99 things

99 Things about me.

1. I like seeing these lists on other peoples’ blogs… I like knowing that we could be friends in real life.
2. My name is Trish.  Trish Smith.  Try saying that three times quickly.
3. I was born in Canberra, Australia, and 38 39 years later I’m still here.  I know.  Sad.
4. I am a Cancerian. I can be very crabby.  You’ve been warned.
5. I am the second eldest of four siblings, three girls and one boy.
6. My littlest sister, Jill, is my favourite. You’re probably not supposed to have favourites but there you go.
7. I married one of my best friends from high school.  I call him “PJ on my blog and “Sexy Beast” in real life.
8. PJ and I have two daughters – Madeleine (b.1998) and Ella (b.2000).
9. That’s all the biographical information I am going to share for now.
10. I love to take photographs.  I’m a Canon girl.
11. I love to cook.
12. I don’t think I would enjoy blogging as much if I couldn’t type this fast.
13. Sometimes, when the planets are correctly aligned, I work on my novel.
14. My novel is a long term project and if we’re going to be friends you have to know that it isn’t OK to ask me how it’s going.
15. I have a really bad habit of setting lofty goals for myself.
16. Fortunately my husband finds this endearing.
17. I would like to be awesomely fit and healthy on my 40th birthday.  Like, able to run the City to Surf.
18. I will need to start doing some exercise if I have a hope in hell of achieving this goal.
19. I will also need to stop drinking so much wine.
20. I have never met an Australian wine that I didn’t like.
21. I love coffee but can get by on one cup a day.
22. When I was a kid, my favourite thing to do in the holidays was to go camping, preferably near the ocean.
23. Nowadays I prefer staying in beach houses.  I’ve become soft.
24. I have never had a car accident but every time I drive my car I half expect that something bad is going to happen.
25. I have a handful of mantras that I tell myself whenever these kinds of negative thoughts enter my mind.
26. My favourite mantra is simply “let it go”.
27. This is the closest I can get to meditating without falling asleep.
28. I have traveled extensively through Australia and through North America, and I recently went to Thailand, Norway, Denmark and Sweden.
29. It is my intention to spend the next forty years of my life exploring the other continents with my husband and our kids.
30. Yes, that includes Antarctica.
31. My sisters introduced me to Tarot Cards and I have to confess that I occasionally consult them when I find myself in a quandary.
32. I am just shy of 5’9″.  I like to round it up.
33. I am 5kg heavier than I want to be.
34. I started going grey in my 20′s and now about 75% of the hair on my head is completely grey on account of some bad genes.
35. Consequently, I have dyed my hair every 6-8 weeks since 1995.
36. I have worn glasses since 1994 and I wish I could have laser eye surgery but I can’t.
37. I panic at really stupid things, and stay completely calm in emergencies.
38. I can remember every single embarrassing, humiliating, stupid little thing I have ever done.  These memories torment me, daily.
39. I wear Roberto Verino perfume (the one in the green bottle).  I love that very few other people wear it.
40. If I had to pick one, I’d have to say ‘When Harry Met Sally’.
41. Don’t hate me, but I really enjoyed ‘Eat Pray Love’.  I’ve read it three times.
42. I talk really loudly when I’m with my girlfriends in a restaurant and people look around to see who is making all the noise.
43. I worked in a coffee shop when my kids were very young, just to get myself out of the house and amongst grown-ups for a while.
44. I can’t go into a supermarket without spending at least $20.  Even if I only went in there for bread.
45. My husband and I frequently wake each other up with our snoring.
46. I love playing Scrabble but if I don’t get very good letters I really suck at it.
47. I don’t want to live in Canberra for very much longer.  I need a change of scenery. I’ve been saying this for about 15 years.
48. I still get a kick out of seeing kangaroos in their natural habitat (ie all around Canberra).
49. I get very sore feet very quickly when I wear high heels but I love the feeling of being six feet tall.
50. My engagement ring has an emerald-cut emerald and four emerald-cut diamonds.  I still love it.
51. One of my Five Year goals is to make money taking photographs. Just a little. (Goal Achieved! Yay!)
52. Another of my Five Year goals is to finish the first draft of my novel (I’ve got three years left on that one).
53. I can’t sit perfectly still – one of my feet is always tapping on the floor or jiggling slightly from side to side.  It’s happening now.
