36

My birthday was this past weekend and in anticipation of having a fun family weekend I prepped this post sharing 36 things you may not know about me.  Now... this was HARD for me because I do feel like I've been an open book on here for so many years but I'm hoping the majority of this list will be things most of y'all don't already know. ;)

1 - Cereal is my favorite dessert.  Seriously.  I'll take a bowl of Cap'n Crunch or Froot Loops over a cookie pretty much any day of the week.

2 - I HAVE to have a heavy blanket on when I sleep.  Dave can sleep on top of the covers with no problems which I just don't understand.  I need everything to be covered by sheets and a blanket except for my face and MAYBE a foot.

3 - I had a cat growing up named Snowball the Snow Queen Snow Princess.  And she wasn't completely white.

4 - When I get stressed out I clean/organize.  Making one area of my life feel "together" somehow makes the rest feel more manageable.

5 - I'm a "sympathetic blusher".  If something happens to someone else that's embarrassing my face will turn bright red.

6 - In the third grade my mom and I sponge painted my bedroom and I don't think I've ever been so happy with how a room makeover turned out.  It was purple and turquoise and pink and SCREAMED 1993.

7 - My favorite chips are salt and vinegar.  I'll eat them until my tongue hurts :)

8 - In the 8th grade I went to Hurricane Harbor (a local water park) and my bathing suit bottom got caught on something on a slide and RIPPED.  I hit the water at the bottom and the lifeguard kept blowing his whistle for me to get out.  I had to wait for a friend to bring me a towel and still have a hard time going down a waterslide without shorts over my suit.

9 - The only team sport I played growing up was soccer when I was about 5.  My team was The Fraggles and I loved braiding grass on the sidelines :)

10 - I have a really hard time eating eggs that other people have prepared.  Buffet eggs are a definite no.

11 - I won an art contest when I was young (like 4/5) and the prize was an armoire (seriously).  That white armoire was in my room almost through high school :)

12 - My locker in 7th grade was #711

13 - I read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn no less than a dozen times in middle and high school.  Cried every time.

14 - My mom and I used to knit scarves and sell them at craft fairs.

15 - I attended the '86 Olympics in Calgary (I was 2)

16 - My least favorite noise in the entire world is sniffling/snorting.  JUST BLOW YOUR NOSE!!!

17 - When I lived in NC I used to ride horses and I competed in hunter jumping.  I rode an ex-race horse who was almost 18 hands tall and loved every minute of it.

18 - As far as I'm concerned the only gum anyone should be chewing is Spearmint :)

19 - I'll pick a mechanical pencil over a regular pencil all day every day.

20 - I don't like ice in my water.  I like it chilled... but not icy.

21 - I went to year-round school in NC and would switch to year-round school in a HEARTBEAT if it was offered here.

22 - I had no idea that tea could be "iced" until I moved to NC

23 - I don't eat anything that comes from the ocean.  I've tried it all and I'm sorry... but it all tastes fishy.  All of it.  Everyone always raves about fish and I really wish I liked it, but I just can not.

24 - After an unfortunate "exorcist-style" incident my Freshman year of high school I can no longer drink red Gatorade.  Even the smell of it makes my eyes water a little bit.

25 - I stink at bowling.  Also, my thumb hurts every time I bowl.

26 - I had my appendix removed in the 5th grade.

27 - I went to a sleepover with a new friend in 6th grade and didn't realize until I showed up that her dad was the surgeon who had removed my appendix the year before.

28 -I once ate chicken foot stew in Jamaica.

29 - In college I got a job as a hostess at Rock Fish... I quit during training because it smelled too much like fish.

30 - I love the smell of coffee but can't stand the taste.

31 - I got banned from kayaking at camp after multiple tipovers and rescues :)

32 - I use the seat warmer in my car every day.  Even when it's 100 degrees outside. 

33 - I had my ears pierced when I was around 5 and they grew over.  I had them repierced by a friend in the bathroom during a middle school dance.  I know. 

34 - I spent over a week on a boat on the Amazon river during college - the sky at night was UNREAL and is something I'd love to experience again.

35 - My middle name is Jean after my dad's grandmother Nana Jean who, from the stories I've been told, was a PARTY ;)

36 - I once made a model of the Colosseum out of a cheese wheel box.

HAPPY Monday, friends!!!