1. I am truly an LDS GAL, as my high school license plate said! I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and I am thankful for a gospel I believe in.
2. I love my husband!!! I married my high school sweetheart and everyone who knows me knows that. He is wonderful to me and I can't imagine any more supportive or loving man. He is definitely my best friend and we LOVE being together (also something that everyone who knows me knows---when you get one of us, you get the other).
3. I have four fab kids that both make me crazy and keep me sane. Life with four little ones makes for a very hectic and unorganized life (anything I organize they immediately undo----Abbie is really into rearranging the pantry and making can towers) but it is totally worth the all of the craziness!!
4. I sing all the time at my house. I don't sing songs, not real songs, but more like little jingles that I make up to annoy my kids. Well, I don't make them up to annoy the kids, it just turns out that they do get annoyed. My dad does this, always has, I hated it growing up (we all hated it growing up) but as the parent it's actually super fun! I sing about them getting dressed, or waking up, or whatever...
5. I hate cleaning! I don't mind straightening and picking up after the kids but I HATE actual deep cleaning. I have WAY more important things to do than clean my windows, showers, toilets, etc. Thank Heaven for Maria, she is my salvation!
6. I fall asleep at the movie theater. ALWAYS. I am continuously sleep-deprived so when I get into a chair in the dark for multiple hours the inevitable happens. It doesn't matter what time of day or night it is, I can't seem to stay awake. I even fall asleep in very loud action movies, like X-Men. Justin has contemplated on more than one occasion asking for his money back for my ticket.
7. Along the same lines as #6, I am incapable of sleeping in...ever. I think maybe I should try sleep aids. I think that this may be my moms fault. When I was in high school and had to wake up early on weekdays for seminary I remember wishing I could sleep in on the weekends but my mom would always wake me up to be her buddy and help with this or that while allowing my sisters to sleep, what crap. Her excuse had something to do with Allie's disease and Jessie's unpleasant morning behavior. Now I can't sleep in, even when Justin and I were in the Bahamas in January and I had no kids with me I was unable to sleep in. My poor husband who loves sleep more than most other things has to deal with me (or maybe it's poor me that has to deal with him sleeping in, hmmm....)
8. I don't function well without getting in my workout. I spend an hour a day on an elliptical. I find that I am in a better mood if I have been able to exercise. Not that the exercising itself is fun, I do it for the feeling afterwards...and so I can eat chocolate. Although currently I am losing the "more calories out than in" battle and holidays here we come!
9. I love chocolate!!! I am my mother's daughter and my grandma's granddaughter!! It must be in the blood because they were choco-holics and so am I, and so is Abbie. Milk chocolate is the best. Dark and white are far inferior, in fact white is intolerable. Yuck.
10. I love to bake. I make brownies, cupcakes, cakes, chocolate chip cookies like my mom used to always make for my dad, and sugar cookies! Yum!! We bake every week at least once. My kids have their own little aprons and we bake together all the time. Now if only I could develop some self-control.
11. I hate having to decide what to make for dinner. I like cooking in general but my life would be a lot easier if someone else could decide what I should make and if they could be sure I had all of the ingredients. Oh, and if they could watch my kids while I cooked and if they could clean up the mess, yeah that would be great.
12. I always have painted toenails. Justin commented the other day that he had only seen my toenails without nail polish like twice in the nearly 12 years we've known each other.
13. I silently correct people when they use incorrect grammar. I do it in my head (unless you are a Lee, then I correct you out loud because you are used to it from DBL). It is a nasty habit resulting from having a father who always corrected his children.
14. I am horrible at keeping in touch. When I left for college, though e-mail was really beginning to take off I did not catch on, and thus was left behind. My best high school girl friends can testify to that. If only cell phones had been more prevalent back then.
15. I love my cell phone and I really love texting. What a fabulous invention!!
16. I am big on traditions and holidays. My mom was amazing and was also very tradition-oriented, her love of parties and holidays definitely rubbed off on me. I love to make Thanksgiving dinner and be surrounded by my family and good food. I love to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving--the tree is always a special project with hundreds of lights! Holidays are just magical and developing family traditions makes celebrating so much more fun!
17. I am the nap Nazi. My kids have a very strict nap schedule. Their naps make them happy and that time allows me to get things done and re-group. I am happy to be made fun of for this fact because it is fabulous for me to have kids that nap.
