A little introduction

WARNING: before you go any further I must warn you that I am a total cheese ball and very, very RANDOM! Seriously ya'll... I'm a bit goofy and so is my sense of humor. You've been forewarned :) 

Just because I've always been an ambitious person and because I secretly have hopes that my blog will be read by not only my friends and family but maybe by STRANGERS (DANGER?) too... I'm going to take the time to introduce myself all nicey nice like...

Let's start at the very beginning (that's a very good place to start)

I was born and raised in Virginia right up to my middle school years. I would say I had a very pleasant childhood filled with plenty of love, laughter and imagination. I'm a bit of a dreamer and spent a lot of my time growing up playing make believe and dress up. You could pretty much always find my closest friends and I in my tree house (which really was a big wooden "house" on my amazing swing set my parents had built when our house was first built) or in the woods pretending to always be whatever was our favorite movie of the time... Native Americans (Pocahontas), Fairies (Fern Gully), Witches (Hocus Pocus), Princess (Any Disney Princess Movie but I was partial to the Little Mermaid which of course led to being mermaids in the pool DUH!), etc. etc. I'm sure you get the point. I had an amazing group of friends but my best friends were my little sister, cousin Tiffany and best buds since diapers friend Ben (who was repeatedly forced to don a dress despite his protests, my apologies to any side effects that may have had on your mental and emotional well being).  We moved a lot while we lived in Virginia but it always was for the good of the family and usually had something to do with keeping us in a good school district. We spent long, lazy summers in our family cabin in Wisconsin visiting my Daddy's side of the family and our winter breaks in Florida visiting my Mama's side. My parents worked hard and gave me and my three sisters every opportunity imaginable. Don't let me fool you though, I wasn't always this grateful of the blessings that my parents and God had given me.

ENTER MY MIDDLE SCHOOL (and, high school) YEARS (Insert Jaws Themed Music Here)
Before middle school, my parents decided to move us to Florida. My mama grew up there and we (being my parents) decided it would be the best move for the family. So down to Florida we went, where we moved to a coastal town with a helping of Southern traditions, a side of the tacky tourists (read: snow birds or dare I say it... yankees) and a dash (ok.. more like a heap) of beach bums tropical paradise.  We quickly learned that the school systems (at this time) weren't up to the standards we were used to and my parents jumped the public school ship and put us in *gasp* private school. My mama, being an educator, was always pro-public school but when our learning was being hindered she was the first woman overboard. My first year at the new school wasn't so bad but once middle school started all HADES broke lose and I was miserable (and absolutely rotten). The torture I put my parents through the next couple (few..? ok, ok, decade? maybe not that much, but you get the point) years of my life is loathsome, absolutely unforgivable, and yet they've forgiven me... and even LOVE me (see, I have AMAZING PARENTS). You get the basic idea... it wasn't until I left that school, switched back to public school half way through high school and met some life changing friends that that began to change. My junior year, my dear friend Emily started encouraging me to go to youth group with her and it was through her that I first learned the love of Jesus. I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am that God brought her into my life... but I digress... I wish I could tell you that my life was changed immediately but it wasn't. I'm stubborn. ( I get that from my Mama's side :)  I fought to remain in my darkness for a long time, TOO long. But anyways that takes us way too far into the future and we're still talking high school here... Anyways, while living in Florida we still moved a bunch! A WHOLE BUNCH. Always for the family, of course (or maybe at some point it may have been because my Mama has a little bit of a fickle streak in her at times, just maybe). The last time (in Florida, or so I thought) was my sophomore year of high school and We lived there until I graduated high school and went off to COLLEGE!! (That's 3 WHOLE years... which is a long time in my family :P)

Yay, college...

I started off at the University of Florida. My freshmen year was pretty rocky, I had a boyfriend back home who was very bad for me and who kept me from being the awesome (toot! toot!) person I am today and really from meeting my real potential. I did, however, make some amazing friends that year and joined a great sorority. At the end of that year though... my parents thought I should leave all the bad behind and start fresh... so drum roll please.... WE MOVED! Are you shocked?  Really? I thought I gave you enough foreshadowing for that one... I applied to Clemson University and upon receiving my acceptance letter, my parents decided to move the whole family (little sister and all) to South Carolina. For the past 4 years, I have been letting all the bad in my life go and opening my heart to and pouring all my hopes and dreams in God. It's been a long journey but I can finally say I am at a place in my life where I am so immensely happy. It took me awhile but I finally have decided that I want to be a nurse. For the past two years I have been working on getting into a nursing program and now that I'm finally in it I have to admit... it's love. L.O.V.E. LOVE. I love it. It is everything I hoped it would be and more. I have a wonderful circle of friends, a loving and supportive boyfriend, a truly amazing family and most importantly, a strong faith.  

Which brings me to the present.... 

The past few months have been a challenge, I lost my best friend, Devon, my God father, Terry and my God brother, Robert all to car accidents. These people were huge pillars in my life and really helped mold me to be the person I am today. Devon was the bravest person I knew. She was a fighter and such an inspiration. She always lived each day with such purpose and was full of such love and laughter and had the MOST beautiful voice I've ever heard. Robert was my God brother but was more like a real brother to me. He had this Hollywood smile that could light up a whole room. I grew up babysitting and nanny-ing for him and his two siblings and we were always super, super close. Terry was my father's best friend and my role model. He had overcome so much adversity in his life and  always was full of such kind words and good advice. I never stayed with a boyfriend if I knew Terry didn't like him (my boyfriend passed the test so I'm pretty sure he's a keeper!). He taught me so much but the one thing I thing he taught me that I value the most is to have an attitude of gratitude. It has been a long hard road, and the past few months have been a true test of my faith, and I'm proud to say I have come out on the other side swinging (and smiling). My parents just moved BACK to Florida, my baby sister just completed her first year of college and moved back to Florida with them, my two older sisters have given us three extremely adorable nephews (ages 4, 2 and 1), I have a great apartment and even better roomies, and I'm working hard daily to chase down my dreams and be the person God intended me to be. Everything is looking up and I couldn't begin to be more grateful for this blessed life of mine. 

P.S. If you can guess how many times I've moved in my life... I will give you a gold star! Ok... maybe I won't... but you never know!  Answer to be revealed in my next post :)