Franny Facts

I was tagged by a dear friend on Instagram to reveal 20 little known facts about myself & it ended up being so popular that I thought I would share it on the blog.

Here goes:

1. I love kitsch bric-a-brac, antique furniture & retro clothes, spending heaps of time traipsing around vintage shops looking for hidden gems.

2. I was born in the outback Queensland town of Blackwater to teachers on "Country Service" but despite their vocation, I hated school from the very first day despite achieving good results. I am named after my mother's best childhood/teenage-years friend who became my Godmother & sadly passed away a few years ago.

3. Speaking of school, I met my best friend Belinda on the first day of Kindergarten & although we lost touch for a few years in the middle, we reconnected when placed in the same Form Class in grade 8. Neither of us had changed much in terms of personality. 

4. My favourite place to be is Greenmount Beach on the Gold Coast. As a family, we holiday there for 2 weeks every September, while the weather is still cool enough for us to take looooooong walks.

5. I am storm phobic & find the sound of thunder physically painful.

6. I only wear dresses & tunics - never pants & tops - & since I haven't changed much in size since I was 15 years old, I have over 500 stored in boxes, cupboards & bags around the house. 

7. Asian food is my absolute favourite & I would be happy eating Oishii Sushi & drinking Tea Fusion milk tea with tapioca "pearl" balls every. single. day for the rest of my life.

8. I have a lazy eye & had to wear a "pirate" patch for 2 years during childhood but it was so effective that I now only need glasses for reading/computer work.

9. Trivia & quiz shows are some of my obsessions. I watch Jeopardy every night & take the scoring VERY seriously.

10. I am a terrible dancer, cook & piano player as they require fine motor skills I don't possess. 

11. I love love love karaoke & although I am a classically trained singer (lessons for over 4 years) I prefer to bust out cheesy "pop" songs rather than serious ballads.

12. My parents raised my brother & I on folk music & when I was little, I thought Dylan's Tamborine Man & Simon & Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair were kid's songs.

13. I almost exclusively listen to records from the 1960s & 70s (except in the car, where the only options is a CD or radio) but am slowly branching out with my new iPod. My favourite artists are Bob Dylan, Donovan, Led Zeppelin, Simon & Garfunkel, Cat Stevens & Peter, Paul & Mary, to name a few...

14. My hair went prematurely grey overnight when I was 15 years old due to exam stress & I have dyed it every 8-10 weeks with a semi-permanent ever since.

15. My poker-straight, blunt "bob" hairstyle gets bizarre reactions such as stroking in the supermarket queue & SNIFFING on an escalator... Yes, that really happened to me, a middle aged man in a suit audibly SNIFFED my hair on the escalator in a David Jones store. Luckily my mother was a few steps behind & witnessed it as well or I would have thought I was imagining things!

16. I am a voracious reader of classic literature, particularly 18th & 19th century British authors, but I still buy 6 or more trashy magazines per week. In fact, Monday is my favourite day of the week because the new issues of Woman's Day, New Idea, NW & Famous are released... I know, I have a problem...

17. My younger brother & I are super-close & people often think we're twins, even though I am (almost) 5 years older. Being only 5 feet tall with a baby face helps! 

18. Obsessed with dairy, I could drink 4 milkshakes a day if I let myself...

19. I love watching English television shows, particularly murder mysteries & have seen every episode of Midsomer Murders ever made, as well as every Miss Marple or Poirot, regardless of who is playing the ubiquitous main character. 

20. I love love love retro films from the 1960s & 1970s - particularly the Gidget series, Elvis in Hawaii & James Bond outings starring either Sean Connery or Roger Moore.

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