The Dirty Thirty

It's my birthday!

Thirty feels like a pretty big change. It's weird to think my twenties have come and gone, and now I'm entering an entirely new decade.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it, but I'm very, very thankful for what I have walking into it. I'm exactly where I want to be, and feel incredibly blessed to be living the life that I am. 

This blog has taken quite a little hit - and I'm never really sure if anyone is really even checking in - but it's still a space I want to develop and not leave behind....so if you're still here - thank you for keeping tabs on me and my pretty boring whereabouts. 

I figured I'd try and share 30 random things you may or may not know about me in honor of the big 3-0.

1. I'm the oldest of three girls - and by far fit the bill of a the classic "oldest" child. I'm pretty sure my parents would tell you that I have been the most mature of the family since the time I was about 3 years old....and for better or for worse (probably more worse than better), liked to have everyone follow my rules. When I was 12, if my parents told me they would be home at 10pm, if they weren't home by 10:02, I was calling the hostess of the restaurant they were dining at to check in on them .

2. Joel and I have been together for going on 12 years! 

3. My kids will go to all of the same schools that I went to - and will likely have a lot of the same teachers I had too. 

4. I do not like potatoes. I will sometimes go for french fries, but I don't love them. 

5. I could drink coffee all day long, and pretty much feel like the real life version of this mug. 

 

6. I have a weird thing with textures. As as kid, if my mom forced me to wear tights, I would cry and freak out, and as soon as the event was over, would peel them off my legs as fast as I could. Still to this day I CANNOT stand velvet, fleece, wool, cashmere, nylon, silk, and a slew of other materials. I would much prefer to live in an only cotton world. 

7. I have to sleep with a sound machine and sleep mask.

8. I have bad anxiety (and OCD) - and have since I was a kid. Sometimes it's worse than others, but it can, and has been very crippling.   

9. I went to school (at the University of Iowa) for Elementary Education, and plan to someday use my degree in a pre-school classroom

10.  I am an early to bed, early to rise kinda girl. I like to be asleep by 9:30, and am awake most mornings around 6am.

11. I cannot stand things messy or out of place. I literally have to be really sick in order to leave the house with an unmade bed. I remember hearing somewhere that if your physical space is orderly than it's easier for your mental space to be orderly, and I find that it rings very true for me.

12. I see my Mom 6 out of 7 days, and talk to her at least once a day.

13. I don't take many showers. Maybe....1 every two weeks? I much prefer to take a bath and normally do so at night or during nap time when I can sneak away for 30 minutes. 

14. I'm a super fast reader, and read a lot of books, but I really only tend to read books that are pleasant. I'm the same way with movies and TV shows. I don't like to watch or read things that make me sad or scared.

15. This winter I got majorly into puzzles. I was inside so much with a newborn and I didn't love having so much idle time on my hands, so having puzzles to sit with turned into a lovely hobby for me. It is so relaxing and seriously addicting.

16. My coffee order always is a Grande Hot Latte and while I love coffee, I HATE iced coffee. 

17. I'm pretty sure we only want two kids. Joel's always only wanted two, and I've jokingly said that I wanted 2.5. Now that we have a boy and a girl, I'm sort of coming around with the idea that we may be done.

18. I actually like running, and ran a half marathon in 2014 right before I got pregnant with Leo.

19. My biggest pet peeve is being late. I can't stand when I am late, or when anyone else is. 

20. I love watching sports. I love the romance and fun of college football in the fall, I like summer baseball, and I like filling out my bracket for March Madness....but I can't stand Soccer. Joel loves it, and I find it to be nails on a chalkboard. 

21. I'm not a huge fan of flying

22. I'm 100% an extrovert and absolutely get energy from being around people. I always joke that I am a really bad stay at home mom because I hate staying at home.

23. If I could go back to school and change my degree, I think I would have gone into interior design. I think it would be an ideal job that you could try and manage with a family, and as I've gotten older, I've gotten more and more intrigued with it.

24. My least favorite house chore is putting clothes away. 

25. I have really bad TMJ and my jaw clicks all the time when I talk and chew. 

26. I drive a white volkswagon tiguan, which I love, but I'm in need of a bigger car. I'd like to have a car with a bigger trunk and third row, so we've started to browse around here and there. I've always driven volkswagon's so I'm thinking I'm going to stay loyal and trade my car in for the Atlas. 

27. I am so happy to be back home living in Chicago, but I am SO glad that Joel and I started our life in California together. It's a really fun chapter of our lives that brought us some of our best friends and best memories.

28. My favorite dessert is key lime pie 

29. I'm writing this, and asking Joel for help, and he thinks you should know that I pretend to know a lot of lyrics to songs that I actually don't.

30. I'm a very good bullshitter.