50 Things You Might Not Know About Me
In honour of my 50th birthday, I thought I would share some things about me that you might not know!
Photo complements of Union 11 Photographers
I was born at the very beginning of the seventies, just in time to still be able to fashionably wear bell bottom jeans in my youth.
I am a middle child, with two sisters, whose influence on my life has shaped who I am today. We didn't always like each other in our youth, but they are two of my closest friends now.
I am married to an Indian guy, yet I really dislike Indian food and never eat it.
I love all sushi, as long as it isn't spicy.
My kids will always be my kids, but they are young adults now! My oldest is days away from 21 and my youngest is nearly 19.
I studied Commerce at the University of Ottawa in the early 1990's, but I did my first year at Bishop's University. By the time the year was over, I had spent every single cent I had saved, so I came back home, got a job and transferred back to U of O so I could live at home and save money. I finished paying off my loans within 6 months of finishing University. Coming back to Ottawa was probably the best financial decision I could have made at the time. It set me up for so many better opportunities than I would have had if I had stayed at Bishops.
I'm hyper organized and label everything I can (yes, I have a label maker!), but I still sometimes can't find something I'm looking for! Organized things make me happy.
I hated tomatoes until we went to Greece in 1999 and then they were in everything. I eat tomatoes all the time now, but those tomatoes in Greece were the best I've ever had.
Our trip to Greece in 1999 was my first trip overseas.
My mom is one of the strongest people I know. She is 78 and still travels, line dances, crafts and hikes.
I rarely do laundry (don't worry, my clothes are clean, I just don't do it!)
My favourite colour is deep red. For many years, I couldn't stand anything pink, but then I had a baby girl. And then I bought FITMOM. Now, I embrace all things pink!
August 23rd is my birthday, but I'm usually conspicuously away on holidays or something. One final hurrah before the beginning of September.
I was born at 1 minute past midnight, and if I was born a few minutes earlier, I would have been considered a Leo.
My dad wanted to finish watching the baseball game before going to the hospital when my mom announced that she thought she was in labour. That was around 10 pm on the 22nd. After nearly 2 weeks of extra "cooking", I was in a bit of a rush to get out.
I grew up road tripping across the country, but there's still some of it I haven't seen. For years, I wanted to road trip and camp across the country as an adult. To this day, driving west on the Queensway on a weekend morning, reminds me of going on a road trip and makes me nostalgic.
I finally convinced Chris to buy a trailer in the spring of 2018 so that we could “glamp” across Canada someday. We’ve been figuring things out over the past three seasons and while we haven’t crossed Canada yet, we’ve been to some pretty special places already.
I like technology and wanted to go to ITI (Information Technology Institute) when I was younger, but it was super expensive and I thought I should get the use out of my degree and accounting designation first. A few years ago, I built the FITMOM Ottawa website from scratch. Two years ago, I built another website to chronicle our camping trips (you can follow along, if you’d like: www.ourhollydayhome.com).
I’ve been playing volleyball with the same team since 1998. There are 5 of us that have been together the entire time.
I played volleyball only from grade 7-10 and then went back to rec volleyball in University. I've never been formally coached since high school, so positions and play is completely self taught. I can hold my own though, and have spared for a competitive team for the past 8 or 9 years.
A hardcore mayo user, I made the switch to avocado a few years ago and haven't used mayo since.
This year is my 25th wedding anniversary so I've been married almost half of my life!
Before I got married, I said I would change my name. Then I got married and got cold feet, so I kept my maiden name.
My father died of heart disease when I was 21. He had a quadruple bypass when he was younger than I am now. This is why fitness and healthy living are extremely important to me. He's missed out on so many of our family's milestones and I don't want the same fate.
I'm an accountant (formerly CMA, but now we're called CPAs) and while I left the corporate world more than 10 years ago to run FITMOM, I still love a spreadsheet and will look for any opportunity to create one and analyze something.
I had dangerously high blood pressure and HELLP syndrome during my first pregnancy, resulting in the early arrival of my baby boy. He was 4 lbs 4 oz back then. Now he's almost 21 and a hair shy of 6 feet tall.
I like to run, but I don't consider myself a really fast runner these days. In my high school days, I ran the 100 m and 200 m races on the track. I also ran the 4x100 m relay.
I ran my one and only half marathon the week before my second baby turned one. I just missed my goal of running it in under 2 hours. I did it in 2:02:50, which I was still proud of, since I had never run more than 5Km before I started training for it.
I rarely eat red meat, but I LOVE a good hamburger. My mom taught me how to make the best homemade burgers and my dad taught me how to BBQ them.
My love affair with Lululemon began long before I started teaching fitness. I don't buy it because I want to be ultra cool, I buy it because it's the only fitness clothing that comes with an arm length long enough for me! But, truth be told, I love the the way it makes me feel also:)
My son reminds me so much of my dad in so many ways. He has a strong resemblance to my dad (and I) and his personality is very much like both mine and my dad's. I see my dad in him more and more as he gets older. We easily knock heads over the little things, but he rarely gives me anything big to worry about.
