Twenty-nine for the 1st Time (I promise)

Happy Birthday to me! Here are 29 things you may not know:

1. I love cheesecake. (Okay, you probably already knew that.)

2. I have never had a cavity, despite #1. (Please let the kids get my teeth!)

3. I have only dyed my hair once. (It was red. It was bad.)

4. I rarely shave my legs in the winter. Hooray for long skirts!

5. The first guy I ever kissed was my husband.

6. Since high school I have had over 40 roommates.

7. Harrison Ford is my favorite actor, followed closely by Patrick Stewart. (Even when they're old, they're hot!)

8. I love to write songs. I have written around 100, including 10 wedding songs and 2 musicals.

9. There's no one I admire more than my sister. She is so determined, I really believe she could do anything. Anything.

10. I can't wear flip-flops; I hate having things between my toes, including toe socks.

11. I love to read fantasy. My favorite authors are C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Robin McKinley, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, Mercedes Lackey, David Eddings, Jim Butcher, Tamora Pierce, J.K. Rowling, and Paolini.

12. I am pretty naive sometimes. I tend to believe what people tell me.

13. When I started dating I just wanted to go on dates, not be tied down to a boyfriend. So, once I got the courage to ask a guy out (or accept a date) I was afraid to encourage him too much while on the date. Basically, I couldn't look my date in the eye! I hardly talked to him sometimes! I could easily converse with my friends' dates (sorry, girls, if you remember this) but not my own. Later, in college, I couldn't get out of the habit, even though I did want to have a boyfriend. I think the only reason Nathan and I had a chance was because our first date was hiking (single file, no eye contact needed), we talked on the phone every night until our second date three weeks later (no eye contact again), and I told him about my problem before our second date. He was very understanding, and teased me fondly whenever I wouldn't look at him. "Oh, are you being shy?" Kind of funny to anyone that knows me; I am not shy!

14. When I was 2 or 3 I was legally blind in my right eye. I had lazy eye and had to wear a patch over it. Even now I see mostly out of my left eye (when I close my right eye my perspective doesn't "jump").

15. I have bad depth perception at night. If I am walking outside in the dark I cannot tell if something is a shadow or a five-foot hole. I feel much more comfortable holding a light or someone's hand.

16. I hate to be in debt. It makes me feel physically ill. It took me 7 years to get through college because of my mission and because whenever I ran out of money I took a semester off to save up rather than get a loan.

17. I am lactose intolerant. It happened on my mission because milk was too expensive for poor missionaries. After several months of no milk (the Latinos all serve you pop and juice) I lost the enzymes that help you digest milk. Now my milk (lactose free) is ever more expensive and I have to take supplements when I eat ice cream or other dairy. I guess it's better than bringing back a parasite!

18. I have always wanted to adopt children. When I was 13 I saw a 15 year old on the news saying that she just wanted a family to love and I thought "I'll adopt you!"

19. I don't like sports--don't like to watch them, play them, nada. I am not good at them. If there is a ball in motion, chances are it will hit me in the face. Which hurts. When you have glasses, it hurts a lot. I think I get hit so much because my of my bad depth perception: I just can't tell how close the ball is. Nathan did not believe me. When we were dating he invited me to play Wallyball, his favorite passtime. (Wallyball, is volleyball in a raquetball court. You can play off of the walls.) I loved him so I said I would play. POW! Yup, now he believes me.

20. I am not a morning person. Every morning I have to give myself a pep talk to get out of bed. Before my mission I took a Book of Mormon Missionary Prep class at BYU-Idaho. My teacher said "Mind over mattress. That is the biggest battle of the day. If you win that one, you can do anything." That's what I tell myself: mind over mattress.

21. One of my biggest fears is losing my teeth. (Seriously, I have nightmares about them breaking or falling out.)

22. I like to eat nuts, but not if they're in anything. I don't like them in cookies, cakes, bread, muffins, candy, or peanut butter. Yuck.

23. I have never been out of the country, or farther east than Colorado (or Texas, if the South counts as East.) Someday I would love to go to Mexico, the East Coast, Ireland, and Holland.

24. I tend to get a sinus infection every year around Christmas. It's like a special present from my body to me.

25. One of my favorite quotes is "He that worries dies twice." I try to remember that when I start stressing over stuff I can't control.

26. I get hypnotized by television. I can't fall asleep with the tv on. Even if it's totally boring I will watch it and tune out everything around me. (I must have been the easiest kid to babysit!) When I was on my mission the tv was on in every house we went to. I think that was my biggest trial! (The tv was talking english, which I understood. They were talking Spanish, which I didn't understand. Who do you think I listened to?) It's not that I like tv. I don't. I just can't look away. That is why we don't have cable! The only time our tv is on is if we are watching a movie.

27. I love to drive. I usually get carsick if I don't. Nathan is really nice to let me drive most of the time.

28. My favorite sound in the world is my baby babbling. Put that on an MP3 and I would listen all day!

29. My craziest dream is to be the voice of a cartoon character. That would be so fun!