Parents, Sports & Injuries - First Things First

Happy Tuesday ladies! I usually try not to wish away the weekdays by only looking forward to Friday, but it's hard this week. Because this weekend I'm going to St. Augustine! I get to see some of my very bestest friends, and also take our engagement pictures! So of course I'm super excited for that!! And so it's hard to pretend I'm not happy that we're another day closer to Friday :) But first, we need to get to our weekly First Things First link-up today! And this week we have another great round of awesome co-hosts.

This week we have Emily from Be Blessed, Y'all and Breanna from Counting Blessings!

And today's First Things First topics are:

First movie you went to without your parents

First sport you played (either Little League-style or in school)

First major injury

First movie you went to without your parents:

I'm gonna go with "Titanic!" I was in 4th grade, in the spring time I believe, which means I would have been 10 years old. I'm not sure if that was appropriate for a ten-year-old at the time (I guess not since technically it was rated PG-13), but oh well! I was with my best friend at the time (who's still a great friend over 10 years later!), Amanda. Her mom brought us to the theater, but I don't remember her actually staying in the theater with us. Maybe she went to another movie or something? I don't know. But it wasn't with my mama, and so that's what counts!

Looking back on the "scandalousness" of the movie (made up that word myself #thankyouverymuch), it's really not all that bad compared with most of the crap that is in movies all the time now! Sure, as 10-year-old girls we saw some grown-up lady bits on Rose (I'd say most girls had already seen those) but that was about it. I mean the big "love scene" was all of about 30 seconds, you didn't see anything too specific, and the most scandalous part of that was a hand slapping a steamy window. Big whoop. At the time, it of course felt like much more of a big deal, but now we definitely see much much worse in movies and even on TV!

First sport you played (Little League-style or in school):

I never actually did Little League or anything when I was younger! I was in ballet and dance classes as a little baby toddler, but that didn't last long. It wasn't really my thing, y'all. And then I didn't really do too much after that, until eighth grade! At the end of my seventh grade year, I tried out for cheerleading, and made the JV squad! (Remember my school was K-12, so 8th grade cheerleaders were on the JV "high school" team). And then I did that every year until I graduated, and loved it!!

2005 - Senior Year. I'm on the front row, very center. And my friend Amanda from story #'s 1 & 3 is the blonde to my left.

First major injury:

This is actually another story that also involves my old bestie, Amanda! (We have quite a few ridiculous stories, come to think of it...) So I think we were about in 7th grade at the time, and I had spent the night one Friday at her house. They lived out in the country, and had lots of land. One of our favorite things to do was ride their 4-wheeler's! (ATV's) So we were each on our own, and we went on a big trail through the woods that circled their entire property, and got real close up to their fence at one point.

Well, I ran over a big root, and it made me swerve a little bit, and I swerved towards a tree, hit it a little bit with the front of the 4-wheeler, and kinda bounced and jolted around on the seat. I didn't fall off or anything, but my right calf was burning a bit. I didn't know why it was hurting, but I thought maybe I got it snagged on a thorny vine or something. After a couple seconds, I got ready and set off again, and we kept going. Back at the house though, we realized it was way more than just a cut or scratch. Turns out, my calf had been pushed up next to searing hot muffler, and burned very badly! In fact, it was burned sooo badly, that half of the word "Yamaha" had actually been burned into my leg. And there was a huge chunk of my skin missing that had just been burned off.

I don't remember exactly, but it may have turned out to be a third-degree burn.Or maybe my memory is exaggerating  but it was a second-degree burn at least! It was gaping open flesh people. Then it turned into a big giant pus-bubble, with multiple little ones surrounding it. Then when those popped, it was gaping open flesh again. I had to go to the doctor and get special medicines to take and creams to rub on with a Popsicle stick. It was rough. And it was disgusting. And I wish I had a picture of it! But yeah, I'd say that was definitely my first major injury!

If you'd like to join in on this fun link up, check out the super simple 'rules' below, and get to writing! Can't wait to see all the new link ups this week, meet new friends, and read y'all's posts!

