what's going to happen.
11. I would ultimately like to be covered with tattoos, but unless I can be promised a lifelong job that doesn't require me to hide them this is simply not in the cards.
12. I almost always wake up just a minute or two before my alarm is set to go off. This is extremely annoying.
13. I have a bad habit of picking/chewing my lips. I managed to stop for a few months before the wedding but started right back up again.
14. I've had a lot of people tell me I look like Winona Ryder or Natalie Portman. I think it's just because they both had short hair at some point.
15. When I was a kid, my mother was relatively controlling in regards to food. I never had any sweet cereals and had few sugary snacks. As a result I have an insatiable sweet tooth; in college I would sometimes just eat Cookie Crisp for dinner.
16. My favorite song is "Don't Think Twice" as done by Mike Ness.
17. I drink a vodka cranberry, made with Svedka raspberry vodka and Ocean Spray Cran-Pomegranate, at least once a night. I'm not an alcoholic or a frequent drinker, but what can I say, it's my one vice.
18. I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I love how challenging my job is, but sometimes I wish I could be a housewife and spend my days organizing my home and eventually raising our children. Not sure how that'll all turn out but we'll see!
19. I an obsessive saver...with money, that is. I tend to not be a great haggler (like with buying a car) so I usually lose money, but I've already started contributing to a 401(k) and I also put money into a savings account every month. Rob makes fun of me but I think we'll be pretty happy later on!
20. I have mini-panic attacks if I forget my chapstick. I need to have my chapstick with me at all times.
21. Rob and I spent the entire time he was enlisted--4 years--unmarried and apart. We saw each other every couple of months for a week or two, and during the deployment, we spent 6 months apart and then 8. I'm pretty proud of everything we've gone through.
22. I never wanted a smartphone until I got my current job. Now that I have one I can't stand being without my phone, unless it's a self-enforced hiatus; for example, if I'm on a date with my husband.
23. Also, when my husband was in Iraq, my phone was ALWAYS on me. I would tell college professors ahead of time that I may leave to talk to him, and when I was in Russia one of the first things I made sure of was that he could call me. Amazingly we were actually in the same time zone for those three months! Made for much easier communication.
24. I have really nice handwriting and I love hand-writing things just because I love the process of actually writing it.
25. One of my favorite movies is "Se7en" with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. I also love "Shawshank Redemption."
26. I am a big reader. I love the Harry Potter series, as well as everything Tom Robbins and everything Kurt Vonnegut. I actually have a few books autographed by Tom Robbins thanks to my lovely friend *A* [
see her blog here!].
27. I know that modern country is just about the worst music there is, but I grew up with it and listening to it makes me feel happy and calm. I absolutely love old country, as well.
28. I speak Spanish fluently and also speak Russian intermediately. I plan on getting a Russian tattoo after this half-sleeve, complete with matryoshka (nesting) doll.
29. I love my dog, Cypress. If we can't have our own children I want to have a huge plot of land with a ton of dogs.
30. Rob and I performed two songs at our own wedding - "Dirty Glass" by Dropkick Murphys and "When She Begins" by Social Distortion.
Our dog, Cypress, has an uncanny ability to peer around walls, stare at you when you're sleeping or undressing, and be just a general creeper. I figured I'd start posting some pictures of this because by some stroke of luck my phone or camera is always on me when she's doing it.
