100 Things! The Lacey List (And the Runners Up)

I saw that someone else had made an "About Me" of 100 things, in list form.

I love lists. And I had a lot of free time at work one afternoon. And I love finished products (except I could always add to this, but I call it finished for now).

100 Things: The Lacey List
1. I live in Watertown, MA and think of my home-work-gym as my corner of the world.
2. I’m really glad Elliot is in my corner.
3. I love Elliot.
4. I could go on and on about The Honeymooners, but I won’t.
5. I will just say that we balance each other and love each other and care for each other and do crosswords (I am so proud of this!) and we work (more Elliot than me) and play… and run (more me than Elliot) and jump (more Elliot than me)… and truly cherish that inner child who knows that silliness (it really should be spelled sillyness) may get you a look, but it will get you a smile and a kiss just as much of the time.
6. I’m really from Keene, NH and will always think of this as home. Elliot (EB) is from here, too!
7. I have an incredible family who is a great mix of too serious and seriously crazy and crazily funny whether they mean to be (my dad wearing the fake eyebrow-nose-mustache glasses) or not (dad and Amy keeping their Christmas lists posted on the fridge year round).
8. I am the middle child, more so now that Kari is KarDu (thanks Kyle Hebert the King of Abbreviations who started addressing his thank you cards to Grammy and Grampa as “G+G” Hebert or Meader and then their address). Altogether we are my mom and dad, Kari (and Duy), me, and the twins Amy and Kyle.
9. Scarily (which is actually a word), Amy and Kyle are now 21. They are in college so they still technically live at home.
10. My parents “hold down the fort” and still live in the same log cabin. We used to build forts everywhere in the house out of blankets and afghans and pillows using thumbtacks to hang them from the logs and walls.
11. The logs make the place very imperfect, with the spots and swirls and whorls in the wood—and I found God on a log in our bathroom—I’m not kidding, there is this dark spot that has a vague thin face with a pointy chin and a halo-ish hat that just sort of emerges from the woodwork and looks up at you as you sit down. I just knew it was God.
12. I don’t know if I believe in God or not.
13. I was confirmed in 8th grade with a great Church Group and a minister named Woody (Shook—he was Alana’s dad, a girl I played soccer with, a year older in the “Corinne-Janine crowd”).
14. I wrote a Personal Statement on one of our Confirmation Retreats. We were at Pilgrim Pines and I remember that I forgot to pack underwear so I had to borrow some from Sara B! This was a major failure since I pride myself on my organization and plan-ahead personality.
15. I still have the Personal Statement in a box in my closet in my old room in the log house labeled “Confirmation” and I hope I keep it forever (I keep most things, chalked up to sentimental value or maybe I’ll need this or want to look at it or show it to someone someday) except I think the whole statement is written in pencil on yellow legal pad paper, which I am worried will fade. I want to recreate this statement (it is basically a series of writing prompts) several times over the course of my life since my thoughts and personal feelings change as time passes.
16. I’m only on item sixteen, but I could be on 100 by now for all the multi-parts and parentheses.
17. I love multi-parts and parentheses and thoughts-from-thoughts and prompts and remembrances and questions and answers and all the little things and lists and plans (GTJD- thanks Dad) and small wonders (without the “s” this book made a big impact on me post-Christmas-present, basketball-early-return reading at Middlebury before people returned to populate campus for Jterm).
18. It might be obvious, but I went to Middlebury College.
19. And played basketball there for four years (tore my ACL my junior January, something that developed into a wonderful relationship with and belief in rehabilitation in general and our Trainer Sue Murphy specifically).
20. I was captain for two-years (made co-captain unexpectedly my junior year because we only had one senior)—the summer before this I was on campus working in the Psychology Department—one of the best things I ever did! See next number. By being on campus that summer, I saw my coach often and she and Kelly took me out to lunch one day at the Golf Course Snack Bar (Midd has its own golf course- Ralph Myhre- and its own ski slope- Snowbowl-) and over lunch they told me I had been chosen for the job as co-captain.