1. Write your own post about this week's topics

2. Please follow me, as well as this week's co-hosts, Emily & Breanna.

3. Put the new button on your post or somewhere on your blog

4. Link up with us! (Link will appear on all three blogs.)

5. Visit some of the other links, and share the love with them on their posts!

6. Spread the word on Twitter and/or Facebook

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And if you'd like to start preparing for next week's First Things First topics and link-ups, start by checking out next week's co-hosts, Kaitlynn from Wifessionals and Joanna from Jay Bird's Flight. And next weeks topics will be:
1.  First thing you would do/buy if you won the lottery
2.  First person  you call when you get amazing news
3. First thing you do when you've had a bad day

Place to Call My Own - First Things First

Guys, I'm normally super on the ball with this link-up stuff, but this week - not so much. If you didn't notice, this is getting posted much later than it usually does, and I'm sorry about that! I actually felt a little frantic all morning trying to get it together, and then I was like, "Hey Halez, chill out already. It's not like they'll hate you if it's up two hours later than normal. If anyone even notices at all..." So I did finally chill, but it still took me a super long time. My life is kinda crazy right now, so just bear with me ladies!

Anyways, today is the 13th week of this fun link-up!! I'm so excited for how long this has lasted, and we still have more planned too :) Today's awesome round of co-hosts are some of my favorites because Erin from Love, Fun & Football is not only one of my good blog-friends, she's also my blog designer!! And Syndal from Synfully Delicious is one of the first bloggers who I really started following along with each post of hers!

And today's first topics are all about home sweet home :)

First apartment or house on your own (away from you parents!)

First room you decorated or would like to decorate

First thing you bought for it, or would like to buy

First apartment or house on your own

Right before my junior year of college, in August 2008, I moved into a three bedroom apartment, with three other girls, and one of the girls and I shared the master bedroom. It was only temporary though, because one of the other girls was getting married in November and moving out, so then I moved into her room. But I loooved that apartment, and living with those girls! We had so so much fun, and it was seriously some of the greatest times of my life! Here are a few random pictures I could find of my friends and I hanging out in that apartment at Vista Cove! I ended up living there for two full years, and had seven different girls as roommates for those two years! So much fun :)

First room you decorated, or would like to decorate

Well, for that first apartment, everything was pretty much already done by the time I moved in, so really nothing. Eventually though, all those girls moved out, and I was there for a month or so by myself before new girls moved in, so I had fun buying new trinkets and doo-dads and stuff to fill up some new empty spaces. 

Now, sometime in the not-too-distant future, I'll be moving into a house for me and my husband-to-be! And I'm thinking the first room I'll want to decorate will be my bedroom. I mean, that's where I'll want to go to feel relaxed and comfy, so I want my bedroom to reflect that. And if it's not cute and cozy and at least somewhat "decorated," then I don't think I'll feel very relaxed in there! So, when that time comes, bedroom needs to get cute first. Then definitely the living room.

First thing you bought or want to buy

Actually, Jeff and I have bought something already for our future house! Well, I bought a couple of random pots at Ross about a month ago that I love, but that's not what I'm referring to. We actually bought bedding a couple weeks ago! We are both signed up for daily emails from a website called "1SaleADay," and they had a great deal on bed-in-a-bag's, so we just went for it! The one we both liked the most and were going to get was sold out, but he surprised me by liking a light purple and gray one, so we got that one instead! It's not arrived yet, but I'll be excited to see it when it does! And so it seems that my idea of decorating the bedroom first is under way with that first purchase!

If you'd like to join in on this fun link up, check out the super simple 'rules' below, and get to writing! Can't wait to see all the new link ups this week, meet new friends, and read y'all's posts!

1. Write your own post about this week's topics

2. Please follow me, as well as this week's co-hosts, Erin & Syndal.

3. Put the new button on your post or somewhere on your blog

4. Link up with us! (Link will appear on all three blogs.)

5. Visit some of the other links, and share the love with them on their posts!

6. Spread the word on Twitter and/or Facebook

And if you'd like to prepare and get ready for next week's First Things First link up, start by checking out next week's awesome co-hosts, Rachel from Postcards from Rachel & Tasha from A Lott to Love. And next week's topics are:

1. First Pinterest project or recipe you attempted (fail or success!)

2. First random song that comes up on your iTunes or Pandora

3. First product you use in the shower

Pasta, Pizza & Bread Should Have Zero Calories

Tuesday there was a fun link up floating around, but I didn't participate because that's also the day that I host my own link up. But it was so much fun reading everyone else's responses, that I figured I'd just jump in a couple of days late and join in as well. So today I'll be participating in Holly & Jake's "Finish the Sentence" link up! They're having a small contest for the funniest ones, but I'm not really a "funny" writer, so I'm just going to answer them normally :)

1. If calories didn't count, I would eat... every slice of bread, bowl of pasta, and piece of pizza I could possibly shovel into this mouth of mine. I'm a sucker for any kind of bread and carbs.

