You're it!

I got tagged in this blog crawl thing. I have to list 15 interesting things about myself.

1. I love cutting my hair. I always regret it, but I love the sound it makes when the scissors just shear right through my blond locks. This got me into trouble when I was little. First, I cut my own hair. Chopped the bangs off really close to the root. I had little tiny bangs during my 4th year. Then, later, I cut my sister's hair. She had to have a little boy haircut.

2. I treat animals like they are people. I'm not a vegetarian, but I love animals. I really bond with my pets. My family's dog Jasper gets so pampered. I was raised that pets are your friends, even when nobody else is. My chinchilla, Ninners, is a really good listener.

3. I have a weird obsession with food. Not eating it, necessarily, but looking at it. If I'm flipping through a cookbook and the pictures are really beautiful, I have to buy it. It's like porn for me. When I cook, I try to make the food look like it should be in a magazine.

4. I also have a mild obsession with Gwyneth Paltrow. I don't understand it.

5. It's a common thing for me to have a panic attack when I go in the ocean. I feel like my life is no longer in my own control. Sharks, jellyfish, stray surfboards, angry surfers, getting tangled in my leash, getting exhausted and being too weak to swim... So many death threats.

6. My mom is blind. Usually, when people meet her, they have no idea. She hides it well. She has Retinitis Pigmentosa, a hereditary disease that all 4 of the kids are at risk of having. She started losing her sight when I was about 6, and then she stopped driving. It wasn't ever a big deal. It was just the way our family was. We all are a lot more patient because of it, I think.

7. I hate being told, "you're so lucky." Everything I have in my life is from hard work I've done and choices I've made. Don't tell me I'm lucky. I work really hard for everything I have.

8. Up until really recently, I've always hated games. My family never played them. I'm not a competitive person, so if I lose, it makes me feel embarrassed. My in-laws are helping me with this, as they are big game players.

9. I'm not a very organized person. Sometimes, everything is put away and clean, but usually all my stuff is everywhere. I like to see everything. It reminds me of the things I need to do.

10. I LOVE NPR. How grown up am I? I listen to news radio. And I love it. And I write papers about the topics discussed.

11. I made a 30 before 30 list. I have 8 1/2 years to get it all done. I'll post it later.

12. I can't wait to buy a house. We are trying to live really cheaply so we can buy one soon. It was either that, or get a new car. I'd definitely rather be in a house with an old car than an apartment with a new car.

13. I love traveling, even if it's just to the zoo. Conrad and I have actually taken several vacations (some of them very brief) since we've been married. Last Valentine's Day, we went to Laguna Beach and stayed at a hotel for 1 night. It was fun to go to the restaurants in town and take a bike ride. Then for our first anniversary we went to Zion for a few days. Most recently, we went on a cruise. And we are currently deciding what to do for our 2nd anniversary.

14. I'm not a cuddler. It annoys me to be trapped really close to someone else, and just sit there. Conrad is really big on snuggling. He's like a furnace, so it's just torture for me.

15. I have a special relationship with my brother Lane. I love all my siblings, but there's something a little different with me and him. Maybe it's because of the age difference. We are 7 years apart, so we never played together, which also means we never fought. Plus, I'm the only one who remembers when he was born. Kathryn and Ryan were too little to remember. He was born 3 1/2 months early, and almost died. My parents went to the hospital every day for 3 months to visit him in his little incubator. I remember my dad felt so bad about taking pictures of him, but my mom said "if he doesn't make it and we don't have pictures to remember him..." so they took tons of pictures. Now he's like, the most intelligent person I know, almost 6 feet tall, and looks just like me (only 30 lbs lighter).

Now I tag Kate W., Elise, and Jessica to post 15 things about themselves.