30 Days of Me Photo Challenge: Day Six

Day Six: Post a photo of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day. Why did you choose this person? What do you admire most about their life? What can you do to make your life more fulfilling?


Roxanne!

I don't know if it's because my creative mojo isn't running full speed tonight, but I can't think of a person I know in my real life that I'd want to trade places with. However, I've said many times that I wish I could get inside my dog's head for a day, try to figure out what she's thinking. Not to mention we treat our dogs like they're royalty. So, being pampered like that wouldn't be too bad either.

Roxanne is the sweetest spirited dog I've ever known. So innocent, so loving and trusting. She's just a happy-go-lucky girl. I would love to be her for a day so I could be loved on in over-the-top gestures, I would get to sleep in and sleep all day when ever I wanted, I'd get lots of pets and kisses, I'd get so excited when my 'mom' or 'dad' came home, I could play with my toys all day, get belly rubs, etc. I think it'd be funny to get inside her head and figure out how that silly brain of hers works.

I don't think this is too crazy of a thought... I know alot of friends who spoil their pets rotten, and if they switched places with them it wouldn't be too bad of a fate!

30 Days of Me Photo Challenge: Day Five

Day Five: Post a photo of your favorite memory. Why is this your favorite memory? What made it so special?


we were a family divided.

I had a really hard time picking a photo for this challenge. It was like walking down memory lane, though, while looking through the pics on my external hard drive trying to pick my FAVORITE memory. I don't know if this is my favorite memory, but it's definitely ONE of my favorites. ♥

This was taken 2009's Thanksgiving holiday vacation to Florida; my last Thanksgiving with either of my grandparents. Here's a little backstory:

I am a die hard Florida Gators football fan. (Which is evident by the fact that I wore my Gators sweatshirt today despite the fact that they lost. Again. ::sigh::) My grandma was a die hard Florida State Seminoles fan. For many years we would pick on each other about our teams.

Our teams play each other the Saturday following Thanksgiving every year, so my grandma and I have watched these games together a few times since we'd usually spend the holidays with family. Even if we weren't together the fan of the winning team would call the other to brag. My grandma even sent me a sympathy card with the newspaper article about their win one year!! (It's safe to say she didn't like to lose!) She'd pick on me for wearing my Gators gear and go stomp down the hall to get her 'Noles gear on.

Now that my grandma is gone it's not as fun to watch this rivalry game since she's not there to huff and puff at my players, or to call me a turkey when I gloat about that perfectly executed pass. But, it was on today and I don't think it's a coincidence that the 'Noles won 31-7. For one thing, my Gators are having a HORRIBLE season and for two, those stinky Seminoles have my grandma up there pulling strings in their favor. ;)

Fine, Grandma... I'll let you have it this year! But don't think you can do this again next year! Until then, I'll keep wearing my Orange and Blue. I love and miss you. xoxo

30 Days of Me Photo Challenge: Day Four

Day Four: Post a photo that best sums up the night you've had tonight. What did you do? Why was it fun?


Thanksgiving Elvis!

Tonight was Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house. It was a great night full of delicious food - especially pie - and great company. While the dessert was being plated up I decided to snap some pictures and my Maddy Jo had me cracking up with her facial expressions.

I am most thankful for her this year, however, I'm also so so blessed to have had Jeff by my side through all this year's crazy ups and downs.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! ♥

30 Days of Me Photo Challenge: Day Three

Day Three: Post a photo of the cast from your favorite show. Why do you love this particular show so much? Who is your favorite cast member & why?


Gilmore Girls!!

I loooooove Gilmore Girls. I've seen every.single.episode at least once, if not two or three times. I diligently watched it, every Tuesday night on the CW network while it was still a current filming show, I own all the seasons on DVD and watched every disk when I got each season's box set, and if I pass a re-run of it on ABC Family I watch it again. The one liners never get old. The romances never bore me. The quirky town people never lose their special jene se qua.

I don't know if I can pick a FAVORITE character - it's like picking a favorite child, ok?! But I reallllllllly love Lauren Graham's character, Lorelei. Truth be told, I aspire to be more like Lorelei. For one, she's beautiful. She's confident. Her success is self-made. She's sarcastic. She's the woman who all the men in town want, but she's too much woman for most of them to take on. She's the mom that EVERY single teenage girl wishes they could have. She's fashionable. She talks super fast - which is something I completely 'get'. I've been told I talk to fast for as long as I can remember. Maybe I don't talk to fast, maybe everyone else listens too slow.Ok, so her skills in the kitchen are pitiful, and she seems to need a man in her life... and I could do without those qualities... but over all, Lorelei is the bees knees.

For realsies though, I really really love this show and as silly as it is at times, I really do think that the characters that the writers created are awesome. They learn great lessons, make mistakes, have hilarious dialogue... they really make you want to live in Stars Hallow, irritate Luke while ordering breakfast at the diner, participate in one of the many town organized events and go to town hall meetings.