2. On my prom night... I danced a whole lot more with my friends and no one in particular than my actual date. He thought he was too good for some dancing, so I decided I didn't need him anyways...

3. When I go to the store, I always buy... bananas definitely, and all sorts of veggies.

4. Family functions typically...  are very loud, but lots of fun, and we almost always end up talking about something really gross, too personal, or just plain weird.

5. I think my blog readers... are some of the coolest ladies, who are so sweet and encouraging of this crazy weight loss journey I'm on! And have also become some great friends as well :)

6. I'd much rather be... laying on a beach, enjoying the smell of sunscreen and salty air wafting around me, the warm sunshine beating down on my skin, with a book in my right hand and a snack in my left.

7. I have an obsession with... dresses. Seriously - I own over 40 I'm sure (and I actually wear almost all of them! Maybe only like 6-8 that I don't), and I still buy new ones pretty frequently. I can justify that though, because I wear a dress 5 out of 7 days a week, so I'm definitely getting good use out of all of these! I loooove dresses :)

8. My work friends... are kind of nonexistent. The guy that works closest to me drives me absolutely INSANE with his stupidity and loud eating and teeth sucking and smacking noises, so he's definitely not my "friend." And the rest of them are all older-ish ladies. I mean, they're nice and we get along just fine, but I'm not buddy-buddy with any of them.

9. When I created my Facebook account... it was my last semester of high school and I was getting ready for college, so I finally had a college email address - back when that mattered in order to sign up for Facebook. And I definitely thought I was so awesome.

10. My least favorite word is... fester. Ick. Also, crud and crevice.

11. I really don't remember... not too much. I have a crazy memory when it comes to dates, events, places and such. I'm really observant, so I remember super weird details about almost everything.

12. Justin Bieber... isn't my favorite little fella, but I gotta admit some of his songs are incredible catchy, and I find myself singing along and groovin' a bit, despite the fact I will claim I don't like him.

Well now I just hopped over to Jake's blog, only to find out that the link up is actually closed...womp, womp, woooomp. That's stinks. But oh well, because this baby is already written, and so she's getting published anyways. Whatev's.

And on a completely unrelated note, Jeff and I finished the entire series of Fringe on Tuesday night, and I literally cried for the the last 20 minutes of the episode. It was so good! And so sweet, and awesome, and I was clearly very emotionally invested in these characters and this show. It was an awesome show, and I'm so glad we watched the whole thing over the last few months! But now what do we watch? Anyone have a favorite show to suggest? (That we can find on Netflix or Roku or Amazon Prime?!)

Happy Thursday ladies, only one more day until our ever-beloved weekend!!

Ponce Hall, Roommates & College Days - First Things First

It's another cold day down here in Florida, and they said on the radio this morning that it's actually 15-20 degrees colder this year than our usual averages for this time of year. That's not cool! Where did my glorious spring weather go? Not that I can complain too much, because half of the country just got half a foot of snow or more, including one of my lovely co-hosts... More importantly than the weather though, is another week of our First Things First link up! And this week we of course have another round of amazing co-hosts, Jess at Jess Is More and Veronica at Passion, Pink & Pearls!

First Roommate (s)

First Time Living Away from Home

First Dorm Room at College

First Roommate (s)
Well first of all, I wasn't able to go to Flagler my very first semester, because they had no room for me. It's a requirement for freshmen to live on-campus in the dorms, and they were full by the time I would have been accepted. So instead, I was accepted for the spring term in January, and I just went to community college for a semester here. So while that was happening, my future roommates had issues with the third girl in their room, and she was leaving, and they got to look through and pick out a new replacement - and they did an awesome job picking me out, because they were some fun first college roommates!

After the Christmas break, I was to move in about 4 days before the returning students, and I got there to find that Emily and Linnea had left cute notes and pictures all of the room for me :) Those first few days alone without them were hard and boring, and so when they finally got there, I was sooo dang excited!! They welcomed me with open arms, and we kicked off that first semester with a game night in our dorm room, with a group of some other girls. We had so much fun that semester together. We went to the beach, had game night every single week, had fire alarms go off three times in one night, dealt with the awful laundromat, visiting the Jax zoo, watching tons of movies on our laptops, and so many more fun memories!

