TAG! | 50 Random Facts

I've seen this tag on several friends' blogs and I loved reading their facts so much, I decided to spend my rainy Sunday morning doing this tag!  If you're reading this, I tag you!  If you've already done it, let me know in the comments!  In the words of Al Bundy, "Let's rock."

1. My parents are from Michigan and Indiana, so even though I was born and raised in Atlanta, GA, I don't have a southern accent.  People always think I'm from the Midwest or Southwest due to my lack of a southern drawl.  But I can fake one like it's no problem!
2.  I do love the word "y'all" and use it like it's a completely acceptable term.  You + all = y'all.  Makes perfect sense to me.
3.  I've always struggled with and hated math.
4.  My favorite place I've ever visited on vacation is Puerto Rico.  NICEST PEOPLE EVER, the food is unbeatable, and there are horses just roaming free.  In neighborhoods.  It is crazy!  I went with my friend Emily in 2008.  Jason and I are going for our honeymoon and I am so excited!

Puerto Rico, 2008.  Emily and I just pulled over to the side of the road and snapped this pic!

5.  The furthest (farthest?) west I've been in the United States is St. Louis on a trip with Emily.  We got to go up into the Arch and everyone we met was so ridiculously nice.  That's a city of really nice people.
6.  I am handy and resourceful.  I am a low level household MacGyver.  I can fix a toilet or a drawer that won't slide open properly and I'm really good at hanging pictures perfectly centered without a measuring tape.
7.  I might love blush and lipstick and oohing and ahhing over shiny, pretty things, but I am a true tomboy at heart.  I like doing things myself without any help.  I like going to the shooting range.  I like having biceps.  I like action movies and car chase scenes.  I like riding horses and always try to get them to run.  It's the best feeling!  I still want to climb trees but rarely find myself in a situation where I could do it without someone assuming I was drunk and/or nutty.  Michonne from The Walking Dead is my hero.
8.  Like Stephanie Eva, I HATE crying and do everything I can to avoid it.  If a book or movie is described as "touching", "heart breaking", "soul enhancing", etc., etc., I AVOID it like the plague.
9.  I love ballet.  Did it for a brief stint as a child but gave it up because I wanted to roller skate and climb trees instead.  I also did gymnastics in high school.

Ballet, 1990 / Gymnastics, 1998

10.  I LOVE Oldies.  I grew up listening to Fox 97 on the radio, which was a really fantastic oldies station.  In fact, most of my friends did, too.  It was perfectly normal to make a mix tape that contained Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools", Nirvana's "Pennyroyal Tea", Paul Revere and the Raiders' "Kicks", and Silverchair's "Tomorrow".
11.  I still know all the words to "The Next Episode" by Dr. Dre and my fiance Jason really enjoys it when I sing {and dance} along to the Snoop Dogg part about stepping into this "mf-er just a' swingin' my hair."
12.  I do stupid dances all the time.
13.  Believe it or not, I am a little shy when I first meet people.  It's not until I feel like I know them better that I unleash the zany train.
14.  I love feeding birds and watching them eat off our back porch.  It is SO enjoyable and relaxing!
15.  I've been dating Jason since October 2008, and we've been engaged since June 2011.
16.  We are getting hitched at the end of April 2014 and we're both trying to keep the planning as stress-free as possible, but it's AMAZING what comes up.  You think you check off one vendor and you're golden, but then you think of 5-18 other little things that you'd previously forgotten about.  I am much more excited to be married to my uber best friend than I am about the wedding day itself.
17.  My favorite childhood movies: The Little Mermaid, E.T., and Home Alone.
18.  I am obsessed with Isotoner satin ballet slippers.  HAVE YOU TRIED THEM?!  Comfort beyond measure and they never make my feet sweat.  Oh and they're adorable.  I have bunches of them, including a black pair for under my desk at work for when my regular shoes start getting on my nerves.
19.  I'll be wearing a pink pair of Isotoners for my wedding.  After all, no one is going to see my feet anyways!  Might as well be comfy!

