Ok so I never really got this blog thing off the ground. I wanted to do it but instead I focused my energy on a photoblog - which you can check out at http://www.buzznet.com/Sourire11.... problem with the photoblog is that it's more photo and less blog. So I wanted to start writing things so that i could participate in the wonderful online community of knitters that I've heard so much (and read so much) about. And then I blanked - because where on earth do you start. So I'm going to take the example of all of the blogs of my fellow Stitch 'n Bitchers and just go with it. So be prepared for alot of stream-of-consciousness drivel.
I've seen on alot of blogs that a way to start is to write 100 things about yourself. So here goes....100 things about me:
1. I have a wonderful husband. He makes every day more fun and is the best partner I could have ever asked for.
2. I'm also completely in love with my dog - an adorable rat-terrier named Dexter. 3.
3. My third love is my new house. It's a 1948 bungalow that is just fantastic. It's brick, has wood floors throughout and has been the only thing I've been able to talk about (other than my dog) for about a month now.
4. I am an architect (or will be after the many pesky years of accreditation) and I work mainly in historic preservation and adaptive reuse.
5. I live in Cleveland
6. I have been married for just less than a year (married on October 9, 2004)
7. This year has been a huge adjustment - I went from being in school to being in the "real world" and from living with my own room in a house of all of my friends to living with just my husband sharing everything with a 4 hour drive to see my good friends.
8. Speaking of friends I consider my good friends to be as important as my real family (which is very important) they are my urban family
9. This past June I had shingles - which is extremely rare for someone my age and sucked extremely hard. I still get shooting pains from it sometimes.
10. My favorite holiday is Halloween - which is my husband's least fav. holiday (his fav. is thanksgiving -go figure that he would pick the one that is centered on food!) after that I love New Years but I always seem to have the most fun on the 4th of July.
11. My lucky number is 11.
12. I am slightly (only slightly right now because of the house) obsessed with knitting
13. I am a member of Stitch 'n Bitch Cleveland and am so excited that I am moving closer to Bella Dubby
14. But my first creative love is beading
15. I made all of the jewelry worn by my bridesmaids which is the biggest beading project I've taken on - I'm very proud of the results of that one!
16. I have been collecting beads since birth. Ok well ever since I can remember
17. My mom still has my first beaded project - a pair of earrings I made out of bobbypins and plastic beads - I still make her random things
18. The random creativity runs in my family - I have many of my grandmother's projects and experiments (scarves, rugs, etc.)
19. I'd much rather have something hand made than out of a catalogue
20. That being said I do want many many things from the Ikea catalogue but I don't want my house to look like a page from it
21. I have shaky hands
22. I met my husband at freshman orientation and worked on my very first project in architecture with him but didn't actually start dating him officially until summer after 2nd year.
23. My three fav. movies are Emperor's New Groove, Death to Smoochie, and Reality Bites.
24. Half of what I say is a quote from one of those three
25. All of my ideas are good ideas
26. Except Apple Jacks (as LB and Matt will tell you)
27. I love a good road trip and would much rather drive than fly
28. Mainly because of the fuck-wizzes.
29. My favorite tv show is the Daily Show. Hands down. Although I did used to love Conan before I had to get up early and go to work
30. I am totally and completely weak to the marathons on VH1 - who can resist all of the I love the 80's back to back to back?
31. Speaking of so bad it's good tv. I still watch the "real" world (notice where the quotes are on that one) even though I'm too old to be on it
32. I'm terrible at spelling (but you probably know that by now).
33. One of my biggest regrets is wasting too much time on and worrying too much about people who will never care about me.
34. I really only want to travel to places I've never been....
35. But if you asked me to go to Vegas and your name was LB, Rebecca, Sarah, or Alison (and perhaps Mike) I'd say yes in a heartbeat.
36. My favorite casino is the Bellagio and I believe that if you enjoy Excalibur or Treasure Island (notice I did not say TI) you are not worth my time
37. I got drunk in Vegas and invited a bartender to my wedding. She flew to Cleveland for the occasion.
38. I secretly want the Steelers to not lose even though I was born and raised a Browns fan because if they lose my husband gets real, real pissy.
39. My favorite ice cream flavor is mint choc. chip
40. I lived in San Francisco for three months
41. We just bought our first house ever an entire year before we thought we'd be able to
42. Which is something that I'm really really proud of and very excited about
43. But I'm still a little sad that we're leaving downtown (we have an awesome warehouse apartment, no commute, grocery store on the first floor of our building, walking distance to all of the hot bars and night spots, etc. etc. etc.)
44. The best housing term that I have heard is "mullet house" - houses that have "brick" or "stone" on only the front b/c they are business in the front and paaaarty in the back!
45. If someone had told me on Aug. 17, 2004 when I was semi-unemployed (had a job hadn't started yet), my then-fiancée was completely unemployed, and we were trying to figure out how we were going to pay our first month's rent that on Aug. 17, 2005 we would be making an offer on a house I would have laughed in their face.
46. I have a thing for 1950's & 60's "atomic era" design
47. My favorite season is fall because of the colors but I appreciate all of the seasons and don't think that I'd be happy living somewhere without them
48. I don't follow too many tv shows but I watch LOST religiously.
49. I don't follow music at all - mainly because I never have time (meaning commute) to listen to the radio and don't have the funds to support a cd collection
50. But I almost always listen to NPR's Morning Edition at work.
51. This past summer I was on a Rowing Team - I had never done it before - It was a ball
52. My favorite thing about living where I do is the lake. I get to see it every day!
53. And sometimes I get to go out in my dad's boat and buzz the city from the water - so fun!
54. I hate, HATE Walmart. As a preservationist they are horrible (other big-box stores will go into urban areas and existing conditions if you force them to), as someone who cares even a little about the environment they are evil, and as an American who comes from a manufacturing family they are the devil incarnate. Don't shop there. Or Sam's Club. Ever.
