100 Things About Me

I saw a friend did this on their blog and I thought it was a good idea, so here it is, 100 random things about me you probably never knew.

1. I love art
2. I love music
3. I love creating things
4. I never knew I was good at art until recently, because it wasn't until recently that I tried.
5. Ok those were some pretty obvious ones, but here's one, I love the lead singer of Linkin Parks voice, it's very soothing.
6. I very firmly believe that our dreams tell us more about ourselves than we care to know.
7. Two of the most influential books in my life (apart from scripture) are "Healing the Shame That Binds You," and "John Bradshaw on the Family," both written by John Bradshaw.
8. I have more music on my computer than I will probably ever listen to in a life time (thanks Joe).
9. I usually insist upon reading books before I see the movie, however in the case of Twilight, I refused to read the books until I saw the movie and was blown away by how ridiculous it was that I had to read the books. (I'll let you know my thoughts on those when I've finished)
10. I took Chinese in high school for no other reason in the world than the fact that everyone else was taking Spanish and Chinese was my only other option.
11. I stopped believing in coincidences as soon I was in the MTC preparing for my mission in Taiwan where I would be speaking Chinese.
12. I am one of the best cosmetologists that I know.
13. I never thought #12 would happen. I just thought I'd be a cosmetologist, but I didn't ever knew I'd be good at it.
14. I've had the opportunity to listen to two Apostles of God and shake their hands. Jeffrey R. Holland, and Dalin H. Oaks. As a result they are now two of my favorites. Ok, I don't really have favorites... Ok, I really do.
15. I think my time on my mission is probably the closest I've ever been to really being myself.
16. I'm probably one of the best cooks I know.
17. I never knew how picky of an eater I was until I tasted other people's cooking.
18. I've learned in the last year that "Sometimes Goodbye [really] is a second chance"
19. I've been working on reading the entire Old Testament for the last 5 years, and I'm finally just over half-way there.
20. I have completed all the other books of scripture.
21. I'm very proud, and glad that I am American, because it gives me the right to complain about America, but hey, no country is perfect.
22. I believe that everyone should spend an extended amount of time outside of their own country (long enough that they are forced out of their comfort zones) so they can appreciate-well, everything-more.
23. My favorite color is blue.
24. My favorite food varies from day to day and season to season.
25. The first time I ever saw the ocean, was when I was in Japan. The second time, Taiwan.
26. I've been to three foreign countries (two of them are mentioned above) and out of all of them, surprisingly, Canada felt the most foreign.
27. It's very hard for me to cry.
28. I love collages. In fact, my bedroom wall is a collage.
29. I love going to the temple!
30. I secretly wish I could be a blond, but I think my eyebrows are too dark.
31. I found out last year that I have Chinese ancestry. This whole time I thought they were Siamese, turns out they were from Siam, but their parents were actually Chinese.
32. My favorite color is blue, with yellow and green coming in a close second and third.
33. My favorite flowers are daisies. Simple yet beautiful.
34. I used to think I was going to grow up, marry a cowboy, and live on a ranch for the rest of my life. Now... not so much the life for me. I'm not saying I know what is, but it's just not that, not even close.
35. Around age 23, I started to forget how old I was. I never thought that was possible but apparently it is. I think I was on my mission and some one asked me how old I was and I couldn't remember if I was 22, 23, or 24. Now I have to stop and calculate from when I was born to figure it out.
36. By the way, I'm 25, although I'll be 26 on the 23rd.
37. I'm a concert junkie. The last concert I went to was Ok Go at University of Wyoming. I am now their biggest fan!
38. I have a tendency to be a perfectionist.
39. I can't imagine that there are still 61 more things I have to come up with about myself.
40. I bought a Game Boy Color on ebay for $16 just so I could play the old-school Super Mario Bros. The Game Boy is purple.
41. One of my favorite places in the world (I say one of, because I haven't yet visited all the places there are to visit in the world, so I can't rightly say it is my most favorite) is Red Castle. You start out in Wyoming and end up in Utah, and it is so beautiful that it takes your breath away, that and it's really high up in altitude.
42. I've realized as I've gotten older that if I really want to have fun I end up turning to activities I engaged in when I was in kindergarten. I think those were the more brilliant times of my life.
43. One of my secret ambitions in life is to be Elphaba in the play Wicked, and the witch in Into the Woods.
44. I've learned that it's ok to be completely straightforward and blunt with people, only as long as there is love in your heart as you do it. Otherwise you're just a jerk running his/her mouth off. 45. As a follow up to 44, I find that I rarely have love in my heart at these times, so generally I just shut my mouth.
46. I've always wanted to have a garden, but my two attempts at a mini-garden have both failed. Third times the charm!
47. The only time I've ever been able to keep my room clean is when I was on my mission.
48. My perfect life would consist of me traveling all the time to different countries just experiencing different cultures.
49. I have found that some of the most profound sayings come from rock music.
a. "Let it Be"-The Beatles
b. "Welcome to wherever you are. This is your life. You've made it this far."-Bon Jovi
c. "Every rose has it's thorn" -Poison
d. "Mediocre people do exceptional things all the time." - Ok Go
e. "Love bites"- Def Lepard
(I think you get the point.)
50. This is starting to feel like a confessional.
51. My favorite movies are, in order, The Man From Snowy River (Return to Snowy River is classified with this one, cause you really can't have one without the other), The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Pirates of the Carri bean (only the first one makes it into the favorites category).