Image credit: Totes-Isotoner

20.  Good lord, we're only at 20?!  I like root beer to an insane level.
21.  I have a list of adorable names for pets we don't have {yet}.
22.  I love mockingbirds.  They are smart and fierce.  They are my spirit animal! ;)
23.  I will always associate the number 23 with Michael Jordan.
24.  Going to Paris has been my dream forever.  I could look at pictures of Paris all day long and never get bored and the language is so beautiful.  Je parle un peu de Français.  Someday I will manger the hell out of some eclairs at a café in the 6th arrondissement.  ❤❤❤

Image credit: Wikipedia

25.  I have to have a lip balm on my person at all times or else I get all Napoleon Dynamite, whining that my lips hurt real bad.
26.  Jason took me to Discovery Cove in FL where we got to swim with dolphins, which was a lifelong dream of mine.  He also proposed there, having a dolphin bring me a buoy that said, "Kristen, will you marry me?"

27.  By nature, I am a night owl, but I am trying very hard to become a morning person.  The few times I've gotten up early, I've LOVED getting so much done and being EARLY for work.
28.  I hate when people show up more than 10 minutes earlier than they said they would.  And then I have to hurry to be ready at the agreed upon time.
29.  I love to read.  My record was reading 72 books in 2010.
30.  The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is one of my all-time favorite books.
31.  The first beauty blogs I read religiously were Temptalia and Makeup & Beauty Blog.  I still read them religiously!
32.  I can't believe how many amazing women I've met through this blog over the course of the past year.  It's been an true journey in positivity for me to count you all as friends.  Hearts!
33.  My favorite TV shows this year have been Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis.
34.  I sometimes need a break from heavy drama and, ya know, meth-making and zombie slaying, so I also enjoy a certain amount of brain candy by reading books from my childhood (The Babysitter's Club, Ramona Quimby, Sweet Valley Twins, The Fabulous Five) and watching goo TV like Say Yes to the Dress Bridesmaids and House Hunters International.
35.  Also filed under brain candy?  The Bachelor/Bachelorette.  My childhood friend Blair from STFU, Parents (here's her interview on Good Morning America) watches these programs and convinced me to.  I may or may not have gotten Jason to watch the last two seasons.  They're so unbelievably corny and uncomfortable, that they're a true serving of mental cotton candy.
36.  My best Halloween costume ever was when my mom made me the most badass Rainbow Brite costume (with a yarn wig) when I was 5.

37.  I love coffee.
38.  We're getting a cat after we get married and I am PUMPED!  I also have wanted a dog for eons but we're waiting until we have a backyard for him/her to run in.  I don't consider myself to be a "cat person" or a "dog person", just an "animal person".
39.  If it's not comfortable, I'm not wearing it.
40.  I love sipping hot coffee and hot chocolate when it's chilly outside.  Festive!
41.  Taking a hot shower before bed is my zen moment.
42.  I drive a stick shift and I love it!  Unless I'm sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, creeping along at 2 MPH.  Then it's not exactly super fun times.

My car! Picture taken right before I bought it!  And got floor mats.

43.  My lucky number is 24.
44.  The best thing I can cook is kale, sausage, and potato soup.  It's super yummy!
45.  Peonies are my favorite flower.
46.  I just tried my first ever mango lassi and I am in LOVE.  I also have a huge fondness for Indian food.
47.  I've always wanted to try a Turducken.  I love the word turducken.
48.  I hate pictures of myself straight-on.  My smile is super crooked.  That's why almost all of my blog pics are from a side angle, in case y'all haven't noticed!  It's like one side of my mouth just can't put in the same amount of effort as the other.

Straight-on crooked smile circa 2013 / 1987

49.  I've been working at my job for 8.5 years, which shocks me.  It's such a great place to work that it feels like I've been there maybe 3-4 years.  That's definitely a good sign!
50.  I love artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, olives, mushrooms, and sprouts.  Basically the veggies other people hate, I'm a big fan of!