seven things.

full disclosure: it has been a busy week – full of looming deadlines for multiple projects. i am so glad tomorrow’s friday – and in lieu of our usual thursday “style file” post (told you, i’m switching things up this week!), i thought i’d do this little pseudo-survey called “seven things.” those of you who know me personally already probably know all of this, but those i thought it might help those of you who don’t get a little more perspective on who i am and why i like – and write about – the things i do.

i almost failed out of college my freshman year. yes, it’s true. i consider myself a pretty driven person now – and i graduated with a 3.8 gpa in my major (english) – but looking back, i probably should have taken at least a semester off before starting school. i also, for some reason, began college with the idea that i was going to be a psychologist (like my father), and realized, after i stopped going to most of my classes, that psychology isn’t the right field for me. so i had a huge change of heart (and a huge shock when i found out my first semester average was a .6), switched to english and was very successful. i stayed an extra semester, got my b.a. and am considering going back to get my m.f.a. sometime in the future. (of course, this is the simplified version, but that’s basically what happened.)

i love my job. how many people can say that – really? i mean, yes, there are days when i feel overwhelmed and underpaid and want to kill one of my coworkers, but as a rule, i truly love what i do and plan on staying in the publishing biz as long as it will have me. have i mentioned that some of the people i work with have been with my company for 20-plus years? that’s a good sign.

my cat is my baby. when i took him in, he was a stray and he’d been scratched by one of my good friends’ cats (an understandable reaction – by the friend’s cat – to having a stranger brought into her house). the cut was so deep it tore some muscle tissue and required two surgeries, and the side effects of those surgeries have not been minor. however, as you can see from the pictures i’ve posted, oscar is fat-ish (10 pounds!), sassy, happy, fluffy and almost 100 percent healthy again. i adore him. he meows at the door when he hears my keys turning in the lock, and he rolls over on his back whenever i bend down to pet him. the only thing that would make my life better is having him and a puppy that he could play with. i don’t think he’d take well to another cat (he’d be jealous), but he likes dogs. i love animals. they really make our lives significantly, tangibly better.

i desperately want to live in new york city one day (or, at least, close enough that i can get to the city very, very easily). enough said. and one day i will.

i don’t like to leave the house without makeup. first of all, i really just like it – i have a large collection of lip glosses and balms and i love browsing through trays of colors at makeup counters (benefit is my favorite; their packing is fabulous) – but second of all, i am not one of those people who looks naturally cute when i roll out of bed in the morning (and believe me, i roll out of bed as late as i possibly can). i need a little something to help me out. mineral makeup is my current favorite stuff.

the semicolon is my favorite punctuation mark. i just love the virginia woolf-ness of it; can you tell?

i will always need to live within easy driving distance of the ocean. i hate being landlocked. when i flew to colorado for a friend’s wedding a while back, this sudden, strange feeling of claustrophobia came over me and i knew i could never live in a state that isn’t bordered by water on at least one side. growing up in florida has definitely spoiled me (and moving to sarasota has done so even more – my apartment is literally within 10 minutes of the ocean), but if i move to another state it’s probably going to be new york or somewhere in the pacific northwest: san francisco, portland or seattle.

i don’t want to “tag” anyone to complete this, but if you feel so inclined, fill it out – and let me know. see you tomorrow.