26 Things

- 26 Things You May Not Know About Me –

I’ve been tagged by a couple people, so here they are, 26 things you may not know about me (because apparently I’m so interesting I couldn’t keep it to 25, haha! seriously, I'm kidding with that.)

1. I used to collect bandaids and put them on my bedroom door – I’m guessing close to 100

2. I’m shy and kind of insecure – but once I’m comfortable, watch yourself!

3. My favorite time of every day is giving Bella her last bottle and rocking her to sleep. It’s 20 minutes that’s just me and her, and I love it.

4. Mine and my sisters’ names end in “a”: Dana, Andrea, Briana. So far we’re carrying on the tradition with cousins Liliana and Isabella.

5. I may feel the most confident and heeeyyyyy in jeans and a plaid shirt.

6. A recently bathed baby is my favorite scent.

7. I want to live overseas someday, and I’m going to. sometimes I think it will be through mission work – then I remember I can’t get my own spiritual life in check and probably shouldn’t be charged with the welfare of others.

8. The first date Justin took me to was “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”. I married him anyway.

9. I was best friends with a boy from 5th grade until high school. a friend from work thinks that explains a lot.

10. According to Justin, my bark is louder than my bite. debatable.

11. I used to be really into photography. If I’m ever a stay-at-home, I want to pick it up again.

12. Writing and telling stories that happened throughout the day makes me feel good.

13. While I have one, I’m pretty sure I’m afraid of dogs – I don’t generally like them.

14. Every Wednesday night in high school consisted of attending youth group followed by watching Dawson’s Creek with Emily and a Dr. Pepper. She gave me the nickname Mrs. Jackson because I would have married Pacey in two seconds.

15. My favorite song ever is “Somewhere over the Rainbow”. I sing it to Bella nearly every night.

16. I cried watching Full House once. I cry in Hallmark commercials. I’ve even cried when watching American Idol auditions and the parents are super stoked for their kids. wow.

17. Tonight I found out my favorite sound is listening to Justin read out loud to Bella, and then his laugh as he has to read the story backward and forward again when she gets overly excited turning the pages…

18. My favorite praise song is “How Great is Our God”. it’s completely humbling.

19. I wear my heart on my sleeve. always have. I’m still trying to figure out if that’s good or bad…

20. All my best ideas come to me in the shower. So many go wasted, I need to write them on the bathroom wall or something.

21. In tenth grade I learned that a lot of baby girls are orphaned in China – it’s been on my heart ever since to adopt one of them someday.

22. One of my proudest moments was getting all first-place blue ribbons on field day in fifth grade – it was also the first (possibly only) time I tasted popularity.

23. I LOVE sports – playing them, watching them, talking about them, watching movies about them, arguing about them, working for them… as much as I love sports, I HATE bandwagon fans, they make my blood boil (*ahem* Boston)

24. I drive insanely fast, confuse which are my rules and which the state’s “suggestions”, get really mad when people cut me off, and end up yelling at other drivers frequently… I think there’s a chance I could’ve missed my calling to be a race car driver. (I also sometimes drive with my knees while typing an email and drinking a Dr. Pepper.) this was added by Justin when I was upstairs, but it’s not entirely inaccurate.

25. I’ve wanted a pair of cowboy boots for a long time, I can readily accept now that I’m a little bit country. the ones I’m lusting after are a pair from Steve Madden (so it’s not that country, quit judging me. judgment really should come from #16 if anything).

26. More than anything, when all is said and done and I’m standing in front of my heavenly Father, I want him to look at how Justin and I raised Bella and say “Well Done”

Bouncy Baby Bella

To help avoid cabin fever we took Bella to Bounce City yesterday afternoon on our way to J's parents house. I took Bella to one in Loveland when we were in Colorado for Christmas and even though it was obviously geared more toward older children, there was definitely stuff for her to do and toys to plan on. It was free to take her too since she was under two, so I figured when we had to pay a couple dollars for Bella at this one we took her to yesterday, they must have plenty for her to do... which was not the case. not a huge deal, because it was only a couple bucks, but there was not one thing for her that she was big enough to play on. I staked out one inflatable with balls and when no one was in it we put her in and let her play, but I think she was confused and really just sat there. We barely got her out in time before some screaming tweens rushed in and caused mayhem. oh well... now we know. After big-bust Bounce City, we went to his parents house where she got to ride on a rollercoaster/train set his mom got. She liked it, but rode it right before nap time, so she didn't get into it as much as I think she will next time.

Bella wanting to befriend the dog... Bella flattening her new friend!

a little unsure of the rollercoaster, but she'll go with it
she got confident - look ma, no hands!

Cleveland

LeBron is gracing the cover of GQ this month and for the article a bunch of their reporters made the trek from NY to Cleveland to play basketball with him. They were staying downtown, and although it was unusually cold, the sense and gray of Cleveland left them with a feel for the city that's not all that far off...

"The people of Cleveland live a large portion of their lives inside a howling, subfreezing, youth-repelling, job-vanishing, anti-light box."

Okay, so it's possibly a little harsh (unfortunatley not really exaggerated) and I'm forced to update the count. Colorado: 12,650 Ohio: 110



WOW. already I have to throw out a quick T for timeout here – I’m not going fake naivety that their quote is negative nancy or can easily be taken with offense, but I think it’s important to take the quote in context of what they were talking about: the downtown city (not Ohio as a whole) which at this point I hold fast and unapologetically to my agreement with it. I’m downtown five days a week over eight hours a day surrounded by windows, yet inundated by the grouchy gray clouds constantly on the horizon (which is only heightened by the often overwhelming depressing and negative attitude spewed from its citizens and media daily). Really sincerely I don’t hate the state, but I'm not going to pretend like I didn't laugh a little when these writers basically hit the nail on the head... the article in full

on the move!

For about five weeks Bella has been crawling - but only backward. if she had to get something in front of her she would just lunge forward and roll the rest of the way. it was hilarious! when she ran into something crawling backward she would just butt bump against it for a solid 30 seconds and sit down. our girl cracks us up! yesterday when I dropped her off at day care I turned to see her once more before leaving but had a hard time spotting her in the midst of all the crawling kids. it took a minute to realize she was one of them!! I freaked out with excitement, teared up and spent the next five minutes taking her toys away from her so she'd crawl to me to get them! the workers at day care were laughing because apparently she's been crawling for a little while, just never at home, and they were under strict instructions not to tell me any milestones that happen at day care so I never feel like I'm missing anything, and we'll be there for all her firsts. haha! it was so awesome - I love her smile at the end of this video, so proud of herself!

it goes without saying that Bella crawling is the highlight of the video, but I loved that we
caught this while she was on the blanket I made Justin four years ago...
just a little bit of past and present.

Picture Post