Get to Know Me Through Profile Pictures

Last night I was looking through some old posts and thinking about some new ones and I realized I never talk about myself. Except for the one "Get to Know Me" post I did a couple of months ago, I haven't really divulged too much information about myself. My blog is really more about my son and documenting our journey together, but I understand that people don't want to follow a blog if they know nothing about the person writing it. You guys know tons about my son, but really nothing about me. Lately, I have been becoming really consumed in my role as a mother and have really lost who I am. It doesn't help that I live in a place where I don't know anyone; I don't have anyone to be myself around, reminisce with, laugh at, or just generally enjoy life with. I miss my people terribly. Boo Hoo, right?!? Well anywho, I am going to make an effort to start writing more about myself: thoughts, feelings, experiences, etc. on MY blog. So here is my start: getting to know me through my personal Facebook profile pictures. 

This is my very first profile picture on Facebook. I started my Facebook account my junior year of college in 2006. This pretty much sums up my personality perfectly. I can't remember why, but I thought it would be funny to get in the trunk of my friend's car and stick my head out of the arm rest hole in the back seat. I think we were going through a drive-thru at the time. I probably stayed in there for a while too; anything to be different. 

One of the best parts of my life: my mother. I have always been a big family person. I have had strong connections to my parents for as long as I can remember. At 28 years old, I still don't do anything without asking my mother first. I never make any big decisions without her input and she knows the most about me. She has experienced everything with me and now that I am a mom myself, I realize how much she has done for me. All the sacrifices, unconditional love, quality time, and support have not gone unnoticed or appreciated. 
Left: Dumb and Dumber scooter ride :)
Right: Us at a wedding

My grandma used to live in South Carolina, so we vacationed there many times. I am a Cancer so I'm a water person by nature. I could spend hours and hours at the beach; no other place in the world is more relaxing to me. Life just seems to all fall away when I am sitting in front of the ocean. Nothing else matters when I'm laying in the sun, with my feet in the sand, listening to the waves crash. As young as I can remember, I knew I had a special connection to water. I'm not particularly a fan of lakes or rivers, I really am just all about the ocean. When I lived in Florida for a year, I went to the beach as much as possible. It is truly therapeutic for me. I am hoping to make our way to the ocean soon, as we are only about an hour and a half away from it.

Confession: I am weird. Like do-silly-things-because-I am-bored kind of weird. As evidenced in the first picture above, as well as these below. 
Left: If you know anything about me, you have to know that I am obsessed with the yellow peanut M&M. I always say that life would be so much better if characters like him were real. He is the most lovable, cuddly, and dopey big ole guy ever. He is just so naive and cute. How could you ever be upset if you had this guy following you around, making goofy jokes and cuddling on you! Even Myles knows about him! We have random yellow peanut M&M merchandise around our house and whenever Myles sees him, he always does this thing with his hands like he's eating and says "NOMMY, NOMMY". 
This picture was taken in Vegas at the M&M store. Vegas was the first big vacation Mark and I went on (December 2008). We went to get out of the Illinois winter, and of course, it snowed for the first time in like 5 years when we where there!
Right: I used to have this awesome papasan chair. I loved that thing, even though it was actually quite difficult to get comfortable in. I'm guessing that's why they aren't too popular anymore. Looks fun, but not exactly practical. Well one day when I was trying to get out of it, I fell over. The seat came off with me and landed on top of me. After I stopped hysterically laughing, I realized, "hey, this must be what a turtle feels like!" So my boyfriend at the time figured it was a good Kodak moment and then I decided it was profile picture worthy!

This is my mother's father, one of my most favorite men! I could go on and on about how connected I have always felt to this man and how much love we shared. When my parents first got divorced, we lived with my grandparents for a while. My grandpa always made me feel really special. I pretended I was a pop star named Tina and he would introduce me on his microphone and then I would perform for him. My grandma would do my hair for school and make me the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever. They eventually moved to Arkansas, but I always visited them in the summer time. It's hard to explain the connection I have always felt with them. Even to this day (18 years since she passed away), I still feel my grandma with me all the time. I know we would have stayed really close and she would have loved to meet Myles. I am lucky to have had more time to spend with my grandpa before he passed, but I do still miss him dearly as well. He could always make you laugh with his (mostly inappropriate) jokes and loved to sing good old country classics. I am so grateful for their love and influence in my life.

I moved to Florida after I graduated from college because I didn't want to stick around the Midwest. We had an opportunity to rent a house for cheap and it all just fell into place. I was ready to experience what life had to offer elsewhere. Once we moved, I started the process of transferring my teaching certificate so that I could start applying for jobs there. In the meantime, I applied for some retail jobs. I accepted a job at Victoria Secret an hour after I had an interview at Forever 21. I started both jobs on Black Friday! As time went on, I began working a lot at both jobs. I worked on the sales floor at VS and I hated it. I am not a sales person and dealing with teenage, spoiled girls is definitely not my forte. I had made my  decision to quit, but was just procrastinating because I don't like confrontations. Well procrastination actually worked in my favor this time because before I got a chance to quit, I was asked to work in the backroom on processing shipment. It only took one shift for me to realize that I loved it. It turned out to be the perfect job for me and I was so happy I didn't quit. The best part of changing positions was not the work though, it was finding my Florida besties. It took me many, many months to find my wolf-pack in Florida, but it was totally worth it. I found 3 of the greatest friends that have ever existed; completely fun and genuinely good people. I love and miss them dearly!
Left: Karen and I making sure we were prepared for an iceberg attack on our cruise. 
Right: Julia 'painting' my hair. I do not recommend this approach for anyone. It was the first time I tried it (out of complete boredom) and all I know is NEVER again. It hurt so bad.. why anyone does this willingly I will never know.

Left: All of us on fancy dinner night on our cruise. We were celebrating Karen turning the big 3-0! This was hands down the best vacation of my life. I don't get to see these girls that often anymore, so I cherish the time we spend together and this was a trip I will never forget! Can't wait for the next one!
Right: Angela's 21st birthday. This was right before I moved. If you ask them, I think this was the night that I told them I was moving back to Illinois. This picture is happily sitting on my nightstand. Sure hope to see these beautiful faces again soon.

And lastly, a couple of just me.
Left: I absolutely love Chicago. Where I grew up in Illinois is about 90 northwest of Chicago, so I was lucky enough to visit often. No matter how many times I have been there, I still get a giddy feeling every time I start to see the skyline. I love the hustle and bustle of the city coupled with the most amazing architecture. You can always find something fun and adventurous to do in the city and it never gets old. Ever since I can remember, I have loved the building in the picture that I am pointing at. It is really unique and just a fun piece of architecture. Because of that, this is one of my favorite pictures of myself. 
Right: This is just a picture from a random night. Nothing special, but I looked like I was actually happy. I love pictures, but I feel like I never take good ones, so I don't have many of just myself. This was one of the rare times my profile picture has been one of just myself.

What do your profile pictures say about you? Do you have many pictures of just yourself?