1) After college I lived in London, England for 5 months under a student working visa and then snagged another visa for Ireland for another 5 months. My first job in England was working for Ross Nye stables and got to ride in Hyde Park. It was awesome!!! Sadly the pay was so bad I couldn't make it work long term, plus I was there to travel and needed a different job so I ended up working for a high profile catering company and worked at various events around London. Though the coolest event I worked at was at Saddler's Hall where they had ancient saddles and tack on display for the British Horse Society. It was mostly for the people that provided the money for sending people to the Olympics that year (it was 2008) and not the riders, sadly. But still loved it!!!!!
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| I spent Christmas in Scotland with a bunch of crazy people! Of course I can't find the awesome group shot so you'll have to settle for me holding the Scottish flag instead |
2) I love Roller Coasters. The speed. The loops. Omg they’re scary as hell and exhilarating when you’re done. Maybe that’s why I event? Same feeling on XC!!!
3) My favorite movie is The Princess Bride and I basically have the entire movie memorized. My parents must of bought the movie for me as a kid b/c I definitely owned it on VHS and watched it more times than I probably should admit ;) Westly was my first celebrity crush and Cary Elwes is coming to Greenville's Comic Con and I'm actually considering going to meet him! Though I haven't figure out tickets nor do I want to go by myself and not sure if anyone would go with me!
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| Princess Buttercup may of been winey and helpless but Westly was perfect |
4) I love Star Wars and have made it a priority to go to the "midnight" showings (our local theater has been showing the "midnight" showing at 7:30 for the most recent movies so i don't have to stay up until 3 am!) I'm not so crazed about it that I have those nerdy details memorized, nor do I have any collectors items/toy figures, but I love the story and have watched them multiple times in my life. Plus the music. I mean come on, when you hear the opening note to the main theme it just sparks something and I love it!!!
5) I basically grew up at summer camp. My mom was head of Riding at a camp and took me every summer she was there. I was a tiny kid (ages 1-8ish) and pretty much had free rein of the camp. I'm sure when I was really tiny there was a baby sitter watching all the tiny children (I was not the only one) but once we were old enough to be on our own it was free game! I always had supervision b/c the counselors were everywhere but for a 5-8ish year old kid it was the best feeling ever to do whatever I wanted. I went swimming, riding, hung out with my friends, caught newts, sang songs, basically it was the best childhood summer I could ever envision and really count my lucky stars that I was able to “grow up” at a summer camp. Also probably should credit my love of Star Wars to camp bc it’s where I first saw the movies. They played them on movie night every year so yeah, I was conditioned to like them right?
6) I was really into theater and acted in all the plays in middle and high school. My first roll was in 6th grade and I played Uncle the Pig in Charlotte’s Web. I still remember one of my lines too! “I’ve got this competition all sewed up but I won’t needle you about it. Get it? Haw Haw!” Yeah that’s the only line i still remember of all the plays I did (well ok, I kinda remember the to be or not to be speech when I was Hamlet in a spoof one act, but I’m not counting it bc it’s quite famous)
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| Awkward hair style of the 90's and rocking out my costume for The Pale Pink Dragon |
7) I’m still friends with my high school friends and talk to them fairly often. We have a group chat that’s constantly being blown up. Though since most of my friends have babies it usually has something to do with that but it’s usually funny kid related stuff like when my friend’s kid drew a family portrait and everyone looked like a group of penises with faces. So it’s usually pretty entertaining and I’ll randomly send a picture of one of the animals since they’re my “children”
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| Senior Year of High School |
8) I love to read books. I would stay up all night reading books with a flashlight so my parents would think I'd gone to bed. I love fiction and tend to gravitate towards the fantasy genre. My favorite series when I was a young teen was The Song of the Lioness quartet and I wanted to be Alanna. Or Daine in the Immortals books b/c she could talk to animals and had a pony named Cloud. Currently am obsessed with The Green Rider series and can’t wait for her to write the next book!!!! Actually obsessed with many series including Outlander.
