Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Us
1. A few months before starting this blog we had never painted brick, ripped up a carpet, upholstered a chair, made a headboard, caulked anything, changed out hardware or done pretty much any of the other tutorials we’ve since figured out and shared on our How To page (we’re true believers in learning as you go).
2. Our license plate says “Burgrr” (custom plates are only $10 here so we couldn’t resist).
3. John’s middle name is Freeman in honor of his grandfather (his first name honors his other grandfather named John).
4. My first name is actually not Sherry, it’s Sherry-Beth (my mom thinks it flows like Elizabeth, but it doesn’t- in fact it pretty much ruined my life growing up so I quickly adopted Sherry to avoid the Bobby-Joe-Becky-Sue country bumpkin comparison).
5. The irony of my good ol’ girl name is that my mom’s side of the family is extremely Italian (for example, her name is Diana Teresa DeCesare LaPadula and I have an Uncle Vito, a Grandpa Carmen and a Cousin Dominick) so the odd country/southern reference in my name is totally out of left field (and my brothers and cousins got totally normal monikers: Daniel, David, Adam, Tim, Jennifer).
6. John kissed me first (anyone who knows us is blown away by this because he’s generally the shy one and I’m the loud crazy one).
7. John used to do improv comedy in college and in NYC after he graduated but opted out of that lifestyle after he realized he liked to sleep at night and be awake during the day (thank goodness or I never would have met him working in advertising). Many of his improv acquaintances have gone on to be super famous (he knew Kenneth from 30Rock and a girl named Jenny Slate who’s on SNL this season).
8. I had a tumor in my airway (between my nose and my throat) in middle school. Can you imagine how many times I had to hear “it’s not a tumor”? Thankfully it was benign and two surgeries later I was as good as new. I also had teeth that grew in near the back of my throat and had to be slowly pulled to the front of my mouth through a series of torturous wire tightening exercises (but in hindsight, having a normal smile is totally worth the effort). I always ask my mother what the heck she ate when I was in the womb but she has yet to tell me.
9. John doesn’t drink. Not a drop. He never has, which almost everyone at work quickly learned after a few happy hours with him (he was still the life of the party, just never the one we had to put in a cab at the end of the night). His unwavering willpower and amazing ability never to be “that drunk guy” made him incredibly intriguing and appealing to me… and still has me hooked to this day.
10. John and I tried out for the Amazing Race back when we were friends right on the cusp of dating (our hook was that the race would either ruin any shot at a relationship or bring us together). We didn’t even get a call back, which I now realize is a good thing as my terrible sense of direction and loud mouth would probably have made us a pretty lame team. I still think John could win the entire thing with a better partner though. He’s great at reading maps, having a strong sense of direction and running (three things I don’t do).
So that was a fun little Friday departure. What about you guys? Any strange facts that will blow us away about you, our lovely readers? Anything that we revealed above that totally surprises you? Number 1? Number 9? Number 10? Do tell.
Psst- want more Burger? Just head on over to Hamburger’s House to see how big his head is getting (along with the rest of him).
Last image found here.
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Comments
Dude! I totally saw your car the other day and thought, ‘I hope that’s Sherry & John’s car, because it would be awful for someone else to have that plate!!’
very cool list. I am surprised only by the Sherry-Beth – you are SO not my idea of a double first name country girl LOL.
Here’s another reader name fun fact – neither my late husband nor I were given middle names. We both got so much hassle because that fact that we did NOT continue the tradition. Our son has a proper first, middle, last thankyouverymuch.
Very cool post. Made my Friday. I tried out once for the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament in Cleveland, drove six hours from Indiana both ways in one day with my parents. Only question I remember getting right was Faith Ford played Corky on Murphy Brown…didn’t advance past the timed test. I love TAR! You should give it another thought, any of you have a fear of something? I am deathly afraid of large bodies of water! Never learned to swim (pool was broke in high school.)…thank goodness.
Hmm, do we have any big fears…
Well I’m not crazy about heights and John oddly enough fears the sound of chalk scraping on a chalkboard. Weird, eh?
xo,
s
impressed that John doesn’t drink! I have never drank and am in my mid 20s… who can stand the taste of the stuff?
my husband definately said “i love you” first, but i did kiss him first:) sshh…don’t tell him i admitted that;) our anniversary is December 31st(New Years Eve wedding!) and we will be celebrating 4 years!
i have an off the wall question, where did you get the pendant light in your Master Bedroom? I am looking for something similar…
Thanks!
Hey Shanelle,
The capiz chandelier in our master bedroom is from West Elm but they no longer sell that exact version so you might want to try ebay. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Good to hear there are other non-drinkers out there. I wish people wouldn’t look at us like we’re freaks of nature – or obligated to be their designated drivers. I finally just started telling people I was allergic to alcohol so they’d stop hassling me.
