Goodbye 20’s…HELLO 30’s!!! That’s right ladies and gentlemen, TODAY IS MY 30th BIRTHDAY! I’ll fill you in on the celebrations in a later post. Just know, I am very spoiled and lucky and each year, amazingly, keeps getting better than the last. I’ve had quite an exceptional 29th year…I learned a ton on the marketing team at Good Foods Co-op, celebrated a fantastic holiday season with my family and my love, made lasting memories with friends, saw my brother get hitched, watched my sister’s artistic creation come to life, spent lots of quality time with the Mama (usually over some delicious dish that she dreamed up and expertly prepared), checked things off my Lexington Bucket List, GOT ENGAGED(!!!), and moved to Miami with my lovely fiancee. I can’t wait to see what this next year holds. Life is good, y’all. xoxo

In honor of my birthday, I thought I’d just go balls to the wall and really make this post ALL about me. Haha! So, in case you were curious, here are…

50 Facts about ME!

1. My favorite store is probably Target. Chet and I typically go there every Sunday and even though I don’t buy something every single time we go it’s a nice tradition and a fun place to wander through on boring afternoons.
2. My first pet was a guinea pig named Annie that my family got after my brother and I had the chicken pox. She loved to eat carrot sticks and would squeak whenever she heard the fridge door open. She lived a very long life in her cage which sat on top of a hutch in our dining room.
3. I don’t have cable. Netflix, Amazon, Hulu Plus, and YouTube are enough to keep me well stocked with plenty to watch. I had none of the above OR cable my last two years residing in Bowling Green. Instead, I checked out a stack of DVDs from the Warren County Public Library each week, a ritual I now miss.
4. My mom is a vegan and an amazing cook/baker. I love her pizzas and cupcakes but she can “veganize” just about anything, including a McDonald’s Big Mac, which I also adore.
5. I danced classical ballet until my sophomore year of college and loved going en pointe. I still walk quite turned out due to the ingrained muscle memory and years of training.
6. My dreams are never very fantastical and typically feature real people doing normal things. I used to dream about the holocaust a lot (I read WAY too many concentration camp/WWII books as a child) but now most of my nightmares involve a lack of preparedness (ie. I’m entered in this speech tournament?! Uh oh!)
7. My brother, sister, mom and I have a group text called Bergers Being Bergers. The messages within consist primarily of emojis.
8. My (condensed) birth story: I was delivered by a nurse because the doctor didn’t get there in time.
9. I’m the middle child which I thought was a disastrous fate as a kid but now I think it’s probably the best place to be in the birth order. My brother is 2 years older than me. My sister is 5 years younger.
10. I’ve lived in Lexington, KY; Vienna, Austria; Dublin, Ireland; Bowling Green, KY; and now Miami, FL.
11. I prefer to read books with a female narrator and/or main character. Similarly, when someone suggests a certain movie to watch I may ask, “But are there any girls in it?” I think this comes across as childish but I don’t really care. I need lady representation if I’m gonna invest my time.
12. I consider myself a lifelong learner and have always enjoyed more self-directed studies. My interests are vast and ever-changing!
13. I never get bored of oatmeal and consider it a comfort food.
14. When I worked at Western Kentucky University my office only had walls ¾ of the way to the ceiling (ie. a cubicle situation) and I could throw things over the top of the wall to my co-workers. In retrospect, it was a pretty plush work space, even more so because I shared it with some of my best friends.
15. This time last year I was in Louisiana eating beignets and listening to Cajun music.
16. I prefer quilts over comforters.
17. I went to Catholic Heart Work Camp for 2 summers in high school. While there, we renovated houses for underprivileged families. We used power tools with little to no training and sweated our butts off but it was a really heartwarming experience. I would highly recommend a similar experience for all whiny, bratty teens.
18. I like to carry a small backpack instead of a purse because having my shoulders off-kilter for an extended period of time makes me grumpy.
