Tiny House Tiny Footprint 2 Years Later

When I first started my interview series 2 years ago, my friends Kathleen and Greg were my first subjects. And I thought it was about time for an update from them.

What has changed since you first started living small? 

So much has changed in the last year for us! About a year ago we bought a house on some land so that we could move our camper to a new location. We now rent out our house on Airbnb and live in the camper in the backyard. This allows us to pay our mortgage while also living small whenever we’d like. I quit my office job a few months ago to freelance full time.

This was a difficult decision for me because I was used to a stable paycheck and a job close to our tiny home, but I wanted to spend more time telling the stories of tiny dwellers and promoting a lifestyle outdoors, closer to nature. To go along with those things, I hosted my first van gathering in late August in Colorado! More than 60 people came and brought their adventure mobiles. People shared their talents by playing music around the campfire, leading yoga sessions, preparing food and showing people their rigs. It was a wonderful weekend and I left inspired, feeling confident that this was a wonderful group of people that I wanted to spend more time with.

How has freelancing full time working out for you? 

No one can prepare you to freelance full time no matter how hard they might try. I tell people that I’m working much more now that I’m freelancing, but I’m also doing what I want to do. I have time to make breakfast (something I never did before) and sleep in a little later, but in turn, I might be working later into the night and often on weekends. When you start freelancing, you have to work harder to make connections and find clients that you want to work with. After a while (or so people say), it gets easy and you have more stable work to rely on. Fingers crossed!

I heard you wrote a book, tell us more about it!

It’s been a childhood dream to write a book and I finally did! I had the idea about a year ago + started brainstorming what kind of book I wanted to write and who my audience would be. I decided that I wanted to write something that could be read by adults as well as children. I wanted to inspire those who were thinking about living small to read about my experiences (not all of which were easy + wonderful as Instagram may make it seem). And I wanted a child to pick it up and learn that they don’t need to grow up and buy the big house. They can easily be happy with less + a life of freedom and adventure.

How has living tiny changed you?

I have learned (and am still learning) that life is not about following what others do or what society thinks you should do. Life is about doing things for yourself + having deep conversations with yourself about what feels right + what makes you happy. How we are brought up greatly influences who we turn out to be + our thought process. But it’s okay to live differently thank your family or your friends. It’s okay to choose your own path. People may judge you or question your motives, but staying true to yourself is all that matters.

What are the best and worst parts of living tiny?

This answer definitely changes depending on the season 🙂

Living small gives you a freedom that is hard to describe. Knowing you don’t need as much allows you to focus on what’s truly important. When you don’t have as many things keeping you inside, you end up spending more time outdoors. Living small is a lot like camping. You can hear and see things much clearer because your windows are bigger and your walls are smaller.

In the winter, I miss having a hot shower whenever I need it. We don’t use our shower in the camper in the wintertime because our hose isn’t properly insulated. So instead, we shower at the gym. It’s not a huge inconvenience and you get used to it, but it’s something you can easily take for granted.

What are people’s main misconceptions about living small?

I’ve noticed there are a few misconceptions about living this way. A lot of people think it’s a dreamy experience because they see the photos of feet dangling out the back of a van or going on amazing adventures. And while a lot of that is true, living small is certainly not easy. Finding a place to park for free can be hard when you don’t know where you’re going. Doing laundry or washing dishes becomes a whole different experience. There’s also not a lot of space to spread out and do things like yoga or have people over for dinner. But the trade off is that you learn to be creative and find solutions to these challenges, which make them more fun in the end.

Have you made any updates to the camper?

We have upgraded a few of our items. We got a nicer coffee maker and a warmer blanket for our bed. But mostly, we haven’t done too much to it. We like that it’s minimalist and we don’t want to spend too much money on it because we like to spend our money on experiences.

Anything else you’d like to share?

I’d love if you went and checked out our Kickstarter! Even if you can’t help fund the project, please share it with your friends or others on your blog. I realize not all of you may live small, but his book helps spread the message about tiny living and helps support this amazing community of people. It will help walk you through my thought process from going from a big space to a tiny one as well as how my perspective shifted from spending time inside to more time outdoors.

