Saturday, January 31, 2009

25 Things

I got the idea to write this blog from facebook. If you don't read facebook notes, the whole idea is to write 25 things people likely do not know about you. I tried to come up with 25 unique things about myself, so here it goes...

1. When I go to my Chinese restaurant in KC I like to get both egg drop soup and vegetable soup. They are both so yummy, that I just can’t chose between them.

2. When I make the bed I make sure there are more sheets/blankets hanging over on my side of the bed. You don’t hear me complaining about not having enough covers ; )

3. I had to have surgery to remove ingrown toenails when I was in 5th grade; thus, my toenails on my two big toes are more “squared” off than most peoples.

4. When I drive back to St. Louis at night I tend to listen to talk shows instead of radio stations playing songs because they keep me awake better. I really don’t know why; you think it would be opposite.

5. I have a testimony regarding me marrying my husband Brandon that came the summer after 8th grade when I found a heart-shaped seashell on the beach. We didn’t start dating till the following year. I still have the shell.

6. I love, love, love things that or salty, or things I can put a lot of salt on. In fact, I can’t wait till the pickles are gone, so I can drink the juice left in the jar. I also love salt on watermelon and cantaloupe, which Brandon thinks is odd.

7. I once fell halfway into a shark tank (upper body only). I was trying to pet the sharks. I was 14 years old—old enough to know better.

8. I love being in direct sunlight. I would rather be hot than cold any day. When I was little I actually liked getting into my mom’s black van in the middle of summer before the air conditioner kicked in.

9. My brother and I kept our bags packed when we were little so we could quickly run away from home (you know- snacks, flashlight, blanket, etc.). We talked about doing it all the time, but we never really left.

10. I also got so mad at my brother one time for being better than me at everything that I climbed to the very top of our climbing tree, walked out across a branch, and then slid down a large branch that stretched from the bottom of the tree to the top just so I could say I had done something he had never done. My dad chopped that branch off soon after. Looking back, that tree is taller than I remember it being.

11. I ran cross-country in 8th grade. I didn’t really like to run, so I would spend most of practice hanging out on an old bridge that was hidden from the road with my friends. I came close to finishing last in just about every race. I was also on the “B” team.

12. Becoming a pharmacist was never my first career choice. I chose the career because I could work part time and still make a decent salary. I probably should have become a teacher.

13. One summer, I ate worms almost every day when I was a counselor named, “Dot” at Girl Scout day camp. I made the mistake of eating part of a worm one day to show they were perfectly harmless. Every girl that came to our class afterwards wanted to see me do it too.

14. I think my little sister is way prettier than I am. She is so tall and skinny, and her face has perfect proportions (mine is longer and skinnier). I hope guys want to date her for the right reasons.

15. When I was really little I had fantasies about dating JTT (I said this the other day and Kara did not know who he was). In middle school I wanted to date Brian, off the Back Street Boys. Thankfully, by high school I had found Brandon : )

16. This one is not really about me, but I thought I would include it anyway. Brandon is related to a guy buried in a glass tomb in a cast-concrete museum the guy/relative built. I found this out when my dad was sharing the creepiest place he had ever gone to while we were at dinner with Brandon’s parents. Brandon’s mom let him know the guy in the glass tomb was relation…awkward, but very funny moment!

17. Songs can have a very emotional impact on me. I frequently cry during church to worship songs. I also to cy when sad songs come on the radio. I think Lynn is worse at this than I am...lol. I just cry the first time, she cries everytime ; )

18. I should never sit by my sister at church. I don’t know why, but we always seem to get the giggles. We tend to laugh through most of the service and even the prayers…thanks Kara!

19. My mom is Catholic and my father was raised in a church that believes the Book of Mormon. I hear lots of negative comments/attitudes towards both religions all the time. I tend to call myself “Christian” since it seems to fit my upbringing the best. However, I believe that the Book of Mormon is another testimony of Christ’s love for us. For the record, most rumors about “Mormon” churches are false.

20. I felt closer to Brandon’s grandpa Herb when he passed than I ever felt with my own two Grandpas. I have tried to change this since then. I aspire to the kind of grandparents that Brandon has had growing up.

21. I wouldn’t mind having lots of kids. I think I minimum of 3 to 4 would be awesome. I would love to be a stay-at-home mom, but will settle for working part time (I don’t want to lost my drug knowledge). We will see what God has in store…

22. I would say that I am more open that the average person on lots of topics; just ask my friends. My mom is the same way. Let’s just say my sex education started when I was very little. My parents still have a great sex life. I feel bad for couples who let this part of their relationship go.

