Final Thoughts

Be sure to check out my mom’s blog by clicking on the link provided!

Throughout the semester, I learned a lot of new things about blogging. I already had previous experience with blogging, but I never had to run my own blog, so I learned a lot about the ins and outs of wordpress as well as how to embed multimedia and photos on my blog.

This was probably one of the busiest semesters I’ve had so far, so it was hard to keep up consistently with my blog. But I am glad that we had to do this project because I probably wouldn’t have taken the initiative on my own to ever start my own blog. One of the changes I would make would be to pick an easier topic that I could write more about and that more people could relate to, although it was fun to write about a topic that was personal to my life!

I hope that when I am pursuing my future career, whatever that may be, I can use the information I learned about blogging and maybe even start a new blog of my own! If you want to follow the work I’ve done with my mom’s blog, you can click here, so check it out!

Stuff An Only Child Says

I can probably guarantee you’ve seen the trend of videos satirizing different groups of people…does “S*** Girls Say” ring a bell? Well I decided to make my own about Only Children. Hope you enjoy!

Only Child Problems

Here’s a little more incite into the life of an only child! I compiled a variety of #onlychildproblems tweets that are just too true to not share! Enjoy!

http://storify.com/presleyann10/only-child-problems

Never Alone

I may be an only child, but I’m never alone because I have nearly 180 sisters. That is because I’m a member of the sorority Alpha Delta Pi at Texas State, and my life would not be the same without it. I’ve truly met my best friends and made amazing memories in ADPi and it’s only my second year in. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be apart of such a strong sisterhood with unwavering love and support from my sisters. I wanted to share a photo slideshow of my time in ADPi, hope you all enjoy!

National Only Child Day

Just when I got over the fact that I was an only child, along comes a day to rub having siblings in the face of only children all over the world. The day is April 10^th, and the holiday is National Sibling Day, or as I like to call it “National Only Child Awareness Day”. Now maybe I just haven’t been observant, which is very out of my character, but I never realized National Sibling Day even existed until I saw about 10,000 tweets and FB shout outs on last year’s National Sibling Day.  And after National Sibling Day 2012 passed, there seemed to be a frenzy of “national” celebration days such as National Margarita Day, National Bird Day, and National Kiss a Baseball Player Day. I began to question, since when did everything have a day of celebration and appreciation, and why don’t us only children have one?

No favorites on this tweet…apparently no one else felt the same way

So I did some research and found out I was not alone with my feeling of being left out of National Sibling Day. Apparently, a fellow only child has proposed for the last Sunday of every July to be National Only Child Day.(If you want to read more about it click here.)First of all, I would like to give kudos to this proactive only child for standing up for the rest of us and creating a day where we can celebrate a life of being the one and only child, and in my case, grand child in the family. Second, I would like to say thank you to whoever he or she is because they saved my indecisive self from having to pick one day out of 365, since I had every prospect of proposing this day myself. So while all of you non-only children prepare your pic stitch of memories with your siblings for April 10th (you have one week from today!), I will be preparing an unforgettable pic stitch of selfies for the last Sunday in July. I might even throw in one with my dog since we all know my parents consider him the second child.

Mobile App: Phone-aoke!

Imagine this scenario: You’re at your average weekend kick back at your friend’s apartment. It’s starting to die down, but it’s still early and no one’s ready to leave the party yet. You could spice things up by changing the music station, but there’s a risk it’ll still be boring. How can you re-vive the party you ask? The only answer is Phone-aoke! It’s like having a full karaoke machine in the palm of your hands!

Here’s how it works: Once you’ve opened up Phone-aoke, go to the “Choose Song” tab and type any song you want. The app pulls up the lyrics from the internet, so you can literally choose any song! Put your phone on a docking system, and now you have two choices: 1. If you have a hard connection or blue tooth, you can plug your phone into the TV and the lyrics will play on the TV screen OR 2. You can simply use your phone as the karaoke screen.  But wait, there’s more! Phone-aoke gives you the ability to record your performance so you can listen to your amazing harmony afterwards!

