Eight Things.

I saw this fun post from my Okie friend, Shayla over at Moons & Junes and decided I would play along.

Let's see what I can come up with!

Eight Things You May Not Know About Me:

1.  I refuse to pay full price for anything in retail.  If it's not on sale, I don't buy it.  If it IS on sale, I'll buy two.  You can see how this doesn't actually save me any money.

2.  I had names for my children chosen when I was in elementary school.  Graham Dakota  and Tatum Brooke.    I mean, really.  Thank heavens I had another 20 years before I actually had to name a child.   A note to Nora, I really- sincerely - hope that I don't feel the same way about your name in 20 years.

3. I am a secret sweets eater. [ie. I hide them in my jewelry box and eat them in my closet] We eat a fairly healthy, low fat, low carb diet in this house.  I prepare most of our meals and do most of the grocery shopping.  But I have a real weakness for sugary candies and junk food.  I love peeps, sugar cake candy decorations, skittles, cool ranch doritos, and dr. pepper.  I allow myself to buy a snack size bag of doritos and a dr. pepper from the cooler when I visit the base commissary every two weeks.  Its the only way I can keep it in check!!

4.  I met Jeremy when I was 19.  I had no idea we were getting serious.  Even after we had been dating for a while and exchanged " I love yous" and apartment keys, it never dawned on me that we were going to get married.  I guess you could say I was blinded by love!  I still look around some days and wonder how I ended up with this little gem of a life.  Loving husband, precious child, roof over my head, shoes on my feet, food in my belly.  I sometimes forget how it all happened and then at once it hits me how magical it all is.

5. I grew up in the Church of Christ and even attended a christian university.  I had many great enriching and enlightening experiences within the church.  I also experienced heavy prejudices and hypocrisies within the same community, many of which I perpetuated.  As an adult, I am still a christian though I no longer belong to a particular church body.  I feel more at home with my faith now than I ever have.  I believe that I am a far better person now than I was when I belonged to a church group.  I recognize this is in large part due to age and the life lessons I have had along the way.  Jeremy was raised Catholic and Nora was baptized into the Catholic church, though we do not practice within the Catholic church as a family.  Through our discussions on religion, faith, and family we have landed on the same page when it comes to the big picture of faith for our family.  Of course we plan to teach Nora, along with any future children, the stories of the bible.  We also plan to focus more on teaching her to be a good and truthful person to love and support others.

6.   I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.  In high school I wanted to be an FBI field agent and then I wanted to study International Trade Law.  what??  In college I planned to work in marketing, then I moved to corporate dispute resolution, Nutrition/Dietician, social worker, and briefly explored a career as a children's book author.  Again, I say, what??

I have held a wide variety of jobs since the age of 16:  waitress, sales, front desk, business marketing (pretty sure this was a pyramid scheme), art dealer/gallery curator, plastic surgery technician (awesome/gross), program manager, physical therapy tech.... just to name a few.  I am baffled by people that find a career doing what they love and wonder if they knew that it was the right career before it happened.  Or did it only become the perfect fit in retrospect?  Either way, I guess it's time to buckle down and make a life choice.  Choose something and hope make it sticks!

7.  I have an addictive nature yet I lack follow-through.  This means I get all wrapped up and focus on one great idea at a time.  I mean, I go all-in.  And then I get burnt out and move along to something else.  Pinterest is the worst.  It is the fuel to my burnouts.  Not great for home improvement projects or really for life in general [see career choices above].  But in those few days of focus things are great!

8.  I had some seriously questionable style phases growing up.  For starters, I wanted to be a boy so badly as a young child (probably around 7-10). They had it so easy, no bows, no dresses, heck- they didn't even have to wear shirts in the summer.  So, I didn't either.  I had a hair cut that resembled Blanche from the Golden Girls when I was in 8th grade.  I loved Mary Kay purple iridescent eye shadows and pale pink shimmer lipgloss. I had orange hair (not on purpose) and then red hair (on purpose). I tried out a new smile in the 10th grade, it was the worst.

Well, that was cathartic.  I might sleep well tonight, but I'll probably dream that I have Blanche's haircut again.