7 Things Worth Typing...

I will eventually link to blogs I follow, so you can follow along too. Reading blogs is a big part of my every day life.

Ashley over at The Happily Ever Afters of the Lancasters tagged all of her readers in a challenge to share 7 things about themselves. Fantastic post for a new blog, I think. I could tell you 7 random things, but I'll try to make them things worth typing so you can actually get to know me a little better. I hope.

1. I am a Midwestern girl at heart. I said in my first post that I'm a city girl. In my younger, less responsible days, I thought this meant I needed to live in a huge city, be anonymous, constantly be on the go, and so on. I decided one day that I should just move west to a bigger city (at that point, I'd never actually been west of Nebraska, so I'm not sure why I thought I needed to go that direction). I ended up in Phoenix, AZ for a year. I got exactly what I thought I wanted - a huge city, a ton of people and opportunities, and I knew no one (at first, anyway). While I did have a good time living there, I couldn't wait to move home a year later. I missed seeing someone I knew (or even recognized) when I went out. I missed friendly faces, drivers who would let you merge into their lane in traffic, and the sense that if I disappeared, someone would notice. I made a firm decision when I moved back to Iowa that no matter where in the Midwest I ended up, I would always live in the middle of the country.
2. Mike & I were engaged after knowing each other for 4 months (4 months and 4 days, to be exact). I never felt a shred of doubt that we were right for each other, and we both knew even earlier than that that we would be together forever. That doesn't mean I don't think we were crazy for getting engaged so quickly :)
3. I love to travel. This is a relatively new love for me since we didn't travel much when I was growing up. We took a few road trips as kids (mostly to visit relatives), and I went to Chicago during my senior year of high school. Since leaving college, however, I've decided that I want to see all the people who mean the world to me as often as possible, and that means travelling whenever I get the chance. I can't say I've been everywhere I want to go yet (I would love to go to several places in Europe before I die!), but I do feel much more at peace now about seeing more than my little piece of the world.
4. I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I changed childhood career dreams about once a year (teacher, nutritionist, lawyer, translator, etc.) In college, I changed my major 5 times before I graduated (French, political science, secondary education, pre-law & business). I finally graduated with a business degree, focusing on Management of Human Resources. I've worked as a volunteer coordinator, recruiter, executive director, consultant and now as an HR Assistant. Am I satisfied? No. I still have dreams of becoming a papercraft artist, a photographer, a stay at home mom. Who knows where I'll go from there?
5. I love to cook. I will gladly volunteer to host family gatherings at holidays (or any other time for that matter). Cooking for 40 last winter for an anniversary party made me ridiculously happy. I baked at least 60 dozen cookies for Christmas this past year. My family STILL gives me a hard time because I was afraid to even toast a piece of bread as a child...okay...a pre-teen...erm...a 14-year-old. I guess what I'm trying to say is that no one really taught me how to cook, and I'm sure very few people thought they would volunteer to eat what I ended up making. I'm proud to say that to date, no one has died from anything I've made (or even become sick) AND I get requests from family members to cook for them. That's pretty impressive, given that they all remember my inability to make toast.
6. I am obsessed with school/office supplies. Uh, yeah, I'm a dork. I used to get so excited when our school supply lists would be released. I still get excited to open a new pack of Post-Its or when I find a pen that writes just like I want it to. Heading to the office supply store is a treat for me.
7. I like to talk. I'll just let the first 6 items on this list speak to that point.

Thanks Ashley for the inspiration to write about myself!