31 Things About Me

If you know me, you know that I'm an artist as well as a wannabe funny blogger. [Check out my ArtChickStudio.com blog, if you're interested. :) ] As an artist, I follow many art/artist blogs, one of them being the Willowing blog, by Tam Laporte. Tam recently did a post that included 31 things about herself that her readers may not not know, and she invited us to do the same and link up our post to her blog.

So in true Tinalicious spirit, and my ever-present need to babble, I thought I'd share with you 31 things about me that you may not know. And if you do know, just play along, K? It'll be a hoot. OK, maybe a hoot is setting an unrealistic expectation, but let's just roll with it, shall we?

1.  I hate short pens. Hate them! When my husband leaves one on the counter I throw it away when he's not looking. I don't know what to tell you. I need full sized pens!

2.  I can't stand brass. On anything. Not light fixtures. Not door knobs or hinges. And especially not faucets. As we remodeled our (1890) house over the years, all signs of brass were unceremoniously removed. Who decided brass was cool anyway? Brass is ugly. I'm sorry. It just is.

3.  I don't like shoes that must be tied. I want slip-on shoes, no matter the season. It's not even about laziness. I just don't like shoelaces.

4.  I need bifocals in the worst way, but I know they're expensive, so I keep putting off getting them. And as a result I have to take off my glasses or look out over the top of them to read fine print, or to see anything up close. It's embarrassing. Like it's not bad enough I'm nearsighted and have worn regular glasses since the 3rd grade--now I need bifocals too?! 

(Jack understands.)

5.  I am still trying to fill the void that was left when LOST when off the air. Vampire Diaries helps. So does Game of Thrones. And Downton. But dude, they're not LOST.

6.  And speaking of voids, I really want there to be a FRIENDS reunion show. I miss my FRIENDS. Know what I mean?

7.  I hate purple. Sorry, Barney.

8.  I'm an artist, and yet I've never sold any of my actual artwork. Hmm.

9.  I kind of want a tattoo, but I hate needles. Alas, I'll probably never get one for that reason.

10.  I worked at a McDonald's once in high school. It was the worst two weeks of my life.

11.  I don't have a favorite color. And the colors I do like seem to change every few years.

12.  My favorite perfume is Clinique's Happy. My second favorite is Rapture, by Victoria's Secret. Those are the only two perfumes I wear.

13.  I like my coffee like I like my Hubs: strong and hot. ;)

14.  I named my daughter after a soap opera character, Jennifer (Jenny) Gardner on All My Children, which I was addicted to in the 80's. I also just loved that name. 

15.  I'm not afraid to say the F-Word when I feel it's appropriate. My grandfather was a sailor. I proudly take after him.

16.  The first book that ever made me cry was called, The Devil in Vienna, by Doris Orgel. I read that was I was 12 years old. 

17.  The first movie that ever made me cry was Bambi, which I watched in the back of a station wagon with my grandparents at a drive-in movie theater when I was little.

18.  People that don't tip wait-staff well (or not at all) really tick me off. I've been a waitress. My mother was a waitress at one time. They don't even make minimum wage. Freaking tip them if you get good service!

19.  When I was little, when I'd get upset, I used to sit in my closet and pretend it was a way to transport me to another world. And no, I'd never even read the Chronicles of Narnia.

20.  I think penises are ugly. But don't tell the Hubs.

21.  Sometimes I like to use the word, penis, just to make sure you're paying attention.

22.  I'm addicted to art supplies. And office supplies.

23.  I seriously want to meet Ian Somerhalder. Granted, I may have mentioned this once or twice before.

24.  I really dislike summer and I spend much of it indoors. If it's not humid, and not over 80 degrees, I'll gladly go outside. But otherwise, forget it. I'm a Spring and Fall kind of girl.

25.  I'm very computer and tech-savvy, which doesn't make a lot of sense, considering how right-brained I am. 

25.  I seriously dislike liars, and if you're gonna lie to my face, I'm more than likely gonna call you on it, or just walk away in disgust.

26.  I think weather forecasting is a bit of a joke. They can't really forecast the weather accurately, at least not more than a few hours at a time. Yet people watch the weather and believe it like it's fool-proof. And then they get mad when its' not.

