I've seen this "25 random things about me" posted all over the blogosphere, and I figured I'd take a crack at it myself. I loved my friend Katie's version... here's mine:
- I have a very bizarre obsession with everything North Carolina. I have no idea how it started, since I'm Virginian, but I know I loved the southern neighbor since I was in elementary school. The beaches, the food (mmmm Carolina BBQ), the landscape, the weather. What's not to like?
I may or may not have invented this "piece of flair" in the past year. - I'm the oldest of three; I have two younger brothers.
- I was a lifeguard for seven years. Seven! Granted, I'm mostly counting summers, but that's over 1/4 of my life that I was certified for aquatic rescue.
- I earned 12 varsity letters in high school. Can you guess what sports?
- According to my elementary school diary (which I found the other day), I wanted to go to Duke and run cross country.
- When I was in high school I was bound and determined to go to college out-of-state. I wanted to apply to Florida, UNC, Duke, NC State, Michigan State, Pepperdine, and Tulane. My parents said I could pay the difference if I went out-of-state, so I applied early decision to one school, UVA. Luckily I got in, so no more applications after that! (By the way I'm relieved it's where I went to school, even if I picked it for all the wrong reasons.) Probably needless to say, my preferences were shamefully based on sports. (Though obviously Pepperdine was for its Malibu-ness.)
- Speaking of Tulane, I've always wanted to go spend a week in New Orleans. I've been collecting travel brochures for the city since high school. I've been ready for beignets, Cafe du Monde, jazz, the French Quarter, and of course Cajun food, for years. No clue why I haven't been yet.
- I'm gaga for vinaigrettes on salads. I love going to restaurants and trying different variations of this simple dressing -- pomegranate, cilantro lime, balsamic, citrus, blue cheese, whatever. Most of the time the trials are a resounding success.
- Every year I seeeriously consider taking off the opening day of March Madness. And I'm not counting that day with the #65 versus #64 play-in game.
- Ain't nothin' like some sweet tea. 'Cept maybe skim milk. I crush around two gallons of moo juice a week.
- My dad named the street I grew up on.
- When I was about 7 or 8 my brother and I got in a shouting match. He threw a Matchbox car at my face and I chipped a tooth. Oddly enough, I chipped the same tooth as my boyfriend who also chipped his when he was around that age.
- I LOVE driving. Most people don't know that because I always call "not driving" when there's uninteresting driving like driving across town or running errands. But few things top being behind the wheel on a road trip or on backroads, where you really get to see the country.
- In elementary school I had a gigantic crush on Christian Laettner (I imagine this is what sparked the desire to run XC at Duke). In middle school it was Danny Wuerffel and Chipper Jones.
Hotness, as determined by a fourth grader. And a seventh grader. Methinks my tastes were better as a younger youngster. - Some people dream of one day going to a Super Bowl. Others Wimbledon, The Masters. I've always wanted to go to the ACC Tournament. And the Summer Olympics to watch the swimming.
- I'm super into U.S. geography. Don't know why but for some reason I had the states and capitals memorized for fun by about age 6. I find this country is unbelievably interesting, with its vast differences in landscape and climate. I love knowing which interstates go where, how far X is from Y, what time zone a city is in. I love that it's rare when someone names a place in Virginia that I haven't heard of or vaguely know where that is. No clue where these interests stem from.
- The summer before grad school I drove around Oregon for a week and a half. I drove around 2000 miles and saw Crater Lake National Park, Mt. Hood, the Wilhammette Valley, the coast, Multnomah Falls and the Columbia River Gorge, beautiful forests, rose-laden Portland, Bend, and funky Eugene. Loved it.
- Speaking of, the most beautiful place I've ever been to is a tossup between Crater Lake N.P. and Big Sur, on the gorgeous California coast.
Left: Crater Lake, Right: Big Sur Which do you prefer? - I never left the eastern time zone until 2005, when on a trip to Chicago with some college buddies.
- Never left the country til last summer, when I went to Cabo, Mexico.
- I love getting souvenirs. Silly things I like getting: maps, state flags, postcards, license plates, silly t-shirts and shotglasses. But what could be better than going to a Stuckey's (redneck central!) and buying state magnets?
Geography geekiness meets souvenir silliness. The two most recent additions to my collection, both in the past month. Bonus: got the NC one at a Stuckey's that was half in VA, half in NC. I believe that's what we'd call heaven on earth. It did have both Carolina BBQ + a Dairy Queen after all! - Other than my year and a half in Austin, I've only lived in Virginia.
- In college I was part of a group of 10 students that camped out 17 days for tickets to a home UVA basketball game against, you guessed it, Duke. We scored front row seats and some of us met Dick Vitale. He autographed a poster at the game that looked exactly like this (though for other people). Oh yeah, and UVA won the game!
- My dad taught me how to back dive by bribing me with a Strawberry Scooter Bar. Apparently everyone else in the world calls them Strawberry Shortcake Bars.
- When I was younger I was embarrassed of my southern accent whenever I visited my grandparents and extended family in Pittsburgh. As a result, I phased out the word "y'all" for several years. Then one day I finally decided it was stupid and ever since used the word y'all as much as possible around them.
