Encouraged by a few other bloggers- and particularly in preparation for the Alt Summit in January, I have decided to participate in the Tuesday (next one will be the first Tuesday of the month but I missed that for Dec.) 5 random facts link up. I am excited to meet with so many like minded and inspiring people (roomies) at the Alt conference I thought this is a great way to get to know them, AND me. Thanks Jamie at friedpinktomato.com for the idea. So here are 5 random things for December:

• I am a list maker & I over-use bullet points, but I don’t always work my way down a list in top to bottom or even in order of priority. Sometimes I need a break and move to the next thing- if they are numbered I feel like a rule breaker, but if they are just notes, hanging on a “bullet”, than I can mark them off in any order and get them done. Plus my grammar is awful and I feel like a bullet point doesn’t necessarily have to be capitalized or punctuated
• I taught American cooking classes in Switzerland. I developed a curriculum, recruited a class of students and loved the heck out of it! I learned a lot in the process and the best part was at the end of each class when we sat around the table and ate. I got great feedback on the food and what they learned and I got to know some really interesting people.

• I feel like winter is depressing. I am living in Charleston SC, the perfect place. Especially perfect for those of us who hate winter. Today it was about 70 degrees and fairly sunny. But people, I have paid my dues in this department. We lived in Milwaukee Wisconsin for a while and they hardly see 70 degrees- a few months a year. I remember going to work in the dark, and leaving from work in the dark and wondering how people can survive that darkness so many months of the year and so many years of their lives. I hated scraping my windshield of ice, I hated shoveling my self out of the house. I hated the day after the day-after-snow (the day the snow melts a little and is dirty and covered in footprints, slush, etc.).  Living in climates that are not so favorable to me helps me know that when those long, dark, cold days I need to compensate with more “mood busters”. I used to go to the tanning bed in Wisconsin- trying to imitate light therapy (no lectures please it helped). I also think that seeing the sparkly Christmas lights and decorations really helps this time of year. But January comes and I am ready for it to turn warm and for the flowers to bloom again. Luckily here in Charleston I don’t have to wait long!
• My eyebrows grow w-a-y faster than my scalp. I think a good eyebrow wax makes my whole face look better. If I don’t do it once a week I look older, more tired, and like a werewolf.
• Old houses inspire me. I could probably carry on and on about old houses. Some people rescue dogs and cats, some people rescue trees, I would like to rescue old houses. About 6 years ago we bought a 1920’s cottage in Greenville SC. It was a pleasure to renovate- keeping in mind all the design considerations of the period it was built. It was fun to learn about the house and to listen to the house as we went through a long and laborious process of projects. I would love to do it again, but for right now we recently purchased a home in the suburbs of Charleston. Now the challenge is to transform a 1990’s cookie-cutter into something worth keeping around for 100 years.

The 1920’s cottage complete with picket fence

So how bout it- leave me a comment with 5 short random facts- OR create your own blog post- lets link up! “We encourage you to read the other bloggers post that participate. This is about creating community, building relationships, and leaving comment love– because you and I both know we all do a happy dance when we see a new comment!”- Jamie at  friedpinktomato.com