9 things you didn’t know about Ellyn

One

I’m a huge plant nerd. I’ve loved plants since I was a child- I remember growing up, my grandpa had beautiful landscaping that he did all by himself, and I’d always want to help him plant stuff during the springtime.

I ended up keeping this love of plants as I grew older and eventually went to Kansas State University for Horticulture Science. I had a great time cultivating various plants in the greenhouses on campus, and learned a lot about proper plant care and cultivation. I especially loved the fall semester, where we each chose a new variety of Poinsettia to cultivate and report on its growth process throughout the semester.

I currently have eight awesome houseplants and can’t wait to add more (despite the lack of space issue I’m running into..haha) and upon recently moving into a house, I will be doing some raised bed gardening in our backyard this spring. Expect veggies at our Happy Hours next summer! =)

Two

I was born in Phoenix, Arizona and lived there until I was about 12 years old. I have lots of fond memories of the beautiful landscaping the Southwest has, from the various cacti and palm trees to the use of xeriscaping (wish that was more prominent out here in Colorado!). I used to go camping a lot in Northern Arizona in the Flagstaff-Payson area, and enjoyed hiking and swimming at places like Saguaro Lake. My family and I would also travel to San Diego a lot since it was only about a six hour drive!

I unfortunately don’t remember the Grand Canyon, as my parents took me when I was a baby! I plan on going back someday soon to visit that and many other places. I haven’t been there since I was about 13 years old and still miss it dearly. Doubt I’d ever move back though, those 120+ degree summers are KILLER.

Three

My family moved to the greater Kansas City area (specifically, Overland Park) when I was 12, and I lived there and in various cities within the area until I moved to Denver in early 2018.

My parents didn’t stay together long after the move unfortunately, so I had a bit of a rough go at it during my teenage years. I actually ended up going to an alternative high school due to some poor behavior on my end, but ended up graduating there as the valedictorian of my class, hilariously enough.

I’m personally still not a huge fan of the Kansas City area and I couldn’t wait to move away – the weather is awful, I call it the swamp of the Midwest due to the high humidity year round! Also, there’s not much to do. However, I met my husband while there and am still close friends with people I knew while in high school (one of them is my roommate to this day!) so, it isn’t all bad. Plus, they have the BEST barbecue in the country. Sorry, Texans and Southerners!

Four

I mentioned meeting my husband, Steven, back in Kansas in the last section. Well, we actually met when we were 15 and freshmen in high school! We started dating then and never went through any relationship drama, and ended up getting married in 2013.

People are always amazed when we explain how long we’ve been together, and it is crazy to have the whole “high school sweetheart” thing going for us. We both turned 30 last year, so we have been together for half of our lives!

Five

I went nearly my whole life so far without breaking a bone… until last summer, a week before my 30th birthday!

I decided I wanted to pick up skateboarding again, and my husband got me an awesome board for my birthday. It had arrived early, and I was on day three of practicing at the park down the street from our apartment when it happened. I was, obviously, insanely rusty and this board was a bit looser than I should have had it.

I had almost fallen once, and instead of realizing my legs were getting tired and starting to walk home, I decided to hop on one more time to try and ride close to home. Well, when I did, the board flew one way and I flew another, landing on my palm and scraping myself up pretty bad. I learned that when you fall, you should never land on the palms of your hands as the force radiates up your arms and can crack the “radial head” in your elbow!

After I fell, I kind of laid there for a moment in pain, and once the adrenaline took over, I walked home as quickly as I could and told my husband what happened. We thought I’d be okay, so I had a small glass of whiskey (natural painkiller, right?!) and tried to just lay down for a while, but we finally realized I definitely needed to go to the ER when I tried to move my hand and it moved in a very disfigured manner! I had a camping trip planned for my birthday the following week, and it sure was fun hiking with a sling the whole time.

Unfortunately, I haven’t skated since and probably won’t start back up. I’m just too clumsy!

Six

While at K-State, I chose German for my language credit. I only got to take it for one semester, as language courses are incredibly time consuming and it didn’t fit in with the rest of my schedule . However, I absolutely loved learning it and retained quite a bit, so I have actually started relearning it via language apps this year. Steven and I really want to travel to Germany in the future – I’d love to experience Oktoberfest and the Christkindlmarkets!

Seven

I have one pet, a dog named Domino! He is two and a half years old, a Blue Heeler/Staffordshire Terrier mix, and so heckin cute. While I grew up around pets, Domino is my first pet that is actually mine and oh boy, was it tough when he was a puppy! Steven and I rescued him from Colorado Puppy Rescue back in October of 2019, and he has grown up to be a happy, healthy, fairly well behaved dog we love with all of our hearts. It’s been great moving into a house from an apartment, where he has a big yard to run around in all day and play fetch, his favorite thing!

Eight

Despite loving to listen to music, I’ve never been a musically inclined person. But earlier this year, I purchased a bass guitar, which I’ve always wanted to learn! I’m a super newbie for sure, but I’ve caught on pretty well and am really enjoying it.

I’m hoping to get an actual bass speaker now that we’ve moved, as I’ve just been using an adapter for my headphones that doesn’t give quite the full effect I’d like.

The first song I learned all the way through was Arctic Monkeys – Fake Tales of San Francisco!

Nine

I’m very into video games! I was able to finally acquire a PS5 in September after trying all year and being on Sony’s waitlist since April. I’m more of a console gamer, but I have played some World of Warcraft and League of Legends on PC in the past.

Currently I’m playing Ghost of Tsushima on the PS5, and couldn’t recommend it more! I also have a Nintendo Switch and absolutely love playing Breath of the Wild. I’m on my second playthrough now, and man, does that game have SO much going on, it’s easy to miss things the first time around!

Legend of Zelda games actually hold a special place in my heart, as the first video game I ever beat was actually Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the N64.