"You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have..."

There is FINALLY snow on the ground in Philadelphia! Do you know how I know? Well, besides looking out the window, Sherlock. Facebook. All the dozens of status updates complaining about.. OH NO!... snow in January!!!!!!!! THE HORROR!!!

Am I a fan of snow, not in the least. That said, I do know how climate and seasons work, and here in the tri-state area, we are accustomed to having all 4 seasons. So that means 100 degree temps in the summer, and bitter cold with snow in the winter. The 60 degree days we had last week in the middle of January? Not normal, people. The snow on the ground right now. Totally normal.

Getting off my soapbox, I had big plans to link up with Helene for Tell Me About It Tuesday, but it seems she is doing a different link-up. So, I'm playing Follow The Leader, because this link-up sounds fun. It's with Whitney over at I Wore Yoga Pants To Work, and it's Facts About Me!

The Facts Of Me

Fact: I have never eaten a peanut butter & jelly sandwich

Or any sandwich for that matter. No bologna & cheese, ham & cheese... I have REALLY weird texture issues, and I detest soft, mushy stuff. 399 patients at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia would have PB&J for lunch, and my mom would have to go get me a Chicken McNugget Happy Meal from the McD's in the hospital (Yes, CHOP used to have a McD's... kick ass!)

Fact: I don't put milk in my cereal

This is an addendum to the first fact, in that I have weird texture issues. (speech therapy, anyone?) Nothing makes me gag more than a big bowl of Crunch Berries drowning in milk. Hand me a heaping bowl of dry Crispex and I am one happy gal. 

Crunch. Crunch.

Fact: I was on 20/20 (yep, THE 20/20 with Barbra Walters)

OK, so I can't take full credit, they were actually running a feature story on my mom. But Brie & I had air time!!

Fact: My sister Brie and I speak a secret language
If anyone paid attention long enough, they would realize it's just us quoting dumb movies and books.

The cheese is old and moldy.

Fact: I once played a character in a play who lost his hair due to a disease and I recently lost my hair due to lupus and its treatments.

Foreshadowing at its finest.

Lars aka The Ugly Ducking in Hans Christian Andersen

Me 20 years later! No hair, no hair, la la la la-la la!!!!!

Fact: I've performed on the same stage as Bruce Springsteen & Sara Bareilles
OK, not at the same time, but still pretty flipping cool

World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA

Fact: I was named after Marla Gibbs from 227 and my house number is 227
That shit cray!

Fact: I was obsessed with John Wanamakers (a local Philadelphia department store)

I named my first fish John Wanamaker Tuna Fish, a doll named John Wanamaker Baby Doll, and my family once surprised me by cutting out all the John Wanamaker ads in the paper one morning. You would have thought I won the lottery.

Plus, the BEST. MOVIE. EVER. was filmed at John Wanamaker's in Center City Philly. 

Mannequin..

Fact: My favorite movie is Mannequin and I REALLY considered holding my wedding ceremony in the window at the store in Center City Philly

Fact: I own 23 Coach bags

Excessive? Perhaps. That said, she works hard for the money!

Fact: I bought her the day after I passed my nursings boards in 2006

2007 Elicpse Spyder <3

Fact: I freak out when the gas light comes on when I'm in a car

I used to ask my mom "If we drove to Florida, would we run out of gas?" ... "Do we need to stop for gas? Do we have enough gas?!?!!? ARE WE GOING TO RUN OUT OF GAS?!?!?!" If I'm a passenger in a car and I notice the light is on, I can't relax until said driver stops at a gas station.

Fact: I am afraid of crickets

Ugh, those chirpy, jumpy ugly bastards. YUCK!

Fact: I have no pulse or blood pressure in my right arm

Due to my 1st heart surgery, a classical blalock-taussig shunt for my heart defect, tetralogy of Fallot

It was especially fun to freak out classmates in nursing school and it's even more fun now to not tell this fact to medical students and residents... READ MY DAMN CHART BEFORE YOU EXAMINE ME!!!

And yes, I DO have feeling in my right arm. There is blood flow, just not via the major artery like everyone else. When someone asks me if I can feel my right arm, I'll do some jerky, twitchy movement to freak them out. Yep, I'm an asshole.

This pic is actually from my 2nd heart surgery