First Time Living Away from Home
This goes hand-in-hand with the first question, because the first time I lived away from home was that spring semester of my freshman year, at Flagler College! Like I mentioned before, I moved in about four days before my roommates did though, and that was close to torturous. Talk about major homesickness! It was super quiet in the entire dorm, but also in my tiny room, and it was rough. But once the girls got there, the fun never seemed to stop. I met soooo many amazing girls that first semester I lived away from home, and seriously had a blast. There was just so much fun and freedom and opportunity and adventure! And I made sure I took advantage of all of that as often as I could. I mean, I was only taking 12 hours that first semester, and I didn't have a job, so I had plenty of free time to just live it up as a care free 19-year-old! And I loved every second of it.

First Dorm Room at College
First I just want to share some background info about my school, Flagler College. (I'm only going to share a little bit, but there is some amazing history and interesting facts about it, so take time to visit the links I provided!) It was originally built as the beautiful Ponce de Leon hotel by Henry Flagler, and opened in 1888. It was quite a fancy place, and definitely a popular destination. Then during WWII, it was used as a training center for the coast guard. It was also a very prominent part of the Civil Rights movement. Then in 1968, it was finally opened as Flagler College. (I could go on and on with cool stuff about the college, but I think I'll save that for another post - because now I'm so excited about sharing that with y'all!)

When the hotel was turned into the college, the main building of the hotel housed the girls' dorms. It was called Ponce Hall, but usually just shortened to Ponce. So like I mentioned before as well, Emily and Linnea had prepared the room for me, and left cute notes for me for when I moved in. It was a good-sized room with one bunk bed, and one additional twin bed. There were two real closets and I had the free-standing wardrobe. Then we each had a desk and a small dresser. There was even a cute fireplace in the room! (But it didn't work, it just looked pretty.) And we shared our suite-style bathroom with the room next to us. Luckily we really did have one of the bigger dorms, so we had tons of open floor space in the middle of the room. Even though it was a little bit cramped, it was still a great dorm room in general, and we had tons of fun in it! Our favorite thing to do was find ways to creatively hop up into the top bunk with flips and jumps and chairs and hoopla. That was fun times. I loved my dorm room days, and would definitely recommend it for at least a year in college. SO much fun. :)

If you'd like to join in on this fun link up, check out the super simple 'rules' below, and get to writing! Can't wait to see all the new link ups this week, meet new friends, and read y'all's posts!

1. Write your own post about this week's topics

2. Please follow me, as well as this week's co-hosts, Jess & Veronica.

3. Put the new button on your post or somewhere on your blog

4. Link up with us! (Link will appear on all three blogs.)

5. Visit some of the other links, and share the love with them on their posts!

6. Spread the word on Twitter and/or Facebook

And if you'd like to prepare and get ready for next week's First Things First link up, start by checking out next week's awesome co-hosts, Syndal @ Synfully Delicious and Erin @ Love, Fun & Football. Next week's topics are all about home sweet home:

1. First house or apartment on your own (either rented or owned, just away from your parents!)

2. First room you decorated in it, or would like to decorate

3. First thing you bought for it, or would like to buy

Pretty Jewelry & Magazines - First Things First

Hello again loves! Today is of course another Tuesday, and that of course means another round of First Things First. I'm still having sooo much fun with this link up, and I'm loving the new girls that join in and link up each week! And I'm also really loving having awesome new co-hosts every week, and this week is of course no exception. (Did I really just say "of course" three separate times in just three sentences? That was redundant and unnecessary. Oh well. You can't expect me to be a perfect blogger all the time, right? Hahaha)

This week my fun new co-hosts are Carrie @ The Carrie Gland and Allie @ Tales of a Twenty Something!

And this week, the 'first' topics we're talking about are:

First magazine subscription
First real piece of jewelry you owned

First time staying home alone

First magazine subscription:

Um, I'm not sure I remember exactly, but I think back in the day I used to have a subscription to Highlights. Please tell me y'all remember that one?! I'm sure it's still in every pediatrician's office in America. It always was when I was little at least! I remember reading about animals and other countries and 'travel' (because what 8-yr-old is really out travelling?), and lord knows what else. But mostly I was in it for the hidden object challenges! 

