Happy Birthday to me! I’m thirty-three today! To celebrate, I thought it’d be fun to share 33 things you may not know about me.
- The number 444 has a special significance to me. No kidding, I see this number at least two or three times a day in the craziest places. Seeing 444 is symbolic of a message that there is nothing to fear in regards to work or life in terms of being on the right path. Supposedly, it’s also a sign that someone is trying to communicate with you and one of protection and encouragement.
- I began figure skating at the age of eight. I am an accomplished high-level figure skater and a current six-time gold medalist through U.S. Figure Skating and Skate Canada. I have earned each of those by completing the highest levels attainable in various disciplines, including moves in the field, solo international ice dance, standard ice dance, solo free dance, solo ice dance, and Canadian gold ice dance.
- Prior to becoming a figure skater, I used to horseback ride. My mom encouraged me to try skating with a friend’s son who was enrolling in learn-to-skate classes for hockey and the rest was history!
- I married my high school sweetheart who I met at one of the local ice rinks where we both used to work. We’ve been together for more than 17 years, which means we’ve known each other for nearly half of my life. (What?!) Next October, we will celebrate our 10-year wedding anniversary.
- I run on hot chocolate and it doesn’t matter the time of year.
- My hidden talent is that I can recite the alphabet backward. I’m not sure it’ll ever come in handy in my day to day life, but I joke that I’d definitely crush the talent portion of a pageant.
- One hundred percent, without a doubt, I believe in ghosts. It doesn’t mean I need to ever see one though.
- I’m an ISTJ personality type to a tee, the same as people like George Washington, Warren Buffet, and Anthony Hopkins. So what’s that mean? Well, I tend to be direct, practical, stubborn, loyal, creatively driven, detail-oriented, private, and service-focused.
- I’m a native Floridian.
- Sunflowers are my absolute favorite, but don’t count on me to grow ’em well! I have a black thumb…except when it comes to those low-maintenance, water-once-every-two-weeks kind of plants, then it’s more like a gray thumb.
- I appreciate puns and bad jokes way more than is socially acceptable. Break the ice with one and we’ll be besties.
- I’m an early bird, like wake-up-at-5 a.m.-to-work kind of early. I consider “sleeping in” to be waking up around 7 a.m.
- The smell of fresh cut grass, bacon, cigarettes, and leather repulses me.
- I wear a lot of pink, but my favorite color is the color blue of the sky just before a thunderstorm.
- I believe rainbow sprinkles make everything better.
- Fish freak me out and I am absolutely terrified by snakes. If you’re looking for someone to photograph yours, I’ll happily refer you elsewhere.
- I love to read. I can devour anything by Brené Brown within hours.
- One of my all-time favorite movies is A Charlie Brown Christmas. I watch it every year and I know nearly every line word-for-word. I like to think I have a little bit of Lucy in me, particularly during the Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales installment in which she’s talking about needing a partner “who’s handsome and graceful” for the Christmas show at her skating club.
- I love Oakmont Bakery’s macarons. I highly recommend the salted caramel and almond ones.
- I’m almost always cold. People often say that I should be used to the cold–being a figure skater–but nope! I joke that I’m basically cold-blooded. Give me sun and I’ll warm right up!
- One of the consoles in my car can hold an embarrassingly large amount of Chik-Fil-A honey mustard condiment cups. (Don’t ask how I know.)
- I have an insane memory when it comes to numbers. I may not remember names, but ask me to recall some random number and I’m unstoppable.
- Although I was raised in Pittsburgh for the majority of my life, I cannot stand Pittsburghese. Like, most of the words aren’t even actual words!
- I eat a strict gluten-free diet.
- My favorite actor? Dwayne Johnson. (Yes, The Rock.) I’m not even embarrassed slightly.
- I moved into a 100+-year-old farmhouse right after my husband and I got married. We shared the roughly 98 acres of land with everything from cows and pigs to sheep, chickens, and even peacocks. I learned as much as I like the thought, country-living wasn’t quite for me.
- I love to give gifts, but I have a hard time buying anything for myself.
- My husband and I own several backyard chickens, including Rhode Island Reds (June and Peep), Light Brahmas (Marsala and Piccata), and Leghorns (Amelia Eggheart and Egg-ar Alan Poe). Yes, they all have names. And yes, I know Egg-ar is not a normal hen’s name.
- I have about a billion ideas for businesses and products. Unfortunately, my ambitions often overpower my actual abilities, but if anyone ever wants to partner for their Shark Tank debut, I’m your girl! Just sayin’.
- My dad sometimes refers to me as “WJES: all talk, all the time!”
- I’m a total list-maker. I love crossing things off my to-do list!
- One of my biggest pet peeves: when people don’t clear the countdown numbers on the microwave after they stop it early. Seriously, it’s not 0:38 o’clock!
- I secretly want to keep all of my clients’ wall art when it arrives from my lab for me to inspect and package. (Well, I guess that’s not a secret anymore…)
Have a question or want to know more about me? Leave it in the comments and I just may answer it! Or better yet, share a random fact about yourself.