This app is guaranteed to liven up any party, sleepover, or family gathering you go to! Everyone loves a little karaoke session every once in a while, and with Phoneaoke, you’re sure to be the hit of the party.

Dancing Through Life

From my first performance to my second year as a Texas State Strutter.

As an only child, there are obviously days when you feel a little lonely.  Of course my parents have always been around and near by if I needed them. But my best friends couldn’t live at my house 24/7. However, I was blessed to find a friend that never left my side; for me, that was dance. I started dance at the young age of three, and it was truly love at first pirouette. Aside from family, my love for dance has been the most consistent thing in my life, and it has brought me happiness and joy from day one. Dance was always there for me, and continues to be to this day. The thrill of performing in front of a crowd is something I could never imagine my life without. Even as a shy little girl, I was never afraid to get on stage and dance in front of crowded audiences. It is amazing how much I’ve grown through my experiences with dance, from competitive studio dance, to my high school dance team, and now I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be a member of the largest university dance team in the nation: the Texas State Strutters.

Being a Texas State Strutter for the past two years has been unforgettable and created many wonderful memories. The highlights of my time on the team include performing on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship last spring break and having a full two minutes of air time performing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this past November! You can check out our performance on the YouTube video below! If you are interested in learning more about the Strutters history, traditions and legacy, you can visit our website here.

It is important in life to find something that you are passionate about and makes you come alive, and that is what I found in dance. No matter how bad my day has gone, I forget everything that went wrong when I’m dancing.  My life would be incomplete without dance, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity to be a dancer.

“Are you talking to yourself?”

I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me, “Pres, are you talking to yourself?” And almost every single time the answer is no, I was actually speaking to everyone here but no one happened to be listening. I’ve gotten used to this by now and blame it on my timid voice and hesitance to speak up in conversations. However, as awkward as it may be, probably 1 out of 5 times, I actually have been talking to myself. And this, I blame solely on being an only child.

Many kids have imaginary friends growing up that they interact with and truly believe are real. Oddly enough, seeing as though I was an only child, I never had an imaginary friend. But what I did have was a vivid and wild imagination that created full on movie plots, and I was playing the leading role, as well as all of the supporting actors. During my days of Disney Channel obsession, I truly believed I was a Disney star. I guided my made up TV shows on the life of Hilary Duff’s hit show, Lizzie McGuire, in hopes that my self taught acting would one day land me on Disney Channel. I’m sure my parents wondered why their daughter was carrying on full out conversations with herself, speaking in multiple voices and accents, and singing and dancing to made up songs (at this point you’re probably judging me as a crazy person, so let me assure you that I’ve moved past this phase). They never stopped me though, probably so they wouldn’t squash my creativity, but also probably partly because it was thoroughly entertaining.

Long story short, I’ve never stopped “talking” to myself. I find myself asking questions that most people think in their heads, out loud every day. I’ll even answer the questions out loud. And often times, my friends are around to witness this, so this time when they ask if I’m talking to myself, I actually am. It’s become one of the quirks to my “awkward” only child personality and at this point, I have no shame. So if you’re reading this and thinking you might be a self talker too, I say be proud! It’s truly an art that takes talent and skill, but some people just don’t understand that and probably never will. And if you’re reading this thinking the whole talking to yourself is strange, don’t be too quick to judge the next encounter with a self talker. It turns it they might be an only child, or maybe even an aspiring Disney Channel star.

Side note: Talking to yourself is perfectly sand and actually can be beneficial to your health! If you’re interested in learning more about this, click here to read this article about four types of self-talk that can make you feel better about yourself.

For My Parents

Today I want to dedicate a post to the people who made me the person I am, with unwavering love and support. This post is dedicated to my amazing parents, who are celebrating their 25^th anniversary this very day. They continue to inspire me every year and I wish I could be with them today to celebrate this exciting occasion.

