I’ve been loving all of these 5 random facts Insta-stories lately, and since I had so many “LOL”, “I had no idea!”, “you’re hilarious” responses to mine, I figured I would turn it into a fun little blog post.

Oh, also because it’s been about two months since my last blog post.

Here we go, 5 random facts. Of course it would’ve made too much sense to save my Insta-stories so I’m starting from scratch here with the graphics.

one. Born and raised in Wisconsin, I did not eat cheese until I was 19 years old. No mac & cheese, no pizza (I would take off the toppings and eat the crust only)…Cheetos were pretty much as close to eating cheese as I would get. This one has definitely been discussed here on the blog, but people continue to be shocked by it any time it comes up in conversation. I hear, “What kind of Wisconsinite are you?!” a lot.

two. When I was a kid I constantly entered poetry & writing contests. I rarely told my parents about said contests, but then would receive awards certificates or congratulatory letters in the mail. One time though, Laffy Taffy told me I was basically the funniest person ever – their words, not mine 😉 and awarded me with a years’ supply of Laffy Taffy (I have zero recollection of just how much taffy this was, btw) AND my joke was to be featured on the wrappers for a year. You guys, it’s been like TWENTY-FIVE YEARS and people still find my joke. No joke. Pun intended. A random stranger even took the time to seek me out on Facebook and then send me a message, letting me know he found my joke, just this past July.
Q: What can you throw but can’t catch? A: A party! ::cue uncontrollable laughter::

three. Anyone who’s met me in the past 8 or so years probably doesn’t know that I spent most of my life as a blonde. Varying shades of blonde, from just highlights to like, all the way, basically platinum, blonde. TBH I’m not really sure what my natural hair color is (other than mostly grey now) because I’ve been coloring it for so long! I’ve also never paid for hair color because my mom is in the biz. But if I had to pay for it, I’m going to say with 99% certainty that I probably never would’ve colored it until it started greying. I also most definitely get the grey hair from my mom’s side of the family so I feel like she’s forever indebted to coloring my hair the second those greys start poking out.

four. I didn’t play any “traditional” sports in school. I was on the summer swim league, and one year of high school swim team*. But mostly I was involved in dance and musicals and choir and I guess maybe I was a bit of a theater geek, huh? Always rehearsing or on stage while my friends were shooting free throws and bump, set, spiking**. I LOVED IT. Ooooh! And you guys have heard of Skylar Grey, right? She wrote “I Love the Way You Lie”, which was made super popular by Rihanna, but also has a few solo albums of her own. She’s featured in “Glorious” with Macklemore (you know the voice that sings, “I feel GLORIOUS GLORIOUS, gotta chance to start again” – that’s her), has worked with Eminem, Nicki Minaj, Dr. Dre. you name it. Guess what? Her real name is Holly Haferman and she’s from Mazomanie, Wisconsin and once upon a time (actually three times) I SHARED A STAGE with her. And next to me in my v. fancy costume for the role of “dancing girl” in Oklahoma, is super flattering picture of her from the community theater archives online.

five. I share a birth date with Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers. As in, our 35th birthday occurs on a Sunday Game Day this year and with any luck said game will take place at Lambeau Field, where I will attend my very first Packer game whilst “celebrating with” my birthday twin. I would also be very okay if that game actually took place in say, Miami, Los Angeles, or Phoenix (is that where the Cardinals play? idk).
Anywayyyy, it’s also Nelly Furtado’s birthday.  Oh, and Britney Spears is a December 2nd baby too. BUT, my point is this: lately I’m seeing a ton of that State Farm commercial in which Clay Matthews keeps Aaron Rodgers awake by primping in his hotel bathroom, singing “I’m Like a Bird” by Nelly Furtado. You guys, do you think the producers of that commercial KNOW that Aaron & Nelly (and me and B. Spears) share a birthday? Or was that just some sort of crazy weird coincidence that took me at least half a dozen viewings to recognize? They have to know, right? But what if they don’t?! Weeeeird.

*long story but my high school didn’t (and still doesn’t) have a pool. That said, there was no school funded swim team. So, my sophomore year of high school, a group of 9 girls (including me, of course) and their super supportive parents decided that we would raise our own money (by raking leaves & holding bake sales in the Wal-Mart parking lot) to start the very first girls swim team our school had ever had! Honestly, this is pretty cool, especially when I think about it now as an adult. Okay, but here’s the thing with about not having a pool in your school, or any form of indoor pool in your town. We had swim team practice at 6am every morning in the public OUTDOOR pool, until sometime in OCTOBER. It’s true that the pool water is warmer than the air to a certain extent but that was freaking brutal. Once we all finally decided it was too cold, or realistically about a month after we made that decision, we started waking up at 4:30am to drive 30 minutes to the nearest indoor pool, practice for an hour, and then drive back home and go to school. Whyyyyyy??? I only participated that inaugural year, but the team has grown to like 20+ girls and they are going strong, year after year. Our original coach, along with one of my original teammates, coach the team together now. How sweet!

**Also, I was on the 7th grade volleyball team. Our coach was pretty into religion and made us do 10 push-ups anytime we took the Lord’s name in vain. You know how most 7th grade girls respond to being told they have to do 10 push-ups?”Oh my Goddddd“. ANOTHER 10 PUSH-UPS FOR YOU!! In regards to the actual volleyball playing, I didn’t do very much. I kept that bench quite warm, and when given the opportunity to play, I was pretty much in panic mode the entire time, worrying that the ball might come near me and I might actually have to try to do something with it. Needless to say, nobody was sad when I didn’t try out for the 8th grade team.