“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”

~Mother Teresa

So, I have had the pleasure of being tagged to write ten interesting things about myself by an awesome blogger (Christi of Peepadeedle) that I have been following for awhile now.  She is a blogger to be jealous of.  Christi blogs every.single.day. and I love to drool over the amazing and interesting photos of her two boys.  They really are such handsome boys–go see for yourself!  Christi is who I got the idea from to make my personal blog into a book from blurb.com .  This is her post that got me excited about blogging the daily happenings of my children.   Isn’t that book awesome?!  So, thanks, Christi!  Here goes…

1.  I am an army brat and have lived in ten states, two countries and the District of Columbia.   Up until my sophomore year in high school, I never lived anywhere for longer than two years.  I started my freshman year at a school with 5000 students in it outside of Washington, DC and only lived there for ten months before moving again.  It was a challenging year.

2.  Mother Teresa rode in a Ford Astro Minivan.  She came to the Basillica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, on the campus where I went to college.   We saw her during mass, but as we were leaving out a side door, we saw her walking right by us with a group of nuns.  She looked at us, put her hands together in prayer and slightly bowed.  Such a huge soul in such a small woman.  She got into the minivan and they drove away.

3. I swam competitively on swim teams beginning at the age of ten and in college.  I would have loved to have started earlier, but my mom understandably wasn’t sure if I was serious about it. I can’t blame her, you should have seen me try to play soccer.

4.  I once met Montell Jordan (one hit wonder from the 90’s, “This is How We Do It”) in a Burger King in Amsterdam.  He was seriously rude.  Maybe he was just on something.  It was Amsterdam, after all.

5.  In college, I interned at the Department of State.  I worked in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Chemical, Biological and Missile Nonproliferation.  I had to obtain a Secret security clearance before I could work there.  I found out I got the internship while I was living in Spain.  It was comical trying to explain to the Spanish authorities why I needed to have an FBI fingerprint chart done.  I did learn the Spanish word for fingerprints, though.

6. When we moved to Louisiana, some things were like learning a new language.   I mean, I ask those of you not from New Orleans to explain to me the following things: Lagniappe, mirliton, Tchoupatoulous, neutral ground, makin’ groceries, “dressed” and mom-n-ems.  We miss it.

7.  My little sis and I are almost nine year apart.  I was so happy the day she was born that I leapt across the sidewalk and screamed out loud.  I had been hoping for her for some time.  I made a bet with my dad that she was a girl.   I was a wimp–I only bet a penny.  Man, I could have been rich.

8.  I’m a cat person.  Well, we had a dog named Ranger when I was little but…I have had cats for awhile now.  The cats I’ve gotten since I met my hubby have been named after places…Petey (St. Petersburg), Sara (Sarasota) and NOLA (New Orleans).  We’re not all that original.   I’m sure there are ten thousand other people in New Orleans that have pets named NOLA.  I know there were at least 5 at our vet in Louisiana.  Our NOLA lived through Hurricane Katrina.  When we returned to our home after the storm, we thought for sure she and her mama didn’t make it.  I mean, you didn’t even hear birds or see any bugs.  She made it, though.  We took her in after that.  Oh, and Sara turned out to be a boy, so he is now Mister Sara. 

9.  My mother and I traveled to Paris together in 2005 and it was such a memorable trip.  I had been to Paris several times before, but never had it held such charm for me.  It must have been the company.    While at the hotel there, I got stuck in an over-capacity elevator.  I had to go to the bathroom really bad, too.  The two German tourists with their entire house stuffed into their luggage started freaking out.  I lived in Germany for three years, but there was no way I could even make out one word of what they were saying.  They were quite excited.  We ended up having to climb out in between floors.  I just kept hoping two things–that the elevator wouldn’t start up while I was trying to climb out, and that I could get to a bathroom soon.

10.  I taught high school Spanish for seven years.  Thanks to my hard working hubby, I am able to stay home with my two beautiful children now.  Thanks, babe.  I am blessed to be able to see their smiling faces every single day and to be able to do photography as well.  My family is amazing.

Okay, so now I feel really vain for writing so much about myself.   Sorry!  Now, for those I’m tagging, here are the rules:
1. Say thanks and give a link to the one who gave you the award.
2. Share 10 honest things about yourself.
3. Present this award to 3 other fantastically brilliant blogs of content or design, or peeps that have encouraged you.– I tag Mia at Dolce Vita Mia, Kim from TomKat Studio and Lyndsay Stradtner of Life In Motion Photography.
4. Tell those 3 people they’ve been awarded and make sure they’re informed of these guidelines.

And, because a post is always more interesting with a picture, here is an old “turn around” snapshot of my sissy and I.  I love the pink-ish shades I was rockin’.