Blizzard Bloghop 2010: Meet 'n' Greet

Household6 Diva is hosting a Meet & Greet bloghop. Head on over to her blog to join in the fun.

My name is Amanda and I was born and raised in Mt. Pleasant, MI. Many people are surprised to find out that I was raised on the back of a Harley :) My family really didn't travel too much but we spent a lot of time camping and domestic vacations, such as Cedar Point and Disney World. I have a younger sister and younger brother. I was deeply involved in the band program in high school. I played flute/piccolo and was involved in Wind Ensemble, Full Orchestra, Pep Band, Marching Band, Pit Orchestra, and Winterguard. The first photo is me (on the left) and my BFF after one of our Winterguard performances when I was a sophomore. The second is me (on the right) and my younger sister at my last Memorial Day parade when I was a senior in high school.




After I graduated from high school I attended Central Michigan University and earned a BS in BA with a Management Information Systems major. After I graduated from college in 2000 I moved to New York City. My reasoning for this move could fill a whole other blog post :). Long story short is that I needed a change in scenery and since visiting NYC in June 2000 I knew that's where I needed to be. I ended up befriening two other MidWestern transplants through a friend of a friend and we were all roomies for 5 years. This photo was taken in 2002. That's me on the left, Michelle in the middle, and Nicci on the right. We are still very close today.





I met Freddy in 2005 through Match.com. Yes, we are one of the online dating success stories :) He's been a member of the Army for the past 19 years and is currently Army National Guard. We were married 10/25/2008 and currently live in Jersey City, NJ.





We're hoping there will be an addition to the family this year, but until then we spend most of our time spoiling our three fur-babies: C-Lo, Hadley & Harley.





I'm currently working as a manager in the project management department for a large payment processing company. We are part of the electronic payments division and work with businesses to provide payment solutions for their consumers. I've also recently taken an interest in photography and bought my first SLR camera over the summer. You can see some of the photos that I've taken in my other two blogs which are listed at the top of my sidebar. Some of my other interests include cross stitching, reading and home decorating. I'm a die hard Detroit Tigers fan.

I started blogging last summer as a way to allow my family to see what is going on with us. I also used it to start connecting with other military wives. Since Freddy is in the National Guard, it is difficult to form relationships with the other wives when they are not deployed. I don't have any other close friends in the same boat so it is difficult for them to relate to some of this stuff. The topics on this blog span far and wide.

So, for those of you participating in the Bloghop, I look forward to getting to know you better from your intro posts :)

~AKO