Alrighty, then. Here goes.

I was tagged by Colleen and at first when I saw my name, I was so excited! Yahoo, my first “tag” – ever! But over the last two days I’ve been anxiously trying to come up with some interesting facts that the majority of my readers (our family!) wouldn’t know.

So this is how it works…

- I’ll write 10 interesting (ahem…you decide how interesting they really are!) facts about me and/or habits of mine.
- I’ll “tag” some new suckers bloggers.
- If you’ve been tagged, you do your own list and tag some more poor suckers.

Here are my ten facts:

1. The first 21 years of my life I lived in six different cities, all within a 150-mile radius, all within Michigan. (Lansing, Big Rapids, Lowell, Leslie, Mt. Pleasant, Ann Arbor)

2. The last 14 years of my life I have lived in (in order) Ann Arbor MI, Daly City CA, Ypsilanti MI, Santa Clara CA, Miami FL, San Mateo CA, London, Chicago IL, Aurora IL, Pasadena CA, San Gabriel CA. That is 11 different cities! (No wonder our family and friends have given up keeping us in their address books.)

3. My favorite (also the shortest stint!) place we’ve lived was London. I would move back there in one second if it didn’t mean being so far away from our families. I was just there for a few months getting a new office set up for our company, but I love, love, LOVE England.

4. When I “grew up” I wanted to be a sportswriter. I have a Communications degree from the University of Michigan with an Environmental Studies minor. So really either a sportswriter or the next Rachel Carson. Although I did write for our hometown newspaper for over 4 years, and for the college newspaper and yearbook – I never, ever did any “journalistic” writing after I graduated.

5. I credit my career I have now to a lot of “how-to” books and “learning by fire.” I didn’t go to school (see #4!) for graphic/web/computer design. But I am proud to be making a pretty good living at it.

6. I consider giving birth to my two girls my greatest achievement. Those two days are my absolute favorite memories to revisit. (Although J. claims my memory and what really happened are clearly 2 different things!) The births happened exactly how I wanted them to: no epidurals, no unnecessary interventions, with J. by my side as they both made their entrance into the world. I love celebrating their birthdays because we are celebrating their birth, obviously, but deep down it is a celebration for me, too. I brought them safely into this world, and we were all able to get through another year together.

7. My favorite movie is the Sound of Music. I used to get to stay up and watch it with my dad when it came on TV every year. Still one of my fondest memories. One that I will definitely pass on to my girls…although we own it on DVD (I think we actually have 2 copies!) and watch it much more frequently than once a year. Julie Andrews will always be my hero…

8. My other favorite achievement (although not nearly in the same league as #6) was completing a marathon. I would like to complete one more before I turn 40. (Wow, now that I’ve written it here for all to read, I guess I had better get to it, huh?).

9. My greatest fear in life is something happening to either of my girls. I can barely write that statement down. And I can’t do it without getting teary-eyed. I know I will have to deal with sickness and death, circle-of-life, and all of that in my lifetime. But I just pray everyday that God keeps them happy, healthy and most of all, safe!

10. My favorite snack right now is Stacy’s Baked Pita Chips (only the Sea Salt ones, though.) And I once (not too long ago!) ate an entire bag of them. No, not over the course of a few days, like most normal people. Within one hour. Clearly it was my abuse of the said chip that has caused them to become extinct in our part of the country. (I will seriously be your best friend if you can find me a bag of these anywhere in a 10, 20, 30, 60 mile radius of my house. Seriously.)

Had to end on that one…I originally had “my greatest fear” as #10, but that was too much of a downer trip!

And if you are on the list below, consider yourself “tagged.” (And no “tag backs!” Cripes! It was hard enough to come up with 10 “half-way” interesting facts, I don’t want to do it again!)

-MyMomtra
-Blueberry and the Bean
-Vic at Life As I Know It
-Jenny at Sew Darn Cute
-Matt at The Barbour Family
-Becky at Parenting with Whine
-Nickie at Rants, Raves and other Rambles
-And you! If you haven’t already participated, but want to – consider yourself “tagged.”