101 on 10/10/10

This post marks my 101th post!

In celebration, I am posting 101 things you MAY or MAY NOT know about me. (this is my attempt to imitate a post by one of my blog heros-Misty). Let me warn you, this is very long and took me about a month to get together-hence my one month hiatus in posts.

1) I have a HUGE extended family. I love it. My one issue-I wish more of them lived closer! My dad is one of 7 and my mom is one of 9. They are also scattered across the WORLD...including England, Alaska, Oregon, New Mexico, Minnesota, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi!!

2) I don't go goo-goo over many celebrities...but one that I have a huge crush on is Makism Chmerkovskiy. I am not sure what it is exactly...how he speaks his mind, how he dresses nicely, how confident he always is, the Ukranian accent, maybe his sexy body...or how he is an awesome dancer. I have been watching Dancing With the Stars since season one and I am loving him this season where with Brandi! GO MAKS!

(PS, I love this pic..it looks like I took it myself, he he he).

3)I love socks. I am always in them. I have to really work up to "sandal" weather! I sleep with them on, and will wake up if one happens to fall off. I also love funky socks and socks that match my outfit. You know what, I just realized that I have 6 drawers in my dresser and 3 of them are full of socks. What can I say.

4) I have had 2 babies, and 2 C-Sections...and never felt a single contraction. I had to have the first C-Section because I was one week overdue with Lauren and my amniotic fluid was depleted. I just never went into labor. Jamie's C-Section was planned, it was so easy the first time I thought I would go for it again. People say bad things about C-Sections, but I think it was great. No pain at all and 2 extra weeks paid off of work.

5)I am a very open person...if you haven't been able to tell that yet. I am almost TOO open for some people. I think "people" are interesting and I love to learn about people. I also love to share. I really don't keep secrets, my life is an open book.

6)I am a very sensory-connected person. Is that a word? Well...smells and sounds and sights always seem to bring floods of memories. Memories that I don't seem to forget and that seem to be immediate and strong. It is hard to explain..but perfume, or a song, or a picture can take me back to an event as if it were time travel. I think that the biggest nightmare would be to get Alzheimers or Amnesia. I think memories make us who we are and I have a strong connection to the past.

7)I have always wanted a nickname, quite badly. I have always been jealous of girls that can "chose" their name. If your name is Jennifer..you can go by Jen or Jenny. My name is Rachel and there is no choice in that name. My dad's name is Mark and everyone calls him "Bud"...always have. I like that I always know if it is business or friendly by the way they asked for him on the phone. Matt and I could not agree on a name for Lauren because I wanted a name that I could shorten. For the longest time I wanted to name her "Samantha"...the choices being Sam or Sammy...but Matt wasn't having it and I finally gave up. When we were deciding on Jamie's name, Matt wanted something traditional. We both liked James, but I said that people would call him a bunch of different things like "Jim" or "Jimmy"..names that we didn't think fit...so Matt said we would head it off and call him "Jamie". I was like "seriously??" I couldn't believe he would agree to it. SO...here we are..still calling him Jamie and I love it...and it totally fits him.

8) I am extremely ticklish. I mean extremely ticklish. I hate being tickled. If you touch my feet, I just might kick you in the face. Consider yourself warned.

9)Matt and I met on a blind date on June 9, 1995. His brother Greg was dating one of my best friends (yup you Jami Nelson-Lamborn) at the time and they set us up on a date..the rest is history!

10) I am always looking for coincidents. In dates, with letters, random things that may be related. For example..my mom graduated in 1969, I graduated in 1996, Ashley in 2006 and Sarah in 2009.."69,96,06,09". And my mom had me when she was 26 and I had Lauren when I was 26. OR...Mathew, Rachel, Lauren and James...all of us have an "a" as the second letter and an "e" as the second to last letter. The boys both have "Ms" in their names, the girls both have "Ls" and every person has their own unique letter..Matt a "w", me a "c", Lauren a "u", and Jamie a "J". Weird, I know.

