hola, isabel

1. I have moved more times than I can remember. I am sure I could sit down and make a list of places I have lived. But not today.
2. The moves mostly took place before I was in high school. Thank goodness. I lived in two states by the time I was 8. After that, we stayed put in Utah. Just moved around the state at that point.
3. I don’t live in the state my family lives in anymore. (Except for an older brother that lives by me-but we don’t really talk, so that doesn’t count.)
4. I married The King in August 2000 in Seattle. I had just moved here a few months before that. It was hard to move. I tried my best to be grown up about it.
5. I am not sure that I handled being away from my friends and family very well at first. Mostly I missed my friends.
6. It took me years to find new friends in Seattle. Now I have tons of friends.
7. But none will ever be like my friends back in Utah.
8. I keep in contact with my friends back in Utah. It requires a lot of time and energy. But I think they are worth it. I hope they think so to.
9. The King and I built the house we live in right now. As in, we built it. No, we didn’t have experience. In fact, I am not really sure how we did it. I guess The King read a lot of books, and did a lot of research.
10. It took us 2 years before we could even move into the house. It isn’t all the way done yet.
11. We lived in a studio apartment while we built our house. We only had room for a twin-sized bed. We fit in the bed for a long time.
12. We decided to only buy a full sized bed when we moved into the house. Anything bigger would have freaked us out.
13. We bought another house in November 2004. We thought we could just remodel it.
14. But now we are going to tear the entire thing down and start from scratch. The King is designing it right now.
15. I’ll be honest. I am not looking forward to building a new house. It’s hard work.
16. Especially now that I am pregnant. But only a little bit pregnant.
17. This is our third pregnancy. We haven’t gotten a “take home baby” yet.
18. I’m religious. Very religious. But not freaky about it. I promise. I’m one of those cool religious people that you hear about, but never meet.
19. I spend a lot of time doing work for my Church. It keeps The King and I very occupied. A little too occupied. Thanks for asking-no we don’t get paid for our work.
20. Sometimes we get mad at all the work we do for our Church. But we still love Jesus. Don’t worry.
21. I don’t drink, smoke, or take drugs. But I don’t judge those who do. I figure that it’s their choice.
22. I had really long hair until I was in college. Really long. I didn’t really like my hair, but my Mom had me convinced that if I cut my hair I would regret it for the rest of my life.
23. I finally had my roommate cut it one night. I haven’t regretting it for one single second since.
24. Because I had always had really long hair, I wasn’t sure how to style my hair once it was a normal length. It took me a few years to figure it out. I’m fine now.
25. I think that having long hair hindered me in high school. I wasn’t thought of as cute. But I could have been if I just wouldn’t have had all of that hair.
26. My Mom didn’t make my younger sister have the long hair. That always made me mad. My little sister has gorgeous hair. It’s long now (not that long) and so pretty. I am jealous of her hair.
27. I like to read. This drives The King mad. He hates to see me sitting around reading. He thinks if you have time to sit down and enjoy life, then you might as well be up working.
28. We differ on this thinking. I am not sure how we managed to fall in love with such different views on work. But we did, and we still do.
29. I listen to talk radio constantly. Mostly National Public Radio. I specifically love the radio program, This American Life.
30. I learned how to swim this year. I totally signed up for adult swimming lessons at the local pool. I was proud of myself for being the best swimming of my class. The other two couldn’t even float when the lessons started. I could float.
31. I wanted to learn to swim because we went to Mexico this summer. I wanted to swim in the ocean, without fear. It was like a whole new world had been opened up to me.
32. We like to travel. The funny thing is that I always wanted to travel when I grew up, but never actually thought I would. I was one of those people that didn’t know that people actually traveled.
33. The King has introduced me to the World. I will forever be grateful to him for this.
34. I am the most frugal shopper you know. I would love to be able to spend all sorts of money on all sorts of goodness. But I just can’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I buy random junk at Target.
35. One day I will be on the red carpet and when they ask me who my outfit is by, I will respond by saying “Gap. $6.99!”
36. I hate Wal-Mart. This works out since we don’t have a Wal-Mart in Seattle. This hate has been intensified by the fact that my siblings work there. Along with their spouses. Wal-Mart is horrible to their employees. I see this, but my family doesn’t seem to catch on.
37. I was raised without a TV. Actually, we would have one for a while, then my parents would get mad that we watched it too much, or it would break-and then we wouldn’t get another one for 3 years. This happened off and on. I think my parents thought they were making the right choice as parents. Instead they ruined me.
38. As an adult, I love TV. If I could have my wish, I would sit on the couch all day and watch TV.
39. We have TiVo now. It has changed my life. I could talk about TV with anyone. This embarrasses The King.
40. I have an addictive personality. I will get really into something and learn everything I can about it. Then I’ll move onto something else. (Good thing I never tried drugs.)
41. My Dad taught at the high school I attended. He still works there. He has the best. job. ever. But he complains about it.
42. My high school experience wasn’t normal because of having my Dad around so much. I wouldn’t have traded that for anything. It was great to have him be such a part of my life. Most people complain that their Dad wasn’t involved enough.