My mom and I used to have a Gilmore Girls date night every Tuesday, and if when Madeline is old enough for mother-daughter bonding tv nights if there isn't a show that we both enjoy watching, perhaps I'll just pop in one of my DVDs and I can fall in love with Gilmore Girls all over again.

30 Days of Me Photo Challenge: Day Two

Day Two: Post a photo of you & the person you have been the closest with for the longest. Why is this person special to you?

nina, me, ashley and shannon

I couldn't pick just one person, so I picked my girls.

I've known all of these girls since middle school. Different schools, different times, different situations, but that's when I met them all. When we were at our most awkward, most vulnerable, and most impressionable.

We've each got such strong, but SUCH different, personalities. We've kinda got a SATC thing going on.

Over the past 13 years; there have been times when two girls were closer than the other two. Or when someone wasn't talking to someone. We've all gossiped about one of the others. We've all seen each other cry, laugh, grow, hurt, and learn hundreds of times over. We've sworn we would never talk to each other again, but always come back together. We've laughed until our sides ached and we couldn't breathe. We've cried on each others shoulders until they were soaked and we ran out of tears. We've fought over guys, we've fought about guys. (worst idea, EVER, by the way.) We've chinked many a glass, and we've held each others hair when too many glasses were chinked in one night. We've cheered each other on when it was needed, we've defended each other to sh*t talkers. Some of us have had babies, gotten married, moved away, gone to school, and become young professionals in completely different fields. Countless minutes have been spent on the phone between the four of us. The number of photos we have of each other is unbelievable. The number of memories is unexplainable.

There are times when I'll talk to one of them every.single.day for a few weeks, and then not at all for a month or longer. It doesn't seem to matter, though. These are MY girls. They know me. They get me. I know that if I need them they'll be there. They know that if they need me, I'll be there. I'm so unbelievably blessed to have them in my life, and in my heart.

I love you, lovers. ♥

30 Days of Me Photo Challenge: Day One

Day one: Post a picture of yourself and 15 facts about you.




15 facts about me:

1. I was raised as an only child, as I'm my mom's only child, but when I was in high school I met my half brother and half sister and their families. They're from my father's first marriage and are 18 and 19 years older than me. Now, almost 10 years later I just consider them my brother and sister. None of this half business.

2. I'm kind of nerdy about how much I like animals. I watch more animal planet than what's probably 'normal' and I'd MUCH prefer to go to a zoo or aquarium than a theme park.

3. I've been a vegetarian for 13+ months now. I never really ate meat anyway as I never really LOVED it, and being the animal lover that I am, couldn't continue eating it - even rarely - knowing how horribly the animals were treated before being slaughtered. I have no issue with eating meat, but I am not ok with the fact that the meat industry has lost sight of the fact that these animals have souls and personalities and integrity. Sure, they were 'put on this earth for people to eat them' but that doesn't mean they have to be abused during their life time. They deserve to be respected.

4. I used to HATE the fact that I had red hair, but now that I'm getting older - and away from the playground bullies - I actually really like my hair color. And get sort of defensive if someone tries to tell me that I don't have red hair. It may not be orange, but AUBURN is a shade of red hair!!

5. I can't stop myself from buying the smooshed pennies when I'm on vacation. I don't DO anything with them once they're smooshed and pressed with the image on them. They collect in cups, drawers, ash trays and eventually get lost in the shuffle. But, I'm unable to not spend the $0.51 any time I see the machine.

6. I'm a scardey cat. I'm afraid of the dark, spiders, heights, roller coasters, ghosts, scary movies, deep water, needles, murky water, hospitals.... the list goes on and on.

7. I'm a bit irrational when forced to face my fears.

8. I LOVE pizza. Seriously, it's kind of an issue just how much I love it. I could seriously eat it every.single.day. from almost any restaurant, frozen brand, homemade... it doesn't matter. I've found very few pizzas I didn't like, and honestly, even if I didn't LOVE it I'd still probably eat it again if it was offered to me.

9. I have 3 tattoos. I want more. 2 more at least that I can think of.

10. I didn't get my ears pierced till I was 19... because I was scared of the needle.

11. I moved across the country 4 times before I was 8 years old. I've been in Las Vegas since then. Now that we're FINALLY moving to Colorado I'm so so SO nervous about the move! Not the living in Colorado part... but the actual move.

12. I'm pretty lazy. To a fault. I love to do so many things; cook, bake, craft, sew, etc. - but don't like to do the clean-up work after any of it. So, I often times just don't do the things I want to do. Nice, huh?

13. I danced jazz/hip hop for 9 years growing up. I LOVED to dance but really injured my knees. I quit dancing in 11th grade and haven't really exercised since. I never liked to exercise, I liked to dance. BIIIIIIG difference.