But I love a good story that takes your mind off of everything else but the characters and what’s going on. That’s probably why I loved acting so much, it was an escape from reality where I could be someone else for a brief bit.
But I love a good story that takes your mind off of everything else but the characters and what’s going on. That’s probably why I loved acting so much, it was an escape from reality where I could be someone else for a brief bit.
9) I didn't get my ears pierced until I was 18. I was on spring break with my friends in Fla and we were at the mall (my friends loved to shop I did not) and I decided to get my ears pierced at Claire's. It wasn't completely spontaneous b/c I'd been debating it for a bit but decided I was going to do it so I could wear pretty earrings to prom. It was probably cutting it very close to take the studs out for prom but I was determined to wear pretty earrings but when I took the "pretty" earrings out after prom my ears bled like crazy and hurt like hell but I wore my pretty earrings to prom! (they weren't that pretty)
10) When I was younger I was obsessed with Native Americans. I wanted to be Native American. But I'm pale as hell and have red hair.... nothing about me is Native American. But I was really into how they respected the earth and their stories. Plus the plains Indians rode wild ponies.... ummm YES PLEASE!!!
11) I wear long sleeves year round. I used to wear t-shirts and short sleeves but in 2011 my cousin had a September wedding and the bridesmaid dress was strapless. I was getting ready for my B rating (the reason I started this blog) and was spending a lot of time outside and in the sun and did not want to show up to her fancy wedding with a farmers tan. So I stole all my dad's old button down shirts and wore them all summer. It was so nice not getting sunburned that I continued to wear long sleeves year round. Now that they make long sleeve sun shirts my life is complete and I wear them all the time!
12) I'm an only child. I love being an only child. But growing up I was not alone. There was a group of kids my ageish (give or take a year or two) and our parents would hire a babysitter for all of us and we'd rotate houses the baby sitter would watch us at. Plus I have 3 1st cousins that lived nearby and one of my cousins is 22 days older than me so we were treated as twins growing up. I loved this life b/c I had "siblings" but could go home and be alone.
13) From the time I started going to school and until I left for college I woke up every school day to the oldies station, Magic 96.1. My parents did not like the current trends of top 40 music so I wasn't allowed to listen to it when they were around. I guess it became a habit though and I never changed my radio over to 95.1 when I was older and easily could of. There was something joyful about waking up to "Shafer and the Eggman" every morning before school. Plus they had a nice balance of music to talking which Ace and TJ over at 95.1 were to busy talking all the time and would play 4 songs an hour (ok so that's probably an exaggeration but they did talk a lot and I wanted to hear music in the morning) Sadly the radio station changed music while I was away at college and I came home to my beloved oldies station playing crappy rap music. Now 96.1 in Charlotte plays more top 40 songs but during that first change over it was heavily rap based, which I'm not a fan of.
14) Anytime I was in the car with my mom she would always be listening to NPR. I hated it b/c they didn't play music and always talked about the news. But I did enjoy Car Talk and Prairie Home Companion on the weekends and wouldn't complain to much then. When I was older and had come back to Charlotte after college I found myself listening to NPR and actually loving it!!!! That's when I realized people weren't kidding when they say you turn into your parents... oh damn! While I was still in Charlotte I religiously listened to Charlotte Talks every morning at 9am while I was working b/c they always had really interesting things on. It's were I found out about the Carolina Chocolate Drops and have seen them in concert twice now and they are amazing live. They're from Charlotte area which is why they got to be on Charlotte Talks :) I could ramble on about my newfound love for NPR and how I turned into my mother but I'm going to stop while I'm still ahead!!!
