38 on my 38th

I turn 38 today. Man, that feels weird to say. I don’t feel 38. I feel like the 90s were 10 years ago. Didn’t Ross and Rachel just break up? Where did the time go?

I’m spending today with my two beautiful kids. Jeff is on the road because it’s baseball season, and that’s the way it goes most years.

So as I sit here drinking my coffee, I thought it would be fun to let you in on 38 things you might not know about me.

1. My closet consists of 4 colors: White, grey, black, and denim.

2. I love to cross-stitch.

3. I try not to let my glasses fall down my nose when I cross-stitch so I don’t look like too much of an old lady.

4. I hate meal-planning.

5. I’m currently writing this from our apartment in Visalia that is SO much louder than our apartment here last year. I’m talking early morning garbage trucks, lawn maintenance, car alarms…I am seriously sleep-deprived.

6. I like to read more than one book at a time. My current stack is seven books deep.

7. I am not being paid to say this and have no affiliation whatsoever but Rodan + Fields has saved my skin. Big time. I am 100% sold out on their products.

8. Some days I want to quit social media altogether. And then something beautiful happens and I realize I could never quit (more to come on that in a blog post soon).

9. I want a pet donkey. Or some goats.

10. I will never get a pet donkey. Or goats. We are way too gypsy for farm animals.

11. In the meantime, I watch this video over and over and over.

12. I love working behind the scenes to connect and promote other people.

13. I hate speaking on stage. (Sometimes they make me.)

14. I want to start a podcast, but I worry I would be too boring as a host.

15. My kids are going to school in the fall. I’m nervous about how it’s all going to go, but I’m excited to get a break from homeschooling.

16. I went to Israel-Palestine in May and I’m still searching for words to tell you about it.

17. I wish I was turning 17 so I could be done with this list.

18. I run an instagram account that shares the real life stories of women in professional baseball.

19. I’m the editor for a daily devotional that goes out to women all over the professional baseball world.

20. I’m looking forward to having more time to write when the kids go to school.

21. One summer I went fishing and got a hook stuck in my thumb and went to a hospital in the middle of nowhere Arkansas to get it out. The doctor put a STRING around the hook, and with one smooth motion, WHIPPED that hook out of my hand. It was terrifying and amazing.

22. I’ve been to 4 Phish concerts.

23. I played the piano for 9 years.

24. I took Japanese in high school.

25. I won a noodle-eating contest in Japan when I was 17.

26. The most beautiful place I’ve ever been is New Zealand.

27. I would be the worst contestant on Survivor. (Bugs! Cold! Interpersonal relationships!)

28. I’m in the best stage of parenting right now. The kids are still young, but they are old enough to cut their own fingernails and put their plates in the dishwasher.

29. When friends take the time to learn how to safely cook for me, my heart grows two sizes.

30. I’m currently sidelined from exercise because of a muscle that is still holding onto an injury from 1999.

31. I’m trying to figure out my Enneagram number, and I think I might be a 6.

32. I can never remember my Myers Briggs type except that I am definitely an introvert.

33. I like to binge watch cheesy family shows when Jeff is on the road.

34. Watching Switched at Birth made me want to learn ASL.

35. Making friends as an adult is hard.

36. I found a grey hair in my eyebrow. (WHAT)

37. I want to get to know my neighbors better.

38. I’m grateful for this life.