My Future

Currently, I am a junior in college. I am studying criminal justice with a minor in psychology and sociology.  After college, I plan on moving home for a while to get a job and save up some money.  While living at home, I plan to start paying off my student loans and buy a new car.  My dream car is a Jeep Wrangler with 2 doors and lime green or gunmetal gray paint.  I have always wanted a Jeep Wrangler ever since I was younger when my uncle had one.  Once I graduate from college, I plan on getting a job, hopefully as a juvenile probation officer.  One summer, I did a job shadow and shadowed a woman who was a juvenile probation officer for juvenile sex offenders.  It was a very interesting job that never seemed to be the same from day to day.  I was not sure I even wanted to go to college because I could not think of any job I wanted to go to school for.  Now that I’m getting closer to graduating, I have been thinking about future plans.  My dream home is a cabin near the water where I can kayak everyday if I want to.  I want to move somewhere new besides the same area and state where I grew up.  I have always dreamed about moving to Tennessee or North Carolina, or, I have thought about Idaho as a possibility.  I want to move somewhere that best fits me, and somewhere where my family can visit on long vacations.  Somewhere where I can brag that I moved to a beautiful state, have a beautiful log cabin home, and have cool toys, such as my rail buggy and kayaks.  In my future, I will have dogs to keep me company, and maybe a family of my own, eventually.  I just want to make sure that I never have to struggle once I move out on my own, and I do not want to have to work my life away with no time for fun.  I want to be able to give my parents and brother any support they need and have a home that they feel welcome to come and visit me in.  One day, I will be living out my dream future, and with hard work and dedication, I think I could make my future plans a reality.  

Quote for my Future Career

Cabin with kayaks out front

Future Jeep

Cabin in the Mountains

Future Cabin Floor Plan

My Dream Vacation

When I was younger, I always saw pictures of these beautiful cabins in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee in magazines.  I have always asked my parents if we could go stay in one for vacation one summer, but we never ended up planning it, until last year.  Last year I told my parents that I was going to be a junior in college and I wanted to finally plan my dream vacation and go to Tennessee.  They agreed that we should take this vacation.  I immediately started planning the perfect vacation, and I started with a cabin.  The search for cabin took the longest; we all had different things we wanted with the cabin, from a loft on the inside to an amazing view of the Smoky Mountains.  I had a list of a million things that I wanted to do while we were there.  I was about a month into planning this vacation and I think I looked at 500 or so cabins.  I wanted a traditional looking cabin, and this vacation couldn’t be anything short of perfect.  The perfect vacation was falling into place, and we were all very excited about taking our first family vacation in a while.  A couple months later, we finally found a cabin, set a date, planned out what we wanted to see, and invited other family to go, too.  Then, it was time to wait for the day to finally come. I downloaded an app that did a countdown to special events.  The day finally came, and we were all packed and headed out for Tennessee.  When we arrived to our cabin, it was everything we expected and more.  The views were absolutely amazing, and the inside of the cabin was magnificent.  Some of the activities we did while on vacation included sight-seeing, mountain coasters, Cade’s Cove, Clingman’s  dome, tubing, shopping, go-karting, a magic show, and the Dixie stampede.  My top three favorite activities we did while in Tennessee were tubing, mountain coasters, and the Dixie Stampede.  We took a relaxing trip down the river and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the Tennessee Mountains.  My second favorite activity that we did was the mountain coasters; it was like a roller coaster that slowly took you up in the mountains of Tennessee and then let us go twisting and turning back down the mountain.  We actually enjoyed it so much during the day; we went back that night to do it again.  My third favorite activity was the Dixie Stampede.  It was a dinner show, and I was not sure if I would like it, but it ended up making my top three favorite activities.  This Tennessee vacation was one of the greatest things I have ever done.  I cannot wait to go back, and I hope I can return sooner than later.