I am so incredibly proud of my friends and all that they are doing to bring more awareness to living small. It is possible! And I love her honesty about what it is really like. Check out their blog, and Instagram to follow their inspirational journey.

Fall Flowers

Recently one of my best friends got engaged (Vi, if you didn’t see her post here)and I wanted to start looking around for gift ideas to send her. I sent her a care package and also wanted to look at sending flowers. I was browsing through BloomNation and it inspired this post for me to share some of my favorites I found.

The flower bouquets they have at Pike’s Place Market in Seattle are always so pretty and fun to look at. I love tulips! 

I’m also a fan of a lot of colors mixed together. I love pinks and purples especially.

And with the holidays coming up I thought succulents would be a perfect centerpiece for the dinner table. And we’ve talked about how succulents are, (at the moment) the only things I can keep alive. 🙂

Lastly how cute are these mini pumpkins?! These are so perfect for fall. 

We all know around here how much I love watching the Bachelor, but I am not a fan of roses. There are so many other pretty flowers out there. I think my favorites are succulents and tulips. What are your favorite flowers?

Book Club Suggestions

A few girlfriends and I are thinking about starting a book club after the holiday season. Because let’s face it, things are going to get busy here really quickly.

I’d love to hear what you girls do for book club. This will be my first book club I’ve ever been a part of. (Hard to believe since I love to read so much, but with moving the last few years it’s been hard to join one.)

Currently I’m reading a few books. I’m still finishing The Lost Girls (I got really far into it then we moved, and I am not picking it back up) Giliuana Rancic’s Going Off Script, The Kennedy Wives by Amber Hunt and David Batcher, and Molly Sims’ Everyday SuperModel.

What books recently have you girls been reading that I should suggest to our book club?

How often do you girls meet up?

How do you pick the books you read?

How do you decide on a genre to read?

 

Kathleen’s Guest Post!

Kathleen is one of my good friends from high school. She and I have kept in touch even though we no longer live in the same state. She currently lives in Colorado and I now live in Washington state. We played tennis together in high school and she’s been such a great friend ever since. We’ve traveled all over the US together and have visited each other in Colorado and California. Maybe someday she will move to Seattle 😉

She was my first interview on the blog that you can check out here. I’m so happy she’s guest blogging today. You can learn more about her tiny living journey which is so inspiring!

Julie and I go way back to high school. Back then, we’d exchange notes in our classes, which is a little like blogging, right?

Moving to Colorado

Julie and I grew up in neighboring hometowns. We both stayed in the Midwest for college, but after we graduated, I ended up moving from Chicago out west to Colorado. I packed everything that would fit in my Toyota Camry and drove by myself the 16 hours to the state with 300 days of sunshine.

I remember when I reached the Colorado border, I let out a little yelp (which was quite weird honestly, because no one was in the car with me). All of my daydreaming about living near the Rocky Mountains was finally coming to life.

Credit: BAMPhoto

Meeting Greg

After three years living in Colorado, I was feeling lonely after recent breakup from a long relationship. A friend joked about a dating app called Tinder. We played around with it one day, and I thought the whole thing was strange. How could I possibly find a date on this thing? Did people really take this seriously?

I was not at a point to take anything seriously, so I decided to have some fun with it, so I messaged some guys and scheduled some dates on the app.

Greg was my first Tinder date and he stuck. At dinner during our first date, I listened wide-eyed to ideas he had about permaculture and local foods. He had stories of backpacking in New Zealand and living out of a van.

We moved into my 1,000-square-foot apartment with my roommate, Stacey, after a few months of dating. When our lease ran out, Greg and I began to talk about what our next living options were.

Living Tiny

It seemed like everyone was telling us we should get an apartment or house in the city, but that’s exactly what Greg and I didn’t want to do. Every place we looked was expensive and lacked the backyard and garden we dreamed about.

