About Me

For my biography, let me share a 100 things with you.
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I live in Portland Oregon with my husband and 2 cats.

I’m a native Oregonian, which is becoming a rarity in Portland.

I own my house and don't think I will ever move.

Before being married, I lived in 17 different places.

I'm a Taurus; I'm grounded, stubborn and I don't like change.

I knew at age 15 that I didn't want to have children. Many people told me that I would change my mind; they were wrong.

I truly believe intent is a powerful catalyst for change.

I have a severe sweet-tooth; I also think chocolate can be used for medicinal purposes.

I only know one card trick.

My goal is to support myself by selling the jewelry I create; I have a dreadful fear of selling my products.

I collect Trivial Pursuit games.

I love anything relating to trivia.

My idea of a shopping spree is going to Goodwill.

I can run a pallet jack – I learned while working in a produce store. I had to move bins of apples, etc in and out of the store each day.

I got so good at being able to tell when fruit would be ripe that I would ask people what day and time they would want to eat their fruit.

I can juggle.

In the 7th grade I trained for months to do the splits. I haven’t been able to do them since.

I concurrently held a food handlers card, OLCC (liquor handling) card and Flagger’s card.

I worked on an ODOT survey crew the summer after high school; I had the best tan I've ever had in my life.

At age 12, I was taller than my dad. In paternal family photos, you can always spot me. I’m literally a head taller than all of my blood relatives.

I can’t name the first 5 presidents, but I know all 5 members in Duran Duran.

I named one guinea pig Simon after Simon LeBon and the other Roger after Roger Taylor (the cutest one!)

I have really good hand-eye coordination; I credit this to hitting a tennis ball against my garage door for hours on end, day after day as a kid.

I have a great memory. My sister will often ask me to remember things for her.

I often have trouble speaking English. I easily trip on words or slur words even when completely sober.

I hate when people don’t use their turn signals. To me, there is no excuse for this.

I love to mix ketchup and mustard together for French fries.

I have been blessed to see 2 nieces and 1 nephew being born. I massaged my sister-in-law during two of those births.

I absolutely love watching babies being born.

I have one sister who is 2.5 years older than me; she is a great friend and supporter. I couldn't have asked for a better sister.

One of my greatest achievements was when I took a year off of school and work to stay home with my newborn niece so my sister could finish her degree.

My sister and I used to play 3 day long monopoly games. At the end we could count up all of our money and land to the penny to see who actually won.

My family has always been competitive when playing cards. When I was 8 my dad used a marked deck of cards when playing with me and my sister.

In the 4th grade, I held the record for the most sit-ups completed in a minute.

I paid for college out of pocket without incurring any school loans.

In my first apartment, My roommate and I had a free roaming tree frog named Grendel. He mostly liked to live in our shower.

One night in my first apartment, my roommate and I thought we had burglars outside our back door. It turns out the voice we heard was the drive through guy at the nearby Taco Time.

I got my first job at age 15 so I could pay half of my way through Europe. My mom paid the other half. My mom and I visited Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany.

I went to South Korea to visit my cousin living there. Although I wouldn't have picked South Korea as a place to visit, I loved the country and had a wonderful time.

My cousin and I traveled to China together and ate Peking Duck.

I’ve climbed the Great Wall of China.

My family camped in Vancouver, BC to attend Expo 86.

I've been to the top of the Empire State building.

I've seen Earnest Hemingway's six fingered cats in Key West.

I've para-sailed and gone horse back riding in Hawaii.

My husband took me on a cruise to Alaska; we landed on Mendenhall glacier in a helicopter.

I own a four wheeler; I don't know how to drive it, but my 14 year old niece does.

A college speech teacher asked me in front of the class if my parents were drunk when they named me.

I cried while giving a speech in a college Spanish class. Speaking in front of groups is not my thing.

I have a scar on my neck from an operation when I was 5. I’ve had hundreds of people ask me if the scar was a hickey.

My cousin is my closest friend. We became pen pals at age 12. We have never stopped writing letters. Now we email almost every day.

I want to someday turn our letters into a book.

I’ve never lived in the same time zone as my cousin.

I had a pencil collection when I was in the 3rd grade. I was so proud of my collection that I taped the pencils to my wall to display them. I still have several of those pencils.

In the 5th grade, I would spend hours practicing my ‘Lucky Star’ kicks so I could be as cool as Madonna.

I watched Live Aid on TV for as long as I could; for a girl living in Central Oregon it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

I lived in a house that had a cattle guard at the end of the driveway, so our cows wouldn't escape, but they did.

I know what a salt lick tastes like.

I love to dicker at garage sales. My husband will hand me something and then wait in the car while I haggle over the price.

In high school, I learned how to pop a clutch in a Pizza Hut parking lot with the help of a very nice stranger.

I can not change the channel if I happen upon ice skating, gymnastics or a dog show.

To me, there is nothing funnier than a good poop story.

My father-in-law affectionately nicknamed me ‘Mimi’ after the character on the Drew Carey show.

I didn’t wear make up until I was in my 20’s. Now I wear it every day and I still have friends who are surprised when they see me with it on.

My first concert was Air Supply – at the county fair.

When I was in the 2nd grade, we only had one TV channel. To watch that channel, my sister or I (usually me since I’m younger) would have to crawl out the window and climb a big rock pile to turn the antenna to get reception.

I never attended a school dance. Yep, that includes prom.

A hair dresser told me I had ‘special needs hair’.

I won a beautiful baby contest, but my sister claims it was rigged since my dad was the president of the voting committee. She is just jealous.

I will buy anything used except socks and underwear.

My mom taught me how to figure out percentages by calculating discounts on sale items.

My mom would have me practice multiplication tables each day when she did my hair.

There was a fist fight at my wedding reception.

In some of my professional wedding photos, you can see my dad’s camper.

I'm proud that my husband and I did almost everything ourselves for our wedding. The two exceptions were the photographer and the wedding cake. It was such a wonderful day, I wouldn't change a thing.

My first car was a puke green 1979 AMC Concord. I owned it in 1992.

I’ve only had one boyfriend in my life...and I married him.

I’m a licensed massage therapist; I don’t like touching people.

I’ve never broken a bone.

I have 20/20 vision.

A high school counselor told me I was taking too many hard classes and that I should dumb it down (not her words, but her meaning) by taking an art class. I was scared of taking an art class, so I took drafting instead.

Anytime I stayed home sick from school, I would watch Perry Mason at noon on channel 12. I still watch him at noon every chance I get.

I had a framed picture of Raymond Burr in my bathroom for years.

I can relate any situation to an episode of Little House on the Prairie.

On average, I read a book every 10 days.

I’m a hopeless pack rat; my friends think I would have thrived during the depression.

In high school, I would skip school to go have breakfast at a greasy spoon.

I graduated high school with High Honors.

I watched Sesame Street religiously until late in my 20’s. Then they changed the format and I can’t get into it as much. I cried when Jim Henson died.

I’ve seen To Kill a Mockingbird at least 30 times; I still tear up at the line ‘Stand up Jem, your father’s walking by”.

I was in 4-H for cooking and sewing.

I'm an avid credit watcher. I also love spotting famous people in old movies and TV shows.

I love conveyor belt sushi.

I drink coffee everyday.

I believe I can talk to squirrels.

I worked at pipe manufacturing plant after college; I refer to that time as my 'Bruce Springsteen Days'.

I worked at a small movie theater; my friend and I would start the movie and then walk down the street to drink beer all the while hoping that the movie didn't break.

I managed a small cafe where I did everything including cooking all the food.

I'm a sucker for musicals and dance movies.

I can play the piano.