Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful. I'm not going to be very detailed in this "episode" for fear of forgetting someone or something, but I will do my best to relay the information that I feel needs to be publicly expressed.

First, and always, I am thankful for my family. My parents, my big brother, my grandparents on both sides, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I am grateful for the memories and experiences we share. My parents are absolutely wonderful people and have done so much for me and for others. I am so proud of my brother - for all he has experienced, for all he has had to put up with - for the incredible person he has become. I am grateful for the love that some members of my extended family show and for their interest in our lives. While I am disappointed at the turn of events that has led to some family drama, but I am grateful for that opportunity to have learned who is truly family by love and willingness and who is family only by blood.

I am grateful for my best friends. The ones who are always there for me, without fail - never expecting anything in return for all the support they have given me over the years. (Ok, I'm breaking my rule and I'm actually going to mention 3 people who have always been there and who have helped me be who I am today). Anthony Joseph Cacciatore - You are absolutely amazing. I have never met someone so selfless and caring as you. Thank you for listening to me cry at 3 in the morning and thank you for letting me talk and for knowing when I need advice and when I need to just talk. You astound me. You have encouraged every pursuit I have made without question and have pushed me to the limit of being the best I can be. Thank you for your random compliments and your reasoning of "I just thought you needed to hear it". We have both changed so much since freshman year at St. Norbert College but I'll never forget some of the memories we share from that year and beyond haha. I am truly grateful for you. Thank you for giving so much of yourself to someone who doesn't deserve it. I love you.

Kristopher Anthony Klein, you are remarkable. I feel so fortunate to know you and to have you as a positive influence in my life. You have this innate gift to touch peoples lives and leave them forever changed. Thank you for never judging me, for hours of heart to hearts in Maine, Argentina and through Skype. For Havana chocolates, $5 text messages, letters that take 3 months to get here (still waiting :-) ), and for being 100% honest with me. Thank you for putting up with my bullshit, but also for letting me know when I'm being ridiculous. Thank you for fighting with me at clubs in Mendoza and proving to me that what you told me is true. I'm grateful that you are my best friend - I'm grateful to have someone who knows me so completely, so fully, and who I know so completely as well. I'm grateful that when you tell me everytings gonna be alright, that somehow, I believe you. Thank you for being so understanding. I'm grateful for the chance to spend more time with you when you come back to the States and I'm grateful for the opportunity to meet your mom. Thank you for being an example to me. I love you.

Eddie James Grace, you are incredible. For 5 1/2 years, we have kept our promise of seeing each other at least twice a year. Together we have explored all over Europe, New York City, Washington DC, New Hampshire, Hawaii and Connecticut. You have dealt with some hardship but you have come through with grace. Your mother would be so proud of the man you have turned into. I'll never forget the first time we met in Elizabethtown, PA or the day our relationship changed at Disneyland Paris. I am grateful for the strong influence you are in my life - for your friendship and your love. For our carefully planned trips and even for the flights I missed because of you :-) I cherish the time we spend together and am so grateful that you are one of my very best friends. The fact that my family asks about you is a huge testament to your character and to the effect you have had on my life. You are one of the most bold people I know; I would never have been able to write a song for someone that has such genuine lyrics where you pour out your heart and accept blame. Thank you for introducing me to your entire family and for sharing such special people like Gram and Aunt Donna with me. I can't wait to see you again; it's your turn :-) I love you.

There is so much more I could say to and about these three young men, but that's all I have patience for right now! And there are so many more people who I could write about, but these three people have never let me down and deserve to stand apart from the rest.


I am grateful to be the godmother of two astoundingly gorgeous children. I could write for hours about everything I love about them, but I won't bore anyone with that. Instead, I'll just say how grateful I am to their mother, Johanna, for the opportunity she has given me in asking me to hold the honor of being their godmother. They lighten up every tough day and I love them more than I can ever hope to express.

