the note that has taken over facebook (aka 25 random things)

So, I posted this to Facebook a while back, however, I thought it would be fun to have on my blog, so here you go:

1. I secretly (or not so secretly anymore) think that people who don’t know how to drive stick-shifts are not living up to their full potential.

2. I often pretend that I don’t remember minute details about people’s lives because I don’t want to appear stalker-esque. The truth: if you’ve ever told me about your mom’s college boyfriend’s cousin’s 16th birthday party, I remember…the date, the location, the party-goers, all of it. It’s strange. But true. And no, I am not stalking you, so don’t flatter yourself. And why is it that I can remember things like that, but not useful things, like when I need to pay my phone bill.

3. I will happily travel anywhere. ANYWHERE. And do it by any means. Train, plane, automobile, boat…doesn’t matter to me. I’m in…provided I don’t have classes (that I care about) and have whatever means I need (in terms of finances) to do the traveling.

4. I once jumped on a train in Portugal without paying for a ticket and spent over 30 minutes trying to avoid the ticket-checker-dude before finally just fessing up and paying an exorbitant amount of money for a “purchased-on-the-train” ticket…of which I was told there were none, otherwise I would have just purchased it before getting on the train. I got tired. It was a night train. I wanted to sleep.

5. I sometimes start rambling in French to non-French speakers because sometimes I’m thinking in French because sometimes French is just better. But I don’t like when people ask me to “just say something in French.” I mean, really. Something. What? What something?

6. I flew to Spokane on a whim just to make-out with a Canadian for…well, anyway. I flew to Spokane. It was stupid. And fantastic. Like the majority of adventurous decisions I’ve made in my life.

7. I moved to Europe when I was 14 because I was sick of my life. What 14-year-old even knows enough to know that she’s sick of her life?

8. I still wear my retainers at night. Yes. Still. I got my braces off when I was 14. I have jacked up teeth that cost a small fortune to fix.

9. I rationalize my impulsive, irrational behaviors by referring to them as “diseases”, like they aren’t my fault or something. Unfortunately, this is a disease I share with my sister, which does me no good when I need rational advice. (There are several posts about this…just search “disease”…if you are totally bored and have a few hours to spare.)

10. I justify expensive clothing/accessory purchases by breaking things down in terms of “cost per wear/use”. Like last year I purchased Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses that were ridiculously expensive by figuring out how much the sunglasses would cost me per day, based on a three year useful life. This is about how long I will wear a pair before I “need” to buy another. And yes, I have yet to lose an expensive pair of sunglasses.

11. I often think people “need” my help. I hate that I do this. I mean, seriously, who died and made me God? No one, that’s who. And yet…and yet…

12. I was a cheerleader in high school. For some reason this shocks people…I choose to believe it’s because I appear much smarter than the average cheerleader.

13. I shoplifted when I was 13 (and subsequently sent everything back to the store, along with money for the things my friend had stolen). I have an extremely guilty conscious, a firm belief in Karma, along with some good old fashioned morals.

14. I absolutely love driving. It’s kind of like a video game to me…weaving through cars to see how fast I can get somewhere and what a better driver I am than 99% of the people out there. My eyes are constantly scanning for gaps I can shoot…and cops. This is a big part of the reason my current vehicle only has 4-cylinders, as opposed to being a V6. It’s another disease. (And really, I was probably overstating when I said I know I’m not better than 99% of the drivers out there…but only a little.)

15. I had to have a tracheotomy when I was a baby because I swallowed a piece of plastic that got caught in my throat. Sometimes when people ask me about the scar (it’s still very visible because I scar horribly) I like to make up scary stories about what happened to me. I rarely fool people though, because a) I’m a horrible liar and b) it’s a pretty perfect incision scar.

16. I’m a red/ blue, ENTJ Scorpio born the year of the Snake. What does this all mean? Yeah, your guess is as good as mine.

17. I hate cats. I will put up with them (and even pet them if I feel like I must to be polite) and I only dream about kicking them across the room (I’d never actually do it), but I HATE them. I think they are disgusting.