Credit: BAMPhoto

Greg started bringing up living in a van during his travels but I wasn’t convinced. It was one thing to travel and live in a van, but how was I going to do that and go to work everyday?

In relationships, you have to compromise, and so, our compromise was buying a 1969 camper trailer (140 square feet).

Credit: BAMPhoto

We found our tiny home on Craigslist and immediately started looking for places to park it. We ended up messaging a few people in the area we wanted to live and found a backyard in the foothills.

In the past year, we’ve lived with limited access to electricity and Wi-Fi, but do not connect to their hose for running water. Instead, we fill galloon jugs with water at our local grocery store.

Credit: BAMPhoto

Our dog, Blaize, loves running around in her big backyard.

What I’ve Learned

Living small has taught me how to adapt to hardships. I know I could be self-sufficient living off the grid if I needed to be and that is a freeing feeling.

My bags are always packed for adventures, and I take them as often as I can.

 

I’m not the only one who has chosen this lifestyle. Others my age have also challenged themselves to live small or on the road. Every week, I feature a new tiny dweller on my blog. I would love for you to check it and leave comments.

Credit: BAMPhoto

Follow me on Instagram as well for photos of my camper trailer and lifestyle.

Credit: BAMPhoto

I am so beyond happy and proud of Kathleen and Greg for embarking on such a great journey. We all could learn a thing or two from them! I know I definitely have a lot of stuff I don’t need but hold on to for sentimental reasons or others. But it’s so refreshing to see them living tiny and getting outdoors as much as possible. Thanks again Kathleen for sharing more of your story with us!

Jessica’s Guest Post!

I thought I’d have my sh*t together by now, but of course I do not. My place is still a mess. We don’t have internet in our house yet or any groceries still. #firstworldproblems

So I hope you’ll bear with me some more while we get organized and I will slow get back to blogging regularly and commenting. I’ve read and appreciate all of your comment and well wishes during our move!  Thanks girls! 🙂 For the next few days I have a few more guest bloggers.

I found Jessica’s blog through a link up month ago and we found out we were both from Chicago! She’s been a fun blogger friend to follow and chat with. She blogs over at Semi Sweet Tooth be sure to check her out and say hello!

5 Tricks to Get Better Sleep

When I signed on to write a guest post on Say Yes to Happy due to the move to Sacramento, I instantly thought back to my cross-country move just a couple of days over a year ago.  And what I thought of was… stress.  And a personal issue for me is that when I’m stressed, I’m the type that loses sleep while thinking over a large multitude of situations.

In currently working what is essentially two full-time jobs (Project Management and Blogging, #obviously), having an hour+ commute each way for my 9-to-5, and planning a wedding (with the help of my fiancé), I’ve sporadically had sleeping issues across the year.  If you’re like me, trying to fit what is logically too much on your metaphorical plate, then here are my top 5 tricks for getting better sleep!

Deep, Controlled Breathing

Whenever my mind is racing, my first trick is to try to redirect my thoughts to my breathing.  Breathe in for a count of 4, hold your breath for a count of 7, and slowly breathe out for a count of 8.  This pattern of breathing will leave you feeling relaxed and settled in for a night of great sleep.

Meditation

Settling your thoughts on a specific intention will allow you to kind of “zone out” on that area of focus.  I’d suggest a thought such as “hope” or “happiness” to leave you on the track for great dreams and a next day of positive thoughts.

Chamomile or “Sleepy Time” Tea

Sometimes I like to start my evenings with some relaxing chamomile tea.  This is potentially, completely a placebo, but I find the warmth to be incredibly soothing.  If you want to get fancy, rumor has it that adding a little lavender will add an extra kick of relaxation.

Keep a Notepad Next to Your Bed

This habit is likely incredibly annoying to my wonderful fiancé, Raymond… wonderful because he deals with my crazy sleeping habits.  When my mind is racing, it’s typically because I’m thinking through a full list of things I have to do.  Keeping a notepad next to our bed allows me to write the full list of tasks running through my mind so that I can tackle them the next day.