14. I was a girl scout for 13 years. Seriously. Kindergarten till my senior year. I never really told people about it, because when I did they'd make fun of me. But I loved it. I loved the friendships, the camping, the cookies - HELLO!, I loved the trips we took. Maybe I just got lucky with the group of girls I was with, but I really hope that it's something Madeline will enjoy once she's old enough to join.

15. I thought I was a 'cat person' until we adopted Molly. Apparently, I'm a maine-coon person. Maine-coon cats are totally different personalities than other cats. My cat, Whitney, growing up was a maine-coon and she rocked my socks. She's so independent and relaxed - and has been since she was a kitten. I didn't realize just HOW hyper and destructive kittens are. Adopting Molly helped me to realize that I'm a dog person. I still like cats, but I don't think I'll be adopting anymore kittens anytime soon.

30 days of me photo challenge

My good friend Holly started doing a 30 day photo challenge on her blog, and I'm going to give it a whirl and see if I can hang. I'm not anywhere near the photographer that she is, nor as edit-savvy, but I think it'll be fun to try to challenge myself. What with our move coming up right after the holidays I might not be able to post one every day, but by golly, I'll finish the whole 30 days... it might just take longer than 30 calendar days! ;)

The List
Day One: Post a photo of yourself along with fifteen facts about you.
Day Two: Post a photo of you & the person you have been the closest with for the longest. Why is this person special to you?
Day Three: Post a photo of the cast from your favorite show. Why do you love this particular show so much? Who is your favorite cast member & why?
Day Four: Post a photo that best sums up the night you've had tonight. What did you do? Why was it fun?
Day Five: Post a photo of your favorite memory. Why is this your favorite memory? What made it so special?
Day Six: Post a photo of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day. Why did you choose this person? What do you admire most about their life? What can you do to make your life more fulfilling?
Day Seven: Post a photo of your most treasured item. Why is this item special to you? How did you come to own this item?
Day Eight: Post a photo that makes you laugh. What made this moment so funny?
Day Nine: Post a photo of the person who has gotten you through the most. What did this person do for you during your troubled time? What made you turn to them out of everyone else in your life?
Day Ten: Post a photo of the person you do the most crazy/silly things with. What is it about this person that makes you able to be crazy/silly? What is your most favorite crazy/silly memory with this person?
Day Eleven: Post a photo of something you hate. Why do you hate this? What is it about this item/person that you despise?
Day Twelve: Post a photo of something you love. Why do you love this? What specifics can you give me about why you live this item/person?
Day Thirteen: Post a photo of your favorite band or artist. Why do you love this band/artist? What song(s) in particular do you love & why? Post the lyrics to your favorite song by this artist/band & bold the ones that hold the most meaning for you.
Day Fourteen: Post a photo of a person you could never live your life without. What is special about this person? Tell me the ten things you love most about them.
Day Fifteen: Post a photo of something you want to do before you die. Why did you choose this? Do you have a plan set in action so you can accomplish this? If not, what can you do to be sure you do this before you die?
Day Sixteen: Post a photo of someone who inspires you. Why does this person specifically inspire you? Can you tell me a story about this person?
Day Seventeen: Post a photo of something that has made an impact on your life recently. Why did this impact you? Was it negatively or positively? What did it make you change in yourself?
Day Eighteen: Post a photo of your biggest insecurity. Why are you insecure about this particular thing? What can you do to change it? Do you want to change it?
Day Nineteen: Post a photo of someone close to you who has passed. Write a letter to them.
Day Twenty: Post a photo of somewhere you would like to travel. Why this location? Is there something special you would like to do there? Describe for me what you imagine your perfect day there would be like.
Day Twenty One: Post a photo of something you want to remember forever. What is special about this memory? Describe the smell, sounds & tastes of that moment. Who were the people with you? What did they do to help make that moment special?
Day Twenty Two: Post a photo of something you wish you were better at. Why do you want to be better at this particular thing? What can you do now to help yourself in being better?
Day Twenty Three: Post a photo of your favorite book. Write down a favorite paragraph. Why did you choose this paragraph? How has this book influenced your life?
Day Twenty Four: Post a photo of something you wish you could change. Can you still change it? What about this would you change & why?
Day Twenty Five: Post a photo that best sums up your day today. What did you do today? What was the best part of your day? What was the worst part of your day.
Day Twenty Six: Post a photo of someone/something that means a lot to you. Why does this item/person mean so much? Tell me the story behind the item & if it's a person, tell me your favorite story about them.
Day Twenty Seven: Post a photo of yourself & an extended family member. Why did you choose this photo? What is so special about this family member? Tell me your favorite memory about them.
Day Twenty Eight: Post a photo of something you're afraid of. Why are you afraid of this? Do you have any irrational fears? If so, what are they? What can you do to try & overcome these fears?
Day Twenty Nine: Post a photo that always makes you smile. What about this photo makes you smile? Is there a story behind it? Who is in the photo? What makes them special?
Day Thirty: Post a photo of someone you miss. Why do you miss this person? Tell me the three things you miss most about this person. Why are they special to you?