T-minus One Month

Mamma mia......today marks three weeks until my orientation, and four weeks til I move in to my new digs at U of Houston.
I have a lot on my mind today, so it's perfect for an IT'S OK THURSDAY linkup with Amber and gals.

It's ok...


That I got my wisdom teeth out on Monday and still have puffy face today...


To cry because of overwhelming circumstances


That I'm listening to Demi Lovato right now (I really like her music, and she's an excellent role model for young girls)


That I said goodbye to Dad again today...I won't see him til Thanksgiving probably (he got to visit home for two weeks, but is heading back to Afghanistan til October) 


That I am moving in four weeks


To just need a hug


To blog to get all these thoughts out 


To make silly faces to distract myself (yup, I'm apparently 3 years old)


That I am turning 19 in less than 2 months (I just realized this the other day when mom referred to me as "almost 19." Huh. Last year as a teen. That'll be nice)


That I "stalk" my favorite bloggers :)


That I am longing for a good shopping session, and I'm not a shopper...it's strange. I'm the oddest female. 


That I love the nickname: Allie Anne (I really love any nickname if it is given in love)


That I spent three different times trying to get to the next level in Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness (I haven't played this one before, so I recently got it on Amazon.com, and got stuck the other night, but as of last night I'm on a new level!! Currently running around Paris, but in the sewers....hmm)


That I could do nothing but listen to music all day


That I am leaning on God; that's always ok :) 

"Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving."- Colossians 4:2 

Dear Monday...Yikes

I'm stuck in bed, so, I feel a blog post is necessary ;)
First, let me give a disclaimer: in my idiocy, I did not write anything on my last post to tell ya'll that Emily (my July sponsor!) wrote it! Ohhh I feel terrible :( I just copied the html she gave me, and added nothing else. *facepalm* So, I will edit that right quick after this post (yes, I am southern, I get to say right quick, ya'll, yonder, reckon, fixin, etc ;) )

So, today is a Dear Monday and a Mingle Monday :) Let's go!

*Dear mouth; I'm sorry I had to get wisdom teeth taken out of you, AND a bad cavity tooth extracted. As I write this I am in immense pain (left side, and my tummy, yup) but am trying to keep the ice pack on you as much as possible. Anyway, thanks for letting me eat melted ice cream and cake.

*Dear music: oh my goodness we had such fun yesterday! My senior recital was like a cloudy dream full of love, happiness, and joy joy joy! I can't wait to see the pictures of my wonderful friends who came to support and celebrate with me. I couldn't be more grateful. Plus we had fun going out to Maggie Moo's for ice cream after. Anyway, music. You rock.

*Dear blogworld, thank you for making me feel welcome! This community is so loving and supportive. I'm still a tiny blogger, but I love to write and connect with new people. So so neat!

*Dear Elise; thank you for nominating me for the Liebster award! My first blog award!! :) I'll get on that in a bit, super fun! I've really enjoyed getting to know you via email and texting :) Again, the blogworld is just such a neat community!

*Dear Daddy, I'm so glad you are here for a few weeks on leave from Afghanistan. Thank you for taking me to my surgery this morning and getting me a milkquake from Krystal. And thanks for being pretty legit and cool. :)

Dad and myself right before my recital. I just love to take goofy pictures, and he is nice enough to let me ;) Ok, we're both goofs haha. 

*Dear Mom, thank you for your never-ending love, support, wisdom, hugs, and crazy sense of humor. You're a light, and I cannot ask for a better mom! You're MY mom. I had you first of course ;) Just me and you against the world. I'm gonna miss you when I leave, but we're gonna have super fun moving in and decorating together. And hey, I can still call you every night at 9:30 and chatter away about random nonsense ;) I'm so glad you're my Mom. You truly inspire me! (I wanna be like you and Dad someday. Ya'll are way too adorable for your own good ;) hehehe).

*Dear ice pack, keep it up. You're doing your job.

*Dear Houston, I can't wait to become your newest resident! Heck, with all this gun-rights garbage talk going on, I'd love to become a full resident, then Texas can secede and life will be great. ;)

*Dear Shabby Apple, and Etsy, please stop being so irresistible. I have no moneys, but your products look so lovely and beautiful and really soothe me when I'm stuck in bed and can't move. :) So, ya'll should have an Alexandra Anne sale ;)

*Dear Michael, thank you for loving this crazy goofy opera chick. I'm wearing my ThinkGeek.com shirt right now, and thinking of you. If it weren't for Firefly, we wouldn't be together ;) I'm super jealous that you're going to DragonCon, but I will get over it ;)

This picture is from when I lived in Naples; the shirt was my first online purchase ever! Says "Also, I can kill you with my brain." ;) (I'll give you a big fat hug, or a virtual one, if you can get the reference) 

*Dear friends and family who came to see me yesterday: ya'll rock!!!!! I will admit, when I first saw how filled up my house was, I did have a bit of a freak out ;) "All these people are here......for me????" (basic thoughts, honestly). But once I started singing, I was so grateful that you were all here. It was a pleasure sharing my joy with you.