11) I am a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn. When I worked at Blockbuster I think I took home and watched every single movie she ever made, simply because she was in it, my personal favorite being (after My Fair Lady, of course is Charade). She is just so beautiful, graceful, quirky, stylish and humble. Honorable mentions in the brunette bombshell department also include Kate Beckinsale and Jennifer Love Hewitt. I always wanted to be blonde, but these are a few that make me proud to have brown hair.
12) I work in the Collections Department for Discover Card as a Manager. I have been there for going on 15 years and have been a Manager for almost 10. I like what I do even though it is crazy at times. The people I work with make it all worth it and I have met some truly awesome people there. Not to mention the fact that Matt works with me (even though we rarely see each other). My biggest accomplishment is winning what they call the "Lone Peak" award 4 times. It is like "Team Leader of the Year" and only a few Managers are chosen each year. I'd like to think I am pretty decent at what I do, I really couldn't imagine doing anything else.

13) I love my mom. I mean who doesn't love their mom? BUT my mom is my hero. She is an awesome cook, she is patient, she seems to have all the answers to any question, she is smart, she is humble, she is easy going, she is a good housecleaner, a good seamstress and she is a wonderful babysitter. She is unselfish, beautiful, religious, and calming. She is forgiving, loving, generous, strong, brave, gentle and 100% committed to her family. Okay, I could go on and on. She is such an amazing person and I am so blessed to have her in my life.
14) I blow my nose really really loud. I call it my moose call. I just can't help it.

15) I hate big changes. It freaks me out completely. I get sick to my stomach and I worry. I even took a class at work and it still didn't help me. I don't like my norm shoved around and having to adjust to new things and not being comfortable. I DO love little changes like new shampoo or a new shirt.

16) I think birthdays are a big deal. You only get one day a year to be your special day and it should be a a great party. PS..my birthday is November 26, just in case you wanted to start planning something for me... (teasing!)

17) I already told you that I have a huge family and I love all my cousins very much. But I have a special relationship with one of my cousins, Jacob. I have so many memories of the special summers we spent together. He is 5 years younger than me, but he has sorta felt like the little brother I never had. He is very loud, outspoken, funny, and sweet. He always went out of his way to make sure my time in Louisiana was spent doing fun things. No matter what, we would always have a good time. We would go see movies, play made up games with action figures and a golf ball, go get sno-cones, we would have sleep outs in the pop-out trailer, ANYTHING, and he always loved to get as many of the cousins together for all of our adventures. There are about 8 of them down there that are my age and we all had a blast. I am very lucky, love ya Jake! This is Jacob, his wife Tiera and their daughter-Josie. SO cute!


18) I love my last name. LOVATO. I love it so much I decided to keep it after I got married. Okay, that is not 100% true. It was also my husbands last name. Small world, I know. BUT don't worry..we went to see a genetic counselor (not because of the name-for something else) who assured us that even if we are distantly related, as long as we aren't first cousins (which we indeed are NOT) it is completely fine. ANYWAY. Not many know what my name means. "Lo" is a pronoun...like "your" or "her" or "the" and "Vato" is slang for "hommie" or "buddy" or "pal" or "dude"....so..my last name can be translated into "the hommie". Not everyone can say that. I joke that it is perfect for Jamie because he loves cars. See..he "Loves-Autos"...hardy har har.

19)I think that I am the only person in the world without an IPOD. I instead chose to go with a portable XM radio. I don't really like listening to the same songs over and over, and I don't know how to download anything-so I like the XM radio. I like the 80's channel, the smooth jazz channel, the comedy channel, whatever type of mood I may be in.

20)I am fascinated by space, outer space. I love learning about the planets and our sun. It is just unbelievable really. I love to go to the planetarium and see shows and I love to see pictures. It is humbling really when you see how small we are in the grand scheme of things.

21) I mentioned that I don't like change...I should mention that I have only lived in 3 places. I lived in the same house for my entire childhood...21 years. Then the first house that Matt and I had we lived in for 10 years, and then our current house...I don't ever plan on leaving. I feel truly blessed that in my 3 houses I have had the BEST neighbors EVER. People that I have at times trusted my LIFE with. They make my "home" a "home"!

22) I am an English major. Not because I loved it or had passion for it. Honestly, it has just always been the easiest thing for me. I love to read, I used to read constantly as a kid and teenager. But I am not a literary snob like most English majors. I read for pleasure not enlightenment. I do, however, have a passion for poetry. Had I gone through with my plans to become an English teacher I would have had my class loving poetry as much as I do...think "Dead Poets Society" and standing on the desk shouting "Oh Captain, My Captain". Ah. Let me share something I wrote many years ago....

