Virginia

Virginia. I've been to Virginia several times this year. My highlight of Virginia is visiting my Auntie Ericka and my cousins Thaddeus, Emily and Allison. I always love visiting the family. :-) Words cannot describe my visits with these kids.

Emily is a true mini me. She has had purple and pink hair already-- and she's only 9. Character does not even begin to describe this little fire cracker! I remember back in Italy when I used to babysit her and dress her so that we were wearing matching outfits. Not much has changed since then....but no one expected anything to change.

Allison is a cute 3 year old with an agenda of her own. She's always got something up her sleeve. She's animated, and cute. The other day, I went to visit and she showed me her new faces. It was like she was a human Mr. Potatoe Head! She "changed" her eyes while keeping her mouth the same... she also changed her head a few times. It was funny. She knows how to put on a show!

Thaddeus. I don't get to see him anymore. He moved back to his dad's house, but we always had long discussions on music, girls, and school. Honestly, there was more talk about school than anything else. He's a cool kid.

I had an excessive amount of photos to choose from, but this one spoke to me. It shows our personalities perfectly. I love it.

Maryland

Maryland is actually where I currently live. It counts as me being there: so here's my post on Maryland. :-) There are so many things that I could say about this photo. A lot of things started to go right for me (finally) this year. The significance of this photo was that two of my best friends were visiting me at the same time. T.J. (far left) rented a room at my house while he did the co-op program at the company my mom works for. We became friends, and the rest is history! Marie (middle left), is my best friend from Illinois. We became great friends in high school after she discovered that we were wearing the same pants in Spanish 3. The great thing? I didn't think she was weird... for too long. ;-) Then me... there's not much to say about me. The far right is Parker. Parker is my best friend from Italy. I've known the dude since I was in the 7th grade. It had been 5 years since I'd seen Parker when he finally visted me. Parker is one of the coolest people I know. If you have a sprint phone with T.V., click Sprint Exclusive Entertainment, SEE TEEN, Gossip, gossip, gossip... and check Parker out on the red carpet and all of that jazz. :-)

The Journey; Illinois

On January 1st, 2009 I decided that I was going to visit all 50 states in the United States of America by the time i turned 25. What's my reason? A few things made me want to do this: 1) it sounds pretty cool, 2) I've been all over Europe, and not all over the USA, and 3) I miss my friends. It's an excuse to see everyone :-) I'm going to post a few photos from each trip that mean something to me. :-) So here's where I began. The state I was in on January 1st, 2009: Illinois.

My first photo is my nephew and I. What's significant about this photo is that it was my first time seeing Landon ever. Family & friends are very important to me, so it was a great day for me-- meeting my first nephew. :-)