After spending 12 years in Arizona, Kim now lives in Michigan with her husband and their two amazing daughters. She does not have a BA or MFA but is learning the craft of writing the old fashioned way- through lots of reading and writing followed by more reading and writing. In between raising a family, writing, doing graphic design work, reading blogs and creating collages she reads voraciously. She enjoys an unexpected good library day, a soy chai latte with a maple oat scone, indie bookstores, indie films and watching her cats, Zoey and Tallulah stalk and wrestle each other before curling up for a sun bath.
100 Things about Me
I’ve seen these lists on other blogs and love reading them- it’s the voyeur in me. Now as I get ready to write my own list it feels a little (well, maybe very) self-indulgent. But I also think it’s a good writing exercise in letting my mind roam free. Here goes…
1. I’ve lived in Michigan, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Arizona and am now back in Michgan. A true full circle.
2. I own over four hundred books that I have not read yet.
3. When people say they don’t have time to read I just don’t get it. It’s like not having time to breathe.
4. I’ve worked in a vineyard tying grape vines to posts, in a clothing store, as a waitress and bus person, as a runner for a real estate company, at The Cookie Connection and Chik-Fil-A, as a graphic designer for an advertising marketing company, for a cable guide, for a dental company, for an association management company and now for myself.
5. Although I’ve always loved to read and write and all my report cards reflect that over the years, it never ever occurred to me to become a Writer with a capital “W”.
6. Now I write with a small “w” almost everyday.
7. I’ve studied writing with Natalie Goldberg, Melissa Pritchard, Elizabeth Evans, Simon Ortiz, Maureen Dunphy and Ron Carlson.
8. Ray Davies once asked my husband if he could kiss me at a concert. He said sure, so he did.
9. I hate repetitive noises like water dripping or snoring.
10. Almost all the walls in my house are painted. Only two rooms left and one hallway. And the colors are deep and rich.
11. I am one of those people who will write something on a list of things to do that I have already done, just for the satisfaction of crossing it off.
12. I took French from seventh grade through twelfth and when I went to Paris ten years later it all came back to me, making our trip a little easier to navigate.
13. I once saw a woman die on the beach in Germany.
14. Left on my own I sleep between 8-9 hours a night.
15. I’ve seen Bruce Springsteen three times in concert and twice I was pregnant.
16. MothersWrite saved me when my kids were little and I wanted to write. I ended up teaching the class later.
17. I collect bookmarks from all the cities I visit. Some are from Paris, Honolulu, San Francisco and many more.
18. I am claustrophobic. As a kid I’d sleep with my pillow outside the tent when camping. Now I just don’t camp.
19. I read all the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books.
20. I always thought I should like jazz. I thought all artists should. But I don’t. I just don’t.
21. I love to sing but always give myself a headache because I don’t know how to breathe properly.
22. I do not play any musical instrument. None. And I really admire and envy those who do.
23. The first movie I saw by myself was “Pretty in Pink”. I was hungover and not eager to get on the train out of the city so I ducked into this theater on Chestnut Street and watched a movie alone. Now I go all the time by myself.
24. A girl once mistook me for Molly Ringwald at an art fair.
25. It was ninety degrees with ninety percent humidity on my wedding day and the AC in the church broke.
26. I was the “Hula Hoop Queen” on a cruise once.
27. I’ve been to the Bahamas twice, Jamaica once and Hawaii twice. I love islands.
28. Friends are important to me. I keep them forever.
29. I don’t remember that moment when I learned to read, when all those little black marks began to mean something. I wish I did.
30. I am the oldest of three girls and our names all begin with “K”.
31. My left thumb is double jointed.
32. I also have a black thumb. I once killed an air fern. Seriously. All it needed was, well, air.
33. I consider myself more spiritual than religious. I’ve tried going to church but just can’t find the right fit.
34. My jaw aches if I chew gum too long.
35. I once dated two guys named Chris at the same time from the same fraternity. I’m not proud of that, although I suspect I was then.
36. I remember walking home from being out all night with friends, carrying my shoes and people were going to church already.
37. I once made out with a guy on the church steps across from my apartment building and he looked just like Paul McCartney.
38. I subscribe to “More”, “Body and Soul”, “O” and “Poets and Writers” as well as the occasional literary journal like “The Missouri Review” and “Ploughshares”.
39. I’ve only won one contest in my life. It was at Campland on the Bay in San Diego and the picture I colored won us one extra free night, so that was cool.
40. I turned 30 in California and 40 in Jamaica.
41. I once dated a boy who figured out that our birthdays were exactly one year, one month, one week and one day apart. At sixteen I found that incredibly romantic and significant.
42. I like the idea of sewing but not the practice of it. My daughter or husband sew on any buttons in our house.
43. I rarely iron. I mean, rarely. When my oldest was two she saw a picture of an iron on a flashcard and didn’t know what it was.
44. Dusting the light shades and emptying the crumbs from the toaster just never occur to me on any kind of regular basis.
45. I used to check the same series of books out of the library in elementary school about triplets form Norway named Flicka, Ricka and Dicka. I discovered them again as an adult and honestly I don’ t get what was so intriguing to me back then.
