Things That Interest Me...

Lately I have been finding myself easily distracted. Sometimes I overwhelm myself. Sometimes I truly feel as though I can take on the world, and sometimes I actually feel as if I have done so. But, then sometimes I find myself juggling so many interests at once and trying to keep up with the life I am creating for myself. So, I decided to make a list of the things that interest me. Maybe this way I can cross a few off (or put them aside for now) and only focus on the ones that apply to my life right now or are do-able.

1) Education
2) Exercise
3) History
4) Volunteer Work
5) Hunting
6) Fishing
7) Learning everything I can about the outdoors
8) Music
9) Learning a foreign language
10) Planning trips and vacations I plan on taking
11) Movies
12) Beer (I enjoy trying every different type that I can!)
13) Being a good sister, friend, and daughter
14) Church
15) Cooking (really well, is the goal)
16) Having an "American Picker" type view of American History (dorky I know)
17) Design (interior and fashion)
18) Maintaining my own sense of style
19) Law (although, I have no plans of going to law school, should probably scratch this)
20) SPORTS, wayyyyyy too into sports.

A Blurred Memory

A child's memory can be a very funny thing. It can be almost eerily accurate in detail. Little children can picture or remember things that the adults around them can't remember twenty years later. Throughout my life I have always remembered little details about my great-great-grandmother's house, and my great-grandmother's house. Recently, I have been talking about them and my parents have said that they completely forgotten about these details or that they don't remember them at all. But, I am positive of these details.

However, a few years ago, I heard about a little trick that our mind plays on us. One of my teachers had to write a narrative in college and she was telling us about it. It consisted of a day where she had stayed home sick from school. Her father was a traveling salesman of some sort. She remembered driving in this pale green car that they had with him to a client's house. She explained in vivid detail the inside of the car, the client they visited, what he sold her, and the conversation the adult's had around her. When she asked her father to confirm the accuracy of these details, he told her that none of this had ever happened. Her mother and father both agreed that she had NEVER been to work with either one of them, especially a sales call with her father.

So it makes me think...are the details I remember about my grandmother's and their homes really real? As I got older, and heard stories about them, did I conjure up these images in my head to fit what everyone around me was saying? I still stand by my own reality, and my parents are sure of their facts. It is one of those things that maybe we'll never know if they've forgotten, because they were so used to their surroundings, or if I have completely made up these images.

The Biggest Lie I Ever Believed...

As a child, and still to this day, I pretty much believed anything and everything that my brother or parents told me. This has probably made me the gullible adult that I am today. At one point in my childhood my whole family was in on a story where I was made to believe I was from a family of cows and had been adopted. We would drive by stockyards on vacation and my family would all say, "Hey, Joy! Look! It's your family!" Or the ever famous joke in my family that I was missing my "family reunion" amongst the herd of cattle outside of my window. However, this pales in comparison to a story my family had me believing until I was about twelve. I knew better in my head. I knew that this story was impossible, but they were SO adamant  that it was true, for so long, I honestly believed them.

The story goes like this:

When I was a little baby, around the age of one, and I had began walking, my family was frantically searching the house for me. I had gotten away. My parents worst fears of losing their newly mobile baby had come true. They looked high and low. They looked under my bed, in my closet, in the kitchen cabinets. They called our next door neighbors, who unfortunately had not seen me. They were about to call the police to report me missing when low and behold, they saw me.

Wearing nothing but a diaper, I took off sprinting, my little legs carrying me as fast as they could. I was headed towards the house of the little old couple on the corner directly across from our house. Suddenly, I took a leap, and when I did, I sprang up in a super-hero like fashion, and jumped over their house. My parents ran across the street in amazement of their supernatural baby. I was sitting in the back yard playing with dirt when they approached me.

I know, I know...impossible. Stupid to believe this for eleven years, but I did. I conjured up images of little baby Joy jumping the house. I tried to imagine how this was possible. One scenario is that someone attached a jet pack to my back and sent me flying.

By the time I was going into middle school my family decided to spare me the humiliation of telling this tale to all of my new friends,  and broke down and admitted that I was not from a family of cows, and I hadn't jumped over my neighbor's house.

Friend's Weddings: Much More Than I Bargained For

Last week I was rather absent minded. My childhood best friend flew into town from New York City. She usually tries to make it home for major holiday's and big events. This visit definitely constituted a major event. On Saturday my best friend got married! So, as you can imagine, the hustle and bustle of being a part of a wedding was very time consuming! But, it also got me thinking...

None of my friends that close to me have gotten married yet, so it was definitely an eye opening experience. I watched my best friend walk down the isle, looking more beautiful than I have maybe ever seen anyone look, to her best friend and now husband! It was one of the most touching moments in my life to this point. It really got me thinking about what a special moment that was, and what it takes to get to that point in life.

Out of all of my friends, I am the uber-single one. Sometimes it bothers me when I see my friends with their boyfriends, husbands, or finace's. I see how in love and happy they are, and I think "WHY CAN'T I GET THAT?!" But, this wedding really made me think about finding the right one. My best friend did that when we were sophomores in high school, LUCKY! But, I don't ever want to be in a marriage or serious with someone unless I know it's right. So, for this realization I am blessed. I want to have that very special moment with the right person, not just because I want to get married!

I know this all sounds silly, but to a 23 year old girl, these thoughts can become obsessive! I no longer want to be the girl obsessing over my pseudo-groom, or pseudo-wedding, I am just living in the moment and trying to find what is right for me. :)

The Verdict Heard 'Round the World

I, as I am sure all of you were, was completely shocked yesterday when the verdict of the Casey Anthony trial came back! That poor little girl was done NO justice yesterday. The one person in the world who was supposed to take care of her no matter what, and who she should have felt safe with, did the unspeakable to her. Then, she got away with it!

