15 Random Facts Tag

Hello lovelies!

After surviving my first week of second semester of college, I thought I'd unwind with this 15 Random Facts Tag. I wasn't tagged by anyone specifically, but I did see this tag over at Funky Makeup Junkie and I thought it looked quite fun. I can't figure out how to make the number system double spaced, so I'll just make the answers different colors in the hopes that it's marginally easier to read. So here goes:

1.  I can never read one book at a time. Seriously. I'm always juggling four or five books for pleasure all at once, on top of what I have to read for school. Needless to say, it takes me quite a while to actually finish some of them, as they're all of varying lengths and I have little to no time for pleasure reading. (Then how do you have time for blogging, you ask? Excellent question). I love reading, but I just can't be a monogamist when it comes to books. Besides the Harry Potter series, my favorite books are by Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, and Jane Green, respectively. 
2.  I'm in love with the Spanish language. This is my eighth year studying Spanish, and it's really paid off. I won a trip to Peru the summer before senior year of high school through the National Spanish Exam. I was one of 32 students nationwide who got to participate, and one of only four who won through the exam. I'm pursuing a Spanish minor at my university, and I'm rereading the Harry Potter series in Spanish. I'm currently on the fifth one. 
3. I enjoy a wide variety of music genres, but I'm not a huge fan of major pop stars like Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, or Kesha. Their music is catchy and they're fun to watch, but my favorite singers include Eric Hutchinson, Jon McLaughlin, Michael Buble, Jason Mraz, Juanes, Reik, Luis Fonsi, Sara Bareilles, and Colbie Caillat. As you can see, I like the less overtly famous singers [except, I guess, Jason Mraz I suppose]. I prefer slightly mellower but still catchy pop with clever lyrics, and I am in love with jazz, big band music, Latin pop and traditional Latin music.
4. My family has taken the weirdest vacations, but I've loved them all. To name a few of the quirkiest, we've been to Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota. We've also been to Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Iowa, Ohio, Colorado, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, West Virginia, Canada, and New York. Only a few of these destinations are actually destinations for vacations that most people take. My dad likes going to random places with lots of historical value, museums, nature centers, and, for my benefit, some sort of great shopping. Even though these are extremely quirky destinations, I've loved all of them. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few as well.
5. I will watch my favorite over and over and over again, sometimes three days in a row. I saw the most recent Harry Potter movie three times in a week, and a fourth time in the same month. I watched Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland three times in a week in the summer, and another three times within a week this fall. Three seems to be the magic number here; I promise there's no reason for it! I also never get sick of watching 27 Dresses or 500 Days of Summer. I have way too many favorite movies to name, but a few that I've not yet mentioned are The Princess Bride, Tangled, Enchanted, Ella Enchanted, The Devil Wears Prada, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Casanova, and Stardust.
6. I absolutely love to hula hoop. It's one of my favorite ways to exercise. I prefer to exercise in my house, or, in this case, my dorm room. Thank goodness it's big enough. I can hula hoop through an entire movie. The longest I've gone without stopping was a little over two hours. I like to watch a movie or read a book or magazine while hula hooping and walking. Yes, this may seem crazy, but that's only because it is.
7. I don't watch a lot of TV, but I'm absolutely in love with Flight of the Conchords and Castle. Flight of the Conchords only ran for two seasons, and I only found out about it last year when my brother and I started watching music videos from the show. It's so low budget and terrible that it's absolutely wonderful. How could you not fall for the New Zealand accents and total lack of success of the show's title band in America? Castle is an extremely clever and hilarious show with starring Nathan Fillion. I usually hate mysteries and crime solving shows, but this one has just enough humor to make it great. I'm also addicted to Glee, but this season just isn't that good.
8. I don't have texting on my phone. Yes, that's right. The only time I've ever texted was when my friend was driving and she asked me to tell our mutual friend that we'd be there in a few minutes. Shocker, I know. In a world dependent upon 24/7 connection, most of my friends find it hard to believe that I'm still alive without text. However, it's actually been a blessing. I don't have to constantly worry about offending people by not texting them back because I'm busy or don't feel like responding, and I never have to worry about my friends or some boy not texting me back. I've also converted a couple of my friends into callers rather than texters. They actually now prefer talking on the phone. It's amazing.
9. I strongly dislike typical American barbecue food. That includes hamburgers, hot dogs, potato chips and french fries. The greasiness is so unappealing. I'm not a huge meat eater either, but I'm not a vegetarian. If I could live off cheese and pasta, I would.
10. I've been in choir since first grade, excluding my junior year of high school. That makes this my thirteenth year. I absolutely love to sing. I know there are other much more talented singers, but I've enjoyed being in advanced choirs and ensembles, as well as jazz choir and show choir throughout my life. I love singing in front of huge auditoriums because I don't have to concentrate on any particular faces. I get more nervous singing in front of small crowds of people I know than in front of huge crowds of people I don't know.
11. I live a pretty drama-free life, but I often get caught in the middle of friends who are fighting with each other for some insignificant reason. I've been stuck as peacemaker my entire life and I tend to concentrate much more on the well-being of others than on my own, which is something I feel I need to work on.
12. As you may or may not have guessed from the title of this blog, I'm absolutely addicted to lipstick. My first addiction was nail polish. I wore a different color every week from fourth grade until my sophomore year of high school, and now I wear it more sporadically. My collection is still huge, but smaller than the 70 some polishes I had at the height of my addiction. My second addiction was lipgloss. I was so jealous the first day that my sister was allowed to wear lipstick, and so I decided to collect lipgloss in the meantime. My collection has grown ridiculously, but over the last year my enthusiasm for lipgloss has died down and the lipstick-addict gene has kicked in. My best friend thinks I need to stop indulging my addiction, but my collection is, by my standards, still quite small.
13. I have a love/hate relationship with my appearance. I have extremely pale skin and thick, dark wavy hair. I'm quite small and petite but curvy at the same time. Besides my constant struggle to tone up, I've often felt that I look like I belong in another decade. I'm not stick-thin, and there's nothing tiny about my facial features. My face is very youthful looking and round, and I'm not quite old enough to appreciate it. Most people think I'm in high school now, which is a step up from when they thought I was twelve, but I'm still a bit uncomfortable with it. My looks just aren't typical of this era's idea of beauty. I've sometimes been told  I look like I stepped out of the '50s. I often take that as a compliment, but I still struggle with my looks.
14. The only pets I've ever had are goldfish and guppies. Thrilling, I know. My family has babysat bunnies, birds, turtles, dogs and guinea pigs, but we've never actually owned a pet that can be held and petted. 
15. I'm addicted to all kinds of magazines. I'm subscribed to Seventeen and I often buy Allure, so I'm considering a subscription to that as well. My mom subscribes to Family Circle, and I absolutely love reading through it and looking at the style and family sections. I used to love Woman's Day until a new Editor-in-Chief took over. I always borrow Teen Vogue from my best friend, as well as People and People StyleWatch when she borrows it from her dad's office. I own some issues of Vogue, Elle, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan as well.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this tag as much as I enjoyed writing it. I tag anyone who reads my blog. I'd love to hear 15 random facts about you!

xEsther