Why the theme of this post, and why 8 things?
Because it's May 8th, which means it's my birthday! 26. It feels soooo old to me (I know it's not, but now I'm closer to 30 than to 20! 😓). Since my birthday is on the 8th, and because 26 facts are entirely too many, I thought I would share 8 things that you may not know about me already!
1 | My favorite place I've ever traveled is Instanbul, Turkey.
Just a week or so after my 15th birthday, I got to travel there (and elsewhere around Turkey and Greece) with my late grandmother, Beryl, my dad, and my cousin, Ray. It was astonishingly beautiful, and I will never forget the architecture and rich culture there. It would be a dream come true to return someday!
2 | My favorite treat meal is sushi paired with a glass (or 2!) of wine
And my favorite cheat meal is pizza or some really good nachos :)
3 | For most of my childhood and teenage years I wanted to be a dental hygienist.
Obviously, I ended up going in a very different direction with PR, but I do still think I would enjoy that field! I look back and laugh though because most kids hate the dentist, but I always loved going and was so interested in it!
4 | I played competitive golf growing up, and even won a few junior golf tournaments.
But then my love of dance kind of took over my time, and since age 15ish I just play for fun with Trey and my dad once in awhile.
5 | I never wanted to get married young, and didn't understand why people would want to do that.
But then I met Trey, and the rest was....history 😏 We walked down the aisle at 23!
Dress c/o Maude Boutique (still available here & here) | Similar Hats here & here
Photos by Brianna of Gingham and Glam
Photos by Brianna of Gingham and Glam
6 | My childhood nickname was Scout (and my dad still calls me this).
My dad gave me this nickname after Scout Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird." As a kid I was always full of questions, and eager to learn about things and help people.
7 | I once sold Carrie Underwood a pair of shoes.
In the summer of 2010 I worked at Aldo Shoes in Springfield, Missouri, and Carrie was in town for a concert. I didn't realize it was her for a couple of minutes and vividly remember thinking, "my gosh that girl looks like Carrie Underwood, but even prettier!" Then I figured out it was her and sold her a pair of shoes as a birthday gift for her mom! It's hard to believe, but she was even prettier in person (and was teeny tiny).
8 | I was homeschooled for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Yes, you definitely read that right! It's not something I share very often because the judgement and stereotyping is reallll, but my sister and I both had a great experience with it! We always get the comment, "but you're so....normal!" 😂 My mom started homeschooling me in kindergarten because the area we lived in at the time didn't have good public schools. It was supposed to be temporary, but I was thriving and she rolled my sister into it too. When we moved to Missouri I was in 4th grade, and we had the option to go to school each school year, but we always chose to continue with homeschooling. I know it's a pretty crazy concept but what we loved about it was that we had more flexibility to travel as a family (we got to go on longer trips at weird times of the year), we were able to learn at our own paces and personalize our experiences, and we were able to be involved in a lot of stuff (we danced, golfed, swam, played classical piano and violin, and did competitive Speech & Debate). We were also able to get a lot of dual credit through local community college classes, and took some online classes. I know one of the biggest concerns with homeschooling is that you aren't socialized, but we were always involved in so many different activities and had lots of friends through those and through church! My sister and I both did very well academically in college, and I was in a sorority, and she was on a D-2 national championship swim team for four years. I of course have to thank my parents for going above and beyond and giving us amazing experiences and for making sure we turned into confident, independent, and successful adults. Unfortunately there are some bad stereotypes for homeschooling (the super smart but socially awkward kids, the religious fanatics, or the people that are lazy and disenfranchised from school), and I've definitely met families that match all of those, but there are also a lot of us that really used it to our advantage and had good experiences with it. Trey and I do not plan to homeschool our kids, partly because we are both very career motivated and wouldn't want to give those up, but mostly because we both work for our local school district and love it. However, hopefully my homeschooling experience was interesting to learn about and opens some eyes to the fact that it shouldn't be met with judgment! In fact, many successful athletes, musicians, and actors were homeschooled (including Serena Williams, Ryan Gosling, and Taylor Swift :).
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I hope you enjoyed this post! I didn't even talk about the photos or my dress, but how amazing is this location?? I felt like I was on the California coast (I wish)!
If you ever have any questions for me or want me to do some sort of Q&A, please feel free to reach out to me via email or any of my channels! As for my birthday, we don't have any special plans today because I have a work day fulllll of meetings, but we're heading to Kansas City this weekend to see some friends and go to a concert, so I'm planning to celebrate then!
Have a great week, and thank you to all of you (as always) for supporting my little space on the internet, and for encouraging me daily and pushing me to be my best! xoxo
My dad gave me this nickname after Scout Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird." As a kid I was always full of questions, and eager to learn about things and help people.
7 | I once sold Carrie Underwood a pair of shoes.
In the summer of 2010 I worked at Aldo Shoes in Springfield, Missouri, and Carrie was in town for a concert. I didn't realize it was her for a couple of minutes and vividly remember thinking, "my gosh that girl looks like Carrie Underwood, but even prettier!" Then I figured out it was her and sold her a pair of shoes as a birthday gift for her mom! It's hard to believe, but she was even prettier in person (and was teeny tiny).
8 | I was homeschooled for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Yes, you definitely read that right! It's not something I share very often because the judgement and stereotyping is reallll, but my sister and I both had a great experience with it! We always get the comment, "but you're so....normal!" 😂 My mom started homeschooling me in kindergarten because the area we lived in at the time didn't have good public schools. It was supposed to be temporary, but I was thriving and she rolled my sister into it too. When we moved to Missouri I was in 4th grade, and we had the option to go to school each school year, but we always chose to continue with homeschooling. I know it's a pretty crazy concept but what we loved about it was that we had more flexibility to travel as a family (we got to go on longer trips at weird times of the year), we were able to learn at our own paces and personalize our experiences, and we were able to be involved in a lot of stuff (we danced, golfed, swam, played classical piano and violin, and did competitive Speech & Debate). We were also able to get a lot of dual credit through local community college classes, and took some online classes. I know one of the biggest concerns with homeschooling is that you aren't socialized, but we were always involved in so many different activities and had lots of friends through those and through church! My sister and I both did very well academically in college, and I was in a sorority, and she was on a D-2 national championship swim team for four years. I of course have to thank my parents for going above and beyond and giving us amazing experiences and for making sure we turned into confident, independent, and successful adults. Unfortunately there are some bad stereotypes for homeschooling (the super smart but socially awkward kids, the religious fanatics, or the people that are lazy and disenfranchised from school), and I've definitely met families that match all of those, but there are also a lot of us that really used it to our advantage and had good experiences with it. Trey and I do not plan to homeschool our kids, partly because we are both very career motivated and wouldn't want to give those up, but mostly because we both work for our local school district and love it. However, hopefully my homeschooling experience was interesting to learn about and opens some eyes to the fact that it shouldn't be met with judgment! In fact, many successful athletes, musicians, and actors were homeschooled (including Serena Williams, Ryan Gosling, and Taylor Swift :).
------------
I hope you enjoyed this post! I didn't even talk about the photos or my dress, but how amazing is this location?? I felt like I was on the California coast (I wish)!
If you ever have any questions for me or want me to do some sort of Q&A, please feel free to reach out to me via email or any of my channels! As for my birthday, we don't have any special plans today because I have a work day fulllll of meetings, but we're heading to Kansas City this weekend to see some friends and go to a concert, so I'm planning to celebrate then!
Have a great week, and thank you to all of you (as always) for supporting my little space on the internet, and for encouraging me daily and pushing me to be my best! xoxo
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xo, Jacy