Heather in Paradise

I am a big fan of antique malls, thrift stores, flea markets, and garage sales. I have a knack for finding things cheaply and refurbishing or repurposing them. For a few years now I have considered trying my hand at selling things on ebay.

I love 40s and 50s style home decor a lot. I also like cottage style. Not such a big fan of too sleek, too sterile, too modern. It feels cold to me, though aesthetically I can appreciate it.

I smile at babies in restaurants and grocery store lines. In general, I get on very well with children. At a party when I´m suffering social anxiety or if I don´t know many people, if you lose me, come looking for me wherever the children are.

I do not like being in a bathing suit at a party with many people. Being at the beach is somehow different. This is not a matter of vanity, I just can´t explain it.

I do not like drinking milk at other people´s houses and I will never drink milk from a plastic cup. In fact, I prefer glass glasses in general.

I like most any vegetable except raw tomatoes, eggplant, and beets. My favorite vegetable is asparagus, probably because I don´t get it very often.

If I were on death row and about to be executed, I would request as my last meal 2lbs of Alaskan King Crab legs and nothing else. Save the baked potato and corn, warden.

Libraries and book stores figure prominently on the short list of my favorite places on earth (which is why I have always thought I would like to live in Portland, OR, which has more bookstores per square mile than any other city in the world).

I love traveling and would someday like to do a lot more of it. On that note, I do like being a foreigner and an expatriate.

I am not good at making or keeping friendships. I am not a good correspondent and find it difficult to make small talk. I have a hard time pretending to like people whom I know I don´t like. It has gotten more and more difficult as I´ve gotten older.

I am much less jealous than I used to be. Losing that has been a relief, though I do still get jealous when provoked.

I hate talking on the phone most of the time.

I love to read cookbooks, though I very rarely use a recipe when cooking (exception would be when baking). I very much enjoy all aspects of cooking: grocery shopping, being in the kitchen, drinking a glass of wine and listening to music as I cook, serving the meal, etc.

While I can´t say I truly enjoy any housework, my least odious tasks are doing laundry and washing the dishes. I don´t mind sweeping or vacuuming (though I have been without carpet for at least the last 14 years), but I absolutely despise washing the floor. This is because mops don´t cut it and the only way to get a floor really clean is on your hands and knees (and if I´m on my hands and knees, there are other things I´d rather be doing). I will feel I have really arrived if I ever have my own washer and dryer and a dishwasher. That will be living, friend.

I have historically been very bad about overfilling the garbage can and ¨forgetting¨to refill the ice cube trays, but I am getting better.

I want a vegetable garden but don´t know the first thing about gardening. Don´t know the last thing, either.

I am very good at Trivial Pursuit and am a very good guesser for the team when playing Cranium. I cannot draw, however, and consequently suck at Pictionary.

I wake up every morning singing some stupid song or other. If I am alone in the house and taking a shower, I really belt it out.

I´m very impatient with a remote control and can´t bear to sit through commercials, so often I go from one show to the next, then I forget I was watching the other show. As a result, I rarely see an entire program.

I tend to stay up late and often struggle with insomnia. When I do sleep, it can be difficult for me to get out of bed in the morning. I´m better when I exercise.

I am generally very polite and patient. Living in Mexico has only served to heighten these attributes. I do not get pissy when waiting at the deli counter or on line at the grocery store or the bank. I´m generally not a watch-glancer or an eye-roller.

It takes a lot to make me angry, but when I do get angry, I am too quick to meanness. I have a sharp tongue and when hurt can deliver a nasty, cutting remark I don´t really mean and will regret later. I am also improving in this respect, getting older has its rewards.

I do not believe in god, but have no problems with others believing. As long as they are not proselytizing to me, I can keep my trap shut. Also, I go along with whatever the custom is if I´m at an event like a wedding or baptism; I don´t call attention to my own beliefs (or the lack thereof). I enjoy learning about all kinds of religions, however, and I like to take away with me the bits and pieces of each that I find helpful and beautiful. Whatever helps people get through this painful and poignant thing called life is OK by me. I especially like aspects of Buddhism and Sikhism. And possibly some other isms.

I am not a fighter, but do not back down if someone´s getting in my face and provoking me. Also, if someone is mean or rude to my family or friends, they will certainly have to answer to me.

It´s too hot here to do so, but I prefer to sleep with my feet covered. If it´s cold, I like to wear a nightgown or pajama pants and a tank top to bed. If it´s hot, I just wear underwear. I cannot sleep fully nude unless I pass out that way.

I no longer drink whiskey. My sister can tell you why. I don´t really enjoy doing shots of any kind anymore, but occasionally I will have a tequila. I like wine best (red wine is my favorite, but the sulfites exacerbate my tendency to migraines). Here I drink more than I would like, as there is nothing else to do here socially, but eventually I would like to restrict myself to wine with dinner a couple times a week.

Pedicures are one thing I try never to do without. When I´ve been very poor, I have given them to myself, but when possible, I prefer to have someone else do them. Once a month, twice a month if I can afford it. This is the one thing I do not like to sacrifice because I find it so important to my sense of well-being and self care. I bite my fingernails, unfortunately, so I don´t waste any money on them.

I love massages, but get them rarely due to the cost. If I was wealthy and had it my way, I would have a massage once a week.

When I was a young girl, I used to think I was going to marry Prince. That makes me feel very silly now.

Dream jobs: Bookstore owner, beach hotel owner, perhaps a massage therapist with my own spa, owner of a bar/live music venue. Notice in all of these dreams, I am not working for anyone else.