Melatonin

When my sleeping issues become a persistent issue (typically the week before my cycle, TMI?), I am willing to take one natural, supplemental melatonin.  Your brain naturally produces melatonin as a way to regulate your sleep/wake cycle.  Natural melatonin supplements have been deemed safe for short-term use.  If you decide to take this route, always listen to the manufacturer’s instructions and stop use if you wake up exhausted the next day.  Aka, use with discretion and consider talking to your doctor before use.

 

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

What tricks do you use when you’re having difficulty sleeping?  If you’ve tried any of the tricks above, let us know how they’ve worked for you!

Create a great day!

Thanks again so much for filling in for me Jessica! Lately I’ve been so exhausted from all the moving I’ve had no trouble falling asleep hah, but I would like to try to get into meditating.

Our Road Trip Recap

Here is a quick recap of our road trip with two of our best friends from Chicago. We were all over the map and had the best time.

Our road trip started in Arizona, visiting our old roommate in Tucson on Thursday of last week. Then the next morning we picked up our friends Melissa and Nico at the Phoenix airport. Then we grocery shopped at Trader Joe’s and then hit the road for the Grand Canyon. We camped there overnight.

The next morning, we took off for a tour of Antelope Canyon.

We stopped at Horseshoe Bend in Page, Arizona after lunch.

Then we drove to Zion National Park, and did our usual jumping pose. 😉

We spent 2 days in Zion National Park. We went hiking and camping and my brother and his fiancé joined us too.

It was a dream road trip and I’ll fill you all in with more details asap! Happy weekend everyone!

As always I’m linking up with these lovelies:

Hill Collection and Running 4 Cupcakes

Ailee Guest Post!

Today’s guest blogger is one of my favorite bloggers out there. Ailee blogs at Snapshot and My Thoughts. She is a talented photographer and has the most beautiful photos and her family is picture perfect. Her toddler, Isla, is beyond precious. I am so honored that she is guest blogging for me today. She makes me realize I need to step up my photography and blogging game.

Why I Love Blogging

by Ailee Petrovic of Snapshots & My Thoughts

My history with blogging dates back six years (oh my gosh, slow down time!), and there has been quite an evolution. To start, let me take you back to the very beginning.

History

• May 2009: I started my first blog, Ailee Marie à Paris, to document my summer abroad working in Paris. I still read those posts from time to time! I definitely got bit by the blog bug that summer.
• January 2010: I began writing Semplistic Thoughts (my maiden name was Semple) as a senior at The University of Texas at Austin. I thought it was a novel way to share thoughts and create a dialog on topics important to me (namely my faith).
• January 2010: During my final semester at school, I had to write a blog as a requirement for a Media course I enrolled in. I called it Me, Myself & Media, and it mainly focused on advertising campaigns.
• May 2010: On a trip to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, I wrote a short travel blog – Down Under Diary to chronicle my activities.
• May 2011: At my first job out of college, I was working with a large team of Management Consulting analysts (most of whom I still keep in touch with!), so we wrote a collaborative blog called Dino Debates to keep us entertained while living in Oklahoma City every Monday through Thursday. If I need a laugh, I revisit some of those posts.
• August 2011: During a trip to the Philippines, I wrote a short blog – Musings in Manila. It was a life-changing trip, and I’m glad I have it well documented.
• January 2012: My best friends, McKenzie, and I started a blog called Hello Houston, to share some of our favorite restaurants in the city. We sadly decided to make it private after we stopped writing it.
• June 2012: Voilà – my eighth (and final for now!) blog, Snapshots & My Thoughts was born in 2012. It began as a space for me to document favorite styles and interior designs, then after we got engaged, it turned into a wedding-ish blog, and now, it definitely reflects our current stage of life: new parents.

People often ask how I got into blogging, and I like to think it was just inevitable from the advent of weblogs (do you even remember when they were called that?) that I would one day write one. I have always loved expressing myself through writing, and I enjoy photography, curating pretty graphics, sharing (and finding) design inspiration, etc. – all essentials in the world of blogging. It just kind of made sense to have my own (or multiples!).

