30 for 30

I’m 30 years old today. I don’t feel any older. Quite frankly, I kinda lost track of my age after college…like when someone would ask how old I am, I’d have to pause for a minute, remember the answer is no longer 23 and do a quick calculation.

In honor of my three decades, I’ve put together a “30 for 30” or, a super-fun collection of 30 facts that you may not know about me:

1. I’ve been scrapbooking since 7th grade.
2. I hate maple syrup. Buddy the Elf would be disappointed.
3. My t-ball team was Dr. David’s Flossers.
4. I hated wearing jeans growing up. That changed in middle school for some reason.
5. I have every single one of Brian McKnight’s CDs.
6. When I was around 8, I wanted my own phone so bad that I kept an old rotary phone on my desk and taped the cord to the wall in my room to make it look it was plugged into the jack behind furniture.
7. I sang a couple solos in my church choir but then I flubbed the words to Jesus, Lamb of God and never did it again.
8. I prefer to eat oreos like cereal.
9. I was in a sorority for a while in college.
10. The summer after freshman year of college, I tried to give myself light brown/blond highlights. Instead of stylish streaks, I had gold spots all over my head. My brother Ted told me I looked like a leopard. I haven’t had highlights since.
11. When I was in elementary school, I would wake up really early to watch “I Dream of Jeanie” and “Bewitched” on TBS.
12. While watching these shows, I was known to have a pickle for breakfast. I don’t know why I thought that was appropriate breakfast fare.
13. I can drive manual transmission vehicles.
14. I consider working with the UCSD baseball team the best/most fun thing about my college experience.
15. When we were little, I convinced my brother Joe to play ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ with me, which entailed climbing into our navy blue Audi through the windows and pretending to drive crazy until the steering wheel locked, thus ending the game.
16. I always looked forward to finding a See’s Candy Bordeaux egg in my Easter basket.
17. I was the editor of my high school newspaper.
18. My favorite childhood cartoon was Jem. She was truly outrageous. Truly, truly, truly outrageous.
19. My iTunes playlist has an exorbitant amount of 70s R&B/funk music on it.
20. I love green apples, yet hate green apple candy and flavoring.
21. My first legal adult beverage was an apple martini. {shudder} See above.
22. During my 11th grade history class, we watched the movie Life is Beautiful and I cried so hard at the end, my friends told people my cat died so I wouldn’t have to explain why my eyes were so puffy and red. The irony is that I’m allergic to cats and they produce the same symptoms when I’m exposed to them.
23. My mom signed me up for piano lessons in elementary school, but I didn’t like them because my teacher made me cut my nails to avoid a clacking sound on the keys.
24. I hit a grand slam in my softball game when I was in 4th grade. I still have the game ball.
25. When I became old enough to select my birthday meal, I picked a ‘burger and fries.’ This probably does not shock anyone, except that I was small enough to be in a high chair when requesting this.
26. I was a voracious reader as a child. I could knock out a Babysitter’s Club book in a day.
27. I associate red licorice ropes with Memorial Stadium football games because this was the treat my dad would buy us at halftime.
28. I refuse to eat fennel (much to Dave’s chagrin).
29. I make it a point to always celebrate a birthday with Snackin Cake whenever possible.
30. It literally took me all afternoon to come up with 30 facts. Phew!