an easy day, with more introductions

Today was an easy one. Considering that I went to work for about 4 hours before heading to Darren's which occurred after I picked up Chinese for a late lunch. It was delicious! All along talking to my mother about how Christmas went and so forth. I have spoken to her since we left South Bend but not long enough to hash out all the wonderful items I received and other family details. I had been thinking about what to write about today and immediately thought about needing to introduce some of the amazing people in my life of whom you will hear plenty about. For starters I always refer to them as my mom, my dad or whoever, I have an issue with sharing (mostly the people in my life, not so much objects) and even more speak very little about my family to most people. I know that because I have been told by quite a few friends that I manage to keep things slightly to myself and I am a private person but here I am.

First my folks, they are pretty amazing even if they push my buttons. Both of my parents are very conservative and my family as a whole is. Along with myself they also have 4 others. my bro Joel, sis Luz who is married to Tim and expecting Tegan come February, Edina and baby Eze.

My grandfather, dad's dad, lives with my folks. He can be quite the talker and its all in Spanish but I do LOVe talking to him. He always updates us on the news that is going on around the world as he listens to a Spanish station on the radio that comes in from Chicago.


To the right you will see apa with baby this Christmas. Baby always wants to help him out in opening his gifts, partly because he wants to be helpful but mostly because he gets excited.

Again I come from a huge family. MOm is one of 11 and all of her siblings have families ranging from 1-6 kids and most of those are married and have their own families. But its wonderful seeing and hearing what is going on when I do speak to them. They are mostly loud, cheerful, opinionated and conservative people. So far in my family tree there are over 141 people, 31 families. Its great, although some have spread out throughout the US, I grew up with all of them as a child.

My friends Chad and Malissa. I have known Chad since grade school and he is very much awesome, hard on himself but always very willing to tell me how it is even if I do not want to hear it. Of course my favorite image of him is framed and we each have a copy in our places. SO I will get that up soon, its a print from his Formal a few years back.

Malissa, she is crazy wonderful. She is into a lot of crime shows and fashion. CSI and Project Runway to name a few. She is super crafty/talented. We met in the art building at Barton College in good ole' Wilson NC. She is great at listening and handling my antics. She is hilarious and speaks her mind. She is also very helpful in telling me to suck it up. She does not live close but we talk to each other quite a bit, some weeks more than others. She is an Ohio State Fan, so at least one game every other year we are on the opposite side of the field. She actually makes her own jewelry and has made me a few.
Check it out, its pretty sweet, she will customize as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/malissavernon/sets/72157622497456065/

All in all, they are both amazing in their own ways. Not surprisingly, we each have an art background, Chad in Film, Malissa Ceramics and myself in Graphic Design but quite frankly we all have expanded in various ways.

Now the person I spend the most time with, he is actually something else. As in whole different kind of wonderful, he cannot handle me when I am emotional, thinks he is funny, is obsessed with getting autographs and unfortunately went to public college, in Indiana. He is Darren, pretty amazing, on most days, but as Malissa says "give him some credit," and I try. We both love to travel, he has a lot of hobbies and is an educator. So he has a lot of heart. He can catch my by surprise from time to time. And he loves me.
We are not mushy people/couple but we make sure to catch up with each other at then end of every day and he likes to ask who I talk to on a daily basis and what they had to say.

A few more, Nikki, she and I swam together in high school and have a tendency of getting in trouble. She is expecting her second child come August, and her family has seen me through quite a bit. They too are amazing. Her daughter Reagan is beautiful and growing quite fast in between our trips home.

Ashley and I have known each other since grade school, but really I grew close when we left home for college. She too is married and her Husband Josh is a great guy. Ash and I have the amazing ability to say too much and get ourselves in corners but laugh about it later on. I have taken care of her when she has had too much but also have joined her in the celebrations.
I was both of these ladies Maid of Honor and too me It felt great in every way possible to be a part of their extremely special day and that I have been that person for them. They know quite a few of my secrets, and we will leave it at that.

Now My Sister Gina, SOrority sister, she is hilarious. Has the mouth of a sailor, peppy in the way that she can become very excited and enthusiastic about the things that are important to her. She is just wonderful. She is going into the service, waiting on hearing about her test and going to OCS school to become an officer. We are Phi Mu's, and that makes us pretty awesome.

And then there is Brittany, we also met in the art building on Barton's campus. She is the go to advisor on kids, relationships, planning and a wonderful photographer. She has a little one, Tristan, who is cute as can be. I am Aunt Bea to him. Malissa, Brittany and myself are our own college family in which Malissa holds us together unknowingly. Brittany's husband is a Marine, and thank goodness for people like him. He will be on leave come June, I believe it is and Malissa and I are to be the distractions. So I hope that the 3 of us, with Tristan make a trip together in the time he is away as well as work on plans for decorating Darren's house.

So those are my big one's. And as I talk about them and others you will see that they are all great people but different in so many ways.