i’ve heard that in order to really know someone, you should travel with them. and considering i’m leaving for italy in 12 days, i guess i’m about to get to know myself really well.
here’s what i know pre-solo-international trip:
i have blonde hair.
i have played, currently play, and will continue to play sports for the rest of my life. and when i get too old to play, i’ll continue to watch and support the local teams.
i am severely directionally challenged. it’s annoying. and almost unbelievable. and it appears to rub off on people when i’m with them.
i love wine. and beer. i know a lot more about beer than people originally suspect, so much so that the majority of my male coworkers ask me what they should get. at lunch. (yes, we occasionally get treated to a beverage at lunch).
i read YA books. all the time. i used to say it was for research purposes (since that’s what i write), but i can now admit that i just plain like that genre better than adult books (no, not THAT kind of adult book).
i got a new phone (droid incredible) and activated it this past weekend. i have officially joined the 21st century. it’s amazing and confusing all at once. sometimes i feel like i’m the only one of my generation who has a hard time with technology and as such, i’m learning how to use it through trial and error. mostly error and mostly, by accident. but by accident or on purpose, i feel powerful with this mini computer in my hand. and less alone. because now i can contact anyone on phone, email, text, skype, or on TWITTER. yes, folks. i can now access TWITTER on my phone. my life is complete. (wow, that’s strangely sad.)
i worry a lot. about everything. about anything. i realize it’s a waste of time. but i can’t stop. especially when it comes to this upcoming trip to italy. and as a result of all this anxious energy, i’m planning out every inch of my trip. but that can be bad because things will get knocked off schedule and i have to remember to remain flexible. (what’s italian for “go with the flow?”)
i love pizza. especially this kind.
i adore ice cream. and i’m obsessed with this cookies and cream ice cream cake from JP licks. it’s an ice cream shop local to massachusetts and honestly, one that isn’t my favorite. i’d rather go to christina’s in inman square or berryline in cambridge. but my roommate got this cake as a thank you for taking a last minute babysitting job. and let me tell you, this cake is better than dollars. (i feel like we’re in that trident commercial where the dad comes home, opens his wallet to find it empty, and asks the babysitter if he can pay her in trident layers gum. she squeals with excitement. but this cake is WAY better than gum, even trident layers). i find it weird that i like this cake so much because 95% of the cake is ice cream from JP licks, which i’ve already established isn’t my first choice. there must be some other ingredients they toss in there to make it so extraordinary. and you better believe that for every birthday party i attend from here on out, i’m bringing one of these. you know you want to invite me now, don’t you?
i write handwritten thank you notes after christmas. and my birthday. and random other times i deem thank you note worthy. my mom trained me right and, well, who doesn’t love getting a handwritten note in the mail? i know i do.
even though i crave it, i haven’t had a cup of coffee in approximately 9 months since it makes me feel sick. here’s hoping the italians put something different in their espresso because i’m about to drink it. not right this second, but you know, in approximately 12 days.
i’m the 3rd of 4 kids. and i’m the shortest. by 8 inches.
i ask a lot of questions, especially during movies. i find movies hard to follow because it’s not like a book where i can just go back and re-read. so i ask questions. to the annoyance of everyone around me. perhaps that’s why i don’t watch many movies. i don’t like being annoying, but i find it very hard to keep quiet. which is weird because it’s easy for me to be quiet at all other times of the day. except when i’m playing sports.
here’s hoping that when you add all of those ingredients together, i’m like that JP licks cake. irresistible, surprisingly so.
now you know all these fun, random, potentially boring facts about me, which means it’s your turn to tell me something about yourself, so i can get to know YOU and YOU and YOU, my dear readers.
Abigail Mumford 
What a fun post, Abby! Love this! And am jealous you’re going to Italy and I probably never will, unless my novels are instant best-sellers and I make the Forbes list of highest-paid authors.
I’m a pudgy brunette who is also severely directionally challenged. I have brown eyes and my son used to call me his Brown Eyed Girl. I read everything I can get my hands on, regardless of genre. An unread book in my house is consumed as quickly as a piece of unwrapped chocolate. Er. Yeah, did I mention I have a severe chocolate addiction? I can’t walk up a flight of stairs unless I count each step or I’ll trip. Falling down stairs is a phobia of mine. I clutch the rail compulsively.
I put raisins in my meatballs because that’s the way my grandmother cooked. I’m still an obsessed X-Files fan and the show’s been off the air for nearly ten years. I love bad science fiction, the badder the better. The kinds of movies with names like Mangator. I watch them while predicting the next line out of each actor’s mouth and I’m usually right. They’re so bad, they’re hilarious.
I like to shuffle through freshly-raked leaves. My neighbors really hate that about me.
Fun post!
hi, patty! it’s nice to meet you (more). we have many things in common — chocolate, counting stairs, directionally challenged and many things not — raisins + meatballs, sci-fi, and shuffling through freshly raked leaves. but the last one’s just because i don’t have a yard or leaves to rake so i can jump into the pile. otherwise, twins.
and from what i hear, you won’t be waiting long before you’re a best-seller winging her way to italy. ciao, bella!
