The final day.

Day 31 - A picture of yourself.

Look! I did it!! Okay. I cheated some days I knew I would be busy. Just wrote them a night or two in advance and just clicked publish on the correct day. Regardless. I made it to day 31. :-) I am not sure why they repeated this one.... sooooo..... here I guess???

Day 30 - A picture of someone that you miss.

Wow there is no way I can narrow this down to just one person. I relocated my life so there are so many people I miss from Georgia. Shoot on that note I miss some of my out of state drum corps friends too. 

My Mom.

My Georgia Hall Family & Housing Friends.

My SAI Sisters.

My High School Girls.

Some drum corps friends. 

(There are so many of them so I've just gotta go with the logo on this one)

My Camp Friends. Many are not shown.

Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile.

Ummm.... wtf. I don't really understand the difference between this and Day 8. In case you forgot, that was a picture that makes you laugh. Ummm... I feel like if I am laughing I am probably smiling as well. I think this is a stupid day and so I am rebelling. No challenge post today! If you want to see some pictures I think are funny you can go to that link. Cya!

Day 28 - A picture of something you are afraid of

Oh man... do yall want the physical or the emotional?? Haha!

Here is something... JELLY FISH! I am so freaked out by the idea of being stung by one. I have been told that at the beaches here it is going to happen and I just need to get over it. But oh my goodness!!

Okay. Another fear I have was discovered this time last year while Rusty was in boot camp. I know it is silly, but I am so worried that when Rusty deploys he will "fall out of love with me". Like when he gets back he won't want to be married to me any more. Or that he will love being out at sea and he will want to leave me every chance he gets. Silly, I know. Just one of those nagging thoughts in the back of my mind. :-(

Day 27 - A picture of you and a family member.

Finally! An easy one! Here is a picture of me and my mom. :-) I miss her so much! I haven't seen her since Christmas time, but she is coming up here in a few weeks so I am really excited! 

Here we are on my wedding day. :-)

Day 26 - A picture of your day

Today was actually pretty crappy. I spent another Saturday at Gloria Jeans. Don't get me wrong, I still love my job and the people I work with. However today, I was just not feelin the love. I just wanted to be with my husband on his day off. I knew working weekends were a part of the position when I was hired, I guess I just didn't really know it would be EVERY weekend. It is really hard for Rusty and I since the weekends are all he has. 

Again though, I love my job. I love making expresso drinks and chillers. I love meeting new people, even if our interaction is brief. I really am happy as a barista. It is just hitting me how close we may be getting to deployments and I feel like I am hardly seeing him as it is. We talked about me getting another job, but honestly that wouldn't even be worth it. In a few months he will be finished with power school and in prototype he won't have a set M-F schedule. Then I may RATHER work weekends. Today I was just really down about the whole thing though. :-( 

Since I was so down and mentally preoccupied I also didn't enjoy my job like usual. I didn't feel connected to my coworkers, kinda like the new kid again.... pushed out of the loop. I felt like they would intentionally wait to say things until I was not around. Just little things like that. It was probably just the mood I was in though. 

Sigh.... another wasted Saturday at Gloria Jeans...

I thought that slogan was kinda ironic. lol

Day 25 - A picture of something that means a lot to you.

This one shouldn't be that hard. I am just not sure which direction I want to go. Saying my husband and/or dog mean a lot to me would be true, yet too cheesy and over done. I am trying to avoid physical things to avoid coming off as materialistic. I guess something that means a lot to me is my future. I don't know what the future will end up being, but I do know that it is important to me. I am a big time planner and right now I am at a weird point where my first plan didn't work out and I am still constructing a new master plan. I am extremely happy with where I am in the present, but I am just looking for a way to continue this happiness in the future. 

Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change

The very first thing that I thought of was "the world." I would love to one day do something that has an impact a positive impact on the entire world. Honestly, I don't know if that will happen. I feel like I could have made it happen if I still wanted to be a teacher. Who knows I could have taught the alphabet to a future world famous author. I doubt it would have actually happened, but it is a nice idea to think about. I don't even know in what area I would want to change the world in. There are the classic, world peace, cure cancer, cure HIV/AIDS, exc that I could default on... but I am not sure which one I would choose. And come on, you are greedy if you say "all of it." While it would be cool to change the world, I don't even know what part of the world's problems is on the top of my list.

