100 Things

Again, since I have no knitting content, I'm putting up a 100 things post. I apologize for the extreme amount of narcissism to follow, but I do enjoy reading these on the blogs of other knitters, so I started this list several weeks ago and have been gradually adding to it. It's very difficult to come up with 100 things about yourself!

I'm hoping to have a finished Tubey to show this week - I'm on my last four inches and can't wait to finish so that I can get back to the socks, which I am not letting myself work on until Tubey's done.

I hope the following doesn't bore any possible readers or put them to sleep!

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100 Things...

1. I am anal. Not about everything, but about lots of things.
2. I'm also a little obsessive-compulsive. I will re-do something (knitting, cleaning, etc.) over and over until I feel it is perfect or as close to perfect as possible.
3. This drives my husband crazy. He's not anal or obsessive-compulsive. Or neat.
4. The fact that he is not neat drives me crazy. I spend most of my cleaning time picking up after him.
5. He's a great person, though. I am lucky to have a wonderful husband who puts up with my OCDs and idiosyncracies.
6. I talk in my sleep on a frequent basis.
7. I wish my husband would record me so that I could see what I do and say.
8. My roommate in college was pretty disturbed by my talking. She told me one morning that I'd been talking about spaghetti and candles.
9. I also sleepwalk, but not as much as the talking.
10. I'm always tired. I wonder if that's because I'm not getting enough peaceful sleep, but I'm too lazy to participate in a sleep study.
11. I rarely remember my dreams, but I still have the same recurring nightmare that I've had since I was very young.
12. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in Fine Arts/Crafts.
13. My concentration area was metalsmithing.
14. I have minors in art history and journalism.
15. I was scared to graduate because I didn't know what to do with my life, so I stayed at school for a fifth year. Hence the journalism minor.
16. I considered going to grad school after graduation for my Master of Fine Arts, but decided that I could not afford to incur any additional debt.
17. My first real job was at an auction house. I was hired to take photographs of the auction lots, so I got to see lots of neat art and stuff.
18. That was the best job that I ever had. I met Lori (who was my boss) and my husband as a result of it.
19. I wouldn't mind going back to school for my MFA, but I am not sure what I would do with it if I did. The husband's family business is here in the 'burgh, so we would never be able to relocate. If I did go back for fun, I think I would get my masters in art history or photography.
20. Since we can never leave the area, I am pushing the husband hard for retirement in England, so we can be regulars at the pub in Tadcaster or York. Or somewhere on the Cornish coast. Decisions, decisions. He thinks I'm joking, but I'm not.
21. I am an anglophile.
22. I love architecture. Old churches and cathedrals are my favorite.
23. People think that's funny because I am not at all religious. I'm pretty anti-organized religion.
24. I was raised Catholic, but I never bought it. I remember thinking that as early as age 7 or so. From what I've read, my beliefs align a little more with Buddhism, though I don't consider myself a Buddhist.
25. Rejecting Catholicism really upset my mother, but she has come to respect my decision.
26. My mom's favorite word to describe me is "tenacious". Even though she is a Catholic, she told me that she believes that I was reincarnated. She says I used to say and do "weird" things when I was a kid that led her to think that.
27. I have one older brother who is married, and two nephews.
28. I love really windy days. One of my favorite things is, in the springtime, to open all of the windows in the house and take a nap while breathing in the wonderful windy air. I also like taking windy walks.
29. My favorite seasons in order are: Autumn, Spring, Winter, Summer.
30. I am miserable when I am hot in the summer and will tell everyone within earshot.
31. My middle name is Lrae. That's my dad's brother's middle name spelled backward.
32. I don't really like my first name. I always thought that there were too many of us. I once had a class with eight of us, and it was a small class.
33. I was born on the same day as Emily Dickinson, 145 years later.
34. She's one of my favorite poets and has been since childhood.
35. Emily is also my favorite girl's name. If I ever have a daughter, her name will be Emily.
36. I detest people who are arrogant and hypocritical.
37. I collect antique books, mainly from the 1900s-1930s. They have the best illustrations and decorations.
38. I now own a family heirloom that was built by my mother's uncle. It is a bookcase filled with antique books that were once owned by my mother's aunt.
39. It is my most-prized material posession.
40. The bookcase and books survived a fire in their home on Troy Hill (Pittsburgh). My mother's aunt did not - she died from smoke inhalation from the fire. If I ever have a daughter, her middle name will be after my mother's aunt, who I never knew.
41. My favorite things to knit are scarves, probably because from fall through early spring, I wear one almost every day, all day.
42. One of the attorneys at work can never remember my name, but calls me the "French photographer" because I am always wearing a scarf. Who knew that scarves = French? That attorney is a little strange. However, I am always wearing one at work.
43. My current favorite yarn to knit with is Noro Kureyon or Silk Garden. There's nothing like that rush of excitement every time the color changes itself. Hey, what can I say? I am easy to amuse!
44. My other constant favorite is probably Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride and LP Bulky. I like the way they knit up and I love the way they feel. Also, they're pretty inexpensive, and you can't beat that.
45. I love wool.
46. I have a WIP with a cotton/silk yarn. I don't like to knit with cotton yarn, so who knows if I'll finish. Though the addition of the silk makes it a little more bearable.
