5 Things You Might Not Know About Me (Outside of Tea)

A while back I did a post on the 10 things you might not know about my tea lifestyle. That was a lot of fun to share! Last month Nicole of Tea For Me Please told us a bit more about herself, outside of tea, and challenged other tea bloggers to do the same. Recently, some other tea bloggers joined in and now here I go! I will admit, coming up with 5 things you might not know about me that are not tea related was a bit trickier than I thought. I never realized how much my life is about tea until I worked on this list. I hope you enjoy learning a bit more about me.

1. Marketing is the other side of me, but I almost became a Funeral Director. In high school I took co-op, a course that required you to work during school hours in a field you were interested in for post-secondary. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do then but I settled on event planning. However, there weren’t any event planning businesses near me so my teacher said the closest thing was — wait for it — planning funerals. I still remember the look on my dad’s face when I went home that day and told him I was going to work at the local funeral home and he would have to drop me off there every morning… To make a long story somewhat short, while I did enjoy my placement as much as one could, it wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I ended up going to school for Advertising because of my love for writing and designing. I studied graphic design, copy writing, public relations, selling, buying and placing ad spots for various mediums, etc. While my initial goal was to work in a big ad agency (think Mad Men style), during college I got more into the PR side because of my internship. Before college was over I snagged a contract non-profit marketing job where I focused on online marketing and have been in that field ever since.

2. Writing has always been a part of me. I know my career search started off kind of weird and I kept going back and forth on my goals but if you asked me today what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life I would actually have a solid answer. Writing. It’s the one thing I have done since I was really young and have continued to do so. I started out writing day-to-day stuff in journals, moved on to short stories, poetry, scripts and there were a few times I actually completed novels. Even with my work today in marketing or blogging, my favourite part of it all is writing. I wouldn’t think twice if given the opportunity to just write for a living!

3. I love running, but sometimes my knee hates me. Aside from drinking tea, what brings me peace is throwing on my headphones and going for a run. I started to get more into running a few winters ago. It was actually one of the winters in Canada that we hardly had snow and was super nice to just run in a long sleeve shirt. It was the best feeling in the world. I enjoy yoga too but even then I feel like I can’t quiet my mind as much as I can when I just run. Unfortunately, my bad knee sucks away all the fun sometimes so I recently started biking more and this summer has been all about taking a ferry ride to Pelee Island and biking everywhere there because it’s my favourite little getaway. (I guess that’s another thing about me!).

4. I can not stand cilantro. Is anyone with me on this? One of my pet peeves is when I order a dish I’m really excited for off a restaurant’s menu only to be served and realize cilantro is all up in it! Don’t get me wrong, I love many herbs but I’m one of those people who think cilantro tastes like soap and I can’t brush that feeling. It ruins every food for me. Sorry to all the cilantro lovers out there reading this.

5. I once danced on stage with Britney Spears. Everyone has that one artist they grew up listening to and even as you mature a part of them will still always be with you. Right?! Especially if they are also a tea fan! Now before you go thinking I can dance professionally, I should clarify I won a contest that upgraded my Britney Spears tickets and, more importantly, had me on stage with her and other winners for a song. Dance experience was not required (or else I wouldn’t have won haha). I could share the video of me on stage with her, but I’ll save myself the embarrassment. Instead, the featured image for this blog post is a photo of me and others with her on stage. If you can find out which one is me, then you win…a virtual cup of tea and cookie 😉

Tell me something not tea related about yourself in the comments below! If you’re a tea blogger, be sure to check Nicole’s original post and write your own.