#Blessed

I could never tell you all the things that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving because there is just too many, but I will try and give you a little hint.

I am thankful that...

God woke me up this morning.
I have a roof over my head and lovely people I share it with.
I have food to put in my body to stay healthy.
I am healthy and able to exercise every day.
I will graduate college with $0 of student loans. ( I love you, dad)
I have a mother who I can call about everything from cat scratches to a broken heart.
I have a family who loves me unconditionally and who I can count on.
My brother is serving his country and protecting our freedom.
My friends, even though I can count them on all my fingers, are always there for me, whether it be to listen to my problems (all trivial), hear about my triumphs, or cheer me on.
I have guy friends who give great advice (girls and guys CAN be just friends)
I never quit cheerleading in high-school, showing me how tough I can be and that quitting is not the answer.
My oldest sister found the love of her life, I have never seen her so happy.
I have the most beautiful niece, who I love watching grow up and who brings a smile to everyone's face she meets.
I grew up in Carmel, Indiana, one of the best places to live in the United States.
I have the opportunity to move either across the country or stay where I am when it comes to finding an internship/job after graduation.
I adopted Maisy(my kitten), who I love so much and has kept her mommy sane while going through college.
& the list just goes on and on...

I hope your Thanksgiving is spent enjoying the company of your loved ones and you find a reason to be thankful today, and everyday, for that matter.

Thank you for this beautiful picture of my family, Lexi Mathioudakis the photographer behind doodleshots.com

Veterans Day

My brother is the type of person who never studied for tests and still got an A, the type of smart I always wish I was. During my vacation this summer when we went to visit him in Florida, he spent hours helping me understand calculus the day before my midterm when he even had a huge exam coming up himself. He hadn't seen this material in years & years yet he sat there, looked at it for a couple minutes and would be able to explain exactly what was going on in a way that I could understand.  And I sat there amazed and feeling so appreciative of the person he is.

He is an amazing father to a beautiful little girl at a young age, the best brother I could have asked for and an Airman that the Air Force is lucky to have.

It makes me smile every time I get a call from him cause he usually is just calling to waste time on his way to a meeting or just had a couple minutes to spare. I love to hear about all the training he is going through, to me it is so fascinating, and I think even higher of him when I hear it. There is nothing in the world like what our service men go through.

I have always appreciated the men who have served our country, especially having one grandfather in the Marines and the other in the Air Force. But my brother joining made his sacrifice for our freedom even more special. I love him and am so proud of all the things he has accomplished. I dread the day he deploys but will be sending my prayers everyday for a safe return. And lots and lots of letters if that is possible.

I am thankful for each and every person who has served our country and given me the freedom I have today. 

 My grandpa, the Marine :)

 

 My grandpa, The Airman :)

And not pictured is my brother, safety reasons and all.

I love you all.

Dale Hollow Lake --- Fall Break

Danielle and I met freshman year of college when I joined a club for my major: Professional Tourism and Management Club. We had a bunch of classes together and later became board members for our club together. We have gotten along pretty well since then and decided to live together for our last year at IU.

Well, her awesome fam has a houseboat on Dale Hollow Lake in Tennessee. And it was so cool. I had never seen one before, an actual house on water. Kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, living room, A PORCH...

& here's the view from my bedroom.. of course I would wake up hours before Danielle would, but this wasn't bad to look at until she did.

Because it was October, it was a little chilly most of the time we were there but the sun did shine enough for us to break out the swim suits at least twice.

We "parked" the boat by about 7 others, on the shore. Each morning a family would make breakfast and we hung out by the fire and ate. Usually we would walk around the shore then and look for shells and geodes. During the day everyone just kind of did their own thing. We spent a lot of time sitting on the roof, listening to music and catching whatever rays we could. When it rained we usually watched a movie or tv show..Did I mention no wifi? Probably a good thing. They did surprisingly have cable which was life saving during the downpour we had one day.

We took boat rides on their little fast boat ( I have no clue the terms for these types of boats ) and I even got to drive which was pretty fun. Couldn't wipe the smile off my face.

One night her dad called in to the doc so we could get pizza for dinner ( I know I'm not supposed to eat pizza--cheese-- but I did it anyway) he just took off in the lil boat and was back within 10 minutes. That's the life isn't it?! Riding your speed boat to go get dinner....I could get used to that. 

And while Danielle and I usually went to bed before midnight, the parents stayed up until the morning partying. Good for them! At my weee age of 20 these guys were a lot better at "partying" than I am (grandma). 

Kale?

Because it was National Kale Day last week...

Here's a funny video my sister's husband showed me that I definitely recommend watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcI7jgkwdCM  (lol worthy)

Sweater Season

Best time to buy sweaters: Summer.

A $70 sweater for $20 at Urban Outfitters...score for me.

