Gotta Love Lists!

no one tagged me with this directly, but Purl and jennafoo did it, so i want to be in their cool club, too.

because tra la la.

except but sometimes i accidentally make things waaaay personal when i least expect to, so sorry for that and feel free to ignore, okay? (clearly i have added this sentence after reading through my answers below.)

TEN random things you might not know about me.

1. i was a redhead for about four months, two years ago. i loved it, but it was too hard to maintain.
   
   
2. i wasn't much into sports growing up (no surprise there) but i did swim on a team during the summers for five years in a row. i was MVP for my age group for 3 of those years. i was strong and fast.
   
   
3. one person i've e-met through my blog is a very fancy-schmancy man who is sort of like an internationally acclaimed journalist. i have no idea why he reads "she walks" but i think it's super cool that he does. (hi, RS! how 'bout we add Moon River to the repertoire?)
   
   
4. i am, despite my dating trials and tribulations over the last few months, a serial monogomist and ridiculously romantic, starting when i was 11 and with my first boyfriend, david. my/our first kiss was on march 2, 1986. i still remember his phone number.
   
   regardless, i realized when i was in college that even though i'd definitely been in love many times, i'd never had my heart broken -- and i secretly wished i would, so that i'd know that kind of human pain. i got my wish.
   
   
5. i like dogs more than cats. i love, Love, LOVE my cats but i am a dog person through and through.
   
   
6. i am writing a novel.
   
   
7. i started college as a pre-med major because i wanted to be a psychiatrist. but then i decided i didn't want to take chemistry ever again, so i went with what i knew -- music. i was a voice major / music composition minor for a whole semester (i grew up singing and took nine years of piano lessons). then i transferred to UCONN and ended up as an english major.
   
   
8. i absolutely adore jerry springer, and i always have. i am completely serious. i listen to him every morning on Air America Radio.
   
   
9. and speaking of politics, i consider myself patriotic. i believe in the Constitution and those tenets associated with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. i am, as you have probably picked up on, rather left-of-center...even though the current US Democratic Party embarrasses me. i cried all day when GWB was re-elected.
   
   
10. i drink my coffee black. i rarely drink vodka. my favorite martini is a hendricks (gin) with a twist, but i will take a manhattan over a martini on most days.
    

NINE places I’ve visited

1. italy. i was two and we were there for a month. i remember nothing except my hot pink raincoat and chasing pigeons.
   
   
2. disneyworld. it's not maybe glamorous, but it was the only "real" vacation spot my family ever visited. we went there as a family with my best friend, emily's family when i was in 2nd grade, 6th grade, 8th grade -- we went in 10th grade but it was just me and emily and her parents -- and then again in my senior year (with both our families). and then i went there with my boyfriend after he graduated college and he proposed to me. (we were featured on the vacation planning videotape because of it.) we went back there on our honeymoon.
   
   i hadn't been there in six years, until two weekends ago. when i went back to celebrate emily's 30th, as a surprise to her (as planned by her adoring, fabulous husband).
   
   
3. kokomo, indiana. don't ask, don't tell.
   
   
4. lafayette, pennsylvania. for band camp. the worst three days of my entire life from a sheerly torturous standpoint.
   
   
5. USNA. i dated a midshipman at the US naval academy when i was in college. visiting him was cool. going to a valentine's day ball there was outstanding.
   
   
6. carnegie hall, for my very talented sister's graduation. i mean, i'd been there for shows, but to be there for a private event? that was special.
   
   
7. nantucket. so new england. so special a place to visit during my summers as a kid. my dad's parents would get a place every august, before it became the world's most expensive and yuppie thing to do. my mom also masterminded a couple additional trips to the island for thanksgivings, which were incredibly special. i was married on nantucket.
   
   
8. minneapolis. my mom's whole family is from in and around there, dontcha know.
   
   
9. new york city at christmastime.
   
   
10. the motel 6 in belmont, CA. i ended up there accidentally. with a comic.
    

EIGHT ways to win my heart

1. be smart, be tuned in, and know what's important.
   
   
2. smile a lot. even if it's just on the inside.
   
   
3. love dogs.
   
   
4. love books and language and words.
   
   
5. appreciate life. i feel grateful for every second i spend on this earth, and enjoy being around others who do, too.
   
   
6. appreciate my family -- those i'm related to by birth and those i'm related to by choice.
   
   
7. make me a drink without asking.
   
   
8. ask me about my mom. (care about my answer.)
   
   
   

SEVEN things I want to do before I die

1. have a book published.
   
   
2. see paris.
   
   
3. raise a child (at least one).
   
   
4. own a home that i love.
   
   
5. have spent more of my life as a size 10 or below than as a size 12 or up.
   
   
6. become a good enough comedian to headline. somewhere.
   
   
7. marry someone i'm completely in love with.
   

SIX things I’m afraid of

1. i am terrified of heights.
   
   
2. i am afraid that people will stop reading my blog because i have become boring, or predictable, or obsolete, or lost my ability to write anything of interest whatsoever.
   
   
3. mediocrity.
   
   
4. my weight.
   
   
5. that any one of the seven things i want to do before i die won't happen.
   
   
6. i am afraid that i will never find The One. that i missed the boat. that it's not meant for me. that i will continue to find amazing men who are, really, great -- but who will end up with someone else...someone better for them than i ever could be. that maybe i'm destined to have a lot of interesting relationships, but.
   
   i am afraid the kind of guy i want -- want to love, want to marry, want to have kids with -- will not want me back in the same way. and that i will end up as Crazy Aunt Kiki, spinster/knitter/cat lady, talking about her latest internet date, for the rest of my life.
   
   

FIVE things I don't like

1. sundays at dusk. it always conjures the sense of the end of weekend, the start of the school (work) week. if i could figure out a way to live my life in such a way as to stop dreading sunday evenings, i'd be a very happy camper.
   
   
2. pickles and olives.
   
   
3. regis philbin.
   
   
4. people who condescend to me.
   
   
5. the way i dressed in middle school. good god almighty, what was i thinking?
   

FOUR ways to turn me off

1. be a bad tipper.
   
   
2. treat me as anything less than beautiful or special. i'm with you because i think you are beautiful and special, and expect the same in return. if you can't do this or don't feel this, leave me alone; i have better things to do with my time.
   
   
3. make fun of something i believe in.
   
   
4. dislike dogs.
   

THREE things I do everyday

1. check email.
   
   
2. wear makeup.
   
   
3. have faith. and often a glass of wine.
   

TWO things that make me happy

1. ignoring that there are only supposed to be two things on this list.
   
   
2. dogs; peppermint stick ice cream; hearing my sister laugh; watching Ish perform; thinking about my mom's smile; Crazy Aunt Purl (hi. blogstalk much?); charlie; ella; my urban family; voicemails from my dad; diamonds (shutup, can't help it); watching bridget jones; french fries; when sherlock plays fetch; memories of the loft i lived in; running 3.5 miles on the elliptical machine last tuesday before work (small physical wins, you know?); finishing a knitting project; sunshine; fog; the girls in my a cappella group; hot tubs; the ocean; fireplaces; unexpected flowers.
   
   

ONE thing on my mind right now

1. how even everyday stuff can seem cool when you're crushing hard on someone. like say, if your boyfriend is on the phone with you RIGHT NOW AS YOU WRITE THIS because he is calling to tell you he has stopped in at walgreens, on the way to your apartment, to pick up TP because you'd forgotten to.