If I ask for a smile, will I get one?
If I ask for a dance, will you lead?
For I will smile and I will dance and I won't let you cry.

23)I am horrible at science. I think it is interesting it just doesn't sink in my brain. I was pretty much a straight A student...BUT I did take 2 mandatory science classes in college and they were both my only 2 C's I have ever had in my entire life. In High School I could get good grades in science with my attendance, and homework assignments. In college when your grade is made up of like 3 tests, a "C" was the best I could do. When taking the ACT or any other standardized test I would always breeze through the English parts thinking "what kind of idiot gets this wrong"...and then it would come to the Science part and I would be so stumped, I would feel like the idiot. It was clearly my worst score! DOH!

24) I love to scrapbook. I wish that I had more time to scrapbook. I am way way behind. ugh, overwhelming!

25) I have super weak arms. I can't do a single push up. I am like that cartoon character that when they flex..the muscles hang upside down comically. Matt jokes that I have T-Rex arms. LOL! Small, weak, useless. Yup. Well, at least no one asks me to help them move.

26) My biggest passion in life (besides my hubby and my kids) is dance. I danced my whole life, I was on Drill Team in High School and I was on the University of Utah's Dance team, the Crimson Line. I coached High School Drill for two years and I was GOING to be a High School teacher so I could coach Drill. Well...life doesn't always turn out how we plan it to be. I still have a longing in my heart for dance. I even took adult clases until I was pregnant with Jamie and Matt said "okay, I think you are getting a bit too old for this". If I could do anything in the world, I would do something in the world of dance. I love that there are now so many dance shows on TV, I consider myself an expert...I have even thought about starting a TV dance blog...combining two of my loves..dance and giving my opinions. Don't get me wrong, I am not the BEST dancer, but I guarantee I loved it more than anyone else does!

Here is the Crimson Line, back in the day...memories!

27) I can't decorate worth a darn. I am so jealous of those girls who can decorate well...my step-mom-in-law Tina, my old neighbors Bree and Jen, all those people on the TLC shows. My walls are almost totally bare, no woman's touch here. I wish I could go a way for a month and come back to a beautifully decorated house. We all have talents, I wish that I could find mine, I wish it was decorating.

28) I am a night owl. I always have been. I love staying up late, and sleeping in late. I HATE waking up early. I worked the day shift at work for 3 years and it was miserable. I never went to bed before midnight.

29) I was on my high school soccer team. The Lady Jags. We were quite good. I only did it for one year, because it was at the same time as Drill Team. But I loved it, nothing like running through the grass, kicking the ball and making a goal. (besides you need no upper body strength-ha ha). I miss playing very much. I will still kick a ball around every now and then and I hope to get my kids involved in the sport too one day.

30) I have journaled almost my entire life. I have journaled right up until I had the kids, then my entries have been sparser and sparser. Now this blog is like my journal. Maybe one day after I am dead and gone, my descendants can read all about me and my life and my opnions. I hope they aren't too bored.

31) I love Halloween! I love scary movies. I love fall and fall smells and the crisp air, and free flowing candy. It might just be my favorite holiday!

32) I make jewelry. I love to see people wear what I make. I have been making beaded jewelry for nearly 7 years. It is so much fun. If you ever need anything, just let me know. My prices are cheap, probably too cheap, I don't think I make any real money, but that is okay.

33) My favorite thing about Matt's appearance is his eyes. He has really really nice eyes. They are hazel and around the black part is this ring of orange. I had hoped that just ONE of my kids would get his gorgeous eyes...no luck. There is so much about his personality that I love...too hard to pick just one...so let me give you my top five 1) He is 100% committed to doing the right thing and I can always count on him. 2) He is determined and ambitious 3) He loves me unconditionally and always makes me feel beautiful 4) He is so darn smart 5) He can do anything, fix anything. He is amazing. PS...he hates the word "amazing". Okay, he is wonderful.

Some of my favorite pics of my man. Hubba hubba. (ps..who says Hubba hubba anymore?)

34) I sing all the time, uncontrollably at times. My poor team at work having to hear me sing ALL the time along with the muzak. I don't even realize that I do it. My mom used to hum all the time and I asked her why she hummed and she answered "happy people hum". Well, now I say "happy people sing".

