7 things - snowpocalypse edition!

Thank you so much to manymanymoons and TeamBabyCEO for my blog award! I am honored and have loved reading your blogs and getting to know you. Thanks for all your support!

Here’s the rules:

1. Thank and Link back to the person who gave you the award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award to recently discovered bloggers.

4. Make sure you contact these bloggers to make them aware of the award!

So here goes with my 7 random things, as I watch the “thunder snow” fall outside my window. 

1) I am the youngest and only girl in my family. My brothers are 5 and 7 years older than me, and as long as I can remember I’ve known that my mom lost 2 pregnancies before me. I’ve always felt very loved and appreciated by my parents, and what both comforts and torments me is that I know my mom understands all too well what I am going through. Some days I think it hurts her more than it hurts me, and that’s saying a lot.

2) I love my oldest brother’s kids to pieces. He has 4 kids - a 6 yr old, twin 3 1/2 yr olds, and a 2 yr old. They are about the only kids in the whole wide world that make me much happier than sad to be around. Ever since my oldest nephew was born (the first grandchild for both sides of their family), my bro and SIL made such an effort to include all of us in their joy, which I appreciate more than I can really put into words. I was at the hospital when each of them were born, I’ve fed them bottles as newborns, I’ve read them bedtime stories, I’ve vacationed with them, and on and on. My brother’s encouraged their relationship with us and helps make us feel special to them -- every time I walk in their door, I have 4 monkeys running to greet me, and its leaping hugs and kisses every time I leave. They make me sad that I haven’t given them cousins, but also bring me my greatest comfort because they do feel like they are “mine” in that deep, familial way.

3) I actually like my job (most days). I’m a consumer researcher for an innovation firm, which is sort of like a mix between a design firm and a traditional business consulting firm. My job is basically to learn about people, and create products and services that better serve their needs. I began working there 6 years ago when there were only 15 people on staff, and have watched it grow to over 60 today. The vibe is progressive and collaborative and creative, and the people truly feel like family. And they’ve been really kind about supporting me in these crazy times.

4) I’m on my third career. I graduated college with a degree in civil engineering, and my first job was with an environmental engineering firm. Most of our work was designing landfills -- sexy, right!? Was actually really interesting work with a great group of people. Like, um, my husband-to-be. My second job was with a government agency running a large public works construction project. Totally fascinating to see the inner workings of big-city government, but in the end the bureaucracy and politics were just waayyyy too much for me to handle.

5) I used to play rugby in college. In high school, I ran track and cross-country, and by the time I got to college I was so burnt out on running I dove into intramural sports instead, like flag-football and soccer. So freshman year when one of my friends decided to start a women’s club rugby team, I was all for it. Was such a perfect situation since we were almost all new and clueless and learning the sport from scratch. And I got to tackle people. Which is an awesome way to work out academic stress and fight the freshman fifteen. We were so terrible in the beginning. Our first match was against the city’s women’s club team of primarily 25-to-30-year old lesbians. They killed us. Our coach told us later “I was scared for you.” I recently saw the movie Whip It, and totally brought me back to the days of being badass underdog chicks.

6) I am a closet two-stepper. I went to college in the south, and we used to go two-stepping all the time. As a Chicago girl raised on alt-rock, I swore up and down that I would never ever like country music. My only frame of reference was the Blues Brothers (we have both kinds here, country AND western). But after a couple of turns on the dance floor with a hot guy on a warm humid night, I began to see things differently! Seriously, boys in the south know how to DANCE. Sigh. The good ol’ days. Sadly, don’t get much opportunity for this after coming back to Chicago. I even tried last year to make my husband take a swing dance class with me -- he looked so awkward and miserable I had to let him off the hook.

7) I love my TiVo. In my present uber-lame existence, there is sadly nothing that makes me happier than coming home to my couch and blanket, with a full dvr of recorded shows to dig into. Maybe isn’t the healthiest thing, but most nights I just want to turn off my brain and think about nothing - not work, not fertility, not anything. I just want to be entertained and distracted and laugh. And since I’ve read about all the great stress-reducing effects of laughter, I’ve totally justified it to myself! I’ve even loaded up my ipod with some favorites, and will bust it out while waiting for stressful appointments. I seriously owe my sanity to the show Arre.sted Develop.ment, it has seen me through some dark days.

Okay, there you go. Hope I didn’t bore anyone too terribly!

I've come to love many many blogs, but here are just a few. Check them out and give them some support!

Misfit Mrs.

The misadventures of missohkay

One to keep

My So-Called (TTC) Life

Where's My Fairytale Ending?