10 questions

Caitlin thought up these questions and after reading Amber, my sister Abby's, and  Kelly's answers, I decided to play along!

What are you really good at?  What are you really bad at?

I'm really good at:  Math.  Excel spreadsheets.  Planning trips, especially to Paris.  Writing (sometimes, when I am inspired).  Staying motivated/sticking with a plan.  Organizing my life. 

I'm really bad at:  Going with the flow.  Handling criticism.  Being spontaneous.  Not taking things personally.  Hiding my emotions.  Sleeping.  Saying no.

Have you ever been in a car accident?  What happened?

I got rear ended in the fall of 2004.  It was not my fault.  Traffic came to a sudden halt on a random Saturday night when there should not have been traffic.  The car behind me was not paying attention and rear ended me. 

It was very, very minor, but I have never been the same since.  I am crazy-paranoid about getting rear ended.  Those who have been on the phone with me while I am in the car have heard me chant "please see me slowing, please see me slowing down" when traffic comes to a sudden stop. 

Where did you attend college?

I got my undergrad at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.  Go Sioux (or whatever the heck our mascot will be?)!  I got my masters at the Carlson School of Management (University of MN).  My loyalty is defnitely to UND, not U of M.  My masters was SO expensive.  Like a class cost as much as a semester at UND.  No joke.  Granted, part of that is due to inflation/the riduculous increase in the cost of education, the rest is due to the fact that I was paying for the ranking of the MBA program. 

Describe your morning routine today

5 am - wake up, put on work out clothes, go to the gym in my building.  Today I did speed work (800m repeats).  I don't usually run in my gym, but this week my schedule is all wonky. 

5:45 am - shower, get ready for work.  I am wearing my hair curly in the summer so this takes much less time compared to the rest of the year when I blow dry and flat-iron my hair.

6:10 am - make eggs and gf toast, eat breakfast, read blogs, respond to emails

6:45 am - leave house, bike to work

7 am - Arrive at work and get busy with whatever it is I am tackling that day!

Have you ever snooped through someone else's things?  Did you find anything interesting?

Not that I can recall.  I think snooping is playing with fire because if you find something out, what in the heck are you going to do with that information??  It would eat me up if I snooped and found something and then couldn't confront the person.  So no thank you on the snooping.

What do you think happens when you die?

I hope that I go to heaven, but I do believe there is a final judgment that will be made before I am accepted into heaven.  This is a really heavy topic and I don't really want to go there today, so I will just leave it at that!

Are you superstitious?

Not really.  But sort of.  I mean, I wore a certain dress to take the CFA, along with a wishbone necklace my cousin gave me.  I wore that same dress & necklace the day I got my results as I felt like it was a good luck charm.  I will probably wear that dress & necklace when I take the next 2 levels.  I also took advantage of back-to-school sales and bought my binder and notebook paper for the next level - and I made sure to buy a binder that was hot pink like my level I binder was.  So yah, I guess I am superstitious, or maybe you could say I like rituals?

Do people think you are younger or older than you actually are?

Based on looks, people usually think I am younger, especially when I wear my hair curly.  And because I wear a backpack to work.  My boss does, too.  It's how we roll.  But people see the backpack and think - she's in school.  Not - she's a 30 year old going to work.  What can I say, I heart backpacks.

I think maturity wise, I have always been mature for my age, although now my maturity level probably = my age.  But in my early 20s, I don't think I fit in with my age group as I bought a house and lived alone and didn't really go out, etc, etc.

How did your parent's relationship influence you?

It made me respect and appreciate happy and healthy relationships.  I learned how a man should treat a woman.  I learned that it is possible to not run out of things to talk about, even after 40+ years of marriage (this still baffles me!!).  I learned that opposites can attract.  My parents are different in many ways, but the thing that makes them work is that they have the important things in common (hobbies, faith, values, principles, work ethic, etc). 

What were the three happiest moments of your life?

This is tough because I have many happy moments in my life, but these are 3 that stand out in the couple of years (well, 2 are from this year):

1.  Becoming an aunt - each every time.  I know that is 5 moments, but I am cheating and grouping them into a single moment.  I am one proud aunt and absolutely adore my nephews.

2.  A moment in Paris when I was walking along the Seine, taking in the beautiful sights of Paris, and as they say, "my cup runneth over".  I remember looking around and thinking - 'is this my life?  Do I really get to be here and experience this beauty?'  Le sigh. :)

3.  Finding out I passed Level I of the CFA.  I cried  (happy tears) and my heart felt like it swelled in my chest.  I worked so so so so so so so freaking hard for that pass.  It was just a relief and a wonderful feeling to know that all of my hard work paid off. 

Pick one (or all of them) and answer it in the comments!