35) When I was a kid I had a huge mirror attached to my dresser. I used to put on my bathrobe, dim the lights and lip synch to the entire soundtrack to "Beaches". Bette Midler can really belt it out. Me and my Louisiana cousins once did a whole "Otto Titsling" skit. I was the narrator, it was hillarious. I love that soundtrack.

36) I once got keyed, or well "clipboarded" from a door to door salesperson. It was super scary and quite traumatizing. My new rule is that I do not open the door for anyone unless Matt is home. Door to door selling should be against the law, in my opinion. Even the other day, these girls selling vacuums wouldn't leave even though Matt asked them nicely multiple times to leave. We almost called the cops, it was so scary! I may be afraid for life regarding door to door sellers.

37) I sell Scentsy candles. They are so much fun too. I guess I like to stay busy. My three all-time favorites are: Cozy Fireside, Lavendar Vanilla, and Sugar.

38) I am a huge Stephen King fan. I think he is our generations "Shakespeare". I think he is a genious. I have tried to read nearly all that he has written...one of my recent favorites is "Cell". I also love Dean Koontz, he is a bit more "west coast". My recent favorite by him is "Phantoms". They both do such a great job creating pictures in my head, they have strong characters, and they write with a little supernaturality (is that a word?) and a touch of horror/suspense. I love it.
39) One of my pet peeves is when people leave their neon "Open" sign on. How do you NOT see that after you are locking the doors and walking away for the night. GRR!

40) I am addicted to what is called "Point and Click Management games" on the computer. Like Wedding Dash and Fashion Fits. It is a HUGE problem for me! I beat BOTH of those games, I don't think I've ever BEAT any game. Oh my!

41) Fleetwood Mac is my favorite band. Gotta love a band with three different lead singers. Stevie Nicks has the neatest voice. I love "Gypsy" and "Rhiannon". I have seen them in concert and they totally rock.

42) I just started texting not that long ago. I was a bit behind the times, but I love it now and I am getting much faster!

43) Every night before I can fall peacefully asleep I MUST have everyone's clothes laid out for the next day. The kids AND mine. I have the whole outfit lined out...clothes, shoes, socks, jewelry. Just something I HAVE to do.

44) I used to be a huge Barbie fan as a little girl. I loved playing Barbies. I didn't have a Barbie bike or clothes for myself that were Barbie, or Barbie backpacks, etc. Did they have that stuff for us when we were little? Anyway, I LOVED my Barbie house, dressing the Barbies, etc. I carefully packed away ALL of my Barbie clothes and I just gave it ALL to Lauren. Just like I planned 20+years ago. It is funny to see her use the clothes, some of the clothes are SOO 70's and 80's. But it sure brings back some memories!

45) I am a Utah Jazz fan. In good times and in bad. I used to really love Derek Fisher, but now my favorite is Paul Milsap, I even have a "Millie" shirt. I love how he is humble and hard working. I also love to watch Nascar with Matt. One day we will go to a race. My 5 favorite drivers are: Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Mark Martin, and Kasey Kahne. I just want someone other than Jimmy Johnson to win the chase this year, PLEASE!

46) I am Catholic. I attended St. Joesph the Worker for the first 30 years of my life. Now, I go to St. Francis. I love my priest there, he is the youngest priest in Utah and he is even from Kearns. He is down to earth and so kind, and even funny. We had stopped going regularly for a while because Jamie was SOOO bad during church..but now we are committed to going every week, no matter what. We have been the last 5 weeks in a row, yipee!

47) I was a good kid for my parents, never caused a lick of trouble. BUT when I was 20 I snuck out of the house and drove over to Matt's house and begged him to not break up with me. At the time, my little sister Sarah would get scared in the middle of the night and my mom would put her in bed with me and my giant bed. So, when I returned from my sneak-out. I thought my dad was waiting in bed for me. He never actually did THAT...but I thought that is something he WOULD do. It would makes sense...when I got in, it would wake him up and I could get my lashing. BUT it wasn't my dad, it was my sister. I was still scared though..my MOM had to have known that I wasn't in the bed, so the next morning I woke up expecting punishment..but NO! They had no idea I had been gone, whew! The old pillows in the bed trick DID work.

