The About Me game. random questions, random answers.

I love this game. For some reason I'm a total geek when it comes to finding out silly details about people. Even myself. How weird am I?

Uh... My name is Liz, I've lived in Utah since I was 10 years old. I'm a middle child. In high school I was really into music and theater, but I have completely abandoned my talents and really regret that I stopped singing. I'm really rusty at it now. I went to university for a couple of years (straight out of HS) and it was 2 of the worst years of my life. It was NOT the right time for me. I was an English major and Women's Studies minor. Lame! Since I "fell out" of college I've had random office jobs to pay the bills. Double lame. Currently, I work as an administrative assistant at a big giant printing company. It's probably the best job I've ever had, despite the fact that it sucks my will to live, on a daily basis. It's not my career of choice, obviously. At least now I know what I want to do with my life, which is devoting my life to the profession of birth: doula service, childbirth education, and midwifery.

In my spare time: The Internet isn't going to surf itself, so I do my share to boost traffic on my favorite sites like AllDoulas.com, Midwifery Today (when are their forums coming back? ), Utah Friends of Midwives, Childbirth Connection, Mothering.com and Confessions of a Pioneer Woman (my new fave).
I love listening to music. I'm a huge nerd for The Beatles. I also love Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Howard Jones, Heart, Bonnie Raitt, Live, Jimi Hendrix, Duran Duran, Eric Clapton, the Indigo Girls... I probably should stop now or we'll be here all day.
Despite the "evils" of television, I'm also a couch potato. I like the stories and the people and the news and laughter and intrigue. I love movies, reading, cooking and baking, drawing, painting, and especially spending time with my husband. He is my soulmate. He is going to be such a great dad and I can't wait until we get to have a family together. I have 5 "niblings" (nieces & nephews) who I love to varying degrees of itty bitty pieces. I also love puppies, and I regret daily that our rockin' sweet apartment will not allow pets. That's my boring little life.

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Where would your dream trip take you? I really want to visit Australia to visit my BFF who lives in Sydney. I understand all the "touristy" things are well worth it, even though it's totally predictable. But I'm pretty predictable, so it works.

Where do you see yourself in 10yrs? I can see a couple of kids in my future, hopefully a nice little house in the country with a big garden and a small dog. Surely by then my doula/cbe/midwifery biz will have taken off, too!

What is your favourite indulgence? This is a tough call, between SLEEP (which is wonderful and delicious) and BAKED GOODS (which are also wonderful and delicious). A warm, dense dark chocolate brownie or a soft, frosted sugar cookie will make my day. OMG. When I was in Reno for my ICEA training last year, some of the girls visited this darling little dessert bar in one of the casinos. I tried a caramel pecan cheesecake that made me weak in the knees. Reno, in general, is not my idea of a good time, but I'd walk back there for another one of those bad boys. Who's hungry?

What is your biggest pet peeve? As a former English major, I get very anal retentive about signs, billboards, advertisements, news scrolls, books, magazines or any other print media meant to be seen by the general public that has spelling or grammatical errors on it. (I'm not so picky about personal or casual correspondence.) Ever hear of spell-check? Or proofreading? This neurotic tendency of mine actually served me quite well at my last job (as a proofreader).
(Can't wait for people to quote this post and point out my mistakes.)

What was your favorite nick-name in school/growing up? Remember the cartoon show, "Animaniacs?" Remember Mindy & Buttons? And remember how Mindy used to call her mom, "Lady?" ("Hello Lady!" "It's 'Mom.'" "Okay, Lady, I love you, bye-bye!") Well a couple of my friends and my little sister and I used to get a great kick out of that and we all took to calling each other "Lady." It stuck. People call me "Lady" to this day. I even use it as my screen name on a few other forums, my blog and my MySpace page. Sisters and I always greet each other with, "Hello, Lady!" Always.
I can also tell you that my least favorite nicknames are "Lizzy" "Lizard" and "Liza"

Favorite book? Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton

One thing about Utah that you hate? Well, "hate" is a pretty strong word, but... ohhhh... one thing? I guess the one thing that has me wishing I could move is the overall lack of diversity here. It's very homogenously White-Mormon-Conservative-Republican and not very representative of "America" the way I see it. It's the reddest of red states, which is no fun at all for me during election season. (Red state, Blue voter)

Fav Celeb personality? I usually say "John Lennon," but he's very controversial, isn't he? Next in line would have to be George Harrison, he was such a loving, gentle, funny, genuine, beautiful soul. When he died, it was like losing a favorite uncle or an old sweetheart. My poor sweet lil' Porgie. :( For current celebs... I really like Jon Stewart. dude cracks me up (and he's a major dreamboat, but don't tell my husband. LOL)!

Do you have any original Beatles music on vinyl records, or are they all digitalized on CDs? I currently just have everything on CD (and also MP3). I grew up on the vinyl records, of course (even a couple of 8-tracks. thanks, Dad), but when I was a teenager and it was time to build up my own collection, I started out with cassettes (which I quickly wore out) and then went for CD. In the late '80s/early '90s, CDs were the super-cool "way to go" (although quite pricey on a babysitter's budget). I'd love to have a vinyl collection, but I've got bills to pay.