55. But the thing that gets me the most heated in politics is the whole "defense of marriage" thing. I just don't get how limiting someone else's civil rights is going to defend my marriage. It logically makes no sense.
56. I lurk on several message boards... but never post anything.
57. I really enjoy reading other knitters' blogs - even when they aren't about knitting.
58. But I still don't understand all of the lingo... UFO, DH, WIP, OTN etc.
59. I went for an entire year without a cell phone after my husband's was stolen on our honeymoon. I honestly kindof liked not having one because then all plans have to be made beforehand.
60. Now that I have a camera phone I can post directly from my phone to my photoblog. I'm that techy (or geeky). It's pretty darn cool.
61. I've always wanted to go to Peru. Someday perhaps I will.
62. I spent 3 months traveling Europe - I started by studying in Copenhagen (which included travel to Finland, Sweden, and Western Denmark), then spent 5 weeks with a backpack and friends. It was wonderful.
63. I don't want to go back to Europe for awhile so that when I do go I can do Europe with money as opposed to Europe on a shoestring.
64. I love to ski although I’m only ok at it. I don’t do trees. (ask Matt about the Happy Glade. It was not happy). I’ve never been skiing out west but that’s definitely on my list of places that I want to go.
65. I also enjoy camping, hiking, and backpacking. The biggest, scariest hike I’ve done is Angel’s Landing at Zion National Park. Someday I’d love to do half-dome or hike down and back up the Grand Canyon.
66. But sometimes it’s much, much better to "camp" in a cabin with a hot tub and a group of friends.
67. My favorite author is Laurie Notaro. Best book ever: Autobiography of a Fat Bride.
68. Although the best book I've read recently is The Time Traveler's Wife - I highly recommend it.
69. I have lived with over 30 different people.
70. Most of those 30 were while I lived at the APX house during college.
71. Oh yeah, I'm in a professional fraternity - Alpha Rho Chi. I was big into it in college and thought I'd be big into the alumni thing but all of the events seem to be happening at bad times for me. Perhaps sometime in the future it will work out better.
72. Best drink ever: Citron Cosmo
73. Standby drink: Jack and Coke. I always order it when I can't decide what to order
74. I also really enjoy wine. Unfortunately I don't have the budget for a serious wine collection, or to get serious about tasting. But we did go to Vintage Ohio and we do have a few keeper bottles on our shelf.
75. I designed and knit my dog a sweater. I don't know what that says about me but it certainly says something!
76. Sometimes I think that God forgot to give me a bladder.
77. Every day I try really hard not to chew my nails... sometimes that works out and sometimes not.
78. My favorite part of every day is letting my little doggie out of his cage. No matter what that is always such a pick-me-up because he is so ridiculously happy to see me.
79. Whenever I go to Starbucks (which is more often than I would like) I refuse to order by "Tall, Venti, Grande". I always say small, medium, or large because I find the Starbucks talk really annoying.
80. Although my biggest pet-peeve is people using their cell phones at inappropriate times (in the grocery store, in a movie theater, in line anywhere, in my car, in restaurants, anywhere that is loud enough for them to repeat "what" into the phone multiple times, etc.)
81. I was born in 1980 making me just barely a child of the '80's.
82. My mom is a music teacher and I used to play the violin. I actually used to be pretty decent at it during high school... but then architecture school came and swept that away. Someday perhaps I will go back to it.
83. Speaking of someday, I already have a list of things that I want to do when I'm retired.
84. I went to St. Luke School for grade school, Padua for high school, and University of Cincinnati for both undergrad and grad school.
85. My master’s thesis was entitled Reconnection: Industrial Waterfronts in A Post-Industrial City.
86. My favorite color is almost always red. Sometimes I'm in more of a pink mood, sometimes brown, and sometimes shades of green... but I always end up back at red.
87. Whenever I don't know the answer to something involving a number I say "87"
88. Growing up I had an iguana named Ziggy as a pet. She was awesome.
89. The rising gas prices make me smile a little because I have no commute now and when I move will have a very small commute in a very gas efficient car (or I will take the bus). I understand that it's bad for the entire economy and inflation and all of that but I gotta say that watching the SUV drivers freak out is mildly amusing.
90. I used to be on a bowling league (more like a drinking league since it was college and all) and my best score was a 165. I even bowled a turkey once. Of course my worst score was a 55 but I was too drunk to walk so I think that's pretty good.
91. Ain’t nobody dope as me I’m just so fresh so clean.
92. My action hero has a kung-fu action blender so that she can make frozen yummy drinks anywhere, anytime.
93. In my professional fraternity my title was the Worthy Intoxicator because I was the only girl in my half of the pledge class and therefore it was my solemn responsibility to get all of the boys drunk. Somehow the name stuck.
94. My friends and I are writing a book kindof.
95. I think it will be fun to be a grandma. And yes I realize that is skipping a few steps considering I don't have any kids (and I don’t plan to anytime soon!)
96. I enjoy playing the Sims 2, unfortunately I have no will power and my sims all have very messed up lives.
97. I talk to my dog. Alot.
98. Sometimes I'm really bad at finishing things that I started. I get bored and move on... which is why I have several unfinished knitting projects kicking around in my yarn bin.
99. When I started this list I was strategically in-between projects at work (I didn't want to get stuck on a crappy project for another year). Now I'm really busy at work and am finally, FINALLY actually enjoying my job.
100. This list was alot harder than I though it would be.
Public Square
The May Company and BP buildings
Scranton Peninsula (which was my thesis site way back when)