And then in my early teen years, I was able to make the move up to Seventeen Magazine! And let me tell you - I thought I was the cat's pajamas when I started getting this one, even though I was only thirteen! (I think I was under the impression you had to actually be seventeen...) And I'm guessing it was filled with things that teenage girls deem all-important, such as shoes, make-up, clothes, boys, boys and more boys.

First real piece of jewelry you owned:

Well I used to have lots of lockets, necklaces and stuff from my early high school years. And I also remember receiving a few real-ish rings for Christmas when I was younger too. But, I'm not really sure how 'real' any of those were, and plus, I don't have any of it anymore. So if it would have been completely real, I probably would have kept up with it better.

So, I'm gonna go with the ring my parents bought my for my 18th birthday present! I actually knew I was getting it,  because they had let me go to the store to try some on and pick out a few of my favorites. I didn't know I was getting this exact one, but knew I was getting one in general. So when I opened this one, I was in loooove with it! And really, I still am! I have worn it every day since they gave it to me, which means I've been wearing it for seven years! (Well, except for two weeks a couple of summers ago, when the pink heart had to be put back in and get everything tightened.) I personally think it's so very pretty, and I still get so many compliments on it actually :)

I still wear it every day, although now it's on my right hand, obviously!!

First time I stayed home alone:

I don't think I really remember this one either! I remember having a couple of babysitters when I was younger. One of them was our old pastor's daughter, one of them was another high school girl from the church... and a lot of times we would just go stay at our Grandparents' house. But I think I was probably 13 or so the first time I was allowed to stay home alone. But apparently it didn't make such a huge impact on me, because I can't really remember one specific instance! 

I do remember though the first summer I was allowed to stay home and not go to camp every day was after my 7th grade year. I had made the cheerleading squad, and we had a lot of practices, so I would go to practice in the morning, and get to stay home by myself all afternoon! Thinking back now, I have NOOO idea what I did every day all summer long. I mean I'm sure I hung out with friends some of those days, but still, what did I do with the rest of my time?! Silly teenagers...

If you'd like to join in on this fun link up, check out the super simple 'rules' below, and get to writing! Can't wait to see all the new link ups this week, meet new friends, and read y'all's posts!

1. Write your own post about this week's topics

2. Please follow me, as well as this week's co-hosts, Carrie & Allie.

3. Put the new button on your post or somewhere on your blog

4. Link up with us! (Link will appear on all three blogs.)

5. Visit some of the other links, and share the love with them on their posts!

6. Spread the word on Twitter and/or Facebook

Tweet

And if you'd like to prepare and get ready for next week's First Things First link up, start by checking out next week's awesome co-hosts, Jenna @ Life Is Sweet & Kristyn @ Carolina Fireflies. And you can also start preparing your next post, about the following blog-related first topics!
1. First ever blog post

2. First ever comment on your blog

3. First blog-friend or friends

Personal Trainer, Email & Dates - First Things First

Hello and happy Tuesday everyone! Today is the seventh week of our First Things First link up, and obviously I'm excited about it! We are loving this link up, and every week we're getting a few more people to join in with us! I'm definitely already anticipating some new link-uppers for this week as well!

However, some slightly sad news to announce, is that Hallie won't be co-hosting this with me for a while, because her wedding is coming up so soon! So she needs a little break to keep her sanity :) So today, I'm hosting all on my own, and looking for up to 4 co-hosts for the next 4 weeks! If I get more, we'll do multiple co-hosts in a week. If you're interested in co-hosting this fun link up, let me know in the comments below. You must submit at least TWO new ideas for 'first' topics, and please make sure you're not a no-reply commenter, so I can get back with you!!

This week's topics are:

First thing I do at the gym
First Date with Current Significant Other
First email address

And check out this cute new button!

First thing I do at the gym: 

Um, well since I haven't really been to the gym since I was about 16 years old, I have zero idea what the first thing would be. Probably find a machine that's the furthest away from everyone else as possible, so that I can embarrass myself in front of fewer people... Maybe the elliptical or something like that? Maybe I'd be lucky enough to get myself a personal trainer?!