43. I love summer time. It makes me think like a teenager again. I want to wear short skirts everyday and go to the water park with my girlfriends. But alas, I must go to work.
44. My leg hair grows surprisingly fast. This means I have to shave everyday.
45. I won the “Leg Hair Growing Contest” back in high school. My prize was a curling iron.
46. I seem to always be in groups of threes with my girl friends. This has been consistent throughout my life. This tends to cause problems.
47. My Mom would always tell me to try to find a “fourth” friend to add to the group. This never worked.
48. I shared a bedroom with my little sister until I was in high school and got my own room. She snored.
49. I love to eat $1 burritos from the taco trucks. You can’t cook dinner for that price.
50. I was raised with my Dad’s twin brothers. They were orphaned and my parents took them in. They were like brothers to me growing up. I don’t see them too much anymore.
51. I have had three letters printed in the newspaper. Two of them weren’t on purpose.
52. They were letters I had written to Santa Claus and mailed to the North Pole. In one of the letters, when I was in the 9th grade, I asked for the boy I was in love with that year.
53. I lied to everyone (except my family) and told them I DID NOT write the letter. I recently told my best friend the truth. She didn’t believe me.
54. I was married before. Briefly. I don’t like to talk/think about it.
55. Most people don’t even know about the first marriage. It was so brief. It was super hard to get over. But I’m over it now. And happy.
56. My parents are still married. I think that is important to the person I am now.
57. There were times when I was younger when I wished they would get divorced. I’m glad they didn’t.
58. We camped a lot when I was a kid. Mostly because we were too poor to do any other type of vacation.
59. We didn’t camp in a tent and make fires. We had a trailer. And a generator. And a shower. I believe that’s the only true way to camp.
60. We would always go on hikes when we were camping. But only the hikes that were handicap accessible.
61. I am a picky eater. But not as bad as I used to be.
62. I love pizza. Totally love it. I could eat it everyday. Sometimes I do.
63. Every vacation I take must include at least one pizza and one order of eggs benedict in order to count it as a vacation.
64. I won a 1 ct. diamond necklace from a Mervyn’s drawing that I only entered once.
65. I know how to saddle a horse.
66. And I have purchased cowboy boots. (notice that’s plural)
67. I had adult braces. I got them off in October 2004. I have a movie star smile now.
68. My parents were too poor to afford braces for me when I was a kid. They can afford it now. I thought about billing them for mine. But I didn’t.
69. I got in a pretty bad car wreck when I was in college. My roommate was in the car with me. No other cars were involved.
70. I felt a lot of guilt for putting my roommate into danger. She wasn’t hurt, thank goodness. I broke my wrist in 3 places.
71. I wore a full arm cast for 12 weeks. It stunk and I grew dark hair on my hand. It went away-eventually.
72. I still can’t twist my left wrist all the way.
73. I type really fast. Just because I type fast, doesn’t mean I don’t make mistakes. I do.
74. We are a one-car family. I get the car, or take the bus and The King rides his bike.
75. I make my own handmade greeting cards. They are really, really cute. I should sell them.
76. I crochet. I only know how to make baby hats and booties. They are perfect for baby shower gifts.
77. I hate doing the dishes. I hate it so much that I make sure they are always done, so that I don’t have to look at them.
78. I am allergic to red food dye. And some types of fish. I get hives.
79. I haven’t hives since I was a kid. I used to get them so bad.
80. I thought I was allergic to math class. I couldn’t convince my Mom of this.
81. I became an Aunt in May 2005. Apparently it was a 2 for 1 special on babies that day. We got one of each. Twins.
82. I love my niece and nephew.
83. I am going to get another niece in October 2005. The first baby on my side of the family.
84. I have seen all of the living Beatles in concert. If you are keeping track, that’s only Paul and Ringo.
85. Seeing Paul McCartney was like a dream come true. I couldn’t stop crying. I’m going to see him again in November 2005.
86. I like to mail actual letters to people. I like getting mail, so I assume they do to.
87. I rarely get letters in the mail in return.
88. Everyone in my family’s name starts with “J’. Even my parents. My Mom can’t ever seem to get our names right. She only has herself to blame for this one.
89. I learned how to do laundry the night before I moved away to college.
90. The King does the laundry now. It’s the separating part that gets me.
91. I had head lice in Junior High. It was so traumatic to me that I didn’t tell any of my friends.
92. Which means I kept getting it again because I didn’t dare tell my friend that she was giving me lice.
93. I just stopped being her friend. I never told her why. I felt so much guilt from this in high school when she made new friends that were trouble. She never bounced back.
94. I love gossip. I read all the magazines and websites. I just need to figure out a way to earn money with this hobby.
95. I was a complete idiot in college-on a personal level. I am embarrassed about how I treated people back then.
96. I wish I could see them all again and prove that I turned out just fine.
97. I love treats. I probably eat too many of them.
98. I am NOT fat. Seriously.
99. I am truly devoted to those I love.
100. And not so devoted to those I don’t.