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That’s what I get.  I always get. I mean who is she, what does she do?  I’m the quiet one here, the one who would rather work behind the scenes for someone and really relishes when she sees someone happy because they were successful at something.  I think that’s always how I’ve been, ever since a little girl.  I liked to work hard because I then found something rewarding when a goal was reached.  So I guess that brings us to the beginning of who I am and what made me become who I was.

I had the typical family growing up.  We did our thing, went to school & church.  My parents owned their own company, and it did get difficult for my parents and life was hard at times.  We struggled to make ends meet, but my parents never  let us kids feel the wrath or struggles.  We always had things provided for us, never excess but we had the necessities.  But somehow the economy turned and business started pouring in when I was in high school.  Business grew and exploded and $ was abundant, but now as the economy has slowed once again so has business for my parents.

Even though I had a job in high school middle school.  Granted, I was just doing babysitting part time at my church, it was still a job.  We were always taught the value of money and if you work you are then able to get things you want.  Its the whole mentality of work hard and then get paid.  I have always worked in some capacity since then.

Anyway, high school came and I was successful and what not.  I left high school early to go to college.  I hated high school, the fakeness & the drama, it wasn’t me.  I was the person that stayed away from all of that.  I took people for what they were even if it wasn’t what people liked.  I didn’t judge, I was just me.

I knew from a very early age who I was and what I wanted to be.  I wanted to work with kids.  At first I wanted to be a midwife, but then I thought about it and I didn’t want to have to have the on call hours and be away from my future family.  So I went ahead to the University of South Florida and got my BS in Elementary Education.  But before I went to USF I met my husband…

Now is a good spot to talk about my DH.  One of my jobs in high school was working at Limited Too.  I loved it.  I loved working retail, the business, the craziness, and everything about it.  Just out of high school I met my husband.  I was shopping and he just so happened to be the store manager of the store I was in.  Needless to say he came down to the Limited Too where I was working and asked me out.  Now here we are together 9 years later.  We had a great relationship and have really just blossomed.  Jamie and I were married when I was 21.  I got a lot of grief for that, people seriously thinking I was too young- ha, they are soooooo wrong on that one.  At that age I had already graduated from college and I had my first teaching job set up for the fall.

When we got married we all got the question about “when we were going to have kids.”  Jamie does have a son, Gabriel, from a previous relationship that we are so thankful for and we hope that we can build a great relationship with.  But we also knew we wanted to wait a year before we started trying for our own kids.  When we did start trying, we were lucky enough to get pregnant right away, so for the second year I taught I was pregnant with Reagan my oldest daughter.  After Reagan was born, my husband had the opportunity to become a district manager of Pac Sun, only problems was that the opening they had was in Georgia.  From the prior DM’s they said they were up there less than a year.  I didn’t want to move to GA, I didn’t want to leave my family or move away, especially after having a baby.  So we made the decision for Jamie to move to GA and come home on the weekends.  It was so hard when we were doing that.  Jamie ended up being away for 1.5, until I was about 7 months pregnant with Kaylee.  Jamie moved back home and Kaylee was born.  And here we are and Kaylee is 16.5 months old and a joy in my life.

We bought our first house back in April and couldn’t be happier.  Our life is going perfectly.  Its everything I imagined and more.  Jamie is the district manager for Pac Sun in the Tampa Area, I’m working for Momdot and LOVING every minute of it.  If I’m not on Momdot, I am working as a birth assistant at the local free standing birth center (more to come on that) or I’m at our church.  I love my husband, family, kids, and of course my friends!  I couldn’t be happier, although if I won the lotto I think I’d be pretty darn happy, LOL.

That’s me in a nutshell, a large nutshell.  I’m an open book and really what you see with me is what you get

Trisha’s Interview of Me:

1. one word to describe your personality: sincere

2. what legacy do you want to leave your kids: I want my kids to realize that integrity makes a person, that they can do whatever they want in their life but that they have to be happy and do what makes them happy.

3. what is one thing in college that you regret? honestly, i have no regrets from college.  i was a good kid and never did anything wrong at all- I swear!

4. when was the last time you embarrassed yourself? I haven’t embarrassed myself too much lately.  But the biggest thing I do is I leave my check card at home a lot.  I mean more than the normal person, and I always tend to be slightly scattered when I’m really not.

5. how did you meet your DH: see above, I told our love story there

6. how did you meet trisha: I have talked to Trisha a few times on the phone, but I have never met her in person (but this WILL happen soon!).  I met Trisha online a few years ago,……actually it was the summer right before I got pregnant with Kaylee.  I was invited to be on a forum with her and a few other ladies and I was readily accepted.  I really relied on the girls there because Jamie was still in Georgia and I didn’t have any ‘close’ friends. I look forward to the day when I can meet Trisha in person, because I appreciate her honesty and bluntness and the fact that she doesn’t sugarcoat things or change the person she is. Probably at Disney this year!

7. one thing that surprises you about having kids: that I never knew how much I would go to bat for my kids.  How much I would have to fight to have my girls in a good spot health wise and how much I would want them around good people.

8. do you have close friends? I have a couple of really close friends that I can depend on and call friends.  We may not get to talk everday but I know that they truly care about me and my feelings and that means so much more to me than anything.

9. your top 3 fav websites: Momdot, I like to use Twitter (I’m MommyAlicia, I have a few faithful followers and would love more!), Paypal (did you know that there is a TON of stuff you can get and buy through Paypal? I’m hooked!)

10.  what you want for Christmas: I want to be happy with my family & friends.  I want my girls to be so surprised on Christmas morning when they see their gifts under the tree.  But, if I am thinking of myself I want a gift certificate to get some books from Barnes and Nobles (there’s a new mall opening next week by my house & there is a B & N), and of course I’ll always take a Starbucks GC, or a GC to Target.  I do need clothes though…

~Alicia

To read about Bridgette, go HERE

To read about Trisha, Go HERE

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