However, I have actually been really considering getting a gym membership lately - which would be the first one in my life! And now that I've got a sparkly ring on my finger and will be wearing a gorgeous white dress in the not-so-distant future, I figure that's even more incentive than ever! So maybe I'll do some research this week, and find the right one to join this weekend?! Any tips and/or advice?! Or Tally friends - favorite here?!

First date with my current significant other: (aka my FIANCE!)
Most of you should know by now, we actually met on an online dating site back in May 2011. So we talked and chatted and phone called and emailed and texted and instant messaged for two weeks before ever meeting each other IRL (In Real Life). Well then our first IRL meeting was a random Thursday night when we both happened to be at the movie theater at the same time, with different people. His movie was starting five minutes after mine ended, so we said a quick 'hello' and gave each other a slightly awkward hug, and then went on our way...

BUT, our first real date was that next Tuesday after a long Memorial Day weekend for a lunch date! He had texted me that morning and surprised me by asking if I actually wanted to meet him for lunch that day. I of course said yes, even though I was so so very nervous about it! (I was just glad I had on a really cute dress and was looking good that day!) So we had a very romantic first date at Zaxby's on our lunch break during the middle of our work day :) Don't worry though, he did at least pay for our fancy meal! My heart was definitely pounding, but I quickly found that it was really easy to talk to this cute, freckly boy across the table from me. Since we had already learned so much about each other in those first two weeks of chatting, it made the transition to real life so much easier. At the end of our short lunch break, I wished I could have stayed and talked with him so much more! But unfortunately, we had to go back to our offices for the rest of the day.

It was such an easy, and casual 'first date,' that it ended up setting the tone for those first few weeks of us dating. It made things really simple and easy, and we could just do 'normal' things and not put too much pressure on ourselves! Seems like it worked out pretty well for us now :)

Not from our first date, but it is one of our first pictures - July 2011, at the twins' 5th birthday party.

First email address:
Well, I think this was when I was in 6th grade or so, so that was probably around 2000. (That hardly even sounds like a real year to me for some reason right now?!) It was back in the days of super slow dial-up internet, and the days of AOL. (Who loves the movie "You've Got Mail?" I do!)

Anyways, I somehow managed to escape the trend of crazy/wacky screen names all the other 12-year-old girls were obsessed with like "2Cute4U" and "MrsTimberlake88" and some other mess like that...  Mine wasn't too ridiculous though, but just enough to make me still sound like a silly pre-teen girl. For some reason, 'my number' back then was 17, so I had to include that in my email address, which was: HalieBaby17@aol.com . See? Not so bad, right? But eventually it did start sounding to silly to me, so when I was a senior in high school, I got a new, more 'grown-up' one to show how mature I was: Halez2006@yahoo.com . See? Mature meant my high school graduation year baked into my email address :) It wasn't until my senior year of college that I moved on from that one, and finally created a 'real' grown-up one, using just my name and some logically placed punctuation :)

If you'd like to join in on this fun link up, check out the super simple 'rules' below, and get to writing!

1. Write your own post about this week's topics
2. Please be following me!
3. Put the new button on your post or somewhere on your blog
4. Link up with me!
5. Visit some of the other links, and share the love with them on their posts!
6. Spread the word on Twitter and/or your Facebook Tweet

Remember to let me know in the comments below if you're interested in co-hosting, and leave at least two new 'first' topics  (Make sure we haven't already covered them yet!) And if you'd like to prepare for next week's link up, those topics will be:

1. First breakfast of choice

2. First dessert of choice

3. First beverage of choice

Looking forward to you writing your own post to join with us throughout this week, and reading all of your fun answers!

Prom, Mornings & Heart Break - First Things First

Good morning my friends! Today is week 6 of our First Things First link-up with myself and Hallie from Life: Oceanside! Here's the deal - we give  you the topics every week, you write your post, put our button on your post, link-up with us, and spread the word! Then of course visit the other links to see their posts as well!

