Saturday, June 4, 2011

30 DC: Day 6 (30 Interesting Facts)

Sorry for the huge gap between 30 day challenge posts... I just got back from spending 4 days in Barcelona!  I'm working on a recap, but for now... here's Day 6, 30 interesting (or at least I hope so) facts about moi.  :)

1. Growing up I wasn't ever 100% sure if my name was Nicole Michelle Hanna or just Nicole Michelle, 'Hanna' being my mom's maiden name.  Apparently, I'm sans maiden name and my sister has it.  Fun fact!

2. I played the cello from 4th grade until the end of high school.  For all four years of high school, our orchestra director and I were in a constant battle over the length of my fingernails since I don't like to keep them cut to the quick.  Clearly this was a good sign I was never meant to be a professional cellist.

3. When I was little, I used to like to put a pitted black olive on the tip of all of my fingers and then pop them into my mouth one by one.

4. I have a Southern accent... in French.  It really confuses non-Southern French people when I meet them. In English, I have a standard midwestern accent.

5. I don't know how to correctly pronounce my last name.  Various family members prononce it differently.  How have I decided to pronounce it?  Changes based on my mood/whether you get "Nicole" or "Nicky".  Seriously.

6. I'm only 23, but I swear I'm going on 40.  Staying out all night drinking?  So not my thing... Staying in and cooking/going out to dinner and drinking wine?  Yes, please.

7. I have seen every episode of Gilmore Girls as they aired... and at least a second time when I bought each season as it was released on DVD.  I'm still sad she didn't marry Logan.

8. I have TINY, skinny fingers.  People used to tell me I should play piano... then a piano teacher told me my fingers were actually too long.  Still.  They're tiny.  Example.  Ring finger? Yeah, it's a 4.75... There are places that don't even make rings that small.  TINY.  Makes buying costume jewelry a pain.  Oh well.

9. Speaking of rings, I've had the same toe ring since I was in middle school.  It's probably not healthy, but I think my second toe on my right foot might actually be slightly skinnier than the same toe on left foot because of it.

10. Although I've always loved dogs, I never considered myself a dog person until I met Sahara.  I think it has something to do with the fact that she sleeps with us whereas "my" dog growing up was so much more attached to (and slept on the bed) my momma and not me.

11. That said, I've always been a cat person.  Mrowr.

12. When I'm in Cincinnati, there's only one Chinese restaurant I go to.  They know me by name.  My mom even threw me a surprise 16th birthday party there.

13. For our first date, Jon and I got bagel sandwiches.  I'm really happy about this because our relationship was never really based on "impressing" one another.  Hard to impress someone while trying to eat a HUGE salmon and cream cheese sandwich.

14. Fourteen is my lucky number.  It was my number the only year I played softball.  Not sure why that made it my lucky one since I only successfully hit the ball ONCE all season, but it's stuck!

15. I got my first gray hair when I was in high school.  I now have a decent amount... I think they're going to form an isolated streak.  Just call me Cruella de Ville.

16. I chose to spell 'Nicky' the way I do because I like that the 'K' goes up and the 'Y' goes down.

17. Before starting to go by 'Nicky' while I was growing up, my great aunt used to call me 'Nicky Micky.'  My grandmother (her sister) used to hate this.  Fond memory.

18. In France, my two favorite pastry desserts are lemon (or lemon meringue) tarts or coffee éclairs.

19. In the morning, the only thing I do to my hair is put cream/gel in it with my fingers and then let it air dry.  I don't even brush my hair on a regular basis.  I have never mastered the art of using a blow dryer.
When getting my haircut by someone new, I tell them that the new cut can absolutely not require me to change that routine... I'm far too low maintenance to do it.

20. I have either waited at midnight or purchased the first possible day every single Harry Potter book aside from the first one.  Except for my time in France, I have also seen every single Harry Potter movie at midnight the night it was released... I cried when I finished the last book... Then got angry at JK Rowling for writing such a fanfiction-y epilogue.

21. My go-to recipes for potlucks are either my mom's salsa salad or black bean, ghirardelli  brownies.  They're consistently hits.  Boyfriend even requests that we bring them.  Win.

22. When I spent a lot of time in France/speaking French, my English gets messed up... I forget words, mess up grammar, and spell things wrong.  Jon also gets a kick out of this.

23. My favorite ice cream flavor is Graeter's Black Raspberry Chip.  The Graeter's part is the key.  Anyone from Cincinnati will agree.

24. I apparently have a lot of "Nicky-isms" as Jon likes to put it.  The one that comes to mind first would be saying PS in the middle of conversations as asides.  I can't think of any other ones off the top of my head... but they're definitely there.  Oh, and 'Go team.'

25. I'm really good at staying in touch with people.  Though, if you don't ever answer your phone or email, I only have so long before I'll give up on trying.  That said, it's definitely one of the main reasons some of my best friends are still in my life after so many years/moving across the world!

26. I have never successfully done a pull-up or a chin-up.  Thank you, Presidential Physical Fitness Testing!  Someday, I'd love to be able to accomplish at least one.

27. When I was single (or really just before I met Jon), I used to read a lot of fan fiction.  Since then, I haven't had the time or the desire... even while we were broken up.  I don't miss it.

28. One of my goals when I travel is to find at least one cool piece of interesting jewelry as a souvenir.  After growing up around my grandmother's amazing (and interesting) jewelry collection, I'm really enjoying building my own... even if all of mine is still currently more on the "costume" end of the scale!

29. I VERY rarely wear heels.  I'm too much of a wimp and a whiner when my feet hurt.  I bought a pair of espadrille wedges in Spain... I hope they help change this since I think heels are so beautiful and feminine!

30.  When running out of ideas, Jon suggested I put that I have a 'One-Man Uber Fan club.'  The one man being him, of course.  All I need.  I'm pretty lucky.