27.  I've seen UFO's. I'm not kidding.

28.  I had an avocado for lunch. I frequently have an avocado for lunch.

29.  I wish there was a pill I could take to make my fingernails stop growing. I keep them short, and I hate cutting them all the time. It drives me nuts.

30.  I love my family more than anything.

31.  I think writing lists of 31 things about one's self is much more difficult than it looks.

There now. Don't you feel like you really, really know me?!

Planner-Obsession

Well, it's official. I now belong to a not-so elite, not-so underground society of people with OCD organizational tendencies.

That's right. I am officially and unequivocally a newbie Planner Addict.

I know, right? What can I say? It's the latest of My Obsessions. And when I get obsessed with something, believe me when I tell you...I'm. All. In. Not that I really have a ton of things to plan exactly, especially with not working full time right now. But hey, a girl has needs. And the OCD girl in me needs to feel organized and in control. It just is what it is.

It began simply enough, with a desire to buy a planner to keep track of bills and important dates and stuff. Because, you know, my iPhone is great, but technology sucks sometimes. And I just find it lacking in reliability for the long term. And so, I set out to purchase a planner. But which one?

Let me just tell you, it's not an easy thing choosing a planner. I liken it to buying a new purse--it takes some serious thought. You have to have the right amount of compartments, the right size, the right color, and it has to be Über-functional. 

That's right. I said Über.

And apparently, there is a "planner season," and I was NOT in it. So finding the ever-so-perfect planner became a challenge from the get-go. But I narrowed it down fairly quickly to two planners: a Paperchase one in a tealish-blue, and a kikki.K one in mint, both in A5 size. (A5 is planner-speak for 5.8 x 8.3 inches--go figure). Neither of these planners are sold in the U.S., which proves to me that I have a knack for making complicated things even more complicated. After all, buying from other countries makes things more expensive! And I'm kind of cheap frugal. 

But you know what they say...what a girl wants...

So after learning that the kikki.K planner (from Australia) is sort of a unicorn of planners (hard to get), I settled on the Paperchase planner.

It's got a sort of wood-grain effect on the cover. Naturally, since it was not "planner season," all the cutest A5 Paperchase planners were sold out. So I kind of settled on this one, but I do love it. After it arrived I started moving in (planner-speak for, you know, getting the planner all set up) to it and joined some FB planner groups. And I kept seeing that unicorn...that kikki.K mint planner...the unicorn...taunting me. So I set out to get one too. 

I know, I know, OK? I have problems. And let me tell you, it wasn't easy to get that unicorn. I nearly gave up. But 3 emails, 2 phone calls to Australia (G'day, mate!) and 1 credit card authorization later, my kikki.K was on its way to me stateside. She arrived in short order too, considering it came all the way from down under.

Isn't my unicorn beautiful? And I got her just in time (yep, she's a her). They discontinued this particular style and I was one of the last people to be able to purchase one directly from kikki.K. Yay, me!

So what's a gal to do with not one but TWO planners, eh? It took me awhile to figure that out too. But honestly, after I decided what all I wanted to include in my planners, I realized fairly quick that I'd need two of them in order to do it! So now, after a couple of weeks of arranging and re-arranging, I have finally settled on a great arrangement. My kikki.K is my full-on organizational planner, wherein I keep track of bills, important dates, contacts, etc. And my Paperchase planner is my personal journal. I've added sections for Journal pages, Gratitudes, Quotes, and Poetry. 

You know, I used to use a planner years ago and it was very handy. But I had no idea how big of a "thing" they are these days. People decorate the pages and all sorts of things, which, being the artsy gal I am, I am doing also. Makes me feel creative even when I'm sitting at my desk. Gotta love that. But planners are a really big thing. The planner groups I joined on FB--some are just to share pages and setup etc, and some are for buying and selling, while some are for purchasing planner supplies. But I've seen some planners sell in those groups for over $200! In fact, a mint kikki.K (like my unicorn) was posted there today, selling on Ebay for $250.

Dude, I 'm dead serious. Unbelievable, isn't it? I could almost make my car payment with that much money. I'd never pay that much for a planner. It'd have to be real live unicorn for $250. And even then I don't think I'd do it.

But anyhoots, I'm all moved into my planners and enjoying the quasi-organized life that my latest obsessions are helping me to create. And lets face it: there are worse things I could be than a wee bit OCD and organized. It's not like I'm obsessed with vampires or something.

Ahem.