10 things you may or may not want to know...

so, i got tagged by the wonderful ms. whiskeymarie to write 10 interesting things about myself. i've had a hard time coming up with good post ideas lately, so what better than to talk about me, me, me! i'm not sure i can come up with 10 things that are all that interesting, but i'm game to try!

1. i was married in vegas. unlike whiskeymarie's story, there was no fat, singing elvis invlolved. just me and my husband-to-be. we actually took one of those buses that goes up and down the strip to our little chapel. i was wearing a black dress. go figure, the marriage didn't last.

2. i truly hate weddings. it doesn't matter whose wedding it is. they make me uncomforable and squirmy. i'm not sure when this began, but certainly prior to my own vegas wedding. this may be related to the fact that my parents have both been married and divorced multiple times. i guess you could say i don't have a whole lot of faith in marriage. i watch these people saying their vows and am completely cynical about the whole thing. forever? ha! if forever means until you have an affair with your secretary, maybe.

3. i used to be fat. size 14-16 fat. i mean no offense to anyone when i say it, this is just my own assessment of myself. in high school, i was one of those skinny little prom queen types. i was best friends with the queen bee. i had the hottest boyfriend. then came college. i gained over 50 pounds during the first couple of years and the weight stayed on throughout most of my 20's. i hit an all time high of 222 when i was pregnant with my 1st child. i lost a lot of weight about two years ago, and am now down to 6-8. i feel much better about myself, though sometimes i think i will never be happy with my size. i have managed to keep the weight off but it is a daily struggle for me.

4. i am thirty years old and have not yet seen the ocean. i have done my fair share of traveling within our fair country. the land-locked states i have traversed number in the twenties, and i have even been to our northern neigbor of canada. but my trips to a nice warm sunny ocean beach equal zero. me, who absolutely LOVES water and was born near the beautiful lake superior. i will catch my first glimpse of the ocean in two weeks when i go to boston for work. it won't be the same as sitting on a warm, sunny florida beach. but it's the ocean. and i'll take it.

5. i have almost never been single. i surely haven't been single more than six months since the age of 15. i'm not entirely sure why this is. in some cases, i literally went from one boy to the next. i'd dump one for the other. i've had some pretty long term relationships, too. never really took the opportunity to just date, date, date! i'm not sure why this is. some sort of deep-seeded insecurity and fear of being alone, i suppose. i like to think that right now, i'd be okay with being alone. but i am dating a great guy who is my best friend. and i'm okay with that, too.

6. i ran away from home once. i was fifteen. i was living with my mom and horrible minister step-father. it was hell. one sunday, while they all went to church, i played sick and stayed home. i had arranged for my boyfriend at the time, who lived two hours away, to come and pick me up. i quickly stashed clothes into a duffle bag and met him on the street behind my house. i moved in with my dad and evil step-mother. i guess you could say it was the lesser of two evils. i spend ages 15-19 bouncing around between homes, never really feeling like i belonged anywhere.

7. i was drinking, smoking, stealing and sneaking out by age 14. i was living with my mom and abusive step-father. i did anything i could think of to cope. i'd steal cigarettes in cahoots with the "bad boys" in our little town. i'd sneak onto the roof at night to puff marlboro lights and swig from a stolen bottle of tequila. i cut, carved and burned my arms. i remember hiding my cigarettes in the pants of my cabbage patch doll. i started things on fire and made "torches" with hairspray and matches. i was a total mess.

8. i attended full-time college my senior year of high school. despite my crazy life, my grades were actually pretty decent. i left the high school crap behind and forged ahead with my future. i started out majoring in marketing and then switched to social work. i graduated with a social work degree and then worked in that field for two years. now i am in marketing and never want to go back to social work if i can help it. go figure.

9. i quit smoking for good over a year ago. i had been a smoker since fourteen. not a serious smoker at fourteen of course, the hard-core stuff didn't kick in till about age sixteen, when my dad starting buying cigarettes for me and allowed me to smoke in the house. (no lie) the day of my divorce was the last day i had even a puff.

10. i have actually grown to enjoy single parenting. granted, i'm not completely on my own, bf is there a lot. but i enjoy my alone time with the kids. i like taking care of them. it can be very stressful, don't get me wrong. but i actually enjoy the responsibility of taking care of these two little lives all on my own. and i'm determined to do a much better job of it than i did of taking care of myself over the years. i want to be someone my kids can be proud to call their mom. i fully embrace that challenge.