Mother's Day

Today is, you guessed it, Mother's Day.  I'm sure myself and plenty of other bloggers out there are dedicating today's post to our mothers.  To me it seems fitting and appropriate and this is one of the ways I'm celebrating my mom today.

My mom is basically my hero.  In tenth grade we had to do a "Most Influential Person" project and while some people did presidents or other important figures I chose my mom because I would literally not be where I am today without her.  But my mom's helpfulness in giving me life is not the end of her greatness.  My mom has taught me a lot in my 22 years and I'm sure she's not done yet but I've realized since I've started living in my own apartment that she's taught me more than I ever thought.

I can clearly remember her teaching me to read and write my name and later teaching me how to drive but since I started living on my own I've realized that she indirectly taught me things too.  I was always afraid that when I moved into my own place that I wouldn't know how to do anything that I hadn't previously been taught.  My mom never explicitly taught me how to cook or that I need to eat somewhat healthy foods on a daily basis but somehow I find myself cooking and eating regularly.  My mom never taught me what to do when your cat pukes on the floor but the first time he did it I cleaned it up and employed the exact same method I now realize my mom used a ton of times with our pets.

I also remember saying time and time again that I will never be like my mother but I'm pretty much a clone of my mother.  Most likely it's a culmination of genes and the way she raised me but if Kyle doesn't fold the towels the way my mom taught me to I kind of get mad and then re-fold the towels in the exact same way my mom does.  I find myself doing a lot of things the way my mom does them and I really can't imagine ever changing them.  I see it as the only way to do things right even if there are clearly other ways that work.  I will always do things  my way/my mom's way.

One thing I can't do is make spaghetti like my mom.  I've tried to make it the same way she does and it never turns out right.  Maybe I'll get it someday and maybe I won't.  Maybe I'll always think my spaghetti sucks and have to go back to mom just to have good spaghetti.  And maybe there's something like that with all moms, there's always a reason you have to go back just so you can have it the way moms make it.

This post feels kind of choppy to me, probably because there are so many things I want to say about my mom.  I love my mom to death, she's my best friend and I can't imagine what I'd do if I didn't have her.  I love you mom.  Happy Mother's Day and Happy Sunday!

Some more of that sweet nostalgia.

Where is home?

In the past 4 or so years I've asked myself this question over and over.  Where is Home?  I don't actually know for sure and I don't know if I ever will again.  I'm sure you've heard countless people say, "Home is where the heart is".  And yes that's probably true.  But what happens when you don't know where your heart is?

Little kid drawings always speak to my nostalgic side.

When I was little my heart was in one place.  Millsboro, PA.  That's where I grew up.  I lived with my mom and dad and siblings as they came along.  My grandparents lived across the street and my cousins a.k.a. best friends lived close by and eventually moved to Millsboro as well.  That was home for 15 years.  I knew nothing else and I didn't want to know anything else.  It was pretty much perfect.

When my dad died in 2005 we still lived in Millsboro but things got weird because dad wasn't there and things started feeling less like home but if I would have been asked I still would have said that Millsboro was my home.  We then moved to Coal Center which is a pretty okay place and I started college and I started feeling more displaced.  We were still in between houses and I didn't know which one to call home.  I later started dating Kyle and staying at his house and I became even more confused.  Kyle's family felt like a new addition to my family almost immediately and I spent a lot of time at his house in our two years at Penn State Fayette because it was convenient and it was where I wanted to be.

I now have an apartment that I live in for the majority of the year in State College.  While I'm in State College I frequently call the apartment home but I don't think State College will ever be "home".  I like it there for the most part but for me it's definitely a place of transition not a place to settle down.

With all of these different places to call home I can't actually think of a place that I can permanently designate that way.  Sometimes it's State College, sometimes it's where ever Kyle is, sometimes it's Coal Center with my family and sometimes it's still Millsboro because that was the most perfect time in my life.  I had 15 years of "normalcy" in Millsboro and then it was all taken away from me and I haven't yet had another period in life where there has been consistency so forgive me if I still want to call a place I haven't been to in months "home".

Sorry for the sappiness, sometimes it just has to be that way.  Happy Saturday!

