Today is my birthday! In honor of turning 29—although in my mind I’m still 25 thanks to COVID birthdays—I put together a list of 29 fun fact about myself. This took me a little while, but I think it’s a pretty good list.

I took the day off from work (I refuse to work on my actual birthday), and Josh has the day off from work, so my plans are as follows: going to a park that has a rose garden and other flowers in bloom to walk around, going to a bookstore, and then going to a brewery for beers and dinner. I’ll have a Memorial Day weekend recap post up next week since we have other plans this weekend, too, like Josh’s sister’s Jack & Jill and going to my parents for a Memorial Day/birthday celebration.

Alright, here’s my list of fun facts!

1. I share my birthday with my mom. My original due date was May 18 but I decided to come a week later on May 25, which is her birthday.

2. I managed my high school’s varsity baseball team for two years. It’s probably one of the best things I’ve ever done. My primary job was keeping the scorebook, but I ended up becoming a den mother for the boys—basically the keeper of items and supplying snacks. I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and was able to have that experience.

3. I have this irrational fear of drive-thrus. If I have the option to go inside, like at the bank or store, I will opt to get out of my car and walk inside. I don’t like drive-thrus because you can’t see the person you’re talking to and, like, what if my order gets distorted through the speaker to them? It just makes me unnecessarily paranoid. I’d rather go inside and talk to someone in person, which is sort of ironic since I normally don’t like talking to other people.

4. I worked my first job for 11 years. I worked at an ice cream shop in town; I started when I was a sophomore in high school and retired in 2021. I’ll be honest: I miss the friends I had there, but I don’t miss waiting on the public.

5. I’ve never broken a bone. I guess the closest thing I’ve done is sprained my ankle during my senior year of college walking down stairs while holding a box.

6. I’m 5’2″. And even when I buy petite pants, I still sometimes have to cuff them.

7. I’ve been dyeing my hair since high school. Most of the time I do blond highlights, but in high school and in the past five years or so, I’ve had purple and pink put in.

8. I don’t like the following foods: mushrooms, bananas, meat sauce, pie crust, and milk. Mushrooms are just absolutely disgusting, the bananas, meat sauce, and pie crust are a texture thing, and drinking straight milk grosses me out. (I’ll only put a splash in my tea, but that’s it.)

9. I didn’t start drinking coffee until three years ago. It was a weird pandemic quirk I picked up when my mom brought home an iced coffee that Dunkin’ made wrong. It was way too sweet for my liking but it wasn’t terrible? I’m still bad at ordering coffee but I’ve got my Dunkin’ order down to a science.

10. I’ve lived in the same town for my entire life. Well, minus the three years I lived at college, but I don’t think those really count. When I moved into my condo, I moved about 15 minutes across town from my parents. It still feels like I have my own independence but the comforts I’ve been used to growing up.

11. My favorite show is Law & Order: SVU. I think I’ve seen mostly all of the 500+ episodes; I’d be interested to see if there are actually ones I’ve never seen before.

12. I have one tattoo. I never thought I’d get one, but my mom and I got tattoos in June 2021 to honor our Golden Retriever that we had to put down. Mine is a small paw print on the inside of my right wrist, and my mom has the same paw print plus our dog’s name, Sadie Mae.

13. I’ve only been to one concert. It was in 2017, and it was Thomas Rhett and Jason Aldean. It was perfectly fine—the venue it was at had open seats on the lawn—but I’m not sure I’d be able to do such a large crowd. If I ever go to another concert, it’d probably have to be on the smaller side.

14. I have exercise-induced asthma. I found out I did in middle school when I had to run the mile for the state testing. So it’s definitely ironic that I chose running as a hobby about five years ago. I have an inhaler that I use before I go on runs, and during races, I’ll carry it with me in my running belt.

15. I work at the university where I got my degrees. I’ve been working in the marketing department since October 2018, managing the social media accounts and updating/maintaining the website.

16. Both of my degrees (bachelor’s and master’s) are in communication. In high school, I took one accounting class and thought that was what I wanted to do. Thankfully I changed my mind—I’m terrible at math—and decided to major in communication because I like to write.

17. I had braces twice. I spent a lot of time at the orthodontist when I was younger. I even had headgear—yes, I know—and went through braces twice, once in elementary school and then once again during the end of middle school into high school. I have a small mouth, and I had a lot of overcrowding with my teeth, so it took a while to get everything straightened out—literally. My parents tell me to protect my mouth at all costs now since I went through so much.

18. My favorite style of beers are sours, NEIPAs, and milkshakes. I’m mostly open to trying new styles, but the ones I stay away from are west coast and stouts.

19. When I was younger, I did gymnastics at a dance studio. It was from fourth grade to ninth grade, and when they stopped offering gymnastics, I took three months of jazz before quitting. When I was taking gymnastics classes, I helped assistant teach the younger classes. I can still do a cartwheel but not much else, or at least, without hurting myself.

20. My favorite appetizers are spinach and artichoke dip, fried pickles, and big pretzels. Whenever Josh and I go out to dinner, we alternate between getting fried pickles and big pretzels. And I feel like I could eat spinach and artichoke dip as my only meal for the rest of my life.

21. I failed my driver’s permit test the first time. I was so nervous and I just got one too many wrong. I was able to go back the next week and take it again, which is when I passed. Thankfully, I passed the actual driver’s test on the first try.

22. I sleep with socks on. I feel like the socks or no socks debate is controversial, but I’m team socks 100%.

23. I’ve either briefly met or seen the following famous people: Andy Grammer, Gabriel Iglesias, Dan + Shay, Brothers Osbourne, Buster Olney, and David Ortiz. The first four I met in college when I worked on our spring concert’s planning committee. I also met Buster Olney in college when he came to speak at an event put on by the College of Business. And we saw our close, personal friend David Ortiz in December 2021 when he was at the local casino.

24. I’m an only child. I like it, mostly because it’s all I’ve ever known. It’s why I’m comfortable being by myself and probably why I’m an introvert. I don’t like the stereotype that all only children are spoiled. It depends on the family and how they’re raised. Yes, my parents are able to help me out, and did while I was growing up, but I also learned how to take care of myself, save money, and support myself.

25. My favorite food is any form of pasta and cheese. So mac and cheese and baked zitis are on the list, and I also like pizza. A lot.

26. My Hogwarts House is Hufflepuff. I didn’t read the entire Harry Potter series until the start of the pandemic, and of course, I had to take the quiz online to see what my sorting house was.

27. My current car is a silver Chevy Trax named Benny. I bought it in February 2017 and paid it off at the end of 2020. It’s named after Andrew Benintendi, who at the time when I bought it, played for the Red Sox. And even though he left a few years ago, I kept the name.

28. I started this blog during my junior year of college. I’d write occasionally during college and post-graduation, but I didn’t start writing consistently until 2018. I’m glad I have this outlet to write about whatever and I’ve met some great internet friends, too!

29. I believe in the universe. I’m not religious, but I think that the universe as a whole has a plan for us. There are so many moving parts happening in life, and it’s weird sometimes how things just happen, especially when you least expect them to, and I think that what’s meant for you will find you.