Day 2 – 20 Facts About Me

20 Facts About Me

1. I am a little bit obsessed with serial killers. I have a ton of books about them and watch any and all documentaries about them. I wrote my thesis on how real life serial killers are portrayed in films and why the American society is fascinated with them. I know its kind of creepy, but from a psychological perspective I find them fascinating. If this is something interesting to you, I highly recommend checking out The Anatomy of Evil by Dr. Michael H. Stone.
2. I was a synchronized swimmer and I loved every second of it.
3. I have 4 cats and a dog. The cats are Kitty (14), Liam (8), Oliver (7) and Marley (4). They are all rescue animals. Zoey is a 70lb Aussie, Chow, Rottweiler mix who is 5 years old. We took her in about 8 months ago and she is the sweetest dog.
4. My mom is British. She was born in Southport, England and has traveled the world as a nurse. She lived in Australia and New Zealand and even backpacked across India. She met my dad when he was stationed in Saudi Arabia and they were married in Bahrain. Even though I was born and raised in the US, when I was growing up I had a British accent because I was around my mom so much. When we moved to Kentucky I am told it became an odd but cute British/Kentucky accent.
5. I have a deep knowledge of Friends trivia. I have seen every episode at least fifteen time. You do not want to play a Friends trivia game with me. You will lose.
6. I love arts and crafts and am a DIYer. I have refinished several pieces of furniture and am always looking for new project around the house.
   

   Decorations I made Fall 2014

7. I love sewing and painting. I also crochet. Currently I am working on a counted cross-stitch project as well as a paint by numbers. I know it might sound lame but these adult paint by numbers are intense. This is the one I am working on right now.
   

   Paint by numbers kits for adults don’t play around

8. I play bassoon. I started playing instruments when I was 10 years old. I began playing clarinet, then moved to flute and then finally landed on bassoon. I played all through high school and even went to college on a music scholarship.
9. My favorite artist is Marilyn Manson. I have been a fan of him ever since I was in elementary school. I finally got to go see him live at Rock on the Range in May. I can cross that off my bucket list!
   

   Us at Rock on the Range. Marilyn Manson is about to come on stage.

10. I am a Mac. I have an iPhone, iPad and an iMac. I used to have a MacBookPro until a Rube Goldberg-like event happened and 64oz of Pina Colada ended up in the keyboard and onto Kitty resulting in a very dead laptop and a very sticky cat.
    

    My poor computer and poor cat after the infamous Pina Colada incident of 2011

11. I have had many, many surgeries. I have had my gallbladder removed, tonsil removed, adenoids removed, wisdom teeth removed, two sinus surgeries, two surgeries to repair my foot when I stepped on glass, a surgery to repair a laceration on my knee and now two egg retrievals. I have also had an endoscopy and a cystoscopy as well as a gallstones (hence no gallbladder) and three bouts of kidney stones.
12. I met my husband in college. We both had the same major and were in many classes together. The weekend after our first day (October 31st) I came home and told my mom I was going to marry him. 8 years later we are happily married and are trying to grow our family.
    

    College graduation in May 2009

13. I am really good at Jeopardy. Like really good. Our friend comes over and watches it with us and her and my husband are constantly surprised at the random things I know. I also scream the answers at the TV as if Alex Trebek can hear me.
14. I am a very fast reader and can typically finish a book within a day.
15. I am very book smart, but I have zero common sense and am a klutz. If it wasn’t for my husband I probably would have already died in some freak accident worthy of a Darwin Award.
16. My favorite dessert is Peanut Butter Pie.
17. My really like vacuuming and mowing the grass because it makes everything look 10 times better with minimal effort and I find it therapeutic. I hate dishes and laundry because they are never ending.
18. I am Catholic and my Confirmation name is after St. Dymphna, the patron saint of mental illness, nervous disorders and psychologists. When I chose her I was just trying to be different from everyone, but it has been oddly uncanny that I grew up to be so interested in psychology as well as battle my own demons with anxiety and OCD tendencies.
19. I broke my foot on our honeymoon and was wheelchair bound the rest of the cruise. Luckily, Puss in Boots and the Penguins of Madagascar were there to make me feel better.
    

    With the Penguins of Madagascar pre-broken foot

20. I like making up songs. Mostly I just make them up about our cats and sing them to popular tunes. I do it randomly and it always cracks my husband up.

Rock On The Range and…Kidney Stones?

Quick update! There was a minor snag in our wonderful getaway…I woke up this morning with excruciating back pain. I get kidney stones about once a year and it is about time I am due so when I started getting the pain I was like “Are you kidding me?! Really?! Hasn’t this week been stressful enough?!”

So we made our way the the Emergency Room nearest the stadium. The took me back to Triage right after I walked in and it was at this point that the pain really escalated. After they Traiged me, they put me back out in the waiting room to wait until a room opens up. Well we waited for an hour and a half while I writhed in pain. I got extremely nauseous at one point. I asked how much longer the wait would be and be nurse said a few hours. Which is just ridiculous when you are in that much pain. 

The pain kept getting worse and I needed to use the restroom. And I passed the stone. I came back out and told Chris we could go. The stone was passed and there was nothing the ER could do for me now. Although the pain royally sucked, I am actually glad I was not taken back and drugged up. I don’t know if the medication they would have given me would have made my IVF cycle be delayed or not and Lord knows I do not want anything hindering this cycle. 

I am okay now. For all those who have had kidney stones you know once they pass everything is back to normal. We are now at Rock On the Range getting ready to see Marilyn Manson!! What a day!!

Getting Away

We are finally on our way out of town. When we bought our tickets for Rock On The Range, we had no idea where would be on our journey to parenthood. We purchased them in January and obviously a LOT has happened since then! 

Not going to lie, I have been nervous about this trip. Over the past few months I have wondered if it was going to affect when we could do a cycle or if I was even going to be in a place where I would want to be out of town for that long. Would I really be able to enjoy myself? We spent so much money on this trip, I would feel awful if we weren’t able to go. But the more it has drawn near the more excited I have been. I know I will be exhausted at the end of the weekend but it will be such a welcome distraction from everything. It will be so nice to have a weekend where we don’t have to think about tests, procedures, sperm, injections and all the other wonderfully adult topics that have become our main topic of conversation these days. 

  
And the cherry on top is that I get to cross something off my bucket list: seeing Marilyn Manson live. Now, looking at me you would never think that I like Slipknot, Marilyn Manson, Motionless in White, Avatar and a whole bunch of other bands, but I do! I have been a Marilyn Manson fan since I was little and have always wanted to go to one of his concerts but never had the chance. Tomorrow night I can cross that off my bucket list!

 
So here’s to a nice long weekend away with good music and good company! Hopefully we can look back and say this was our last trip before we became parents!!