Hi, my name is not LeLo, but it is my blog name.
Lean in.
I have something to tell you.
I don’t think I could tell you 100 things about myself. And if I did, wouldn’t it be boring? Let’s start with 50.
1. Today I’ve been in two states: Oregon and Washington. Sometimes I’m in more than two states a day. Last week I was in Washington DC. I’ll be there again next week.
2. I visit cuteoverload.com every day. The pictures make me happy, just like a little girl combing the hair on her toy kitty. And I’ve learned great words like snorggle.
3. I like to snorggle my puppy, Wink.
4. I have thousands of photos in my iPhoto. Thousands. I’m addicted to taking digital photos. I document my work, my dog, my garden, my vacations, my family, myself. I’ve incorporated it into my professional life.
5. I began playing piano at age 4. I haven’t played since January.
6. My favorite song in junior high was Blue Oyster Cult’s “I’m Burnin’ For You.” I’ll let you guess how old that makes me.
7. I’m married to a cop. Okay, we were married, but the state of Oregon deemed our marriage invalid and returned our money. We still have the marriage certificate and until they pry it from my cold, dead fingers they’re not going to get it back.
8. Did you know that getting married immediately grants you over 1,500 protections? We don’t get those.
9. Can you tell I’m still bitter about the last election?
10. My passion is gardening. I inherited it, even though as a child I vowed to never ever never ever never touch the dirty soil or grow things like tomatoes. My parental unit likes to laugh at that.
11. I have a sister who lives in Western Australia and a brother who lives in Texas.
12. We grew up in the suburbs of Southern California. Avocado trees in the front, lemon trees in the back. 15 minutes from the beach.
13. I moved to Portland because I won a radio contest. By accident.
14. I believe in fate.
15. I believe in the power of saying it loud and manifesting my destiny.
16. Sometimes that power scares me.
17. I’m horrible about remembering birthdays and special days.
18. I can be a flake: I overcommit myself and in the end, need my space. Alone.
19. I speak Spanglish on a daily basis.
20. I am a hardcore liberal and I work in the realm of social action, using creative process to connect on an emotional level to move people, spark change and create a better world. I know: what does that really mean? Sorry. I believe in separation of work and blog. Or I used to. If you're really that curious as to what I do for a living, you can visit my professional website here.
21. My partner is my best friend and is incredibly opposite of me: however, when we laugh together, there’s little that can stop us. We have fun together.
22. I’m a hopeless romantic using sarcasm as a weapon of self protection.
23. I’m really trying to not be an overly negative person, and to find good things in my daily life. With that said, I hate blogs that just bitch: about the city they live in, the organizations they disagree with, or what’s wrong with this world. If you hate so much, why don’t you do something about it and get involved? Get out from behind your soapbox and DO SOMETHING.
24. The old school old boy network drives me crazy: to see it within blogging astounds me. Blecht.
25. I’ve met some of the coolest people from blogging: you know who you are.
26. I’ve been to Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, Bali and Western Australia. I’ve never been to me. ($5 to the first person who can name the artist of that god-forsaken song.)
27. My very first friend was Marchand Storch.
28. When I was a little girl I was mistaken as being one of the Mexican kids. That stayed with me, and haunted me my entire life. I didn’t know why, or what that meant. Today, I know the questions people have of my ethnicity are all over the place: it’s often assumed I am something. I’m not. That I know of. Just a white girl who often has places at the table with people of color who trust me. I’m lucky and I hold that carefully.
29. I thoroughly enjoy watching strangers who make assumptions about me or about my relationship with AdRi, and their squirming when they realize we are partners. “Yes, that’s correct. We just need one bed in our hotel room. One.” A personal favorite is the telemarketer asking for the man of the house, or if my husband is available. Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions. Remember, there’s an ASS in that word.
30. One of my first bosses excused himself from our first meeting stating he needed to go to the head. He was also the same boss who clearly articulated his greatest advice to me: K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, stupid. I don’t think I ever wrote that down.
31. The children in my family were all born 7 years apart, almost to the month: January, February, January. I come from planners.
32. I once thought I was going to be a piano teacher.
33. I once came home from high school and announced I was going to be a nun.
34. I once announced to my friends that I had decided to become single for the rest of my life.
35. I once was a seamstress in college. I sewed the bows on crotchless underwear. I was paid 5 cents a piece.
36. I graduated from what was once voted the #1 party school in the nation.
37. I have never been “skinny.”
38. I was a total paddlehead in college.
39. I was named after my grandfather who died when I was 6 months old.
40. I love to cook: especially from Rick Bayless cookbooks. Or from Cooking Light. Or from recipes I cut out in the Food Day section of The Oregonian.
41. I could be a better recycler.
42. I was once hired to teach English in Korea and at the last minute, I turned down the job. They still published my name and photo in their brochure for years, saying I was a teacher there.
43. In both 7th and 8th grades I won the John Phillip Sousa Award in band. Tenor saxophone.
44. My mom and I were members of the Chumash Tribe of the Indian Maidens, a mother daughter group through the YWCA. Our Indian names were Sunshine and Rainbow. I’ll let you guess which one I was.
45. I used to smoke a pack a day, and I quit cold turkey when I thought my mom had cancer. I think that was 5 years or so ago. I haven’t smoked since.
46. Form or function? I demand both.
47. Yes, I believe in no white shoes until after memorial day. I haven’t worn any yet but hope to soon. If it gets sunny again.
48. I know I need spirituality more in my life but I’m frozen in figuring out what that means: organized religion has made me mad.
49. I have always loved the color purple, and in junior high I was suspended for writing PURPLE RULES! in purple marker on the freshly painted lockers. My parents made me remove everything purple from my closet, including my purple Cherokee wedges and Chemin de Fer jeans, not giving them back for weeks. Or even months? I was so busted.
50. I take photos as a creative outlet and a form of exploration. I take photos of myself because I really don’t know what I look like.