Do you have a record player (phonograph) with working needle to play old Beatles records? No, I got rid of mine years ago and now they seem pretty hard to come by. It would be nice to have a record player again, if I had more than a handful of records to play. I think they're all packed away in my mom's basement by now as it is.

What's your favorite kind of candy? oh gosh. well if you could see my "physique" you would know I'm no stranger to candy. My husband teases me for liking "granny candy" -- you know, the stuff that's been around for a hundred years? like Tootsie Rolls (probably my #1 fave), Mary Janes, Starlight mints, butter mints, peanut brittle, cowboy mix, black licorice, salt-water taffy, Bit-O-Honey and Necco wafers. I love almond M&Ms, Milky Way, Twix, Reese's peanut butter cups and anything dark chocolate+orange. (What are you doing to me?)
I don't like "blue" candy (for some reason any flavor that ends up being "blue" tastes like butt), Hershey's chocolate (which tastes like bile to me), or gummies (murder on my teeth).

Which household chore do you loathe the most and why? I can tolerate most indoor chores (toilets are unpleasant, but manageable. Dishes are never-ending, but sometimes stress-relieving), but I really hate yardwork. Yardwork was punishment when I was a kid. When I have my own house and responsibility for a yard, I'm hiring a gardener or a neighbor kid to do it. yuck.

Do you watch reality tv? If so, your favorite show? "American Idol" and "Survivor" are my current favorites. I also have a little "guilty pleasure" called "America's Next Top Model." :o

How many kiddos do you hope to have? Right now, I'll take what I can get! DH and I would be happy with up to 4 kids. Most likely 2 or 3; I can't imagine more than 4 though. But again, I'm happy with whatever we get at this point.

Where and when did you meet your soulmate? Oh, this is a long story but I can't spare the details. For posterity, you know. ;) About 4-1/2 years ago, we both started a new job at the same place and were in the same orientation meeting/training class. I remember my first impression. Someone said hello to him and he smiled back at them and I just melted. I remember thinking, "He's cute. He's probably married." (I was 28 and single and constantly on the "lookout.") Then when the trainer took roll call, she pronounced his last name wrong and he had to correct her. His voice made me weak. I had a dream about his name that night (In my dream, Jon Stewart --uh, never mind that I just mentioned him earlier, LOL -- was hosting a game show and he introduced himself as John Maurer. "You're not John Maurer," I told him, "John Maurer is the cute boy from work!").
It was a 4-week training course, and for the first week I kept to myself. I'd go walk around outside during our breaks, and drive home for lunch. One day, it was raining out, and I remember I was wearing sandals and had just painted my toenails. John came up to me and said, "Where do you always disappear to during break time?" I completely froze, because boys never talk to me, but he seemed so genuinely friendly and harmless. I told him that I'm not much a of a people-person, and that I just take little walks around the office complex to clear my head and find some peace. He joked about my nail polish and I thought, well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right? I didn't think much of it, but the next day, while I was out on my little "walkie," who should I see walking right toward me? OMG. I was so embarrassed and so nervous. But we just chatted about work and our old jobs and summertime and our families. He joined me for every break over the next couple of days, and eventually we would go out to lunch together too. I started really enjoying these mini-dates with him. We were getting along so well. I was dying to kiss him, but trying really hard to give it some time. One weekend, he was all I could think about. The next Monday, I told myself, "This is it, I'm inviting him over." I cleaned my apartment and paid extra attention to my hair and make-up, wore my prettiest outfit and my least comfortable shoes (haha), and went to work early, hoping to catch his attention. He had such a black cloud over him that day. He was in a terrible mood and I was in no place to really lift his spirits, so I decided to give him some space. I ate my sad little salad alone that day. :( But during our last break, he chased me down and said he missed me during lunch. Where did I go? Turns out, it was his birthday that day (he hates his birthday), and nobody in his family had acknowledged him. Aw! <3>
We've been inseparable ever since. The rest is history.

How was your highschool experience? I was really involved in theater, choir and peer counseling. At that time in my life I was also really into church and really into my family and The Beatles and my dog. I had a nice big circle of friends, and a close-knit circle of my 3 best girlfriends. It was a big school and I was not one of the "cool kids." I was a total nerd, an average student, and totally boy-crazy. But I was also boy repellent, and was the target of plenty of bullying and snide remarks (from boys and girls alike) because I was also the "fat chick" at school. I was the girl who had armloads of male friends who refused to date her, and armloads of other friends who never invited her to the cool parties. (It took me a long time to get over that, btw. bitter much? yes. yes I am.) I won awards for singing and acting, and I was pretty high-profile in the performing arts department. I had some great times with great people and amazing opportunities, but, remember that I was a big giant nerd and pretty angsty about it too.