Entry One / Introducing Ari

First of all, thanks for being such a sweet human who is taking the time out of your day to get to know me, and support me. At the end of the day, my goal is to help as many people as I can with what I've learned on my own journey, and to create a genuine community of friends via the internet, that I would call my friends in real life. I am shooting for “diary” vibes (:

Second of all, let me just tell you guys this right now… 2023 is your year and idc what anyone says.. YOU DESERVE IT. You deserve the best people surrounding you, you deserve the best health, you deserve to be loved, you deserve to chase your dreams no matter what anyone has to say (especially the ones that make you feel less than because you choose a different path). Let me remind you, you were not meant to be like everyone else on this earth, CRAZY right?! Everyone around us (I'm definitely guilty of this) wants to be like someone else, or trade lives with someone else, or look like someone else.. NO MA’AM because we need YOU here.. God made you to live out a specific purpose (which you might not figure out until you’re 25) but hey that’s okay. God made you to be individually beautiful in your own special way. No one is you, and that is powerful. Your story? yeah it’s going to change the world, whether that is 100 people’s life you're touching or 1,000,000. You will change someone’s life by sharing your story.

Learn to embrace your personal journey, and promise me you’ll give your all during it, okay? Life can be so hard and make you feel like nothing works out, or the effort isn’t worth it, but remember that you’re always making progress (little progress is still exciting). One of my favorite ways to work through tough days is to literally get outside barefoot and walk in the grass, get grounded and connected and just think. Super simple right? but it works for me everytime. Put the phone away and take some time to connect with yourself, get some sunshine on your face (and if it's snowing.. i'm sorry) Some days it feels like everyone and everything is against you, but when you have God, trust that you’re never alone and you can go through whatever has been thrown at you. Stand strong honey <3 Ari

NOW I'll introduce myself.. Hi friends - My name is Arianna but definitely just call me Ari because everyone does (i honestly love my nickname) I will spare you every detail of my chaotic life (just for now) and we can go over the craziness later, so I don’t scare you away. One of my personal goals for myself that I didn’t talk about or share with anyone (not even on my insta stories) is to be honest. Not implying that I lie a lot or something but to genuinely be honest with myself, I feel like it can be so easy to lie to ourselves and I find myself so guilty of this and it always causes more pain than anything, so I want all of you reading this to try and be more honest with yourself too (you deserve it) but my goal with sharing that is to let everyone know that this blog with be full of honesty. I feel like this is the base of relationships, friendships and so much more, so my first step is to address that in hopes to gain all of your friendships somewhere along this blog journey of mine and to keep it real. That's all. I love each and every one of you and I can’t wait to connect in so many special ways, I can feel God putting this on my heart as I type right now.

I was born in Pensacola, Fl in 1998 (hi, I feel old now) and I moved around quite a bit growing up with divorced parents (they split while I was still a baby) and I never really felt like I had a place ya know? I had 3 elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. I am sure some of you can relate in the way that you never had that “group” of friends you grew up with or the “hometown” where everyone knew you. This is definitely not a pity party (I'm happy as can be with where I am in life, God is always working) BUT it’s a part of getting to know me. I have two beautiful sisters, and I am the oldest. I was in Florida until I finished 7th grade and I found out we were moving to Oklahoma (excuse me what?!) “We” is me and my middle sister.. and I quite literally thought it was the end of the world.. ya know teenager things but also I think I had finally felt some kind of sense of normal just as we had to up our lives again… when mom marries military man. All I remember wanting growing up was that feeling of “home” so you can understand the sadness a kid has. I remember starting 8th grade and kind of holding this weird grudge to everyone that tried to be nice to me and make me feel welcome, like I legit had this “I am too good to be here” mentality and wow did I need God to shake me, but I was still a teenager learning about her feelings and what life was going to look like now. Now please never read my blogs and think “wow she must  hold a grudge against her family etc” because absolutely not. The past is the past for a reason and God always has a plan. I love everyone in my life, I’ve always been a gentle, caring, sensitive, sappy, emotional girly etc etc (you get the point). Fast forward, I loved Oklahoma and everyone here is actually so nice and gives you that sense of home. I always told people that was one of my first impressions compared to back home in Florida. I made it through high school just kinda doing the bare minimum, was a part of athletic training and track (to try and find my place) and I loved them both but still never felt like I belonged but we made it through and I would say genuinely happy and content. I moved out of my home right before I graduated, and then moved on to college (the typical “normal” thing to do) Little did I know then, that I wasn’t meant to do the normal thing. I constantly felt like I didn’t know who I was or what I believed in or what I even wanted to do (while drowning myself in student loans) just because I felt like I had to, to please people in my life. Don’t do this please.. do what you feel is right for you. Now there is also a part of you that might not have any clue what to do, and you’re okay with the guidance or the push to do something. It’s when you feel forced, like you have to make yourself seem like something you’re not. The right people will love and support you and want you around, in their life no matter what you do for a living or if you attended college, TRUST me. I support you! I think the takeaway from this section can be grace, give yourself grace to grow up and learn what you are meant to pursue.. and we usually just have to learn along the way. We change our minds, take multiple paths, give up and it’s all okay and apart of the journey. A few “college” moment’s that I cherished even though I never really felt like I enjoyed it were 1) trying out for a D2 college sport and making it?! lol idk how but man I put my head in it and I worked my BUTT OFF. It was a tough part of my life and mentally I was struggling but the experience was amazing, I pushed myself to limits I didn’t think I had. GROWTH baby. 2) I experienced not living on campus.. BUT being apart of a sorority. It was fun and everything but yeah i’ll leave that there (I dislike the sense of “popular” that came along with it, being chosen or not, and making the “top” sorority) IMO it’s not healthy for any woman (yes, I know a lot of good comes from within the sororities but again.. my opinion) Just know that with God, you are ALWAYS chosen. Regardless, I met some amazing people along the way! 3) I decided to leave college. YEP. that’s it. College can absolutely be for some of you, and that is wonderful. College might not be for some of you, and that is absolutely just as wonderful. You want to know why? Because you were meant to be doing something else amazing!

