The Rules
1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in the post you were tagged in
4. Create 11 new questions for your tagees to answer
5. Tag them on Twitter, Facebook or your blog
11 Random Things About Me
1. This is really great for me to do because I have a '100 things about me' tab on my blog that is BUGGING me lately. As in, I wrote it when I started my blog 5.5 years ago and now so many of those 'things' are outdated it's just ridiculous to even have it up there. I mean, a lot of my old posts are sort of cringe-worthy but I guess that is what happens when you blog for so long. Stuff changes. Hence the 'transition'. :) {ALSO, this is not an appropriate 'thing' about me for these 11 things but whatever. At least it's random!}
2. If I had to pick my favorite song in the entire universe, I think right now I'd choose Bon Iver's 'Holocene'. I started listening to his album last summer after my miscarriage and this song in particular gave me chills and made me cry every time I heard it. It still does, really. The lyrics are haunting and amazing and the melody is one of those that will never, ever get old to me. The phrase 'And at once I knew I was not magnificent' means so many different things for me, as I'm sure it would for you, too. Last year, it represented the harsh dose of reality I experienced with my loss and how I was humbled beyond expectation, begging God for guidance and mercy and hope. And now, I know I'm anything but 'magnificent' because of this amazing gift of life growing inside of me. Again. Thank you, Lord, for this gift I surely don't deserve.
3. On a lighter note, I am sort of hard/gangsta-like because I can recite every lyric to 'Gin and Juice' and other various rap songs. In fact, one time I dressed up as Nelly the rapper for some sorority event when every other girl went the cutesy/girlie/fairy route. Like I said, I'm pretty hard core.
4. I was a lifeguard during many high school and college summers. And yet, I also almost drowned once in high school. Not in a pool, but in some muddy river when I got sucked under a bridge through a metal culvert. Pretty freaking scary, really, but since I was a naive 17 year old I don't think the experience shook me up as much as it should have done.
5. I'm pretty Type A and anal-retentive about a lot of things. For instance, I cannot stand to have any unopened mail in my in-boxes. I have about 4 email accounts (all appropriately divided for specific purposes/people, of course) and I will immediately open, respond, or 'star' the emails instead of just letting my in-box hold unread mail. I always unsubscribe from mass emails/advertisements because I cannot stand for those to clog up my in-boxes either. Zeroing out my in-boxes is really like a sickness for me and I'm not even in the 'business' world, where you actually do get a lot of emails during the day.
6. I'm also a compulsive list-maker and I live/die by my To-Do lists. I will definitely add a task on my list that I just completed, just to cross it off and feel that accomplishment. I get a little panicky when my list starts to mount up and I feel infinitely better about life when I've crossed everything off. Does this make me a psycho?
7. I'm tall at 5'10" and my husband is 6'3". My mom and grandma are also both 5'10". They told me I had to marry a tall man and my mom has told me many times that it's one of her biggest pet peeves when short girls marry tall guys. I think that is because it takes one more tall guy away from the tall girls and is simply unfair to us giants:). She also said I should marry a 'last born' in the family and not a first born, since I'm a strong-willed first born and we go best with the more laid-back babies of the family. She was a psychology major and really into birth order----and whoops, I married another first born. At least he's tall? (and since my whole family loves Nate as much if not more than me, I think they will forgive me for this oversight)
8. I'm a picker. As in, I LOVE to pop zits and pull hangnails and pick Truman's boogers. Yes, I'm one of the gross moms in the world but I can't help it. Should have been a dermatologist or something.
9. I'm reading the Hypnobirthing book right now in attempts to learn how to avoid another panic attack during labor. I would really REALLY like it to be more zen and calm and enjoyable this time around. If I don't have to be induced, I'd even go so far as to say I'd love to avoid an epidural if possible. But I'm not totally committed to that idea just yet because I definitely do remember the feeling that I was going to die during childbirth from the pain ( I still say what I experienced during my 40 hours of induction could not have been anywhere near 'normal'. I'm hoping it wasn't the norm, at least!). Apparently this author of the Hypnobirthing book says my intense pain was because of fear (and probably the insane amounts of Pitocin coursing through my veins)---and I will admit I was totally freaked out by the intensity of my contractions after my water broke. So this time around I'm hoping for less of a Cursing-Like-A-Sailor/OMG-I'm-Going-To-Die mindset and more of a This-Is-Going-To-Be-Okay mindset. But if my anxiety does get the best of me or if I have to have Pitocin, I will not hesitate to ask for drugs. For real.
