Now you Know!

As the Sarahs have requested…here is my list of 101 random facts about myself (since this really is the 101st entry). The first 50 weren't too hard, but the second half was a bit challenging. So near the end I broke up the facts into categories. Enjoy!

1. I do not like mashed potatoes. (I know, it’s un-American…I hear it ALL the time). I could also do without beans, onions, bean sprouts, and 90% of existing vegetables.

2. I LOVE candy. Mostly hard candy vs. chocolate. (Chocolate always makes me thirsty and as a kid water wasn’t easily accessible).

3. Because I LOVED candy so much as a kid it has caused two small holes in two of my bottom teeth. Now next week I have to go get one filled in.

4. I would be worried, but I have the BEST dentist. They even give me a numbing liquid for my gums before they clean my teeth.

5. I finally got to tell a medical professional that YES my medical history has changed since I last saw you. (Can you tell I went to the dentist on Wed.?)

6. I can decorate cakes... I just haven’t in a long time. Here is one of my fave Halloween cakes.
7. I think I was around 13 when I gambled for the first time. We were in Reno and my dad let me play a video poker machine. I was going fine until a cocktail waitress came and asked me what I wanted to drink. I guess ordering a shirley temple gave my age away. Dang!

8. I was 9 lbs. when I was born and was 1.5 months late, because I was sideways and stuck in my mom’s pelvis.

9. I have owned three dwarf hamsters: Bilbo, Milkshake (AKA Milky), and Mini Snowball (AKA Mini). Bilbo is below:
10. I was so sad when they died that I never want to have another pet.

11. I used to be addicted to caffeine (Pepsi) and now I avoid it like the plague. Well I used to have a frappachino every once in awhile, until I found out how many calories were in them.

12. I used to get multiple migraine headaches a year, starting when I was 13, but I haven’t had one since January 2006.

13. I’ve broken two bones in my life.
My arm / cause = jumping on the bed and falling off.
My foot / cause = jumping from the couch onto a bean bag, and every time I landed the jump I’d move the bag further from the couch. Of course I had to challenge myself!

14. I love clothes and fashion but am too cheap to put my own money towards it. (It was super easy when it was my parents money!)

15. Sandwiches are one of my favorite foods

16. Most of the time I would rather eat more bread at a restaurant than dessert.

17. Fall is my favorite time of year. Here are some of the reasons why: football, Halloween, colder weather, snuggling in a blanket on the couch, rain (well obviously not here in SLO, but where I grew up).

18. Halloween and Christmas are my favorite holidays. I didn’t even realize that Halloween was #1 until last year. But when I did realize it was a total ‘duh’ moment. Here is one of my favorite Halloween costumes as a kid:

19. I LOVE living in a neighborhood that has TONS of trick-or-treaters. It’s a highlight of my year.

20. I strongly believe you should treat everyone how you wish to be treated.

21. I used to try very hard to always be a positive thinker. I’ve gotten out of the habit recently and am gong to try harder to do it. It really does make a difference.

22. I always believed in karma, but didn’t know it was legit until I worked with someone who was always unlucky and down and out. But then I got to know him better and realized that he lived a dishonest life so he basically he deserved all of his misfortune.

23. I had a perm from the 3rd grade until I was a senior in high school.

24. Ever since I was a kid, death has been my biggest fear in life.

25. I don’t believe that my grandma has really died. I still like to think she’s alive. Here is one of the last photos of us. She always used a Polaroid camera.
26. I’ve never gotten a ticket OR been pulled over.

27. I’ve always loved getting mail, and now I love getting email just as much.

28. I have terrible allergies to dogs, cats, mold, dust, dairy, almost every tree and weed. However I have found the best nose spray that makes them go away. I feel so lucky!

29. I love chocolate, but not chocolate cake.

30. I just started liking tomatoes and avocados.

31. I was lucky enough to win a contest back in 2000 go to down to LA for a small No Doubt concert where we got to meet some of the band members. Definitely one of the best days of my life.
32. I am left handed but use scissors in my right hand and never knew you were supposed to write and cut with the same hand for like 20 years.

33. Returning to London last year was also great and I loved being able to show John around, (and prove to him that I did know how to get around on the Underground. He had some doubt after an incident on the NYC subway).