I am grateful for the military, especially my friends who serve. Again, I won't name names for fear or forgetting someone. Please understand the profound impact the military has had on my upbringing and I am grateful for their service and sacrifice. I am especially grateful for the members of the military who can't be with their families at this time because of their various deployments around the world. I am grateful that I am able to sleep soundly because I am protected by a force that does not allow fear to penetrate their core. I am thankful for the chance to live in a country where my rights and freedoms are protected by willing men and women who have sacrificed more than some people will ever realize. While I am nervous for my friends who are deploying soon, I am grateful for their excitement and for the fact that they have their family of brothers and sisters in arms who completely support the missions my friends are undertaking, when I can't be there to do so.

I wasn't going to discuss material things that I'm thankful for, but I'll include just one because I'm not sure it DOES fall into that section. I'm thankful for my home. For the people who make up my home, the place where my home is, for the idea that I HAVE a home to return to. I'll talk more about the concept of home in a later entry, but I want to express that I am grateful for it regardless!

I am grateful for my experiences abroad. Growing up in a military family allowed us opportunities to live and travel all over the world. I'm grateful that my father's job had us live in Germany and Saudi Arabia and travel around the world twice. I'm grateful that my parents are intelligent, welcoming, diverse people who ensured that my brother and I were educated about the customs and culture of the countries we visited. I am grateful to have been able to experience a myriad of different cultures, customs, languages and peoples during the years when most kids are figuring out who they are because those experiences helped shape me. I truly believe that it is only when learning about different places, people, customs, languages, foods, etc that we can truly understand our authentic individuality. I'm grateful that I became a citizen of the world but that I still hold an individual identity that I'm not willing to sacrifice for anything. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to study abroad in Sicily, Italy and figure out who I was and what I wanted to be. I am even more grateful to have studied abroad in DC, Jordan and Egypt with some of the absolute greatest people you could ever hope to know. Monique, Rory, Will, Blake, Jen, Steph, Maria, Joe, Sadaf Iben, Jessica and Toni helped provide life changing experiences for me in the Middle East and I would not be who I am without some of the experiences I had overseas.


I am grateful for my beliefs and for the chance to live in a country where I can have and express my beliefs without fear of persecution. While there will always be dissention, I am not afraid to hold religious, political or personal beliefs and share them when I choose to do so because I know that my rights to those beliefs are protected by law. I am grateful to know what I know and to believe and have faith in that which I don't know for sure. I'm grateful for the people who have shown me the path towards figuring out what I believe and I am thankful for those influences in my life.

I am grateful for education. That I am able to hold intelligent conversations and that I can understand when intelligent conversations are being held with me. I am grateful that I was able to attend a wonderful college and learn from a diverse group of professors and a not so diverse group of students. While I experienced a ton of diversity growing up, moving to De Pere Wisconsin was a whole new world for me, coming from high school in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) area. But I am grateful for the opportunity to try and understand the world as the Midwest sees it. I understand and accept and love diversity but I have lived it. I am grateful to have been able to try and see how the rest of the US who wasn't raised abroad or in melting pot cities sees the world. I am grateful that I have an inquisitive mind and while my constant need for intellectual stimulation sometimes frustrates me, I am grateful that it is not the opposite. I am grateful that some of my teachers understand that the best education is done outside of the classroom and can not fathom how others are educated by books alone. I am beyond grateful to have been in James Percoco's Applied History class in high school - for the memories and experiences that I shy away from talking about because they are SO special that I feel like nobody but the kids in the class can ever understand. For the bonds I made with people in that class like Justin, Johanna, Ashley, Enzo, Bryan and Leslie. That through our bond, we helped edify each other while working through Leslie's murder at Virginia Tech. I am grateful for the ability to read and ask questions and for the mere ability to attend a school, as there are millions of girls who are not granted that privilege.


