37 Things For My 37th Birthday

Today is my birthday! We spent a delightful weekend mostly off the grid exploring the outdoors with friends, and I’m feeling rejuvenated and happy.

In honor of turning 37, I thought I’d share 37 things you might not know about me. I’d love to hear something unique about you in the comments!

1. I grew up in Alabama, and had a southern accent until I was 16.
2. My name, Preethi, means “love.”
3. Both Daniel and I have visited 49 states; we’re hoping to visit Alaska soon! I’ve also visited 64 countries and 43 US National Parks.
4. I started playing the violin when I was 5 and still play. (I started this introductory violin course for young kids early this year.)
5. My favorite color is yellow.
6. I’ve missed exactly one flight in my life, when I was on study abroad in France. We were flying to Italy from a small airport that had only one shuttle per flight, which we missed. Our taxi arrived just as they were closing the doors onto the flight.
7. I got my first and only scar while riding a bike named Bluebell in Philadelphia shortly after we got married.
8. I’ve hated cereal ever since I was a kid. I especially loathe it with milk.
9. I met my husband when I was 16, when we were both in high school. We were best friends and didn’t officially start dating until over 2.5 years later, when we were both in college.
10. I wanted to be a pediatrician for my entire growing up. I ended up hating my Biology class and studied business with an emphasis in marketing instead. I later got my MBA, as well.
11. I was completely obsessed with Nancy Drew as a child.
12. I’ve been vegetarian my whole life and have only tried a tiny nibble of any sort of meat a few times. The very first time I tasted any sort of meat was when I was with a group of friends in college and tried lox cream cheese thinking it was strawberry. It was horrifying.
13. I’m a definite introvert in that I’m energized by time alone, but I’m not shy.
14. I have a definite fear of heights. Hiking Angels Landing was just about one of the most terrifying things of my life and had my calm, capable, confident 10 year old not been with me and asked to continue, I’m 95% sure I would’ve turned around halfway.
15. I really enjoy being pregnant. I’m aware that this is both very strange and very unfair.
16. I feel very strongly about making the bed every single day.
17. I prefer really dark chocolate, generally in the 80-85% range.
18. I don’t consider myself a picky eater, except when it comes to desserts. Ice cream will always be my favorite, although I did love the homemade princess cake I made for baby M’s 1st birthday.
19. My sister and I invented an imaginary penguin school when we were kids.
20. I’ve seen every episode of Friends approximately 700 times.
21. I had a pool party for my birthday almost every year growing up (along with a cookie cake since I don’t like regular cake).
22. I’ve had the exact same eye prescription since I first got glasses when I was 15.
23. I’m a really skilled sleeper, even when pregnant. Moving vehicles always put me to sleep and I can’t drive for more than about 1.5 hours before I get too drowsy.
24. I’ve been in one car accident in my life. I was waiting to make a left turn into a church parking lot when a car rear ended me.
25. I have a really short torso and almost always need to have the tops of dresses altered to fit.
26. As a kid, I always chose books over toys and I feel the exact same with my kids now.
27. I am a terrible artist. Though I love art history, my artwork taps out at stick figures.
28. I tend to be averse to upgrading technology and hold onto things like my phones and laptops as long as I possibly can.
29. I’ve never owned a pet.
30. I started playing around with photography shortly after my oldest was born over 10 years ago, but have put lots more effort into learning over the lat 2 years.
31. I didn’t speak a word of English until I was 3 years old. My mom had to make a list of English words and their Kannada translations for my preschool teacher.
32. When I was little, I REALLY wanted a baby sister and would constantly ask my parents for one. When my mom got pregnant when I was 4, I told her that if it turned out to be a boy, I would throw him in a swimming pool. (Fortunately, it was a girl! 😜)
33. I’ve run two half marathons.
34. I always wanted to bring my mom breakfast in bed as a kid, but she couldn’t stand the thought of eating before she’d brushed her teeth. Now I feel the exact same; eating before brushing tastes totally gross to me.
35. I decided i wanted to become Christian after reading the Bible during a daily scripture class in 5th grade, and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was 18 after reading the full Book of Mormon.
36. I’ve gotten exactly one sunburn in my life. I had spent about 8 hours in the ocean bodysurfing and learning a bit of surfing with zero sunblock. That night I’m the shower, I noticed a slight redness on my shoulders and was confused as to what it was.
37. It’s pretty much impossible for me to choose one favorite place I’ve visited, but when forced to choose, I often say Jordan.

That’s it for now – I’d LOVE to hear something fun about you, too!