Twenty-five years of love that has built a strong bond within our small yet unbreakable family. Twenty-five years of immense support that has pushed each of them, and in turn myself, to achieve their greatest dreams. Twenty-five years of fond memories and many moments of laughter that will always bring a smile to my face. Through the ups and the downs, my parents have truly conquered it all, and I have learned much more from them than they will ever know. I would not be where I am in life without their encouragement and support, and I could never thank them enough for all that they have done, and continue to do, for me. They always say they’re proud of me, but they don’t realize how proud I am of them.

I count my blessings every day to have parents that can celebrate twenty-five years of marriage together. Thankful and grateful would be an understatement. I hope to one day find a love as strong as theirs is. Happy 25^th anniversary Mom and Dad, and here’s to the next twenty-five years filled with love!

Pay it forward: Speaking of pushing each other to pursue their dreams, my mom has an amazing blog on all things fitness and wellness called Coach Stacy’s Healthy U. I’m a co-author for the blog, and we are working to gain more followers whenever we can! Following this blog will keep you in the loop about the latest trends in health and fitness, provide you with wonderful and simple healthy recipes, and hopefully inspire you to achieve your greatest potential of fitness possible. So take a quick moment to follow Coach Stacy’s Healthy U, and I promise your body will thank you later!

Meet the Siblings

I never really cared that I was an only child until I reached the age when many of my friends were getting new baby brothers and sisters. I grew up with a best friend who was also an only child, and we both naively assumed our turn for a new sibling was right around the corner. My poor parents withstood the hammering of their seven-year-old daughter questioning, “Why don’t I have any siblings?” I would then proceed to whine about the situation, and pester my parents to look into adopting (at the time I believed it was as a simple as picking out and bringing home a baby; no paperwork or months of waiting were involved in my theory). Their answer to me was simple, “You have siblings Presley. You have Bubba and Fluffin.”

With apologies to all the “Bubba’s”out there, do Bubba and Fluffin really sound like human names to you? Yes, you assumed right, Bubba and Fluffin were my dogs. It’s not uncommon for many families to embrace their pets as a family member, but for me, it was taken to a whole new level. My parents have always referred to my dogs as my “siblings”, even to our family friends. So basically, I’m on the same playing field as a household pet, pretty cool, huh? I eventually moved on from harping on the fact that I was an only child and started to truly believe that Bubba and Fluffin were the brother and sister I never had, and would never be able to actually talk to, although I’ll admit to having full on conversations with them occasionally (I promise I’m not a crazy dog lady).

All of this sounds like I’m bitter about only having my dogs as “siblings”, but I’m absolutely not. Bubba and Fluffin, like any beloved household dog, were always there for me, Bubba from the day I was brought home from the hospital. They comforted me when I was sad, and were always happy to see me. When I lost them, the pain and sadness was just as strong as if I were losing a good friend. I think that if two little dogs can have that much impact and meaning to a lonely only child, then they are truly deserving of the sibling title. Our family was dog-less for almost year, and that was when I realized how much a part of the family pets really can be. Now we have been blessed with an angel dog, Baxter, who we adopted from a family who couldn’t properly take care of him. Baxter is the spitting image of Bubba, and we believe he was put in our lives because we weren’t ready to let go of Bubba when we had to.  I’ve never met a more compassionate animal than Baxter, and I’m so thankful my parents have him to help ease the void of their only child being away at college. I look back and think how silly it was for me to lament on being an only child because all along I really did have my dogs by my side throughout all of life’s experiences.

Interested in adopting a pet? If you’re feeling lonely, these pets are too! You can adopt a new furry friend from the San Marcos Regional Animal Shelter. These animals need loving homes and a caring owner. If you want to look into adopting a pet, check out their website here! They will quickly become the best friend, or sibling, you could ever have!