I’m quite open, so I think you probably know a lot about me already. But there are also certainly things that you don’t know about me too. So I thought I’d tell you ten things about me that you might not know.

I’m always striving to find out more about people. I love getting to know all of those little details about someone, and I suppose half of my job is to read people and get to know them. So I thought that you might want to get to know me a bit better. Here are ten things you probably don’t know about me.

1. I used to Ice Skate for Great Britain

Ok, so most of you are probably saying, I know this already, as I use it every time I need to answer the question ‘what don’t you know about me’. But I don’t think I’ve ever really gone in to detail about it. So I thought I might explain it a little bit more now. When I say I ice skated for GB, I mean in one competition. The Junior World Championships in Helsinki where we came 17th out of 19th.

Ice Dancing was my hobby. I skated 5 days a week and trained as a solo ice dancer and as part of the synchronised skating team. Only one team in the UK ever gets picked for the World Championships. And it just happened to be that my team got picked when I was 16 years old. But ice skating for me was serious, and I competed every year in the British Championships.

I gave up ice skating as I was doing A-Levels. The pressure of training and studying all got a bit too much. One had to give – and I choose the skating. My dream wasn’t to skate as my career, so at the age of 18 I said goodbye. Having skated for 10 years religiously, I do miss it. So we go every Christmas. Josh actually organised ice skating as one of our first dates, thinking he could be a gentlemen and hold me up. Obviously, it ended up with me holding him up!

2. I went to an all girls Private School

I don’t talk about school much, because I really didn’t enjoy it that much. In fact I speak to no one I went to school with. And all of my girl friends (apart from Alice, that I didn’t actually go to school with) have been made since Uni. I will forever be grateful to my parents for sending me to private school. My education really was second to none. I think I was just a little bit unlucky.

There was so much competition in my year. How much money you’d got, how many holidays you could go on, what car you got bought for your birthday, what exam results you got. And you had to really fight to survive. As much as I hated it, it taught me to be so much kinder, to never boast or brag and to compete for what I desperately want.

My sisters both went to the same school. One hated it too, and so she moved to another mixed private school across town. One loved it, and she still speaks to all of the girls that she went to school with. I do truly believe that if I met with the people I went to school with now, that we might actually be friends. We were just all really immature girls at the time that didn’t mix well.

3. I freelance for a Furniture company every Wednesday and Saturday

This is something that I don’t really shout about either. You may have read this somewhere, but it’s usually hidden in a mass of text. I don’t know why really. I think probably because I feel like saying it means that my business isn’t doing very well. But then if you think about it the other way round, it actually means my business is doing well as it gives me a permanent income. An income that actually pays for my office.

I offer my interior design services to their customers whilst they are at their showroom. And I also tell them everything there is to know about their products. It started as my Saturday job during Uni, so I’ve actually been there for 6 years. I joke that I have two brains, a Furl brain and a House of Three brain. I can recite everything there is to know about their products (almost!) on a Furl day. But when I’m not there they don’t even take up a mm of my headspace.

4. I pick my gums when I get nervous

Gross I know, but it’s totally true. I chew them, pick them, scratch them. I’ve actually had all of my wisdom teeth out hoping that they were causing pain and the picking would stop. But it didn’t. And it happens every time I get nervous or anxious. In fact I’m doing it now thinking about telling you things you don’t know about me!

5. I hate mushrooms

I despise mushrooms. And I have a mushroom radar. I can tell if the tiniest little bit of mushroom is in my food. And once it is, I can’t eat it anymore. It’s not just the texture, it’s the taste too. Sadly for me though I was once too polite, and our family friends once cooked me a portobello mushroom as dinner. I literally sat and ate the whole thing. Was nearly sick, and have never eaten one since.

They actually make me gag. So I am sometimes naughty and say I have an allergy. Fortunately for me, we were once on an airplane back from the US, and EVERYTHING on the menu had mushrooms in it. (Which literally never happens). So I ended up with a steak and chips from first class. They even brought me the tablecloth and cutlery with it too. Which made me look like the biggest idiot in Economy.

6. I couldn’t say the letter ‘P’

I couldn’t say the word ‘P’, so when I was younger I got taken to speech therapy and had to learn to say it by blowing out a burning candle – ‘puh’ ‘puh’ ‘puh’. Give it a go next time you need to blow out a candle and feel my pain. Took my ages to learn, but I now know exactly how to say it!

7. I’ve never smoked or taken drugs

I don’t think many people would write this down for fear that something illegal might be written on the internet about them. But it’s true. Apart from paracetamol and alcohol (which are both classed as drugs), I’ve never smoked or taken drugs in my life. It might make me sound like a goody two shoes, but I don’t think there are many people that have got to my age in life and can say the same.

8. I’m a complete perfectionist

You might know this already, as I might have mentioned it every now and again but I am a complete perfectionist. To the point where I know immediately if someone else has been in a room. Something might just be 1cm to the right, and so I know someone has been in there. Everything has it’s place and my interiors eye can tell when it’s not exactly in one.

Everything in my wardrobe has a place and a coat hanger and if it’s put on the ‘wrong’ coat hanger, I will move it to the right one. It translates to my work too though, and I cannot and will not stop something until it’s perfect. Which is almost impossible in my industry as there is always something you could add.

9. I used to always wear wedges…

…and now I always wear trainers! But there is a reason. When I was ice skating, I had a little accident, which caused acute spondylolisthesis. This means that my back is always really painful. I’m constantly twisting and turning, but of course wearing wedges didn’t help. Fashion conscious, I ignored all of the advice until I turned 27 and then decided I’d just try it. I’ve never looked back.

10. When I first met Josh, I didn’t think we would last

For those of you that have been living in a hole, Josh is my fiancé. We have been together for 4 and a half years. But when I first met him, I really didn’t think we were going to last. He lived downstairs, right below me. And I think I thought it might all get a bit too intense too quickly. It definitely did as we moved in with each other after 6 months!

But he couldn’t be any more perfect for me. I suppose I will leave you on this note. Always give things a go, even if you have a feeling that you aren’t sure about. Because you never know it might just work out to be the best thing ever.

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