Day 1: Introduce yourself with a picture, and 10 facts about yourself

On August 8, 1984, Jeffrey Roland and Patricia Ann Hawkins were in for a treat! Little did they know that in 24 hours their new baby would be entering the world. I, Jessica Jo Hawkins, made my debut into this world, by way of C-section, at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo, Utah on August 9, 1984 at 9:44 in the A.M. Weighing in at 5 lbs. 9 oz., I was mischievous from the get-go. Throughout the duration of her pregnancy, my mom was convinced I was a boy. She had been through the process before with my older sister, Laura, and this time around it felt different. Even after an ultra sound confirming that I was a girl, they had their doubts. It wasn't until I was born that they realized their little boy "Kip" was, indeed, a girl. KIP?! Seriously?! Never in my life have I been so thankful for being a girl :)

My birth certificate

Now comes the hard part of this entry: 10 facts about myself. You're probably thinking, "10 facts about yourself? That's not hard!" To which I would agree. However, 10 interesting facts about yourself is teetering on the brink of difficulty. So instead, I think I might go with 10 random facts:

1. I love accents. British, southern, Irish, Spanish- I love them all. If someone with an accent had something completely uninteresting to say, just the tone of their voice would intrigue me enough to listen. Most of the time...

2. One of my favorite colors is pea green. People tend to steer clear of a color often referred to as "puke green," but not me. I love it.

3. I get excited about power tools. I am pretty sure this began when I got into refinishing furniture. As did my affinity for pea green.

Our kitchen table I refinished

4. When I was a young kid, I stuck a rinky dink up my nose....and got it stuck.  Try getting one of those bad boys unlodged from your nasal cavity! For those of you who are not familiar with rinky dinks, or don't remember them:

Disclaimer: this photo was not taken by me.

5. In elementary school, while playing on the monkey bars at school, I fell down and bit all the way through my tongue. Before I even knew what had happened, my mouth was full of blood. My adrenaline kicked in and I couldn't feel the pain right away, but I was scared of the amount of blood. For some reason, the thought of spitting it out escaped me. I began to run. I wasn't sure where, but I knew I had to get there fast. I was stopped by the "recess duty," which was just a glorified term for a babysitter. It was her job to make sure the kids were behaving themselves, following the rules, and most importantly, to make sure no one got hurt. When she stopped me for running, I was relieved because I knew she was going to help me. However, initially, she didn't know I was hurt. I got in trouble for running....until the mouthful of blood came spilling out.She was much more helpful then.

6. For years as a child, I was convinced I was going to marry Slash of Guns n' Roses. I know, I know- your guess is as good as mine...

Disclaimer: this photo was not taken by me.

7. For longer than I care to admit, I believed that my Grandma bit off part of my Grandpa's finger. I always tried to figure out just what he did to make her mad enough to bite his finger off?! I was well into my teens, A.K.A. old enough to know better, before I realized this wasn't true. As of just a few moments ago, I have learned that he got it stuck in a woodworking machine back when he was in the service. What can I say, Grandpa's a trickster!

8. When I was young and riding in the car with my mom, whenever we would pass balloons I would announce, "That's my party!" Sadly, it was almost never my party.  It's funny, Jaylinne used to do that exact same thing whenever we would be on the freeway and drive past Cowabunga Bay in Draper. To her credit, it does, indeed, look like a party.

Disclaimer: This photo was not taken by me.

9. In high school, for a homework assignment, we were supposed to interview our parents and write a paper about how they met. Like always, I procrastinated. The night before the paper was due, I realized I didn't know the story of how my parents met...so I made one up. I got an "A" on the paper, and even scored some extra credit points because my teacher, "Liked my style of writing." However, since then, I have learned the actual story as to how my parents met :)

10. I am not aware of correct hyphenating protocol. While typing this entry, I have asked my husband for help at least 20 times...and in each instance, I have been wrong.

So here I am, going on 28 years later. I'm going as strong as ever, with no plans of slowing down any time soon. This is the most recent picture of me in existence, as it was taken while typing this entry.
As the ever-so-talented Butch Walker sang:

"If living like this at 28 is a bore, then come on God please, give me 28 more."

 (Ok, ok. In the song he says 38 and not 28...don't be such a stickler!)

Disclaimer: this photo was also not taken by me. Hehe