21. This changed my role on the team dramatically- I finally respected myself, because if there is something I can do it is organize others- structure and motivate. I had earned the respect of others from the previous season starting and playing the whole game every game (I was the only one available to play point guard, yes, but I also stepped up to the challenge and hid really well the fact that I did not believe in myself or have even a speck of confidence). I was never a big-scorer, although I should have been if I had been even a little bit confident. I did however tie the school record for assists in a game (10).
22. This Psych Research summer was not only paid (plus housing and dining hall included!) but I branched out amongst new friends- (different crowd! All the dorks!) other summer workers-, and I had a double room to myself in one of the oldest dorms right next to the old Starr Library. Summer at Midd is a must—the Adirondack chairs come out, the weather is perfect, the campus is booming with 9(+?) language schools, the grass is green, and life is bubbly. The research work among my teachers gave me a feeling of importance and sense of belonging among those lifelong learners, and a poster from one of the projects earned us a trip to the SRCD (Society for Research in Child Development) conference in Atlanta the following spring!
23. I am glad I was a psychology major, although it made my post-graduation path much more uncertain than it might have been had I gotten a degree in something a little more purposeful, like graphic design or events planning or nutrition perhaps!
24. I am unashamedly obsessed with health and nutrition.
25. I am not actually obsessive compulsive, but I’m close.
26. I also have an addictive personality, probably related to the fact that I like to do things over and over the same and love routines and superstitious behavior.
27. Luckily, I’m not an alcoholic (I would be one had I stayed at The New England Center for Children as a Graduate Assistant).
28. I listen to my “new favorite” songs on repeat. Also my “old favorite” songs.
29. I eat the same things all the time. I call these “Lacey approved foods.” Among other things, they include veggie burgers, whole wheat or other whole grain breads and cereals, oatmeal, all fruits and veggies, yogurt, eggs, soy milk and skim milk, and tea.
30. I drink tea and water all day every day and this probably partially explains why I have to pee all the time.
31. Yes, I have peed on the side of the road. In a snow bank. On a back road in the middle of nowhere Vermont on the way to the Alumni Basketball Weekend at Middlebury College.
32. I love grocery shopping (and reading all the fliers and coupons!).
33. I could wander in a grocery store for hours, whereas otherwise I am ridiculously efficient. But when food shopping, I will walk down aisles, re-walk down aisles, read ingredients, re-read ingredients, compare kinds and flavors and brands, look at specials, pick something out, put it back, and so on.
34. I change my mind a lot. I might be indecisive.
35. But I’m not sure.
36. I am, however, very decisive about some things.
37. I fall asleep with a fan going every night.
38. I eat a banana (at least one!) every day.
39. I believe in the magical powers of oatmeal.
40. By magical, I mean enhancing your best-self. I also believe in the magical powers of exercise.
41. I started running off and on during college because it was a great way to stay in shape. I rarely ran more than 2 miles.
42. After graduating from Midd I started running for fun more consistently. I ran longer distances but never really kept track of how far or how fast.
43. I have since become A RUNNER. I love to run and I am too competitive for my own good. I have won one race (two years in a row!) the Linda’s Closet 5K in Nelson, NH. Both years I got a gift certificate to Nicola’s in Keene, an expensive but worth it Italian restaurant.
44. The first year the gift was for $75! I curled my hair and went on a lovey-dovey date with Elliot. The way we sat together and looked at each other reminds me of a more recent date we had at The Comfort Restaurant and Bar in Watertown.
45. The second year the gift was for $50. Price (prize) cut! It doesn’t matter, though, because it is an excuse for a repeat! Of course, I like the symmetry of the same prize for a repeat win. It is also meaningful to me and Elliot.
46. When I’m not running or at the gym, I’m working or running errands or spending time with Elliot.
47. I also work with Patrick Ruzzo, a six year old autistic cutie-pie who was my case-student at NECC. We bonded and have been buddies for two years now!
48. I am personally responsible for Patrick’s picture-schedule that he follows both at school and at home. You can make pictures of any activity- work or play or place or food or request or action, etc- and the schedule is made up of a series of these pictures of your choice (and Patrick’s choice).
49. I am really interested in child development and education and teaching and learning. I do not want to be a teacher.
50. Both of my parents are teachers. My dad worked at the Keene Middle School (even when it was the Keene Junior High School!) for 33 years. He “retired” but is now working in Vermont. He is in his second year at the Bellows Falls Middle School. My mom is a tutor in first grade.