First, we have some exciting news -- we'd like some of you lovely ladies to co-host this with us each week! If you would like to get in on this action, just fill out the form! CO-HOST First Things First

And now moving on to our regularly scheduled post -- this week, we're talking about:

First thing I do when I wake up in the morning

First heart break

First prom or school dance

First thing I do when I wake up in the morning

Empty my tiny, child-sized bladder. Anyone who knows me in real life knows how true this is...I get made fun of all the time for this small issue of mine. Whatever, there's really nothing I can do about it! Moving on though...after that, I check Instagram and play Words with Friends. Duh. And I might also browse Facebook for a few minutes, and catch up on some emails. But I'd say mostly I'm just scrolling Instagram... (here's some of my recents)

First heart break

Well, since Jeff is the only real boyfriend I've had, I haven't had the typical 'boyfriend-broke-my-heart' experience. (And I'm really hoping to keep it that way...) However, I was super best friends with a boy in high school, who ended up breaking my heart even though we weren't even dating. We were really close from 10th-12th grades, and did soo much together - church, games, dinners, movies, concerts.... We also lived close to each other, so he even picked me up every morning for school for a while, because he turned 16 before I did. Then in the last month or so of high school, we got into a big dumb argument, and yelled and fought and things weren't pretty. We kind of moved on, but avoided each other for a month or so. Then I tried to fix things with him at youth summer camp, and he was a butt head and wouldn't accept my apology or even talk to me. And that seriously broke my heart. He left to go away for college about a month later, and I have only spoken to him probably twice since then in the past seven years...

First high school dance or prom

Since I went to a tiny Christian school from kindergarten through 12th grade, we didn't really have many dances and such. Really, all we did was the junior and senior prom that our parents put on for us. My junior year, myself and 4 or 5 of my girlfriends all skipped prom and went to see Relient K in concert instead! And it was totally worth it. So then my first high school dance was my senior year, when I went to a public high school's homecoming dance, with one of my friends from church! It worked out good too, because my friend Crystal (who had also gone to the Relient K concert with me before) was also asked by a friend from our church, and we could go together! 

And the only other time I went to a high school dance was for my senior prom! My date was one of my best friends, and we went with a giant group of girls and guys all together. We all met first to take pictures, then we ate at Outback (I think?!), and headed to the prom all together! My date-friend didn't want to dance too much, but I went out on the dance floor without him! It's more fun to dance with your best girl friends anyways :) Afterwards, we all went back to the house we took pictures at, to enjoy some midnight snacks, watch "Heavyweights," (we were obsessed with it that year), and then we had a giant sleepover! We woke up to pancakes and OJ from her parents, and made fun of the still-snoring boys :) So many fun memories!

I know the quality is terrible - they're crappy scans of printed pictures, so it's the best I could do today...

So ladies, go write your own posts about these three firsts, and join in the fun! The 'rules' are simple: write your post, include our button, link up with us, spread the word, and visit others! Easy right? And while you're at it, you can prepare for next week's post with these topics:

1. First thing you do at the gym
2. First date with your current significant other
3. First email address

Spread the word about our link-up by tweeting about it! And then link up with us below!
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Pre-Teen Obsessions - First Things First edition

Hello there again lovelies, for my second post of the day! This post is for week #4 of our First Things First link-up, with my good blog-friend Hallie at Life: Oceanside! Every week we have specific "first" topics that we share with y'all, and we want to hear your answers as well. So read our posts, write your own, grab our button, then come link up your post with us! This weeks "Firsts" are:

First Concert, First Celebrity Crush & First Best Friend!

First Concert

I think I went to about a thousand concerts when I was growing up, because my family loved those Gospel groups like The Gaither Vocal Band and The Cathedral Quartet. So we went to those at churches in and all around our town growing up. Seriously, a ton of these kinds of concerts. And honestly, my sister and I loved them :) 

But I actually consider my first "real" concert to be when I was 13 or 14, in 8th grade. I won tickets off of the radio for a Jo Dee Messina concert! And Rascal Flatts was actually opening for her! I was definitely a Jo Dee fan back then, but I was really thrilled to see Rascal Flatts. That was right after their debut album, and they weren't even very popular yet. We had the album though, and we absolutely loved it. And I absolutely loved the concert!

(Two side notes: I didn't realize until I just looked her up, but apparently Jo Dee is still out there making music and touring! Good for her. And, I've been to two more Rascal Flatts concerts since then, and they're absolutely amazing every time!! They're probably my all-time favorite band.)

First Celebrity Crush

Like most young girls during the height of the TV show, "Home Improvement," I was quite obsessed with my man, JTT. Jonathan Taylor Thomas. What a little hunk, am I right?! He was just so cute and so dreamy, and I was sure he needed to be my boyfriend. I remember talking about him with friends, and ogling over him in those trashy awesome teen magazines. He was just the cutest! And hello - check out those overalls, and his shirtless baby chest, and that killer peace sign necklace. Studly.

