[almost] 100 things
1. i went to pre-school, elementary school, middle school, high school, and college in the same town. i was a cheerleader in high school. for some reason, my post-high school friends find this hard to believe. i was in a sorority in college. for some reason, my post-college friends find this hard to believe.
2. it takes me a while to trust people, but when i do i trust them with my whole heart. this is the cause of much heartbreak, but if i had it to do over again i’d do it the same way.
3. i really, really don’t like bugs.
4. i followed a band around most of the southeast for 2 years. it was fun. most of the time.
5. i went to china for 2 weeks right after i graduated college. three months later, i moved there. i lived in china for 5 months. it seemed like a lifetime. i’ve now been a total of 4 times, with Christmas 2007 being the most recent trip. i don’t know that i’ll ever go back. I just got back from Africa. I’ll definitely go back given the opportunity.
6. i was an 8th grade teacher for a year and a half. it was the hardest job i’ve ever had. sometimes i miss it so much i feel like i’ve lost a limb. sometimes i wonder if i made the right decision leaving the classroom for corporate america. sometimes i think i will eventually go back.
7. i moved to new york city in 2006 intending to stay for a year. i wanted to move back to TN after 6 months. my dad told me to stick it out and give it until the end of the year. it’s some of the best advice he’s ever given me.
8. i lived in new york for 3 years.
9. i have some seriously amazing friends. sometimes i wonder why they’re friends with me.
10. Growing up, I always wanted to be a teenager. i thought teenage culture was so cool. Now, i still want to be a teenager. i love The Hills and Gossip Girl. And i may or may not subscribe to Teen Vogue.
11. i don’t necessarily want a “career.” i also don’t want to own a home. i might be scared of commitment? except i love tattoos, and they’re pretty big commitments.
12. i usually can’t sit through an entire movie without becoming bored, in which case i end up half listening to the movie while texting or playing on my laptop.
13. i love love love to travel. i tend to think i’m an expert packer, but the truth is, i am usually a compulsive over-packer. When we went to Africa we had to pack in carry-ons. It was a challenge. I had to get over my 7th grade fear of wearing the same thing within a week.
14. i don’t really think i have any special talents, unless you count being a good friend a talent. maybe i should. it’s a skill, right?
15. i am more of a cat person than a dog person, but really don’t like indoor pets all that much. if i were to get a dog it would only be so i could paint its toenails. which, i’m not sure that’s the best reason to get a dog.
16. i have thrown up on the streets of new york city on more than one occasion, and no, i wasn’t drunk. one time was in times square. i find this hilarious.
17. i am good friends with both of my parents. i absolutely adore them. i don’t think i will ever be able to show them how much i appreciate them. i also have a step-dad. he is a good man.
18. my sister is my favorite person in the whole world. we are so much alike. we are so different. i am extremely protective of her.
19. i have three tattoos. I don’t regret any of them so far and i doubt i ever will. Though i don’t think i’ll get any more, at least any more visible ones.
20. my toenails have been painted since the 8th grade. you might think that’s gross. i don’t care, they look better when they’re painted.
22. i still talk to (or at the very least keep in touch with) the majority of my friends from high school.
23. i check my email compulsively. if i ever have more than 3 emails in my inbox, it’s because i had no access to email for a couple of hours. I can entertain myself on the internet for hours.
24. when i love a song, it’s because i love the lyrics. i think in song lyrics. i can probably come up with lyrics to fit most situations.
25. i love my handwriting. so did my students. one of my friends told me my handwriting could be its own font. it was one of the best compliments i’ve ever received.
26. i don’t cry often, but i wish i could. anger is usually my first reaction. i’m trying not to be so defensive and instead be more sensitive.
27. when i lived in new york, i had 4 roommates. we shared a 3 bedroom apartment on the upper east side of manhattan. this means that i shared a room. sharing a room was not the hardest part of living with 4 girls with strong personalities.
28. the thing i like most about my physical appearance is my hair. except i almost always wear it in a ponytail (L-A-Z-Y). if i could change one thing about my physical appearance, i would be magically skinny and still eat mcdonald’s.
29. i don’t eat most vegetables. (ahem, see above). it’s not the flavor, it’s the consistency.
30. the thing i like most about myself is that i don’t enjoy surface conversations. i love to get in deep with people. if i could change one thing about my personality, it would be my defense mechanism. When i get defensive, i get attitudy.
31. i’m 29, but i am just now beginning to feel like an adult. I might enjoy being an adult more than most people.
32. my relationship with jesus is the most important one in my life.
33. my family owns a farm. it’s lovely. It has also been the source of a lot of angst for my family.
34. my dentist tells me i have beautiful teeth. it makes me feel good even if i don’t work very hard to keep them that way.
35. i have a weird love for office supplies, especially post-its and sharpies. people buy me post-its and sharpies as gifts. i love that.
36. my mom tries to convince me that i’m much smarter than i really am. i know i’m not stupid or anything, but i think she has super high expectations of my brain.
37. I’ve had a lot of jobs: The Cookie Store, Nanny for an 8 and a 10 yr old, Daycare Teacher, Nanny for a Toddler, The Gap, Drugstore Cashier, Tanning Bed, Cell Phone Sales, Teacher, Worst Job Ever (ad sales), Merchandise Planner/Blog Reader/Googler, and my current (and favorite) job @ Anthology Creative.
38. i have a new-found love and appreciation for interior design.
39. i love to take photographs. i took photos of my life most every day for a year (see the archives). it was fun, but having my camera with me at all times got old. and heavy.
40. i have a thing for song lyrics. most of the titles to my photoblogs, all the headings on my sidebar, and even the blog title itself are song lyrics.
