Meet the Blogger: 10 Facts About Me

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is 10 facts about me. There are lots of ways bloggers could take this topic, and I decided to focus on 10 get-to-know-you biggies that often come up in first conversations. Booknerd is obviously a huge thing, but you all know that already! ;)

Hi, I'm Lindsay. Nice to meet you!
I'd love for you to leave a fact about yourself in the comments!

1. I'm an Air Force spouse (and I grew up an Air Force brat).

My dad was in the Air Force until I was in high school, so in some ways it was a natural transition for me to marry an Air Force guy. There are a million highs and lows to being a military family. Moving every three years means life is a constant adventure, but it also means missing out on family events, leaving good jobs and good friends, and never being able to have nice thing without worrying about them being broken in a move (something we're dealing with right this very minute, in the middle of unpacking from our move from Ohio to Hawaii).

2. I'm from Colorado.

My Dad's job took us to Colorado in 1997 and that's where my parents settled down. While I can't say I'm a Colorado native, it's where I attended middle school through college and it's where I call home. I can't help telling everyone I meet how amazing Colorado is. I love hiking and photography and mountain drives and plentiful sunshine and gorgeous seasons and Colorado is the place to be for all of that! Go Broncos!

3. My other big hobby besides reading is knitting.

I taught myself to knit (with the help of the internet) in 2009 while Jarrod was attending some military school and I was between jobs and needed something to do. Now it's one of my biggest passions! I love creating things, and many knitters find the craft to be incredibly soothing and relaxing. After all those years I finally knit my first sweater last year (of course, it's a long-sleeve, thick wool cardigan that I won't have a single use for in the next three years), and I'm working on another one right now -- a short-sleeve cotton top that'll be suitable for Hawaii.

4. My last two jobs were at libraries...

...and I hope to be working at one again soon. One of the hardest things about leaving Ohio was saying goodbye to my lovely library and awesome co-workers. Working at a public library can mean some crazy and irritating experiences (you should look up Librarian Bingo if you haven't seen it; here's one version!) but it was so nice getting to share my passion for books with patrons and my co-workers all day.

5. I'm single-handedly keeping the post office in business.

In a time when so much of life is conducted online, it's such a wonderful treat to find something fun and personal waiting in the mailbox! I send cards for every holiday, plus letters to friends, family and penpals (as in strangers I've never met in real life!). I also participate in postcard swaps through my favorite knitting website, Ravelry, as well as Postcrossing, a super-fun international postcard exchange. I've received some absolutely gorgeous postcards from all over the world!

6. We have a kitty named Lily, and we miss our furbaby boxer, Conan, every single day.

We added Conan to our family right after we moved to Florida following college graduation -- before we even had a sofa! He was our baby, our joy and the completion of our little family, and we were absolutely devastated to lose him to lymphoma two years ago. We also have a kitty cat, Lily, whom we adopted last time we were stationed in Hawaii. Hawaii has tons and tons of feral cats, and she part of a litter of feral kittens up for adoption. She's adorable and sweet, but she pretty much hates anyone but me.

7. I collect things.
When I was a kid, it was pencils and postcards and rocks, in high school and college it was paper coasters from restaurants, and at the current moment it's Starbucks You Are Here coffee mugs (among other things, like pressed autumn leaves, seashells and Harry Potter books!).

8. I'm an introverted homebody...

(source)

9. ...but I love to travel!

 

I love adventuring and exploring, especially to beautiful natural wonders. One of my life goals is to visit every U.S. national park, and I think about 2/3 of my bucket list involves travel. I'm lucky to have a willing (and way more competent than I am) travel buddy in my husband. In the last year or so, we visited Gettysburg, New York City, Tennessee with a little jaunt to North Carolina, Colorado, Cleveland, Niagara Falls, back to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, and Florida. Now that we're in Hawaii our travel will be much more limited, but of course we'll visit the other islands, and I have plans for an Alaskan cruise and a big trip to Australia and New Zealand.

10. I love watching (and going to!) the movies, and, while I don't watch a ton of TV, there are some shows I adore.

Because what better way to break the ice than to discover you share a fandom?! Some of the shows I love are "Downton Abbey," "Game of Thrones," "Sherlock," "The Walking Dead," "Orphan Black," "Elementary," "Outlander," "Homeland," "Mr. Robot," and my guilty pleasure, "Switched at Birth." I'm also totally pumped for the "Gilmore Girls" revival, and I like (or want to catch up on) everything on PBS Masterpiece (I loooove historical dramas!).