48) I have no musical ability. When we played the recorder in 4th grade, the kid next to me (Nick Wright) asked me to stop playing because people were looking at him funny, so I faked it. BUT there is an instrument that I CAN play. During one of these fateful summer trips to Louisiana, me and my cousin Melanie met a man who played a nose flute. I paid my $1 and took home my own personal nose flute. I am a pro. It has been a while, but with my (aforementioned nose blowing skills)..I trust that I still have the knack.

49) In high school the group I hung out with I called us the "high school six"...Teri Austin, Heather Brown, Kelly Miller, Allison Sandberg, Julie Frandsen and me. We are still friends and still in touch after nearly 15 years after graduation. Our get togethers are less frequent (well, for some of us anyway), but I hope we will always stay in touch. I am also in touch with lots of people from High School...Facebook and blogs sure help with that. An easy way to stay in touch with lots of people very quickly and easily. You gotta love technology.

50) I am very proud to say that BOTH of my grandparents have been married for OVER 50years. They are all still alive, still together, and still in love. What great role models!

51) I used to want to be a fashion designer. Me and two of my childhood friends, Amanda Harding and Vanessa Vrotney, would play "models" and we would sketch outfits. We had a filing system and everything for our "cards" of designs. Amanda was definitely the most talented artist. I used to have this really tall bed and underneath it was this huge box of art supplies...it was so much fun back then.

52) I know that I am short. I am 5 foot 3 AND A HALF. BUT, I just want to point out that ACTUALLY I am TALL! Well, tall for my family-the Lovato side. I am taller than my dad, my brother and ALL of my aunts and uncles on my dad's side. Matt is like a GIANT at Lovato Family reunions. I wonder where my kids will be on the height spectrum.

53) I am a killer Tetris player. I am not kidding. I will take on anyone, anytime, anyplace.

54)I don't think that I look like one parent or the other BUT I can tell you that I have my dads hands and feet. They look just like his. His hands are nice but his feet are atrocious and I am always so embarassed of my (his) UGLY feet.

55) My favorite thing about Lauren phyiscally is her iron straight hair. It dries totally straight, no matter what. It doesn't hold a curl to save its life-but it is super easy to style. My favorite things about her personality is that she is sweet, smart, funny, friendly and easygoing. She has totally spoiled me in that she is just an easy kid. I love her more everyday.

56) Here are some characteristics I love the most in people: Honesty, Determination, and Kindness. Here are the characteristics I hate the most: Ungratefulness, UPPity people, FLAKEY-ness, and when people are disrespectful.

57) I love the smell of "grape". Not real grapes, the fakey grape smell. Yum.

58) I have a dog named Pepper. She is almost 15 years old. By now she is deaf and a little blind...but she is small and still gets mistaken for a puppy. She is spry and runs around and is fit and trim. Some of you may not know this..but she was the daughter of my parent's dog, she came from the one and only litter and she was my favorite of all of the puppies. She was born during my senior year, and in Drill Team we were doing a dance to "Its a Hardknock Life" and so I watched the movie over and over and there was a mean orphan named "Pepper". SO...that AND that she was the whitest puppy..and she was so sweet and docile...is where she got her name. I like ironies I guess.

59) Gee Misty, this is taking FOREVER to write. How did you do this? Can I take a minute to apologize to anyone reading, I hope this isn't TOO boring.

60) There was a show on VH1 that was called the "world Series of Pop Culture" and I totally ROCK at that game. I wish I could compete, I would WIN! My noggin is not filled with any USEFUL info, just USELESS trivia.

61) I am late 99% of the time. For everything, all the time. If I admit it, does it make it not SO bad?

62) My mother's mother has only one arm. My Grandma Duplantis lost her arm at the age of 18. She went on to have 9 kids. I admire her determination and her unconditional love. Her having only one arm has never stopped her or slowed her down and really, it is no big deal. As a kid, she was just "Maw-Maw". During our last trip to visit, I forgot to discuss the topic with Lauren. She told my Grandma that she was like Patrick from Spongebob. Luckily my Grandma wasn't hurt or offended, she laughed along with us.

63) I am really bad at telling time. But really, come ON we live in the digital age..so why do we still have those two handed clocks. I can tell the time...I just have to think about it for a minute. Those tricky two handed clocks are deceptive sometimes because they get closer to the next number. Here is what makes me mad, why are there NO cute digital watches!? Seriously inventors..get on this idea..Cute watches that are digital = they don't exist.