I don't have much rhythm and find anything choreographed a HUGE challenge! (think aerobics, line dancing, kick boxing...)
I met my very best friend in Brownies when we were 7 years old. I knew we would be friends when she was my secret friend at Guide camp one year and did all sorts of really nice things for me. We've always been like sisters, despite the fact that we never went to the same school.
My dad taught me how to BBQ, make an omelet and cook in a wok. I still have his old omelet pan and wok (and use them both), but I have my own BBQ.
I don't consider myself creative (I can't draw a stick person), but I love taking photos and making online photobooks and scrapbooks. It takes me about 2 hours to complete a 2 page layout when I'm scrapbooking! My albums are a work in progress.
My husband buys a good portion of my wardrobe for me, either for my birthday or for Christmas. A few years ago, he bought me a pair of red high heeled Fluevogs for my birthday. They are beautiful and I wear them every chance I get (which is sadly, not very often!)
I only own about a dozen pairs of shoes (including my running shoes and winter boots). I don't consider myself flashy, but besides the red high heels, I have a pair of purple high heeled suede boots. I don't get many opportunities to wear them, but when I do, I feel like a million bucks.
My daughter has me wrapped around her finger. She's developed a bit of a sarcastic side in her teenage years, but she's mostly sweet, kind, a people pleaser and gives amazing hugs whenever I want them.
I have raynaud's syndrome. When my hands get too cold (all the time in the winter), my finger tips start to turn white. I find it pretty annoying seeing that I spend lots of time in arenas and I live in Ottawa! I've learned how to better manage it in recent years, but having a car with a heated steering wheel has been life changing!
I love dark chocolate, especially with milk.
I could eat fish, salmon or seafood every night for dinner. I look for it on the menu every time we go out for dinner.
I love to read. Fiction. Chick lit, usually, or young adult. Once I start a book, I have a hard time putting it down and I tend to "disappear" for the duration. My family rolls their eyes as soon as I take out a book while on vacation. I loved the Harry Potter series and I really enjoy fictional thrillers (a la Gone Girl). I grew up with Nancy Drew and the Bobbsey Twins and I would take my pillow, climb the tree in my front yard and read for hours.
My all time favourite movie is When Harry Met Sally, followed closely by the Sound of Music.
I grew up listening to Bryan Adams. I knew all the words to all of his songs. I saw him in concert at least a dozen times, but by far the best was the last concert I went to: Unplugged at the NAC. We had amazing seats, it was so very intimate feeling and such an amazing concert that it spoiled me for future concerts. I should have been born a year earlier (Summer of ‘69:)
I met my husband in May 1994 and drove to Florida with him for a week in September that year. After 50 or so hours in the car together, we knew that we were going to get married and started looking for engagement rings a month or two later.
Having babies changed everything for me. For years, I thought I wanted a big career, a big title, big benefits and a big paycheque. Everything changed the first time I saw my tiny baby boy and I realized, over and over, that what I really wanted was to be a mom.
In elementary school, I wanted to be a gymnast. In middle school, I wanted to play volleyball. In high school, I wanted to run track. Doing any of these things at an elite level was just not in my family's budget. We tried to give our kids opportunities to experience different sports and always said that when they gave us a hard time, we would not register the next year. It's been such a pleasure to see them both embrace and excel at many sports. Despite the cost and time commitment over many years, it makes me proud to see how sports have so positively impacted their lives. I wouldn't have it any other way.
I put on 65 lbs when I was pregnant with my son. I didn't know anything about being pregnant, I worked WAY too much and I ate terrible food. My exercise was limited to a once a week prenatal aqua-fit class (where we were shushed if we talked!!!). It was early on in my mat leave that I met my group of mammas and we spent lots of time together, exercising, socializing, sharing information and getting back to ourselves. Fitness and friends were an integral part of my mat leave and I wouldn't have gone back to work with as much confidence or happiness if it hadn't been for them.
I used to add 2 teaspoons of sugar in my coffee but completely stopped about 5 years ago - cold turkey! It took several months to adjust and actually like coffee again. I still add cream to it though!
When I took over FITMOM over 10 years ago, I COMPLETELY underestimated the impact it would have on my life. Aside from the decision to get married and the decision to start a family, buying FITMOM was THE BEST decision I've made in my life. Being part of such a wonderful community of women has made me a better person, wife, mom, sister, daughter and friend. I often have people tell me what an impact my programs have had on their lives, but I need to say that you've all had a huge impact on my life, well being and happiness. Thank you from the bottom of my heart:)
I hope you've enjoyed learning more about me! I had fun thinking of 50 things, but I still can't believe that that's how old I am. I'm going to just stick with the saying that age is only a state of mind and my state of mind is much, MUCH younger:)
What about you? What’s something I don’t know about you? Feel free to drop me a line and share a little about yourself!