54. I still get pimples.  I consider this extremely unfair on account of #34.
55. My husband has tweaked my internet connection so it shuts off automatically at 10pm.  This is supposed to help me go to bed earlier.
56. I am a night-owl, always have been, and I suspect I always will be.
57. I love skiing but I’m starting to lose my nerve.  Broken bones really hurt.  And take a while to heal.
58. I miss playing Trivial Pursuit.
59. If I ever saw Kelly Knight in the street, I would accidentally spill my takeaway grande latte on her.
60. I don’t usually hold grudges (“let it go”) but I make a special exception for her.  Long story.  It’s in the novel.
61. I love watching the British version of ‘Top Gear.’  My husband loves this about me.
62. He also loves that I love cricket and rugby union.  Go Brumbies!
63. I am scared of large dogs.
64. I take a long time to make up my mind about what to order in restaurants.
65. My favourite drink is a gin & tonic.  But it has to be top-shelf gin. Please.  Hendricks with a slice of cucumber is my favourite.
66. The first time I ever went to The Opera House in Sydney to see an opera, I kept nodding off in the first act.
67. I think that, for the most part, I’m a really good mum.
68. The best advice I’ve ever read on how to raise happy and healthy kids was “remember that YOU are the grown-up.”
69. The three things I try to teach my kids every day are 1. have respect for yourself 2. have respect for others 3. take responsibility for your actions.
70. I get very, very upset by films, images, news stories about children in peril.  ‘The Changeling‘ just about killed me.
71. I love Martha Stewart’s ‘Good Things’ even though they are frequently ridiculous.
72. I have been very fortunate so far in my life.  I think I have guardian angels.  In fact, I’m certain I have.
73. I need to live near water or mountains or wide open spaces.
74. I don’t think I would describe either of my children’s births as “enjoyable.”   They just really hurt.
75. When it came time to ‘you may now kiss the bride‘, we made a sucking-sound like ripping velcro.  Everyone laughed.
76. I have never owned my own home.  We have always rented.  I don’t know what ‘mortgage stress’ feels like and that’s just fine with me.
77. We have already found the house we want to buy when we retire.  It’s the house we stayed in on our honeymoon.
78. Nothing is more uncomfortable for me than those sinks at the hair salon.
79. I’m still not really sure what I want to be when I grow up.  It’s hard to define. I want to be a portrait photographer.
80. I am a portrait photographer (www.trishsmithphotography.com). Now I want to be a travel writer too.
81. I applied for a high level security clearance once and didn’t get it.  I still don’t know why not.  Maybe they thought the blog was a risk.
82. I played the Fairy Godmother in my 6th grade play and had to facilitate audience participation in the casting of spells.  And sing. I haven’t performed on stage since.
83. I have poor upper body strength.  I suck at indoor rock climbing, arm wrestling and dusting.
84. I have been to the Grand Canyon and it’s everything they say it is.  Go.
85. I have had sex on a beach.  I can’t really recommend it.  Too sandy.
86. I met Strom Thurmond and thought he was lovely and had no idea about his politics. Look him up if you’ve never heard of him.
87. One of the hardest things I have ever had to do was hold my daughter still while the doctor tried to remove a stick from her leg.  Oh, the screaming.
88. I got chickenpox when I was a kid and had spots on my eyeballs.
89. I laugh loudest and most regularly with my husband.  We crack each other up.  It’s the secret to a successful marriage.
90. I’m a good listener unless I’ve had a few glasses of wine and then I tend to talk a lot.  Like, a LOT.
91. I love thunderstorms and driving rain but wind makes me crazy.  I get very agitated.
92. I used to be a sentimental hoarder but I now prefer to have an uncluttered home.
93. But there’s a box of my kids’ toys and books in storage for when we are grandparents.
94. I am sorry that I didn’t know my grandparents better.
95. Home made roast chicken is one of my favourite things to cook – I love picking meat off the carcass, especially the oysters.
96. One day I want to see the battlefields in France and Belgium where the Diggers fought and died.
97. I am ticklish all over and PJ has just one ticklish spot that only I know about and no it’s not in a rude place.
98. Once, I drove from Canberra to Sydney (3hrs)  just to go to the Ikea store.
99. As it turns out, nothing motivates me more than being told “well, it’s not like you’re ever going to get it published” and “don’t you need to get, like, a qualification first?” and “why on earth would you want to do that for?!“