All About me

 All About Tricia

So I'm a 23 year old girl (woman?) from Maine. When describing myself I have a hard time putting myself into one box and defining myself with just one part of my life so I think I'll do it in a list.

The Basics

I was born in Maine, raised in Maine, live in Maine, and hope to continue to do so for quite some time. Yes we have running water, yes we have the internet, and no I didn't marry my cousin.
I'm 23, but do not feel like it. (If someone could let me in on when you start feeling like an adult that would be great.)
Because I'm a young 20 something and have a career, a husband,  and am not living with my parents people from the outside may think I have my act together. While partially true, (the only drug addiction I suffer from is caffeine and I am capable of speaking in coherent sentences in most social situations) I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I'm shaping up to be a remotely model citizen and adult.  I still feel like I'm like a 17 year old girl who refuses to do the dishes,  would rather go shopping than make my car payment, and procrastinates on homework. (Except this time I'm the one grading it.)
I try to be an optimist, stay open to new opportunities, and make changes, whether it's myself or things around me. I know my best look is a smile so I try to keep it real and positive at the same time.

I'm a Wife

Being sassy in my wedding dress because I could.

Dave and I at our Rehearsal Dinner

Now I know what you're thinking, "Gahh another young woman who got married way too young! What could she be thinking? She needs to go out and make mistakes, discover herself, get her career off the ground, travel and explore alone!"
If these words just went through your mind, there are some things I'd like to share with you.
1. I did make mistakes, it was called FRESHMAN YEAR OF COLLEGE, oh and the three years after that. Yes I dated Dave for most of that time, but he let me go make my mistakes and would brush me off and help me up the next day.
2. No I haven't completely discovered and figured out who I am. But last time I checked neither has the last 30 year old I ran into. I would like to think of myself as a work in progress ALWAYS. If I am changing and discovering for the better, then I am happy to not be done. What better way to discover yourself than with someone else who has promised to be there the rest of your life as a sounding board and support system.
3. I have a career. You will hear about it soon. It is off of the ground. In fact I'm super happy with it. Like discovering myself, I will never be "done" launching it. I will have to work hard to be the best I can be as long as I am in the game. And I can tell you that I would not be as successful as I am now, if I did not have Dave supporting and cleaning up after me. He is always asking me about my day, seeing if there is anything he can do, and ready with a foot massage when I need it.
Did I mention that when I have too much grading (90% of the time) he cooks, cleans, does dishes, and smiles the whole time while listening to gangster rap? Yeah, jackpot.
4. Telling someone to travel alone is the least safe advice I've ever heard.
More about Dave:
We met my Freshman year of college at UMaine. He supported me in whatever I did from day one from changing my major, going to every single Rugby game, and helping me whenever he could. He is a year older than I and went to school to hopefully work somewhere in conservation or environmental management of some sort. As he waits out the lack of environmentally geared jobs in Maine, (suprise right?) he is an Educational Technician in a behavior classroom. (PATIENCE is a virtue this man has mastered. When not with the dog and I, he can be found on hiking to the top of a mountain, rock climbing, or watching a video of one of the aforementioned activities.
While he does sound perfect, unfortunately he is a man so biologically he is bound to have some faults. And though we are newlyweds and are still figuring things out, I'm glad I'm doing it with him. :)

I Have a Dog

Bruin

Bruin is 35 pounds if pure love and loyalty. When Dave finished school and moved in with me we knew we had to get a dog. We rescued him from the south Via Lucky Pup Rescue. We had no idea how big he would get, we were hoping for a big dog, but we got a medium sized bundle of love.(Which ended up being best since we live in an apartment that is medium dog sized.
If you want to go hiking, Bruin is sprinting in front of you. If you want to sit around and be a couch potato, this guy cuddles in in the best spot and watches with you. We've considered selling him off to the circus because his agility is incredible, and he is sometimes is so human like it is freaky. I promise you I will post often because this dog is ridiculous.

I am a Teacher

Earlier I mentioned my career, I teach middle school. This is a huge part of who I am because it just simply takes up so much of my time. The work is NEVER done, especially when you teach language arts. With that said, I would not change what I do for anything. I can't imagine being in any other field of work, this one just feels right. It is exhausting, rewarding, hilarious, stressful, fun, sometimes hard, sometimes easy, and always worth it. Though I have to be careful what I share because I have to protect my students' privacy and rights, I'm sure little anecdotal tales will seep in here and there because it is such a part of what makes me who I am, my life, and how I pursue my happiness.

I Love My Family

Understand why yet?

I come from a family of six. 2 Parents, 4 girls, 3 bedrooms total in the house we grew up in=lots of craziness. I am number 2 of four.  There is one year between my older sister and I, 3 between myself and my kid sister, and 8 years between myself and the baby sister. It's the perfect dynamic.

For those of you thinking, "Your poor father!" I agree. Raising 4 girls within 9 years probably wasn't that easy. But I think they did a GREAT job.  I love them all dearly, and despite the fact that we all totally went at it when we were teenagers, I still would like to say I am very close to them. 

My parents are super supportive of any decisions that we make and are one of a kind. I'm sure they will pop up from time to time in this blog. (Or my 40 Aunts and Uncles or 50 plus cousins....more about that later.)

I am also happy to report that I love my husbands family. He coincidentally came from a family of all boys. 3 boys, 2 parents=I couldn't have found a better family. His brothers are easy to get along with and are like my own, and his parents have always made me feel like a part of the family. 

I Am an Athlete

My favorite sport.

Or at least I try to be. Growing up I did sports. Lots and lots of sports. (My father had to take charge somehow, what better way to do it than having us all join teams? I did track and Basketball in highschool. Don't get me wrong, I was never the best. But I tried hard. It always seemed much easier for my sisters who have always been much thinner  and things came more naturally, so sports haven't always been only joy for me. I was horrible at running. I found out I had one leg longer than the other. (Cool right? Well it wasn't at first...but it kind of is now.) I struggled with my weight and eating habits, and still do. So it was a breath of fresh air when I went to college joined the Rugby team, and was actually good. Of course not all the way at first, it took my freshman year for me to learn and get the basic skills. But starting my sophomore year, I never missed a minute of any of our games. It was wonderful to be able to use my body in a way that I could be proud of.

So now that I'm out of college, I've been finding ways to continue to stay an athlete. A little known fact that in your first two years of teaching, weight gain is almost a norm. Stress eating? Check. Treats being pushed at you by other teachers? Double check. 

I needed to make sure I kept myself in shape before that shape was a ginormous globe.

  I mentioned before that my husband enjoys hiking. Enjoy isn't quite a strong enough word. Obsessed maybe? It's something that I enjoy as well, while not at the same intensity I try to keep up. (Last summer I did Mt. Washington!) 

Sometimes I may write about running. It is something that I struggle to be good at, but am really trying. I've trained by running from the start.  I'm hoping that in my journey to run a 10k in August I'll drop a few pounds and in general survive.

SO THAT'S ME IN A FEW DIFFERENT CAPACITIES!

There are so many different parts of who I am that I didn't list. My friends (many of whom I consider my family), my hobbies, and of course my general pursuit of happiness. But I hope that those, plus every other way that I have explained myself will pop up by themselves in my blog. 

Thank you for following and I hope to hear from all of you in the comments and future posts!