51. She works at Franklin school, where all of the Hebert Kids went to Elementary school!
52. I am very proud of the fact that I can remember all of my teachers’ names: Kindergarten Mrs. Fisk, First Grade Mrs. Sullivan, Second Grade Mrs. Morris, Third Grade Mrs. Costin, Fourth Grade Mrs. Woolridge, and Fifth Grade Mrs. DeSantis.
53. I have a terrible memory.
54. That is partially why I write everything down.
55. I’m also absolutely fixatedly fanatical about list-making. It is fitting that this fact is fifty-five for all the f-words (none of them offensive).
56. When I was younger I made lists of synonyms for words like “Puke” and “Toilet.”
57. I also mapped out an entire life lived in my bathroom, with no door to the outside (it needed only the installation of retractable bed, bookcase, and television as well as refillable built-in-the-wall refrigerator; the bookcase was also refillable from the outside).
58. This had nothing to do with God.
59. I love to read!
60. Some of my favorites over the years have been all the Roald Dahl books (I wrote him a letter in 2nd grade and received an official reply that the author had passed away), the Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin (I was obsessed!), the Wrinkle in Time series by Madeleine L’Engle (who actually also happens to be deceased, but much more recently as in the past year), Number the Stars and The Giver by Lois Lowry (I got her autograph in all the books of hers I own at a 7th grade English-Writing Conference!), Shel Silverstein!!!, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Diary of Anne Frank by you know who, Night by Elie Wiesel, the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling (whose last name I found out rhymes with bowling), 1984 by George Orwell (who is a pen name), Jitterbug Perfume, Villa Incognito, and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins (not to be confused with Tim Robbins), Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, Class Matters by The New York Times, Marathon Woman by K.V. Switzer, Lost Horizon by James Hilton, Dean Koontz everything, Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs… I should stop (not reading, obviously).
61. I like to listen to the radio, mostly in the car.
62. I flip through stations constantly.
63. So do my sisters.
64. I have my alarm clock set to Kiss 108 (it is actually interestingly enough 107.9, but the station calls itself Kiss 108).
65. I never wake up to my alarm because I always wake up before it goes off.
66. As of two days ago I have stopped setting it.
67. I even hide the clock behind a big framed picture of the first ever Fiesta (Kate, Liz, Sara B, and me) because the numbers are too much light in my room at night.
68. The fiesta became annual and it is an excuse to wear Sombreros and drink margaritas. I wanted to invite Elliot to the 2nd annual fiesta (the Smith’s summer), but the idea got shot down because it was a “girls’” night (plus Levi B).
69. Levi is gay, but no one knew until a year ago.
70. Elliot and I both worked at Smith’s the summer we “re-met.” Smith’s is Medical Supplies company, but it is better known to me as a needle-factory. I got stabbed once and cried.
71. Smith’s is a sponsor of 4 on the 4th a race I finally ran this past year. I was the 2nd female overall. Kyle ran with me until mile 2. We wanted to keep “real runner” Zach Rubin in view and managed to do so until mile 2, and then, my fast became his slow and my slow became Kyle’s just finish the race. He stopped twice to stretch and he still beat people. What a guy. Elliot ran a minute behind me. Geraldine (EB’s mom) told him he’d have to lose 10 lbs if he wants to beat me.
72. We’ll see.
73. I don’t want to lose because I’m a sore loser, but I also don’t want Elliot to not win because he could if he ran more and really tried to beat me.
74. I lost to EB at Stratego one time and was very grumpy for at least 10 minutes.
75. I got over it.
76. I can be moody.
77. I do not think my moodiness is related to getting my period.
78. I hate getting my period.
79. I went for a long (and happy) time without having my period (on purpose, thanks to the birth control pill), and then not on purpose (thanks to running more and losing weight again).
80. I lost 30 lbs from the end of high school to the end of freshman year at Middlebury.
81. My freshman seminar at Middlebury College was Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating.
82. There were a lot of skinny girls in that class.
83. We had to take two writing-intensive (WI) seminars at Middlebury before the end of sophomore year. My second was with one of my all-time favorite professors, Will Nash. His area of specialization is African-American Studies. He is 6’7” and white and he has really big hands and he talks with them a lot. His seminar was African American Migrations, and it is in this class that I started to like my writing. The process and the product.