Family, my most important thing.

Recently I was asked to consult with someone on wedding cake prices, yeah I'm super excited and the lovely lady that I'll be talking to in about a week asked if I could bring pictures of my previous work.  Of course I can, I document all of my baking adventures but while I was going through my pictures on my computer I also found a treasure trove of pictures of my family that I didn't even know were on my hard drive.  These new found gems are the inspiration for today's post, Family.

Family is probably the most important thing in the world to me.  When I was 15 my dad passed away in a boating accident and as family oriented as I was before, the loss of my father increased my appreciation for my family ten fold.  Another turning point in my life so far was moving away to college.  Here in State College I am 150 miles away from home, sometimes it's nice but sometimes I miss them more than I could ever describe.  I've mentioned before that I have a huge family well now you can meet them all.

This is, as the kids like to call her, Nan George.

Above you can see my beautiful mother.  This woman gave life to me 22 years ago and I couldn't be more thankful.  Mother's Day is coming up so I'm sure we'll talk about her in more depth then but I love my mom and I hope to be a great mom and human being like her one day.

Dad

That's the best picture I could find of my dad on my sister's Facebook page.  I don't have very many pictures up here because A. I didn't want to lose them and B. sometimes I'm lazy and I didn't want to dig them out.  But that's my dad, John Bodnar, on a beach with my sister.  My dad was integral into shaping the person I am today.  I have a great work ethic thanks to both of my parents but I blame my love of Oreos and cartoons on my dad.  There's not a day that goes by where I don't think about him.  I miss him very much as you can imagine.  One day when I get all of my photos together I'll make a post all about him.

This Character

Edward George is another important man in my life.  He's my step-dad and he never fails to make me laugh. I wasn't always crazy about him becoming a part of my life but 5 years later I've decided I think I'll keep him.    He makes my mom happy and he helps put a roof over our heads but mostly he makes us laugh and you always need a person like that in your life.  I love him dearly.

My Little Sister

My sister, Mercedes, she's 19 but she probably thinks she's 25.  I love her to death and we haven't quite gotten to the point in our lives where we've realized how important it is to have a sister (boys are more important) but I'm sure we're almost there.  I haven't always liked her, from age 5-16 we weren't the greatest friends but now we get along pretty well plus we're stuck with each other. 

My Littlest Sister

Julia Jean, I knew she wouldn't appreciate it if I used an unflattering picture of her, I think this one is pretty decent.  Julia is 13 and a drama queen she's just now getting to the point in life where she's not totally annoying.  She dances and cheers and in my opinion she's great at both.  Of course I love her as well and she's turning out to be a beautiful young lady.

My mini Me

This is Elton, I like to call him my mini me.  Obviously he's not an EXACT replica, he's a boy, but he reminds me a lot of myself.  He's super smart, he's tried almost every sport possible and he wants to go to Penn State.  Now I didn't KNOW that I wanted to go to Penn State but the fact that he wants to go to the same school that I'm going to tickles me to death.  I love this little guy and he's growing up to be quite the little gentleman, he even has a girlfriend!

The Baby

This is Evan the baby of the family and even though he'll be 5 in August we still call him Baby and I probably always will.  When my mom got pregnant with him I was angry, there was no need for another kid in our already gigantic family.  He came anyways and I was there in the delivery room and I love him so much.  He's another one that I miss a lot when I'm not home for awhile but as soon as I get there and we play 10 million games of memory match I start to not miss him as much.  He's going to Kindergarten in the fall and in my opinion he's growing up too fast.

I also have two step-siblings, Jake and Jenna.  I can't find any good pictures of them on my computer though.  They are however in the family portrait on my About Me page.  They've been a part of my family for 5 years but  I still don't know them too well probably because Jenna lives with her mom and Jake isn't around very often.  All in all they're pretty good kids and I love them too.

My extended family includes Kyle and his parents and his brother.  When I'm home I spend just as much time with them as I do at my house.  In the past 3 years I've definitely come to be able to call them family.

I also, just like everyone else, have grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins but that would make for one very long post.  As if this one isn't long enough already.

Happy Thursday!