24 and Boo! Makes One More

2004

Now, this is a birthday I won't forget! Why? Because Boo was my birthday present! Yep, Booboo was a surprise birthday present for me. I had no idea that Bobby was going to get me a dog. See, Bobby was working at GEICO and had to go up to Washington, DC to present some new program and hobnob with the bigwigs. The business trip was scheduled over my birthday weekend. So that meant I would be ALONE on my birthday. To ease my sadness, Bobby got me a dog. I remember when he brought Boo home. He had been gone all morning and didn't tell me where he was going or when he would be home. I was in the middle of cleaning/laundry when I heard the doorbell ring. I peeked through the peephole and saw Bobby standing there with a full on grin holding a very wiggly cardboard box. Confused, I opened the door and as soon as I did out popped a furry little head from the box-as if to say Boo!

My 24th birthday was spent taking care of 6 week old puppy.

It's Just Me at 23!

2003

My 23rd birthday is one I'd rather forget. But for sake of posterity, I must include this story. Bobby dumped me on my birthday. In his defense, I did call off our wedding on my birthday. The details aren't necessary, but I wonder had we not taken this break in our relationship...if we would still be together today? The other thing about 23 is that it was just me for a good few months of it. I hadn't been single since 1998, it was nice to be a single gal. At 23, I decided to move in with my friend Megan. She had just bought a house. I lived with her for about 9 months before I married Bobby. I never had a roommate before so it was kinda fun having a live-in buddy. I also changed schools and started teaching at Lane Elementary.

I got married at 23. Now that blows my mind! I think about Pip and how I would not want her to get married at 23. It seems so...young.

Twenty-Two Nothing New

2002

A rare find...this is 1 of 2 pictures taken exactly on my birthday! The cake is courtesy of my friend Megan-who would later become my roommate. I was teaching 3rd grade at Springdale Elementary in Macon, Georgia. I believe I'm a few weeks shy of meeting Bobby, but I can't really remember. I know I met him before Halloween. Besides meeting Bobby, dating Bobby, getting engaged to Bobby...22 was a ho-hum year. Hmmm...I know something else happened.

Wait! I bought my very first car when I was 22. How could I forget? I bought my trusty Toyota Camry all by myself no parent co-signer needed! I still have that car. In fact, it just hit 130,000 miles this week. Another fun tidbit about the car and being 22, is that I bought the Camry because I was planning for the future. ie kids, carseats. I remember saying that I wanted a "family" car. Looking back...I wish I had gotten the sporty silver Honda Accord V6 Coup or the cobalt blue Acura RSX. Why I was thinking "family" at 22 is beyond me. If I could go back, I'd tell my 22yr old self that a family wouldn't come for another 6 years, so splurge on the fast car since now at 30, I've convinced myself that a Swagger Wagon is in my very near future. *sigh* I'll never get that fast car. *sigh* and double *sigh*

Really though, 22 was a tough year. It was my first official year of teaching. I stunk. I wasn't very good at teaching. I was alright, but nothing special. I struggled with discipline and lesson plans. I think back to it and wonder, "How the HECK did I survive?" But I did.

21 in 2001

2001

Well, here I am at 21. My first year into the 20's. I was thinking today how insignificant 30 actually is and that turning 31 is a far greater achievement. I liken 30 to staring at a pool of icy cold water and 31 is taking the plunge into said cold water. So here I am at 21.

I'm a senior at UA and completing my final year of student teaching/practicums. This picture is important for 2 reasons. First, it's a head shot for my teaching bio. Each teacher candidate had to take a picture of themselves for interviewing purposes. We had to fill out bio sheets and attach our pics to them so prospective employers could see what we look like and get a "feel" for our personality, etc. Our cohort professors wanted our picture to convey a positive persona, a "twinkle" so to speak. I think I twinkle in this picture.

Secondly this picture is important because Bobby had this picture up in his cubicle at GEICO.

