A Very Good Place to Start

Welcome to my first blog post! Remember that “25 things about me” post everyone was doing awhile back? I was tagged several times on facebook, but never did it because I didn’t want to do it while it was so trendy… Lame- I know. Especially because I was too lazy to do it later on… until now. I decided it would be the perfect first post for my new blog. Laziness was still a factor, so I recruited the help of several of my friends. I asked them to name something interesting about me- random, unique, weird, not widely known, or whatever! The responses were incredibly entertaining and enlightening. Almost all of these are inspired by a statement made by one or more of my friends. To protect the innocent, I’m not going to outline who stated what, but you’re more than welcome to take credit for yours if you’d like. If I didn’t use your response in this post, that’s because it was fabulous enough that I intend to use it as the subject of a future post. Enjoy!

1.I love shoes. I love it when my shoes perfectly complete an outfit or make my legs or feet look fabulous. I own over 61 pairs of shoes. That includes 18 pairs of flip flops, 7 pairs of dance shoes (all different kinds), and 2 pairs of high heels that light up when I walk :)

2.That being said, I spend as much time barefoot as I can possibly get away with. If my shoes kick off easily, they probably won’t be on my feet under my desk during class. I walk around my office barefoot 90% of the time I’m at work, and it’s a very rare occasion that I have shoes on inside my house or apartment.

3.I have my own portrait photography business and I love what I do. There are few things I enjoy more than capturing personalities and relationships with a camera. Check it out at pilmerportraits.com

4.I have no balance. That’s actually not true. . . I can dance backwards and twirl around in 4 inch heels for hours with all the grace and poise in the world. It’s the normal stuff- like walking down the sidewalk in tennis shoes- that gives me trouble. The person who mentioned this trait claims I “trip over my own feet more than anyone else he knows”.

5.I love Jelly Belly’s candy. I can name many of the flavors just by glancing at them. There are some flavors I can’t stand. I’m currently in the process of ranking my favorite top 10 flavors. I’ll probably post it when I figure it out :)

6.I love the movie version of Saturday’s Warrior with all my heart. The one with the bright colored pajamas and fog machines and awesomeness- yeah that one. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re probably not missing much, but I watched it over and over and over again as a child and made up dances to the songs. I can sing every song and quote every line.

7.I have a really cool mailbox. I painted my family’s mailbox when I was 12 with a sweet looking night vs. day design. For Fathers’ Day this year I finally painted a new one. It took FOR-EV-ER…. But I think it turned out rather fabulous.

8.I have more than a dozen different colors of playdough. Playdough rocks.

9.I have eaten alligator, shark, and frog legs- all of which I enjoyed at least a little bit. I can’t stand most “normal” seafood though.

10.I’m an Art Education major, and I love it. If I were to change majors though, I would be a Business major with a Supply Chain emphasis.

11.I enjoy planning parties. If I had the time and money I would shop at Zurchers and throw awesome themed parties all the time!

12.My favorite kind of pizza is ham with extra cheese- preferably from Papa John’s. Soooo good.

13.I easily pick up phrases other people say (especially close friends and roommates) and then use them so much I annoy myself. Examples include: “I’m not gonna lie”and “your face”

14.I love people! I love meeting new people and developing close friendships. I’m naturally pretty darn shy, but few people realize that because I make an effort to be outgoing. I have lots of friends, and they all me SO much to me. (One of the people replied to my question by describing me as a “fiercely loyal friend”.)

15.Glitter makes me happy. I like sparkly clothes, sparkly shoes, and sparkly make-up. It just makes me happy.

16.As an inventory supervisor at APX Alarm, I know the part #’s for dozens and dozens of pieces of alarm equipment. Every summer I come back thinking I’ll have to re-learn them, but somehow I never forget them. It’s ridiculous.

17.I like my eyes. I’m not all that confident about my physical appearance most of the time, but one thing I do feel confident about is my eyes. They’re pretty and blue and I have long eyelashes. Interestingly enough, none of my parents or siblings have blue eyes- just me.

18.I regularly pour water through my face to clear out my sinuses using a Neti Pot.

19.I have issues with guys named Jake. I will not post full stories on here, but I’ve dated or had weird friendships with like 6 guys named Jacob that have each complicated my life in their own special way. Most people who know the full history think that means I should either avoid Jakes at all costs or that I will end up marrying one. (disclaimer: there have been Jakes in my life that have just been normal friends with no issues, just not most of them.)

20.I love ballroom dancing and have been doing it since the 6th grade. I competed tons in high school, and have enjoyed it in college as well, through awesome classes and even coaching opportunities. Unfortunately they won’t let me have a dance minor at BYU-I, because it’s not compatible with my major and the credit limit.

21.I really want to be fluent in Spanish. I took several Spanish classes in Jr. High and high school and one in college. I have a few more foreign language credits required for my degree so hopefully I’ll get there. Currently though, I still feel so silly when speaking Spanish to native speakers. (This was inspired by the friend’s response that told me I “have a cute Spanish accent”. I’m not sure what that means, but he’s from Mexico so it must be true.)

22.I enjoy wearing toe rings…. and painting my toenails…. And I kind of think I have cute feet….

23.I kind of enjoy laundry. I’ve never publicly admitted it before, so that’s kind of a big deal, but it’s not as irrational as it sounds. I like the following parts of laundry: (1) the happy domestic feeling I get from washing and drying, (2) the folding of fresh, clean, soft clothing, (3) the glorious replenishment of my wardrobe when laundry is complete. I greatly dislike the following parts of laundry: (1) Feeding quarters to a machine when I don’t have access to my own washer and dryer, (2) carting laundry to and from a laundry room under those same circumstances, (3) the actual process of hanging clothes up and putting them away. That was a long explanation… maybe I’m still in denial.

24.I’m a total spelling nerd. Correct spelling is very important to me. I was a spelling bee competitor and champion at various levels in Elementary and Jr. High.

25.My favorite number is 5.

This introductory post is definitely plenty long now, so it’s time to wrap it up. Some of my friends replied with some fabulous / fabulously entertaining statements that I didn’t use in my list, but are still worth sharing. Here are a few real gems:

Super sweet: “You have the kindest voice in the world. It is so sweet.” (Who knew?!)

Super vague: “You have a strong capacity to make relationships special.” (What does that really mean?)

Super random: “Your house has the most comfortable relaxing toilet seat I’ve sat on.” (Wow…)