46. I checked “Little Women” out when I was eight just because of the sheer heft of the book. I didn’t read it.
47. My favorite ice cream is from Cold Stone Creamery- coffee with brownie mixed in and hot fudge on top. The hot fudge must be on top, not mixed in.
48. Favorite beer is Fat Tire but I can’t find it here.
49. I eat salad practically every single day, sometimes twice a day.
50. The only candy I like is chocolate or caramel.
51. I used to love grape Bublicious gum.
52. If there is hot fudge in the house I will eat it every day until it’s gone- even by the spoonful.
53. I once arranged a vacation to Arizona to coincide with the New Years sale at my favorite bookstore. People who know me didn’t find that odd at all.
54. I used to be a dog person but now we have two cats, Zoey and Tallulah who found us- one at a airport hotel and on on our back deck.
55. My youngest is addicted to “John and Kate Plus eight”. Her life plan includes having triplets and moving to Hawaii with me and Grandma since she will need a lot of help with all those babies.
56. I don’t mind cooking but I hate all the planning and shopping needed to do the actual cooking.
57. We used to eat out four times a week in Arizona and now we’re lucky if it’s four times a month, if that. It’s better for our health and wallets anyway.
58. I rarely drink soda, and never the diet kind.
59. I drink about ten glasses of water a day and have for over fifteen years.
60. I used to have a face full of freckles and once tried to bleach them with a lemon in the sun like Jan Brady.
61. I am allergic to penicillin and any medicine ending in “cillin” as well as another kind that only one percent of people allergic to penicillin will have a reaction to and I’m in that one percent. My game plan is to get sick as little as possible.
62. I had to have emergency surgery to have my gall bladder removed when I was four months pregnant, on vacation and my husband was in Germany.
63. I have a scar on my wrist from when I pushed my hand through a glass door because my mom wouldn’t let me change my white shirt that had chocolate ice cream all over it while she was on the phone.
64. I have a scar on my forehead from falling down the steps at my aunt’s house after swinging on the wrought gate at the top. I got a lollipop for each stitch.
65. I like to sleep with heavy blankets on me and will keep the ceiling fan on to make it colder so I can justify the heavy blankets. My husband just doesn’t get it.
66. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of the Star Wars movies. None. Can that be true?
67. I often dream that I am looking at photos and the people in them start moving.
68. I have many dreams that I am back in art school in my own apartment but I don’t know why since I am married and have kids.
69. I lived on the eighth and sixteenth floors of the Ambassador.
70. My first car was an orange ‘74 VW Bug.
71. I never remember song lyrics, song titles or who sings what song.
72. I misspelled the first word in a sixth grade spelling bee that everyone assumed I would win. It was “healthfully”. I was nervous. Pam Stephens won. How and why do I remember that?
73. I am tall. Almost 5′11″.
74. I don’t tan. Ever.
75. The only time I drink coffee is after a nice dinner out and it’s always decaf.
76. I drink green tea lattes and chai lattes with soy milk.
77. I am extremely affected by stimulants. Coffee can keep me up for hours. I hallucinate on Tylenol with codeine.
78. I rarely take baths. Only showers.
79. I would love to have a claw foot tub one day. Maybe then I ‘d take long luxurious baths.
80. I don’t get into Halloween. It’s like jazz- I think as an artist it should be my favorite holiday but, it’s not.
81. I don’t know what my favorite holiday is. They all require so much work and there are so many expectations surrounding just one day that it’s bound to be disappointing on some level.
82. I really dislike malls.
83. I think I can learn anything about life from a book. And it’s probably already on my bookshelf.
84. I am usually reading several books at one time.
85. You can usually tell my state of mind by the stack of books by my bed.
86. I have a pile of books next to my bed and next to the couch and by my desk as well as five shelves filled.
87. I enjoy doing algebraic equations.
88. I’ve alway hated word problems.
89. My brain goes a little dyslexic when reading directions or operating manuals for anything.
90. I can not see those 3D images in those pictures. Never. Ever. My eyes just go cross eyed and I end up throwing the book across the room.
91. I have never bitten my nails. It’s just gross.
92. I don’t have a favorite color. I like them all.
93. I’ve always felt undo pressure to make a wish while blowing out birthday candles or pulling apart the wishbone. I don’t want to waste it on something frivolous or be too selfish or put undo pressure on the universe to grant said wish. Now I just wish that my daughters get their wishes but they hate when I do that. See…way too much pressure.
94. I love eavesdropping on conversations in public.
95. I don’ t watch the news or read a newspaper.
96. I don’t own a watch.
97. People say that I’m calming to be around but I often feel chaotic inside.
98. I love looking at Christmas lights.
99. I am always ready to take the tree down the day after Christmas which drives my husband crazy.
100. I met my husband at a bar in New Hope, PA. I didn’t give him my phone number that night since I had my beer goggles on but I did tell him where I worked Sunday brunch. Two weeks later he showed up (after putting an engine in a car to be able to drive to see me). We’ll be married twenty years this August.
I can’t believe I listed 100 things about me. It was totally self indulgent and also a good brain workout so basically just what I suspected.
