1. I'm 32.
2. My husband is 47.
3. My daughter is three and my son is one.
4. My stepdaughters are 14 and 17.
5. They live with us 7 days a week.
6. Their mom got a job two states away and moved there in the summer of 2005. Before that, they were with us 4 days a week and before that, 3. It was a good transition for me as a new bride. I married in 2002 and met my husband at the end of 2000.
7. We have a really dumb beagle.
8. I love to read.
9. I can sing well, but haven't sung in public since my 23rd birthday (and a couple of my blog readers were there- You know who you are).
10. I was a television anchor in Columbia, SC and then I was a television reporter in Nashville. After that, I wrote TV shows for a cable channel. I gave it all up to be a mother/stepmother. And with four kids, it is definitely a full-time job.
11. I write a column now for the Nashville Scene based on this blog. Now that everyone in town knows my business, it's, um, GREAT! Seriously. I am finding it incredibly liberating that the "real me" is out there online and in print and people can either take it or leave it.
12. My next personal goal is to become financially independent without having to leave the house for work. I really hated leaving my three-year-old for occasional freelance jobs when she was a baby (and I'm not knocking working moms- I'm knocking the fact that it's almost impossible to find very temporary, reliable childcare within a few weeks' time), and I'd like to not have to do that at all with my next child.
13. I'm a Christian, but don't really like the assumptions people make when they hear the word "Christian". I've always appreciated having friends with a wide range of beliefs and find it fascinating to hear about them and to discuss the similarities and differences between our beliefs. I've never understood why people get so uptight about those who have different thoughts and opinions from themselves.
14. My all-time favorite books are 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
15. My parents divorced when I was six.
16. My mom and dad both remarried by the time I was 10.
17. My parents don't call very often... but they read my blog!
18. My stepfather was better to me than most dads I know are to their own children.
19. My mother and I were very close when I was growing up, but now that I'm on my own, we have our ups and downs. Right now it's on a down.
20. When I was 15, C.C. DeVille from Poison hit on me in San Diego. He gave me a daisy. I still have it. It's a fabulous moment in cheesiness I hope to never forget.
21. I'm a good drawer.
22. When I was 17, my friends and I met the heavy metal band Corrosion of Conformity while we were on a Christian youth group trip (ha ha, I know) in Denver. Somehow, we convinced the youth leaders to let us go to their concert that night (they opened for Iron Maiden) and hang out backstage. They came to Atlanta later that summer and we all hung out again. We would call them during sleepovers and they ended up coming to our graduation the next year. And they were nothing but nice and well-behaved the whole time I knew them. I look back on this whole thing as being incredibly bizarre.
23. I have one older brother, two stepbrothers and a stepsister. The steps belong to my stepfather and were already grown when he married my mom.
24. I have sung on British radio and in Westminster Abbey.
25. I've won an Emmy. I admit, I felt like Miss America when I got it.
26. I've met lots of celebrities because of my work. My favorites weren't necessarily the most famous.
27. My least favorites? Andy Garcia was, shockingly, a complete asshole. Luckily, I didn't have to interview him, but I watched a woman from another media outlet interview him and he couldn't have been a bigger jerk.
28. After my best friend in high school totally double crossed me, I've never really trusted women. I have lots of female friends whom I consider to be close friends, but I've never really opened up again since being hurt as a teenager.
29. I've gotten more rejection letters than you can possibly imagine. Much of my success is due simply to not giving up.
30. My favorite foods are french fries, crab legs, sushi, Godiva chocolate truffles, bread pudding souffle from Commander's Palace in New Orleans, and steak from Butch's in Milwaukee.
31. Outside the US, I've been to England, Scotland, Quebec, Canada and Juarez, Mexico.
32. I'd like to visit every continent before I die.
33. There's actually a 2-week cruise that runs from Argentina to Antarctica- That's how I plan to get to Antarctica.
34. I lead a play group for toddlers.
35. I was friends with Michael Stipe's friends when I lived in Athens in the mid-90s (ca. the Monster album), so I got to hang out with him at a time when he was really famous. And that was fun.