Blogging is cathartic… inspiring… community-building… creative… capturing… and should be fun to write. I love writing posts and most especially hearing feedback (makes blogging feel less one-sided). I have met some of my closest friends through the blogging and creative circle (some ‘real life friends,’ others modern day pen pals). Finding like-minded individuals isn’t always easy, but you can definitely do it in the blog world!

As you can tell from my history, I absolutely love blogging. With this said, there are days when I feel uninspired and Snapshots & My Thoughts gets neglected. Lately, my calendar has been booked with photo shoots (I am a photographer too!), and coming up with creative content to share has been the last thing on my mind. I recently considered quitting altogether, but quickly snapped out of it. Blogging should never be a forced thing. Instead of focusing on having five posts a week, I have decided to let the process be more natural. Are there home renovation photos I want to share? Great. Then I’ll do it. Do I have Halloween outfit inspiration ideas? Perfect, I’ll blog about it. But blogging should never feel like pulling teeth.

One of my 2015 resolutions was to ‘get more personal’ with my readers. Last year, I began writing a ‘Week in Review’ post on Mondays that highlighted the past week and my favorite memories. At first, it felt a big braggadocious – like “here are all of the cool things I did!”; however, I hope my readers know me well enough to know that I’m not like that. Blogs are like online diaries, so why not share happy memories? It’s my favorite post to write every week, as it makes me feel incredibly grateful for all of the joyful things in our lives.

If you need some convincing why you should write a blog, read this article. I agree wholeheartedly with the arguments!

Now it’s your turn. How do you document your favorite memories? Photos? Do you rely solely on social media, like Facebook and Instagram, or do you keep a diary? Perhaps even a blog?

Blog | Website | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | Email

You guys have to check out her blog, you won’t be sorry! If you’re anything like me, you’ll be really inspired and impressed. Thank you again SO much Ailee!

Emily’s Guest Post!

I found Emily’s blog through a link up a few months ago and we bonded over her upcoming trip to Chicago next month. We all know how much I love my hometown. 🙂 But back to Emily! She is a really nice girl and it’s been really fun to become email pen pals and blogging friends now. I’m so glad you all get to meet her today through her guest post.

Hi everyone! I’m over the moon excited to to guest blogging for Julie today. Let me introduce myself- I’m Emily, the girl behind Comfortably Classic. I’m a newlywed, a 6th grade teacher, and a follower of Christ. I’m also an entrepreneur, a word I NEVER thought I would use to describe myself. 

 

About a year ago, I took a leap of faith and signed up for Teachers Pay Teachers, an open marketplace for teachers to share and sell educational resources. I had just finished my first year of teaching in a district that didn’t have approved curriculum yet. As I ventured into my second year, I reflected on how much I had learned and created for my students. I joined Teachers Pay Teachers on a whim.

Since then, I’ve built my store up to over 50 products, gained followers, created a blog, and met tons of wonderfully generous members of this incredible community. Oh, and I’ve made money! A year ago, I never would have thought that I could turn my passion for teaching into additional profit. I still have a long way to go and I’m learning every single day, but I’d love to share with you some of the things that I’ve learned over the past year!

• Find what you’re passionate about and pursue it unapologetically. It can change your life if you let it.

• You can make money doing something you love. My husband and I are saving like crazy to buy our first house, and Teachers Pay Teachers has been such a blessing in helping us work toward our goal.

• Your passion can be anything! Fashion, food, interior design, writing, photography, travel- there are tons of opportunities to turn your hobby into profit. One of my closest friends is a beautiful illustrator and created hand drawn programs for her wedding. She turned that talent into a business and now sells her personalized wedding programs!

• People are your most valuable resource. Removing competition opens you up to amazing collaboration opportunities. Surrounding yourself with intelligent, hardworking people can make you feel less than perfect. Reject that insecurity and remember that we’re all works in progress.

• “You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” This has been my mantra ever since opening my store. You are smarter and more powerful than you realize- be brave enough to start. I’m sure glad I was.