10. I am really horrible at math, which is funny since my dad is a CPA. I mean, it's really bad and I hope our kids always ask Nate for help with their math homework. Nate loves to tell everyone the funny story from when we first started dating and I admitted my hatred towards numbers. There was some comment from me about how I could get confused about whether 75 and 15 was actually 100, or if it was really just 90. I don't really remember this comment but Nate sure does and loves to rub it in my face. Whatevs. Math is not my strong point, but I think the more artsy/creative stuff is (and Nate doesn't have anything on me in that department. Hmph. Take that, fellow first born 'overacheiver' husband of mine!)
11. I went to a private grade school/middle school, public high school, and a private college. Nate and I both feel strongly about sending our kids to 'good' public schools and I sure do hope they choose state colleges instead of pricey private ones. Student loans really suck.
11 Questions from Andrea
1. Massage or facial? Massage. Hands down. I think I've only had one facial in my life but a ton of massages and could really go for one right now.
2. The one facebook-ism that gets on your nerves (eg. cliche status updates, game requests, kissy face photos, etc). Oh, definitely the annoying 'ambiguous/mysterious' or 'fishing for questions' posts. Like, 'I'm so excited!.....' or 'I wish I could tell you a secret but I can't' type of thing. I realize the entire concept of Facebook is sort of attention-seeking but it bugs me when people beat around the bush hoping they will get comments about it.
3. Be honest. What's your biggest insecurity? Hmm. Usually my small boobs but right now they are pretty gigantic, and will surely balloon out even more in the next few months. Yay for pregnancy and breastfeeding!
4. One word to describe your life AT THIS MOMENT. Changing. You know, the new house and new baby thing will do that to life.
5. Did you have any odd habits or preferences as a child? I was the strangest kid ever. I think I mentioned on here before that I played in sandboxes with yellow dishwashing gloves because I hated the feel of sand. And my parents had to do Easter egg hunts on the sidewalk for me because the feeling of grass on my feet was too much to handle. Maybe I had some sensory/tactile issues?
6. On what side of the sink do your dishes pile up? Well, both, since we don't have a dishwasher right now. The right side holds dirties and left is clean ones that are drying. Did I ever mention that our new house will have a new dishwasher for us? Dying thinking about it.
7. What's the most embarrassing thing in your fridge right now? Nothing 'embarrassing' just yet. But this question makes me think about when I had a giant urine collection jug in our fridge every week for about a month when they were checking for Pre-Eclampsia with Truman's pregnancy. God, I hope I can avoid that whole thing this time around.
8. What websites and in what order do you visit them every morning? Emails, Facebook, Google Reader, Pinterest, Blogger. Not really every morning, though, more like throughout the day on my phone. (which, by the way, I still say Andrea NEEDS a smart phone more than anyone else I know. Life changing, girl!)
9. Did you (or do you) have a myspace page? Not anymore but I totally did have one. And it was beautifully personalized. :)
10. Would you ever sky dive? Nah. But at one time I was ALL about it for some reason.
11. Post the last thing you pinned on Pinterest. It's been awhile! Where have I been? But this is my most recent one and I love it. Does anyone else think that Pinterest is being taken over by chevrons? Love.
11 new questions from me:
1. What would you do if you won $1000 right now?
2. What inspires you? (very vague, I know).
3. Where in the world would you go if you had an all-expenses paid vacation gifted to you?
4. Favorite season of the year and why?
5. Favorite place to shop, online or in store?
6. If you could meet any celebrity, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
7. What is your worst habit?
8. This or That: Wine or Beer. (Mmmm, salivating). And why?
9. Name the three things you'd grab from your house in a fire.
10. What's your favorite trait about yourself?
11. If you had to eat one thing every single night for dinner what would it be?
Hmmmm, who to tag? How about:
Erin at It's All Happening)---(since she has nothing else to do with a brand new baby at home:) But since she is a super-blogger maybe it's not totally ridiculous to think she might muster up the time for this?)