I am grateful for adversity - for the challenges that I've faced and for the instances I have had that have helped me be able to appreciate the good in life. Though it changed my life, I am grateful for my accident and for all of the problems I have had as a result of smacking my head. It has certainly not been an easy road, but the days when I have horrible migraines makes me appreciate the days when I don't have migraines. Those times when my short term memory fail helps make the memories I have more meaningful. Killing parts of my brain made me grateful that more important parts of my brain remained intact. Losing my teeth allowed for my implants to be significantly stronger than regular teeth. I know it sounds foolish, but I AM really grateful that I have had various health problems (mainly broken bones and ripped tendons haha) because it has helped me appreciate my health. I am not only grateful for adversity in the health sector, but in all sections of life. I won't go into details because this post is already far too long, but I am grateful for the pitfalls because I can appreciate the mountaintops because of the pitfalls.

To sum it all up, I am grateful. There are far more things that I am grateful for as well, but I just picked the first 10 or so that popped into my mind when writing a quick list and yeah. So that's that! I am thankful for my friends and I love you all! I'm grateful that my Aunt Laura, Uncle Jim, Kevin and Colin are here to spend Thanksgiving with us and I'm excited to spend time with family. :-)

I hope you all have an absolutely lovely Thanksgiving celebration and that you remember that this day is about giving THANKS for all you have and for remembering those who aren't as blessed as you are. Enjoy your holiday! Be safe <3

Lazy post

So I feel bad that I haven't posted in awhile. But I'm sick and I'm tired and I can't bring myself to write a post worth reading. So instead, I'll just put up a few pictures that I think are silly and will waste some of your time. Cuz let's be honest, that's why you're on here anyways :-)

For my favorite penguin-shark.

Never let the things you cannot control sour you; do not allow yourself to be affected by situations and circumstances that you have no power to fix, control or change. Those problems can and will consume you until you are no longer only powerless, but hopeless as well. Obviously, that is easier said than done - we can't help but be affected by things we can't control, but it is our reaction to those instances that have the lasting effect. Are we angry, bitter, elated, upset, confused, etc? The situation may make us feel a certain way, but for how long?

People say time changes things but that's not true. Doing things changes things. Not doing them leaves things exactly as they are. Be proactive, but be smart about it. Do your best to figure out WHY a certain situation is affecting you in a certain way. Do not be satisfied with, or put up with, people who are reckless with your emotions. Never settle for anything less than what you deserve. Don't cling to the past. Ever. Don't cling to the comfort it might ensure or the security it seems to promise for there is ALWAYS a reason why your past never made it to your future. You and I are both firm in our belief that everything happens for a reason. If things happen that change your mindset or your life, let it happen. Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be. You only have one life (solo se vive una vez!!!! thank you Google Translate) and one chance to do all the things you want to do. "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss.


A good friend of mine sent me this quote back in college when I was having a rough time. I think it's from Grey's Anatomy...

"A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. Never leave that till tomorrow, he said, which you can do today. This is the man who discovered electricity. You think more people would listen to what he had to say. I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo? The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we hadn't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day. Still sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore. Until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin really meant. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying."


After you are hurt so many times, you become so numb to the world around you and the feelings others try to convey towards you. You don't mean to but you've been so exposed to the poison and deceit that people seem to be blessed with that you just block out all human emotion...including your own. Please don't let it get to that point! :-) You've dealt with so much adversity and so much change; you are better equipped than anyone else I know to deal with it! Nobody said that life would be easy, they just promised that it would be worth it. All your life you are told about the things you cannot do or cannot have or cannot be. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. They will tell you no, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless . All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly.
But today, right now, you will tell them yes.

I love you.

Freedom is never free

"There are only two defining forces that ever offered to die for you - Jesus Christ and the American GI. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom."