19. I love hanging out with one other person or a small group much more than a large group. Whenever I’m at a restaurant with a large group of people choosing where to sit at the table gives me a lot of anxiety and I always feel like I’ve chosen wrong.
20. The plot line of Downton Abbey bears a striking resemblance to what went down in my Playmobil dollhouse. Although, a giant rodent never appears in the show and I was always letting my pet mouse loose to roam the dollhouse halls.
21. I try not to leave the house without water and a snack.
22. I’ve worn glasses since elementary school and my first pair were a super round, quintessential 90’s, wire-rimmed set that were oh so sexy.
23. The advent of 3-way calling definitely ruined a few of my middle school friendships.
24. The in-flight movie on my first international flight was Mr. Holland’s Opus. Other memorable airplane viewing: a bio-pic about Jackie Joyner Kersee that finished before we’d even taken off (delayed on the runway) on a trip home from Germany with my dad (2 thumbs up!) and enduring the same movie to AND from Buenos Aires, Argentina (I don’t remember what the movie was but 2 thumbs down for the situation!).
25. I’m incredibly indecisive. Sometimes paralyzingly so. Yet, in a crisis I can make split second decisions and stick to them.
26. When I was really little I fell down my Grandparents’ basement steps and got 2 black eyes. I’ve also broken my collarbone falling out of bed, broken my wrist when I slipped wearing ballet tights on a slick kitchen floor, sprained my ankle going up steps backstage at a dance recital, and tore my MCL when I fell on a patch of ice. The summer before my junior year of high school my platelet count dropped so low (due to ITP) that I was covered in petechiae and bruises for weeks.
27. I was an early adopter of smart phones (my first was a Blackjack) but I listened to a disc man far longer than would have been considered socially acceptable and still use the radio as my primary means of music consumption.
28. I don’t like mushrooms or olives because their texture bums me out.
29. Some of my favorite plays I’ve performed in include; Peter Pan, Oklahoma, The Crucible, and Night of the Pterodactyls.
30. My favorite events to do in college forensics were Informative Speaking and Prose Interpretation. Essentially, I love telling a story.
31. I’ve taken full and immediate advantage of the fact that our condo complex has a pool! HelloOoOoO South Florida!
32. I love the feeling of cracking my hips and cleaning out my ears.
33. Aside from a few streaks of color (Read: orange) at 16, I’ve never chemically altered my hair. As a result, it’s super healthy and one of my favorite features. However, due to a general lack of hair knowledge and laziness, I typically don’t do anything with it.
34. My dad once had a meeting about hemp with Woody Harrelson.
35. My favorite nail polish color is navy blue.
36. Growing up, my family went North for vacations instead of South. We spent our summers on Lake Michigan.
37. I blush really easily. Many times a flush will come over me due to second hand embarrassment. So, if you see me pink-cheeked, it could in fact BE YOU! 😉
38. I drink 2 cups of coffee every morning.
39. I’ve never had to spend the night in a hospital.
40. I’m thankful to have grown up in a generation where it was ok to set off on your bike for an adventure in your neighborhood as long as you were home by nightfall.
41. I love the smell of lavender and rosemary.
42. The last time I was sick I had either food poisoning or a 24 hour virus and my recovery involved watching every single episode of Catfish and eating saltines.
43. I hate going to the dentist.
44. I prefer volumes to be set to an even number.
45. My favorite fast food meal is the #5 from Jimmy John’s. My favorite food to MAKE fast involves throwing whatever I have on hand on top of toast.
46. Coaching speech made me a better listener, researcher, and writer.
47. I really want to go to Mexico City next year. I really want to go to Iceland in the next 5.
48. I love, love, love to laugh and love to surround myself with funny people. I’m so lucky that Chet is literally the funniest person I know.
49. I have no shame when it comes to tracking down a piece of knowledge. Read: Gossip. I just like to know things!!!
50. I’m obsessed with my cat, Wink, and think ragdolls are the best feline breed to ever exist.