Not Alone Series: Britt's Survey!

Britt emailed us a few weeks ago with the idea to do a survey of sorts and I was so excited. These surveys bring me back to the days of email chain surveys...ahh fond memories :)

But really, I think it's a great way for us to get to know one another better!

And you be forewarned, I'm a big fan of over-explaining.

Heeeeere we gooooo!

1. Age

I am a ripe ol' age of 23 :)

2. Area of country (be as specific or vague as your comfort levels allow :)

I'm preeetty sure if you poked around in my various social media accounts, you'd find my exact location, but for now I'll say Central Illinois. I was raised about an hour outside of Chicago and did my undergrad at ISU.

3. # of previous relationships (....as in, at least "FB official")

Well, if we're only going with FB offish, then I have been in two relationships. Although the first wasn't FB offish because I didn't have FB until freshman year of college and we dated my senior year of high school.

Maybe I'll write more sometime about my past relationships/what I learned (I just realized that I haven't really talked about them) ...but basically it's been a little over 3 years since my last relationship.

4. What do you do with your life? School? Work? Both? Neither?

I graduated from college with my degree in Psychology in 2012 and was offered a job exactly a week later :)
I currently work full-time in the Pro-Life movement (though I choose to refrain from saying which organization I work for)

5. What's your family like? (let's see some pics!)

Ahhhh my family. They're great. I'm the eldest of 4 kids, 2 boys and 2 girls. I did a series on them back when I first started blogging. 

post-mass photo op

It's me, Tommy (21), Michael (20), and Tara (17).

PS I'm the shortest in my fam at 5'10''
L to R: Michael, Morgan, Tara, Tommy

My parents are fabulous too and we as a family are super tight-knit.
(our initials go as such: JJMTMT...pretty funny :)

But that's just my immediate family. We're also really close with both sides of my extended family. 

My dad is the youngest of 8 kids and we're blessed to be close with our aunts, uncles, and cousins. 

This is most of my Dad's side...we're missing one of my cousins and her family.

And my mom is the eldest of 3 and her family...oh man, they're crazy. Like in the best way possible.

this is from 2011, but it's the most recent group pic we've got!
and we're missing one of my cousins and his family :(

cousin tradition! squeeze on Granny's couch!
little Lilly is the first great-grandchild! she's a doll!

Uncle Tom is who we get all the crazy genes from...

But I think one of the things I love most about my family is that we know our extended family. That's one thing that's always been important to my parents. I know my great-aunts and uncles on both sides as well as my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc cousins. We not only know our extended extended family, but we're close with them, too!
And we LOVE family vacations and we LOVE family reunions and we LOVE family holidays.
Some people tolerate their families...we soak time up with them as often as possible :)

P.S. both of my brothers are single, soooo if you're interested...jkjk. kind of. ;)

6. How did your parents meet? (let's hear the story!!)

My parents met on a blind date set up by my great-grandmother.
No joke.

Some background knowledge: my great-grandpa died when my mom was 12 but my great-grandma remarried when she was in her 60s and my (step)great-grandpa was the only one I ever knew. He had 3 sons so when they married, my mom inherited (step)uncles and some (step)aunts (therefore my step great uncles and aunts).

You're welcome for the family history. You'll need it later.

So my mom was living with my GGs after she graduated from college and earned some extra cash by cleaning for her (step)aunt. While dusting the family photos, she asked who one of the guys was and jokingly asked if he was single because he was kinda cute. Turns out my aunt had a younger (and single!) brother. My aunt talked to GGma and she thought it was a GREAT idea. Grandma had met Dad all of maybe two times, but she knew he was cute and polite, so hey, what else do you need?

Before they went out for the first time, my GGpa was talking my dad up with all sorts of flattery...
"he's a good Catholic boy!" .... "he's got a good job!" ... "he likes to play cards!"

That last one reeeeally got my mom thinking he was a winner ;)

So aaaaanyway, my dad drove up from Chicagoland to Milwaukee where my mom was living and they danced all night...literally.
Because the bars never closed. You just lifted your feet up for them to sweep underneath.

**CURSE YOU IL WITH YOUR 2AM LAST-CALLS!!!!**

Which would explain why they were out until 4AM "talking".

At which point my dad drove my mom home and my GGma was up waiting for her.
Since he was a scaredy cat, Dad didn't walk Mom up to the door, but she understood.
GGma was scary when she was mad.

But they both knew that it was love and 2 years later, they wed!
Which then turned my mom's great aunt into her sister-in-law. It's not weird if you know the story.

And that, folks, is why I would never turn down a blind date set-up...sometimes it works out!

7. Confirmation saint name and why (if you were Catholic at that point in your journey)

I made my confirmation during my sophomore year of high school (normal for our parish) and I chose St. Cecilia as my confirmation saint name. I chose her, first because I love music and second because Cecelia is my maternal grandmother's middle name.

8. Favorite Gospel?

Ok, I'll be honest...I don't really have one. I love them all and haven't ever done a study of the Gospels so I'm not biased. But I do love John 3:16 so I'll choose John :)

9. What are the top three qualities you're looking for in a husband? (who knows, maybe one of us has a cousin or friend to connect you with! ;)

haha I love this question and the reasoning behind it! Can we assume that "Catholic" is a given? I'm going to say so :) ...with that out of the way, my top three qualities are:

1. He must be kind and affectionate

Hopefully this is self-explanatory...but authentic kindness is so important as well as affection. Maybe these two qualities don't naturally go hand in hand, but I guess I've always associated them with one another.

2. He must be intelligent

I've dated guys before who couldn't carry on a conversation about anything but sports...he doesn't have to be a rocket scientist, but I want to be able to rant about autism theories or philosophical topics and for him to be able to keep up AND contribute!

3. He must be tall (at least 6'0'')

Maybe this sounds superficial, but it's important to me...thus far, I haven't been attracted to shorter guys. Plus, I think there's a certain comfort that comes with being with a guy who you know can protect you...shouldn't have to be the other way around.

10. If you've done online dating, do you have any advice or experiences to share?

I've never done online dating, but I would say it's important to be 100% honest and upfront with what you're looking for. That way, people know exactly what they're going to get. (ex: being upfront about looking for a chaste relationship, etc.)

11. Tweetable single-lady advice (140 characters or less of what you'd say to other single ladies)

seek to become the most authentic YOU you can be. seek to be happy AS YOU ARE. seek to live in the NOW. seek to soak in TODAY. #NAS
— Morgan McFarlin (@thatprolifegirl) August 27, 2013

12. What is your favorite thing to do outside of blogging and work/school?

Fact about me: I don't just have one favorite, so I can't narrow this down. Outside of work, there's not much free time (since my hours are usually late morning-ish to 9 or 10PM) and when I'm not having major writers block (read: almost always), most of my free time is writing posts. BUT I have hobbies! I do.

I like to sew. I LOVE to read (with no internet in my apt, I read 3 books last week). I like crafts...painting things and such. I like to cook and bake. I like to sing and jam with people (I was in a worship band in college).

BUT really, if I have a bunch of free time, I love hanging out with my friends. Especially ones with babies. And more often than not, I spend my free weekends helping my friends do something in their homes...usually painting, but I am also a GREAT caulk-er. As if on cue for this post, Sunday night I painted said baby-having friend's kitchen.
It was great.

Answer these questions and link-up with us over at Jen's!

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Next week's topic:

Peace

Where do you find it and how do you keep it?

(inspired by Jen's Follow the Peace post)

8/13: Should/can women pursue men?
What do you think? Any and all perspectives welcome!!!