Liebster

So I spent a small chunk of my evening the other night reading through my old posts.  I'd forgotten a lot of the classroom stories and random anecdotes I had earlier posted and it inspired me to try to post more frequently.  After all, I created this blog so that I would have a small corner of the Internet to preserve my memories :)

This is not school-related, but my college roomie over at Run With Holly recently (privately) challenged/nominated me for the Liebster Award.  If you haven't heard of it, writers of smaller blogs nominate one another and pose 11 questions to answer.  Bloggers who are nominated first share 11 facts about themselves, then answer the 11 questions, and nominate other bloggers (and ask them 11 more questions).  Kinda sounds complicated, but I always like discovering new blogs and am all about the random questions/lists!

I like how Holly split hers up into 3 installments, so I think I will divide mine into 2 separate blog posts, too - since it makes it less intimidating for me, and perhaps less boring for you! :)

Here we go :)

11 Random Facts about Sarrilly

1.  When I was in 6th grade, I moved to a new school and was given the nickname "Peanut" by my new friends (They even gave me a silver peanut pendant for my birthday).  That was the year of a major growth spurt, though - I think I grew a lot and gained 20 lbs in one year!

I heard it wasn't that great... :)

2.  I was an extra for a day on the set of "Rebound" the summer of 2004.  It wasn't a huge thing - I was one in a large crowd cheering at a basketball game.  I'm always curious about behind-the-scenes things, so it was a fun day...even if we didn't make it into the final cut  :(  (Ironically, I never even watched the movie - just fast-forwarded to the scene to see if I could spot my friend and me.)

3.  When I was in middle school, I was deathly afraid of flushing the toilet (only the one in the main bathroom of our house).  There was a reason - it always seemed to, without fail, overflow ONLY when I flushed it!  But this fear led me to make contracts with my sister (such as "I will let you borrow my purple shirt in exchange for 3 flushes).

4.  I take secret joy in creating worksheets and tables in Microsoft Word.  Don't ask me anything about Powerpoint or Excel though, because I am completely incompetent in both.

5.  My first and middle names (from birth) both are named for women in the Bible.  One similarity between these two characters is that they both struggled with fertility.  Due to this, I had crazy fears that I too would be unable to have children, and thus view my (almost) 2 children as amazing gifts.

6.  I often mix up the words "mirror" and "window" when I'm referring to one, unless I think hard as I'm talking.

7.  I didn't really learn how to cook (beyond stuff like pasta and scrambled eggs) until I got married.  So it's safe to say that Mr. A didn't marry me for my cooking skills!  I used to openly hate cooking (and prefer baking) but I'm beginning to really enjoy it!

Exhibit A:  For a recent date, Mr. A signed us up for a Thai cooking class!  
Fascinating and yummy - that's a good combo.

8.  My sister and I were gymnasts for 4 years.  We used to entertain our friends by doing round-off back handsprings in the grass during recess in elementary school.

9.  Rather than craving really strange foods during pregnancy, I discovered that my taste buds changed after giving birth.  I spent almost 30 years of my life hating mustard and sushi, only to make the postpartum discovery that I now like both (though not together).

10.  Throughout my childhood, I had various thoughts about my future career.  I wanted to be a marine biologist, an artist, a pediatrician, a therapist...  My very first recollection of "What I Want to Be When I Grow Up"?  I was at a nursery school pool party and I remember distinctly telling my friend Katie that when I grew up, I was going to be a teacher and she could be my assistant.  :)  (She apparently decided that wasn't good enough for her bc she recently earned her Ph.D and is now a full-time professor. haha!)

11.  I like nice, even numbers.  Even though you're not supposed to, I always keep pumping tiny bits of gas into my car even after it "clicks," because I want to pay a round number.  And it bothers me to no end that Liebster is all about "11" (random facts, questions)  when we could just as easily stop at 10. :)

Part II coming soon...