(Almost) 100 Things

This is by no means an all inclusive list . . .

1. I was born in August of 1974.
2. I was born 28 days after my due date.
3. I was due on my mother's 28th birthday.
4. My parents gave me two middle names at birth.
5. One of them is my father's grandmother's name.
6. It has eleven letters.
7. Now my maiden name is my (only) legal middle name.
8. I'm an only child.
9. So was my best friend when I was growing up.
10. She seems like the closest thing I have to a sister.
11. I have some amazing girlfriends. Only two of them know about this blog at press time.
12. They are the family I've been able to pick.
13. I have two cousins that are close to my age and used to be very close to them.
14. Now that we're all married, it's been hard to maintain that closeness.
15. I'm the youngest grandchild on that side of the family.
16. And the only grand-daughter.
17. I have lived in Austin since 1997.
18. I know some Japanese - - used to know more.
19. But I left Japan in 1997 and don't know when I'll go back.
20. It is too damn expensive to get there and pay for a place to stay.
21. I liked living in Japan.
22. It never felt like home though.
23. I taught English at the Junior High in a small town.
24. I met some incredible people from all over the world while living in Japan.
25. I grew up in a college town.
26. Both of my parents worked at the University.
27. Dad was Staff (rather than Faculty).
28. Mom taught ESL, but it wasn't a tenured position.
29. They worked year-round.
30. I was exposed to people from many different cultures as a result of my parents' jobs.
31. My first pets were two parakeets.
32. They were a gift from some of my Mom's students.
33. I named them George and Martha after some hippos in a book I liked.
34. The father of on of my friends was a professor in the Oceanography department.
35. Her mother didn't work.
36. Their family spent the summers in Maine.
37. She took sailing lessons.
38. That seemed so extravagant to me.
39. We used to write letters when she was away for the summers.
40. I think I still have some of those letters.
41. I keep too much old crap like that.
42. I have all that old crap in our house.
43. My HUSband still has some of that sort of crap at his parents' house.
44. My parents divorced when I was 25.
45. A month after their 30th anniversary.
46. 5+ years later and I don't think I'm dealing with it very well (still).
47. They're both remarried.
48. And happy.
49. That's good.
50. My HUSband and I were married in 2002.
51. We were engaged on September 8, 2001.
52. He proposed atop Mount Bonnell.
53. We closed on our first house on February 2002.
54. This is the longest I've ever lived in one place since I moved from my parents' house to the dorm.
55. We originally thought we'd only live in this house five years or so.
56. The thought of moving again so soon doesn't seem fun to me.
57. We still haven't changed the color of the walls in the living room - - If you have any suggestions, please send them my way. update: we finally painted the living room!
58. We got our cat in August 2002.
59. His name is Neko.
60. That means "cat" in Japanese.
61. Sometimes we say that his full name is "Gato Neko."
62. Naming a cat "Cat Cat" is/was a silly thing to do.
63. I had a dog for about 6 weeks growing up.
64. His name was Brady Beagle.
65. We had to take him to live on the farm with my grandfather because he was just too much to handle.
66. Yes, he really did go to a farm in Arkansas. We drove him up there in my dad's 1981 Honda Civic.
67. My first car was a 1991 Honda Civic.
68. My second (and current) car is a 2000 Honda Civic.
70. My next car, sadly, will not likely be a Honda.
71. My father-in-law works for GM and can get us quite a deal.
71. I don't like to exercise much.
72. When I was in college, I was better about it. I used to go to 2-3 step aerobic classes a week.
73. The apartment I lived in during the last two years of college shared a parking lot with a shopping center with a gym in it.
74. That same shopping center also had a bar/club with some great drink specials.
75. We used to come home to go to the bathroom if the line got too long.
76. I now try to make it to a yoga class at least once a week.
77. Yoga makes me more aware of my body, especially of my posture.
78. It also helps me relax.
79. I like to think that I'm a rather relaxed or laid-back person. Most of the time I am. But there are times when I strongly believe that there should be a plan and it should be adhered to.
80. I spend too much money on Bobbi Brown make-up. And manicures & pedicures.
81. I'm lucky to have a job that I can wear open-toed shoes to.
82. I don't know how I used to wear hose and heels to work an 8+ hour shift at Casual Corner.
83. I enjoyed the employee discount (probably too much) when I worked at Casual Corner during and immediately after college.
84. I only like to eat eggs when I can't tell the difference between the white and the yolk (mostly scrambled or an omelet).
85. I like to read quite a bit . . . memoirs, chick lit, & historical fiction mostly.
86. I've been in two book clubs. The first one sort of fell apart as many of the members finished graduate school and moved away. The one I'm in now doesn't actually read the same book each month anymore. We talk about what we're reading and get ideas from each other. I like it better that way. Many times, I only had time to read one book a month and never got around to reading ones on my list.
87. I currently have about 20 books in my queue to read.
88. I read more when I traveled for work. That's one reason I miss traveling (flying) for work.
89. I also liked the airline miles (and HiltonHonors points too).
90. I prefer that toilet paper be dispensed from the top of the roll.
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