15) I'm really into music but I haven't carved out enough time recently to be in the know anymore. It's funny how my music choices have changed over the years and if you look in my library you'll find a very eclectic selection ranging from top 40, to movie soundtracks/scores, to bluegrass, broadway, alternative, oldies, lots of indie labels, and a fair amount of lesser knows. I was very much into punk rock and very bass oriented alt rock in high school (I was very into Incubus, System of a Down and Tool in my high school days, and oh and Chevelle's The Red was my JAM). Currently I'm finding myself gravitating to folk music like The Harmaleighs, Avett Brothers (just watched their documentary so they're on my mind in a big way!), Nathaniel Ratliff & the Night Sweats, oh and the Lumineers, and Mumford and Sons probably started it all! But I love all songs that give you the feels, no matter what genre they're from (though rap and pop country RARELY gives me the feels)
16) My favorite song is "All These Things That I've Done" by the Killers. OMG the feels. This song deserves to be listened to on high volume!!!! I have yet to get tired of that song and can listen to it multiple times in a row if the mood strikes me
17) My favorite Oscar host was Hugh Jackman. OMG That man is amazing. He is a triple threat!!!!! Can sing, dance, and act!!! What more do you need? I guess you could say he's my current Hollywood crush :)
18) I didn't like Totilas when he was super famous. I thought he was boring. Yeah he was flashy and whatnot but I just didn't find myself drooling over him. Valegro on the other hand, yes I can get behind Charlotte D and Valegro!!!! They deserve to be super famous!!!!
19) I played trumpet in middle school and french horn in high school. I only joined the band to go on trips and had zero desire to practice outside of school. I'm grateful for the music appreciation it taught me and still enjoy listening to symphonic music but so glad I don't play anymore. I was not very good.
20) I have a goal of visiting all 50 states before I die and every continent except Antartica, I'm ok with not going there! I don't know what my State count is but it's probably around 25? As far as continents go I have Australia and South America left! Though I would like to go to the safari side of Africa, I was in Egypt so technically it is Africa but more of the middle eastern side of things.
21) I drove from NC to CA with my friend when she moved to San Diego in January of 2008. That was an awesome road trip! We essentially saw all weather in the 8 day drive!!! It started out with cold gross rain when we left NC, an ice storm when we left Texas, snow and 80 degrees in Arizona, and then brilliant lovely weather in San Diego. We needed t-shirts and heavy jackets for all the weather types we adventured through on that trip :) We made sure that we stopped in every state to say we'd been there and took pictures of every "Welcome to...." sign when we crossed into said state. I flew back home after dropping her off in SD and was so grateful that I was able to go on that trip with her!
22) I don't cook at all. I can cook, and in my single days I'd cook easy stuff but my husband is the cook in the family. We have a rule in our house that I'm not allowed in his kitchen and he's not allowed in my barn. It works for me b/c I don't like how he feeds the horses and he doesn't like how I feed people!! Though my grandmother can't quite wrap her brain around the fact that I don't do any of the cooking, welcome to 2018!!!!
23) I'm quite obsessed with my dog, Jello. She's been my companion for 9 years now and has been with me since I was single and living in Charlotte. I found her on Petfinder.com and it was the best decision ever getting her.
24) We have to many animals at our house. Besides Jello (who I brought into the relationship) we have 5 other dogs, so a total of 6, 4 cats, and 3 horses. We had 4 horses but Finn moved (I can't remember if I mentioned this before?) so we're down to 3, thank god. All the dogs and cats are rescues of various forms, and the horses all have interesting stories of how they came to live with us. I love having all of the animals but am also looking forward to less hair when they get old and pass on. But I know we'll always have animals, I'd just like it to be a smaller number the next go around!
25) Technically I don't own a horse. Husband bought Chimi for his daughter and I was suppose to "train" him until she outgrew Finn and needed her next horse. Instead she decided soccer was more fun and quit riding. So Chimi is still mine but I didn't buy him! (He bought Chimi right before we started dating so I think it was his way of making sure I stuck around hahaha, jk!)
26) I have 2 step kids, a boy and a girl. Love both of them and so grateful that Husband has great kids!