64) I mentioned before that I used to be an avid reader. Well, I still am, sorta. I do MOST of my reading with Books on CD. I will go to the library and rent a bunch and get through them all. I have been doing this for about 10 years now. I love to be read to and I still imagine the story in my head just as if I were reading it. Matt says it isn't reading, but I say it is.

65) I have never been drunk. It isn't against my religion...I just have never done it. #1-I don't really like the alcohol taste and #2-I don't know if I want to be out of control of myself...

66) Okay, I guess you can call me a goody-goody..but I don't swear. I never have been a swear-er. Not even if I get super mad, or if I hurt myself....it just isn't "me". I just feel fakey if I were to swear. It doesn't really bother me if people swear (as long as they aren't using the Lord's name in vain)..I just chose not to myself. I am SOMETIMES okay saying "ass" or "damn"...but that is about it.

67) Let's add to the goody-goody list while we are at it...I am a bad liar. Even trying to do a practical joke-I can't keep a straight face. How I feel is always written all over my face. My best friend Beth tells me that I make "buggy eyes" when I am mad. Well, that is just me, I can't help it.

68) I have never had the Chicken Pox. My brother and sisters got them, but not me. When my mother-in-law had shingles (I was pregnant) and I got tested, I don't have the antibodies-so I can still get it....but I haven't yet...hopefully I never will. My kids got the vaccine for it-so hopefully that betters my chances.

69)I have a sweet tooth. I love candy. All types of candy. My favorites...wintergreen flavored things....and the Reeses PB holiday specials like the heart, the egg, etc...the perfect combo of PB and chocolate (much better than the normal PB cups). I also enjoy toffee, cinnamon flavored candy, and Sour Patch kids, AND Sweedish Fish. I better stop there, I could go on forever.

70) I don't like to say my name. I like my name, I like the way it looks, I like when others say it. I just feel weird saying my name. When I first started working at Discover, it was really hard for me to say my name over and over. I will call friends with the same name as me-their last name. There used to be 3 Rachel's that were Managers with me at DC, now I am the only one left..(I miss you Justice and Poulsen). I will also refer to them as "the girl with the same name as me"....or when someone on my team had the same name I called her by her initials "RJ"..weird, I know.

71) I have never had a single broken bone. Although I did sprain my ankle a couple of times in High School.

72) I have, however, had more than my share of "stitches". When I was 5 I got bit by a Black Lab on my mouth and arm. When I was in 2nd grade I ran into the brick wall at school-with my face...all these are still visible now. I had a couple of surgeries....two of them C-Sections...lots of stitches in my lifetime.

73) I love to handwash dishes. It is so relaxing to me. When I worked at Arby's I used to love to wash dishes. Mostly I use the dishwasher just because I don't usually have enough at one time to hand-wash...but I love to whenever I can.

74) I can STILL do the splits. Yup...today, if you asked..without stretching..I can plop into the splits. Easier to do left than right..but this old lady still has it.

75) I am not a picky eater..BUT I hate peas. Cooked peas-not sugar snap peas. I just always have...eww. Lauren LOVES them and will eat a can by herself, hmm. I also don't care for cranberries. Also, ever since I was pregnant with Lauren, I just can never bring myself to eat a banana...something to do with the texture.

76) I love reality shows. LOVE them! I think I watch nearly EVERY SINGLE one! Who needs FAKE drama when REAL people are just so darn interesting. I have probably seen every episode of the Real World, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Best Dance Crew, America's Next Top Model, Shear Genius, Top Design, Flipping Out, ALL of the VH1 Junk-(minus the Ray-J stuff), and nearly all of Big Brothers, Survivors, and Amazing Races! I really can't get enough! I will even get the 24-7 feed to Big Brother = MY FAVE...well..behind So You Think You Can Dance.

77) My first dream job would be to be doing something involving dance, anyone who knows me well would say DUH to that...but some of you might NOT know that another dream job would be to be a professional book-on-tape reader or do voice-over work.

78) I sleep with a neck pillow tucked under my chin. It is weird, but I just have to do it. I don't know why. IF I lose my pillow you may find my hand folded up under there. My current neck pillow is old, worn-down and well-gross despite frequent washes. Matt HATES the pillow, but tolerates it well.

