All Grown Up...almost

As of Friday at 11 AM, I officially became a home buyer. I bought my first home and in 120 days it will be built and ready for me to move in. My house is a starter home and in a new neighborhood about 5 minutes from work. On Monday I pick out my carpet, countertops, flooring for the kitchen and cabinets for the kitchen and bathroom! So many decisions but so exciting!! I will post pictures throughout the process and of course when the final product is complete. :) Oh being a grown up is fun and scary all at the same time...oh and quite expensive!! ;)

Pre-approved :)

Today I met with the mortgage guy to learn that I was pre-approved for the loan for my new house!!! I am super excited and cannot wait to get this house built. It will be in a new neighborhood near where I work. All these homes are cute little starter homes!! I go back and meet with the Realtor this week to officially write the contract!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!! More updates to come throughout the house developing process!! :)

The past few months

Wow...I am TERRIBLE at updating this thing. It is not like I have been busy or anything ;) The end of the semester is approaching in the next month, semester 2 of graduate school is almost over, and cheerleading is starting up again!! Phew! Next week I will be on spring break FINALLY!! I do not know who decided to make it this late this year but seriously this is crazy. My kids and I are mentally done and we still have 6 weeks after spring break before summer. Luckily it is broken down into tolerable segments. After spring break we have 2 weeks until PASS testing. Then after that we have 2 weeks until exams and then my first year of teaching will be complete. Crazy how I am finally doing what I have always wanted to do. This first year has certainly had its ups and downs (WAYYYYYY more ups than downs though). I absolutely LOVE the women I teach with on 6th grade hall and I absolutely love teaching middle school. For the longest time I only wanted to teach 3rd or 4th grade and when I had 5th grade as my placement for student teaching, I was very upset. I didnt want to teach 5th grade because they were "too old" for me. The 5th grade class I was in, was actually at the middle school because they needed more numbers to have an assistant principal. I fell in love with the middle school atmosphere. My kids I teach this year are so much fun!! They have amazing personalities and I have really enjoyed being able to watch them grow over the course of the year. I will truly miss them next year. Last year I coached cheerleading at my old high school. I have always wanted to coach cheerleading ever since I was a cheerleader in high school. This week we are having tryouts and I am very exciting about getting a new group of girls to work with and coach. I am proud to say that I have survived the second semester of grad school. There were times this semester that I honestly didnt think I was going to make it because of the intensity of one of my classes. Luckily I met a woman who works at Chapin High School that is in my classes. We have been able to work a lot together this semester and we will be in classes together for the remainder of our program. That is a MAJOR plus!! My main drive is that May 2012 this will ALL be over with! :)

My Bucket List

Since 2011 has started I have been doing a lot of thinking about just living my life to the fullest and "letting the chips fall where they may." July 30 was the day my life changed and my future began. I got a phone call telling me that I was just given the job at Chapin Middle School. Since then my life has changed. I love teaching so much. Sometimes I put in 12 hour days at school because I just cant get enough of it. Even though I work a lot, I would not change it for the world. I am only 22 so why not live my life to the absolute fullest. I saw the Bucket List a few years ago and started making my own bucket list. There are so many things I want to do before I am too old to do them. This summer starts the beginning of my bucket list!! Kaitlin, my best friend from college, and I are going to Alaska for an Alaskan Cruise. One of the ports we are stopping at is Skagway, Alaska where we are going to go rock climbing! I cannot wait to climb the White Pass. We have been talking and decided that we are going to train to climb Mt. McKinley in Summer 2012!! I know God has plans for me and when the time is right, he will show them to me!

A picture is worth MORE than a 1000 words...

‎"Most of our life is a series of images, they pass us by like towns on the highway. But sometimes a moment stuns us as it happens, and we know that this instant is more than a fleeting image. We know that this moment, every part of it, will live on forever."

Tonight I was looking through an old photo album my dad put together for me of pictures when I was little. Ironically enough, a lot of them involved Granny. As I was looking through these pictures I really see how special and close our relationship was. Below are some pictures :) (sorry that the pictures are very tiny. Ill try to do some resizing later)



I was always Granny's little helper. Anytime we would go visit her, I would help her cook or clean the dishes. I loved being wherever she was. Granny was my safety net. I knew that no matter what when I was with her, I was 100% safe.


Granny always helped me figure out how my toys worked. I knew she would always be there to help me learn.


Back to the safety net, I always felt safest in her arms. She had this warm presence about her. She would hold me in her arms and all my worries would just fade away.


We bonded most on that swing. She and I would go outside into her backyard and swing and talk. A lot of times I would tell her stories that I made up off the top of my head about the most random things. I was never able to tell the same story twice. Haha. But she would always listen and every now and then ask me questions about my crazy stories. I loved when she would tell me stories about daddy and his brothers (George and David) and sister (Alice).


Granny and I always loved being silly. One day she had some new wigs come in and we decided it would be fun to try them on! :) I believe this was one of my most favorite days with her! Everytime I see a wig, I think about this picture and that day.


Granny even played with me and my new toys I got for Christmas. How cool is that?!?!


Even in the family photo she is always by my side watching over me. She was and always will be my Guardian Angel.


Granny hands down made the BEST chocolate cake!! Whenever we would go visit her, she made all kinds of goodies. She had a caramel cake for my dad because that was his favorite. She made a chocolate cake, carrot cake, homemade chex mix, she always had a jar of antique candy, circus peanuts and cookies. I think that is where my "fat kid camp" syndrome came from ;) I think tomorrow I am going to look for more pictures!

Timeless Memories

"Sometimes people write the things they cannot say."

I have decided to write a few blog entries about my Granny. She was such a phenomenal woman and I think it will help the overall healing process by sharing some great stories about her. It has been 2 and a half years since she passed away but she was such a big part of my life (20 our of the 22 years I have been alive). And anyone that knows me knows that I have a hard time letting go. Losing her really changed my life. I am not the same person I was 2 and a half years ago. I know that even though she is not physically here, doesnt mean that she is gone because I have all the memories we created. But there are days where I could really use her here. She always knew exactly what to say to make it all better. Oh how I miss her so much! When I was younger the family would always go up to see her the day after Christmas and spend a few days with her. So below is the last picture she and I took together which happens to be the day after Christmas when daddy and I went to Alabama to visit her.

"I can honestly say you've been on mind since I woke up today. I look at your photograph all the time. These memories come back to life."

For the past two days I have been thinking a lot about everything. Today all of the upperclassman moved back to Erskine. It is so weird to not be moving back to college. I still cannot believe that 4 years flew by. College was such a wonderful learning experience. I learned so much about Education (since that was my field of study :) ), life, myself, and so much more. I made some of the greatest friends ever! Also throughout the 4 years I lost some people. Given the chance to repeat the last 4 years, I would change a few things but then again I do not think I would be where I am at today. I had not been to the lake in a long time to take pictures of the sunset so I decided to go yesterday. Taking pictures really helps me escape the worries of life. Below are some of my favorite pictures I took:






There is nothing like a gorgeous sunset to help you heal!!