Okay, here is something that I wish i could change. It falls closer to my personal life. I wish i could change when Rusty and I got married. I wish we would have gotten married sooner, like over the summer. (We got married in October btw) I feel like I wasted so much by staying in Valdosta Aug-Dec. I am not even referring to extra time with Rusty, before he eventually deploys. I am more talking about time I wasted at VSU. I wasted so much money. Some I wasted by traveling to visit Rusty once a month. Most of it though was by the substantial amount of loans that I had to take out to be at VSU that semester. I hated my major, so even if those credits would transfer (which they won't) I don't enjoy the degree. One day (soon!) I will be paying all of that $ back and that thought just sickens me. On another note I wasn't pleasant to be around that last semester at VSU. The people I met didn't get to see my better, positive side. My friends from before probably did not appreciate my attitude change. I hated everything last semester. My grades were good, which looks good I guess, but again no where I will be traveling to will have the major or anything close to what I was doing so they do not care about those classes I took. I just feel like it was all a big waste.

Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book

Jeeze. I don't read as much as I should. I want to read more, but I feel like I never have the time. In reality if I dumped facebook, netflix, something I would have plenty of time to read. I just choose other things. I'm going to have to dig a little further back and go with the Harry Potter series. I read those books as they came out. Which aligned my age with Harry's age. It was pretty cool, I am a part of the Harry Potter generation. I don't have a favorite book out of the series though. 

Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at.

Yay! This is one that didn't take me loads of time to come up with! I wish I was better at initiating conversations. Oh, and just having conversations in general. I am so socially awkward sometimes. I don't mind just sitting back and hearing a good conversation, but I have to remember that other people don't always take silence the right way. It's not that I don't WANT to have nice conversations, get to know people better, exc I just freeze up sometimes... okay most of the time... and don't know what to say. Rusty hates it, because he feels like I don't like any of his friends. And on the other side a lot of his friends don't think I like them, because I don't talk much. When I try to come up with nice conversations I always feel awkward and either say something stupid, blush, or freeze up. It usually just doesn't go well for me. One reason I think I do okay, despite this awkward personality trait, at work is because the guests aren't there for long. When I start blushing, freezing up, exc I can easily look busy by going in to the back, making drinks, or my favorite is when another guest comes along and saves the day.

Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget.

Hmmm... I am trying to think outside of the box for this one. I don't want to go for the default "I don't want to forget anything, because my past is what has made me become the person I am today." Honestly, I am sure there are things from my past that I wish I COULD forget, I just don't remember them right now. I am too tired to come up with something...just go with it... THAT'S IT!!!

Okay... here's something! I wish I could forget how tired I am! You know those days when the clock seems stuck and you are stuck in time. Then you think about how you didn't sleep well, you stayed up too late on FB, your feet hurt, you wish you had gotten an extra 30min of sleep, because your neighbors woke you up before your alarm, blah blah blah. I wish I didn't have those thoughts. I wish I didn't focus on why I am tired, I wish I could just forget about it. Whenever I think about WHY I am tired, it just makes me more tired. It all starts with the simple thought, "I'm tired." Am I the only one like this? 

Day 20: A picture of somewhere you would love to travel.

I first want to point out my favorite place that I have ever been. December 2009 my mom and I went to the Bahamas, best Vacation ever! I loved it. I WILL go back one day! We staied in the condos near Atlantis and got the passes for Atlantis for free. It was SUCH an amazing trip. 

Seriously, best vacation I have ever had. I want to go back with the husband one day!

Now to today's category... where I WANT to go.

When I was little, I went on a cruise. The only thing I remember about that one was having to stay on the "top bunk" and getting all the coke I could drink. That is it! I sorta remember going snorkeling, but not really. I really want to go on another one. Fingers crossed, I will be going on one this summer with the in-laws after Rusty graduates power school. I am trying not to get my hopes up until we have our cabin booked. 

