100 Random Facts About Me

1. I was born in 1972
2. I‘ve been married for almost 23 years
3. I live in a little village on the Costa Brava in Catalonia (NE Spain) with my husband
4. I love animated movies
5. I speak 4 languages
6. I love colour too much to pick just one favourite 
7. I am a spiritualist
8. I love plants but don’t have green fingers
9. I have lived in 3 different  countries
10. This is the 21st home I’ve lived in and I’ve been here for the longest (15 years)
11. I hate mashed potatoes
12. I love pawpaws (papaya)
13. Both my parents are deceased.
14. I trained as a clothing designer in South Africa 
15. I co-created a book called: The Art of Compassion
16. I have a brother, half-sister and half-brother
17. I stopped colouring my hair mid-2019 and let the greys take over!
18. I had my right knee stapled’ when  was a young girl to stop the leg from growing
19. I have helped a few people edit and self-publish their books
20. I backpacked around the Med for a couple months with Miquel in 1999.
21. I am very bossy (or so I’m told)
22. I have Charcot Marie Tooth disease, (type 2C) a degenerative neurological disease
23. I’ve had 5 surgeries in my life
24. I have bilateral diaphragm paralysis and need a CPAP machine to keep me breathing while I sleep
25. I believe in reincarnation
26. I’ve been a vegan for a little over 10 years
27. I have to take beta blockers for my heart every day
28. I was born and grew up in South Africa
29. I love tofu and beansprouts
30. I can’t write with a pen anymore (fingers don’t have the strength to push down)
31. I have astigmatism and myopathy but refuse to wear glasses all the time.
32. I have Chiari malformation
33. I co-created an oracle deck called: The Art of Compassion Oracle
34. I love knitting and crocheting in the winter
35. I struggle to lose weight and am obese
36. I have severe scoliosis and had spinal fusion when I was 17
37. I smoked 20+ cigarettes for about 17 years
38. My sun sign is Pisces, Moon: Sagittarius and rising sign: Virgo
39. I sometimes hear voices (the spirit kind)
40. I love spending time alone
41. I enjoy routines but love surprises
42. I have 3 tattoos
43. I grind my teeth at night
44. I read the Tarot
45. I prefer winter to summer
46. I had my toes straightened with wires for no reason, they curled back under
47. I have bilateral vocal cord paralysis
48. I am extremely patient (a by-product of 20 years’ of teaching)
49. I love making lists
50. I can’t walk anymore and have been wheelchair-bound for nearly 5 years
51. I have 11 ear-piercings (and can’t use any of them).
52. I love vampire movies
53. I have gallstones they can’t remove because I can’t breathe if I lie flat during an operation
54. I became a vegan for the animals
55. I believe our biggest struggles in life are our greatest teachers
56. I taught myself how to play chess and love playing
57. Forgiveness doesn’t come easily to me (I’m working on that)
58. I taught English as a foreign language for 20 years
59. I make junk journals
60. I founded and run The Art of Compassion Project
61. I don’t have any children
62. I don’t enjoy poetry much
63. All my family members live in other countries
64. Rooibos is my favourite herbal tea
65. As a baby, I couldn’t crawl and just slid around on my bottom instead
66. I was once an extra in a movie in London
67. Orchids are my favourite flower
68. I was held at gunpoint in South Africa while waitressing in the late 90s
69. I lived in a  commune in my early twenties
70. I love glittery things
71. I can’t walk on the beach anymore
72. I ‘ve broken both feet and a leg (all separate occasions)
73. I don’t watch horror movies 
74. I’ve been to the USA, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Greece, Egypt; Morocco and of course, South Africa.
75. The last time I drove a car was in 2013.
76. I wore a back brace (23 hours a day) from the age of 11 to 17
77. I was never bullied at school, which I am very grateful for
78. I was Brownie, Girl Guide and Ranger
79. I have loved art since I was a toddler
80. I believe in and can feel the Spirit world
81. I’m working on an idea for a book
82. I fast regularly and try to do at least one x 36 hour fast a week
83. I love creating mixed media and abstract art.
84. I knew my husband was ‘the one’ the moment our eyes met
85. I have a huge collection of crystals
86. I love reading but tend to favour non-fiction
87. Learning is a great joy for me
88. If I could go back to high school, I would have studied harder and become a surgeon
89. I believe in angels
90. My favourite place on earth is the Kruger National Park in South Africa
91. I practise Reiki
92. My name is Leigh-Ann, although everyone outside the family has called me Leigh since I was 18.
93. My surname stayed the same when I got married. 
94. I am a Spanish citizen now
95. I sleep 9 to 10 hours a night
96. When I became Spanish my surname changed to my surname + my mom’s maiden name. It’s traditional here. Nobody’s surname ever changes.
97. I love the sound of crickets
98. I have intense dreams – out of this world kind of dreams that I am sure bring messages from the Other Side.
99. I can’t use a knife anymore (thanks CMT!)
100. I am always studying something!