21 things you don’t know about me

Walking on Westshore beach in Napier last weekend

Because it's my birthday tomorrow, I thought it would be fun to do a post on 21 things you (probably) don’t know about me.  I always love these kinds of posts when others write them, probably because I’m très nosy, right?  I hope you enjoy mine; feel free to tell me if it’s really boring though!

It’s Labour weekend in New Zealand which means that Monday is a public holiday; even better, it’s also our regional anniversary day today; which means I have always had a four day weekend to celebrate my birthday with.  Isn’t that fabulous?

I felt mildly short-changed when I could ‘only’ have a three day weekend for my birthday when I lived out of the area.  That’s why I had to move back to Hawke’s Bay, for the extra-special, extra-long birthday weekend.

Okay, let’s go, and let’s see if I can conjure up 21 things you don’t know about me.

1. My husband Paul’s birthday is also on the 21^st of October (he’s one year younger than me).  I asked the Universe to send me my ideal guy – I specified ‘me, but male’ and I got someone who looks similar to me and was born on the same day.  On Saturday I will be 47 and he will be 46!
2. I don’t wear a lot of pink but I love the colour.  I associate it with happiness and the peace and fun of childhood.
3. I adore scented body products and perfumes.  Linking to number 2, I remember with great fondness Yardley Roses perfume and Avon Pink bubble bath, both in the late 1970s.
4. 1990s tv programmes and movies make me happy – Melrose Place, Friends, Frasier, and any 90s movie with Gwyneth Paltrow in it.
5. I don’t like eating baby vegetables because it seems cruel i.e. baby corn, baby carrots, although, I do love baby peas.  Call me contrary.
6. I feel like I am getting younger as I get older.  Things like embracing technology, not complaining about ‘the younger generation’; I plan to become more youthful with time!
7. I wasn’t always a cat lady – I used to think cats were boring with no personality.  How wrong I was.
8. I always thought I’d have kids but it didn’t work out for us and now I can’t imagine my life any other way.
9. The more I write, the more I love writing.  I can see myself still putting out books when I’m 80.
10. I have extremely vivid dreams and they freak me out sometimes.
11. I am scared of everything, but learning not to be.  (Scary movies are a total no-no.)  When I was a toddler, I wouldn’t walk on the sand because of crabs (there were no crabs on the beach) and I wouldn’t walk on the grass because it had worms underneath.  I only walked on paths but then one day I realized there was dirt under paths too…
12. I have a strong sixth sense and sometimes have things come to me before I hear about them.  I pick up on other peoples energy too.
13. I am a very slow eater, which is unfortunate because Paul eats very quickly (we are alike in so many ways but in this we are total opposites!)  Often he’s almost finished his dinner as I am taking my third mouthful.
14. I wish I could have cat car-seats and a cat stroller so I could take my girls out with me (probably shouldn’t have let that point out in public).
15. I love ice-cream to a fault, so I usually don’t buy it.  I haven’t had it in months, in fact.
16. I love spreadsheets and doing financial stuff, and I have a really good memory for numbers – phone numbers, tax numbers, birthdays.  I am good at maths too.
17. I am often accused of driving too slow but it’s just that I like to adhere to the speed limit.  This is ironic because I was quite the lead-foot as a teen.  My mum’s car had to get four new tyres after I started using it when I first gained my driver’s license at 15.  I felt bad when I heard about the new tyre purchase because I had been doing screechy tyre-spin starts whenever the lights turned green.  Lucky it was a small town where I grew up.
18. When Cabbage Patch Kids first came out I wanted one desperately, but, already at high school I feared it was too late for me.  I still love them.  (Never had one though.)
19. I have zero hand-eye coordination when it comes to ball sports.  My sporty uncle who is extremely laid-back tried to teach me how to play tennis once.  It’s the only time I’ve seen him lose his cool.  Yes, I am that hopeless.  Shame, because I’ve always fancied myself a tennis player, in an English country house Pimm’s on the lawn kind of way.
20. I walk fast, because really, who wants to walk slow?  I’ve got places I want to get to, so please, get out of my way!
21. Apparently I talk very quietly.  My mum is always saying ‘Pardon?’ but I think that has more to do with her hearing than my speaking.

And that’s me, hope you enjoyed it.

On my birthday I will be hosting a laydeez lunch for eight of us (all family members), and Paul is so thankful he has to work that day.  He’ll be hoping everyone has left by the time he gets home and we can enjoy the rest of our birthday weekend, relaxing with our terrible view :)

The view from our front lawn

Bon weekend everyone!

Fiona

PS.  Christmas will be here soon, and I wanted to remind you about my book 'A Chic and Simple Christmas'.  If Christmas stresses you out every year, can I invite you to look at it in a different way?  One reviewer said of this book 'A very non-traditional Christmas book - but thought provoking' and another 'Used the ideas to have probably the best, low stress, Christmas I have ever had.'  Yay!

Check out the Amazon 'Look Inside' function to see if 'A Chic and Simple Christmas' is your cup of tea.   Available in paperback and on Kindle here.

And please, tell me something I don't know about you.  Please tell me something really embarrassing so I can have a giggle.  Laughing is good for you and I'm sure you'll agree, I shared some really embarrassing things with you (a cat stroller???)