100 Things About Me

I know I'm a little behind the curve on this one, but I thought I'd take the time to tell you 100 things about myself! Here they are:

1. I am an only child.

2. I am left-handed.

3. Growing up, I spent time in 6 different schools.

4. I’ve lived in New York (Long Island & NYC), Connecticut (two different towns), and London(twice)

5. Because I learned how to speak in England, I even had an English accent!

6. It’s long gone now.

7. I have been to England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, and Canada.

8. My next big trip to a new country will be to Spain.

9. I own two British Shorthair cats named Frodo and Sam.

10. Yes, I’m a little obsessed with the Lord of the Rings.

11. I’ve seen the movies so many times that I scare my husband from time to time.

12. It’s always been a dream of mine to go to Australia – and while I’m there I want to go to New Zealand and get the official Lord of the Rings tour.

13. When I was younger, I was very allergic to cats.

14. This really broke my heart because I adored them and wanted to own a cat or two more than anything.

15. Luckily, I outgrew my allergies to animals.

16. But, I’m still allergic to a ton of stuff and will take prescription medicine for it if it gets really bad.

17. I also managed to outgrow the asthma that I had as a child.

18. I have high cholesterol even though I watch my diet and exercise regularly.

19. When I was younger, I used to ride horses.

20. I even competed in horse shows and won a few ribbons.

21. I also went to horseback riding camp for 3 years.

22. I had to stop horseback riding when high school became too demanding.

23. I also stopped because I was at a point where if I wanted to take my riding to the next level, I really needed to own a horse, but my family couldn’t afford it at the time.

24. I also used to play the flute for about 5 years.

25. When I was at my best, I practiced for an hour a day.

26. But, again – I stopped in high school when I didn’t have the time for that.

27. So, instead I sang in the school chorus which I enjoyed very much.

28. If you couldn’t already tell, I went to a very competitive prep school.

29. I attribute a lot of my current success to the high quality education I received in private school.

30. Even more so than college or grad school.

31. However, I do believe that more than anything, a top college opens many doors for you.

32. I also used to do a lot of black and white photography in high school.

33. I haven’t had the time to do that in a while though.

34. When I went to college, I sang in an a cappella group.

35. We would go on tour a lot and performed all over the country and the world.

36. It was an amazing experience but totally took over my life.

37. It left me with very little time left over to do anything but my school work.

38. However, I did make time to meet my husband in college.

39. He swept me off my feet at the very young age of 19

40. Okay, it was about a week before my 20th birthday but I love to tease him that he dated me as a teenager.

41. He was also a young thing of only 23.

42. We met through a dating service at a coffeehouse.

43. It was actually the coffeehouse on which the coffeehouse on Friends was based.

44. I never intended to marry someone from a dating service like this.

45. We got married on August 5, 2001.

46. We had a very traditional orthodox Jewish wedding.

47. My parents became very religious when I was a teenager.

48. I am not very religious though.

49. In fact, I don’t really think that God exists.

50. But, I do believe that there is a universal need to believe in some form of God or higher being.

51. I am very much a liberal democrat.

52. I’m also proud to be a liberal – both socially and fiscally.

53. I managed to complete my Ph.D in four years.

54. It was the hardest four years of my life.

55. However, I managed to land my dream job so it was all worth it.

56. I teach three courses each semester.

57. I also run my own lab with about 8 students.

58. I take great pride in my role as a professor and know that I am a very good teacher.

59. My students love me NOT because I’m an easy grader (because I’m definitely not) but because I really devote every aspect of my self to them.

60. It’s amazing that I can make time for knitting – but I do.

61. I also try to make time for exercise at least four times per week.

62. I learned how to knit in October 2005.

63. I fell in love with knitting immediately and became very obsessed very quickly.

64. I could very easily spend hours in a knitting store – especially one with knitting books and magazines.

65. Because of Debbie Stoller’s Happy Hooker book, I decided I needed to also learn how to crochet in April 2006.

66. I love both knitting and crochet equally – really I do. I can’t pick a favorite because they each have their strengths and weaknesses.

67. My guilty pleasure is watching re-runs of Sex and the City on HBO on demand while knitting and crochet.

68. I don’t care that I’ve seen each episode many times over.

69. I also have a guilty pleasure for playing video games.

70. When I was younger, I used to have sleepover parties where we would play Nintendo all night long.

71. When I was a kid, I used to dream of going to the Nintendo championships.

72. My husband and I play different installments of the Legend of Zelda series together where I will do the gameplay and he will be the navigator using a walkthrough guide.

73. I promise you – we’re not dorks.

74. I prefer playing games by Nintendo because I think that the Playstation and Xbox are a little too “serious” and have taken a lot of the fun out of video game playing.

75. I used to work as a Weight Watchers leader after I lost about 20 pounds with them.

76. I gained some of it back.

77. I have a strong genetic disposition to obesity – both my parents are obese and so were 3 out of 4 grandparents.

78. However, I am strongly committed to NOT following in their footsteps.

79. I was actually very close to being featured in Weight Watchers magazine; however, I figured that it wouldn’t be very “professorly” to be featured in the magazine in a bikini!

80. They were very disappointed because I was their first choice.

81. I was also recently approached to be in a Firm informercial because their videotapes helped me lose my weight.

82. I also declined the invitation.

83. I also worked once as an intern for a very large investment firm after my senior year in high school.

84. I took that as an opportunity to learn that I am not interested in finance – at all.

85. My first job was as a babysitter when I was a teenager.

86. Other than that, I’ve just been a student.

87. I was a tour guide in college for a very short period of time though.

88. Although I have been a tour guide, performed in a singing group, and get in front of large groups of students to lecture everyday, I am actually a very quiet and shy person.

89. My students don’t believe me when I tell them this.

90. I am also very obsessed with being on time.

91. I get very annoyed/nervous/upset when I am running late.

92. I love cooking and going to good restaurants with my husband.

93. We cooked our first Thanksgiving for our family in 2005.

94. It was a huge success – I don’t think our families thought we would be able to do it.

95. We planned the menu for at least one month in advance – and even had a few trial runs.

96. My uncle is a true gourmand, yet we even managed to impress him.

97. We’re planning on hosting Thanksgiving every year now.

98. My favorite food of all time is macaroni and cheese – in all forms – from the cheapy kind in the blue box to the gourmet variety in a restaurant.

99. I also love chocolate in all forms as well – but doesn’t everybody?

100. I can’t believe that I managed to complete 100 different facts about myself!