Dear Do You Know Me? ,

Dear Readers of Dear Life who may not have had to opportunity to hang out with me over the course of the 5 years I studied at BYU,

I thought you might want to get to know the author of Dear Life.

10 things you may not know…
1. I play the French horn- and at one point quite well- including a performance in Carnegie Hall in Manhattan

2. I have dined with Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes, entirely unaware of who he was until half way through the dinner. We chatted about summering on Martha’s Vineyard and the quaint shops in downtown New Canaan, CT.

3. Lance Bass was my N Sync crush. I was convinced that if I could just meet him he’d fall in love. I even sent the entire band a letter identifying with how lame all the teenie-bopper fans must be, and letting them know if they were ever in NY and needed a home-cooked meal , the Nicolai house was open.

4. I cry in virtually EVERY movie I see. (Enchanted and Elf included)

5. Being ignored is my number ONE pet peeve- followed closely by people who say things they don’t mean.

6. Anthony DeCandido was my first kiss. The only smooch I regret was Gary- from Roselands, New Jersey- a random on a family trip to Ft. Lauderdale.

7. I once went on a date with a boy who scored a 14 on the ACT – LONGEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE.

8. My life’s dream is to access the land deed to the Nicolai family estate in Abbruzzo, Italy- renovate the property, restore the orchards and vineyards, and dwell in peasantry bliss in rural Italy for the remainder of my days.

9. I love cats- almost unhealthfully. In my lifetime I’ve loved 4…
a. Chesi- named after the Chesire cat, she endured the torture of 3 small children
b. Monkey- adopted on a whim when living at King Henry Apts., named after her propensity to scale up one’s back)
c. Luci - originally named as an adorable little girl, who began to walk with a swagger and realized it was a boy- now short for Lucifer, which is actually quite fitting as he’s turned out to be one of the most vicious kitties I know- except he LOVES me)
d. Lola – I cant discuss it or I’ll cry

10. I lie – more frequently than I would like – but at least I admit it, which makes me an honest liar.
a. Most Recent Lie: desperately calling Anthropologie claiming my wedding was in 6 weeks (really 3 months), and entreating the help of every available employee to aid me in my search for bridesmaid dresses.
b. Lie That Bit me in the Backside the Hardest- telling my parents I was spending a weekend in Idaho, when in actuality Kimmy and I had made a last minute decision to weekend in London.
c. Most Common Lie I tell: that I’m 5’7’’ …. I know damn well that I’m only 5’6 ¾ ‘’
d. Have I lied to you? Truth be told- probably.
e. Lie I’ve Been Dying to Get Off my Chest: I may or may not have smooched a boy while I had a serious boyfriend
***Disclaimer: It was a LONG time before Matthew T Lybbert came along, and that’s the truth! (wow- that felt good)***


Favorite Concerts I’ve Attended:
1. Red Hot Chili Peppers & Weezer- Vegas’ 100th Birthday
2. Franz Ferdinand & Death Cab for Cutie
3. Ben Folds
4. The Format
5. Billy Joel- a lifetime dream come true
6. Journey & Def Leopard
7. Tim McGraw & Faith Hill

Jobs I’ve had:
1. Intern to the film department of Westchester County, NY (facilitating contracts for motion picture films shot in the area- like Unfaithful with Richard Gere, Sleepy Hollow (Johnny Depp), and ESPN commercials with some sports guys I can’t remember)
2. Waitress at Peabody’s Bar & Grill in Chappaqua, New York
3. Childcare Specialist (My sisters and I ran a “Babysitters Club,” … literally)
4. Brand Rep at Abercrombie & Fitch
5. SAP Global Marketing- Events Intern
6. Nordstrom Sales & Customer Service Rep
7. BYU University Communications- Public Relations Writer
8. Thomas Arts- Public Relations Manager

Greatest Motivator: Love (if I love you, I’ll do practically anything for you.)
Greatest Hinderance: Fear of Failure (if I suspect I may not be great at something, I usually don’t try. Exhibit A: wakeboarding. I was pretty sure that it’d be a struggle- but thanks to some encouraging friends, I finally gave it a try. I was right- I’m not great at it, but I got up on the first try and surprisingly had a pretty good time)

Statistics:
Number of Siblings: 2 older sisters

Years in My Life thus far: 24

Regrets: 3 (all of or relating to people that I’ve cared about and wronged, hurt, or left matters unresolved - they know who they are)

Health Problems: Ruptured Disc in Lumbar Spine, and Chronic Levels of High Stress

IQ: 3 points below Anthony Strike, I was THOROUGHLY annoyed he outscored me, but not at all surprised

Email Accounts: 4 (aol, byu, gmail and TA)

Percent of the Time I’m Usually Right: 98% (*this number might be skewed by bias of data-collector)

Number of Emails Received Per Day: 97-213

Number of Emails I Enjoy Reading Each Day: 3 (if I’m lucky)

Number of Roomates Since 2002: 30 (all but 3 are still considered friends: one was a liar and a theif, the other 2 were randoms in Italy)

Favorite Dwelling: 50 East

Legitimate Boyfriends in my Lifetime: 12 (*relationships lasting 5+weeks)

Greatest Performance on an Exam: Comms 352 Final completed in 9 minutes with a score of 97% - thank you Kent Breard (*not my highest score, but given the length of the exam and the time completed, definitely my best)

Worst Performance on an Exam: 37% (Don’t worry, I retook Accounting. I hadn’t been to class or done the cd lectures in 3 weeks and decided I would make patterns on the scantron)

Favorite BYU Professors: Latimer and Dr. Kerry

Months spent outside of the US: somewhere between 6-8

Languages spoken: 2 (Italian- proficiently, French- enough to get around Paris)

Months left of Singlehood: 3

I think that's enough for today.
Thanks for reading,
Noelle