52. My perfect birthday present to myself would the the Les Paul Goddess Electric Guitar. Unfortunately I don't have an extra $2000 dollars laying around the house.
53. My favorite time of year in Fall. Until it snows, then I don't care what the calendar says, it's winter.
54. My favorite holiday is Halloween.
55. My favorite books are usually series of books.
a. Harry Potter
b. The Green Rider Series
c. Eragon
56. I have duel sides to my personality. One side of me is a total night owl, and the other side really wants to be a morning person. As you can imagine, this creates chaos and confusion in my life.
57. I've always wanted to learn how to skateboard.
58. I've never had the desire to surf.
59. I love hiking, fishing, and camping!
60. I love rainy weather.
61. I think Tim Burotn is a genius.
62. Smell is a very important thing to me. I don't buy things if they don't smell good, such as lotions, hair products, laundry detergent, and so forth. If it doesn't smell good, even if it's the most amazing stuff on the planet, I refuse to buy it. I also am slightly obsessed about how I smell and how my house and car smell. All three can be a complete disaster and I'm ok with it as long as they smell good, otherwise, we have a big problem.
63. I love to write, although I lost a little of my writting touch when I had to speak Chinese for a year and a half non-stop. I lost a lot of vocabulary and gramer skills in the mix.
64. I collect castle stuff. Pictures, miniatures, etc.
65. I also collect frogs and turtles. Not live ones though.
66. I can speak Chinese but I can't read and write it. Well, I could if I had a dictionary, but it would take forever.
67. I may be one of the only people in the world that I know of that hated Spaghetti O's as a kid. (I still do). Or anything Chef Boyardee.
68. I haven't realized until recently that I'm a very analytical person.
69. I have kept a journal ever since I was in 5th grade. I now have five journals completely filled and am on number six.
70. I prefer dogs over cats.
71. I've never had a boyfriend.
72. In fact I've never been on more than one date with anybody.
73. I can play the piano and the guitar.
74. My number one, favorite band of all time is Bon Jovi, with Ok Go coming in a very close second.
75. I once lived for one summer in a cabin in the mountains which had no electricity or plumbing. It was kind of like little house on the prairie. I loved it!
76. I once had black, brown and Blue (we're talking ink blue) hair extensions. They pretty much rocked.
77. I'm contemplating getting them again.
78. The first song I learned on the guitar was Ingrid Michaelson's "The Way I Am."
79. I think I've read the Harry Potter books at least five times each. Except the last one, I've only read it once.
80. Oh! another very influential book in my life has been "Eve and the Choice Made in Eden" by Beverly Campbell. I highly recommend this book to everyone!
81. I've driven all the way back to New York twice, I've driven to Cardston Canada once, but I have never been west of Salt Lake City. (ok so I was in the San Fransisco and Portland airports, but those don't count.)
82. I've lived in Wyoming my whole life and I've never been to Yellowstone.
83. I refuse to scrapbook.
84. I was in my first play when I was eight. I was in The Music Man. I was just some random town's kid, but I was hooked ever since.
85. I'm one of the funniest people I know. I make myself laugh all the time.
86. My favorite ice cream is Bear Claw. Chocolate ice cream with a carmel ribbon and chocolate covered cashews. Mmmmm.
87. I share the same birthday with William Shakespeare, and Shirley Temple, George Lopez, and a bunch of dead actors I've never heard of.
88. If I could move anywhere in the world right now, I would move to London. There's nothing there for me right now though, hence the reason I'm not there.
89. I only have ten more to go now and I can't think of anything! I guess I don't know myself as well as I thought I did.
90. I love horses. I love riding them, and being around them in general.
91. I think some of my best friends in the world whom I will be friends with forever, I met on my mission. You just can't go something like that together and not have bonded.
92. I have successfully crouched one whole blanket over Christmas.
93. I have been working on a quilt since I was sixteen.
94. I love the smell of wet sage brush.
95. I have been skinny dipping. That's all of the story you get. Sorry.
96. I have only kissed one guy.
97. I love fur and leather things (jackets, purses, etc). Yes, I'm ok with the fact that some animal died to make it.
98. I used to be a fan of tanning until I lived in Taiwan. They are very cautious about the sun and UV rays and all that, which helped me to realize that smooth-cancer-free-white-skin looks better than leathery-wrinkled-tan-skin.
99. The first temple I ever went through was the Salt Lake City Temple. Since then I have been to the Provo Temple, followed by the Taipei Temple, the Ogden Temple, and the Denver Temple.
100. One of my life-long goals is to visit as many temples throughout the world as possible.

So That's me. I hope you enjoyed learning more about me, and I hope you weren't too shocked.

Absolutly Positive That I'm Not Sure

This last week has been a week of giving up. I've given up on trying to figure out what's next cause it seems that I'm getting nowhere in a big fat hurry. I've given up on trying to be perfect, I'm sure that obsession will come back to haunt me, but for this week, it's gone. I've given up trying to control everything. I've given up even attempting to have the desire to clean my room, it's a mess, and will probably require complete overhaul instead of simple tidying up. I don't know what will come of all this giving up, but I hope that through all this giving up, I will be able to give up this tention that has become increasingly tight in my upper back and neck. That's where I tend to store my feelings, at least that's what my massage therapist tells me. So wish me luck as I try to find more things to give up on.
Oh, by the way, Taiwan is not in the picture anymore. I don't know what is, but whatever it is, it is not Taiwan. Hence the story above.