Courtney Sinclair Photography

There's this amazing society on Facebook called the Rising Tide Society, and it is a bunch of (mostly) women, who are small business owners, event planners, photographers and "creatives." I had never heard of the 'movement' until my older sister (who is a small business owner, herself) told me that I had to join even though I did not have my blog up and running at the time.

I introduced myself to the group while I was at lunch with my mom and sister and right away people were responding with "nice to meet you" or "can't wait to see your blog" and definitely brought a smile to my face. Something special about this group is that they promote community over competition. Everyone in the group is so willing to help, and give advice to one another. The day I launched my blog, I posted on there about the launch and welcomed constructive criticism.

SO anyway before I start rambling...

A women named Courtney Sinclair, who is also a part of the Rising Tide Society, checked out my blog when it launched and noticed that I was at school at IU in Bloomington, IN and made the comment to me that she did too! She mentioned taking some pictures of me and I just thought that was her being nice and that it would probably never happen.

Then a week later I got a Facebook message from her. And I freaked. I was so happy, and I hadn't even read the message yet. And once I read it I was even happier. She asked if I would do a little modeling for a lifestyle shoot she wanted to do. OF COURSE I WILL!!

We met up at Starbucks and got to know each other a little bit better than just from Facebook. Then we got to shooting, and I didn't even feel awkward with people walking by. And I'm not gonna lie, I love having my picture taken so I loved her already! She even let me look through the raw images before we left that day! I am so happy with how they turned out and it was pretty cool getting photographed by a professional.

To view the whole gallery: http://client.courtneysinclair.com/allisonkerr/

Colorado is calling & I must go

A month ago I took my first every road trip to Denver, Colorado. It was probably the most spontaneous thing I have ever done considering we booked our trip a week ahead of time. I have been to Florida, the Carolina's, Virginia and majority of the states of the Eastern half of America other than the states up north like New York and Maine (& many more). But I had never been West of Indiana before this, and man was I missing out. I have seen the Appalachian Mountains many times, but they are no comparison to the Rockies.

I was star-struck by the mountains, with probably 200+ pictures from inside the car. Once we got to Colorado, Denver was our home base but over the course of the 4 days we visited Breckenridge, Morrison (Red Rocks Amphitheater) and the Rocky Mountain National Park.

I had a Pinterest board full of hikes, shopping and things that were a "must do" in Denver. We packed as much as we could into these 4 unforgettable days.

On the top of almost every list I "pinned" was the Red Rocks Amphitheater only a little bit outside Denver, in Morrison. Everything I read beforehand said that even if there were no concerts going on at the time, it was still a place to visit. With all the concerts that week sold out, we went the second day early in the afternoon. There were people with their dogs going on hikes, people doing yoga, and people like me, taking pictures. First of all, those RED ROCKS were incredible! They were everywhere, some so tall I couldn't even get a picture of the whole rock. And, it is not just a concert venue, but there are miles and miles of hiking around the area.

And this is my room mate for my last year at IU. The main reason for our trip out here was to visit her sister who just recently moved out there.

The third day, we went to the ski-town of Breckenridge. It was a beautiful, ear popping, two hour drive from Denver. We spent the morning walking around the shops downtown determined to find the perfect Colorado sweatshirt (lots of tourist-y shops there). I even ended up with a super-cute cultured Colorado coffee mug (when I say cultured, I mean weed leafs all over). I figured that was the classiest thing I could buy, because I had to buy something with that on it, how could I not being in this state.

Then we went to Summit Reservoir where I completely fell in love with this state. The mixture of mountains and water was breathtaking. I am even surprised that the pictures on my phone were mine, they were so pretty.

For our last day we made it to the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was the middle of the day and most of the hot spots were full with signs flashing that said "come back around 4pm" but nobodies got time for that. So, we pulled into the nearest parking area of course with a mountain view. We just walked up the side of the mountain until we found the perfect trees to hang my hammock from.  In retrospect, I wish we would have done a little more actual hiking but I wouldn't take back a single thing that we got to do.

And I think I should mention how two poor college kids made a cross country trip affordable. Since my room mate and I both work for hotels, we got every night for under $50. And if you know anything about how expensive hotel rooms are, $50 is pretty amazing for upper class hotels. We split gas, filling up the tank every other time. And we ate out everyday and still kept our food budget within $40 a day (for the whole day). Luckily, we didn't have to pay for things like a Rocky Mountain pass because her sister already had one. We also got into the Denver Botanical Gardens for free because of her sister. So that was pretty nice. I was happy to cut the cost of this trip down anywhere I could. Because even though we saved money wherever we could, it still wasn't cheap. But the memories are worth it to me and I can't wait to go back one day. And maybe even live there, you never know, the world is my oyster.