{ Twenty-five arbitrary things about moi... }

1. I believe in wearing brown and black together. I figure…I wear black often, and I have brown hair…and no one’s complained about that yet…
2. I’ve ended up crying at SOhO three out of the last four times I’ve been there.
3. I hate showering in the morning—throws my whole day off.
4. I also hate sushi, and I think it’s weird that people typically react as if I’ve just said something horribly offensive. “You don’t like SUSHI?!?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!”
5. You will never hear me say “I have no regrets” about something. It bugs me when people say that because regret is this great tool that we’ve been given, and yet we’re constantly trying to reject it. How else will we learn from all of the mistakes we make if we don’t look back on them honestly, regret the negative, and then realize, “Yep, next time I should definitely do that differently.” I have huge regrets in my life.
6. I think about Lithuania ALL the time, but rarely talk about it. I would pay a lot of money to be able to go back and make myself journal every day that I was there. Once every few months I’ll randomly say ‘aciû’ (‘thank you’ in Lithuanian) to someone…completely out of the blue. I think it’s a brain glitch.
7. One of my favorite time wasters on the computer is a little something I like to call iTunes surfing. Find an album that you love in the iTunes music store. Click on one of the “Listeners Also Bought” albums. Listen to a few clips. Repeat.
8. I'm pretty sure I’ve never truly been in love.
9. I have to marry a musician...or at least he is going to have to have some killer taste in music.
10. Most girls dream up a fair amount about their future weddings (colors, location, dresses, flowers, etc.). The only wedding thing I’ve ever thought about and decided on is the song I’m going to walk down the aisle to.
11. I FREEZE in grocery stores and almost always put on a big jacket or hood before entering one. Exhibit A: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30039995&l=4d1d9&id=65800729 Exhibit B:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30593855&l=89550&id=65800729 (This is secretly the real reason I bought my North Face jacket.)
12. In 6th grade I played Jonah in our church musical…Jonah at Sea ☺ All of the songs were set to the music of various RENT songs…but I had no idea what that was at the time.
13. I took Latin starting in 4th grade, all the way through high school—give or take a few years. During the AP Latin test my senior year, all I did was write my name at the top and walk out.
14. My current favorite Scripture: Psalm 16, specifically verses 5 and 8. Go look it up.
15. I went to junior high with Katy Perry (her real name is Katy Hudson). It was a Christian school, and she used to sing “People Get Ready” by Crystal Lewis in chapel all the time. I also went to high school with the main guy in her “Hot & Cold” music video…Alex Rodriguez. Yaaaaah, look who’s name-dropping.
16. I cannot tell you how many women I’ve had this conversation with: “I can’t stand it when guys wear running shoes with jeans!” Just don’t do it.
17. I don’t have a middle name. In Russia, they have what are called patronymics, which aren’t like the middle names that we’re used to. My patronymic would be Craigovna, which means “daughter of Craig.” Hence why we said, “Thanks, but no thanks…”
18. While in Latvia, I went to an old shed-turned-bathhouse/sauna completely naked and for some godforsaken reason allowed my friend’s godfather to beat me down with birch branches…as was the custom there. So they tell me. Gag.
19. I secretly (maybe not-so-secretly) really want to be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune.
20. I had a terrible stuttering problem in elementary school. I even wrote an article about it in 7th grade that was published in the SB NewsPress. It was a nightmare. Every once in a while I’ll still get stuck on a word.
21. I will challenge anyone to a speed text messaging competition. AND I WILL WIN.
22. I have never had a cup of coffee in my life. Not one. Not in any form.
23. I’m the oldest of 12 grandkids on my dad’s side of the family. My birthday is January 13 and the youngest grandkid’s birthday is January 14. Almost full circle.
24. I have a totally crooked smile…which you may have never noticed because I taught myself how to consciously correct it in order to look ‘normal’ in photos. You can really only notice it in completely candid shots, or when I’m too blissfully happy to care.
25. I didn’t get my ears pierced until I was EIGHTEEN. And I passed out in the middle of Claire’s…and totally freaked out the poor little FIVE-year-old girl who was waiting to get hers done after me.