One of the best things about this blog of mine is the opportunity to talk to people from all walks of life, all areas of the country (and many from around the world!), and varied backgrounds. Please comment or email me at any time – I love hearing from my readers! Of course, if we’re going to be spending time together, you might want to learn a little more about what makes me tick. We’ve probably got a few things in common but run crossways on a few others, and that’s okay! Here are fourteen facts about me:
14 Facts About Andi
- I’ve run multiple marathons and half marathons, including some while pregnant, despite a strong urge to veg on the couch and watch TV or use my iPad. My running achievements can only be explained by my need for stress relief and a rabid compulsion to never do anything halfway.
- I love my children more than life itself, and I like many specific kids (the progeny of my close friends, for instance), but I’m not a fan of children in general, and especially not in large groups. I don’t enjoy field trips and have never been a room mom. I don’t even take my kids to the fall festival at school – I make Mr. Andi do it.
- My education includes a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Auburn University and an MBA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In my former life, I worked as a power engineer. As part of my training, I learned to climb power poles with just a strap and spikes.
- I met my husband in the human resources waiting area of Alabama Power Company. We were interviewing for the same job.
- I believe in Auburn and love it, and my love for it has nothing to do with sports (although I do love Auburn football, too!)
- The first time I was ever published I was thirteen; it was a letter to the editor of the Birmingham News about Auburn football. More recently, I’ve appeared in The Huffington Post, BlogHer, WhattoExpect.com, Parents.com, Dandelion Magazine, DifferentDream.com, TheMighty.com, and published an ebook for special needs parents.
- I converted to Catholicism in 2009 after years of study and prayer, but my heart was Catholic from childhood, despite over three decades as a Southern Baptist. Mr. Andi followed me into the church in 2015.
- I have an uncanny knack for recognizing faces in movies, commercials, and TV and knowing what else they have been in. I’m also pretty good with identifying actors in voiceovers, but I can rarely remember actual names.
- I’ve taken Myers-Briggs personality tests (INTJ) as part of a group several times in my life, and every time people express surprise that I am an introvert. Being an INTJ puts me in the same group as real-life personalities Vladimir Putin and Jane Austen and fictional characters Walter White (“Breaking Bad”) and Katniss Everdeen (“The Hunger Games”).
- I’m a rare variety of lifelong Southerner who drinks my iced tea unsweetened (though I do add sugar or honey to my hot tea).
- I’ve read Gone With the Wind over thirty times. My sister once had me recite the entire first page of the book to a Margaret Mitchell tour guide wearing a hoop skirt in Atlanta, Georgia.
- I love violets. I have an entire curio cabinet filled with violet items and a tattoo of a violet on my upper right hip; I got it two months before I became pregnant with Sarah Kate. The only time I’ve ever regretted having it was when Sarah Kate was born and the doctor asked us to line up blood donations in case she needed a transfusion. I was not allowed to donate because I had gotten a tattoo within the last twelve months.
- I love Dr. Pepper, Doritos, British television, both dogs AND cats, Goo Goo Dolls, ABBA, Walt Disney World, Mickey Mouse, Mark Wahlberg, the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, running skirts, yoga pants, Tervis Tumblers, Harry Potter, and ESPN.
- I can’t stand the school car line, charter buses, compact fluorescent light bulbs, holiday decorating, cold weather, decision-making, all board games (but especially Pictionary), shopping for anything other than groceries, mopping, turtlenecks, all types of gardening, making phone calls, and bowling.