25 Things about KK

I'm convinced I think about death more than most other people.  Not necessarily in a morbid way, but in more of a "be prepared" kind of way.  I'm sure part of it comes from my days as a tax accountant where we were taught to leave things each night as if we wouldn't be back.  Thus, I tend to think in those terms.  I constantly have thoughts that start with "if I die today"...and usually it has something to do with the girls, like "if I today, I want them to know this about me" or "if I die today, I want JKK to know how I do this".  So with that in mind, I've decided to do a post similar to US Weekly's 25 Things, where a random celebrity tells 25 tidbits about themselves.  It's my birthday and it's my blog...I'm allowed to do this.  Not everything on here is newsworthy or interesting, but I feel like as a whole it would give the girls a fairly good idea of who I am today, on my 34th birthday.

1) I have a bit of a potty mouth.  I prefer to think of it as "colorful language".  I'm torn between thinking that a lady shouldn't talk that way and thinking that it shouldn't be a big deal.  Every once in awhile though, it feels good to let one fly.  It's cathartic....and better than kicking the dog.  I have been trying to be better around Millie, since she is starting to repeat things.  She may or may not have called our dog a douchebag recently.  Classy, right?!

2)  I love lemon flavored food and drinks (lemon bars, lemon drop cocktails, lemon cupcakes, lemon cream sauce, etc.), but I despise sour stuff.  Basically, I want my lemonade to taste like lemon-flavored sugar water.

3) I need exercise to be happy.  I can't remember a time in my life when I haven't worked out or been active.  I enjoy it, and I really miss attending group classes.  I can't wait for the girls to be old enough to go to the gym daycare so that I can get back to attending classes regularly.  In the meantime, I'm pretty good about doing videos and treadmill at home.  Although I care about what I look like, I think exercise for me is more about release and the endorphins that follow.

4) I hate loud noises.  It makes my blood pressure rise.  I know I don't have sensitive ears because I turn up the TV way too loud to hear people talking on movies.  I'm not really sure why it bothers me so much.  I could never work in a daycare or preschool.

5) This "bless you" business confuses me.  Why is the  non-sneezing person required to make some sort of response?!  I mean, I know what google says about why we use that phrase and where it originated, but I'm just saying I'm confused on why we still do it.  If it was up to me, we'd all just say "excuse me" when we sneezed and move on.

6) I love kittens.  Kittens have healing power.  Kittens are the cutest thing in the whole wide world (besides my children).  I can't wait to some day make a trip with the girls to pick out their own kittens.

7) I don't think I have a lot of pet peeves, but my main ones are pretty cliche: I can't stand when people chew with their mouth open.  Or talk with their mouth full.  Or lick their fingers.  If I instill nothing else in my kiddos, they will have table manners.

8) I have some of the best girlfriends in the world.  I can't stress enough how important girlfriends are.  And I believe there is always room for more...in fact, I'd like to reach out to Tina Fey, Amy Sedaris, Kristin Wiig, and Julia Child (RIP) to become a part of my circle.

9) I would love to take a week-long vacation to a health spa.  I want to go to one of those places where you do yoga or go hiking in the morning and the rest of the day is spent getting fancy spa treatments.  And where a chef makes the healthiest, tastiest food you've ever tasted.  It sounds like heaven to me.

10) I have a 5 degree range of comfort...somewhere close to 75 degrees.  Anything above or below makes me incredibly whiny.  I apologize to everyone who has experienced this side of me, but I can't seem to help myself.  I've convinced myself that Maui would be my dream home location.  It seems to always be 82 degrees there, with a cool breeze off the ocean...perfection.

11) I have an obsession with documenting life through pictures.  I've ALWAYS taken a lot of pictures.  I'm always the one with a camera out, and I have the photo albums to prove it.  As we were growing up, my mom was great about making photo albums.  I loved looking through them periodically and remembering stuff.  I guess this is where my need to do this stems from.  Thanks mom. :)

12) I have the feet of an 80 year old woman.  They hurt all the time.  Even when I was young, I can remember my feet hurting.  It's probably because they are so big and floppy.  I hope the girls don't get this problem.

13) I love ballerinas, but I never took a ballet class.  I just think they are so pretty.  And delicate.  Out of all the artwork I saw in France, Degas' ballerina paintings were my favorite.

14) I don't have a favorite anything...I like too many movies, songs, albums, foods, vacation spots, etc. to choose just one of each.  Well, okay, I might have a favorite salad dressing: French.  Imagine my disappointment when we were in France and this type of dressing did not exist over there.

15) I love birthdays and how special they feel...a whole day to celebrate your life.  It's just fun!  I also love to celebrate, especially with champagne...I adore champagne.

16) I love to bake but I hate to cook.  Probably because the end result is so much better. ;)

17) I miss living near family and close friends.  I can't believe we've been here 7 years; it still doesn't feel like home.  I guess I need to recalibrate my mind about that fact because it is going to be home for quite some time to come.  Both of my girls were born here.  They are Arkansans.  Guess it's better than if they had been born Sooners.  Ha!

18) I adore puff pastry.  Food that is wrapped in puff pastry should never be turned down, no matter how much muffin top you have going on.  That shit is delicious and worth every calorie.

19) I've had a dream for at least a decade to go help clean up animals affected by oil spills.  It tears me up to see those images.  I hope I can volunteer for this meaningful work at some point in my life.

20) I don't want to be involved in organized religion, but I do count myself as spiritual (in a very open-minded kind of way).

21) I have a wonderful example to follow in my own mother.  I love movies.  How are these things connected?  In my high school and early college days, I worked for two different video store chains.  This cemented my love for movies, and specifically, movies released between 1996-2001.  I cannot tell you how many times I've watched You've Got Mail.  In sticking with the mom theme, I've sort of put together a little group of mother characters that I'd like to model myself after, which is kind of weird, I know...

• Francis McDormand in Almost Famous (2000)
• Susan Sarandon in Stepmom (1998)
• Anjelica Huston in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
• Diane Keaton in The Family Stone (2005)
• Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment (1983)

22) I'm an ugly crier.  It is physically impossible for me to do the dignified silent tears running down my face thing.

23) I believe that thank you notes are important.  Please, JKK, if I die tomorrow, teach our children that this is important and respectful and a necessary way to go through life.  It's good manners.  And before you say that I should know you received my gift, why should you have to let me know you received it?!...one of my gifts got lost in the mail this year at Christmas and a poor little nephew of mine would've been without if he hadn't always been so good about telling us when he received our gifts.  So there.  And for that matter, RSVP-ing is also a good life skill.

24) I love amusement park rides.  My favorite are the spin rides...the faster the circles, the better.  One day I hope to own my own Tilt-A-Whirl so that I can grease it up like mad and ride for as long as I want.

25) I love love.  I will always root for the happy ending.  <3

Happy Birthday to me!