A little background....

Before I begin updating you on the current happenings of my life, I figure I should give a little background on how I got here. It goes like this:

Once upon a time, I was a baby.

I was born in Virginia and lived there for 10 years. This is Ginny. I've known her for approximately forever.

And even though incidents like this happen, she still puts up with me.

This is Mum, my grandmother. She was the best. She was like my 3rd parent for a long time. I miss her quite a bit.

When I was 10, we moved to Georgia. This is where we lived.

The five years we spent in Georgia turned me into a Southern girl at heart. If I have it my way, that's where I'll return soon.

Just a few cultural items...

Even though it's hard to explain to these Yankees, it's where I belong :-)

When I was nearly 16, my family up and moved to Vermont. Helloooooooo culture shock!

Hanging out in Emma's basement in 10th grade

Even though it was rough at first, I had some pretty good times finishing up high school in this crazy state. Clearly, normalcy is not my thing.

MMU's prom, senior year

Essex's prom, senior year

Just some sumo-wrestling with Elise

Then, in June 2007, I graduated from high school. CRAZY!

And although it wasn't exactly my plan, I ended up beginning a stellar college career at Groovy Uvy.

Just introducing myself as the normal person I am on TREK 2007

Ariel and I moving out of our dorm room at the end of sophomore year

The summer after my freshman year, my parents thought it would be cool to move again. Not really, it was actually out of necessity. But either way, they packed up their stuff and moved to Minnesota. So I guess my family did the child-separating-from-family-during-college thing a little backwards. Here are my parents and I at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, outside of Minneapolis.

Since I wasn't feeling too keen on living in state where I knew all of 3 people (my parents and little sister), I spent the summer after my freshman year as the adopted child of the Sikoras in Georgia :-) They're one of my second families.

Andrea and I at the top of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee

Here's some of my immediate family. These are my 3 siblings.

Me, Kendall, Jon and Monika

This is Kendall reading to my fat cat, Prince.

Our family is expanding; I've got a nephew on the way! Here's his hot mamma.

And here he is! He's due in July :-D

This is the apartment where I live now. Note the cow duvet. This was moving in during May last year. Right now my subletter is still in my room, but when she moves out, I'm planning on doing some major room re-organization.

These are my 2 roommates. I've known them since the first day of school. We just keep living together because we can't seem to get sick of each other. It's an excellent arrangement :-)

Sarah, Marian, and I

This is me and my lumberjack boyfriend, Dillon. We're a little insane, but I find it makes us work well together.

An important fact to know about me is that I spent the last 4 months of my life studying abroad in Belize. It was quite a random occurrence in my life--I was planning on graduating a semester early, but instead heard about the program, applied, got accepted, and decided to go in a 9 day period. No time to rest on one's laurels here! It was quite an amazing, life changing experience. Couldn't be more glad I went! There, I did things like:

Sleep outside on islands.

South Water Caye

Participate in 170 mile canoe races.

Make some of the bestest friends :-)

Climb ancient Maya ruins.

Caracol

Attempt to bike ride over 100 miles, fail, and then hitchhike back to town.

Me and Trav guy

Watch sunsets wrapped in sheets.

See lots of fishies!

These are the two crazy cats I lived with the first half of the semester, Dani and Marge.

And these are the two ladies who dealt with me for the second eight weeks :-)

Oh the things that Emily and Winter put up with

By golly, I love this group.

Our group on a dock in Guatemala, sans Matt

And there you have it! Now, for those of you who were unsure about my past, you officially have some serious insight into where I've come from. I'll write more about my current endeavors tomorrow.

Normally I'll begin my entries with my daily dose of cheer and discussion, but I thought clearing up my life took precedence in this beginning entry. So now I am faced with choosing the very first thing that I share with you to be happy about. I have 14,000 to chose from, and I feel like this is a crucial moment, because this decision could influence people's opinions of this here blog of mine. I think I found a good one summer is beginning:

"an alarm clock that would tell you when to wake up--and why" (page 10)

Who WOULDN'T want that, particularly in the summer when it's too hot to feel like doing anything worth doing.That would make me happy! Imagine if your alarm clock not only went off at 6:45AM, but also motivated you to get out of bed by reminding you that today's pay is what's going to buy that new rug you wanted or is going to get you closer to taking that next adventure your planning. Heck, I wouldn't even mind if my alarm clock made stuff up to get me out of bed--Once I'm up and running, there are few things that can slow me down.

WELL, I hope that y'all are please with your deeper understanding of my life, as well as the first joyful tidbit I have shared. Enjoy this gorgeous weather!