47. My husband and I live in a wonderful house in a wonderful neighborhood.
48. We were lucky to find a place in the town that we wanted, which is pretty small, and awesome.
49. The town reminds me a little of that town in the Gilmore Girls. Everyone is into everyone else's business, and it's very quaint. It is realistic, though, unlike the town in the Gilmore Girls.
50. We are in love with our house.
51. When we were looking for houses, it had everything on our list that we wanted with the exception of one thing: finished wood floors.
52. The day that we got the email from our realtor about it, I walked past it and I just knew it was our house. I had "the feeling" from the very beginning.
53. No small feat, because the previous owners had terrible (in my opinion, of course) decorating taste, which included lots of pink, black lacquer, and white leather.
54. The house was built in 1915, and is a craftsman style, so we are trying to get the decorating much closer to the style of the house than what the previous owners did. Their decorating style belonged in a very modern house, or in Miami Vice or something.
55. It's a lot of work to do that, but we soldier on.
56. It's probably obvious by now that I have a slight infatuation with the early 1900s. If I could be transported back in time to any decade, I think I would pick the 1920s.
57. I am very unathletic. When I was in grade school, the only test that I could pass in gym class was the flexibility one. Where were the yoga classes when I was in school?
58. I don't want to be athletic. I hate to excercise at all.
59. I do like food that's bad for me though, so I guess I have to unless I want to weigh a million pounds or have a heart attack or something.
60. Probably the only activity that I can stand is walking, so I will be doing more of that in the very near future to get in shape. I'd like to have a runner's body, but who am I kidding?
61. I don't like athletics in general. I don't understand most of it and don't really care to. I do like to go to baseball games, though, but I don't care about the baseball - I just like the atmosphere.
62. In October 2005 I was married to my husband.
63. We lived together for some time before that, so not much has changed, except now we both wear rings and can file jointly on our taxes.
64. I can't imagine life without him, even if he does drive me absolutely nuts lots of the time.
65. We went to England for our honeymoon, and it was everything I thought it would be.
66. We visited York, Tadcaster, Bath, Wells, Avebury and London.
67. We travelled everywhere by train and bus. It was a blast.
68. York was our absolute favorite destination (along with the Samuel Smith's Brewery in Tadcaster). Everyone was so friendly in the north.
69. We plan to go back before we start a family, and will see more of York and the north next time (definitely Durham, which we couldn't fit in the first time), along with Scotland and hopefully Wales.
70. We'll definitely take the trains again!
71. I drank the spa water at the Roman Bath in Bath.
72. It tasted terrible.
73. I also stood on Jane Austen's doorstep and walked down the gravel path (from Persuasion).
74. I ate potatoes every day. My favorite meal included mashed potatoes and chips in the same meal.
75. I have an unhealthy obsession with potatoes. They are my favorite food. My first love would be French fries, but there is really no potato preparation that I won't eat.
76. Cheese is my second favorite food. My favorite type of cheese is a good English cheddar, though stilton is grand too. Better yet, put them together. (Okay, that's double gloucester, but it's close.)
77. I am a paper whore.
78. I like Crane's stationery, or cotton fiber paper.
79. My favorite drink is a Bombay Sapphire and tonic, extra lime.
80. I prefer Coke and do not like Pepsi. I do not like diet soda.
81. I'm one of the few people in Pittsburgh that use the word "soda".
82. I also say "rubber bands" vs. "gum bands". I don't use much "Pittsburghese".
83. However, I was surprised to find that no one knew what a "jagger bush" was when I went away to college. Oops!
84. Politically speaking, I am way over there on the left.
85. I try to respect the political views of others, but it's hard sometimes.
86. My current job is as a marketing coordinator for a downtown law firm.
87. I like the people I work with on a daily basis.
88. I commute for a total of almost two hours a day, by bus.
89. I like public transportation, but I wish we had trains instead of buses.
90. When I am concentrating hard on something or stressed out at work, I twirl my hair. I'll probably give myself a bald spot soon.
91. I'm always cold at work.
92. I recently knit my first sock (March 2006) and now I am obsessed with the thought of knitting socks. They are so portable for bus knitting, and practical, too!
93. I used to hate wearing socks, but now I love them.
94. My favorite pair of shoes are clogs with straps by Ecco. They are the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned.
95. I have wide feet and bunions, so I also have foot pain about 50% of the time. There are no cute shoes for people with feet like mine.
96. I am nearsighted with an astigmatism and wear glasses most of the time. I have contacts, but they aren't very comfortable. I started wearing glasses around the third or fourth grade - I can't remember which. I've had some very ugly and embarassing pairs in my time.
97. I have pale skin and try to stay out of the sun for excessive amounts of time.
98. I have a phobia of eating meat that's on a bone. Because of this, I never tried hot sauce or anything "buffalo flavored" until recently. I am now obsessed with the buffalo flavor and hot sauce. I'm making up for lost time.
99. My favorite restaurants in Pgh. include Mad Mex in Oakland, Piper's Pub on the South Side, Aladdin's in Squirrel Hill, John Harvard's in Monroeville, Primanti's (of course), D'z 6 Packs in Regent Square, Point Brugge in Point Breeze, and countless others. Now I am hungry.
100. I learned to knit (the proper way, at least) in November 2003.