I have always wanted to go to Australia! Just something about it has always attracted me. I hope I will be able to go one day.

Another place I would like to go is Hawaii. I am so indecisive if I actually want to be stationed there, but I definitely want to visit!

Lastly on my list is somewhere in Europe. I don't know where, I just kinda want to go to say I have been. :-P

Day 19: A picture and a letter.

Uhhh... this category is dumb. Again, like the last post, I have no idea what to put for this one. I can't just put a picture. I created a blog so I could write about the pictures.  This category is proving to be a challenge. I don't really want to put a picture showing how many freakin letters I wrote to my husband when he was in boot camp, it was a lot though! I don't want to post a picture of alphabet blocks, a piece of architecture that looks like my favorite letter, or anything else of that nature.

So, after giving it some thought I have decided to actually write a little letter. There are some things I would LOVE to say to some people. However in an effort to avoid drama I decided to just write a general letter to all of you, my readers.

Ummm... here is a picture... 

Dear Readers-

Thank you for taking time out of your days, busy or not, to read my blog. I make it for my own entertainment, but I LOVE that it entertains yall as well. So close to 2500 page views in a month and a half. I'm impressed! I do wish yall would leave me some comments every now and then. It would be pretty neat to know WHO reads my posts. 

Writing this letter was  stupid idea, I am feeling pretty ridiculous at the moment. I hope yall are having a wonderful weekend!

-Anne

Day 18: A picture of your biggest insecurity.

Hmm... I am having a hard time thinking of something for this category. I decided to look up the word "insecurity" to see if the definition would help. Wikipedia says it is "a feeling of general unease or nervousness that may be triggered by perceiving of oneself to be unloved, inadequate or worthless (whether in a rational or an irrational manner)....Insecurity may cause shyness, paranoia and social withdrawal, or alternatively it may encourage compensatory behaviors such as arrogance, aggression, or bullying." Yeah, it didn't help much. 

So I cheated and looked at other people's "challenge" pictures on facebook... I found not being good enough, acne, and other things that didn't fully fit me. I do have a concern that people won't like me, that I am not pretty enough, that I am always being judged, but I don't think that I have one single biggest insecurity that really stands out. I really don't like my body. I feel kind of hobbit-like. Honestly though, I recognize that my flabby tummy is something I could change, but haven't. If it were really my BIGGEST insecurity I would work out and/or watch what I eat. After doing some searching.... I found something better... a different category. So now this post will be:

Day 18: A picture from the summer

Clearly I am incapable of picking just one picture! :-)

Cow Appreciation Day!

4th of July with my amazing sailor.

Traveling to California to NACURH

Programming as an RA in Lowndes Hall.

Going to Wild Adventures.. for free :-)

And some more visits with my sailor. <3

Day 17: A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life.

Growing up I was never one of those kids who got homesick when I slept away from home. I have always been pretty independent in that way. Maybe it is because I didn't always have the greatest home life, maybe I was just born this way. (If you sing that lady gaga song I will punch you. k thanks) I know that doing 4H got me out there and made me more independent. It gave me unique opportunities and chances to meet a variety of different people. 

4H really has had a huge impact on who I was growing up and who I have turned out to be. When I was young it allowed me to go to camp and feel comfortable away from home. I feel like this helped my transition to college and my transition to SC. I learned how to shoot a gun in 4H, how to judge chickens and eggs, consumer skills, and other random things.. like how to decorate a cake. My main goal being in 4H was to become a camp counselor. Thankfully, I gained more from the 4H program than my ultimate goal. I had one awful summer and one outstanding summer in the camping program before my heart was shattered and I was not given a third summer. It hurt, but even the pain allowed me to grow as a person. 

Day 16: A picture of someone who inspires you.

