Family Forever: An Introduction (Part 3)

This may be the hardest installment of the introduction series. Where to start? What to tell you? Maybe this part of Where Fashion Meets Life doesn’t need as much explanation? Family is the LIFE part. Let’s start with a little bit of history and see where it goes.

I guess the most logical place to start is with a little bit of personal history.

I was born and raised right here in Mississippi. I have a deep love for this state, and after living in several others, I know that this is home. I graduated from a public high school in Rankin County before heading to Starkville, MS for my Bachelor’s degree. I ended up staying for a Master’s degree before landing in Auburn, AL. After my short tenure as an Equestrian Coach, I completed a PhD in Biomechanics. I won’t get into the nitty gritty, but the Biomechanics Laboratory at Auburn University is where Justin and I “officially” met. I use that word loosely because we were never exactly introduced. I figured out who he was by the process of elimination; he had to ask who I was. We were friends/colleagues for well over a year and worked together on multiple projects as well as had several classes together. In May of 2008, we officially started dating got engaged on Halloween of that same year and married on December 19th. Quick turn around there.

Allow me to digress a moment. Remember those lists we used to make as kids that laid out the “qualities we wanted in a future mate”? Well, there are two that always made my list (1) I never wanted to marry a man with facial hair and (2) I always said I would marry a man who didn’t know anything about horses so that he wouldn’t know enough to ever contradict me. One of those things happened and the other I wouldn’t have any other way. I’ll let you guess which is which. 😉

We went from Auburn to Lafayette, LA where we both worked at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. I have fond memories of Lafayette especially since our oldest daughter was born there in 2011. We left there on her two-month birthday and headed to Morgantown, WV. I talked about this transition a bit in Part 2, so I won’t go into it here. It was a hard time in my life and in our marriage that ended with us moving back to my home state. Best decision ever. By 2015, we were a family of five.

I always said I would never homeschool. Never say never. Here I am with three kids, all homeschooled. It allows us the freedom and flexibility to horse show and travel when we want as well as to sleep late. It can be a bit chaotic and stressful and sometimes (read as daily) I second guess my decision, but I know that it is the right fit for our family for now. I am thankful to live very close to my parents because my mom has stepped up so much to help me with their education.

I always dreamed of owning my own farm with a barn and riding arena; that dream came true in 2018 when we bought Willowbrook Farm. (Read more about my farm background here.) As the kids have gotten older, they play a big part in the everyday success of running our hobby farm. It is truly a family effort with everyone pulling his or her own weight (plus some, usually) to manage it all. The kids don’t know any other way of life, so maybe that makes it easier for them to swallow, ha! Justin is the real MVP here, though. He works all week and then works all weekend on the farm because the to-do list never ends. And, when I cook up something crazy like our annual pumpkin patch, he just goes with it. I really did get the best.

With some background out of the way, I can tell you that the “Family” part of Where Fashion Meets Life is also where the travel pieces fall into place. Core memories from my childhood are built around family trips. I knew I wanted that for my own kids, so Justin and I have made it a priority to take them and go and do. Another piece of the travel puzzle is Destination Date (read more about this here); Justin and I take planned strategic trips without the kids just to invest in each other. Because we enjoy traveling (and eating) so much and in an effort to put down those travels in a lasting sort of way, it seems only fitting to intertwine them here.

As a family we enjoy horse showing, farm life, traveling, pool days, and every day adventures. I hope you’ll enjoy following those adventure because we are family forever.