18. I am an instant gratification kind of a gal. I hate waiting.
19. I hate the process of blow drying my hair. It is hot, boring, and takes forever. I may tolerate it more if I could hear the TV over the dryer.
20. I LOVE make up. I think it's fun to do make up and can't understand why some women avoid it all together. They are missing out.
21. I am lucky if I get my hair cut more than twice a year. Not good.
22. I don't mind having surgery or being in the hospital but I HATE the dentist.
23. I love "chick-lit". I used to hate reading but at some point after entering adulthood I developed a love for it. A special thanks to Sophie Kinsella, Stephenie Meyer, Jennifer Weiner and all of the other fabulous authors who have allowed me to escape into another world while working out.
24. I also love gossip mags like People. I love to see what clothes people wear, how they do their hair, what weird name they've named their children. I'm a girly-girl and I love all things girl!
25. I love TV. Justin and I have a number of favorite shows. We often have to miss them so thank heaven for Tivo and the internet so that we can eventually get caught up.
26. I'm pregnant.
27. While we were dating, Justin brought me one rose on the 8th of every month because that was the date in April that he asked me out. He did this for multiple years. Bravo to my romantic husband!
28. I have DDD (designer denim disease). I love jeans! I'm not exactly sure why but I do. Some favorites are True Religions, Rock & Republics, Sevens, and Citizens. Too bad I almost never get to shower until late afternoon and spend my days in workout gear.
29. My left leg is about two inches longer than my right.
30. I speak with everyone in my family almost everyday at least once.
31. I am extremely claustrophobic, due perhaps to time spent in a body cast as an infant. My husband thinks it's hilarious and sometimes traps me under a blanket. He laughs at me but always lets go when he sees the terror on my face.
32. I, like Rachel, love purses and shoes. Who can get enough of such fabulous things? I like high high-heels. Before moving from Virginia I wore flats to church and my friend Audrey said it was the first time she had seen me at church not wearing high heels in the four years we lived in Ashburn (including throughout three pregnancies). I'm sure she was right.
33. My memory is not my friend. I can remember full outfits certain people have worn and the occasions for which they wore them, this aspect of my memory definitely stretches back through high school and some even before then. I can remember all kinds of stupid things like this but can't seem to remember most of what I learned in my core subjects while in school. Heaven help my kids when they come to ask me to help them with calculus. I remember thinking that for an intelligent woman it was remarkable how little my mom could remember from school, I began to doubt that she had graduated. Mom, now I understand.
34. I am a creature of habit and routine. I do not like change. I can eat the same thing everyday and not care at all.
35. I had 6 fingers on my left hand when I was born.
36. I played the viola for almost ten years and was good at it but hated my my teacher, and thus hated it. Though some of my best friends did come from my orchestra days. Good times!
37. I hate flying. When I was a kid I loved riding on airplanes and flew rather frequently. I always looked forward to those trips. Now I hate it, I hate the security process, I hate the stress of flying with little kids (and jerky passengers), and I hate that I get airsick. Flying sucks.
38. I can't stand not wearing a watch because I hate not knowing what time it is.
39. I am musically challenged, not as a musician but as a consumer. I mainly listen to the radio and like it when I can sing along but don't like having to be the one to choose what is played---I like to be surprised by a great song coming on. I think I have bought maybe two CD's in my entire life. I can never remember who sings what or anything like that. All three of my siblings are huge into music and could probably create soundtracks to their lives, I could not. My husband is also music obsessed, he knows exactly what he likes and has an uncanny memory for all things music. How did this skill pass me by?
40. I love my friends! Rachel knows this from the zillions of hours we've spent being totally crazy. Andrea could also testify to some pretty hilarious stuff, usually initiated by me in wilder times (nothing too crazy or illegal, just wacky, fun, and probably embarrassing). In fact all of my high school friends could probably resurrect a few entertaining stories...but lets not. My post-marriage friends have not seen this side of me. I think that I've mellowed since marriage and am mainly content to be home with Justin----actually he'd probably say I'm pretty hyper and crazy still...
41. I'm not really pregnant but I wanted to see who was paying attention! Also, anytime that I say I have any kind of news or tell my sisters to check my blog one of them asks me if I'm pregnant. Geez guys, I do other things too you know!
42. I spent a few weeks backpacking around Europe with two of my girlfriends the summer after my mom died since I was already living in Belgium. I developed a love for Italy that summer, especially the Italian riviera.