27) My 3 best friends' names start with the letter J. I met JM in 1st grade and we became friends b/c of horses, I met JAG when I was 7/8ish at a Mecklenburg Hounds meeting at her house and we instantly hit it off and still ride together (actually going XC schooling with her on Sunday if all goes to plan!) and met JG at summer camp when I was 9 and we bonded over ponies. Of the 3 only JAG still rides but I still talk about horses with JM and JG.
28) When going somewhere/meeting up with people I am either late or super early. On time? Ha, That's a problem I have yet to solve!!! This also seems to be a curse on my mom's side of the family b/c we're always running late! It drives my dad and Husband crazy b/c they're the On Time kind of people :)
29) I'm obsessed with socks. I have to many socks to count and they all have fun patterns and designs. I recently had to prevent myself from buying more socks b/c I need to cull through my current ones and toss out the ones with to many holes in them. But no joke I LOVE fun socks!!!!
30) I'm left handed. I wish i was more ambidextrous but I'm pretty much dependent on my left hand. I tried writing with my write hand when I was in elementary school so I could teach myself to be ambidextrous but that was very short lived b/c it just took to long for me to struggle through writing anything with my right hand.
So there ya go! 30 things you never thought you'd ever care about to know about Bette :)
10) When I was younger I was obsessed with Native Americans. I wanted to be Native American. But I'm pale as hell and have red hair.... nothing about me is Native American. But I was really into how they respected the earth and their stories. Plus the plains Indians rode wild ponies.... ummm YES PLEASE!!!
11) I wear long sleeves year round. I used to wear t-shirts and short sleeves but in 2011 my cousin had a September wedding and the bridesmaid dress was strapless. I was getting ready for my B rating (the reason I started this blog) and was spending a lot of time outside and in the sun and did not want to show up to her fancy wedding with a farmers tan. So I stole all my dad's old button down shirts and wore them all summer. It was so nice not getting sunburned that I continued to wear long sleeves year round. Now that they make long sleeve sun shirts my life is complete and I wear them all the time!
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| Nice thin cotton men's dress shirt for the win! |
12) I'm an only child. I love being an only child. But growing up I was not alone. There was a group of kids my ageish (give or take a year or two) and our parents would hire a babysitter for all of us and we'd rotate houses the baby sitter would watch us at. Plus I have 3 1st cousins that lived nearby and one of my cousins is 22 days older than me so we were treated as twins growing up. I loved this life b/c I had "siblings" but could go home and be alone.
13) From the time I started going to school and until I left for college I woke up every school day to the oldies station, Magic 96.1. My parents did not like the current trends of top 40 music so I wasn't allowed to listen to it when they were around. I guess it became a habit though and I never changed my radio over to 95.1 when I was older and easily could of. There was something joyful about waking up to "Shafer and the Eggman" every morning before school. Plus they had a nice balance of music to talking which Ace and TJ over at 95.1 were to busy talking all the time and would play 4 songs an hour (ok so that's probably an exaggeration but they did talk a lot and I wanted to hear music in the morning) Sadly the radio station changed music while I was away at college and I came home to my beloved oldies station playing crappy rap music. Now 96.1 in Charlotte plays more top 40 songs but during that first change over it was heavily rap based, which I'm not a fan of.
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| Hello old friend... you attempted to get me up in time for school for many years |
14) Anytime I was in the car with my mom she would always be listening to NPR. I hated it b/c they didn't play music and always talked about the news. But I did enjoy Car Talk and Prairie Home Companion on the weekends and wouldn't complain to much then. When I was older and had come back to Charlotte after college I found myself listening to NPR and actually loving it!!!! That's when I realized people weren't kidding when they say you turn into your parents... oh damn! While I was still in Charlotte I religiously listened to Charlotte Talks every morning at 9am while I was working b/c they always had really interesting things on. It's were I found out about the Carolina Chocolate Drops and have seen them in concert twice now and they are amazing live. They're from Charlotte area which is why they got to be on Charlotte Talks :) I could ramble on about my newfound love for NPR and how I turned into my mother but I'm going to stop while I'm still ahead!!!
