20. 19 things you probably didn't know about me.

Hello everyone! Ooh two posts in a week I hear you say, can't say I don't spoil you ;) As my 19th birthday is fast approaching us, I thought it would be nice to have a different birthday post this year. Regular readers will know that I usually share lots of photos and stories from my birthday party but this year, for the first time in my life, my birthday is in Ramadan so I won't be having a party as there is no party without food and I don't think the neighbours would appreciate a party between 9pm and 3am. So here are 19 facts about me that most of you don't know:

1. My favourite food is spinach. I love it on pizza, in my Mum's spinach curry, in pasta. Can't get enough of the green stuff (ooh that rhymes).
2. I have only ever been abroad once. At the time, I was 2 years old and we visited my Mum's family in Pakistan. However, I became severely ill and Mum vowed that she'd never go back :(
3. When I was 4, I was hospitalised after a chicken tikka became stuck in my throat so I was terrifed to eat them until the age of 18.
4. My favourite book is One Day and that was before Anne Hathaway played Emma in the film. I loved Emma and Dexter (except when he was a TV "star" and was behaving like a complete idiot) and felt like I was one of their closest friends. To Kill a Mockingbird, Little Face, An Offer You Can't Refuse, Silver Linings Playbook, the Harry Potter series, Fat, Bad Pharma and The Perks of Being a Wallflower are some other books I love and would recommend to anybody.
5. Although my favourite animals are sheep obviously, I also love sloths (my best friend got me into them), llamas (my Mum loves llamas so she got me into them), polar bears, sea otters (one of my lecturers got me into them) and penguins. Until the age of 11, my favourite animals were dolphins and I really wanted a dolphin called Emily.
6. I have alpha thalassemia and  found out at the age of 18. It won't affect me but if the man who I have children with has the condition too then our children may require blood transfusions.
7. I hate cling film because I cannot use it.
8. I despise marshmallows (just realised that this is the third fact where I have mentioned food- give me a break, just 90 minutes until I open the fourth fast of Ramadan 2013). They have the most pungent, chemical taste.
9. My oldest and best friend is Peggy, I've had her since I was 2 years old and because I am an only child, she was like a sister. We did everything together and it feels weird that at one point, I was smaller than Peggy.
10. My favourite flowers are bluebells because they are effortlessly pretty even though they are facing downwards. The colour is unique in that not many things in nature are that distinctive shade of blue.
11. When I was 2, I was sat on my Mum's shoulders but I wasn't prepared for her sudden movement so I ended up crashing into the coffee table. To this day, I have a scar above my right eyebrow. I am basically Harry Potter :P
12. My favourite song is Dancing in the Moonlight by Toploader and has been since it was released in 2000. It is such a happy song and as the lyrics go, it does makes me feel warm and bright. If I ever get married, I think that will be our first dance :')
13. I love the feeling of new socks, it feels like I am wearing clouds for slippers.
14. I was a vegetarian for 9 months when I was 17 and I would have carried on but my iron deficiency anaemia became worse so I ended up eating meat again. I think I will go back to being a vegetarian or at least, a pescatarian. To be fair, I don't eat a lot of meat because I don't really like the smell, texture or idea of killing animals for food when we have so much food on offer and no longer live in a survival of the fittest environment.
15. I have very long eyelashes. It led to my friend calling me Vamel in secondary school (she crossed camel with Valerie, The Zutons song which we both used to sing). They run in the family as even some of my male cousins have them.  I am not being vain but after attending a single sex secondary school, most of my classmates had mentioned it once and just last weekend, the lady who served me in The Body Shop asked me if they were real. I have only worn mascara once when my friend tried it on me at Eid and I hated it. On that note, I don't wear make up (apart from a bit of strawberry flavoured lip balm from The Body Shop or painting my nails sometimes) because my skin is bad enough with acne and I don't like the idea of having bits of a poor whale smothered on my face. 
16. My favourite subjects in primary and secondary school were English and French respectively. My biggest regret up to date is choosing AS Maths and not AS French in college because I probably would have ended up doing a Biology with French degree.
17. My guilty pleasure/pick me up is a packet of biscuits. It really is the simple things in life, hey? If I am craving junk food or want something to indulge in during cold winter evenings then there is nothing better than a cuppa and pack of chocolate digestives. Once the pack is open, they won't last long and it won't be going back in the cupboard but the empty wrapper will be going in the bin.
18. I've never owned a games console and I'm glad I didn't because I would probably wear glasses. The main reason for not having one was because I was an only child and I don't think my parents would have enjoyed playing Mario Kart with me.
19. I cannot sneeze in public because it is so loud and I'm scared of giving someone a fright and making them spill their coffee on their laptop or something in the library. This is a fairly recent thing and I would say it kicked in about 5 years ago from what I remember.

I hope you have all enjoyed finding out more about me. Feel free to leave some random facts about yourself in the comment and if you have any stories that relate to what I have mentioned above. If you're reading this from the UK, enjoy the sun while it lasts and if you're elsewhere on Earth then enjoy yourself too whatever the weather.

Love,
Mancunian Sheep x