Random Tidbits About Me!

OK...I've been tagged by my friends Ansku and Sarah to do this, so here we go! Here are some random tidbits of info about me!

1. I think the worst smells in the world are the smells of dirty rags and old banana peels. I can handle dirty diapers or anything else of that genre, but if there's a dirty rag in the sink, I want to throw up!
2. I don't do well with little sleep. I actually HATE staying up late because I'm thinking the whole time about waking up in the morning...just the THOUGHT of being tired makes me grumpy. However, I can't go to bed if anyone else is up or anything remotely exciting is going on. Growing up, I was always really grumpy after sleepovers. My mom threatened me with no more...she should have followed through with her threats for all of our benefit! I guess I haven't grown out of that!
3. Regardless of the grumpiness resulting from sleep deprivation, I get up almost every morning at 5:15 am to go to the gym. It's the only time that I never have any other commitments to prevent me from working out and I actually love this time to myself and feel more productive for the rest of the day as a result. Somehow the endorphins must cancel out the grumpiness from lack of sleep, or my husband would be suffering terribly!
4. I LOVE reading. I used to think this made me really dorky. One year my parents put really fun stuff about Kimberly and Michael in our family Christmas letter (Kimberly dating and driving, Michael doing crazy little boy stuff, etc.) and then said about me "Robyn loves to read." I was livid! I thought I sounded like the most boring 13-year old on the planet. Now I'm really thankful for the escape a good book brings and hope my kids have the same love for reading!
5. I have lived in Japan, the Dominican Republic and Finland for extended periods of time. I won a scholarship to be an exchange student in Japan the summer between my Junior and Senior years of High School. It was my first time really being away from home. I loved the DR and Finland (years later), but spent the whole 6 weeks in Japan counting down until I could go home! I really wish I would have appreciated what a great opportunity it was instead of being homesick the whole time!
6. I love math! Besides Spanish and Choir, it was always my favorite class in High School. I especially love Algebra...I get a high from solving hard equations! I went to college with the intent of becoming a Math and Spanish teacher. However, I hated my first college Calculus class. I blamed it on the teacher, but really it was probably me being too into the social scene to bother putting the time and effort into really understanding what was going on. I graduated in Marriage, Family and Human Development instead.
7. I turn red really easily...even when I'm not embarrassed! Growing up I had several nicknames resulting from this. I remember boys calling me "Glow Worm" in the 6th grade, and "Red Robyn" later. The ultimate, however, was my Freshman and Sophomore Spanish teacher, Mr. Garcia. He nick-named me "Tomate" (tomato in Spanish). Every single day for two years, he would spend a portion of the class saying, "OK, lets see how red we can get tomate to turn today" and I would--on-cue--proceed to turn very red. I couldn't help it...it worked every time! And yes,unfortunately, it still does!

So that's me! I guess I will tag Michael, Maylene, Eleisha, and Evelyn (and whoever else wants to share!). Tell us some random facts about YOU!