Mountain Coaster

Tubing 

The whole crew

View from our Deck

My brother Tanner, his friend Tanner, Sarah, and I at the Dixie Stampede 

Summertime Tunes

Over the summer, my grandma won concert tickets from a radio station to see Taylor Swift.  The concert was in Heinz field stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, my favorite NFL team.  I was not thrilled about going because Taylor Swift has not always been my favorite singer, even when she started out country.  I decided to go and take one my friends, and make the best of it, and I am so glad that I did.  It was one of the best concerts I had ever been to; I must admit that Taylor Swift puts on one hell of a concert.  She had the coolest wrist bands that they handed out when entering into the concert that did not do anything at first.  When Taylor came out and started performing, the wrist bands lit up to the beat of the music.  It was so awesome.  After that concert, I was hooked.  I was looking up concerts to go to all summer long.  So, then, my mom won tickets to a Bret Michaels concert, which I was definitely not very interested in attending.  That concert turned out not to be too bad either, but I would not go back.  It was a bunch of songs that I did not know and a lot of trashy drunk people were there.  The next concert I went to that summer was a Florida Georgia Line concert and I actually bought these tickets and was very excited to go.  Florida Georgia Line is my absolute favorite group.  The concert was at First Niagara Pavilion in Burgettstown Pennsylvania.  That was by far my favorite concert I had ever been to, first because I knew every song, and second because it was the perfect night for an outdoor concert.  I never would have guessed that I would get to go to a Florida Georgia Line concert with one of my good friends.  We had a blast jamming out to the music.  Country is by far my favorite type of music, even though I like a little bit of everything.  After the Florida Georgia Line concert, my friend and I bought tickets to the Chris Brown, Fetty Wap, Teyana Taylor, Omarion, Migos, French Montana, and Kid Ink concert for our other friend for her 22^nd birthday.  The only reason I wanted to go to that concert was because of Fetty Wap.  He is another one of my favorite singers, second to Florida Georgia Line.  You could say that I am now a concert junkie, and this past summer has been a summer filled with concerts that were amazing and some that were not as awesome.  I can’t wait for next summer because I am already planning on attending several concerts at First Niagara Pavilion again. 

Taylor Swift Concert

Bret Michaels Concert

Florida Georgia Line Concert

Fetty Wap, Chris Brown, Kid Ink Concert

Why a Rail Buggy

So why would a girl pick a dune buggy to buy when she could pick anything else to spend $4,000 on, you might ask? The reason starts with my dad.  When I was younger, my dad had a VW rail buggy that was mainly purple with yellow accent colors.  He got the buggy to ride in the woods.  My dad used to go ride at a place called “peevine”, which was about a two and a half hour drive from his house when he was still in high school.  There, he met several others who also had rail buggies, and they made a habit of meeting there to ride together almost every weekend, where they also camped out.  One of the guys there brought his daughter one weekend, and that girl was my mom.  That is how my parents met, riding rail buggies. My dad used to put my car seat in the passenger seat and take me riding with him on the weekends to several different places with my grandpap and their friends they had made over the years. I absolutely loved to go riding with my dad and we always had 4-wheelers and dirt bikes when my brother and I were growing up.  When I was about 10 or 11 years old, my dad sold his buggy because he did not have the time to go riding anymore.  Many of the guys that rode with my dad for years all sold their buggies, too.  When I was about 17 years old, I started posting pictures of my dad’s old buggy on social media in hopes that I could find it and buy it back.  I tried for about a year, realizing that several years had passed since he sold it and the chances were slim, so I started looking for my own. I got a good job over the summer and knew exactly what I wanted to buy with the money I was saving, a rail buggy.  I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t find my dad’s original buggy, but I hoped I could find my own that would still mean a lot to me.  I knew I wanted one that would be street legal and not to use it for the woods like my dad had used his.  I finally found one that was reasonably priced, and so my dad and I went to look at it.  When we arrived, my dad was speechless.  The rail buggy was purple with a yellow accent color.  It was not my dad’s buggy, but it was weird how things turned out.  I did not quite have all of the money to buy it at that time, but we told the guy the story of how my parents met riding buggies and now I’m 20 years old and want to purchase my own buggy.  He was touched by the story and told me he would except payments no matter how long it took, but he wanted me to have this buggy.  To this day, the man I bought the buggy off of is a family friend who we talk to often.  Now that I have my buggy, which is street legal, it brings back good memories to my family.  This is the story of why a girl my age that could get anything she wanted with $4,000, decided on a 1967 VW rail buggy. 