I have given this one a lot of thought and I have had a hard time coming up with an answer. There are several people who can fit this category. Old teachers, mentors, bosses, friends, coworkers, family. I really don't have a celebrity that inspires me to do anything. I am also not sure if I have someone who CURRENTLY inspires me now that I am away from Valdosta. 

I am going to have to give credit to my SAI sisters. Each one of them has their own story and inspires me in a different way. Some inspire me to want to learn more about music, some inspire me through the joy that they find in life, and others just inspire me to be a better person... I have two big sisters (one is from color guard) and then a grandbig who supported me a lot through my time at Valdosta. I am not sure if that counts as inspiration, but I want to give them props when mentioning my sister's influence on my life. (Adrienne, Brittney, and Theresa)

Day 15: A picture of something you want to do before you die.

I have a pretty extensive bucket list, but I have never actually taken the time to write it all down. Most of the things I want to do are actually things I want to learn. However, I'll go ahead and post a goal that I intend to accomplish fairly soon. 

I am taking this semester off, but not by choice. When I moved to SC my financial aid got messed up. I plan to go back to school and finish my undergraduate degree when Rusty and I move to our next station. SO that brings me to my first thing I want to do before I die. Complete my undergraduate degree and continue on and complete a masters or higher. I would love to get a doctorate one day, but I am not sure if that will happen.

Moving on to more of the things I want to learn about before I die. I want to know about coffee, tea, wine, and beer. I don't just want to know names of popular kinds. I want to know some of the trivia. I want to know what makes the drink good or not. I want to learn about the process in which the drinks are made. 

I am currently working on the coffee knowledge by working at Gloria Jean's. I am not really studying it, but I definitely know more now than I did a month and a half ago. 

I would love to work at a Teavana to learn about tea, the same way I am learning about coffee at Gloria Jeans. When I say I want to know about tea I don't mean southern sweet tea. I am talking about white tea, green tea, oolong tea, black tea, herbal tea, rooibos tea, and mate. 

The last two are the booze lol. First I need to acquire a better taste for these beverages before I embark on a knowledge quest! :-)

There are more things I want to do before I die, but honestly I am typing this at 7am so I really don't have much motivation to keep going. I'm tired. I want to sleep in some more and then have a relaxing day at Isle of Palms.

Day 14- A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.

Geeze. I am going to have to go with my amazing husband Rusty Furlow on this one. I know it is super cheesy that I keep using him for these categories. He is just so important to me and has had one HUGE impact on my life.

I never imagined I would get married so young and I CERTAINLY never imagined I would get married to a military man. When Rusty and I started dating I didn't even really like him. He had to basically beg for me to go out with him. It took awhile, but when I fell... I fell hard. Now I can't imagine my life without him. I recognize that I have different priorities than many women. I understand that how I have changed may make feminists cringe. I have changed my entire lifestyle to be with him. I feel like everything is completely worth it to be with him. I love knowing that I will spend the rest of my life with him.

Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist

Oh jeeze. I really don't know right now. I am kind of sick of EVERYTHING on the radio and I haven't listened to older music in awhile. I really don't know what my "favorite" artist is. I'm not sure if I have ever had a "favorite".

I really like the music from Glee if that counts for anything.

I love Katy Perry's energy and music.

Bono is doing some great things in the world and I really respect him and his actions. (U2 is great as well)

In High School I loved the Cure. 

My favorite modern song is "Stereo Love" but I have never heard any of their other songs.

I used to love Lady Gaga, but she is getting too extreme for me to keep up with,

Day 12 - A picture of something you love

Initially my first response to this is my husband Rusty and my dog Jasper. I feel like I keep using them to fill these categories and my blog in general. Time to look a little harder....

I love serving others. In high school I did this as a server and as a Christian doing missions work. At VSU I did this by being an RA and serving my residents. Now I am doing this as a Barista serving coffee to our guests. While some serving is "more important" than others, my life is much more satisfying when I have a serving aspect. 

I love making others smile. I am not the funniest person around, but I'd like to think I have some good moments. This also goes along with making people happy by serving. I like to be the person who goes above and beyond to make someone smile. I love being there for people in their best and worst days.