23. Even though I hate studying, I do love what I am studying. Learning about how the human body works is fascinating. I have grown so much appreciation for the research that goes into developing drugs that target disease states. No matter how much I learn though, I do not think I am near ready enough to become a pharmacist.

24. I once killed dozens of hermit crabs by accident. My cousins and I collected a bunch from the ocean to keep as pets. Apparently the ones from the ocean do not survive in the same way the ones from the pet stores do. I still feel terrible about it.

25. I qualified for “State” my senior golf season of high school. After the first 8 holes, I was 5 strokes below par. On the 9th hole, a par 5, I had a nice long drive and a perfect lay-up shot before the pond. The next shot I botched. It bounced back off the rocks on the opposite side of the pond and landed underneath a fence post, inches from being out of bonds. I had to chunk it out from underneath the fence post where it landed behind a tree. I had to use another shot to get it out from behind the tree. Needless to say, I gained every single stroke back before the turn to the next nine. It is funny now, not at the time.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Craig's List Find

I found a great bench on Craig's List this past week and couldn't be happier about it. I have been in search of a narrow coffee table to fit our narrow living room... we do want space to be able to walk through it after all! Thanks to a wonderful lady named Courtney, I found a "rustic" Pottery Barn bench on Craig's List for sale, since she also labeled the bench as being a coffee table. I stole this picture off of the pottery barn website to show you what it looks like. They still have the smaller and larger versions of the bench/table for sale for $149 and $249...yikes! Needless to say, I snagged my new coffee table for less than 1/4 of its original price- happy day.... It is a little scratched up, but I should have it looking good in no time. I would take a picture of it, but Brandon won't let me put it on our living-room hardwood floors till I put some felt circles on the bottom on the legs. He sure is cautious when it comes to protecting the floors he refinished : ) This is actually my first Craig's List purchase ever, but after this find, it may become my new favorite place to shop for home furnishings. Courtney gave me a tour of her beautiful home when I picked up the bench today; let me tell you, it was gorgeous. I loved two of her wall colors so much, I may just use them when we finally paint our walls. On a humorous note, both the wall colors came from the Benjamin Moore Pottery Barn Collection...nice!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

A Weekend in St. Louis


I just spent a fantastic weekend soaking up time with my sister (Kara) and cousin (Miles) here in St. Louis. My poor little sis has tried repeatedly to plan a trip to come visit me here at my apartment in the city, but something always seems to come up. This time we made sure and picked a weekend early in the semester so neither of our schedules would conflict, and it worked! Her and Miles rode the train here Friday night. Here is a quick run down of our weekend events: we went to the zoo and watched the polar bear play with his red ball (he was our favorite attraction at the zoo), drank some root beer from Fitz's, shopped for vintage clothes on the Loop, ate at the Spaghetti Factory on the Landing, caught a movie at the old Chase Park Cinema in the Central West End, and ate Crepes at a new little place down the street from my apartment called Crepes Etc. We also stayed up past 1 every night reminiscing and laughing. The weekend went by all to quickly for me, and I hated waving good-bye as the caught the train this afternoon. I am so happy they came. For those of you who are not familiar with my history, I am in my fifth year at St. Louis College of Pharmacy. This is my final semester before the all-time-consuming rotations start in May, so I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can. Luckily, I only have classes three days a week, so I will get to spend the majority of my weekends back in KC with my handsome husband. Even though I cherish the time I spend with Brandon, it wouldn't be fair not to mention that I survive my days at class in St. Louis thanks to my best friends Lynn and Emily. Those two can always make me laugh even in our most stressful weeks- love you both dearly!

Friday, January 23, 2009

2 Months Later


With the end of the semester and the move into our new house, I haven't found the time to make any new post over the past 2 months! So much for becoming a dedicated blogger right off the bat...lol. I will try to be more diligent towards this endeavor in the following months. I don't have a lot of time today, but I wanted to go ahead and upload a picture of our new house. I couldn't be happier with our first home purchase! Our house is a ranch style home with a walk through porch over to our one car garage. Luckily for Brandon, a previous owner built an addition onto the back of the garage for her hair salon, which makes our garage extra long. He has managed to fill up the space pretty quickly, as he is rebuilding an old motorcycle he found online at the end of last summer. Since the garage does not have any heat right now, he doesn't plan on working on the motorcycle till this spring when it warms up a bit. This means he has plenty of time to use his handy-man skills around our home! His list on increasing abilities continues to amaze me- I will have to show off his work around our new home in my upcoming posts...