You'd be surprised...

To know!
I’m a pretty open book. If you’ve been reading my blog for sometime or have perused the archives at all, you will have gained quite a bit of knowledge about, well, me! Yet, there are times where even I ask if I really know me.


I used to do a lot of people watching back in the States. I loved going to a popular café or restaurant and grabbing a secluded corner table where I could see the door. I would watch people come in and write the first word I thought about the first person I saw. I’d then continue to let the image of that person pull things from my mind. As they would sit with their party and enjoy their time I would continue to document character traits and actions that either agreed or disagreed with my original judgment.

I could spend hours sipping coffee and filling up my notebooks with such characterizations.
I often wonder if this is what people do to me.
When I walk into a shopping centre with my son in tow, what do people assume about me?
What impression do I make when I first step into an interview?
What kind of notion do you gain of who I am when you first look at my blog?

Hmm…it got me into a deep thought. Am I jumping off the pages that I write? Am I screaming this is me and I’m proud? Or do I scrutinize each word wondering how you perceive it?

Who am I? I’ve wrote a post similar to this before; find it here. But here’s a few things I bet some of you weren’t aware of!!

1) I never lived outside of the town I was born in until I packed up and moved to South Africa!

2) I’d never been to South Africa when I moved here. Actually, I’d never been out of the country at all!

3) I’d only ever met Hubby Dearest 3 times in person when I decided to move here. We actually had not seen each other face to face in 7 months! We dated/were engaged for 3 months when we got married!

4) I’m actually very self conscious. I’ve always been outgoing but one of my biggest flaws is that I’m always concerned with how others perceive me and therefore prevent myself from being myself sometimes.

5) I have a very hard time making girl friends. I’ve always been the girl that was actually friends with the boys!

6) When I first decided to come to South Africa (before Hubby Dearest) it was to be a missionary/volunteer.

7) I hate, with a passion, any form of kidney, chicken hearts, pigs feet or other funny body parts that are used in cooking! I can’t even stand the smell of it!

8) I can whip up tears like a Hollywood actress. I can cry at the drop of a dime. Ask for tears and they will come; I just don’t know how to stop them!

9) I only ever wanted daughters until I had a son! Now all I want is boys and thank God everyday for changing my mind!

10) I despise medications. I have a pharmacy account because of how sick Lil Mister was as a baby, but actually have to FORCE myself to even take vitamins.

11) MY favorite hairstyle I’ve ever had was when I was blonde! I don’t care how many people say it didn’t suit me…I loved it!

12) I pray about 100 times a day. Okay not that much but I find myself constantly carrying on a conversation with God in my head. It keeps me grounded.

13) I can eat an entire large pizza by myself and then finish it off with a cheesecake. Please don’t ask me to prove this because I do NOT want to make up the run I’ll have to do afterwards!

14) I’m really REALLY bad at learning foreign languages! I’ve lived in South Africa in an Afrikaans household for almost 4 years and am just now speaking in a very toddler form. I still ask ‘what’ about 20 times in the 30 minutes of Afrikaans news at night!

15) I get embarrassed so easily! I hate it. I can talk about almost anything but if you joke or tease me I almost clam up so tight you need the Jaws of Life to get me back!

16) I Google EVERYTHING! For example, one night we were debating the name of a movie at home. Our parents and my husband had a good laugh because they thought the name I said was not only wrong but hilarious! I got up and went and Googled because I had been laughed at! I have no problem proving I’m right either!

17) I love salty & sweet stuff together! I dip McDonalds French fries in Mcflurries! No I do this when I’m not pregnant! Hot and cold too! I love a hot piece of steak dipped in ice cold sauce!

18) I could eat my weight in sushi! Shrimp too!

19) I would drink a glass of wine after every workout if I thought it was sociably acceptable. I’m pretty sure though my children will grow up with a complex from this!

20) I have no fear of snakes but a centipede makes me run for the hills! All those dang hair like legs…it’s just not right!

I’m sure there are more quirky facts to spew out but here are just the ones from the top of my head!! ;-)

Shana