41. i’m really interested in birth order theories.
42. i love imperfections like chipped fingernail polish and scars.
43. i hate talking on the phone unless it’s important – i’d much prefer to text or BBM. Twitter DMs work well for me too 
44. i love clothes but i can’t bring myself to purchase any that aren’t on the sale rack. this trait is inherited from my father, who usually won’t even buy food at the grocery store that’s not on sale. i love him for it.
45. i love wearing make-up and picking out fun clothes, but i’m also lazy (see #28). So i usually end up wearing the first thing i see in my closet.
46. i have a hard time being by myself for an extended period of time. i’ve gotten better now that i’m not running away from all of my crazy thoughts. Lately i’ve been thinking that i want to go on vacation alone for a couple days. Hey, anyone wanna go with me? Oh, wait.
47. water is my beverage of choice, with diet coke a close second. But after being in ethiopia for 10 days without diet coke, i can only drink a little bit at a time.
48. i’m rough on my electronic things – my ipod, my computer, my phone, my camera…i don’t know why, since i purchase such things myself, but i don’t take the time to be gentle with them. In the past year i have purchased a new camera, phone, and computer, and i’m determined to take good care of them. of course i’ve already dropped my phone on the sidewalk like a billion times.
49. i will judge you if you use bad grammar.
50. if i could be anything i wanted when i ‘grow up,’ i would be a writer, but i don’t think my writing is good enough for someone to actually pay me to do it.
51. i love my southern accent and overuse it when necessary.
52. i love LOVE to read and read about 2 books a week on average. I usually don’t re-read books unless they’re really good, but i’m not even going to tell you how many times i read the Twilight series. Trust me, it was a lot.
53. burt’s bees chapstick is my absolute fave, but i lose every single one after about a month.
54. when i was a senior in high school i got a belly button ring (partially because i was with two friends who got one, partially to be a rebel) and it got so infected i had to take it out. i like the scar better than i liked the ring.
55. i have a total of seven holes in my ears (again, rebellion). i only wear earrings in two now, and have since i was a teacher. but i occasionally poke through the rest of them to make sure they’re still there. Nostalgia i guess.
56. i am attracted to interesting people. my whole family would describe me as “weird.” i’m okay with that.
57. i will argue about anything, even if i know i’m wrong. my parents used to say i’d “argue with fence post.” this is something i’m trying to work on.
58. i had braces twice and my teeth still aren’t where they should be. however, i like them and don’t want to fix them.
59. i sleep on my stomach in the middle of the bed, which means when i get married we’ll need to get a giant bed.
60. my favorite word is “pandemonium.”
61. i hate celebrity perfumes. Even if they smell good.
62. when i was little i poured a cup of grape juice on my sister’s head. She
kept asking for some and i guess i got sick of it.
63. my life changed drastically when my grandmother died in 1993, but hasn’t changed much since my grandfather died in November of 2008. I feel a little guilty about this.
64. things that annoy me: tapping noises, clicking pens, people chewing loudly, when people forget my name.
65. things that scare me: getting punched in the face and/or getting my teeth knocked out, large groups of guys standing on street corners (this goes back to the time in china i saw a guy get the crap beat out of him – i think it scarred me for life, so every time i see any large groups standing around i get anxious), becoming a pack rat (i definitely have pack rat tendencies).
66. things that make me happy: days i get to spend in bed reading a book (my roommates called these “Elizabeth days”), time with any member of my family, quality conversation, coffee from Ethiopia, the Clifton children, the anticipation of traveling
67. i’m a little OCD, but to the point that if it’s not going to get done right it’s not going to get done at all. In college i lived out of my laundry basket because my clothes HAD to be color – coordinated but i never made time to hang them up that way.
68. i love my Blackberry. Probably too much. And i’m totally addicted to BrickBreaker
69. i like projects and planning things, probably more than the actual outcome or event.
70. i could live on peanut butter.
71. i love the 4th of July more than any other holiday.
72. i don’t like chain restaurants – i try to avoid them if at all possible. With that said, i do absolutely love chick-fil-a (mmm honey roasted bbq sauce) and sonic (for the cherry vanilla diet coke!)
73. sometimes i get a song stuck in my head and it’s in there for DAYS. I wake up in the morning singing it, sing it all day, and go to sleep with it on repeat. It’s somewhat annoying but it’s usually a good song so it doesn’t bother me that much.
74. i used to add “-ie)” to the end of things when i was younger – for example Big Daddy (my grandfather) became Biggie Daddy, Pap (great-grandfather) became Pappie, sunglasses have always been sunnies, etc. my father finds this hilarious.
75. i didn’t learn to cook until i moved to new york, and at the beginning the extent of my skill was to open a jar of alfredo sauce and boil some fettuccini noodles. I’m currently learning how to cook from scratch and made my own lasagna INCLUDING THE SAUCE a while back. I was very proud.
76. i was a blog stalker for a year before i started my own blog. I still think blogging is kinda nerdy, but i can’t help but love it.
77. legalism irritates me so much that i sometimes overcompensate.
78. diabetes runs in my family. This freaks me out.
79. subway musicians make me cry sometimes, and i can’t figure out why.
80. when i was in elementary school i ordered flowers for my mom on every birthday. But i charged them to her account. I didn’t know what that meant.
81. i love movies/TV shows about the CIA.
82. i’m going to seminary to study Biblical Counseling. I’m really excited about the knowledge that comes with that degree.
83. i’m simultaneously fascinated and grossed-out by cemeteries
84. the chocolate/mint combination is my fave
85. an article i wrote was published on relevantmagazine.com in 2007.
86. I hate, hate, HATE the terms “wifey” and “hubby.” I will never use them.