Me

I'm Alexandra (Ally, Ally-cat, Tbone, etc.). I was born in a little town in Indiana, consisting of about ten thousand people the last time I checked. Through various circumstances, I've come to abide in Hampton Roads Virginia, or as my great grandfather so gracefully puts it, "swampland." Personally, I think he's right and after sitting through handfuls of hurricanes and hearing about the outerbanks getting wiped out every time the wind blows, I always have to wonder why the settlers didn't just keep moving inland, but that's a discussion for another post. I live with my mom, step dad, two brothers, sister, and dog (Dad lives in Indi with his family). My mom is hilariously amazing. We have so much fun and she's smart, helpful, and caring. She seriously loves to clean way too much. I tell her it's weird, but at least our house isn't dirty. My step dad is funny and knows so much. You could ask him nearly anything and he could probably keep a conversation going with you for a while, which can be awesome, unless you're waiting on him while he's talking to someone, then it isn't so awesome haha. My siblings are all younger than me. They can get on my nerves sometimes, but I love them to death and, not meaning to brag, but they are cute if I do say so myself. My oldest younger brother, let's call him Thing#1 (to make it easier and also to spare their names on the internet), thinks I am the least fun person in the universe. Let's just say we get on each other's nerves often, but we can have a good time if we try. My other brother, Thing#2, is really entertaining and has Autism (I'm sure there will eventually be a related post). My sister, Thing#3, is adorable and funny. She is constantly saying something hilarious that my parents and I laugh about. 
I was homeschooled. Although I don't understand how my poor mom made it through educating me, I'm grateful and I loved it. Now, I'm attending a local community college and just finishing up my second semester. Honestly, even though it can be ridiculous at times, I love college (even though I'm currently sitting amongst a pile of books and papers). I started driving about three months ago, which has been freeing and horrifying for my family and I at the same time. I can be really clueless at times, but I laugh at my own sillyness. For instance, it took me two months to figure out not only that I had windshield wiper fluid but also how to use it. My friends laughed, but it's not like anyone told me how and I had no reason to figure it out really (or, at least, I'm using that as my excuse). I hadn't even thought about it. Moving on, I'm a liberal arts major, but I'm planning on going on to study English and eventually Library Science. At least, that's the plan at this point, but you know how that can be.
I'm a photographer. Everything feels better with a camera in my hands. I'm not generally as adventurous as some people, but, for a picture, I can be kind of reckless (generally standing in the middle of roads). I play guitar and sing, neither of which I do very well, but I enjoy music. I love the way the right song can sum up exactly how you feel in that moment. It's kind of my outlet when I just need to breath. I'm addicted to Pinterest, Starbucks, Instagram, texting, sweet tea, and Netflix/Hulu. New Girl is my current favorite tv show, hands down. My favorite recent movie is Pitch Perfect. I've literally seen it probably 7 times now ("I'm horizontal running!"). My friends and I stay entertained by texting quotes from that movie back and forth to each other (yes, we don't have enough to do obviously). On break from school, I read all the time. Jane Austen is my favorite, of course. Can you blame me? My best friend and I have silly sleepovers where we do crazy makeup and make videos of us pretending to be superheros all around the house. I love sweatpants and I have to will myself not to wear them all the time. I generally confine my sweatpants to the house, just so I don't get any lazier. I have a lot of words that I just simply don't like, to be honest they're mostly words with sexual connotations (fornication is one, for instance). Ketchup makes almost all food better, except hot dogs. Hot dogs freak me out (so do ostriches). In fact, my parents tried to chase me around the house with them last week. Yes, apparently that is how they keep themselves entertained. I brake for birds. I save turtles and have been yelled at over a loud-horn by the police for doing so. I lose my phone or the remote once every 5 minutes minimum. All my mom ever hears is, "Mom, where's my phone?" She should start actually hiding it. Wait, maybe she does. New paranoia kicking in. I'm really protective of my family and friends. I love cute old people and I may or may not have taken a picture of one in a grocery store parking lot one day. I should probably keep that to myself... God is my rock, when everything falls apart He holds me together. I hate conflicts with other people. I'm impatient and insecure. I'm so imperfect and I'll admit that. I'm open about myself and my struggles if you just ask. I love the country. I can get overwhelmed by stress and when that happens I go on long walks with Pandora on just to clear my head.
This blog is in the works at this point and I'm still working on some ideas, but I thought maybe you could use a little (or not so little) blurb about me. Honestly, I'm pretty simple.

5 days...

It’s hard to believe that two years ago I was taking this picture for this beautiful young lady. Smart, confident, gorgeous, with an overflowing love for Christ as her king, she has made me smile ever since I met her. When I took this picture, we weren’t nearly as close as we are now. Currently, we are five days away from her wedding, of which she has bestowed the honor upon me to be the photographer. She has been one of the calmest, most collected, and charming brides I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing while in the midst of planning her wedding in a 3 month span. Although she jumped many hurdles in the process, I have yet to hear one complaint and I can only pray that I’m as patient as her when my wedding someday approaches. I’m going to sincerely miss this girl when she moves away with her new hubby, but I’m praying for the best for their future. So here’s to Caitlin! (and I supposed Joe too…) 

Revamping, life, blog, and heart...

Where have I been? Not that I have any followers or anything, but I have been on a kind of sabbatical just thinking over my motives behind and goals for this blog. I noticed as I read through some posts, that I'd made them all especially "put-together" and brag-y, if that makes any sense. It was kind of like I had everything together and all the answers to everything. However, that is not the case and I've realized the pride behind that implication. I don't always get stellar grades, don't spend the time I should studying, take too many Pinterest break, and very commonly have to will myself not to just wear sweatpants to class all the time, and that's just a few things on the list. I've seen the preppy, college girls with their amazing lives plastered all over blogs with spectacular (and I'm guessing very time consuming) posts and pictures and that's not what I want this to be about. I want to be real about my life and, if I'm not, I give you, as my friends, family or kind readers, permission to point that out to me. Now, let's get on with this!

YOLO

I'd like to believe, and I think that I have reason to, that man kind has tried always tried to justify their behaviors, whether wrong altogether or simply wrong in motive. Although many of us know otherwise, many of us would like to think that we have a good reason to act the way we do. I think we'd all love to justify what we do to allow us to think that the bad things we do really aren't that bad at all. We'd like to think that our selfish actions, cruelty, vanity, immaturity, and irresponsibility are "okay" because such and such did this to us or we grew up this way or we've never had this or that.
YOLO, you only live once, is the newest, most popular excuse among teens and young adults for what they do with their lives. It's alright to get drunk, have sex, do drugs, and other self-centered, inconsiderate things because, well, you only live once so apparently you might as well just do whatever. I'm not exactly sure what the person who came up with the term intended, but I'd prefer to assume that it has been largely misconstrued. Instead of using it to party, we should be using it to show love and kindness. I mean, we only live once, right? We should give the $5 to the homeless man on the street. We should help the old lady in the grocery store who is trying to reach that can of green beans. We should hold the door for strangers. We should be showing Jesus' kindness throughout everyday life, in big and small ways, because this is the only life we have.