50 Things

Andrea did this, and like the good copy-cat I am, here's my take on it. I can be shockingly honest at times, so please, don't get frightened or angry with me.

Me in a nutshell, if you will. Or 50 nutshells, I suppose.

1. I love design. Especially graphic design and furniture/interior design.
2. I scrapbook obsessively. I'm not really sure of why, but I know the source. When Andrea moved away between tenth and eleventh grade, Laura and I threw her a going away party and made a memory book for her. I got hooked.
3. I love photography, especially portraits of people and architectural details.
4. I've taken both my sister's senior portraits. We did Anne's this Christmas Eve, in the snow. Unfortunately, it was the only time we could do it, since it was currently snowing, but there wasn't enough on the ground to be pretty.
5. I shower at night so that I can take very hot, long showers. I have been known to empty the hot water heater. It's not really a good thing.
6. I can remember random things like the birthday and favorite color of someone I haven't communicated with in years, but can't seem to remember things like reading assignments.
7. I work in mining in the summers for this company, and I enjoy it actually a lot. Sometime I should post some of my pictures from the mine.
8. I have a ridiculously huge collection of shoes.
9. I generally wear dressy shoes, keds, or flip flops, or go barefoot. It feels weird to wear my running shoes or my work boots.
10. I have contemplated suicide on more than one occasion.
11. I have severe anxiety mixed with medium-level depression. It's frightening at times, but generally under control thanks to some great doctors and my beloved Lexapro.
12. I can be alarmingly open about my problems, but I hate asking for help.
13. I love fashion.
14. I have an addiction to jewelry, which unfortunately is enabled by my family and friends.
15. I often take over the decoration of my apartment, even though I share it with five other girls. Okay, make that always. My art hangs on the walls, my knickknacks sit on the shelves, my holiday decorations are featured most prominently. Sometimes I feel bad, but then again, I don't.
16. I often say that college is the one time in our lives when we're allowed to be tacky, but when my apartment or my appearance is tacky, I hate it and feel oddly guilty.
17. I love snow between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day, and then I wish it would all just go away.
18. I am a supposedly intellectual sociology major, and am embarrassed to tell my friends in my major about my addiction to fashion and shelter magazines and blogs.
19. I love Flickr.
20. The person I most resemble in my family (a cousin) is actually adopted and we share none of the same genes.
21. I cannot seem to eat without spilling something on me. Any time I do is cause for celebration. This, unfortunately, wrecks havoc on my clothes.
22. I love thrift and antique stores. You can find all sorts of amazing things at them, at amazing bargains.
23. I have only met one person ever with eyesight worse than my own.
24. Attending a Mormon college has somehow made me more liberal in my world views in ways that confound most other Mormons. Or maybe my California upbringing is finally catching up to me. Many of my recent roommates have hated me for this.
25. I hate it when people use the words "gay" and "retard" instead of "stupid". Actually, I don't much like "stupid" either.
26. I ask too many questions and have too few answers.
27. I get overly excited about sports movies, even the ones I've seen many times. My sisters hate watching them, because I start jumping out of my seat cheering.
28. I like to give special, meaningful gifts. A couple of my personal favorites, a beach bag to Andrea because we both have winter birthdays and never get any of the cool summer stuff as gifts, and a celebration box with holiday and birthday decorations to my sister Anne who only wanted college stuff for Christmas this year.
29. I have to marry a man who can fix things, because my Daddy can, and does, fix literally everything.
30. I'm a closet cynic and a closet romantic. How this is possible, I don't know.
31. Somehow I've made it through 15.5 years of school and nearly 4 years of secretarial-type work, and I still can't alphabetize to save my life.
32. I never wear any jewelry except my watch on my left hand because I have this strange paranoia about people thinking I'm married when I'm not. Except when I work at the mine, when I do want people to think I'm married so they'll leave me alone, I wear a $8 Wal-Mart ring that looks similar to a friend's wedding band on my wedding ring finger.
33. I'm allergic to the glue used to glue the layers of shoes together. I have to wear socks and/or not let my shoes get wet, or the dissolved glue starts to eat away the skin on my feet.
34. I'm also violently allergic to seafood, particularly shrimp and crab.
35. I used to be a very picky eater, but now I'll try anything. Even if it has peas in it.
36. I sometimes do things just to antagonize people.
37. The best stress reliever I've found, other than a blessing, is a walk to the park to swing, or sometimes, just a simple hug from certain people. You know the ones, those guy friends with no romantic attraction, who can just envelope you in their arms and make you feel so safe and protected and loved and like everything is going to be okay.
38. For some reason, people come to me for relationship advice, even though I've only been in one (disastrous) relationship that lasted less than two months.
39. I never really wanted to serve a mission, but the pressure to do so when I turned 21 and was "still" unmarried was so great that I nearly started the paperwork to go.
40. I sleep with an elephant named Ellie that I've had since I was born. Here I am, nearly 22 years old, and Ellie goes with me everywhere and I cannot fall asleep without her.
41. I have O negative blood. If you ever need a transfusion, give me a call. Except I'm not allowed to give blood anymore because of my medication (see #10). So don't. It really makes me sad that I can't give blood anymore. I really enjoy it, and I know that my blood type is rare and universal, which makes it valuable.
42. I always have to be doing something with my hands while I'm reading or watching TV. Unfortunately, this is often eating.
43. I love making bread. Especially when I'm having a bad day because I can hit the bread, but I can't hit people. Especially not teachers.
44. One of my most treasured memories from high school is going to football games with Tori and her dad and having Mr. Wade explain the game to us. Followed, of course, by a brownie a la mode at Denny's.
45. I write poetry, but never show it to anyone.
46. I dance in the rain, no matter how cold it is. I think this has something to do with growing up in Ridgecrest, CA, where rain is measured (at least by my family) by how far apart the drops are rather than how much accumulates in the glass.
47. I wish life was a musical since it would make my random bursts of song less obvious. I guess my life, at least, is a musical.
48. I want an even number of children, either 4 or 6.
49. I don't like having the exact same thing as anyone else, which is why I love Etsy so much.
50. I love old school pink bubblegum.