20 Things About Myself at 23 (Part II)

6. I love to read and I'm sure many people know this from the two blogger books swaps that I've hosted in the past.  I have loved to read every since I was a little kid.  At a time when there were probably few opportunities for my parents to go out and buy things or pay for activities, the library was free entertainment.  I don't think I ever realized that as a kid, but I did know that I loved the adventures that I read in books and getting completely soaked into a story and its characters.  That love continued on as I grew older and went to student competitions, like Battle of the Books and the English Writing Festival.  Although it was slightly dampened by required reading, some of those high school and college classes introduced me to new favorite books.  I'm sure that my fellow book lovers would also like to know that our next blogger book swap will be in November with one of my great friends, Nicole :)

7. I firmly believe that developing a relationship with Christ is a journey and one that people need to go on at their own time and rate.  Although I post spiritual pictures/text on my blog and Instagram, that doesn't mean that I don't respect your needs and concerns.  For me, sometimes it's hard to identify as a Christian, in fact I still don't.  There are still so many negative connotations that go along with being a Christian, none of which I support.  I'm a follower of Christ but there are a ton of Christians that I don't necessarily like (ahem, Fox News).  I like Jesus and what he stood for and I'm doing my best to follow in his name and to be a better person.  As a follower of Christ, I think there are things that he lived for and taught that still help the world today.

8. One day when I'm a mom, I totally think I'm going to be a hipster mom.  I can totally picture myself with a pumpkin spice latte in one hand, Etsy shop diaper bag, and a little baby boy who could be a mini GQ model. I'm excited to plan birthday parties, trips to Disney World, and take a stab at sewing clothes (not that I don't do these things already). I'm excited for the opportunity and privilege to hopefully become a mom one day. I talk about it enough on my blog but I'm really excited to have kids with Ryan.

9. My dream job would be to be paid to craft and design. I would love to scrapbook, design birthday parties, or create DIY tutorials as my main source of income. I swoon at the thought of a crafting chain, like Michael's or Hobby Lobby, sending me free product to create a tutorial for them. If I could blog all day about crafting and DIY or really get my blog going, that would be amazing.

10. I think it's incredibly important to pay attention to your audience. This is kind of a broad idea, but I believe it's important to understand your privileges and what you bring to the table. My perspective and life experiences will most likely be different than the people I talk to through my blog. I try to respect that and understand that people might get it and sometimes they might not. When I first wrote about the difficulties of a young marriage, I got some backlash. But then I realized that the audience I was talking to is very diverse. One comment I received was that marriage for her was easy. All I kept thinking of was that's awesome, but my experience has been otherwise. In looking more closely at the situation, we have two very different lives. Not to get into too much detail, but at 23 (and Ryan being 22) we are very different financially than let's say a couple in their 30's who have been in their careers for some time. Whereas some people would be done with college at Ryan's age, he's just starting and that's because of his service to the military. I would also say that our experiences in the military have also fashioned a different outlook on live than other people may have. Our experiences help fashion our outlook and it's important to keep that in mind.

Be sure to look out for Part III!

If you liked this post, share it with others! If you feel particularly moved by it, leave a comment because I love feedback and discussion. Social media links are provided below and thanks for reading!