43. I eat treats before dinner after telling my kids that they're not allowed to. They are still young, impressionable, and in my care---they can make bad decisions when they're the ones in charge.
44. I love Nordstrom's!!! It is definitely my favorite store, not only because they have so many things that I love, but because they have the BEST return policy ever! I inherited the shopping gene from my mom (so did Jessie) and it was fostered by my Aunt Christena who could single-handedly keep the company in business!
45. I am a designer clothes snob. I love clothes but, like Rachel, would rather buy one amazing piece that is probably way too expensive than have an entire wardrobe from Target (that is not a Target dis, I also love Target...I just love designers more)
46. I love to snuggle and cuddle. I love it when my kids will cuddle with me and when they lay their head on my shoulder while I carry them with their arms around my neck!!! Oh, and I love to snuggle with Justin too, he is very patient with me (and I know he loves it too)!!
47. I used to have my ears double pierced and my cartilage pierced also but took them all out while sitting in Young Women's Conference with my mom when I was nineteen because President Hinckley said one hole only. A good move in hindsight.
48. I love going for walks with my whole family and am not sure what I will do when I have too many kids to fit in strollers (currently two double strollers is working out pretty well). My dad calls them "death marches" but I think they're great!
49. My full name is Barbara Brooke Lee Allen and my first name serves as a tribute to my mom's mother and my dad's sister, both amazing Barbara's!!! I would love to be like them both!
50. I was editor-in-chief of my high school yearbook and loved it! Maybe someday I'll get back to writing and layout and all of the fun that came with that position.
Well, that's 50 random things that you may or may not have known about me. I wrote these while my babies were napping and the older two were running around and being crazy. I hope you were entertained. I did not re-read them so hopefully they are coherent.
I tag Jessie, Heather, Megan, Wendy, and Rachael. If you have nothing better to do we'd like to learn a little more about you!
12 comments:
Awesome, I just went back to Rachel's tag blog and realized that I titled my post exactly what she had titled hers and I didn't even realize it at the time---great minds (and great friends) think alike!!!!
YOU'RE PREGNANT??????????????????????? What???? When did this happen, how far along? HOLY COW I don't even know what to say. Nice way of announcing it by the way :) YAY WE WILL FINALLY HAVE BABIES TOGETHER!!!
Obviously I commented IMMEDIATELY after I read #26...I think my heart actually stopped.
wow! loved that! who knew we had so much in common! seriously if I got tagged I could copy this blog and erase like 4 of them. 26 & 41 were hysterical, you totally had me!
This whole thing made me laugh - it's good to know not much has changed since High School! We are still SO similar, it's funny.
Us Marshall girls all kind of stink at keeping in touch. . .but at least we're all equally out of the loop :). I'm trying to encourage Robyn to do something like this for when she has her baby - it's nice finally knowing what's going on in your world (and a wonderful way to burn time at work :) ).
I was reading this thinking, I knew that, I knew that. Then I read 26 and was like, hmmm...didn't know that. Then I read 41 and felt less out of the loop...
number 26... hello?!?! Congrats!
I have to admit that I stopped reading after #26, went straight to the comments, then read on :) I thought I heard somewhere that you'll wait on starting the next "batch" of kiddos. I love reading what you guys are up to...I love the way you write too. It's like I can hear your voice and your laugh. Miss you! Have a happy halloween in your new neighborhood & I'll try to do the tag. xoxo
I.AM.PISSED.
You are so cruel! Just like Rachel, my heart stopped at 26 and you now have 6 missed calls from me. Then, I read on and you now have 2 nasty voicemails from me... not really... but you should.
Brody started doing summersalts in my tummy when he thought he had a little cousin coming.
YOU ARE CRUEL.
And... nice try... I don't do these tag things... I can't really think of 50 things about me...but I did enjoy reading yours...sans #26/41.
You truly suck.
Jessie,dear, clean up you language.
it's paige. i saw your blog on facebook. first, i am a total instant gratification person as well. waiting just isn't my thing. i'm a total nazi as well for bedtimes and naps. my kids operate better on a schedule and so do i. i need structure almost as much as they do!
this was interesting to read more about you. you can check out our blog if you want www.the-jonesfam.blogspot.com
Loved the list. It was great to feel like I was catching up w/ you in this way. I'm with you on the chocolate. At dinner last night my son asked me "which I liked better" chocolate or our hermit crab. I said, "Duh, chocolate!!!" and both kids started crying. Oops.
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