ten

this is me. at Margaritaville. it was the best day.

I've seen these things on facebook constantly for the past few days, and it got me thinking about what my friends/family/etc. may or may not know about me! I'm an open book, so really, there's very little that folks don't know, but I've tried to come up with a few things about myself that I don't normally share. Here goes....

1. I was a big time reader up until late high school. Not that it's any big secret or anything, but I just don't read like I used to, and I really hate that I don't. I have two absolute favorite books and they both happen to be YA novels (of course...). My favorite-favorite is The Giver by Lois Lowry, which I first read in 4th grade - it's just stuck with me ever since. I re-read it in my children lit class in college and it was just as good as I remember it being! My other favorite is A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. It's a good mix of what I usually read (historical fiction) and what I usually never touch (supernatural). AND I usually hate movie adaptations, but part of me always hoped this would be a movie someday.

2. As some know, I have terrible anxiety problems. I've had them for as long as I can remember, but one instance where it was particularly bad was when I was 10. My family was spending the week at Disney World, and on my tenth birthday, we went to Hollywood Studios. As soon as we stepped into the park, I freaked: all of the sights, sounds, smells...the huge crowds, the scary looking roller coasters... I couldn't handle it all at once. I got dizzy and felt like I was going to throw up, and ended up spending the rest of my birthday in the hotel (and according to my family, I actually spent the better part of that week in the room). Thankfully, my image of Disney in my head was not tainted and I can now enjoy it like a normal person. :)

3. I was recently diagnosed with dyshidrotic eczema. It's on the palms of my hands, and it is mainly caused by stressed and environment changes. It started developing as red, itchy bumps on my hands two weeks after the wedding. I was put on a strong steroid (something that freaks me out!), and it cleared up, but then began peeling like a sunburn. I've laid off of the steroid for now, and am trying out an all natural method (the lotion smells SO BAD. It has goats milk in it...). So far, it's helping!

4. I have a permanent retainer on the back of my two front teeth. I had braces for 3 years (and those three years were the glorious junior high days when I had bendable glasses, braces and permed hair. Yeah..), and after I had them taken off, I never wore my actual retainer, so they put a little wire behind the two front teeth. It's been there for 7 years so far, and most days I don't notice it, but today I sure did. And it felt weird.

5. The biggest thing that gives me the heebie jeebies are objects in clusters. Like, aerial views of people walking around?  GROSS. Ants? NASTY. Or the worst, a crap ton of spiders in a web? NOPE. Really, though, anything that swarms (ugh, ugh) in a large cluster makes me gag. I took an earth science class in high school and had to switch at semester because of a video we watched that simply featured tall grass swaying in the wind.... I cried so hard I had to leave the room. Uh... yeah. Weirdest phobia of all time, I'm sure.

6. In grade school, I spent every Monday night with my grandma. We had a solid routine of eating at Subway, watching a Lifetime movie, then going to bed. Those were the days. She likes to say that I've "abandoned" her since I moved 20 minutes away...

7. When I got my first tattoo, my mom was super upset with me and told me not to come home. The first time my parents saw it they freaked out and thought it was SO HUGE (it's the stitched heart on my wrist and as of right now, it's my smallest tattoo). As I've gotten more tattoos, they've gotten larger in size, and every time my parents see a new one they say, "oh, that's not as big as I thought it was. Lookin' good!" They've adjusted well, I'd say.

8. One time, Colby and I sat in a coffee shop and made lists of all the guys we'd ever kissed. We had just read a book about best friends sharing a kiss list, so we were feeling rather inspired. We're odd folks.

9. I survive on coca cola. Really! It's the most unhealthy habit ever. But what's worse than my habit is how I came upon drinking it: I used to drink Sprite religiously, until sophomore year when I was reading Twilight. I was sitting in my grandma's classroom reading, when I got to the chapter where Edward and Bella have dinner and he orders her a coke. I thought, "hm... I've never had that before." So I dug $1.25 out of my grandma's purse and bought myself a coke. I've been drinking it ever since. THANKS, STEPHANIE MEYER.

10. Cassie (the one in LA) and I spent nearly every Tuesday of our senior year at the Palace Theater, here in Springfield, for their Timewarp Tuesdays. We ate at Subway (I guess I have a thing for Subway??), saw a movie for $1, and got coffee afterwards. I miss those days more than anything, I'm pretty sure. (My favorite was when we went to see Law Abiding Citizen one night and during the movie, it ended up snowing and the ground iced over. We attempted driving home, but as soon as we slid into a curb, we called my parents to come get us. Such adults! ;)


That was sorta fun! You should do this, too! I'm nosy and I like to read about other people and their "secrets" :)

xo Haley