Travel Bug Bucket List

Since I’ve rediscovered my love of travel and tolerance of airplanes, I feel like I’ve been bitten by the travel bug. There are SO many places, in the US and out, that I want to visit! So I decided to make a USA travel bucket list! Here it is (by state):

Alabama- BEEN to Dothan. Probably have no need to go back.
Alaska- I would LOVE to go to Anchorage or Wasilla to visit my family.
California- BEEN to Los Angeles and would definitely love to go back. I’d also love to go to Burbank, Santa Monica, San Francisco, San Diego, and Santa Barbara.
Colorado- I have a really huge desire to go to Denver or Boulder. I don’t know why, but I do!
Connecticut- BEEN there, done that.
Delaware- BEEN. Probably don’t need to go back.
Florida- I‘ve BEEN to Florida, but I would really love to go back. I’d love to go to Orlando, Miami, Tallahassee, and Tampa.
Georgia- I’ve BEEN to Atlanta, but only for a short amount of time. I‘d love to go back there, and to Augusta and Savannah as well.
Hawaii- I would LOVE to go to Hawaii. But really, who wouldn’t?
Illinois- Chicago would be a fun place to see
Kentucky- BEEN to visit family. Don’t care much about going back.
Louisiana- I’ve BEEN to New Orleans when I was younger, but I‘d love to go back now that I‘m old enough to appreciate the culture more.
Maine- BEEN to visit family when I was younger, but I‘d love to go back for a fun trip to either Bangor or Bar Harbor
Maryland- BEEN. Boring.
Massachusetts- I’ve driven through, but I don’t think I’ve ever really been. I’d love to explore Boston!
New Hampshire- I’ve BEEN to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and loved it. Definitely wouldn‘t mind going back.
New Jersey- BEEN. Ew. 
New York- I’ve BEEN to NYC, and would love to go back. But I’d also love to go to Buffalo and see Niagara Falls
Ohio-BEEN to Akron and Cincinnati. .
Pennsylvania- Again, I’ve driven through, but I’ve never really explored. I’d love to see Pittsburgh, though!
Rhode Island- BEEN and loved it. I was really young and would love to go back. I remember it being beautiful!
South Carolina-BEEN. (duh!) But I’d love to explore Charleston more!
Tennessee- I REALLY want to go to Tennessee. A few years ago I even applied to colleges in TN! I’d love to see Memphis and Nashville.
Texas- Texas is HUGE and I want to see so much of it. I have friends that I’d love to visit at some point. Maybe see Houston, Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Fort Worth.
Utah- Kind of like Colorado, I don’t really know why, but I would love to see Utah. Especially Park City and Salt Lake City.
Vermont- BEEN there. Done that. 
Virginia- BEEN. Boring.
Washington- I want to go to Seattle and drink coffee!
West Virginia- BEEN.

SOOOOOO, if anyone needs birthday/Christmas/holiday/gift giving suggestions, plane tickets and/or money would be great. I’m tryin to get my travel on!

　

Happy Birthday, Mam!

My mother. Crazy. Tiny. Loud. Silly. Hard working.

Today is my wonderful mother’s 50^th birthday! Like any other mother/daughter duo, my mom and I don’t always get along and we’ve definitely had our share of fights and arguments. But I know that I would not be who I am today without my mother. Growing up, my mom drove me to every dance practice and stayed and watched every day. She helped make all of my costumes and volunteered at my studio so that she could spend more time with me. She woke up early every weekend to travel with me to dance competitions. She was my girl scout troop leader. She led the school book fair. She traveled with my 6^th grade class on a field trip to Raleigh. She came to every cross country and track meet. She drove me to all of my away meets. On my second weekend away at college, she drove up late at night because I called her with a cold. However, I think what really stands out to me when I think of amazing mom moments is my spring semester during my sophomore year of high school. When I was 15, I went crazy. Seriously. You can read about it here. I was crazy and emotional and a total disaster, and still my mom put up with me. Actually, she more than put up with me. She loved me through it all. She sat with me as I cried, she drove me to doctors appointments and sat in the waiting room for me while I sat in the car and waited. She went on walks with me to get me out of the house. She spent countless amounts of money on me via doctors appointments, medicines, and relaxation tapes. She sat in the car in the school parking lot for hours, just so I could feel safe knowing someone was close by. She met with all of my teachers and explained the situation. She helped me get through the hardest year of my life, and never complained.

So yes, my mom and I might fight sometimes. But who else would I call at 6am when I‘m up and walking to class? Who else would I call to sing “Bust A Move” to? Who else would sing me Silent Night just to cheer me up? Who else would dance to the Gilmore Girls theme song with me? Who else would I share all my silliest moments with? So here’s to 50 nifty years of mama! Happy Birthday to her!

 

 

 

Loved

This past summer I did a “values” activity. The activity was this - there was a stack of 100 values cards. Each card had a different value, such as “family”, “money”, “world peace”, “honesty”, “self control”, and “loved”. My job was to go through the stack and place the cards into 3 different piles. One pile was “Extremely Important”, one was “Somewhat Important”, and the last was “Not Important”. It sounds like a simple task, but I had such a hard time fitting them into categories! There were so many values that I wanted to put in between extremely and somewhat important, but those weren’t the rules. I was then informed that I had to discard all the of values in the “Somewhat Important” pile and the “Not Important” pile. My heart broke a little, but I do like to follow the rules, so I did what I was told. I then had to narrow it down to my top 10 values, and then place those values in order from least to greatest. The purpose of the activity to was to identify what I find most important in my life. My top 10 values, from what I can remember, were these: order, self-control, family, friendship, popularity, compassion, safety, dependability, faithfulness, and LOVED. My number one value turned out to be “loved”.

As a human being, we all have a need to be loved. It’s the core of who we are. Most of us experience love, whether it be from a family member, a friend, or a pet. I have had no shortage of love in my life, let me be clear. I never felt unloved as a child, in fact sometimes I could probably say that I felt overloved. And I have never had a problem with loving. I tend to love hard. However I seem to have an insatiable need to be loved. I could be in a room surrounded by people who love me and care for me, and I still feel like something is missing. Which brings me to my point…I believe that a person must love themselves before they can receive love from others. I know that sounds cheesy, but the book “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” states, “we accept the love we think we deserve”. And I believe this to be so incredibly true. I will admit that I have problems with self confidence and self love, and I honestly believe that because I don’t fully love myself, I have a hard time feeling completely loved. I have always had a hard time accepting help or acts of kindness from others. I have friends who constantly tell me “please let me do this for you”, “please let me show you love the best way I know how”, or my personal favorite “I want to help you. Don’t rob me of that joy!” The fact is, I don’t know that I will ever feel “satiated” with love until I learn to love myself fully, for all of my flaws and imperfections!

 

Where Have I Been?

In case you were wondering where I've been (which you probably haven't), I seemed to have time warped back to the 90's and turned into Jessie Spano in the episode where she's hooked on caffeine pills. The main thought that runs through my mind the minute I wake up and the minutes before I fall asleep is this: "NO TIME. NO TIME. THERE'S NEVER ANY TIME!" I wake up before the sun, go to class, come home, study, eat, study, and sleep. The frequent meltdown can usually be inserted at any of those points, and sometimes even at all of them. So if you've been wondering where I've been, this is it:

 

 

I feel your pain, Jessie Spano. I feel your pain.