My Turn at 50

I have been promising my wife for weeks that I would take a stab at doing my own version of "50 things". So consider this "50 things 2.0" Or I may decide to one up my wife and do 51 :)


1. My favorite all-time favorite actors are: 1. Tom Hanks 1A: Bob Hope (Although I am torn between the two)

2. Sometimes I read recipe books just for fun

3. I was the king of 4 square in elementary school. God did not bless me with a lot of athletic ability, but what I did get unfortunately went to a meaningless sport

4. I took a final my senior year of high school on Hamlet based on my third grade knowledge of the play (And I made a B)

5. I have a deviated septum

6. The name of my car is Black Beauty (She is probably breaking down as I am composing this)

7. If I could have a dessert at every meal I would. My Favorites being: THE Coconut Pie, my wife's homemade blackberry cobbler, the Hardison fudge sauce with cake and ice cream

8. If I could provide for my family (wife, kids, dog, etc...) by cleaning fence rows, painting, and working on the farm with Grandaddy Wayne, that would be my chosen profession.

9. In third grade, Wade Hampton and I thought we were long lost brothers who had been separated by aliens.

10. There is no greater Christmas present than a new lego set.

11. I DVR record Jeopardy every day, and it is what Andrea and I watch most nights during dinner.

12. I think sometimes Andrea is convinced I love Lexi more than I love her. (Although it is most certainly not true :)

13. Sometimes as I child I would stay up all night and read a whole Hardy Boys book.

14. I was on a swim team as a kid for all of ten minutes, until I heard the coach say, "We're gonna do 40 laps for a warm-up." I immediately got out of the pool and went to the car.

15. I am a nerd in every definition of the word. I'm literally studying to be a scientist, I have all the Star Trek movies on DVD, and my day is not complete without finishing the crossword puzzle.

16. I'm determined that at least for one game, I will sit court-side in Rupp Arena.

17. I began saving up for Andrea's engagement about 4 months after we started dating.

18. I cannot fall asleep until I know that Andrea is asleep.

19. One of our favorite date nights is cooking a big elaborate meal at home.

20. I saw the movie That Thing You Do three times in the theaters... in one weekend.

21. My favorite not-homeish (i.e. Lexington, Nashville, Columbia) places to visit is Malibu, CA...assuming the Trevathans will be there.

22. My dog and I share the same hair clippers and Andrea says the same eye color

23. I don't notice eye color, it was months before I knew what color Andrea's were, only because she told me.

24. It's almost pathological how bad I am at returning correspondence (texts, phone calls, etc...) If you want to get in touch with me, call my wife (as Jonathan, Kristen, and Geoff have learned to do)

25. Easily more than 50% of my wardrobe is either blue or UK related much to Andrea's chagrin.

26. One of our (Andrea and me) dreams is to design and build our own house someday.

27. I'm a sucker for any musical, although my favorite is Pirates of Penzanz

28. The only house cleaning chore I enjoy is vaccuuming, and that's because I get to empty out the dust bin when I'm done

29. Unless I have a 3 hour window, it is impossible for me to take a nap

30. The summer Andrea and I met, I dressed up as a pirate to attend the midnight showing of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

31. We give Russ and Heather (Mabry) Clendenin 50% of the credit for getting us together.

32. My favorite board game is Monopoly. I could play it for hours.

33. Andrea hates to play Trivial Pursuit with me or Nerts. We don't play well together.

34. After studying for 25 hours for an Organic Chemistry test and not seeing a payoff, I went the remainder of the year without studying and kept my B.

35. I was All-State in high school... Chorus

36. I don't think I broke 100 pounds until 7th or 8th grade.

37. Up until I met my wife, I always wanted three boys, but now I want at least one girl.

38. Whenever I hear Billy Joel's River or Dreams, it makes me think of doing Saturday morning chores

39. I've been fortunate enough to know my best friends for most of my life.

40. And actually got to marry my bestest friend.

41. I like sweet potatoes more than I like mashed potatoes. As long as the sweet potatoes are mixed with lots of sugar and brown sugar.

42. My favorite vacation other than my honeymoon was the first cruise my family ever went on.

43. If Andrea and I ever had lots of extra money that I could do anything with, I would spend it a lot of it in the UK bookstore.

44. I made a deal with Andrea that if I go to med school we can have 4 kids (if she wants) instead of the already agreed upon 3.

45. If Andrea and I could go anywhere after I finish my degree, it would be California or Italy.... or Nashville (added by Andrea)

46. Jonathan and I had a pretend radio show called The Love Doctors

47. Benjamin and I played and beat Zelda on Super Nintendo too many times to count.

48. I invented a game called Western Town that I played with mom when I was a kid.

49. In high school, I practiced writing my D's so that they would look more like my dad's handwriting (Just cause I wanted to, not because I was trying to forge his signature)

50. Even at 25, I still don't think Matthew is a very adult name.

51. The one thing I remember about 6th grade Latin is how to say, "May I use the restroom?" Mihi Liki ambulate ad latrinum