21 was a fun age. I graduated college, got my first teaching job, and moved to Georgia all by myself. Being 21 did sort of feel like stepping into a pool of ice cold water. This is when I became an official grown up with bills and responsibilities. I'm in awe just thinking about it...Was it really just 9 years ago that I grew up?

Year 2000

September 2000

Yep, that's me.

A few weeks shy of my 20th birthday. I stumbled across this picture while looking through some old emails. I can hardly believe it. Like...really hardly believe it. My twenties seemed very promising and my thirties seemed very far away. At this point in my life, I was starting my junior year at the University of Alabama. I was preparing to enter into the School of Education and pursue my Bachelor's degree in Education. This picture was taken in a biology lab by my friend Mike (who is actually a freelance photographer now). By looking at this picture, I can guesstimate that I weighed about 100lbs. The shirt was from American Eagle and the jeans were likely LEI. I made the necklace. My friends and I were huge fish fanatics. I used to wear a rainbow hemp necklace that I made with a glass blown fish on it. My best friend and I wore matching ones. I listened to Switchfoot a lot my junior year with a little BackStreet Boys and InSync. They were cool back then...promise. I worked at Michael's Arts and Crafts. I really hated working there. Honestly, I didn't have a care in the world. I had fun. Nothing really stood in my way.


To be 20 again...sigh.

Take a Walk With Me...

Down Memory Lane.

I'm turning 30 in exactly 10 days. I'm actually really excited to turn 30. So to commemorate this milestone into a new decade, I decided to post a picture of me from each year starting with the year 2000 all the way to October 5, 2010. Each picture will follow with a synopsis of what was/is going on during that time in my life.

Enjoy aging with me.

Apples and Cuteness

After running the Hoosier 5K on Saturday (I'll go ahead and say this now, but I was a total grump the rest of the day), we headed up to Anderson Orchard for some apple fun! We went last year with Kelley Kids and decided to go again this year since we had so much fun. We arrived late in the afternoon and only stayed about an hour. I got some great pictures of Pip taste testing each apple. She loved carrying around an apple and saying, "Apple, Apple!" She would rescue apples off the ground and got so upset when we would throw the worm-laden apples away. Such a tender heart.

The raspberries were just about gone, but there was a delightful pumpkin patch. I'm a bit of a stickler, but pumpkins-to me-should only be bought in the month of October so we bypassed the patch. However, we know where to go for some pumpkins! There were lots of apples to pick and several varieties that I had never heard of: Scarlet Beauty, Crispin, Stayman. We picked a peck of apples and tasted a few before heading over to have some delicious lunch at a local cafeteria. YUM-O! We finally made it back into Bloomington just in time for Bob to veg out and watch football.

On a side note: Since visiting the Orchard, Pip now thinks that the produce section at supermarkets are free for alls. The other day we spotted more apples and before we could stop her, she grabbed one and started chomping away. "Apples, Apples!" Too funny!

33:04

Hoosier's Outrun Cancer 5K

September 28, 2010

Learning Curve

I believe that no matter what...I was a teacher first.

This summer I felt a strong desire for Pip to do preschool. I needed to do something that felt more natural than just being a mom. So I got a couple of friends on board (we all have kids that are 2 or about to be 2) and we started Pre-preschool. Today was our first class and I think it went wonderfully. I was nervous since I've never really interacted with little, little kids before. It did feel a little like herding cats, but they were cute cats.

We learned about Farms, sang songs, and painted. Yes...you read that right! I painted with 2 year olds. Not as scary as I had imagined, but I was sweating bullets. I'm not quite sure how much they "learned", but does it really matter? Pip is so eager to be involved. She doesn't observe the world with those big, brown doe eyes. She takes the world in her little hands and learns from it. It makes me feel good to see her interact and learn from others. Pip and I love our little group of mommies and pre-preschoolers and are so excited to learn and play with them!