The Anniversary Issue

This is my 100th Post, beeeaaaattttcccccheeess!  I thought I would commemorate it with one of those 25 Things You Might Not Know About Me things, even though my blog is basically ALL ABOUT ME, sort of....when it is true, that is.  You may find it amazing that I can actually come up with twenty-five MORE things to tell you about myself after 100 posts, but unfortunately this blog is the proverbial gift that just keeps on givin'.

Soooo, here goes, no exaggerating, no embellishment.  Well, maybe a little.  I'll do my best.  Hope you enjoy.

1.  I used to LOVE to cook, before I had three children.  They have squelched THAT pleasure, among many other things I used to enjoy, like oh, I don't know, ALONE TIME and Project Runway.

2. My biggest regret in life is that I did not travel Europe after I graduated, or study abroad.  Isn't that bizarre?  Considering I am  FRAUNCH.

3.  My favorite place that I ever lived was Boulder, Colorado.  (Self Explanatory.)  My favorite people live in Texas.  (They always go out with the intention of having a good time.)

4. All of my teachers in high school used to tell me that "I had to work at it," whereas, my brother's intelligence "came naturally to him."  Gotta LOVE public school in Kentucky, in the 80's.  They were keepin' it REAL back then.  I have since confirmed several staff/student intimate relationships at that time, so tact and scruples, not to mention decency and statutory rape laws, were not exactly a priority for them!

5. My best friend is getting a divorce and there is nothing I can do to take the pain away, but listen, and it kills me.

6. Every time I have the opportunity to make a wish, whether it be a stray eyelash (we always make a wish, do you? You should.) or candles on a birthday cake - I wish that my family will always be healthy and happy.

7. I have anxiety, but I work on it everyday.  Do you like my blog?  Why don't you like my blog?  How about this post?  Do you like this post?  What in particular, do you like about it?

8. My mother needs a kidney, but she will not even let me get tested to see if I am a match.  I am scared that I am a match, but I want her to have a better quality of life, so I am ready to give her one.  Soo...if you know anyone who has a third kidney....we'd be interested.

9. My Dad is the reason that I love and hate sports.  I love playing them, but I hate watching them.  Major bummer for Brad because that is all he does is watch sports.  If HBO and SHOWTIME did not have series, we would no longer be married.

10.  When I was young, I ran into a corner of two walls while running down a hall, and I split my forehead open and got 14 stitches.  It deadened the nerves there, and it is the reason I do not need botox in my forehead. Cindy Tzagournis wants me to get it anyway because she says women my age should not be able to move their eyebrows. "It just looks unnatural".

11.  I used to think that I would never love Scarlett (my dog who blew my knee out) more than my beloved deceased dog, Elaine... but I do.

12.  One of the best decisions I ever made was to marry my husband, Brad.  I was sure then, and I am sure now.  Even though I don't act like it once a month.  Sorry, Boo.

13. My Dad taught me how to serve in tennis.  It is very fast, but very wild.  One of the saddest days in my life was when he told me he was too old to play with me anymore.  One of the saddest days in Christina McKenna's life was when she was told that she was to be my partner.  Hey, everyone, including my partner, needs to be hyper aware, when I am serving.  It might be coming to you.  Even if you are on my side of the court.

14.  I used to fight with my Mother every time we would shop together when I was in high school and college, but now we like the same things, and she loves to buy them for me.  I am determined to break the cycle, so everyday when my 10-year-old, Hallie, leaves for school wearing the latest fashions that the "Shake It Up" collection at Target has to offer (I am a firm believer that if you own a shirt that has an attached vest that ties in the front, you should rethink your wardrobe choices), I wince a little and then let it go.  Pick your battles, right?

15.  I learned how to decorate from my Mother and my Mother-in- Law. 

16.  I hate Madame Alexander dolls because my Mom and her friends used to collect and obsess over them.  My Mom keeps giving them to my daughters and they love them.  I purposely avoid their steely gaze whenever I am in their rooms.

17. I would rather have people over, than go out.  Even if my house is messy.

18.  I make a killer chili.  It has jalapenos in it and is served in a bread bowl over rice.  It is a hybrid of Texas and Colorado.

19.  I hemorrhaged with my first child, Hallie, and almost had a blood transfusion.  I had to sign a paper before I went into surgery for a DNC the day after my C-section that consented to a procedure that might keep me from having any more children.  I have three, thank GOD, but it was a very scary time for us.  My Mom remembered that she had hemmorhaged with me, shortly after that.  Woulda have LOVED to have known that when I asked her her medical history, when I was first pregnant!  Oh well, if I have learned anything while being a parent, everything is always the Mother's fault, even when you are thirty.

20.  I am ambivalent about aging, so far.  I recognize that it is happening, but I am too busy to care.

21.  All of my favorite memories involve my family, good and bad.  I believe that the measure of a person is how they deal with the bad things in life, because it is easy to be your best when things are good.

22.  I believe that everyone exists on a spectrum, in terms of doing things that are right and wrong.  No one is all good, or all bad, we all just vacillate between the two, except serial killers and pedophiles, of course.

23.  I think jelousy is the worst emotion anyone can feel.  Nothing good can come of it.

24.  I hate experiencing what it means to be a girl in adolescence with my three girls.  It is infinitely more difficult  than what I experienced, and it is one thousand times more awkward and hurtful.

25.  I would like to be a writer one day (i.e. get published) but if I don't - that's OKAY.

Thanks to all of you who have been reading my blog, it has given me a HUGE boost of confidence, and I am extremely grateful for all of the support and sharing of the posts.  It was a big leap of faith for me, and I think it has worked out because I am blessed with a large community of family and friends who believe in me.  I have to go now, though, because I am due to translate my blog into other languages and I don't want to be late.  Just kidding.  You all know there is an app for that.  Take care and thanks again.  You all are the BEST!!!!!!

The pic above was taken on the first vacation Brad and I took alone together after having Hallie. It is one of my favorite pictures of myself (if I can say that without sounding like a douche) because I was fancy from head to toe, and that almost never happens now.  I am also ten years younger.  So, please know that this picture is NOT representative of what I look like now.  I have gone WAY down hill, and have become a huge hag.  (It is like those people who use pictures of from a long time ago for their Facebook Profile picture.  Hilarious.)

Letting myself go.

ANYWAY, Brad's friend and mentor, David Dunlap, surprised us upon arrival to our hotel, on that vacation, with a round of golf for him, and a "day of beauty" for me.  It is the first and last time I have ever had my hair done professionally.  I guess not everyone lies on a spectrum... some of us are just GOOD.