Blogger's Block: 10 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me

Hey y'all, I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

In an effort to fight the blogger's block I currently have and in an effort to share something with y'all that's relatively easy and quick (it's exam time), this is what I came up with.

A little "10 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me."

For what it's worth, here it goes:

1. I'm a karate kid. I have a black belt in the Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do. (um, what?)

Yes, I competed. Yes, I won stuff. I did it with my dad and my best friend growing up, and her dad. We trained for a good amount of years.

Yes, I broke boards .... and ruined my manicures.

Seriously, I wish I stuck with it because it keeps you in ah-mazing shape.

2. I'm a closet nerd. Reading is a passion of mine that I don't often indulge in because of law school.

However, I love love to learn. I like to read about Philosophy, particularly medieval philosophy. I enjoy religious theosophical treatises and texts, mainly of authors and thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas, G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis and Tolkien.  "The Inklings" inspire me to no end. Brilliant men.

I also have a HUGE collection of antique and rare books. They take up like four bookcases in my living room. Like a said, I'm a closet nerd.

3. I used to read fan fiction.  This is been divulged by me because of the complete and utter domination "50 Shades" has on society. In college, I read "Fifty Shades" when it was formerly a fan fiction, "Master of the Universe". (It was just as good then) ... It would publish throughout the week and I would chat the author, "E.L. James" after I read each chapter, telling her what I thought.

We still get to chat from time to time, I still regret not meeting her in D.C. when she came to meet me and my gal pals who were her "Bunker Babes". At least we talked on the phone. That success baffles me in the sense that it's so surreal I can't even explain. To me, it was just a story I would read online.

Another author, who now goes by the pseudonym, "Sylvain Reynard" writes a series starting with "Gabriel's Inferno." It's loosely connected and inspired by the infamous love of Dante Alighieri and Beatrice Portinari, Dante being from Florence, and Beatrice from Fiesole.

It's such a beautiful, captivating love story. You should look it up.

This author and this story has a special and infinite place in my heart. The author is a dear friend and I will always be grateful for all I learned, shared and the comfort I gained for being there throughout the writing.

4. I gave mass readings in St. Peter's Vatican Grottoes.  If you're a Catholic as I am, you will know how much this means.  My family and I took a long trip through Italy after my grandfather passed. The priest we travelled with arranged so that we could have mass by Pope John Paul II's tomb in the Vatican Grottoes. It was surreal and one of the most peaceful and precious moments in my life (so far).

And it's very difficult to have any sort of gathering arranged in the grottoes. Somehow I think my grandpa put a good word in to give us all that opportunity to feel near him and my grandma.

I stood aside Pope Benedict the same day. I'll forever be grateful for that trip.

5. I'm TERRIFIED of driving over bridges. If I ever have nightmares, they usually involve me driving on a bridge. I hate hate hate them.

With my dad's family being from New Orleans, this has always been an issue for me. The causeway makes me want to internally combust.

6. Italian Medieval and Renaissance art is a passion of mine.  Cimabue, Duccio di Buoninsegna, Giotto di Bondone, Simone Martini ... all the way to Michelangelo, Titian, Antonio Canova, Caravaggio and Botticelli are among my absolute favorite painters, thinkers, poets, sculptors, philosophers and politicians.

I love how Italian art was so influential and synonymous with culture and policy. You can basically look at art from the Medieval period to the Renaissance and see where the intersections of religion, politics and literature reside.

This interweb of thought, portrayed in oils, preserved in frescoes and made alive in sculpture will always garner my devout attention. Hence, Florence is my absolute favorite place I've been. Venice would be second.

7. Frank Sinatra is the most amazing entertainer ever, as far as I'm concerned. 

My mom calls me an old soul. She's right. I find comfort in things of the past more than contemporary ideals.

I'd rather watch tapes of The Rat Pack performing at The Sands in Vegas or Sinatra at Carnegie Hall than Miley Cyrus twerking.

I just love Frank. So much.

If that makes me a complete loser, so be it. I don't care.

My Frank Sinatra anthologies keep be happy and I gleefully listen to "Siriusly Sinatra" everyday in my car.

8. My favorite drink is a steaming hot cup of Earl Grey. 

One sip of the Earl at the Dorchester and I fell in love.  That's all you need to know.

9. Speaking of love, my first love was undoubtedly Rhett Butler. When I was a little girl, I watched Gone with the Wind with my mom as much as I could.

I wanted to be Scarlett at the barbeque, or wear that stunning baby blue velvet dress she wears later on.

I wanted to receive bonnets from Rhett (emerald green feathered bonnets yes please).

Rhett Butler is the epitome of Southern gentleman chic. His ascots and coat tails made me sigh and swoon.

I'm from Georgia, I love GWTW. It's that simple.

10. I want to practice Domestic law. 

It's likely I will practice some criminal law too, but domestic work is where I feel I should go in terms of my practice.

If you know me well, you know how passionate I am. If I care about you, I fiercely care. I will defend you and stand by you no matter what.

If you screw me over, (or someone I care about) I'm done ... No, you're done.

I'm Italian and that's how I roll.

With that said, relationship situations bring that out in me the most. Whether it's my life, a dear friend's life or a child's, I want to defend them and their feelings, their dignity.

No one should ever be mistreated by someone when they were brought into that person's life out of love.

And that's why I want to be a domestic relations lawyer.

To represent the mistreated, the people who loved and who were taken advantage of in whatever fashion. It happens far too often and it's a reality we all have been touched with one way or another.

Hope you learned a little more about who I am, why I am.

Cheers dahlingssss