Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Seven Things You Never Knew

Don't be afraid that I have another sugary, junk food snack photo on my blog today. I haven't had one of these in at least a year. I just didn't have any good photos in my file for this post.

I got tagged weeks ago by Rebecca at Becoming for this meme. You know I love a good meme, but this one is really going to make me think. After all, I am a full-disclosure kind of girl in most situations and there's not much about me that you don't already know if you read my blog. So, I'm going to give this my best shot. Sorry if some of you already know a few of these.

  • I played the alto saxophone in the marching band my first 3 years of high school. My family had a rule that you had to be in the band for at least one year. We were an award winning band and we traveled throughout California performing and winning competitions. Our band director was very short--no taller than 5 feet--and he had a temper. He'd always throw a fit like a spoiled child if we didn't perform to his standards. I haven't played the sax since my last day of band.

  • I bounced back and forth between two elementary schools in our district throughout my grammar school experience. In sixth grade, I had a little friend named Leilani who had buck teeth and chopped-straight-across-her-forehead bangs. She and I did almost everything together. When I got into junior high, all my friends from the other school were the "cool kids". Leilani was not. I dumped her fast. I have always felt terrible about this. Maybe I could track her down now and apologize.

  • My parents got me a bike for my 7th or 8th birthday. My dad took me to the neighbor's flat driveway to learn (we lived on a steep hill and our driveway was steep as well.) I fell off several times and skinned my knees. I decided that I'd had enough and went back inside to read my book. My younger sister and brother both hopped on and learned to ride that afternoon. I didn't get back on a bike until I was 12 and I discovered that our youth program at church had planned a progressive dinner on bikes. I decided that I had better learn to ride, since not riding a bike was my deep dark secret. I did, although I'm sure that I was an obvious novice at the activity. I can probably count the number of times I have been on a bike outside of the gym.

  • The last two have been kind of downers. I guess I need to think of a happy one now. (The problem is, the only stuff I haven't already blabbed about are my deep, dark secrets!) At my missionary farewell, my family sang, "We'll Bring the World His Truth." As we were singing, it suddenly struck me that my parents had been preparing me for a mission for my entire life without ever telling me that they expected me to go. I was so grateful to them and all those years of early morning scripture study and memorizing verses. Throughout my mission, I would often sing that song to myself in the shower and cry, but it was never a sad cry. It was rejoicing that my parents had taught us well and trained us to be missionaries. All six of the kids in my family served full time missions.

  • One of the ways that I know I get the baby blues in the first six weeks post-partum is that I don't want to leave my house or talk to any of my friends. I go from being uber-social to a recluse, and I have to force myself to answer the phone or tell anyone, "Sure, you can come by for a visit." It always catches my husband off-guard because it is such a 180 degree turn from the normal Michal. I also cry. A LOT. (He doesn't forget that part!)

  • I don't like Twinkies, Ding Dongs, Ho-hos, and those little donuts that have plastic chocolate on them, but I LOVE Zingers. Especially frozen. Vanilla, Chocolate, or the red ones with the coconut? I'll eat them all.

  • When Jared and I were dating seriously, I once made a chocolate cake to bring to his family's Sunday dinner. It was from a mix with a bottled frosting (I've come a long way since then! I might still use the mixes, but never the fake frosting.) His family raved and raved about it and always talked about my amazing chocolate cake. I felt sheepish that it was from a mix, but didn't want to admit it for fear that they would find it less impressive. They asked me to make it again and again. Now that I know them better, I recognize that they were just trying to build me up and help me feel comfortable. They have always been good at that. I was insecure for years anyway.
Now it's time to tag some of you. I tag Scrappy, Ice Cream, Malia or Stu, and Ashley. I'm supposed to tag seven people, but I rarely follow tag rules.

Coming tomorrow: an interview with Evan! If you have any questions you are dying to know about his date with Tamara, you'd better leave me a comment.

9 comments:

Allison said...

Your so good at those memes. I can never think of anything to write.

For some reason I am craving chocolate cake and zingers.:)

Ice Cream said...

I just finished dumping my last dark secrets in my nutso post. Hmmmm, I'll have to think about this to find something I haven't already blabbed about.

I want to know what Evan was most nervous about and what he likes most about Tamara.

Nana said...

Evan had some insights into behind the scenes on live TV. Be sure you ask him to tell about the morning he went to GMA, and what goes on there; what Tamara does.

Kim said...

Ah, I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one who cries in the shower (happy or sad) and cries uncontrollably after giving birth. (Crying is my deep dark secret, don't tell my mother, she'd never believe you).

I knew there had to be some marching band in your past. He, he, he. : )

My questions for Evan: How does he feel about being one of 30? I get the premise of the challenge for Tamara, but from the guys view, what was that like? Did he go into either of the dates with pre-conceived notions? What did he enjoy most about this experience, and, more specifically, about Tamara?

Joyful Noise said...

My question for Evan is has Tamara considered writing a book and/or movie script? Does she have plans for a movie?

And we definitely want to hear about behind the scenes at GMA!

Kudos to Evan for his quick wit at the restaurant. Good lines!

Nancy said...

Your post brought back memories of my high school lunches. Every day the same thing: a tuna sandwich, a milk shake and a package of vanilla Zingers. That was when I got up to 100 pounds!

Becky said...

Way to expose those dark secrets Michal!

My question for Evan is had he heard about Tamara and the experiment before he got the phone call from their mutual friend? And what impressed him the most about her? We heard a lot about the guys on these dates but most of us don't know a lot about Tamara.

A mother heart said...

This was so fun to read. And a foodie who loves zingers--who knew! Reading this just reminded me again of why I love you so. I wish we lived closer and could hang out.

Scrappy said...

This was fun to read.
Hmmm, I don't know what I will come up with for my seven things since I just did 25 random things about myself a few days ago. I will have to think pretty hard.
Can't wait to read the Evan interview tomorrow.