A Little About Me!

You’re sitting in the interview room & your future employer (fingers crossed) says, “So, tell me about yourself.”

Blink. Blink. Gulp. Blank Stare.

You sit there & think to yourself… “How far should I go back? Well this one time at band camp… wait…no, don’t share that story! What EXACTLY do they want to know?

For some people this question is a total breeze, they can give an incredibly articulate response without skipping a bit.

THAT. IS. NOT. ME. I hate talking about myself. It’s weird. It’s uncomfortable & I don’t know how to do it. But in my effort to ENCOURAGE, INSPIRE, CELEBRATE & EMPOWER others, I’ll suck it up, step outside of my comfort zone & tell all of YOU about me. (Or rather, let these photos tell you all about me).

I’ll try to make this like speed dating. And by speed dating, I don’t mean awful & cringeworthy. More along the lines of quick hitters. Wait…that’s not what I meant! Okay, anyways…here we go!

Born and raised in good ol’ Omaha, Nebraska! My friends who are not from here think I grew up in cornfields. Couldn’t have been further from the truth. Although, I do remember thinking at one point in my life, “I cannot WAIT to get out of Omaha!” (insert my 30-year old self rolling my eyes at my younger self) YOUTHS! This is my home & I love every bit of it. Also, can we talk about that childhood outfit? Thanks for that one, mom.

The family that shades together, stays together. My parents just recently celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary! They have been a beautiful example to myself & my siblings of what it means to be in a marriage where each individual is always 100% sure THEY. ARE. RIGHT. For real though, my mom and dad are some of the best people I know! They are the backbone of our family.

I was sandwiched between my siblings; my older brother Nik “Perfect Sibling” and my younger sister Maria “There’s-a-reason-my-parents-stopped-having-kids-after-her”. We’ve always been close, even from a young age. I would annoy my brother and my sister would in turn annoy both of us. Just your typical trio of kids.

In all honesty though, family is so SO important to me! The older I get, the more I appreciate them & all the love & closeness that we share.

Wow. I have NO idea why I’ve sharing this, but I am. Braces, bad perm & white eyeshadow…definitely the early 2000’s. I don’t really think this photo needs much explanation. It speaks for itself (LOUDLY). Unfortunately, my awkward phase was INCREDIBLY long. Why don’t we just skip ahead a few years & save us all from reliving that.

It’s kind of painful how “typical” my high school years were. I was the “new girl” coming from a private school & heading into a HUGE public high school. I was on the dance team all 4 years, I dated a football player on-again, off-again, blah blah blah.

But I remember it as so much more. I met some of my BEST friends, some of my life long friends in the halls of my high school. Through all the different seasons of life, we’ve still remained close…which is pretty freakin’ awesome.

Ahhh the college years! Bare with me here…I started out at the University of North Texas, transferred to the University of Nebraska at Omaha after one semester in the Lone Star state. Moved BACK to Texas for my sophomore year & half of my junior year. Moved BACK home to Nebraska & finished up my long & confusing college career at UNO. All of that to say, I miss my Texas family SO. INCREDIBLY. MUCH. We laughed, we cried, we drank too much & stayed out too late, we locked ourselves out of our apartments, we got Whataburger WAY too much, but I wouldn’t trade a single day. I can honestly say, I left part of my heart in Texas.

And then I found the rest of my heart when I moved back home. Okay, so let’s jump back in time for a second. It’s freshman year in high school and I’m sitting in science class. Just as the teacher is about to begin, this incredibly hunky guy walks through the door & my jaw literally hits the floor. He is 100% stoned & I am 100% clueless. Spoiler alert…I married that man! Now, of course, back then I had zero clue that we would end up together. We didn’t even date in high school, just passed notes & flirted with each other. He was this super cool senior & my friends and I were SO obsessed with him. I could go on & on about embarrassing stories of how obsessed we were, but there are some things that should just be kept secret.

Fast forward four years of dating, he FINALLY got down on one knee! It was so romantic ya’ll…we went to see Elf at a local theater, because duh, Elf is awesome! And little did I know, outside in the freaking BITTER cold Nebraska winter, a HUGE group of our friends & family were waiting for us (and another rando group of strangers). We’re walking outside after the show & I see one of my best friends…which wouldn’t be weird, but she was living in New York at the time & had no reason to be in Omaha…except for the fact that Jordan was proposing. It was such a grand & romantic gesture and unfortunately I pretty much blacked out! I couldn’t help it – I was just too excited! Thank goodness there’s photographic proof!

Now fast forward nine months after that….no, no, no. Not THAT kind of nine months. That comes later! In August of 2014 we threw the BEST party I’ve ever been to…our wedding! So. Much. Freaking. Love! We are SO lucky to have a stellar support system & they seriously made our day. Being surrounded by our friends and family as we started this new chapter, it was just more than I could have ever imagined. Also, Jordan and I love to tear it up on the dance floor!

Okay, NOW the whole kid thing. Jordan and I were married for three years before we started our family & this new season has been like nothing I could have ever imagined. I plan to share in another post more about my pregnancy and birth story (so stick around if you want to know…or even if you don’t!), but becoming a mom was something I thought I was prepared for…but was so SERIOUSLY mistaken. I had no clue how hard it was going to be. I thought I knew, but I 1,000% did not. It has challenged my marriage more than anything else we’ve ever been through. But in an unexpected & beautiful way, it has brought us so much closer. One thing I know for certain, having children is not for the faint of heart.

If you choose to follow along with me (which I sincerely hope you do), you’ll hear lots more about my baby, my spicy little daughter, Quincy Rose! For now, I’ll just leave a few photos of her adorable mug. All I can say is, thank you JESUS for trusting us with this sweet girl.

Okay, so I’m a liar. That was NOT short by any stretch of the imagination. If you’re still reading this, props to you – you deserve an award! The majority of my posts won’t be this lengthy, but I just wanted to share a little (or a lot) about myself. It’s the whole reason I decided to start this really scary thing in the first place. I want to tell my story, the good and the bad, in the hopes that other people might relate. This world can be so scary & dark & if I can share just a little bit of light…well, then baring my soul to complete strangers is totally worth it.

Thanks for joining!

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