A huge thank you again to Julie for letting me share my story and my heart with you!

Be brave, friends!

XO Emily

I’m a sucker for quotes and love Emily’s inspirational post. We all need reminders every now and then to chase our passions and know that great things can happen if we seek them. Thanks again so much Emily!

Just Make the Move ;)

Instead of doing my Friday favorites today, I’m going to tell you why I think you should move (at least once in your life!) We live in this beautiful country of freedom, where we are allowed to move, not only in any of the 50 states we want, but we also have the chance to live abroad. It’s a fact many American people take for granted.

I’ve moved around a lot in the last 3 years (from Chicago, to Washington DC, back to Chicago, to Santa Monica, California, and then to Orange County where I currently live for another month.) And what we are ultimately searching for is a place to call our home. We are hoping to find it next in Seattle, Washington.

Yes, Chicago will always be our home. A lot of our family and friends still there and it always feels so good to be home and seeing their faces and laughing about things from our deep rooted friendships that go way back. You can make new friendships when you move, but there’s nothing like those friendships that have been years in the making, that stem from your childhood.

It is so comfortable to be home. Every time I visit my parents and I sleep in my childhood bedroom, it’s like I never left. They cook for me, I drive their car to see my friends, and we talk over dinner about our days. I totally get why people live at home for so long. I did for years. But it’s such a big world out there and there’s so much to see and do.

Moving away 2,000 miles from my parents, family and friends wasn’t easy. I cried like a baby and at the drop of a hat. But if you’re thinking about moving away, I would encourage you to do it.

You’ve only got one life to life, and sometimes it really is now or never. And if you move and hate it, you can always move back home. Home is your safe place and your launching pad. You’ve got a great foundation there and now it’s time to go into the real world and do all the things you’ve always wanted to do but maybe have been too scared to.

Linking up today with:

Hill Collection and Running 4 Cupcakes

 

Molly’s Guest Post

Day 2 of my week of guest bloggers comes from Molly at Colors of Life blog. She is so real and endearing. I love following along her life in Texas! Take it away Molly:

Top of the morning, y’all! First of
all, I just wanted to say that I am MORE THAN excited to be guest
posting today. I consider Julie one of my good blog friends and I’m so
thankful that she thought to ask me to be one of her guest bloggers
this week while she is gone.

Julie told me that I was to basically
introduce myself and my blog and I automatically thought “Crap, I have
to come up with something that makes me interesting to other
people!!!” Haha. So I thought. And thought. And thought. Annndddd
thooouggghhhttttt. Y’all, I’m a boring, normal girl. But, in guest
blogger spirit, I knew I wanted to have a post ready so I did the best
I could to be interesting for you. 😉 *crosses fingers*

So where to start? A little about me:

1. I go to school
full-time. I am a Business Administration major with an
emphasis in Human Resources and Organizational Behavior. I’ll graduate
this year (HALLELUJAH!)

2. I am a full-time
employee. I just got a promotion at work to be a Human
Resources Generalist.

3. I am a full-time Red Sox
fan. This is not a drill, I repeat; this is not a drill. I am
constantly getting score updates on my phone or watching when I have
some extra time.

4. I am a homebody,
a family girl, and would choose hanging out with my grandpa over going
to any kind of party. I love home. Home is where the heart is.

5. I love Jesus all the
time. I try to be as involved as possible at my Church, pray
constantly, live like Jesus would, and spend time with Him daily. It’s
hard and I fail every day but He reminds me that He still loves me
regardless of my flaws (and boring, normal girl-ness).

6. I’ve dealt with
an eating disorder, anxiety (still sometimes), depression, and a
multitude of health issues already in my life. As miserable as it was
at the time, it’s made me a stronger person and given me a whole new
outlook on life. I talk about them all in my Colors of Life
posts.

7. I LOVE, love to
exercise. Every day you can find me on a walk, following
along to a work-out DVD, or meditating along with some yoga class.
Exercise is a huge part of my life and always has been.

