Day 8: My friends

My girls!!  I am truly blessed to have such amazing and supportive girlfriends.  Our group is a hybrid of different girls' high school friends and college friends.  And I love it. 

Here are a couple pictures of the beautiful ladies I like to spend my time with....

Day 7: Favorite Vacation

I feel very fortunate to have been on many vacations in my life.  I've been on cruises to the Bahamas and Carribean, London, Skiing in Vail, California, Florida and Chicago.  However, I think my favorite vacationw was probably.... Disney World. 

I was 10 and we left on my last day of 4th grade.  It was our last official vacation as a family of 4 (but we didn't know it at the time). 

We went to Clearwater beach for a few days and then we were off to Orlando!! 

Being 10 (and my brother 9) I think we were a great age to be able to enjoy the parks and appreciate them.  It was a very busy week, but well worth it and I loved every minute!

Day 6: Favorite Movies

How do I pick just a few!?  Here are some of my top favorites....


1.  Love Actually - I laugh hysterically through multiple parts of this movie.  The different story lines are great and I really like how the movie follows each one and intertwines them.  One of my favorite parts (other than Hugh Grant's character singing Christmas carols) is the ending... I think it's a great message

2.  The Help - An awesome remake of a great book.... Great acting and it is an amazing story.  Definitely a must see (and a must read, for that matter)

3.  Two Weeks Notice - Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant... Seriously, does it get any better? 

4. Runaway Jury - Totally had me confused the first time I watched it; loved how all the pieces fell together

5. Mulan - my favorite Disney movie.  I still have it on VHS... should probably upgrade one of these days

So those are some of my favorites.... I end up "liking" a lot of movies but there aren't a ton that I "love"

Day 5: Something that makes me happy

Boating..... I love it.  I've grown up with some sort of boat on the lake and it's become a part of how my summers are spent... It's a great way to get together with friends on a hot day but  I especially love it when I've had a long day at work or am stressed about one thing or another.  Just being on the lake, watching a sunset, and having the wind blow and waves splash against the boat is so calming. 

The pics below are bad (cell phone shots) but they're from last summer on Lake Minnetonka.

Day 4: My Family

Love, LOVE, LOVE my family.  We've definitely had our ups and downs over the years, but I think that makes you realize how important you are to each other and solidifies a relationship even more.

Let me introduce you.....

Meet my older sister J and my younger brother B
 
J is the mother to beautiful AJ and B is dad to Baby R. 

My Mom (with my brother and SIL)


My Dad (aka Papa G to my nieces)


And, as you know if you've been following my blog, I have two beautiful and precious nieces (but they don't need their pics on the internet so you'll have to take my word for it).  AJ is 4, knows exactly what she wants, and is extremely smart.  Baby R is 6 weeks old and is an amazing cuddler. 

That about wraps up my immediate family!  I have other aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents that I love dearly but the post has to end somewhere :)

Day 3: My Job

My home away from  home... Work.

I've been with the company I work for since I graduated college.  I was lucky enough to secure a position in the last few months of my senior year after a whirlwind year of interviews.  And I've been there for the last 6 years....

As you may have read in my Day 1 post, I work for a large retailer at its headquarters.  The team I manage is responsible for item selection and meeting sales numbers for the promotional space within the store.  Think of the checklanes where you get suckered into that soda or 8 pk of batteries you hadn't planned on buying, the ends of the aisles that always have the new trendy/seasonal items you just have to have... That's my team.  Being an impulse shopper myself, I find that this gives me quite the advantage in my job.

I manage a team of 4 all with different career aspirations and different strengths.  I love coaching and pushing my team and seeing them get to a job they've aspired to have.  Although extremely trying at times (and often very political), I truly enjoy going to work every day and working with my team as well as the other teams we come in contact with on a day to day basis.

The hours, stress, and maddness is high... but when you give a lot you get a lot in return. 

I feel fortunate to work for a great corporation, have the benefits that I do, and the coworkers that I have.  Although life at work is extremely crazy and unpredictable, it's still just work...  However, working retail is exciting/constantly evolving and I would be bored out of my mind with anything else.

Day 2: Tell Us about your blog

So you want details about how this all began? Works for me...

I hadn't really ever thought about blogging before Feb of this year.  I knew of a few people that blogged temporarily while they traveled or referenced a few blogs for product reviews... but that was really it. 

When I found out that S was going to be deploying, I turned to the internet to try and find some support.  I was so confused, nervous and scared and didn't know how to work through my different emotions.  As I was googling, I came across blogspot and that intrigued me. 

All through middle school and high school I had a journal... it was my way of working through my thoughts and allowing myself some time to debrief on the day I had had or the experience I had just gone through.  It was also fun for me to page back and see how I had evolved or changed or overcome whatever obstacle that seemed so big months before. 

It was then that Army Girlfriend Confessions began.... At first my posts were just about my BF's deployment and that was difficult to communicate because there are very specific guildelines on what can and can't be posted about an active soldier.  However, in the process, I found many inspirational military significant others as well as other fantastic blogs about life, love, and everything in between. 

It's amazing to me that as much time has gone by as it has.... It's hard to believe my first post was 6 months ago.  As helpful as blogging is to me emotionally, your comments are also extremely valued.  So Thank You and here's to many more posts to come....

Day 1: Introducing Me!

I came across a 30 day blog challenge that I thought would be fun and today just happens to be the first day!  Hopefully this gives all of you a better chance to get to know me outside of being an Army Girlfriend.

So Day 1 is all about introducing myself so here goes....

Hi, I'm Alyssa.  I'm in my very late twenties, I have a younger brother, an older sister, and 2 beautiful nieces.  I am thankful to have great relationships with them as well as each of my parents.  I love my family very much and appreciate their support more than they will ever know.

I work at a large retailer's headquarters as a manager of a small team... My team is responsible for assortment selection, store prototype changes, and meeting financial goals.  It is a crazy, hectic, and constantly changing business.... And I wouldn't have it any other way!  I work with a lot of great people and I enjoy the challenges that working for a retailer brings. 

People I love, I love with my whole heart.  I am very resilient, I get anxious when I am not able to fix or impact something, I'm sarcastic, I laugh a lot, have a loud voice, and I have a good attitude (most days).  I have a very hard time listening to people complaining about the same things over and over again and am very protective of the people I care about. 
I grew up as a dancer, played a few sports here and there, was a cheerleader in high school, and most recently played intramural kickball and fotball.  I hate rides, haunted houses, and confined spaces.  I love to travel, be on the lake in the summer, and snuggle up on the couch with a glass of wine and a movie or favorite tv series. 

That's pretty much the low down on me!  Hope you stick around for the next 29 days of this challenge :)