79) As a kid I loved sleepouts. We had a huge tent and my dad would put it up for me and all my neighborhood friends and we would have sleepovers. It was one of my most favorite things to do. Okay, and here is where it gets weird and now that I think of it, I don't know WHY my parents LET me...but I used to have sleepouts in our cars. I remember having sleepovers in our van, in my aunt's Chevette, whatever vehicle-I was down. I remember sleeping out on my neighbor Heather's deck. So weird, but so fun. I used to (and well-still do) love sleeping in weird and different places.

80) I love 80s music. One of my reasons for getting an XM Radio was the 80s channel. Hard to list my favorite songs, but at the top of the list has to be Martika's Toy Soldier, #80 how appropriate!

81) My first real kiss was my entire 8th grade year crush-Cameron Candelaria. He was a 9th grader but we had Algebra with Mr Sartain and Spanish with Mrs. Archibald (I think). Anyway, ALL year long I liked him, and he knew it. He sorta toyed with me. I hooked his best friend with my best friend at the time..and one night at the end of the school year we all hung out and he kissed me, all night. I was in heaven, til the next day when we went back to being "just friends". My heart was broken as he went off to High School. We stayed acquaintances and then (pause for effect) 3 years later, right after he graduated High School, he called and asked me out on a date! HA! I got to break his heart right back and tell him that I had a boyfriend of 3 months-Matt! LOL!

82) I LOVE seafood. A LOT! It is my favorite. I LOVE crawfish the most (cuz I get it the least). Shrimp is my staple....mmmm. My favorte restaraunt - Teppanyaki.

83) I have TOTALLED, um, quite a few cars in my lifetime-well-um my TEEN years. That might be the ONLY trouble I caused my folks. AND they were ALL my fault. I hit the pole at the gas station, I was following too close one day on the way to school, and I got in a 6 car pile-up on the freeway my first year of college(that one wasn't really my fault). AND a teenage joyrider with a stolen car, ran their car into my parked car while it sat outside my house one-night. My poor (poor) parents having to replace ALL these vehicles for me, well them AND the insurance company. I am lucky to say that I had my CRV for 10 years and I didn't wreck that AT ALL and I have had my Explorer for 5 years with no accidents (so far).

84)People in our lives are what life is all about. Friendships have always been a vital part in my life. I have a hard time giving up on people, even when I should. I can finally admit something that I have been in denial for a long time. Something hurtful. There is someone in my life, who I thought would be my best friend for my life. I recently learned that not only is that person NOT really a friend at all, but worse, I believe they damaged relationships with other friends. I learned that friendship is a two way street, and to only put effort into people who put effort into me. I am so proud of my REAL friends and proud to now know who they are.

85) My dad's parent's first language was Spanish. They speak perfect English with a slight accent. I love it. I love how they bicker at each other in Spanish. They are so cute! They made the choice when their kids were small to teach their children English first and then they thought they would pick up Spanish later. Well, none of the kids ever did. I wish I spoke Spanish too. I took three years in High School and 5 Semesters in College...but I am still not even close to fluent.

86) I hate spiders. Hard to imagine that little creatures like that can scare me so bad...but they just paralyze me. I will kill them IF I have to, if Matt isn't around...but I prefer to have Matt come to the rescue.

87) I used to be shy. Hard to imagine, I know, BUT I have a story to demonstrate it. When I was in Third Grade somehow my name got messed up on my school records and they had "Marie" listed as my first name, not my middle name. SO, everything was under Marie, all my name tags, etc. About three months into school I finally told my teacher that my name wasn't Marie. She was SOO mad at me, I just didn't want to cause waves. On a side note. My two best friends growing up ALSO had the middle name "Marie" so we called ourselves "The Marie Sisters". LOL.

88) I went to West Jordan Middle School. It was a really old school. BUT I loved it. It had so much history, you could see cracks in the walls where Earthquakes had been. One of my favorite little secrets was that it used to be a bomb shelter as well. I even had classes in that said bomb shelter. It was creepy and cool and scary. I had some great memories at that school, good times.

