100 Things About Me

1. I love the water.

2. I do my best thinking underwater.

3. I had my first swimming lesson before I could walk.

4. If I could be any animal, I would be a fish.

5. I was a competitive swimmer for more than 10 years.

6. I eat a banana almost every day.

7. I love foods you feed toddlers: peanut butter sandwiches, cheerios, grapes.

8. I don't like macaroni and cheese, though.

9. I didn't learn how to cook until after college.

10. In my first adult apartment, I think I made rice and beans for every meal.

11. I am extremely curious about different foods and food science, but I never want to do it for a job.

12. I have a weakness for foods eaten with a spoon: pudding, cereal, soup, ice cream, yogurt. Especially thick soups and chowders.

13. That doesn't include aspic, which is vile.

14. When I was in college, I wanted to run political campaigns.

15. Boy, am I glad I didn't end up on that path.

16. I fell into journalism when a political internship fell through and the very nice firm set me up at a political reporting outfit instead. Plus, the new internship paid more than the original one, so it worked out well for everyone.

17. While doing that internship, I worked at a very touristy place selling T-shirts. It was the most fun I've ever had at a job, even if it was also the most exhausting.

18. I am a third-generation Jayhawk.

19. I really didn't want to go to college where my parents went, but I ended up having a good experience.

20. I've always known I wanted to live in an urban area.

21. If not Washington, then maybe Denver.

22. I really like seasons. I need the bracing cold and the sweltering hot to remind me how nice it is in between.

23. My mom died when I was 15 after being sick for two years. I was away at camp when it happened.

24. I really miss her. I wish she could meet my husband.

25. I met my husband at work.

26. There was a lot of chemistry from the start. Most of our co-workers thought we were dating months before we actually were.

27. We dated for four years and got married in May 2006 in Belize.

28. I spent almost as much on the shoes for my wedding as I did on the dress.

29. I never wanted a big fancy wedding. I just wanted it to be by the water (see #1).

30. It's only in the last few years that I've come to crave and need outside-time.

31. I spend way too much time staring at a computer.

32. I went to Girl Scout camp every summer when I was growing up.

33. I wish they had camp for adults.

34. Turns out, I love to hike. I just never had good hiking shoes as a kid and therefore associated hiking with sore feet and blisters.

35. When I was a kid, I had lots of pen pals from summer camp.

36. It made getting the mail a highlight of my day.

37. I still check the mail first thing when I get home, even though now it's almost all bills and catalogs and junk mail.

38. The hardest day I've ever had to work was Sept. 11, 2001.

39. I could see the Pentagon on fire from my desk. It scared the shit out of me.

40. It also made me proud to work in news on a day when so many people needed to get the facts as quickly as possible.

41. I am so grateful for my colleagues of that time. We were all single, relatively young, working all the time and living alone. We became each others' support network, and I'm convinced I would have been a bigger wreck without them.

42. I like to walk and am trying to learn to like running.

43. I like the post-workout endorphins better than the workout itself.

44. I enjoy yoga and am a saner person when I practice regularly.

45. I am constantly struggling with my weight and I hate the battle.

46. Four years ago, I lost 40 pounds. A good chunk of it has come and gone and reappeared since then.

47. I make a mean angel food cake.

48. I love to bake sweet things.

49. I have a real weakness for eating sweet things, especially sweet things that are tart or bitter. (dark chocolate, lemon curd)

50. I have a minor Sudoku addiction.

51. I have a major knitting addiction.

52. I have a hard time picking favorites. I don't have a favorite song, movie, poem or TV show. But I could do a top ten group pretty easily.

53. I function better if I have a trip planned somewhere, even if it's many months in the future.

54. I have wanderlust but miss my bed if I'm gone for more than 5 days or so.

55. My most indulgent purchase was 600-thread-count sheets.

56. Now I have two sets, because I would wash the first one and put it right back on the bed. I needed a rotation.

57. I am an extremely heavy sleeper. Good for my snoring husband. Bad for my college dorm-mates who had to practically bang the door down to wake me during fire alarms.

58. I am mildly addicted to online shopping.

59. One problem of living in a densely populated urban area is that it's rare to actually find your size in the stores.

60. I return a LOT of the stuff I buy. Probably about 75%. If I'm not sure about a size, I order two and take one (or both) back.

61. Despite all the shopping, my clothes are all pretty boring.

62. I'm okay with that. It makes it easy to get dressed in the morning.

63. I do have a weakness for handbags and shoes.

64. I used to be really bad with money.

65. I worked really hard to pay off my credit card and student loan debts when I started working.

66. Now I'm neurotic about having enough saved and planning for retirement.

67. My biggest financial regret is that I didn't buy a condo when I first moved to DC.

68. I am allergic to cats. This makes me sad.

69. I didn't have any pets growing up until I was 16, when my dad acquired a new wife, 2 step-daughters, a dog and a cat all in one fell swoop.

70. I have one sister and two step-sisters.

71. I wish I saw them all more.

72. I'm a much better editor than writer.

73. Blogging is a way for me to practice personal writing.

74. I love the Internet. There are bad things out there, but so many more amazing and powerful and connecting things.

75. I love cities and urban infrastructure.

76. When I had to do an interview at the D.C. subway system headquarters, I overstayed my welcome in their office looking at all of the different cities' subway maps.

77. If I weren't in journalism, I think I would really like city planning.

78. I think walking around is one of the best things to do in different cities.

79. I especially like walking at dusk when you can peek in windows.

80. Turns out I'm better than average at playing poker.

81. I really like to analyze hands.

82. I think I would really enjoy being a dealer in a poker room in Vegas... for about two weeks. Then I think I would get depressed.

83. I am a horrible klutz.

84. I'm forever dropping things and running into furniture.

85. You really don't want to see me in the morning if I haven't had coffee.

86. I love to have my head rubbed. Especially my forehead and my ears.

87. For a long time, I couldn't stand to have my feet touched. Now I can appreciate a good foot massage, but I'm still ticklish.

88. My favorite touch, though, is to have my hands rubbed. My hands are abused regularly, and I often wake up with them clenched in fists.

89. I bit my nails until I met my husband.

90. Now I keep them longer so I can scratch his back.

91. I was a contestant on a game show in 2000.

92. I never figured out the buzzer and came in second.

93. My prize was a trip to London, and I took my sister on her first trip outside the U.S.

94. I don't think I'd be as good now -- my memory is much weaker.

95. I can definitely tell that I have less energy than I used to, and that scares me a little.

96. My hair is naturally curly.

97. It was stick-straight until I was 13.

98. I think the smell of lavender is the most heavenly thing.

99. I went to Catholic school for two years.

100. In church, I often find myself contemplating life instead of paying attention.
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