36. I love doing the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle.
37. In college, I was in two bands- One was a reggae band called The Good Herbs. I hated reggae, but the gigs paid pretty well.
38. The other band was called Blue Day America. It was composed of people from other Athens bands and was short-lived, but we did record one song that played on local radio. And our drummer went on to become the drummer for Counting Crows, until he quit a few years ago.
39. My favorite book when I was young was A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. And I loved anything by Roald Dahl.
40. My favorite stateside vacation spots are New Orleans, Charleston, Beaufort in South Carolina, Door County in Wisconsin, Catalina Island in California, Cannon Beach in Oregon and Destin, Florida. And now, skiing at Purgatory. I'm really hoping that Heaven will be a kick ass ski resort.
41. Cheerleading was the only thing I did in high school that I now think was a complete waste of time.
42. Sorority was the only thing I did in college that I now think was a complete waste of time.
43. Luckily, I wised up quickly and "de-sistered" from my sorority after my freshman year. I have nothing against sororities in general. But I joined because my mom wanted me to- not because I wanted to.
44. I'm a really good cook. I taught myself to cook five years ago when I married (because my husband's mom is a great cook and I couldn't stand to be outdone!) and I love it.
45. In high school, I was in a small singing group that included Ed Helms and Brian Baumgartner who are now both on The Office. I still can't believe they're, like, famous.
46. I'm dropping names left and right here, but I realized the other day that I've actually had a lot of interesting experiences and known more than my share of cool people, and I tend to forget that now that I'm a "nobody" stay-at-home mom.
47. I'm not really afraid of anything else except big bugs. And the sound of balloons popping.
48. I love music. I have more than 500 CDs from nearly every genre.
49. Some of my favorites from some of those genres: the Beastie Boys, Ella Fitzgerald, Joshua Redman, Emmylou Harris, Tori Amos, Radiohead, Old Crow Medicine Show, Anything played by Glenn Gould, Cassandra Wilson, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, Allison Krauss, Fatboy Slim and Wilco.
50. I watched "Gone with the Wind" at least 50 times as a kid. I know most of the lines by heart.
51. My favorite movies right now are "The Color Purple", "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "All About Eve" and "Moulin Rouge."
52. The phrase that best describes how I live my life is "Bloom where you're planted."
53. I worry too much about what others think of me.
54. I have an awesome marriage. My husband and I do almost everything together. I realized recently during an appointment about some writing work that I was doing that I kept saying "we," referring to my husband and me. It was a little embarrassing, but I thought it said a lot about the kind of marriage I have.
55. Sometimes I think I'm an awful stepmother.
56. Sometimes I think I'm a great stepmother. Lately, I think I'm definitely getting better at it.
57. I feel like I'm about 12 years old inside my body. I'm continually surprised when I pass a mirror to see the way I look, because it doesn't really reflect how I feel like I look.
58. I have a subscription to Vanity Fair, Southern Living and Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion.
59. I'd love a subscription to People, but it's too expensive.
60. I let all my magazines sit for a few months, then I go on a magazine-reading rampage and read a whole bunch within a few weeks.
61. We considered naming our baby Tatiana and Isabella. Neither name allowed for a good nickname, though. Now, I don't really like either of those names.
62. I still have several close friends from high school and college.
63. Until recently, only my husband, a few of my girl friends, random people from high school and a few of my husband's friends knew about this blog.
64. My grandfather called me "Little Stink." It drove my mom crazy. I wasn't smelly, though. It was a play on "Stinker".
65. My mom called me "Tissy Lish" and "Bug" when I was younger.
66. I wouldn't call myself a Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative. I usually see both sides of the issue and vote for the person, not the party.
67. I love going out to local hotspots for dinner and drinks with my husband.
68. Until recently, my husband and I took a honeymoon trip every year. It has made a big difference in our marriage. Unfortunately, my mom told me three weeks after I had my second baby that she would no longer keep my children so that we could go on vacation. It's ironic, since she's the one who convinced me that annual honeymoon trips were important.