May I join the directionally challenged club? GPS is the best invention ever. Well, after ice cream cakes. ;)
I sure hope you’re going to take a lot of pics in Italy, and will be sharing them here on your blog. I love to travel vicariously.
welcome to the club! i can only hope that when i’m lost, i’ll stumble upon an ice cream shop. or, if (i mean when) it happens in italy, a gelato shop!
and yes, once i got my new camera (about 3 years ago), i became a picture taking fiend! i’ll probably take too many to put in a blog post, so either i’ll pare it down for the post, or just post a link to picasa and let peeps scroll through as they desire.
I am a fan of the handwritten notes myself. For me anytime we visit someone, even family, when I get home I write a note and pop it in the mail. I was also taught well. Another big one for me is wrapping a gift. Sometimes, and I mean sometimes, I almost put more thought into the presentation than the gift itself. A gift always seems more special if you have to unwrap it.
ooh, i bet you’re a good gift wrapper. i’ll be sending you all my christmas presents to wrap, ok?
Aww, fun post! Here’s what I have in common with you:
I LOVE pizza. Which is why heart-shaped pizza is such a natural choice.
I also have blonde hair, which I got from my mom. My eyes are mostly green, like hers as well, but a different shade. Also, my birthmark is in my eye, so I have a brown streak. Luckily, they no longer change color with my mood/the weather/my outfit like they did when I was little, so I can finally speak definitively on this subject. I used to have to check a mirror to answer, since they could be green, grey, or blue, plus the brown birthmark. Very confusing.
I don’t drink, at all, simply because alcohol tastes horrible to me and I fall asleep after a few sips. I have no objections to it beyond the standard don’t drink and drive, don’t abuse it, etc., and I love wine sauces, since the objectionable alcohol portion is burned off. However, when people find this out, they’re usually compelled to tell me that they don’t drink much either and they are by no means an alcoholic. Then they ask me if I’m really religious. I haven’t decided yet if it would be abusing the “allergic” excuse if I started trotting it out to get out of those awkward conversations. I already use it to get out of eating onions, and I actually am mildly allergic to dogs, and I wonder at what point people begin to suspect you are a liar. The other thing I’m actually horribly allergic to? Octopus. I can’t be in the same room with it. Luckily, that situation’s only come up three or four times ever. As for the alcohol thing, I usually order a Shirley Temple and ask the bartender to garnish creatively and serve it in an interesting glass. This means I drink a lot of Shirley Temples with cherries and a lime wedge served in an ups glass. I am quite okay with this.
I am directionally challenged in general, but super-oriented within man-made structures. I’m aces at malls, parking structures, zoos, etc. Just don’t ask me which direction is North.
I am HORRIBLE about writing things and putting them in the mail. Like, just awful. But, like Kelly, I am a very talented gift-wrapper, if I do say so myself.
I went to Italy at the beginning of September last year. It was crazy but also delightful. And I think you’re going to have a blast.
note to self: keep pet octopus away from elizabeth. far far away.
a birthmark on your eye? sounds very cool. these are the kinds of things one cannot tell from an online only friendship. so very glad to know this!
re: allergies. yes, i’ve had to admit that i’m not actually allergic to every animal on the planet, i just don’t like them. i know. i KNOW. I KNOW. it’s weird. i’m a freak of nature who doesn’t really like animals. but well, it takes all kinds of people to make the world go ’round.
and you know what’d be a really great gift? if you wrapped yourself up in tissue paper and delivered yourself to me in italy. you know, i could really use your dodging-charging-nuns-while-not-disrupting-the-french-fry-pizza type of expertise.
Yeah, that’d be appreciated. So far, no ill effects when they’re swimming around in water. Just when the dead octopus carcass is hanging out in the kitchen, waiting to become some sort of food-like substance.
My eye birthmark IS really cool. I also have a freckle on my finger that my mom had only while she was pregnant with me. Like magic! Sadly, the freckle gets paler every year, so I’m not sure what that means. My magic hourglass is running down? Don’t know. Maybe let’s say it’s counting down to the magic moment. Or perhaps I was a potential vampire slayer, and, sadly, I have grown to old to be called to battle. I will somehow try and get over the devastation. :)
Dude, if I project runwayed myself a nifty wrapping paper dress and managed to stowaway on your Italy trip, I’d consider it a present for us both! And I’d totally show you all the best places to get beat up by nuns and enjoy a delicious French fry pizza, no worries!
i have tons of freckles, but none on my eyes. i do have one on my hand that, looking at it right now, does appear to be lighter than the last time i checked. hmmmm, if you figure out what a disappearing freckle means, clue me in please. i don’t like to be taken unaware. and if killer unicorns are in my imminent future, i’d best start combat training.
i love that you just turned “project runway” into a verb and yet, it makes total sense in that context because they would have some “make a dress out of tissue paper that’s sturdy enough to fly across to ocean and trendy enough to fit in while in milan” crazy type of challenge.