I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for months now. I had an official one designed and started and then I chickened out. I just kept thinking, "Who really cares what I have to say? I can't even come up with what I would even talk about on this blog." After saying those comments a few times I deleted the first blog. Then while reading my usual health and beauty blogs I quickly found out that in order to comment you have to have a google/blogger account yourself. So I created yet another one and this time I've decided I'm going to make a go of it. I have no real main focus for this blog, it will most likely be a random collection of my thoughts and life. I'll probably talk about my most prized possession, my family, bitch about grad school, rant and rave about health and beauty products, music, movies and etc. Basically I'm going to talk about whatever the hell I want!
So I suppose I should fill the reader in on who I am, what I stand for, where I come from, and why I'm an awesome person :)
My name is Kelly, I blessed this earth with my presence almost 27 years ago now. I am from a small "country" town in Northwest Ohio known as Wapakoneta. Most of my family still resides in the area as well as some of my high school friends (when I say high school friends what I really mean is the friends i've had almost my entire life, I say high school because it's usually easier for people to wrap their heads around that fact than knowing most of my high school friends were my friends in elementary school too). When I graduated from high school in 2003 I made the very long 110 mile journey to the great city of Cincinnati to attend the University of Cincinnati. This is where I learned to grow up, how to take care of myself, the kind of person I wanted to be, what I really believed in, and who I really was (I mean for the most part, I don't know that we ever really know who we truly are). It was that time away from home, learning to have a life of my own and still include all of the important people from home in my life I learned the bulk of life's lessons. When I graduated in 2007 from UC with my bachelors in Chemistry I spent the remaining summer partying way too much and preparing for my first real move away from home. You see, when I was making the big decision, 'What should I do after college?' I was very blinded by the my strong urge to get away from what I had always known. I wanted to grow more as a person. I wanted to experience a different life so I refused to apply for graduate schools in Ohio. When I made my final decision about grad school I was incredibly excited, my family was excited, and my friends were excited. It seemed so new and fun. As my time in Ohio drew to an end the weight of my decision began to truly sink in and then on August 8, 2007 I made the 3 and a half hour trip alone from Cincinnati to Knoxville, TN to start my new life as a graduate student at UT. That's where I am now. 360 miles away from home. I know to most this doesn't sound like much and somedays it doesn't to me either. Most of the time though it seems like an eternity away. Now that I've babbled about myself enough let me begin to tell you about the people who have made me who I am today. Of course there are my parents Elaine and Mike. My mother was actually previously married and had two children with her first husband, that would be my sister, Tish and my brother, Jimmy. Now I know most people read that last sentence and thought well technically Kelly they are your half brother and half sister and while technically that is true do not ever say that to my face. I have never once thought of them as half siblings nor will I ever. My sister, Tish blessed me with two nephews Christopher (24) and Andrew (20). My brother, Jimmy contributed my little butt nugget nephew, Griffin (14) in to the mix as well. About 10 years after my parents made the decision to divorce my father met a wonderful woman named Rita, whom he is now married to. Almost instantly after Dad and Rita began dating her children became a part of our family as well. You will hear me from time to calling them my brothers and sisters as I chose not to use the words step brother or step sister. I don't like the way it sounds and feel as though 'step' being their discredits the way I truly feel about them. Rita's children are Cara, Sally, Tommy (deceased) and Matt. Cara is the mother of my nephew Dylan (15), Sally is the mother of my nephews Cole (5), Isaac (4) and Nathan (2) and Matt thankfully has not reproduced yet, at least that we know of :). There is also one other handsome little man that I call my nephew as well. His name is Landon (4). He is the son of my best friend since third grade, Mahgen. Ever since he was even a little peanut in his mommy's tummy we have called him my nephew. You will realize after reading my adventures for just a short time that my friends are also a part of my family. I also have a goddaughter. Her name is Annabelle (5). She is the daughter of one of my great friends, Kristi. Kristi and I have known each other for quite some time as well.
I have been so fortunate in my life to have met some of the most amazing people and have them stick by me through so much. From my hometown crowd you will often hear me mention Mahgen and her husband Justin, Kim, Chris, Becky, Kristi, and Amber. We've been out of high school for 8 years now and our friendships are stronger than ever. From my college crew I'm sure you will hear about BFF( her real name is Steph), Marie, and Renee, if I were to ever get arrested it would be with those three women. Not only do I have friends from high school and college I also have friends from grad school, you'll probably hear the most about Stefanie, Blake, Pippin, Allyn, Tatum and Vik (they are what I like to call my safety net, better known as the 5 ppl who aren't afraid to tell me I'm being a pain in the ass). Then there are of course the friends you meet along the way. Friends that you didn't meet from school, the friends you meet from those strange circumstances so I'm sure you'll hear me mention my friend Kassandra as well.
This is essentially who I am. A teacher, a student, an optimist, a pessimist, a friend, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a godmother and so much more.