34. I am a HORRID speller. When I was in the 8th grade my spelling level was at a 4th graders level. Spell checkers have helped me out, but not when I’m so far off that it doesn’t know what I’m trying to spell.

35. I love reality TV. But only the good shows of course: Survivor, Amazing Race, Project Runway, Beauty and the Geek, Girls Next Door, LA/Miami Ink. (Project Runway starts on Nov. 14th!)

36. I do love a few ‘non’ realty shows as well: LOST, The Office, and Big Love.

37. I’ve tried to limit my TV time, which results in my computer time. Not sure how good of a trade off that is.

38. I worked at the first bay area Cold Stone in Sunnyvale for a summer. One night, Amy, Rebekkah and I got dressed up and decided to pay the workers a visit.

Travel

39. My vacations are normally the highlight of my year.

40. We are hoping to go to Italy and Greece next year.

41. Even though I love to travel I still have a lot of anxiety going into foreign counties. I think it’s just because I’m a worrywart, especially if English is not the primary language.

42. I will travel to Australia, and Thailand someday.

43. I would love to move to a foreign country but don’t have the guts to do it.

John

44. John and I met our Freshman year in high school. I knew of him though because his older sister Molly was in the same grade as my sister. Here is the first photo of us (during that year). We were at a FFAD dance/gambling night.
45. John and I have invented our own words for certain items. Sometimes I have to stop myself from saying them in front of other people. Can you guess the meaning of them? Wads, sunnies, p-corn, show-show, sweaty, and controlie.

46. I wear my wedding dress on my wedding anniversary and then we watch our wedding video.
47. John and I own a scooter that we call ‘Scoot-scoot’.
48. I hate the fact that I don’t get to spend everyday with him…which causes me to really look forward to the weekends.

49. I normally want to write all sorts of flattering/gushy stuff about John on this blog, but I don’t want it to come across as bragging.

College

50. It took me 7 years to finish college.

51. But I have a learning disability! Ok… that has nothing to do with the fact that it took me so long. I didn’t know what I wanted to major in. How are you supposed to know when you are 18? I think they should require high school graduates to have to work for 1-2 years before they go to college. That way they can experience the working world and find out what their interests are.

52. I got all A’s in every photography class I took, except the class I took for fun where I got a C. The teacher was a jerk though. I at least deserved a B.

53. Sometimes I think I should have majored in photography. But I didn’t want the stress of being a freelance or wedding photographer.
54. I really liked being an art major and am very thankful that I found a path I enjoyed so much… and still enjoy! This one day I didn’t leave the art building all day. I think it was from 8am to like 7pm. I had classes, meetings and labs.

55. I loved going to Cal Poly. One of the happiest days of my life was when I got accepted.

High school

56. I LOVED high school. Ok, so I HATED the homework, but I loved that I had to go everyday and hang out with my friends.

57. Toilet papering was the main event on the weekends. If we weren’t tping we’d cruise around town and eventually wind up in the Safeway parking and hang out. Here we are one night up to no good.
58. My mom taught Spanish at the high school and I was her student and TA. I loved having her on campus! Here I am in her Spanish 3 class, and yes, that is John in the back.
59. John and I took Home Ec our senior year and Poust was the third person in our kitchen. Besides Poust singing Offspring all day and imitating Bevis and Butthead it was a lot of fun. It also didn’t hurt that Molly and Katy were in the kitchen next to ours. They were always willing to help us out!

60. Once Rebekkah got her license, we would always go cruising around. Her mom would often ask us to go to the store for her, which should have taken 10 minutes max, but we would drive all over town and get back home an hour later.

Childhood

61. I wanted to change my name to Valentine Ground Hog Scott

62. I loved Punky Brewster, Fraggle Rock, and Madonna.

63. My mom used to take me out to lunch when I was in the 5th grade once a week. I really enjoyed the time with her and it made me feel really special.

64. On my birthdays I would get to bring in boxes of conversation hearts since it was near Valentine’s day.

65. My mom had all my hair cut off when I was in Kindergarten because I had a sensitive head. She hated having me scream bloody murder when she’s fix my hair in the mornings, so I can't really blame her. After the cut I was constantly referred to as a boy. Not so fun. Here we are on one of our family vacations where we went on a cruise. I'm not sure why my mom and Amy have matching pants on.
Cancer

66. I still don’t know why I got cancer. The only reason I’ve come up with is that it allowed me to see Gwen in concert…but I really don’t think that is the reason.

