My favorite bloggers are women who are smart, self-assured, and authentic. And I love getting to know more about them, which is why I love the “Ten Things” posts from Fran and Alissa earlier this month. To follow in the footsteps of these lovely ladies, here are ten things you might not know about me:

1. I’m allergic to cats, Bacon included. Fortunately, I don’t break out in hives around him like I do most cats. I just need a rescue inhaler for the asthma he caused. (And, yet, I still can’t resist his fuzzy little face.)
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2. I’m comfortable around guns. My dad is a retired police officer and a hunting enthusiast, so we always had firearms around the house growing up. He was very open about them and answered questions my brother and I had, so we weren’t curious enough to snoop when our parents weren’t home. I didn’t share an interest in hunting, obviously, but I was required to take a hunters’ safety class. I earned top marks on the written test and the field test. I remember being surprised that not everyone hit the bullseye. I mean, you look down the barrel and shoot. How hard is it?! Haha. (My brother is in the U.S. Army and is an excellent marksman. It must run in the family.)
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3. I took Dutch for two semesters in college. It’s a shame I only retained a handful of phrases and the correct pronunciation of “Gouda.”
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4. I have a tooth on the roof of my mouth and only three incisors on the bottom instead of four. The one on the roof of my mouth is dormant (thank God), but there’s a calcium deposit where a tooth could have formed. Strangely, my brother has the exact same deformity and his tooth came in. Poor kid had to have it removed in elementary school. (His wisdom teeth never formed, so don’t be too sympathetic.)
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5. I will always choose beer over wine. (Any fellow beer geeks can find me on Untappd with username jmhamm.) Also, I’ll never order soda. I stopped drinking it two years ago and now find it sickeningly sweet.
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6. My dad trimmed my bangs when I was little by taping lined paper to my forehead to make sure his cuts were straight. I remember seeing the scissor shadows come dangerously close to my eyes!
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7. I make really good sugar cookies. My mom is an fantastic baker and I’ve inherited plenty of family recipes, including the sugar cookie recipe that I’ve perfected.
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8. I was in Girl Scouts long after it was socially acceptable. I stuck it out for twelve years and earned the Gold Award, the highest award in Girl Scouts, by organizing a summer reading program for first through third grade children.
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9. I’m named after the main character in some tawdry romance novel my mom read when she was pregnant with me. (Bonus: I was born in May and my parents briefly considered giving that to me as a middle name. Until they said “Jessica May Hamm” out loud. A little too close to “mayhem” for their liking. They picked Marie.)
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10. I hate watching movies, but I love binge-watching television shows.  A movie seems like such a time commitment to sit through, even though I have no problem planting myself in front of the TV for hours of House of Cards.
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Top: J.Crew Factory (similar here and here)
Shorts: J.Crew
Shoes: Sperry
Purse: Tory Burch
Bracelet: Monica Vinader
Rings: Lulu Frost, c/o Vrai & Oro
Sunglasses: Dolce & Gabbana c/o SmartBuyGlasses
Nails: Zoya “Blu” (and a Band-Aid on my index finger )
Lips: Clinique “Peony”