32 Things About Me!

Today I'm 32 years old and thought it might be a fun time to share a bit about myself for all of you new readers. I feel my interests change fairly frequently (that'll be on the list, lol) so I want to write these things down so I can look back and remember what I was like and what interested me at 32 years old. It's a great privilege to live and age in health and comfort and I don't take this or any birthday for granted! Life is precious and I'm thankful for mine today :)

Every post needs a few pictures I think, so here are a few of Lilygirl and I playing downtown. They're from several months ago but I hadn't shared them yet, so now seems as good a time as any!

1. I'm the youngest of my family and growing up I always felt very much the baby of the family. I'm not sure if I'm the quintessential younger sibling or my sister is the quintessential elder sibling or both, but we fit the classic roles to a tee!
2. I used to run track and field and cross country competitively. I also swam competitively for a few years. I loved swimming, didn't ever really love running (more so I loved being great at something, which I was for a time), but quit both in highschool. Sports have always been part of my life though.
3. My family calls me Embo to this day, which I used to dislike but learned to love over the years (and now I cherish it, funny how that works eh?)
4. I love eggplant but Brad hates it so I make it almost every week when he has hockey games and is out for the night.
5. I always wanted three or more kids, even as child though I knew almost no families with more than two kids and I came from a very happy home of two children. I'm truly living my dream as a mom to my three!
6. I have a major sweet tooth and while I don't tend to gain much weight when I binge on sweets, I do get crazy pimples and my mouth fills with canker sores, so I really do need to keep it in check. No Sweets November is always a good re-fresh, coming up in a few weeks.
   
   
   
   
7. I didn't start reading for pleasure until about ten years ago. As a kid I read basic series like The Babysitters Club and Goose Bumps but as soon as reading became work (read: high school English) I lost all love for it for several years. My English teachers would be surprised to know I read about a book a week these days and am even paid to write!
8. My first serious novel that I read and absolutely loved (as in cried at the end simply because it was over) was All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer, and that was only a few years ago! Since then I've had that stirring feeling of sadness and accomplishment when finishing a great book many times.
9. I don't read just anything though - my favourite works are classics (Austen, Bronte Sisters), Historical Fiction (Edward Rutherford), Biographies, and Victorian/Edwardian/Regency/Wartime era books, preferably British (Julian Fellowes, P G Wodehouse, L M Montgomery)
10. I rarely watch TV and even less often watch movies. I get too sleepy and would rather read! We also have many nights each week given to having people over for supper or church activities. If I do watch a movie, it's usually piecemeal, 20-40 minutes at a time. My favourite things to watch are the BBC versions of Austen films (they're from the 90's but are still soooo good!), Downton Abbey, Call The Midwife, Victoria, and This Is Us. 
11. I make pizza at least once per week. I have the dough down to a science and always have frozen dough balls and shredded cheese in the freezer. If you eat supper at our house, it will probably be pizza.
12. Mornings are my favourite. My alarm goes off at 5:30am every morning, except for weekends when it goes off at 6:30am. Unless I'm up very late the night before, I'm always awake at those times because that stillness in the morning is just too precious to me. I love having some time before the kids wake to be in the Bible, in prayer, and just to have some time to myself over a hot cup of Early Grey.
    
    
    
    
13. Speaking of Earl Grey, I officially stopped drinking coffee two years ago! Crazy eh? I'm not against it, but I want without it for three weeks (accidentally) and found I'd broken the habit by the time I was able to get my hands on some good coffee again. It's an expensive habit if you only like really good coffee (probably about $15-20 per week here in Montreal!) so I was happy to swap coffee for tea, a much more affordable option (and it doesn't give me the jitters after too many cups either!)
14. I started learning French five years ago and today can communicate and function completely in French! Even as I type this I can't believe it. Just as my English teachers would be shocked to know I'm an avid reader and writer today, my poor French teachers would be shocked to learn I now live in Quebec and spend much of my life in French. I still have a very far way to go though, I assure you. I can communicate clearly and get my point across (and I could survive in France with no English speakers for miles) but I make a million mistakes and my grammar is atrocious. I've never taken official courses and have only learned by ear, but this year have started studying in my free time and am already noticing gains.
15. Brad and I met while we were both on a missions trip in North Africa. I've also been to Tanzania and Malawi on missions trips in the past. Tanzania and Malawi was six weeks combined and we've been back to North Africa many times over the years for months at a time, twice when I was pregnant with Lily.
16. Brad and I started dating after only knowing each other a couple of months, dated for six months long-distance and then were engaged for five months. It was a whirlwind but we were very intentional and had many trusted friends in common who counseled us both along the way. Still, our first year of marriage was a huge adjustment and difficult to say the least!
17. I was engaged at 21 and married a few weeks after my 22nd birthday, which means were coming up on a decade of marriage this month!
18. My favourite food in the whole world is High Tea. I love it all - the scones and cakes and sandwiches, and of course never-ending pots of tea.
    
