The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, The Known and The Unknown

I was having a hard time deciding what to write about today.  I wanted to share something about myself but I just couldn't find my topic.  It's not a true slice of life, but it is a slice of me that I share with you today.  

I challenged myself to think of 20 things about myself today.  The first five are things many people might know about me, but not everyone.  The next ten things are things that not very many people know about me, only those closest to me.  The final five are things that are probably unknown to all except myself, or at least, they were until I hit publish.  :)

1 - I have four pretty amazing kids ranging in age from 11 to 2.
2 - I met my husband my freshman year of college.  Our first date was January 16, 1997.  We went to Fazoli's.  I had pizza and he had spaghetti, which he ate with a fork and spoon.  I'd never seen anyone twirl their spaghetti with a spoon before!  I guess he was trying to be neat and impress me because I have never again seen him use a spoon for his twirling.
3 - I love to write.  I don't do it as often as I would like to, but I enjoy it very much.  I'm thankful for the SOL challenge on Tuesdays and throughout the month of March.
4 - My favorite teacher was my orchestra teacher.  He taught me a lot about teaching, getting to know my students, and how to be passionate about something.
5 - I love to read!  I'm pleased to say I am part of a book club!
6 - I played the violin from 4th grade through 12th grade and I loved it!
7 - I used to practice for hours because I wanted to be first chair in the violin section.  It was always a close competition between myself and another player.  We challenged each other often for the rights of first chair.
8 - When I was four, I wanted to be a country music singer.
9 - I am the youngest child of five.  The next oldest is 10 years older than me. 
10 - I would love to have a writing group.  A friend and I tried to start one and it never really grew wings.  I love talking about other people's writing and getting feedback on my own.
11 - My all-time favorite movie?  It's a tie between Dirty Dancing (I can recite it line for line) and Pretty Woman (Can't go wrong with Richard and Julia!) and Mr. Holland's Opus (probably because if #4 above).  There are many close runners-up, but these are the top dogs.
12 - When my hubby proposed, he brought dinner to my apartment.  He brought Fazoli's - pizza for me and spaghetti for himself.  Sound familiar?  See #2 above!
13 - The first book I read that I remember feeling an attachment to was my first chapter book called King of the Dollhouse.  It was about a child's dollhouse and the king and queen dolls that came to life after the child went to sleep.  I remember feeling like it was just a magical story and I read it several times.  I still have it and would love to have my daughters read it...but I'm afraid they won't see the magic in it.
14 - I despise all things vampire/zombie/scary-bad-guy related.  However, I LOVE the show The Walking Dead!  I didn't want to like it and I resisted for a long time, but my husband got me hooked.
15 - I still enjoy watching kids movies and love to take my kids to the theater to see them!
16 - Part of me secretly wishes #8 could still come true.
17 - I'm 35 years old and I have never lived alone.  I lived with both parents until college, I lived with people throughout college, when I graduated I briefly moved back home with my parents and then I got married. 
18 - I backed out of my garage and into my husband's car in our driveway.  Twice.
19 - Remember #3?  Last summer I started writing a novel.  I worked on it like crazy during the summer but during the school year it's been hard to become inspired enough to work on it.  At this point, it takes longer chunks of time to work on it than I can devote most days.  I can't wait until summer to get back at it!  Remember #10?  This is one reason I really wish I had a writing group!  I want people to read and give feedback on my story!
20 - My husband says I snore.  I don't know how he can possibly hear me over himself?


Well, there you have it.  The good, the bad, the ugly, the known and the unknown.  It was harder than I thought to think about the unknown items!  Did anything in the list surprise you?