84. I have a thing for finished products.
85. I make collages.
86. I branched out and made collage-boxes that I especially like because not only are they collages, but they are boxes to store things.
87. I also have a thing for storage and organization products. I get this from my Dad.
88. I get forgetfulness from my Mom (she leaves her tea in all sorts of places, the most often in the microwave itself, but we have also found her tea in the bathroom, on the front porch, and in the basement.
89. One time, my mom and I were leaving the house to drive somewhere together and we almost made it out of the driveway before Mom had to go back for something. We almost made it up the Roxbury Road hill before I realized I had forgotten something.
90. I have locked my keys in my car twice.
91. The first time I was at Kari and Duy’s apartment in Stoneham, having spent the night before going to Patrick’s for a home visit in the morning. AAA came while Duy waited with me.
92. The second time I was running at the Stoneham High School track. I was by myself. As soon as I closed the door I realized. With nothing left to do, I ran on the track. Eventually a few Dads showed up with their daughters (luckily there was a running camp on this day of the week). One of the Dads called AAA for me.
93. My car’s name is Carol.
94. She is a 2006 Corolla, color Cactus Mica.
95. Elliot named her.
96. I had to get her the summer after graduation from Midd for the job I was taking at NECC. Two years later she has 35,000 miles on her.
97. My parents got a Corolla the year after I did.
98. After one year they have 35,000 miles on their car.
99. Carol and I come to Praxis where I work now, and I need her for my job still, to drive to area schools and run computer sessions with kids to test our software in development.
100. I love working at Praxis. It is a perfect fit. It is a good mix of independence and interaction, heavy on the independent work. The people are all extremely nice and down to earth. I remember I called Elliot as I was leaving the interview here in January of 2007. It was his birthday! I was so excited to tell him how much I loved Jen (who had interviewed me) and how well the interview had gone. I have now been here for just over a year. The year flew by, accompanied by an ipod shuffle. I just found out from our payroll person Karen Morris that I have been promoted to Research Assistant Level TWO (the official “pretend to be surprised!” announcement will follow from Jen either this week or next). The title doesn’t matter. The raise does!






The bench:
· I can juggle.
· I learned to juggle at the library when there was a class and post-class “show.” We have pictures.
· I took a “school-wide” (turned into “grade-wide” in 7th grade) activity “Juggling Class” in 7th grade and I’m not sure if I did this because I knew Peter Bergeron was taking it, too (because it was “grade-wide” it was cross-cluster and PB was in a different cluster).
· I finally got over my PB crush sophomore year of high school.
· My first “serious” relationship was with Andrew Rohr starting mid-KHS-senior year. Andrew’s middle name is Emory. I'll probably always remember that.
· We weren’t friends for a long time after we broke up.
· We’re friends now.
· I visited him in Denver!
· Hilary came, too! And Andrew’s friends Tom and Matt were in the weekenders group.
· We all ran (minus Tom due to knee problems) the Fort Collins Half-Marathon! I ran it in 1:33 and got third in my age group.
· I didn’t know I placed, so I didn’t go to the prize ceremony.
· The race director agreed to mail me my prize!
· It was a beer glass with Fort Collins Marathon and Half Marathon on one side and Michelobe Ultra on the other side.
· My dad drinks Michelobe Ultra.
· I drank Pepto-Bismol from a shot glass one time because it clearly resembles the plastic measure-dispenser that comes with the Pepto bottle but that you have to keep cleaning and it’s easier to throw away after a use.
· On that note, I have quite the relationship with Pepto-Bismol. I used to keep it in my refrigerator at school like some people keep Brita pitchers (I had one of those, too, actually). It was a staple, but I don’t know how much good it actually did ever. I just ate too much all-bran all the time. I haven’t had all bran since Midd, but incidentally I got a “Prize Package” in the mail from commenting on a blog “The Weighting Game” and it was a BOX of all-bran products. Go figure. I ate too much and the next day spent all day in Boston with Elliot and his mom. I needed some stomach recovery help, so I actually spontaneously bought extra strength Pepto at a Boston CVS with Elliot. He made me. I also let him pick out a juice-smoothie drink for me because I couldn’t choose between three.
