... that you probably didn't know about Emily

  1. I hate driving and have not driven on a highway since 1996. Also, I’ve been in five accidents, all in parking lots.
  2. I can name any “Brady Bunch” episode in 10 seconds or fewer and cannot be stumped in even the most obscure trivia question related to that show.
  3. I played the violin for years, and often referred to it as my fiddle.
  4. I am obsessed with fonts. My favorite is Nicholas Cochin. Go ahead, test-drive it at myfonts.com.
  5. If I could do anything besides write, and get paid for it, I would be a professional baby naming consultant. It baffles me that so many couples put so little effort into making sure certain things work—like, whether the name goes with their last and/or sibling names. Feel free to email me with queries.
  6. I was the men’s basketball manager at Wake Forest University and during my senior year, when we were playing UNC on the road, I left the jerseys back in Winston-Salem. For a televised game. A police escort barely got them to the game on time. We lost by more than 20.
  7. My favorite foods: avocados, ribs, deviled eggs and hummus.
  8. I’ve never been stung by a bee; I have never broken a bone or had stitches; I have never had poison ivy. What can I say? I’m an indoorsy girl.
  9. I hate speed and have never ridden a roller coaster.
  10. I am good at keeping secrets. I do not believe that: “Don’t tell anyone” means “Don’t tell anyone except someone you tell not to tell anyone.”
  11. I hardly ever cry when I’m sad but often cry when I’m angry.
  12. I secretly fear that I mixed up my identical twin sons shortly after they were brought home from the hospital. We will never know.
  13. I am always in search of the perfect cheeseburger.
  14. January is my favorite month of the year—and there’s no close second. Spring makes me panic.
  15. I can say the alphabet as quickly backwards as I can forwards.
  16. My parents are on far ends of the political spectrum—which is why I think I’m so moderate and lukewarm to politics in general.
  17. I knew Elizabeth Smart wasn’t dead—and was sure they would find her. It is the only sort of real premonition I’ve ever had.
  18. I broke all kinds of records in Frogger. And I have to believe my initials are still up in an arcade in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.
  19. I have a mild case of prosopagnosia.
  20. I once went mud-bathing in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland, the most interesting place I’ve ever visited.
  21. I once listed “fly fishing” as one of my hobbies on a school application. I have never been fly fishing.
  22. When I was in high school, my boyfriend and I got jobs together at a restaurant. Our first paychecks came and he got 50 cents more per hour than I. It became my first “legal” claim, and I demanded that the manager pay me back wages at the end of the summer.
  23. The one product I cannot live without is La Mer lip balm. It is outrageously priced but worth every penny.
  24. I take an insane number of photographs. It is a rare day when my camera does not see action.
  25. I can touch my tongue to my nose.