Day 8: A picture of your future spouse

Need I say more? :-)

Day 7: A picture of the person you do the most crazy things with...

This is my dear friend Becki.  She'd probably hate that I posted this picture of her, but she's definitely the one I do crazy things with.  Even though she and I now live in different states.  I love you Becki!

Day 6: A picture that makes me laugh....

This is a pretty bad shot, but this makes me laugh.  That's my oldest niece at Thanksgiving being goofy.  Both my nieces make me smile anyway.  I just love them. :-) <3

Day 5: A picture of something you love...

This is my hand entwined with Nick's.  I just love holding his hand.

Day 4: A picture of something you'd like to do again...

There are lots of things that I've done that I want to do again.  But ballroom dance is unequaled in my mind.  It's definitely the top thing in my mind.  For those of you that are reading this and don't know, I used to compete in ballroom dancing.  At the amateur level, sure, but I still competed. :-)  I have no desire to compete again, but I definitely want to dance again.  I've really missed it.  Once Nick gets stable in his new job (whenever that happens), he's promised we're going to enroll in some dance lessons.  I'm hoping it'll happen by summer at the latest.  Yay for dance!

Day 3: A picture of the cast from my favorite show

This was hard as I really don't have a favorite (now that LOST isn't on anymore), but I really like this show.  This one...and Dancing with the Stars (but it's really hard to get a picture of that cast since it changes with the seasons).

Day 2: A Picture of Me and the Person I've Been Closest with the Longest

This isn't exactly following the rules since I'm not in the picture with her, but this is my momma.  She's the person which I've been closest to the longest.  Yes, we've had times when we don't talk as much, but then we catch up and it's awesome.  I tell her a lot of stuff that I don't tell many other people at all.  I love my momma! <3

Day 1: A picture of myself with 30 facts about me

1. I'm totally and madly in love with my man, Nick.  He rocks my world on a daily basis.

2. I'm a proud birthmother of a sweet one year old girl who I don't get to see nearly often enough.

3. I hate spiders of all kinds and sizes, and flying and crawling bugs of any type, but I have no problem with snakes of any size.

4. I'm a strong believer in family.  Though I may not like all of them 100% of the time, I love them constantly and without reservation.

5. I can't deal with dead things.  Prawns and shrimp have to be peeled for me before I'll eat them, and I wouldn't touch a dead garter snake even though I'd have no problem picking it up if it were alive.

6. I love music.  I will sing obnoxiously along with any tune I know, regardless of where I am and what I'm doing.

7. I believe all sexual predators should be slowly castrated with a barely sharp knife and no painkillers.  Especially if they're child molesters.  I'd be happy to do it myself.

8. Though I have many friends that I'm grateful for, I have only a few friends that I'm extremely close to and wouldn't trade for the world.

9. I love to write.  Hence, I love my blog because I can write anytime I want to.  Whether anyone ever reads it or not.

10. I can't wait to move into a bigger place so we can get a dog.  I've never had a dog and I want one.  Bad.

11. I believe that there are far too many parents out there that are so afraid of their children  that they refuse to discipline them.  I'm not saying that you should be beating your kids nonstop or for every little misbehavior, but kids need boundaries & rules and need to be taught to obey them.  Just like we as adults need to obey boundaries and rules.

12. Though I was born in Berlin, Germany (my father was in the Army at the time), I'm a "dyed in the wool" Washingtonian.  I've lived here in Western Washington nearly my whole life, and would love to live here the rest of it too, if at all possible.

13. I love to dance.  I actually competed in ballroom dance for a while, and miss it terribly...at least the dancing part!  Once my left arm (I broke it last year) finally returns to normal, Nick and I intend to enroll in ballroom dance lessons together.  I'm looking forward to that day with relish.

14. I'm a puzzle addict.  Sudoku, jigsaw, crossword, and mahjong are my favorites.  If I have nothing else to do, you can usually find me working on one of those.

15. Grammar and spelling errors in advertisements and other things bug the heck out of me, but with myself and my friends, I'm a lot less critical even if I notice something out of place.

16. Breaking my arm last year taught me to really appreciate having the ability to use both arms again.  It also taught me humility because I had to ask for so much help while my arm was healing.

17. My favorite color by far is red, though I love the combo of red & black together, and I will dress in just about any color except purple and pink (though touches of those colors aren't bad depending on the pattern).  I also really love the autumn colors: browns and yellows and oranges top the list.

18.  I'm a diehard Mariner baseball fan.  I know they haven't been a great team for years, but I still love them anyway.

19. I love watching shows about bakeries making amazing cakes and cake sculptures, even though I don't really care for cake myself.  I much prefer pies to cakes.

20. I will never watch "reality tv" if I can help it.  I think that there's nothing close to reality about it, and most of the people they follow don't really provide any entertainment at all for me.  The one exception to this "rule" is I adore watching Dancing with the Stars.  I can't help it.  I got addicted when Jerry Rice (my favorite football player ever - even though he's long retired) was on it and now I can't stop watching.

21. I believe in God and believe he has a great plan for my life, even though I'm not a very religious person by nature.  I much prefer to be more spiritual than do a bunch of things that would be "going through the motions" very quickly.

22. I believe that the men & women who choose to enroll and stay in the armed forces all deserve medals of honor for their service to our country.  Them...and their families and friends who support them in their lifestyle.

23. I'm NOT a political person, though I tend to vote conservatively over the alternative.  If I could, I'd fire every politician out there right now (from the president down to every mayor of every city) and start all over again.  Our government is in desperate need of a major overhaul.

24. I believe strongly in taking responsibility for your own actions.  There's far too much blaming other people for where we are in life.  Yes, there are things that happen to all of us that are beyond our control.  But accept it and make do.

25.  I've had people tell me I'd make a great counselor.  But I couldn't do it.  Listening to people whining about their circumstances all day long would frustrate me to no end.

26.  I like grapes and grape juice.  Even wine (now, amazingly enough).  But I can't stand anything grape flavored.  Candy, ice cream, medicine...doesn't matter what.  Won't touch it.

27.  Given the choice of giving up salty or sweet foods, I'd give up sweet foods.  I can't imagine not being able to eat even Wheat Thins anymore.

28. I believe if you can't afford to have children, you shouldn't have them.  In other words, you shouldn't have to use state aid of ANY sort to help you provide for your kids.  There are oodles of people out there that can afford to have kids, desperately want them, and can't biologically have them.  Adoption is a valid and wonderful choice for both your biological children and their adoptive parents.

29.  I love to spend time outdoors in nature.  Makes me truly appreciate the awesome world we've been given.

30.  There's something great about the power of a bubble bath.  I love taking bubble baths anytime.  It's a fabulous mental and emotional recharge.

And that's 30 random facts about me! :-)