89) My favorite thing about Jamie's looks is his thick dark hair and his expressive little face and eyes, he cracks me up. Personality wise I love that he LOVES me. He is such a mommas boy. He is always wanting to sit by me. He always tells me that he loves me. He thanks me for doing things for him. I am SO glad that I had a girl and a boy.

90) One day I hope to visit Tokyo Japan. It just seems so amazing and interesting. The bright lights and busy streets just seem really cool. Plus the sushi must be the best you've ever had. Well, hopefully one day I will see.

91) Sometimes I think my life would be SOOO much better if I were skinnier. I know it won't solve all my problems, but it would make a lot of things much easier. I have battled my weight for my entire adult life, it is always on my brain. I am a very determined person, but my weight is just something I can not control. I have done pretty much every diet out there. I wish I could just LOVE me the way that I am, well, at least the last year I have been doing something about it for the first time in a long time. I joined Weight Watchers and have lost nearly 25 pounds, that is about a half a pound a week, babysteps.

92) I love the smell of a campfire. I love sitting by a campfire. It is so calming, so relaxing. I could spend hours just transfixed by fire. I was so excited to have a fireplace in this new house, a first for me! AND my hubby was so sweet..for our anniversary he bought me a fire pit, which we roasted s'mores on this summer. MMM....heavenly.

93) I also love boating. Back in 2003 we bought a cute cheap, little Bayliner. When I am on the lake, everything feels right in the world. Nature is great and beautiful and I feel connected to mother earth when I am riding the waves, wind blowing my hair. My kids love it too and I love to snuggle with them going for rides. We usually go to Jordanelle about 45 minutes away and bring a picnic Subway lunch. Cheap, easy, fun, great. HEAVENLY!
94) Besides babysitting, my first paid job was dressing up as Snoopy. My friend Christy's boyfriend's (now husband's) mom paid me to dress up in this big old Snoopy suit at a kids fair. $100 a day, what a sweet gig for a 16 year old. It was very hot and I got very sweaty and I got kicked a lot my little children whose parents thought it was so cute that they were kicking Snoopy. I haven't had many other jobs....after that was Arby's, then Video Shark/Blockbuster, then RC Willey, THEN my current job for nearly 15 years-Discover Card.

95) My new favorite food is Sushi. I am so glad that I gave it a try, I can't get enough. We even have a Sushi chef at work once a week! Teppanyaki is my favorite place to eat...a rare treat.

96) Okay, I can't believe that I am going to share this...this was me BEFORE I started Weight Watchers...UGH.... And here is me at the lowest point....nearly 30 pounds down: I still have a LONG way to go!!! It will probably be something that I battle my whole life.

97) I am competitive. I really like to win. I am okay if I lose too, but I really like to win. Maybe that is why I do well at my job, I love to beat the other teams. I love that it is always like a game. Every month is a clean slate, that is nice.

98) I am allergic to Penicillin. I went and got allergy tested once and found out that I am allergic to pretty much everything (dogs/cats/dust/mold/grass). There is SOME sort of food that I have a reaction to occassionally but it is something that I have often but only bothers me sometimes. I have an Epipen for when I start having trouble breathing, but usually Benadryl does the trick.

99)When I was a little girl I wanted blonde hair and blue eyes SOO bad. I felt different being dark. Now, however, I see how Lauren stands out in a crowd and I love it. I love her dark hair and eyes. Funny how that works. I guess you have to see things from afar to appreciate them.

100) Here are my top 10 movies, movies I could see over and over again and never be bored: Batman Forever, Con Air, Empire Records, Clue, Back to the Future, Die Hard (1 and 3), Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Aladin, Saving Silverman (probably the best movie ever) and a new favorite - The A-Team. All-Time FAVORITE!


101) I watch A LOT of TV. Mainly reality TV...but I want to admit to my love of Saturday Night Live. I have been watching it since I was in the 4th grade. I LOVE all the alumns and even the current cast. My favorite ever has to be Will Farrell and Cheri O'Teri-the Cheerleaders! I also really liked Mike Meyers. My current favorites are Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. I LOVE to laugh and I wish that I was funny and that I could make people laugh. As a kid I dreamed about being on SNL and start my monologue with "I can't believe I am hosting Saturday Night Live". LOL.

The END! You made it!!!

PS. I love comments on my blog. It sorta makes me feel like someone is listening. So, if you read my blog, ever. Let me know PLEASE. Much love.