Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all had a great week and looking forward to the weekend ahead.

I found this over on Heather’s blog and thought it would be fun to fill out for today. 🙂 Feel free to answer some of the questions in the comments!

Do you have any nicknames? Laina, Al (nothing clever)

Are you named after anyone? My mom got my name out of an 80s novel called “Ashes in the Wind”

Do you have any siblings? I am an only child

Where did you grow up? I spent the first few years of my life in Haverhill, MA but mostly grew up “In the Little Town of Mendon!”

What activities did you do in high school? I played in the band (trumpet), sang in the chorus (alto soprano) and performed in the theater (Grease, Stage Door)

Where did you go to college? Endicott College in the north shore area of Massachusetts. Beautiful campus, located on the ocean.

What activities did you do in college? Peer tutor (for hospitality accounting), jazz band, resident assistant, peer mentor (for international students), Relay for Life, intramural softball

What did you study in college? My degree was in hospitality and tourism administration

What was your first job out of college? For a month or so, I continued working at (the now closed) Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse. My first hotel job was as a front desk agent at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA.

What kind of music do you like? I pretty much like everything except for jazz or rap (unless it’s old school rap)

What’s one hobby that you’d like to take up? I don’t know if it’s necessarily a hobby, but I would like to go kayaking more often

What did you think you wanted to be when you grew up? Growing up, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer, until I discovered the less glamorous side of the career

What’s the biggest project on your to-do list right now? We would love to be able to get landscaping for our house. It’s so much $$$ though!

Do you have any irrational fears? I don’t think it’s irrational – I’m afraid of drowning.

Have you every traveled outside the country? If so, where? In North America: Canada & Mexico. In Europe: Ireland, Spain, France and Switzerland

When’s your next vacation and where are you going? Next month we’re taking a road trip to Chicago and Nashville

Do you speak any other languages? I can understand some French and Spanish. I took French in high school and Spanish in college

What’s one talent that you wish you had? I wish I had a stronger singing voice. I can carry a tune but it’s not very powerful

What’s something that you wish you could do one more time? Visit Ireland! Seriously the most beautiful country with the nicest people

If you weren’t in your current job, what would you be doing? Traveling the country and blogging about it. For the longest time I’ve wanted to be like Samantha Brown (from the Travel Channel)