67. People told me I’d be stronger after dealing with my cancer, but I don’t feel any stronger.

68. I don’t hate my scar anymore.

69. I used to worry that a friend or family member was going to get cancer. I never thought it would be me!

70. I feel bad that I still haven’t thanked the nurse who found the nodule.

Music

71. I really love music, but I’ve realized I only listen to music when I’m doing something else, like driving, cooking, or cleaning. I rarely listen to music just to listen to it.

72. I realized during the weddings this year that soon the music I love to dance to will be looked upon as the ‘old peoples’ music’ by the younger generation…just like the way I look at my parents dancing music.

73. I love going to concerts. When I lived in the bay area my sister and I would go to concerts all the time. The fact that I moved AND the fact that musicians have concerts on any days of the week now, has limited my concert going.

74. I love how old songs bring back memories.

75. I think the ipod is one of the greatest inventions EVER.

Eel River Sawmills

76. I worked at the front desk during the summers at my dad’s company (for 5 years). I had so much fun and thought it was great that I got to see my dad so much. Sometimes I’d go in his office and hang out and we’d talk about how many logs came in and how much lumber was being sold. Yeah right! I’m sure I was filling him in on the office gossip!

77. I also had a great co-worker Lori, whom I am still friends with today. We would have our ‘bugle breaks’ every morning, but we’d have to hid the box in our desk so that the other office mooches wouldn’t eat them. Do any of you know if they still make the cheese flavored ones?

78. This one summer a rat died in the office wall RIGHT NEXT TO MY OFFICE. It smelled SO bad. The solution? Buy scented candles. Like that would work? It just made it seem like there was rotting carcass potpourri in the lobby.

79. My dad would often let us leave early on Fridays. I thought that was an office norm. Apparently not.

80. This one year the receptionist was a crazy lady, and she had me go and pick up MY going away cake at the end of summer. I should have just kept it all for myself.

Reading

81. I used to love reading as a kid. The Babysitters Club was my favorite.
82. I stopped reading for fun once I had to start reading in school. Mandatory reading of books that I couldn't comprehend took all the fun out of it.

83. I didn’t start reading for pleasure again until I read the first Harry Potter book (in 2002).

84. I now enjoy reading, but have a very hard time making time for it. It was great when I was in my book club because it forced me to read.

85. This summer was so busy that I’ve been reading Memoirs of a Geisha since June. (But I did finish HP 7 in the middle of it).

Fortuna

86. Growing up our town, (Fortuna), only had 2 stoplights. It now has 5. It also just got a Starbucks a few weeks ago! That is major news!

87. I had never had Thai food or sushi until I moved out of Humboldt.

88. The clothing shops were so limited that my mom would often hire a seamstress to make my sister and I holiday dresses.

89. Even though the town was small, I was still able to take ballet and tap lessons.

90. I thought it was normal to drive 30 mins to go see a movie.

91. It’s a GUARANTEE you will see someone you know every time you leave the house. Problem is 95% of the time you see someone you don’t want to see. Or you see someone you do like, but you have nothing to say to them because it’s been 15 years since you’ve seen them.

Weight

92. If I eat junk, or don’t have any protein I can really tell…mainly because I feel like crap.

93. At my heaviest weight I was 40 lbs heavier than I am now. I think this might have been around that time:
94. I have lost 10 lbs of fat and gained 3.5 lbs of muscle since February when I started getting weighed at work. Our last weigh in is in November.

95. I just learned this year that our bodies get used to certain types of workouts, which causes the platues. It’s hard enough for me to work out, much less having a VARIETY of exercises.

96. I hate it when people who are skinnier than me talk about their weight. Actually when anyone complains about their weight. It makes me uncomfortable.

49ers

97. When I lived in the bay area I was able to go to a few different autograph signings and meet some of the players... Ken Norton, Brent Jones, and Merton Hanks.

98. I converted John into a 49er fan.

99. Since I don’t get to watch the games with my dad anymore I call him if they have a great play.

100. My dad would take us to a 49er game every year. It stopped recently once the 9ers got rid of Garcia and Owens. Before each game we would meet up with my Uncle at his tail gate party. It was always fun.
101. I will always be an Owens fan at heart. Even if he can be an a-hole.