on the day before a very big birthday for me, i thought it would be fun to give you 40 random facts about me. however, 40 is a HUGE number. as i realized typing this up. add to it the fact, that i had to expand on every fact and make them longer than they needed to be. you know me, i'm a rambler. then add to it the fact that about midnight last night (when i was typing this up), i decided it would be funny to add photos. i'm very limited on the photos i have on hand, so i'm working in what i can. so, long story made short. you're going to get 20 facts today, from my first 20 years. and then you'll have to come back for 20 more facts tomorrow. on my actual birthday.
1. i was born 39 years and 364 days ago. which means tomorrow, i will turn 40 years old.
2. i'm the oldest of 3 kids. my brother is 2 years younger than me, and my sister is 4 years younger than me. and we always had dogs growing up. the black and white dog in this photo is mickey, who looks really mean there, but was the nicest dog (from my memory anyways). and the little dog is sherman, who was really the meanest little thing.
3. i never talked to anyone when i was younger, and once i got a swat with a wooden paddle in first grade for NOT talking. true story. and yes, the private school i went to did use a wooden paddle. lol! i had forgotten a permission slip, and they wanted my phone number to call my parents. i wouldn't tell them. i think my reasoning (in my head anyways) was that they probably had it on file, right 🙂
4. i also once got stuck inside the girls bathroom, because the door was too heavy for me to open. i had to wait until someone noticed i was gone from class and came looking for me. since i rarely talked, that took a while 😉
5. i grew up in a camping family. we would go on driving trips across the states, setting up camp in a different state every night. we were brilliant at setting up and taking down camp in record time. you would never know this now, since we've taken the girls camping all of ONE time. and my parents used to make us write in journals every night, about what we did that day. i'd be really curious to know if they still have those journals.
6. i have always loved to organize things. i would re-arrange the furniture in my room constantly, which is hard to do in such a tiny little room with such chunky huge furniture. i would even beg my sister to let me organize her room. she never let me. and check out this gorgeous room i had. i LOVE how the bedding matches the wallpaper. genious! what can i say, i grew up in the 70's.
7. i loved to sing and dance in my room. and i was convinced that no one knew what i was doing. close the door, turn off the lights, plug in my big headphones to my HUGE stereo system, and lip-sync to the music. but since i had headphones on, i'm pretty sure i was actually singing outloud, without realizing it. i always wanted to be a performer. if only i wasn't the shyest person ever 😉
8. my mom sewed me and my sister matching suits. yes, suits. pants, button down shirts, and a vest. i believe there was a jacket too. the best part of this? the material was a sesame street pattern :0)
9. i had to ride my bike to soccer practice. and occasionally, i didn't go to practice. instead, i would go to the library. i was a huge reader, with my nose always in a book. i could read a book or two a day. my parents still say that about me. "always with her nose in a book". good that i liked to read. but not good that i skipped soccer practice to read.
10. i honestly don't remember much about my childhood. which doesn't mean it was bad or un-memorable. because it was good and filled with memories. i just forget stuff. my brother, on the other hand, can remember EVERYTHING. it's sort of crazy.
11. as a teen, i apparently didn't want anything to do with my family and holed myself up in my room. which, i guess is sort of normal for teens. but now that i have a teen, i would feel terrible if she did that to me. so i'm forever sorry for doing it to my parents.
12. i went to the same private school for 13 years, kindergarten through 12th grade. towards the end, my parents had to move my brother and sister over to public school. i was scared to change, since i was in high school at the time, and still very shy. i'm so grateful that i got to finish out my schooling in one spot.
13. i rarely talked, even in high school. only to my friends. i talked a LOT to my friends. but i was always the shy one. when senior year rolled around, and it came time to vote for class favorites, i knew i would get voted "shyest" (is that a word?). luckily, i was on the yearbook staff, and was able to get that catagory eliminated.
14. i played soccer all growing up. played on the varsity team for all 4 years of high school, and made all-stars every year. i got my letter as a sophmore. a nice big orange "FC". i always wanted to get a jacket to put it on. but i never got one. i also never got a class ring. no idea why. instead, my giant "FC" is glued in a scrapbook (before i even knew what scrapbooking was).
15. i have never been to a school dance. NEVER. i went to a christian school, that didn't believe in dancing and figured that nothing good came out of it. so we had "JSB's", which was a junior-senior-banquet. we got dressed up, and had dates. and then just ate a dinner and listened to a comedian or something. that was it. this could be one reason that i refuse to dance in public. i'll blame it on my school, and the fact that i've never been to a dance. lol!
16. that being said, i never dated anyone until i was about 18 years old. for the two JSB's that i attended, i just asked some guy from work to go with me. and both guys ended up being losers. i can count the number of guys i went out with (in my entire life) on one and a half hands.
17. i got my first job when i was 16 1/2 yrs of age, working at safeway as a curtousey clerk. also known as a bagger. i was an excellent bagger. i still am, and usually take over my own bagging when i go grocery shopping. i never like how they do it. i was a great cart collector too. you always had one hour of cart duty, for every shift. i could bring in more carts than half the guys. i didn't know it at the time, but i would continue to work in grocery for almost 14 years.
18. i'm pretty sure THIS is the reason that i had to get that job. yeah, i did that. picking up my little sister from school. some other car had their turn signal on, and young and innocent little me, thought they were actually going to turn. so i pulled out. they didn't turn. i paid for that one.
19. i had REALLY big hair in my junior and senior year of high school. it wasn't just about the big hair, it was about the TALL bangs. i'm embarrased about this hair choice now. as i can look back and realize how absurd it looked. but at the time, i thought i was cool. and for the record, everyone had big hair. so i was actually quite stylish at the time 😉
20. i graduated in the class of 88', along with about 90 other kids. and sadly, this is the best photo of that night. lol! i can be such a lovely picture taker, can't i?
whew, that was long winded. and now, by adding in the photos, i have raised the bar for what i have to do for the next 20 years. this started out such a simple idea, and in true "laura fashion", i turned it into more work than it needed to be. lol! although, i think i might have given a few of you some good laughs, at my expense. so it's all for a good cause 🙂
Laura Vegas 
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