25 random things

this thing is all over facebook - if you missed it you're probably under a facebook rock. anyway i'm going to post my list on my blog, because, why not?

1. by the time i was in third grade i had lived in four states. i don't understand it when i hear about people who have lived in the same house since they were born. the longest i ever lived in one house was like 6 years. i've been in texas for something like seventeen years and i like it but i certainly don't want to live here for the rest of forever.

2. i had a... feeling about alan the first time i met him. which wasn't actually the first time i met him, but that's a long story. anyway i knew he was something special way before we even went on our first date. i knew i loved him after probably two or three weeks, and i knew without even the tiniest shadow of a doubt that i was going to marry him by the time we had been together for four months. (don't worry, we didn't actually get married until we had been together for 4 years.)

3. i took nine years of spanish classes. i could have minored in spanish if i had just taken one or two more classes but i really wanted to learn french so i took a semester of that instead. i love... languages.

4. four days after i graduated from high school, my ex boyfriend (first love) passed away. i cried for weeks. the painful, body-shaking, deepest heart-aching, horrible kind of crying that leaves you weak and wasted for a long time.
that was the day i grew up.

5. as a kid some of my favorite books were jumanji, the phantom tollbooth, and cloudy with a chance of meatballs. i loved the stories and the intricately detailed illustrations. i wanted to grow up and write and illustrate children's books.

6. i want to travel. alan and i have made a pact to try and go to one new country a year. in 2007 we went to france. in 2008 we went to mexico and canada, and the plan for 2009 is spain.

7. when we first got gubs, scoop hated him. he made the scariest noises i had ever heard and hid most of the time. he looked at me like i had served him up with the worst betrayal in the history of cats. nothing felt right in my world for a month. i was pretty sure i had broken our family.

8. i think i could be a really good wedding planner. i'm really organized and detail-oriented and i love all things wedding-related. my only real issue would be the hours. and the brides.

9. i love writing lists.

10. i was 22 when i realized that my mom was a real person and not some super hero. to this day it amazes me the things she has done, the sacrifices she has made, all... for me. it boggles the mind.

11. i believe that disney world really is the happiest place on earth. and i believe that colorado is the promised land.

12. i've done some crazy stupid things in my life. i'm not necessarily proud of everything i've done, but i'm not ashamed of any of it. i can definitely say that i've learned from my experiences and my mistakes. they're all part of who i am.

13. i hear horror stories about my friends' in-laws and i thank my lucky stars for mine. they're just so... nice. i love them all so much. i really hit the jackpot with this boy.

14. i'm afraid of flying, and public speaking, and elevators. i'm a nervous passenger. i have control issues.

15. i am shy, but only when i first meet new people, or when i'm in a brand new situation. once i figure things out and get a little more comfortable, i will open up so much that you'll wish i hadn't.
16. i'm a hippie at heart. i like pretty things and the color pink and i work in the most shallow and wasteful industry there is, but i'm a hippie. i don't eat meat, not because i don't like it, but because it's better for animals and the environment. i do all the inconvenient-but-good-for-the-environment things i can: i unplug electronics and appliances when they're not being used, i buy recycled toilet paper, i use eco-friendly cleaning products, i eat organic everything, i conserve water, and i use nylon shopping bags.

17. i'm a perfectionist. my mom always tells this story about when i was little and she was worried because i was at the age when other kids were learning to walk and i just wasn't. apparently i never even tried to. and then one day i got up and walked across the room like it was nothing. even now i don't like to do anything unless i can do it right the first time.

18. in sixth grade, carolyn and i went to an x-files convention in plano. we painted our nails green and wore our x-files t-shirts and hoped that, even though they weren't supposed to be there, gillian anderson and david duchovny would show up.

19. i met some of the best friends i've ever had in girl scouts in third grade. one summer, though, i went to girl scout camp and i hated it. i didn't know anyone there and it was my first time to spend more than one night away from home and i got the worst case of homesickness ever and one night there was a wasp in my bed and it stung every single one of my fingers before i woke up and realized what was going on. plus i lived in constant fear of ticks and lime disease for an entire week.

20. i think too much. about everything.

21. every job i've ever had i got because of a friend of mine. my first job was at contempo casuals, thanks to my friend gretchen. after that, amanda (from third grade girl scouts) got me a job as a hostess at on the border. then gretchen convinced me to work at chili's instead for a dollar more per hour. when i went to college i transferred to the chili's in denton. after a year or so there, my friend sarah suggested that i wait tables with her at hooters. i worked there for three years until i couldn't stand it anymore, at which point my friend chelsea helped me get a job in retail. i got my first job out of college because one of my favorite professors recommended me to a friend of hers who was my first boss. and i got the job i'm in now thanks to my friend jenny. i guess it really is all about who you know.

22. i think i'm a good person in general. but i want to do good things with my life. i want to go on mission trips again, and i want to do volunteer work. i've been so blessed and all i want to do is spread the love.

23. i love buying gifts for people - i love looking for the perfect gift for someone and then finally finding it and giving it to them. i love surprising people (but i don't always like to be surprised). i love birthday parties and cupcakes and slumber parties, too.

24. i'm not very good at accepting complements.

25. i've found my soul mate. it was an accident. i wasn't looking for him at all and i just... found him. and now all i want for everyone i know is for them to have what i have.