I don't want to get into talking about all of the legalities of it or the justice system, because it just hurts my head. But, I will say this: How is it possible that she lied about killing her daughter, or having any knowledge of anything that happened to her, yet she is convicted of lying about knowing anything about what happened to Caylee?

Probably one of the sickest parts of the whole verdict yesterday is when EVERYONE in the courtroom and the COUNTRY knows she's guilty, and the prosecutors, and detectives are sitting there stunned, they panned the camera over to Casey and she was almost smirking as they were reading the not guilty verdicts relating to Caylee.

She might not get justice here on this earth but she will get justice when it comes time for her judgement day.

Today, I think I will reflect back on the past couple of days. First of all, Monday was my birthday and I turned twenty-three! This is so crazy to me! I have always very much enjoyed my birthdays, my age, and getting older. But, this one took me a little bit by surprise. Twenty-three seems really strange! It seems like just yesterday I was graduating high school and turning nineteen! I keep having to remind myself that even though I have not accomplished some of the things I wanted to accomplish, that I am back on track and my goals are in sight!

The birthday weekend was very good! On Friday my dad, brother and me went out for a very good steak dinner at Jimm's Steakhouse. If you haven't been, you should try it! The Classic Clubsteak is TO DIE FOR. Cooked to a perfect medium-pink perfection! It was a really good night, and I really enjoyed spending time with my dad and my brother!

The next day I took off for the lake with my best friends to spend time with some other good friends! We went out on the lake all day on Sunday and had so much fun. I saw so many people I knew and made some new friends, too!

Monday was my birthday and I was in for yet another steak dinner at my mom's. My step-dad cooked fillet's from Harter House on the Big Green Egg. Yum! Almost as good as Jimm's! It was the best night I have had in a long time. My brother, mom, step-dad, aunt, and best friend and me sat around the back porch talking, laughing, and eating amazing home cooked food! It was a great night!

Now, I'm back in the grind of school and the week, but I looked up and it's already Wednesday! I'm already ready for another weekend of fun and friends!

Know Your Audience Analysis

From reading through the posts to the "Know Your Audience" questions, I gathered a lot of information about my classmates. I really enjoyed reading through everyone's comments and understanding who it is that I am virtually classmates with, and sharing a lot about myself with! It is good to feel like I know all of you a little bit.

From everyone's posts I realized that we're all somewhat consumed with pop culture. I got this from the response to the question about if you could be stuck in a TV show for a month, and who would you trade places with? Most everyone answered with very popular, current, TV shows. And for the trading places question, most everyone answered with a famous celebrity, or someone who has made an impact on the American public in some way. I think having some touch with pop culture is a good thing. I think it gives us a chance to laugh, something to talk about, and an opportunity to realize that none of us really would want to be like that. Pop culture has a funny way of making you jealous, but being perfectly content with being a normal person at the same time!

I also realized that as a group, we all seem to be generally pretty good people. When asked the question of "what would you do with a million dollars?" most everyone answered that they would do very practical things, buy or pay off a house, invest, send our kids (or future kids) to college, and donate to charity. I know that not all of us are from around here, but it seems to be a very midwestern attitude of giving, being down to earth, a sense of community and caring for those around us.

We all seem to really care about our families and making ourselves better. Obviously, we're all in school trying to accomplish an ultimate goal of making ourselves better and more successful, and ultimately able to provide for those we love. 

I really enjoyed reading these posts and getting to know all of you!

Today I Was Thankful For...

Today, when I woke up the first thing I was thankful for are how wonderful my friends are. Friends are so easy to take for granted and sometimes I forget to just stop, and look around and realize how important they are in my life. They are always there for me, always pushing me to be better, do better, and give me the encouragement to do it. The best thing about all of my friends is that we never judge one another. We are always there to listen, lend an ear, and a word of advice, but we would never judge each other.

I was thankful that my best friend and her husband had the sweetest baby boy in the whole world. He has changed my life in so many ways. She was the first of all of our friends to get married or have a child and it  has changed us. He makes me realize every day how much bigger this life is than me. He constantly gives me joy and an appreciation for life.

Today I was also very thankful for my family. Monday is my birthday and they have planned something for me all weekend. I am so lucky to have a family that cares about me and my happiness so much. Tonight it was awesome to go have a nice meal and be able to sit down with my Dad and my brother and talk about anything and everything. I am so thankful for that.

I guess, what I am most thankful for today are the every day things. The normalities of life and the people that surround me. The things that are so familiar are the best things in life. I need to stop, look around, and take a minute every day to be thankful for these people who make my life so enjoyable. I only hope that I do the same for them.

My Dream Job

If I was given the opportunity to have any job that I wanted, I would choose to be a play by play commentator for the St. Louis Cardinals. For me, personally, I think that there would be no better job than getting to travel all over the country, and get paid to watch St. Louis Cardinals baseball.

There has always been something very sentimental to me about listening to a Cardinals game, especially on the radio. Some of my earliest memories begin with my mom and I sitting on the back porch listening to Mike Shannon and Jack Buck call the games. My mom used to tell me of the days when she would sit with her grandpa and listen to the baseball games every summer night. That is how she developed her love of baseball and, more specifically, the Cardinals. She passed this love down to my brother and I, and still to this day we watch almost every single game together.

There is nothing that I love more than to listen to or watch a Cardinals baseball game. So, if I could pick a job it would be to watch, and talk about the St. Louis Cardinals for six months out of the year. And, being in the locker room and getting to interview the players wouldn't be a bad gig, either!