I keep getting tagged in this popular meme on Facebook and since the now-very-pregnant Tracey tagged me months ago (when she was in her first trimester!) in a similar meme, I thought I would post 25 things you may not know about me here. I emphasize the me because I am not writing only about Miss Leyba. Aren’t you shocked? I thought so. I will, of course, talk about her from time to time in this post though. I can’t help it.
Here we go!
1. Two beverages that I *adore* are English breakfast tea with milk and chocolate martinis. I haven’t had a chocolate martini since we moved from Boulder three years ago. Evidently they were more popular, and much cheaper, there. The last time I had (decaf) English breakfast tea was this morning.
2. Until 2008, my favorite year ever was the time I spent at the Biosphere II Center in Oracle, Arizona for graduate school. I made wonderful friends and also met my husband David. We had so much fun.
3. I got my MPA from Columbia University without every stepping on their New York City campus until graduation (see above). Lucky me! I like visiting New York City but can’t see myself living, working or studying there.
4. I’ve known my in-laws longer than I’ve known my husband.
5. I met my husband at Thanksgiving dinner at his parents house. We were the only vegetarians there so we sat next to each other at the meal. Evidently it wasn’t a set up.
6. I have always wanted to be a mommy.
7. I told David in one of our first conversations that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom while my children were little. He hasn’t disappointed me.
8. I gave birth at home with no pain medicine. It was perfect for our family and I am looking forward to giving birth at home again (in a couple years!).
9. I expected natural birth to be much more painful than it really was. It actually wasn’t that bad. Evidently you have to feel the pain to get the endorphins and wow I was high for DAYS afterward. You have no idea.
10. I lost half of the weight I gained during my pregnancy at the birth (it helped that Miss Leyba weighed over 9 pounds!).
11. When I was pregnant I craved baked ziti from my favorite restaurant in New Jersey. Obviously I didn’t get to have any.
12. I used to eat lots of pickles. When I was pregnant I made the mistake of reading the label and noticing how much sodium is in them and, well, I haven’t snacked on one since.
13. I ate more carefully when I was pregnant than at any other time in my life. I visualized everything I ate going directly to my baby (as it does) and subsequently ate more vegetables and fruits and less fat and sugar than ever before.
14. I didn’t discover how much I loved sugar until I met my husband who is a huge chocoholic. Before him I mainly just knew about strawberry shortcake, rice krispie treats, and mint chocolate chip ice cream from time to time.
15. My biggest pet peeve is people who don’t use their turn signals. I think it’s lazy and irresponsible and totally drives me nuts.
16. Some of my favorite smells are rain in the desert and Miss Leyba’s breath,.
17. My favorite noise is my daughter laughing. Before she was born it was the sound of the ocean or rain falling.
18. David and I hold hands while we sleep with Miss Leyba sleeping between us.
19. When we got married, David and I were both going to change our last names to Spritzer Leyba and then realized it was just too darn long… So I kept Spritzer and he kept Leyba.
20. I like peeling grapefruits. I don’t have time for this anymore though so it’s been a year since I’ve had a grapefruit. C’est la vie.
21. We haven’t turned our television on since mid-December and I don’t miss it all. We canceled our Netflix account and are looking into shutting off our cable (but keeping our internet; did you know it’s more expensive to have just the internet and no cable?!).
22. I feel most at home in the Desert Southwest. Unfortunately I don’t like how developed cities like Tucson have become, so I doubt I will ever live there.
23. I am already looking forward to retirement so I can spend 24-7 with David. I adore the weekends and nonstop time with him.
24. I frequently imagine us building our own house (with our own two hands). Every night I go to sleep thinking about the design of our dream home: cob/straw bale combination, passive solar, gray water reuse, large kitchen and pantry, with lush gardens where we grow most of our food. I am so looking forward to making this shared dream of ours into reality. Someday.
25. In the mean time, I’ll continue to be bitter about California real estate prices.
I tag David who has a new blog – check it out!
