During the first semester of my senior year of high school I had the best English teacher I ever could have asked for (shout out to Furg). Seven “I Am” poems, written about ourselves, that all had to have different ideas behind them. He challenged us to think about ourselves, and who we are as people. He asked us to dig deep, to think about how we want people to perceive us, and to even get their opinions on us before we completed our semester long project.

While many people did exactly what he said NOT to do, and waited until the last two weeks of the semester to complete all 7 drafts, I didn’t. I took the opportunity that he gave us and asked people for their opinions on me, dug deep into who I am as a person, what I want to stand for, and who I want people to see me as. Every time that I thought “Wow, I love that song” or “Oooh, that makes me smile,” I wrote it down in my handy dandy iPhone notes app. All of these handy little facts I learned about myself became one of my “rough drafts,” even though they don't really create a poem. I have slightly updated my list from when I first did it almost a year ago, but most things have stayed on the list.

Here are 100 things I love:

1. The beach at sunrise and sunset

2. Good coffee

3. Bookstores

4. Unexpected friendships

5. Snuggling

6. Random acts of kindness

7. Libraries

8. Mac and Cheese

9. Cozy coffee shops

10. The smell of a new book

11. No-bake cookies

12. Bear hugs

13. Leonardo DiCaprio

14. The smell after it rains

15. Fireworks

16. Singing at the top of my lungs

17. Museums (preferably art museums)

18. Making lists

19. Free samples

20. Kitchens

21. Watching it rain

22. Gatsby and Daisy (both my cats and the characters)

23. Kittens

24. Dressing really fancy for not fancy dinners

25. The Great Gatsby

26. Tiny cacti

27. Pilot G-2 pens (10pt.)

28. My sisters chocolate chip cookies

29. Arts and crafts

30. Plane tickets

31. Art supply stores

32. Cute journals

33. Gift cards

34. Cozy quilts

35. Seashells

36. Crushed ice

37. Bedrooms with slanted ceilings

38. Window nooks

39. Breakfast for dinner

40. Rain on a tin roof

41. Alone time

42. Laying out by a pool

43. Harry Potter

44. Cooking

45. Iced coffee in the summer

46. Tomato soup

47. Bonfires

48. Pretty sanctuaries

49. The smell of sunscreen

50. Harry Potter World at Universal Studios

51. Porch swings

52. Skylights

53. Big fireplaces

54. Nice smelling candles

55. Making people smile

56. Signatures

57. Reading on a beach

58. Wrapping presents

59. Waiting in line for a concert

60. Corn mazes

61. Board games

62. Harmonies

63. Ice-cream (chocolate peanut butter especially)

64. Traveling

65. Taking pictures

66. Concerts

67. Banana bread

68. Writing

69. Fall

70. Having friends over

71. College admission letters (my E&H one particularly)

72. Really big t-shirts

73. Target

74. Flying in airplanes

75. Layovers in cool places

76. Seeing friends you haven’t seen for awhile

77. Star Wars

78. Binge watching Netflix

79. Painting

80. Small groups at church

81. Lazy Sunday afternoons

82. Getting packages in the mail

83. Finding money I forgot about

84. The window seat (so I can pretend my life is a movie of course)

85. Choir concerts

86. Having someone play with my hair

87. Kitten kisses

88. Camping

89. The Virginia Creeper Trail

90. Going to see musicals

91. Pulling into the driveway after a long trip

92. When company shows up

93. Random visits from friends

94. Jesus

95. Kenya, Africa

96. Giraffes

97. Aesthetically pleasing Instagram feeds

98. Pura Vida

99. My best friend, Haley

100. My parents

101. My sister, Abby