Day 9: A picture of you and yor friends

These people are  my friends, my family, my life!!! Without them I wouldn't be able to keep my sanity.

Day 8:A place I've traveled to...

Tanner and I went to the Dominican Republic for our honeymoon.We stayed for a week and had a very relaxing time. My favorite part was the entertainment staff at the resort we stayed at and I also loved loved loved snorkling.  The Dominican is a beautiful country and I am glad we were able to go there for our honeymoon. The next place I will travel to however better be Italy. I have been waiting to go there and hopefully will be able to soon.

Day 7: Favorite Movies

This one is easy I am a movie junkie..
1. Beaches(Bette Midler is incredible absolutley my favorite movie of all time)
2. My Best Friends Wedding ( Can't help but stop to watch it when it comes on)
3. The Notebook (Obvious I know)
4. Never Been Kissed (I have watched this movie over a hundred times)
5. Little Mermaid
6. Beauty and the Beast (I just got this on blue ray for my Birthday)
7. Love and Basketball
8. Drop Dead Fred (This movie reminds me of my cousin Vani and one of my best friends growing up)
9. Life As We Know It (Its a new movie but I could watch it a hundred times)
10.It's a Wonderful Life (I must watch it at least four times over the Christmas holiday)

Day 6: A picture of something that makes you happy!

My Husbands Kiss!!!

Day 5: My siblings

I was raised as an only child until the age of 11. I still remember the day my father (biological) called to tell me that he and my stepmother were going to have their first child (John). I was absolutely thrilled I had always wanted to be an older sister and I had all these plans for me and my new brother! Once John was born I realized how great being an older sister was. John and I are the most alike of me and my siblings. We are both spontaneous, silly, and love to make people laugh. He is really a great kid and seeing him grow from a child to a teenager he has been and will continue to be incredible. He has such a big heart and is going to do amazing things with his life.

Although my father had already had a child I was still being raised as an only child. I lived with my mother and my Manny and we did everything just the three of us. When we moved to SC my mother informed me that she was having a baby. I was 13 years old and at a very difficult stage in my life. We had moved to SC and I had left all of my friends in eighth grade and really did not feel like I had anyone to talk to. I was devastated with the news and remember not speaking to my mother for a long time after she told me she was pregnant. The day Sofia was born I experienced a mix of emotions I was immediately in awe of her and loved her but I was still scared that I was going to lose the relationship I had with Mom and Manny. The first night my parents put her to sleep in her crib I remember walking into her room in the middle of the night just to make sure she was safe and I stayed with her for a while. I went back into my room and remember thinking how I absolutely loved my sister and was so proud to be her sister. That feeling has yet to go away. I am so proud to be Sofi’s sister. She is the most opinionated, self aware, and confident ten year old I have ever met. I could not be prouder of her.

William is my youngest brother he is one of the most unique individuals I have ever gotten to know. He is very shy and quiet but once you break through to his core and he feels comfortable with you he will share everything. He is silly but in a very different way than the typical nine year old. He has a very dry sense of humor that is much older than his age. He is also very sensitive and his feelings can easily be hurt. Unlike John and Sofi, who I can say anything to, I have to monitor the tone I use when I speak around Will. I once told him to “wait” to loudly and he thought I yelled at him and became very upset. He is a great kid who is very patient with others and very helpful.

All of my siblings are very different from each other. There is a little bit of me in each of them and a little of them in me. I love them more than anything in this world and would do anything from them. I am proud to be their big sister and can’t wait to continue to see them grow.

Day 4: Your Parents

My parents and I

I consider myself very lucky to have my parents. When I was younger my biological parents separated. It was just me and my mom for a while. When I was about five years old my mom met Manny and the three of us became a family.

My mother is a very headstrong, independent, and opinionated person. I admire her for all those traits. She knows when something needs to be said and what to say to make you feel better (most of the time). I joke around with my husband and tell him that my mother is my conscience, she taught me right from wrong, however sometimes when a decision is hard I call my mom just to hear what she thinks. My mother has always encouraged me to be a better person and taught me that sometimes in life you have to work for what you “WANT”!!! My mother’s most famous quote is “It’s good to want, when you want you have goals. “ When I was younger I always hated that saying but as I have gotten older I have realized why my mother taught me to work for what I want. I consider myself very fortunate to have a mother that encourages me, loves me, and that I can confide in.


My Mom and I!!!

I will start by saying I absolutely HATE the term stepfather. It sounds so distant and impersonal. With that being said I will now tell you about My Manny. My Manny is my father; he raised me along with my mother. I never felt that I missed out on having a full time dad, like some children with divorced parents. My mother and I were lucky that Manny came into our lives. He didn’t have to treat me like a daughter and yet he did. He was at every cheerleading practice, soccer game (I played one season), gymnastics practice, school play, swim meet, graduation, and every other significant event in my life. He did homework with me and helped me study and even listened to me read papers when I was finished writing them. I consider myself very fortunate that I had someone to do all these things with. The best part about my Manny is that unlike some fathers he didn’t take the responsibility for me because he had to he did it because he wanted to!

Me and My Manny!!!

I have the absolute best parents. I have always felt that I can come to them about anything and everything. Like most families we have our moments but that doesn’t change the fact that my parents are incredible and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them.

Day 3: First Love

Growing up I remember watching movies and seeing people who were "in love" and wishing that one day I would also feel like they did. When I started dating in high school I never really experienced LOVE I dated people, one in particular for nearly two years, however it just never felt right. I cared about them but I knew that I was not in love. For a while I thought that the kind of love you see in movies and that your parents tell you about is unattainable. Then one day sitting on a barstool at Summers’ (Tanner’s former job) I looked at my best friend and realized that I have a “crush” on him. I remember avoiding him for two weeks after that realization because I couldn’t be interested in my best friend. Several months later I got brave and told him I was interested in him and that we should go out on a date. Not too long after our first kiss I realized what it felt like to truly be in love. It isn’t just about sweet romantic things and it isn’t like the movies it’s much better. It’s the everyday things that let me know how much I truly love him. Its waking up to my coffee already made because he knew I would want some, its laying around on lazy Sundays and doing absolutely nothing together, its laughing uncontrollably together over silly things, and talking about everything and nothing until the wee hours of the night. Love is knowing that it isn’t easy but every day working at it because it is worth it. I often find myself thinking how did I get so lucky to be with someone who loves, supports, and encourages me regardless of anything or anyone else. I consider myself to be truly lucky to have Tanner in my life and I am so blessed that I get to go through the rest of my life with my best friend.