69. I think I'm an old soul, whatever that means.
70. I was born in Georgia and raised in Atlanta.
71. I've never lived anywhere other than the South. I lived in a small town until I was 10; Since then, I've lived in cities.
72. I always had an outdoor cat growing up and would love an indoor cat now, but my husband and I both are allergic to them.
73. Since I've had children, I'm somewhat forgetful for the first time in my life. Scattered is a better word for it. I think I just have too much going on and too little sleep.
74. I treat myself every so often to a 90 minute massage. It's one of the little things that makes life worth living.
75. My favorite stores are Off 5th (Saks outlet), TJ Maxx, Neiman Marcus, Target, Anthropologie and Borders. I also love Abercrombie pants and Bebe jeans.
76. I have hundreds of books, many of which I haven't read. When I was young, I could only afford to buy two books a week with my allowance. I'd read them in two days, then spend the rest of the week climbing the walls trying to find something else to read. I had this fantasy of having my own personal bookstore and now, I've basically got it. I love getting to the end of a book so that I can take my time choosing a new one from my private "library".
77. I fantasize about having free time again when the kids are out of the house.
78. I fantasize about publishing a book.
79. I fantasize about having the money to design and build a house just the way we want it. It would have a huge kitchen with a sitting area, plenty of bedrooms for kids and guests, and the master bedroom would have a double-sided fireplace that opens to both the bedroom and the bathroom. Oh, and a big, flat, sunny back yard.
80. A friend of ours lost a young child in a drowning accident a few years ago and I think it still haunts my family to this day.
81. My favorite stuffed animal as a child was a flattened out bear named "Flat Eddie". I still have him. My oldest stepdaughter slept with him for years.
82. I'd love to have a therapist, but everyone in my circle considers therapy to be for crazy people.
83. I'm extremely calm under pressure, except when it comes to my babies. If they're hurt, I burst into tears.
84. I love baby consignment sales that are held a few times a year at local schools and at the mall. That's where I buy reallllly nice clothes for Baby that I'd never buy at full price.
85. I'm starting Baby's own personal bookstore already. I buy (good) books in lots off of Ebay. She's already got more than a hundred books and luckily, they're by far her favorite toys. She spends hours each day alternately demanding to be read to and "reading" on her own. She's memorizing some of the words, too, which is cool.
86. When I was two, my mom pointed at each word as she read to me. I was reading on my own before my third birthday. My mom thought I had memorized the books, but she gave me a new one and I read it aloud, too. I'm doing the same thing now with my baby. Guess what? It's working.
87. I love hydrangeas.
88. My perfume is Faberge Imperial. It's friggin' impossible to find, and way too expensive but I love it and so does my husband, so I've always got some in supply.
89. Fall is my favorite season.
90. We have a Christmas party here every year and we look forward to it all year long. It's fun to see our guests befriend each other and end up hugging goodbye at the end of the night.
91. Although we had a strict budget for Christmas last year, it literally took us three full hours to open all our presents. I guess we go a little overboard...
92. My least favorite chores are emptying the diaper pail, dusting (I'm highly allergic to dust) and cleaning toilets and bathtubs.
93. My mom says that when I got in trouble as a toddler, I'd cry, hold out my arms and say "Let me love you."
94. I'm still looking for a really, really moist red velvet cake recipe.
95. My favorite TV shows are/were: Gilmore Girls, Felicity, America's Next Top Model, The Amazing Race (which we watch as a family and absolutely LOVE), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and certain episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Larry Sanders.
96. I will watch anything starring Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts because I know I'll think it's at least pretty good.
97. My daughter looks just like me. My son looks like his dad. And that works for me.
98. Two of my great great grandparents (from two different sides of the family) were Cherokee Indians.
99. I could never live in a place that wasn't green and hilly with lots of trees.
100. I know unequivocally that family and service to others are far more important and more affirming than fame and fortune.