During my college period, I decided I wanted to leave after one semester and move back to Florida with my dad, and I did just that. During that time, I really felt like I was understanding myself more and growing a lot but the work you do on yourselves takes a long time, so remember that. I broke one of my own rules that I just shared with you guys, and chose to move back to Oklahoma for a silly reason that didn’t serve me in any way. Not saying mistakes aren’t okay because you probably learned something right? I convinced myself I had valid reasons to move back, when in reality (my dad knew the whole time) the real reason was for a boy that I thought was the forever boy. In the midst of this, I do still have a favorite part. Joining crossfit, and THIS was the moment I finally had that sense of “I belong here” feeling.. I was confident in myself and I just had this sense of home. All the relationships were genuine and caring. It wasn’t like the school teams that you try out for and make it or not, because everyone here was welcome and treated equally. We were all “athletes” . I'll never forget this “box”, where I fell in love with fitness.  So I fell in love with crossfit and continued it off and on for a while. ANYWAYS back to the boy.. he wasn’t the one (silly Ari) but I ended up staying in Oklahoma this time for good and I’ve been here ever since. I truly do love this state. Fun facts: it’s actually the slowest and cheapest state to live in. I did think their were tumbleweeds here but there aren’t.. maybe in another part but not where I live (I always thought that before I moved here) LOL

Super fast forward through a lot of partying, being wild, making questionable decisions, and continuing to try and find my “why” in life.. I met the man of my dreams that God had purposely placed along my path. I think that deserves its own diary entry though. Me and Mikey have been together since Feb 2020, and got engaged in August 2022.

Some other special moments before I met Mikey:

October 2016: Me and my dad started a tradition where we go to the Florida Georgia football game together in Jacksonville (SO FUN BUT CRAZY) we bonded quite a bit over football as I loved football growing up. We have broken our tradition the past few years but plan to continue it (no matter how much it hurts to watch most years) . He is a Georgia fan, and I am a Florida fan.

November 2017: I started being a nanny for a family, and still to this day was my favorite job. I’ve spent the majority of my jobs being a teacher at daycares, being a nanny, and babysitting on the side. I love kiddos, and cannot wait to have my own family (this also deserves it’s own diary entry)

June 2018: I got my first puppy, and I can’t believe she’s been in my life for 5 years coming up in April… Dog’s are such a blessing. She flew with me to Florida every time I went for the holidays etc (spoiled girl) and I forgot to mention I named her after Tim Tebow… I still get made fun of for this but we like being different around here. 

January 2019: 21. I don’t remember the majority, but I did get kicked out of a club.

March 2019: I had my first actual “spring break” trip. WILD Ari was very much a thing. We love looking back and appreciating the growth!

May 2019: Went to see Ariana Grande in concert.. alone. It was obviously not the smartest decision but that wasn’t the point, as I decided at the last minute to go. I did something alone and was still happy, which was rare for me at this point.  Alone time is so important, especially the older you get. I really value my alone time now.

July 2019: This might not sound special but to me it still is. I traveled with a guy that I was with at the time to let my dad meet him and we spent a few days together in Georgia during the fourth of July for a Braves baseball game. This was the first time my dad had met someone seriously..so maybe kinda scary? Obviously that relationship didn’t workout but it’s still a special memory in my brain.

December 2019: I was emotionally, and mentally broken from my relationship the last two years. I decided to end it, as this was best for both of us. A calm, easy, healthy break up. I was just so proud of myself because I knew this needed to happen much sooner, but I stayed and I tried and I gave so much (too much) and was left with nothing at all. Ladies, so many of us go through these relationships and man is it so hard to stand up and say “im done”. No one really knew how damaging this relationship was for me until after and I think I still struggle to this day because of events that went on during these years. I learned so much though. I finally knew what I didn’t deserve.

December 2019: I met mikey. Unpopular opinion but it wasn’t “too soon”.

If you made it this far, ILY and we will chat more in the next diary entry. talk soon.

♡ Ari

02/27/2023