First Best Friend

My very first best friend was way back in kindergarten. Her name was Shaughnessy. Interesting/cool name right? It's Native American, I believe. Anyways, we were seated alphabetically in class back then, and we ended up close to each other. We quickly became friends (because I was [and still am]a chatter box), and then we were friends for a couple years! 

We had lots of sleepovers at her house, and I have a very vivid memory of peeing in my 6-or-7-year-old-pants while playing hide-and-seek out on their giant property in the country, because I knew I wouldn't be able to make it all the way back to her house in time. Good times right?! 

Do you remember your first concert, celebrity crush and best friend? If so, write a post about it, and then come back here to link up to both of our blogs!  And if you want to get read for next week, those topics will be:

1. First trip out of the country

2. First major purchase on your own

3. First thing you learned to cook

Oh, and share this on Twitter in order to spread the word of our link up!

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Present for High School Graduation

I have just one more post from my walk down memory lane and all of my old high school pictures... For my graduation present, me and my Mama went on a cruise to the Bahamas, and had so much fun. It was just us two, and we got to do whatever we wanted. But mostly we just wanted to relax and take it easy. Which we certainly did. It was a great time, and I wish I could go back and do it all over again! 

If you wanna see my other memory lane posts, check them out at the links I've provided below!

Cheerleading // Prom // Senior Girl Presentation // Senior Trip

New Year's Eve // Homecoming // Graduation

Peak of High School

OK, this will  be the second-to-last one of these memory lane walks - with the final one next Thursday, with pictures of my graduation present! This is the seventh one, so if you missed the first six, check them out at the following links...

Cheerleading // Prom // Senior Girl Presentation // Senior Trip // New Year's Eve // Homecoming

The Peak of High School is definitely graduation - I mean honestly, what else could it be? So here are all the pictures from my high school graduation, and the festivities and events surrounding it! (The ones I could find at least...) There are some from Senior Sunday at my church, and also when we went on a little mother-daughter lunch date the day before graduation! 

Powderpuff Days

Here are a few pictures from homecoming week my senior year of high school. From dress-up days, to spirit day on Friday, and then a few from the football game with friends. Our tiny little Christian school didn't have a dance then, so that's really all there is. I did however get to go to a homecoming dance with a friend from church at another school, and that was a lot of fun!

And this is installment number six of all my high school posts. In case you'd like to look at those if you missed them, here are all the other links! One, Two, Three, Four and Five.

Wacky tacky day year year homecoming week. Not sure why I thought that pose was cute or necessary.

Party Like It's 2005

Here's another installment of my walk down memory lane! This was our New Year's Eve celebration during our senior year of high school. We all went out to our friend Brian's house, and we just hung around the bonfire and enjoyed some Welch's sparkling grape juice at midnight :)

For past walks down memory lane, visit them here, here, here and here.

Click "Read More" to see all the pictures below...

Plane Ride Numero Uno

And here goes walk down memory lane numero quatro! These are fun for me, so I hope they are for y'all too, since I've done quite a few already! If you need to catch up you can find my past posts about cheerleading, prom and Jr/Sr, and senior girl presentation. Check those out too! :)

This was our senior trip out to Winter Park, Colorado. And guys, this was a BIG deal for me. Why? It was a couple of my big *firsts* in my life. My first time on an airplane! And my first time seeing snow! (I have apparently seen it when I was about 1 or 2 years old, but that doesn't count, OK?!) And then with that, it was my first time skiing and snowmobiling as well! 

There's a picture below of the first time I actually touched the snow. We were rebels and sneaked out of the Denver airport even though our chaperones told us not to, just to go physically touch the snow! It was also my friend Kristen's first time touching snow as well. So look out for that picture towards the end :)

These are the guys from the tattoo show "Miami Ink!" I used to be obsessed with it, so I was pumped
when I saw them in the Atlanta airport! But too embarrassed, so a friend asked them about the picture for me :)

This silly girl wore her ski boots to the park the second day, and forgot other
shoes. So she had to be carried back to the bus at the end of the day :)

Our school was small - and this was almost our entire senior class... :)

First time touching snow in my life!

Practicing our Spice Girls moves...

Spice Girls in action again...

So there are some of the good ones from our trip to Winter Park, Colorado! It's always so much fun reliving some of the better days of high school :)