15) I'm really into music but I haven't carved out enough time recently to be in the know anymore. It's funny how my music choices have changed over the years and if you look in my library you'll find a very eclectic selection ranging from top 40, to movie soundtracks/scores, to bluegrass, broadway, alternative, oldies, lots of indie labels, and a fair amount of lesser knows. I was very much into punk rock and very bass oriented alt rock in high school (I was very into Incubus, System of a Down and Tool in my high school days, and oh and Chevelle's The Red was my JAM). Currently I'm finding myself gravitating to folk music like The Harmaleighs, Avett Brothers (just watched their documentary so they're on my mind in a big way!), Nathaniel Ratliff & the Night Sweats, oh and the Lumineers, and Mumford and Sons probably started it all! But I love all songs that give you the feels, no matter what genre they're from (though rap and pop country RARELY gives me the feels)
16) My favorite song is "All These Things That I've Done" by the Killers. OMG the feels. This song deserves to be listened to on high volume!!!! I have yet to get tired of that song and can listen to it multiple times in a row if the mood strikes me
17) My favorite Oscar host was Hugh Jackman. OMG That man is amazing. He is a triple threat!!!!! Can sing, dance, and act!!! What more do you need? I guess you could say he's my current Hollywood crush :)
18) I didn't like Totilas when he was super famous. I thought he was boring. Yeah he was flashy and whatnot but I just didn't find myself drooling over him. Valegro on the other hand, yes I can get behind Charlotte D and Valegro!!!! They deserve to be super famous!!!!
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| Hello most amazing Blueberry!!!! |
19) I played trumpet in middle school and french horn in high school. I only joined the band to go on trips and had zero desire to practice outside of school. I'm grateful for the music appreciation it taught me and still enjoy listening to symphonic music but so glad I don't play anymore. I was not very good.
20) I have a goal of visiting all 50 states before I die and every continent except Antartica, I'm ok with not going there! I don't know what my State count is but it's probably around 25? As far as continents go I have Australia and South America left! Though I would like to go to the safari side of Africa, I was in Egypt so technically it is Africa but more of the middle eastern side of things.
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| First rest stop in Texas! I can't remember if we got a picture of a "Welcome to Texas" sign b/c it was night when we finally arrived there (and we left at 9pm the next day so we could stay ahead of the ice storm that was suppose to hit Dallas- yeah that was a sketchy drive to New Mexico) |
21) I drove from NC to CA with my friend when she moved to San Diego in January of 2008. That was an awesome road trip! We essentially saw all weather in the 8 day drive!!! It started out with cold gross rain when we left NC, an ice storm when we left Texas, snow and 80 degrees in Arizona, and then brilliant lovely weather in San Diego. We needed t-shirts and heavy jackets for all the weather types we adventured through on that trip :) We made sure that we stopped in every state to say we'd been there and took pictures of every "Welcome to...." sign when we crossed into said state. I flew back home after dropping her off in SD and was so grateful that I was able to go on that trip with her!
22) I don't cook at all. I can cook, and in my single days I'd cook easy stuff but my husband is the cook in the family. We have a rule in our house that I'm not allowed in his kitchen and he's not allowed in my barn. It works for me b/c I don't like how he feeds the horses and he doesn't like how I feed people!! Though my grandmother can't quite wrap her brain around the fact that I don't do any of the cooking, welcome to 2018!!!!
23) I'm quite obsessed with my dog, Jello. She's been my companion for 9 years now and has been with me since I was single and living in Charlotte. I found her on Petfinder.com and it was the best decision ever getting her.
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| The motley crew- Jello is the dog on the far right |
25) Technically I don't own a horse. Husband bought Chimi for his daughter and I was suppose to "train" him until she outgrew Finn and needed her next horse. Instead she decided soccer was more fun and quit riding. So Chimi is still mine but I didn't buy him! (He bought Chimi right before we started dating so I think it was his way of making sure I stuck around hahaha, jk!)