8. I have a passion for the
elderly. My ultimate career goal is to own or manage a
retirement home one day. I’ve been joking around a lot today, but this
is really not a joke hahah.

About my blog:

I started this blog one night last
spring after reading Shay’s blog and realizing that it was something I
really wanted to do. As mentioned in #6 above, I do feel like as a 21
year old I have already been through a lot in life and I wanted this
blog to be a way to share it with other people so they can realize
they aren’t alone and really to know that someone out there is
thinking and praying for them (hence Colors of Life and my COL page).

I’m a huge fan of scrapbooking, so I decided why not make this online
scrapbook with which I can share with my family and my friends. Some
of my best friends read my blog everyday as well as family members.
It’s always fun when they text me or e-mail me about something I wrote
about. It’s difficult to do something that not everyone else is doing.
I knew some people were making fun of me for blogging, but I still
continued it and I’m glad I did because I’ve met some really awesome
people in doing so.

My favorite vacation:

To be honest, my family has never
taken that many vacations. At least not as many as other people I
know. My favorite vacation to date is probably when we went as a
family to Orange
Beach, Alabama in the Summer of 2014. We all enjoyed each other
and had fun doing nothing and laughing. Another good vacation was in
May when my dad and I went to Boston.
And every time we go to my grandpa’s house is a blast.

My favorite thing I’ve done this summer:

I didn’t really do anything OUT OF
THIS WORLD this summer. I had to take 2 summer classes that started in
June and went through July and I worked pretty much all summer, except
for the days we were in Iowa. So if I had to choose one thing it would
be going to my grandpa’s house. And meeting my cousin Tommy 🙂

What blogging has taught me:

Blogging has actually taught me a lot
more than I thought it would. Other than the fact that it has taught
me how to write better, it has taught me about being open and honest.
Blogging has taught me that sometimes people really do care about me
and my life as well. That there really are nice people in this world!
And it has taught me that my friends and family love it because they
can keep up with our life from all over the country. (The most fun
part!)

Bucket list and life goals:

I actually posted my bucket list right
here. And then I mentioned some other things for my bucket list
and my life in a post right
here.

Favorite book and movie ever:

My favorite book: ever would
have to be Nicholas Spark’s The
Longest Ride (I reviewed it in this post) because I loved the plot
of it, the movie is one of my favorite’s, and I wish that was my
life!!!

My favorite movie: Well, I’m more of a TV show kind of girl
rather than a movie girl. Some of my favorites are: Hart of Dixie,
Parenthood, Nashville, Full House, Gilmore Girls, Revenge, Friday
Night Lights, One Tree Hill, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, The Voice,
Grey’s Anatomy,The Vampire Diaries, and probably some others that I’m
forgetting. I told you I’m a TV show person!

What makes me, me:

I think probably the fact that i’m
not your average 21 year old. I know I just got done saying that I was
normal and boring, but hear me out on this one. I promise I’m not
crazy! All through college I haven’t really been like everyone else. I
went out and partied at Oklahoma, but once a weekend was fine and I
was over it. By the second semester I was completely over it. Not
every college student works and even likes to work. I always tell
people that I’d rather be working than be at school. I just like doing
something and feeling like I’m making an impact somewhere.

If a degree
wasn’t required I would not be in school. I like learning new things,
but not school things. I like real life things. Not all college
students still love living at home. Not all college students are
perfectly content staying in on Friday and Saturday nights. Not all
college students like the elderly/care about the elderly. The list
could go on. I’m just not your typical college girl and I’m 100% okay
with it, although I used to think something was wrong with me. But
that’s another story for a different time.

Julie, you rock! I hope you’re having
a blast out of town. Everyone else, you rock for reading this!!! Feel
free to come say hi over on
my blog too. Have a great day everyone!

In the blogging world where a lot of people only show their ‘good’ sides, I think it’s so refreshing how realatble Molly is. Too bad she’s all the way in Texas and I’m moving to Seattle, because we could totally be friends in real life. 🙂 Thanks again for guest blogging today!