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. As Veteran's Day rolls around, I am reminded of the sacrifices made by the members of our Armed Forces and their families. Actually, that's not completely true. To say "I remember" implies that I forgot. Not a single day goes by where I don't thank my ancestors, family members, friends, neighbors and strangers for their willingness to march into hell on our behalf. Generally, as a society, we are indifferent to veterans. I am disgusted to read stories of how many veterans are out of work, homeless and committing suicide. The moral decay of our society has taken such a drastic turn in so much that we no longer honor the men and women who stood/stand up to defend our protected way of life. "Freedom is one of the deepest and noblest aspirations of the human spirit." - Ronald Reagan.

This picture breaks my heart ... have we grown so apathetic and disinterested that we no longer have respect for a symbol that has figuratively and literally been soaked with the blood of patriots? Yes, it is a flag - a piece of cloth with 13 red and white stripes and 50 white stars glittering against a blue square. But it represents so much more. The flag is the embodiment, not of sentiment, but of history. It represents the experiences made by men and women, the experiences of those who live and die under that flag. "Our flag is our national ensign, pure and simple, behold it! Listen to it! Every star has a tongue, every stripe is articulate." - Robert C. Winthrop. I'll throw in another quote because I LOVE quotes! "We do honor to the stars and stripes as the emblem of our country and the symbol of all that our patriotism means. We identify the flag with almost everything we hold dear on earth. It represents our peace and security, our civil and political liberty, our freedom of religious worship, our family, our friends and our home. We see it in the great multitude of blessings, of rights and privileges that make up our country. But when we look at our flag, and behold it emblazoned with all our rights, we must remember that it is equally a symbol of our duties. Every glory that we associate with it is the result of duty done. A yearly contemplation of our flag strengthens and purifies the national conscience." - Calvin Coolidge.

Music is a huge part of my life. Regardless of how many times I have heard certain patriotic songs, my eyes still fill with tears at the pride I feel for this country and the immense blessing it is to call myself an American - the daughter of a soldier. I could write song lyrics for HOURS but if you're interested, youtube it :-) There are so many quality songs that honor veterans and I would be remiss if I don't mention at least one. One song that never fails to have tears running down my cheeks is the second verse of America, the Beautiful. "O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life!" What a beautifully chilling Truth. (Yes, Truth with a capital T!)

Fun fact (and totally random and out of place): As I write this, "Hero" by Mariah Carey just came on my Pandora. I first heard this song when I was living at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas after my mother, brother and I were evacuated from Saudi Arabia following terrorist bombings at my dad's office building. My dad's orders required him to stay behind. We sang and signed this song at our Christmas music program. We first started practicing in late October - a week before my birthday. The same week, I was walking down the hall in Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School and I see a soldier in BDU's jogging up to me. My dad had flown in for a visit and surprised Tim and I at school. I will never forget the feelings I felt that day. It warms my heart to watch videos of similar events taking place with soldiers surprising their loved ones in various atmospheres. I'll be honest, I'm a total baby when it comes to that. Families of soldiers are often forgotten during Veterans Day and Memorial Day but they have willingly sacrificed much more than many of us will ever lose.


As FDR said so beautifully, "We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing through a period of supreme test. It is a test of our courage - of our resolve - of our wisdom - our essential democracy." The biggest problems we are facing (in my horribly jaded opinion :-) ) are not from foreign enemies, but from domestic ignorance and apathy. We take for granted the freedoms we have and we have this inaccurate sense of entitlement. Please understand that I do not mean to belittle the American public. Regardless of party lines, backgrounds, loyalties, we are all Americans existing and thriving under the very blanket of freedom provided by veterans.

Our veterans deserve more respect and so much more honor and recognition that we give them (collectively). I am blessed to be connected directly and indirectly to a multitude of brave men and women who serve. I have tried my best to give back to those who gave so much for me; I donate time and money to the USO, the Wounded Warrior Project and other organizations that support our Armed Forces both domestically and abroad. I honestly wouldn't be who I am without the influence of the military in my life. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE! Please know that you are loved and admired. You are HEROES.