18. I talk too much.

19. I ran with the bulls in Pamplona.

20. I sing well, but I audition horribly. In high school my choir director told me I was lucky he knew how well I could really sing because based on the audition, I never would have made it. College was almost identical. I hate this about myself.

21. I am a total bibliophile, partly because library books scare me. Who knows where they’ve been or what people have done while reading them? They gross me out. That’s why I have stacks and stack and boxes and boxes of books. I have purchased almost every book I’ve ever read. Occasionally someone will lend me a book, which is okay as long as it hasn’t been lent to too many people. Apparently, I still believe in cooties?

22. I love SCUBA diving, but swimming in the ocean (on the surface…without a mask) scares the crap out of me. I still do it. Fear rarely keeps me from doing anything.

23. I believe in low-maintenance friendships–the kind that can be maintained through a phone call a year sometimes–and am perfectly comfortable “quitting” a friendship if it becomes too high-maintenance. Some people think that makes me selfish. I think it makes me sane.

24. I used to tattoo people’s faces for a living for a living. I didn’t do it to myself, but I did have it done. It all needs to be touched up.

25. I still cry myself to sleep no less than monthly because I miss my mom. She died when I was 18.

eleven years and counting

Allison, Cami, Erin, Debbie, me (should I chop my hair off again?), Alicia

These are the girls of 310–our apartment number in the first apartment where we all met and lived together. Other than my sister and me, none of us knew each other before we moved in. I can’t even explain how lucky I feel to have moved into that apartment a little over 11 years ago.

Over the past 11 years, we have seen each other through a number of life’s experiences; undergrad, grad school, relationships, missions, marriages, and babies. While we have spent time together individually over the last few years, the last time we were all together (if I’m not mistaken) was at my sister’s wedding–almost 6 years ago–and really, weddings are kind of chaotic for reconnecting when one of you is the bride and another is the sister-of-the-bride.

This weekend we are all heading to Vegas. I am so excited, I can’t even stand it! I love, love, love these girls and cannot wait to spend two whole days just enjoying their company.

P.S. Thanks, Allison, for posting this pic on FB!

home sweet home

I am from Walnut Creek. As I have had to introduce myself many, many, many times throughout the last two weeks, that has come up a lot. I haven’t lived there in over eight years, but that is home, for now. Maybe someday I will think of somewhere else as home, but not today. So, for posterity, a walk down memory lane (I visited this summer)…

The view as you drive into my hometown from San Francisco/Oakland (on the 24). That’s Mt. Diablo in the background (pronounced like a non-Spanish speaker would say it).

This is downtown…the sign in the middle says “The Ballet School”. This is where I took my first dance class.

Il Fornaio. A favorite. Along with the H&M on the left, that you can’t see and wasn’t there when I was growing up, but I think it makes a nice addition. The shopping and dining options in downtown Walnut Creek are fantastic.


The fountain at Broadway Plaza.
Yogurt Park…oh how I love thee.
One of my favorite little alleys in the world. It reminds me of Europe. Only cleaner.
My house…the one I grew up in from 0 – 18. The new owners have changed some things in front, but it’s still my house…with my favorite pomegranate tree. How lucky were we on the far right?

The backyard. It’s too bad the new owners ruined it with a fence. The pool, when you get there, was so pretty as the focal point. Now it’s surrounded by an ugly, wooden fence. Why not wrought iron, I ask you?




My high school. Doesn’t it kind of look like a prison? Well, the cement part?

The cemetery where my mom is buried. It’s absolutely beautiful. (Technically, I think it’s in Pleasant Hill.)

It was her birthday when I was there, so I took some flowers and a balloon.

And the big house my dad built after my mom died and we all moved in with him (well, during the summer anyway). It’s funny. It’s a beautiful house and has a great setup and yard for parties, but I would take the little thrasher house (trust me, it was at the time) I grew up in any day of the week.