E@Oh! Apostrophe
Rachel and John
Allison at A Little Blueberry
Lauren at LiveLaughLove
Or anyone else that wants to join in the fun, or leave a comment with answers!
Are we the same person?? 3,5,6,8,9 I could have written myself. Except I didn't dress up like Nelly. I did however dress up like a Powerpuff Girl instead of a slutty racecar driver or whatever the skimpy costume de jour was that year... The OCD/List making and email annoyances are the exact same!! My husband is the same way with keeping his inbox empty too...
ReplyDeleteholecene - yes, that song is unreal. it can bring so many emotions to the surface out of the blue. i recently picked up his first cd and it's beautiful as well. have you heard birdy's rendition of 'skinny love'? absolutely gorgeous, i don't know which version i like better.
ReplyDeleteOk, scary, dude, about almost drowning. That gave me the chills!
ReplyDeleteI read the hypnobirthing book too. Some parts I thought were so "out there", they made me laugh. On the other hand, I completely credit that book to getting through labor MUCH easier this time. I used all the breathing and visualization techniques. I can't believe I'm saying this but if I just continued to labor at home in my tub and avoid that God awful car ride and constantly probing at the hospital, I *might* have been able to pull it off without drugs. I'm not much for crunchy home births but from my experience I can see and appreciate why woman do it!
I'm in the middle of reading Ina May Gaskin's Guide to Childbirth and she talk a lot about the pain-fear thing, and I'm certain that was a huge factor in my birth with Isaac going south so quickly at the end because I was scared to death. Maybe I should check out hypnobirthing just for some techniques.
ReplyDeleteAlso, please don't tell your mom that I'm 5'5" and my husband is 6'1".
Last, kinda unrelated, but I saw your fb post about T being 36" at his 2 year appt. Isaac was the same height and my parents as teachers lady told me that you can double a child's heigh at 3 to get a good idea of what their adult height will be. Since I'm sure our boys will gain at least an inch or two over the next year, it sounds like we'll be adding two tall boys to the pool of men. :)
Yikes, I'm tagged! :) It might be awhile, but I will try to do it at some point :)
ReplyDeleteWe are obviously very similar - I'm also obsessive about my email inbox, and sometimes looking at other people's literally PAINS me. Like if I see their phones, and it says like... 345 unread emails. OMFG. What is WRONG with you people!?!?
I know all the lyrics to a great many rap songs too. Gangsta's Paradise was my main jam back in middle school.
Love Bon Iver - I wasn't sure about them at first but it grows on you. The only issue is whenever I listen to it, it makes me depressed. Sad story.
Ben and I are an inch shorter than you guys :)
Totally am a picker as well, especially with scabs. I have a few scars to prove it. Yikes!
OK, that's all :)
Love it. Love you. Love that you're a picker too (how bout that for a rhyme?!?)
ReplyDeleteHow are you liking the Hypnobirthing book? I had a doula with my son and had natural labor and delivery, but I feel like I still freaked out and screamed way more than I wanted to - definitely no zen. I would love to read something else to get in a better mindset for the next time around.
ReplyDeleteyour second birth will be way easier - being that your first was with PITCOIN. Plus, you know what to expect. And, being comfortable with your environment, self and confidence your body CAN and WILL do it is huge. We had Quinn at home and I wouldn't even call his birth painful - it was more a really intense and challenging and of course beautiful moment. You will do it - just have confidence in yourself and your body. Women have been birthing babes for years. Plus, i am sure Nate is an awesome support.
ReplyDeleteThe jug in the fridge brought back memories... and pitocin is the devil. I too am hoping that I get to bypass that on this 2nd baby.
ReplyDeleteOh my... Gin and Juice is playing in my head. Nice to meet another gangster.
Oh my gosh, you tagged me! I gotta get on this!!!
ReplyDeleteI was going to comment on Hypnobirthing - I had a friend who did it and absolutely loved it. She took the classes, did the breathing and even got to sit with her little boy and lover for a couple of hours after birth without parents rushing in. I think I may try it out too, it's just so hard to see that far in the future but I guess I better start reading about it too!