I never got my ears pierced either. My mom told us we could if we also got our noses pierced – this being decades ago nose piercings were not in fashion, so we declined, and after a while just didn’t feel the need.
On a lighter celebrity note: can I get bonus points for having lunch with Sean Connery (even though we were at different tables)?
I have a friend who’s surname is Di Cesare…she actually now lives in Rome (we’re Aussies) and we got to visit her last week. Interesting!
I have also never touched a drop of alcohol. My best friend from high school went off to college, and when she came back home, she found out that I had never been drunk, and the first thing she says is “we’re gonna have to get you drunk sometime”. Um, I don’t think so. I have absolutely no interest in it. My husband used to drink before we got married. He hasn’t drank since, out of respect for me. His coworkers invite him over for drinks, and he turns them down. I think everyone thinks he hates them. :)
Our oldest daughter, who is 11, has very crooked teeth. They are so crooked, it looks like she has two rows of teeth! Her orthodontia is going to cost a fortune!
My husband said I love you first. I thought it was nice, but I wasn’t ready to say it yet. We’d only been dating for a couple of weeks! A week later, he told me he wanted to marry me! We were married just a few months after we started dating, and we’ve been married for 12 years and have 5 children! I love him to death, and he is my best friend. I am so glad I made the choice to marry him right out of high school, and start a family right away! I don’t think my life could get any better! :)
Kudos to John for being a non-drinker! I think if I did as much home improvement as the two of you, I would need some serious wine afterwards :)
These were fun to read. I made similar list on my blog a little while ago:
http://lifeon19th.blogspot.com/2009/05/22-random-things.html
Sherry, do you wax your eyebrows? they are perfect!
I’m dying at Sherry Beth though. I think you chose the better option to shorten it.
Neither my husband or I drink…but we still have fun together!
Hey Missy,
Aw that’s such a nice thing to say! Random and unexpected but super nice none the less. I used to get them threaded back in NYC when I was fancy, but here in VA I just pluck them and try to keep from looking Sasquatch-ish (the Italian in me can make them a little rowdy if I’m not careful). I do have a nice little pink angled Tweezerman tweezers that I swear by though. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
What a GREAT list of random facts!!!
They are all so fun and interesting…. but #9 really impresses me! It’s great that there are others out there (like me + my hubby) who can have a great time without needing to drink.
So strange, my mother is a half Italian with a hyphenated first name. She was named after the Italian grandfather of the family Nicoli, so her given name was Nikki-Lyn Franzese. She also had a boy cousin Nicholas, who was called Nicky, so she had to be called Nikki-Lyn. She was like you–HATED it. She did not have a middle name so when she got married, she dropped the Lyn, and made her maiden name her middle name. Her family still calls her Nikki-Lyn too, insist on it. She gave me Lyn as my middle name–avoiding the dreaded hyphen. However, as I about to get married, ( and the partner to be strongly dislikes hyphenated last names), as a nod to my mother, I am going to hyphenate my first name–bringing it back, and take my maiden name as my middle name! Just practicing above!
On my wife’s side, her brothers’ middle names are both Freeman after their grandfather! How interesting is that?!
My little sister had funny teeth and I used to call her snaggletooth. We had and still have a great relationship! She was in the Miss Tennessee Pangeant 2 years in row so she grew out of that akward phase. By the way, I was 6′2″ and played middle linebacker in highschool…nobody else called her snaggletooth!!!
I always wanted to go on the amazing race with my best friend, but his weakness would be the food. He will eat anything but we may have to stop every 5 minutes as a result!
Good for John on not drinking. I think its funny how our society is so hooked on things like that. No need for that in order to have a good time or relax. My first sip of beer came at the ripe old age of 28! Still won’t drink more than one and don’t keep any in the house now that we have a child.
Thanks for the list of fun facts!
I am loving this post! So funny and totally interesting. You two are such a cute couple!
I know I’m a bit late on this, but I just thought I’d chime in. Originally, my mom wanted to name me Alyssa Beth, which does flow, but is definitely a country name. She didn’t admit this until a few years ago when I made sure I thanked her for not naming me that.
This is fun!
1. My brother and I both had 3 sets of teeth. It made things fairly complicated when we needed braces and still had “baby” teeth at 14 and 17. We got all of the extra teeth pulled to expedite the orthodontia process. You know that corny toothless smile most first graders have? Yeah… try it in 8th and 11th grades.
2. My husband and I were on Fear Factor at Universal Studios. He proved the better competitor and made it to the lat rounds… I was out in 53 seconds. I’m not sorry. I just fell 60 feet. He got rotting squid thrown in his face. I think I won. ;-)
3. My husband and I met by a trash can outside of the track locker room on yearbook day. The words, “Will you sign my yearbook?” turned into “Will you marry me?” 6 years later. I think it’s cute that I have his first impression and signature fro the moment we first met.
4. My favorite job EVER was working as an elf in Santa’s Workshop at Dollywood.
Do either of you have any strange talents?