*Dear Italia, I miss you...not gonna lie. I really really really miss you. You changed my life :)

*Dear God, Ok. I'm bedridden, so, I'll get the Bible out. Sorry.... I need to be a better witness than that. Thank you so so so so much for your never ending grace and true love. You're the reason we're all here :) You're the creator of This Journey.

Xoxoxo,
Alexandra Anne

Meet Emily!

Welcome to my first spotlight post! Emily is my new blog friend, and has been such a pleasure to get to know. Since we are each other's July Sponsors, I have written one guest post for her, and will be writing another one soon (check it out on July 18!) and she has written a post for me that will be available July 22 :) To get to know Emily, I asked her some questions :) Check out her place!

Hello, friends! I'm Emmy and I am a city girl, who after graduating college found myself working as a youth minister in a small town. Other than adjusting from the culture shock, you'll most likely find me reading a good novel (probably Harry Potter), writing on my blog or one of my fictional stories, hanging out with my dog, or helping with the local community theatre.

I've been blogging ever since I was 18, but Love Woke Me Up This Morning has been going since 2010. I love blogging because of what an awesome community of people I've been able to be a part of. I've made so many friends and have kept in touch with friends who live farther away. 

What you'll typically find on the blog is basically my random thoughts that pop into my head! I talk about life, faith, my dog, theatre, books, art, crazy adventures I go on, and especially learning how to live love out.

Life out in the "real world" is crazier than I thought it would be, but with a little bit of love and a little bit of coffee, I make it through one day at a time, as I try to figure out what God has in store for me. I would love for you to join me! 

Twitter: @LoveWokeMeUp
Email: lovewokemeupthismorning@gmail.com
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lovewokemeup/


Here's our little interview :)

When did you start blogging and why?-  I started "blogging" when I graduated high school. My friend introduced me to "Xanga" (kinda like Live Journal) and we used it to keep in touch and I got a bunch of my college friends onto it. Then when Facebook came around that died out and I would use the "notes" feature to write blog posts . But about a year ago, maybe two now, I decided to start an official blog. Writing has always been a big part of my life. So the question isn't really "why blog?" but "why not?"

What are your top three favorite cities in the world? -Chicago would be my number one city. It's where I grew up. I love the location, we aren't crazy like LA and we aren't as uptight as people claim NYC is. We have awesome sports, theatre, culture, food. You name it, my city has it. Chicago is my forever boyfriend.

I also love New York. I went there for the first time a few months ago and fell in love. I loved how crazy and busy it was, all of the people, the sights and sounds, the theatre, Times Square. I know for sure that I want to go back.

For the third I'll say London. I've never been there, but they have Harry Potter, Doctor Who, the Beatles, and Andrew Lloyd Webber - so it's gotta be awesome, right?

What's on your top played list on your ipod lately? - I can't stop listening to the soundtracks from Newsies and Once. They are completely amazing.

What is your favorite thing about yourself? -Hmmmm. This is a hard one. I really enjoy people. As annoying and as crazy people are, I love them.

If you could give a piece of advice to other bloggers, what would it be? -Get to know other bloggers! You'll get great ideas and more traffic to your own blog. But even beyond that, you can make some awesome friends from around the world and be part of an awesome community!

Isn't she awesome? Keep an eye out for her post! 

Xoxo, Alexandra Anne

Oops ;)

Day 10 of Life of Love's 15 Day Challenge

What is your most embarrassing moment? 


Oh this one is pretty easy, and of course it involves my mommy. (I love her to death, especially because I have sooooo many stories I can tell about her and our adventures; yeah, we're kind of like Thelma and Louise ;) )

So, we were living in England 8 years ago (golly, that is so strange to realize it's been THAT long; wow!), and we lived about an hour or so from London. On one of our visits we went to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (but yes, it is only a replica because the original burned down long long ago; however, the replica is said to be quite accurate!); my parents met in theatre, of course we're drama nerds who are going to go check out Shakespeare's digs. ;)

It was just the four of us back then: Me, Mom and Dad, and baby Kate (she was only 1, super cute and chubby with baby fat rolls, oh she was adorable!). We decided to take a tour, what better way to get an appreciation for the Globe?

Somehow, in Mom and Alexandra typical fashion, the two of us got separated from our tour group. We found another one, and funnily enough the guide spoke in English AND French. Too bad I didn't know a lick of french back then (nowadays, all I know is a lick, ha!). We didn't seem to mind the bilingual tour, even if it wasn't our group.

Now let me preface this by saying my mom is a true southern lady, and a pretty proper one at that. :)

However. When the tour guide said something about beer, yes beer, my dearest mother said "Yeah!" Oh, did I mention that we were in the back of the group? Yep, the entiiiiiiire group turned around to look at the crazy beer obsessed lady. She made a cute little "oops..." and covered her mouth, while possibly smiling a wee bit. Oh, as a 10 year old kiddo, I was pretty much drop-dead embarrassed. Thank goodness Dad and baby Kate found us soon after! ;)

I love my momma. You can read her blog too! I will hopefully be guesting for her quite soon ;)
Keep an eye out on Emily's place too, as I have just sent her a post for July :)

Would you like to guest post on This Journey of Journeys? Drop me a line! I'd love to have you here!
Have a blessed rest of the week :)

Xoxo, Alexandra Anne