My mom and I in my Dads Rail Buggy

My Dad and I in my Rail Buggy

My Friends are my Family

My friends are my family, and they mean the world to me.  Only a few people will ever be as lucky as I am to have two people who care about me and are there for me.  Sarah and Hilary will always stay close to my heart, no matter where life takes us.  We have been friends since Junior High School, when we met playing volleyball.  Even though they were both a grade above me, we were inseparable.  When they graduated in 2012, I was worried that I might lose touch with them.  Nope, not at all.  I talked to them both almost every day.  Hilary attended Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and Sarah chose Muskingum University, while I was finishing my last year in high school.  Halfway through our first year apart, we realized how much we missed each other.  Therefore, I applied for Muskingum, and Hilary transferred to Muskingum.  That summer, after we made it through our first year apart, we began planning our first semester at Muskingum University all together.  They are my support system, I can tell them anything and if I want an honest opinion, I am guaranteed to get one from them.  They have taught me to never be afraid to be myself and to never be afraid to be different.  They have given me the courage to push forward every day and keep a positive attitude even when I try and fight it.  We have had our fights, but nothing could be bad enough for us to stop being friends.   We have had some of the craziest adventures together.  One of my favorite things that we all enjoy doing together is getting lost on back roads playing loud music and just enjoying each other’s company.  Sarah and Hilary are finishing up their senior year at Muskingum and are about to go off and do great things.  I cannot wait to see where life takes them.  I cannot thank either of them enough for being there for me and making these years the best yet, and I hope to make a million more memories as we grow old and become old ladies, still flopping and insulting each other.  We may not be perfect, but we are perfect for each other.  The three of us have been through a lot together and I cannot imagine going through this crazy thing called life with anyone else by my side besides them. I love you guys.

We were a S'more for Halloween

When we were first Friends

Us Now

Life on the Water

Life on the water: when most of my summer consists of finding a new place to go kayaking. One of my favorite quotes is “Life Is Simple, Just Add Water!”  Growing up, my family has always visited Mohican Adventures and rented kayaks as a family, and this is where I learned to love kayaking.  My best friend and I decided to each get a kayak, and it is one of the greatest things I have ever purchased.  I could go out every day because it is one of the most relaxing things.  Being on the water, staying out watching the sun set, and not wanting to go in until the last possible minute is what kayaking is all about.  My friend and I try to go at least twice a week in the summer.  After my family saw the fun we were having going different places to kayak, my mom and my dad each got a kayak to go with us.  It’s a lot of fun to take new people out that have never been kayaking before.  Over the summer, I took several ladies that I worked with kayaking for the first time and it was funny to me because several of them worried that it was going to be hard.  Honestly, it is one of the easiest things to do.  Once you are in the kayak, you just glide through the water with no problem.  I have been kayaking for a few years now, but there are still so many places I want to go kayaking.  I like having my phone with me while kayaking so that I can capture the memories, and of course, the beautiful sunrises and sunsets, so I bought a waterproof pouch to protect my phone.  One of the craziest kayaking adventures I have ever been on is when my family and friends, twelve of us total, went to Alliance, Ohio to kayak at a place recommended by someone who was there a few years back.  This was one of the sketchiest places I have ever been to kayak, and I truly felt scared.  We got caught up on rocks, had to get out of our kayaks into disgusting water to cross over fallen trees, then to top off the trip, we got caught in a severe thunderstorm and had no idea where we were.  If I could give any advice to someone about relaxing and doing an activity to de-stress it would be to “buy a kayak and paddle on!”

Home for the Holidays

The holidays are a wonderful time of the year for my family.  A time when everyone tries their best to get along and enjoys each other’s company.  My family has been having Christmas Eve with all of my dad’s cousins since as long as I can remember.  In the past 3 years, there are 7 new members to the family, and there is still one unborn one.  Now that there are all these new kids in the family, my family has decided to have each Christmas Eve at our house and start a new tradition.  Over the past few years, my mom, dad, brother, and I have come up with non-traditional meals and activities to do with the family.  We started a thing where we decorate our tree with a different theme every year.  Two years ago we decorated it like the Grinch had his head stuck in the tree, and last year we decorated it like a snowman.  Now that there are so many new little cousins in the family, we make Christmas all about them and keeping it fun for them.  When I was their age we did all sorts of fun things.  This year my mom and I started a new tradition that we hope lasts for many, many years to come.  We created a special day that all of the kids come to our house and have lunch with us and we make crafts with them for them to give to their parents.  This is special because most children love the feeling of being able to give gifts to their parents.   Also this year our themed Christmas tree is a tree decorated to look like Mickey Mouse.  Last year we had a Christmas pajama-themed party, and every adults and child wore their pajamas.  This year will be an ugly sweater party, and everyone can either make or buy an ugly sweater.  The one with the best ugly sweater will win a prize.  Two years ago we played Christmas minute- to-win-it, which was a blast.  Not only do we do non-traditional activities but we have non-traditional food at our Christmas Eve party.  We had subs last year, and this year is soup and salad bar.  Every year we hope to have new and exciting activities for our Christmas Eve party.  My family loves to have fun and do different things for Christmas Eve, the best part is it’s a time for all of us to get together and make memories. 

Christmas Crafting with the Curfmans

Our Tree last year

What our tree will be this coming year