26) I have 2 step kids, a boy and a girl. Love both of them and so grateful that Husband has great kids!
27) My 3 best friends' names start with the letter J. I met JM in 1st grade and we became friends b/c of horses, I met JAG when I was 7/8ish at a Mecklenburg Hounds meeting at her house and we instantly hit it off and still ride together (actually going XC schooling with her on Sunday if all goes to plan!) and met JG at summer camp when I was 9 and we bonded over ponies. Of the 3 only JAG still rides but I still talk about horses with JM and JG.
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| JM on her pony Star, Me on my horse Gypsy, and JAG on her pony Rosie (not 100% sure who the bay is) Gotta love those old school white helmets!!!!! |
28) When going somewhere/meeting up with people I am either late or super early. On time? Ha, That's a problem I have yet to solve!!! This also seems to be a curse on my mom's side of the family b/c we're always running late! It drives my dad and Husband crazy b/c they're the On Time kind of people :)
29) I'm obsessed with socks. I have to many socks to count and they all have fun patterns and designs. I recently had to prevent myself from buying more socks b/c I need to cull through my current ones and toss out the ones with to many holes in them. But no joke I LOVE fun socks!!!!
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| Batman socks are just one of many bright and festive socks in my drawer! |
30) I'm left handed. I wish i was more ambidextrous but I'm pretty much dependent on my left hand. I tried writing with my write hand when I was in elementary school so I could teach myself to be ambidextrous but that was very short lived b/c it just took to long for me to struggle through writing anything with my right hand.
So there ya go! 30 things you never thought you'd ever care about to know about Bette :)
This is so cool! I tried to be ambidextrous also (I'm right-handed and tried to be left-handed), but that was short-lived. And YES to Chevelle's The Red! And to reading with a flashlight. Seriously up all night. And no to all the cooking. I can make a mean bowl of cereal, but that's the extent of my culinary skills. Loved reading more about you!
ReplyDeleteCereal for the win! I have been know to eat cereal for dinner when husband wasn’t cooking ð
DeleteAll the yes to the Killers and Tamora Pierce books. Also, did you see the Greatest Showman? The music (and Hugh...) is great!
ReplyDeleteYES!!!!!! Loved it :) My favorite part was how they incorporated their actions into the music (like nailing the signs up and slamming the drink glasses on the bar… so cool!)
DeleteMusic is the best and the only way to get through a lot of things life throws at you. So cool you wen to Scotland. It is on my visit list and I was so sad I didn't get there when I was in Europe. I too would love to visit all 50 states. I want to do the "it" thing for each state while I'm there.
ReplyDeleteFor sure go to Scotland!!!! I want to go back in the summer when it’s not freezing and the sun lasts longer than 3:30pm ð
DeleteI JUST re-read Wild Magic the other day for the umpteenth time. <3 <3 <3
ReplyDeleteI loved the first two Green Rider books but the third left me kind of eh.
I might have to break out Wild Magic again too :) and I can see how the 3rd book was meh… her story kinda got a bit draggy? But I feel like her momentum has sped back up bc the last book felt like a lot was going on to set up for the final book (whenever that’ll be)
DeleteHaha I found myself reading this in your voice... which made it so much more interesting! Love it all :)
ReplyDeleteHahahahaha!!! It’s a good thing you know what my voice sounds like bc otherwise I’m sure my list just rambles on ððð
Deletejust catching up on your blog but love your 30 things. I recommend the memoir As You wish (Carey Elwes narrates it and it is amazing). Really a fun book. Buy it on tape/audible etc NOT the book you gotta hear him narrate it :) I loved Hugh Jackman as the host that year too (AND JUST LOVE HIM He is the whole package you are correct). Ha i love how you got Chimi too! :) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI bought the book when it came out but them promptly lost it (WTH???) But Cary Elwes narrating it sounds way more fun than reading!!!!! Thanks for letting me know b/c I was wanting a good audio book to listen to!!!!
DeleteI lost the book too!! LOL its great to listen to him and so many good stories.
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