And views of my city and the hills.


did i ever tell you…

about my crazy trip to Spokane to spend 2o-hours with a Canadian I met online?

about running with bulls in Pamplona?

about the time I went cliff jumping at Lake Powell and belly flopped from 25 feet?

about my sister’s attempt to feather my hair (with scissors) when I was 7 and she was 10 while my mom was on one of her girlfriend trips to Europe?

about my first real kiss (and just how old I was)?

about being an exchange student in Belgium?

about the time Justin and I (at the ripe young ages of 7 and 8) got lost while walking back to our condo from Lappert’s (the ice cream shop in Princeville)?

that my sister and I still speak Gibberish when we don’t want people to understand us…and we’re both in our thirties?

about the time my bag was stolen in Barcelona?

about the time when I was a tattoo artist (okay…it was only permanent makeup)?

about how I went to beauty school after I graduated college to become an esthetician?

about the time when I went diving with sharks (just little reef sharks), or the ship wreck I got to explore?

about winning an award for a paper I wrote in my Honors English class about when my mom died?

about the time I sang back up for Paul Anka?

about the time I ate a caterpillar?

that we used to have a half-pipe in our backyard?

about the time I hit a gypsy in Rome?

about the time I got on a train from Lisbon to Madrid without a ticket and thought it would be a good idea to try and hide from the ticket agents?

that I would still go t.p.-ing when I was a sophomore in college?

about the one (and only) time I shoplifted?

about tracking grizzly bears in Yellowstone?

about the time I got my dad’s Pathfinder so stuck that we had to leave it and come back the next day to dig it out?

about bursting into tears while discussing sexual transgression during a religion class my freshman year? (the tears and topic were unrelated, but it was pretty funny)

that I often reflect on my life and wonder why I have been so blessed, even with all of the hard stuff?

happy birthday to my dad

Yes, yes, the Chicago post is coming. I had a fabulous time, foot pain and all, but today is my dad’s birthday, so using that as an excuse, I’m going to post some things that I have been thinking about for a while (for posterity…so this post may totally bore any of you not related to me, or who don’t know Nev).

My dad is hilarious. He tells the lamest jokes ever (we were discussing adoption tonight and he once again mentioned that one of my sisters was adopted…but then they brought her back) that always make me laugh. With him? At him? Does it really matter?

One of his favorite funnies (not so much a joke) is referring to himself as Good Old Dad. Create an acronym and you’ll get the humor in it. His favorite is to remind us to thank “Good Old Dad” for whatever it is he has done for us at that moment.

He doesn’t really share how he feels, but it is obvious through his actions. He has moved every one of us multiple times. He has installed crown molding, recessed lighting, kitchen cabinets, and painted more walls than I could ever count. He pays for plane tickets for us to visit each other and we know that, no matter what happens, he will be there if we need him (like for me, now, as I live in the apartment over his garage). And, as seen above, he lets his granddaughters play with his hair.

He has always been a great example of hard work and frugality. Unfortunately, I only inherited the former…my spending habits I got from my mom. And even though he wishes I could figure out the real difference between wants and needs, he is really good about not making me feel bad about my inability to do so.

In teaching us about hard work, he also taught us the importance of each step in a project. In any project, there are four steps. You probably thought that it varied based on the project, but it doesn’t. There are always four and only four. Sure, within those four, there might be multiple tasks that must be done, but any and every project can be subdivided into the following four steps:

  1. Prep: this step includes planning and setting up for the project.
  2. Do: pretty self-evident.
  3. Clean up: again, not much explanation.
    1. Most people would think the project was over at this point.
    2. Most people are mistaken. Step four is not only the most important, but also requires the most time.
  4. Admire: this step can be done alone, at first, but in order for any project to be truly finished, you must actually include at least one more person in this step. This step requires “ooohs” and “aahs”. Not necessary to this step, but definitely encouraged, are phone calls to others who are not able to be part of Step 4 in person, photographs to be shared for years to come, and later discussions about just how great the project turned out.

I have to say I have a pretty great dad, even if we don’t see eye to eye on everything. So here’s a big birthday wish to my favorite dad ever! Happy Birthday, Dad.

Oh, and thanks for dinner.