A Third One Hundred

Alright!  For my birthday, I decided to go ahead and check the first thing off my 40 before 40 list: Item #24 -- Complete a new 100 things list!  I've created two other lists in the past, and my big challenge this time around is to try and come up with a NEW set of 100 things about me -- without looking back over the other two, first.  {List 1 is HERE and List 2 is HERE.}  That should make things more fun, right???  Hahahaha.  Without further adieu, here we go...

1.) I have a small obsession with personality tests -- I'm not exactly sure why

2.) Perhaps it's because I'm an INFJ?

3.) Or maybe it's because I'm an Enneagram Type 2 (I think)? 

4.) Words of Affirmation are my Love Language

5.) I'm an idealistic realist

6.) Road tripping has become one of my favorite things

7.) I drive a Honda Odyssey -- perhaps the most cliche of all mom cars

8.) When I was a kid playing M.A.S.H., my car options were always like 15 passenger vans

9.) Probably because my number of kids options were always 7, 8, or 9

10.) I've been a journal writer since the 6th grade

11.) I have a faux dimple in my left cheek

12.) I can't decide if my eyes are blue, green, blueish-greenish, or grayish -- it makes filling out driver's license info unnecessarily stressful

13.) My shoe size is 6 1/2

14.) So is my ring size

15.) I've still never been to San Francisco

16.) Bar Harbor, Maine is my favorite place I've ever visited

17.) I like to collect bumper stickers as souvenirs for all the places we've road tripped

18.) My current favorite breakfast option is a bowl of Crispix with a sliced banana on top

19.) I kind of have a thing for memoirs

20.) If I were to ever write a book, I think that's the genre I'd be going with

21.) My ultimate running goal is to finish a half marathon in under 2 hours

Current Half Marathon PR -- 2:16:50 from fall of 2014

22.) Red is my least favorite color to wear

23.) Probably because I'm a Soft Summer

24.) I graduated with a degree in Elementary Education

April 2002 -- Scott and I graduated at the same time

25.) I really love art

26.) Words are my superpower

27.) I'm a bit of an overthinker

28.) If I had to pick 3 fictional characters to represent me, they would probably be Hermione from the Harry Potter series, Frankie Heck from the TV show The Middle, and Beverly Goldberg from the TV show The Goldbergs

29.) I don't like flying

30.) I love a good cupcake

31.) I wish I would have tried cross country in high school

32.) Music and Library were my favorite classes in elementary school

33.) I'm so glad the schools I went to were such supporters of the Arts

34.) Sometimes I think I would love to be an elementary school art teacher

35.) Other times I think my ideal job would be as a school librarian

36.) And then, there are times when I feel really crazy and think it would be really fun to teach a high school English class

37.) My style icon is Reese Witherspoon

38.) Forming a family band is one of my greatest dreams (that will never come to pass)

39.) I sang in my school choir in 4th and 5th grade

40.) I always use my left ear when I talk on the phone

41.) While walking or running with someone else, I prefer to be on their right side -- so I can listen to them with my left ear

42.) I don't think that I necessarily have better hearing in that ear -- because I don't think I do -- but for some reason, I definitely process what I'm hearing better from that side

43.) My favorite number is 3

44.) I'm a hopeless romantic

45.) I'm kind of a messy eater

46.) Actually, it's more that I'm a careless eater

47.) My very first "real" job was working at the Gap the summer before I started college

48.) I probably used most of my paycheck on my employee discount

49.) I wish I knew more about gardening

50.) My first celebrity crush as a kid was on Sean Astin's character in The Goonies

51.) I thought he was just so cute with his braces and asthma

52.) Christmas is my favorite holiday

53.) Mostly because I love playing Santa so much

54.) But also because I love the music and the lights and the general atmosphere of joy

55.) Peppermint ice cream is my favorite

56.) Although Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla is a close second

57.) I hate confrontation

58.) I think ice skating is more fun in theory than in actuality

59.) Fish freak me out -- when swimming near me, that is

60.) The number one saying that I repeat to my kids that my mom always said to me is:  "You never know until you try it on"

61.) I asked my kids what they'll be saying to THEIR kids that I always say to them and I got some interesting answers:

62.) Jane says it will be "Save up your pennies" or "I need some elbow room"

63.) Grace thinks it will be "The whiter the bread, the sooner you're dead" (my grandma used to always say that and Grace has always gotten a huge kick out of it)

64.) I don't think Ethan responded, but if he did, it would probably be "Find a purpose"

65.) Either that or "Nothing is as big a deal as you think it's going to be"

66.) It took me an embarrassingly long time to learn my times tables in elementary school

67.) And to be honest, I'm still pretty shaky on the 12s

68.) And by shaky I mean I only know 12 X 12 off the top of my head

69.) I hate amusement park rides

70.) I've stopped the Tilt-a-Whirl at least 2 different times in my life

71.) Which begs the question -- why did I try it a second time when I knew how I reacted the first time?

72.) When Scott and I were first dating, he let me take his car home late one night and while parking near my apartment, I accidentally got stuck in a ditch

73.) I had to call a tow truck to help get it out and I think it cost me 80 bucks

74.) I was so embarrassed that I didn't want to tell Scott, but I'm also incapable of keeping anything from him, so I ended up telling him the next day when I brought back the car

75.) Luckily Scott has a great sense of humor and is super low-key and chill, so he just laughed and said I should have just called him when it happened and he would have tried to help

76.) I think I made an EXCELLENT choice in marrying Scott

77.) I try really hard to be low-key and chill, but I'm not

78.) I'm pretty intense and a little over the top

79.) And that's okay because it means I care about things -- a LOT

80.) The Grapes of Wrath is a "classic" that I've never read but have been meaning to for years

81.) Other "classics" I haven't read but feel like I should, include: A Tale of Two Cities (or anything by Dickens)

82.) Moby Dick

83.) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

84.) Frankenstein

85.) And The Chronicles of Narnia

86.) I think I'll add all of those to my to-be-read list for my 40 Before 40

87.) Composers from the Romantic period are my favorite

88.) My favorite science class in high school was Physics

89.) I kind of love poetry

90.) I'm easily distracted

91.) I love colors 

92.) When I was growing up, my most often requested birthday cake was a lemon cake like my grandma would make

93.) Unfortunately, I don't think any of my kids like lemon flavored things, which is a shame because I love them

94.) I don't enjoy cooking

95.) Keeping up with the laundry is my nemesis

96.) Fall is my favorite season

97.) I'm a light sleeper 

98.) I hardly ever think stand-up comedy is funny

99.) But slap stick comedy makes me laugh every single time

100.) I like soundtracks from Broadway musicals, but I don't always love watching the Broadway musical itself

And that's a wrap!!!  Whew.  That was a LOT harder this time around.  I'm running out of new things to record about myself.  Hahaha.  Hopefully, this weekend will be nice and chill so we can finish celebrating my 39th birthday tomorrow.  :)