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Bad Santa
My earliest memory of reading was when I was about 5 years old. I remember it was Christmas time and we went to go see Santa Claus. I remember my older sister was gifted a doll in a cradle and I was gifted a dinosaur book. I remember getting so upset that I started to cry. My mom told me to read the book because it might be a good one, but I didn't want to as I thought dinosaur books were for boys only. -
The Little Red Hen
When I was 6, I remember reading The Little Golden Books. I remember there were many of them, but the Little Red Hen sticks out the most. I would read it and always think how unfair it was that when the little red hen asked the other animals to help her with making bread they all said "No", but when it was made they all wanted to help her eat it. -
Oregon Trail
The first time I used a computer was when I was in the third grade. For good behavior we were awarded time on the computer to play Oregon Trail. I use to think I was so cool being able to play on the computer. Although I wasn't able to do anything, but play Oregon Trail. -
The Boxcar Children
When I was in fourth grade, we use to have a competition who could read all of The Boxcar Children Series. I remember reading the first couple and since I was a slower read all the other kids finished the series before I was able to so I became discouraged and gave up. -
Wednesday Trips to The Library
When I was in elementary school, around 5th grade. My class would go every Wednesday to the library as a class and we would check out books for the week. We would then sit on the carpet in the library while the teacher read a little bit from one of the books a student chose for the week. -
Shel Silverstein
While in middle school the "reading craze" were the books by Shel Silverstein. My friends and I use to all get together and read the books in the tree house. When it got dark out we would get our flash lights and continue reading in the dark until our parents called us in. -
To Kill A Mockingbird
When I was a sophomore in high school I moved from living with my dad to living with my mom. Which meant I had to switch schools. When I switch school we were in the middle of reading To Kill A Mockingbird and when I got to the new school they were just starting to read it. So I was lucky enough to finish it. -
The Jungle Book
When I was a junior in high school I auditioned to be in the play The Jungle Book. For auditions we had to do an interpretive dance and I chose "Like a Bird" by Nelly Furtado. I thought my audition was terrible and that I would never get a part. As bad as I though my audition went I was casted! It took me until the day before opening night to learn my lines. I thought for sure I was going to mess them up. -
The Struggle Was Real
When I was a junior in high school we got our first in home computer. I got my first email address and learned about aol chat! We had dial up and I was only supposed to be on the computer for a few hours as it would tie up our phone line. I remember sneaking out in the middle of the night and chatting with friends until the early morning hour. That was when I first started learning about short hand, such as BRB and TTYL. -
Memorial Day
When I was a senior in High School I was chosen to read The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln at the Memorial Day Celebration. I remember being extremely nervous as I had to read in front of hundreds of people in the park for the celebration. -
Your Secret is Safe With Me
While in the military, we were in Germany doing a field exercise. I wasn't allowed to fraternize with higher ranking personal and vise versa. Knowing me, I don't like to follow the rules all of the time, SO there was a pilot that I was kind of interested in. Since we weren't able to have open conversations we would "borrow" DVD's to each other and hide notes in the cases and exchange them. -
Good Bye Family
When I was in the Army my unit was in the process of deploying to Afghanistan. Our entire unit had to write a "Goodbye" letter to our families as if we were already gone. It took me a week to perfect this letter, and even then I don't think it was what I wanted it to be. It is imaginably hard to write a letter to your loved ones as if you no longer existed and not get sick over it. -
Do Your ABC's Little Brown Bear
After I found out I was pregnant with my daughter and I could feel her moving, I bought a book called Do Your ABC's Little Brown Bear. While she was still in the womb I would read this book to her every night. After she was born for the 1st year I would continue to read the book to her every night before bed. -
Teaching Hailey to Read
When my daughter was five I would sit down with her and help her sound out her letters. One day she decided to read me and our dog. It felt so good to hear her read after the months we spent practicing sounding out words. -
Writing Valentines Day Cards
I decided the best way to help my daughter learn to write would be to have her write her valentines day cards out for the kids in her class. We sat down for about 2 hours and we went letter by letter for every child in her class spelling out all of their names on their cards. When we were finished she was so proud that she wrote them out with my help. -
Feeling Illiterate
One time in my life that I felt illiterate was when I got a job at HP working for Provider Service. I had to take incoming calls from doctors and their offices about Medicaid policies and covered services. There times I would be reading them exerts from the online handbook and I would come across medical terms that I could not pronounce nor did I know what they meant. It made me feel illiterate and embarrassed. -
Elf on a Shelf
One Christmas I introduced my daughter to Elf on a Shelf. I would have to come up with things that the elf would do for her. In doing so I had to come up with writings that the elf would leave her. Sometimes I was able to be creative and other times not so much. Although the more creative I was the more she liked the elf. -
A Christmas Carol
After a long break from acting I decided tryout again. In 2015 I auditioned for a role in A Christmas Carol. I was casted as Caroline and my boyfriend played my husband in the show. The show was supposed to be done with a British accent, but I did such a bad job during rehearsal the director begged me to just do the lines like I would normally talk. -
Louis Armstrong
The first paper of my college career was for my Jazz History and Appreciation class. While the professor was explain that he would accept the paper in either MLA or APA format I was quietly dieing inside. I had no clue what APA or MLA were. When I turned in my paper about Louis Armstrong it was in a made up format of my own. Luckily I still received a B on it. -
Its a Snap Chat Thing
The funniest learning experience for me was learning how to use snap chat. I didn't understand why the photos only lasted a few seconds and why we could only use so many characters to write. I definitely learned how to be creative with my writing in order to get what I wanted to say across to my reader with only a few characters. THEN they brought out the filters, those things are amazing and funny.