    
    
    
19. I became a Christian in my teens even though I'm not from a religious family. It was a couple of years before I had any Christian friends or a solid church and was very much in the wilderness those first few years. God held me fast by his Word alone. If it weren't for the Bible I doubt I'd love Jesus today.
20. For years Brad and I seriously considered adoption, but that is finally off the table for us. I love adoption and everything it stands for, but the life we've chosen didn't seem to be compatible with that way of growing our family. We didn't have the energy, time, or space to add a child by way of adoption and still don't today, but if God ever changes our certainty on that, I'll be very happy too. 
21. Together with our kids we've traveled to France, The USA, Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Italy, Iceland, Switzerland, Austria, and Japan. We're planning to go to Bulgaria and Geece next summer!
22. Pumpkin is one of my favourite flavours ever. I love pumpkin pie and soup (see my recipe for jarred pumpkin here) and it was the first puree that all three of my babies tasted!
23. Even though today I'm so in love with the city life, I was a small town girl for most of my life. I grew up in a village in Southern Ontario with under 5,000 people. I always thought I'd stay there and loved it so much, even when my friends were dreaming of living in Toronto some day. I left home at 17 for McMaster University which is in Hamilton, just over an hour away. Hamilton is a city but can feel very much like a small town too, especially in the student bubble. It was a good place to live for four years to prepare me for the big city life though! After four years in Hamilton I graduated and married Brad within a couple of months and we were off to Montreal!
24. I never foresaw myself as a stay-at-home-mom. Growing up I only knew two kids who's mothers stayed home and both of them were very wealthy. I thought it was a rich person choice, and while I understand that I am privileged to get to work very part time hours and stay home with my kids, we get by on a modest salary and made big sacrifices to make this our reality. The bottom line is I love the pace it allows for our family - I love that we can pick our kids up from school at the bell instead of hours later, I love that I can have home cooked meals most nights for our family, I love that I can invest in women in my church during the day now that my kids are at school. It's a lifestyle that we're all thriving in and one I never saw as likely for me. I love when plans change for the better!
    
    
    
    
25. I've never liked pop, except for a couple of years in high school when I was all about Diet Coke, and we never have juice in our home either. Brad and I are big water drinkers and as a result, so are the kids. I have, however, begun a slight addition to grapefruit Perrier (or any generic brand of the same flavouring). 
26. I buy so many things second hand! It started as a way to save money when we were newlyweds with debt and very small pay cheques, but turned into a passion over the years. I do it to save money but also for the environmental benefits or not producing more goods. I also love finding things that aren't available at every big box store or website - thrifting is cheap and eco-friendly, and finds you the most unique things! Currently I'd say about 1/3 of my wardrobe, 2/3 of our home decor, and 1/2 of our books are all thrifted.
27. I've never had braces or a retainer but I started wearing glasses in high school and today can't see without contacts or glasses. Most people are surprised when they see me in my glasses and ask if they're real lol. They're a fun accessory but very much real!
28. Fav Reads: My favourite Jane Austen book is Pride & Prejudice, my favourite Bronte sister book is The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, my favourite C S Lewis is The Weight of Glory, my favourite book of the Bible is Hebrews
29. Pop Culture Favs: My favourite Royal is QE2, my favourite Spice Girl is Baby, my favourite Pearson is Randal, my favourite Crawley is Isobel, my favourite wizard is Hermoine, my favourite midwife is Chummy  
30. I look a lot like my dad. As a girl I hated this observation because what little girl wants to look like an adult man!? But now I see it and love it. Lily looks like him too :) 
31. If I could go anywhere in the world it would be Scotland. I long to see where my ancestors grew up and lived and where much of my roots come from. Plus I love the UK! Working on Brad, who prefers more exotic locations for holidays (read: non-English speaking)
32. My middle name is Anne, yes, with an E. Just like my homegirl Anne Shirley :)