· For about 6 months I drank Enviga Sparkling Green Tea religiously. One or two a day. I bought it like some people buy drugs. Eventually I had a suspicion that my behavior was compulsive and that the chemicals in the drink combined with the compulsion to spell U-N-H-E-A-L-T-H-Y. Plus expensive. I gave it up cold-turkey.
· I don’t eat turkey.
· I used to eat it; it was the last form of non-fish meat I ate. I can’t eat meat anymore though, the thought and the texture gross me out—it is slimy and fleshy.
· I don’t judge meat-eaters. It is all about personal preference.
· I can’t remember the last time I ate a hamburger.
· I lied—I ate 3 at the 1st annual Thug-a-que at Chi’s grandma’s house in Hull. It was the only food available other than potato chips. I did not sleep that night. Combination of Matt Powers, alcohol, and the ham-burling of my insides.
· There are a lot of nights I don’t sleep and it often has to do with food intake (too much or too little).
· I would make a terrible Goldilocks because I never find the juuuuuust riiiiiight.
· I counted “u” and “i” middles to make sure there was the same number of each.
· I have a really nice tv- Samsung flat screen. My dad was the driving force behind me getting this when I moved to Stoneham (I think because he thought I would be lonely).
· I was lonely.
· But I enjoyed the loneliness and spent a lot of time walking, going to the library, running, and organizing myself.
· That apartment (in the basement of a Lithuanian family home—straight out of IKEA!) was so nice. I loved that it was clean and all my own. It was a studio efficiency and I had my own entrance and my own bathroom.
· The only problem was that it was in the basement of a family home. There were plenty of awkward “family” moments when they needed to talk to me despite the language barrier. Alfred and Vita were nice (especially Vita) but definitely awkward. They liked that I was a “nice, quiet, girl” however.
· OMG Alfred spends all his free time doing house and yard work and they were re-doing their kitchen which is DIRECTLY above my studio. I would be trying to fall asleep and this incredibly loud BANGING would just persist and persist and I would literally be on the verge of tears at how stupid they were to think they could BANG like that at 11pm directly over my room.
· In high school I would sometimes ride the bus (sometimes Kari drove while we were in school together and then later Claire Treat drove). I’m pretty sure it was high school, but I guess it could have been middle school. But one year whenever I took the bus I had a FULL-SIZED YELLOW BUS ALL TO MYSELF. My mom tried to call the bus company and tell them that no one else was on the bus, but they responded that she must be mistaken because they would never send a bus for one person.
· I lived on the “rural route.”
· I was Sports Editor of my High School Yearbook Salmagundi for 2 years and then Co-Editor.
· I went to Yearbook Camp one summer at Gettysburg College.
· I only went on one Spring Break during college and this was a 3-day compromise to St Petersburg, FL with Erica Goodman, and it wasn’t even warm enough to enjoy our hotel’s pretend beach.
· All the other spring breaks I spent substitute teaching at Keene Middle School.
· My Dad worked at KMS for 33 years.
· He “retired” 2 years ago, and now works for the Vermont school system.
· I used to ride in to Middle School with my Dad and spend the early hours helping him in his classroom, or stocking the soda machines (to earn money for the 8th Grade trip to Washington, D.C.).
· I have worked more jobs than anyone else in my family- and I have been working since the summer after 7th grade (my choice).
· I worked at the Recycling Center/Landfill, assistant secretary in the Mayor’s Office, babysitter, ice cream scooper, camp counselor, basketball camp coach and referee, aforementioned substitute teacher, concessions assistant, scorekeeper (basketball, baseball, volleyball), DJ for basketball tournaments, Midd Rides Driver at Middlebury (shuttle bus), intramural referee, at The Comfort Hill Kennel dog kennel + daycare, psych department researcher, at an Elder Care Day Facility, graduate assistant and teacher at The New England Center for Children, Needle Factory Worker, Dog Sitter, Private ABA Tutor, and currently I’m a Research Associate at Praxis (educational software).