A Welcome and The Basics

Hey you guyyyssss!! It's me, Em from Burning River Bride. Although I'm still finishing up recaps over there, I have many non-wedding-related posts swimming around in my head that I felt the need to get my post-wedding blog up and rolling. The design is still basic but I have plans to jazz it up eventually. I hope you'll forgive me for not having a fancy-shmancy design just yet :)

If you're new (or if you're just nosy and want to know more about me), I filled out this handy-dandy survey that's been making it's rounds to help you get to know me better. There's some fairly political stuff in here, but I don't foresee bringing much or any of that into my regular blogging. However, my opinions are a big part of who I am and a driving force in how I live my life, so I'm happy to share them in an effort to let you know what I'm all about.

Name: Emily Alexandra. If you know me IRL or are friends with me on facebook, you know the last name :) Most people, even if they've just met me, call me Em. I like and respond to both. I also *really* like my middle name and think it goes really well with my new last name. Possible first daughter name? I think soooo! Gratuitous Emily pic:

Gender: Female

Age: 24

Birth date: February 19, 1986

Place of birth/Current place of residence: Born in Lakewood, OH (suburb of Cleveland), currently residing in Bethesda, MD (suburb of DC.)

Heritage: Mostly Irish/German.

Siblings: Here we go: 4 half brothers (Kurt, 27; Will, 19; James, 15 (I think?); Calvin, 5) and 2 half sisters (Maddie, 17; Grace, 14) Whew! It's a long story.

Religious/Spiritual affiliation: My dad tried with all his might to instill (read: force) the Catholic faith in me. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for me, I rejected Catholicism and now...well, I'm not really sure. I have serious issues with organized religion, but at the same time I feel that extremism on either side is bad. So. I would say that I'm bordering on Agnostic.

Pets: 2 cats (Maine Coon), Tyler and Joey. Gratuitous kitty pic:

Tyler on the left, Joey on the right. I love these boys.

Marital status: Married. Gratuitous wedding pic:

Photo by Linczak Photography

Sexual orientation: Straight

Tattoos/piercings: Two holes in each ear, a cartilage piercing and a closed up belly piercing. Two tats, typical "tramp stamp" and a shamrock on my right foot.

Glasses: Nope!

PC or Mac: I have a Mac and after a few, shall we say "bumps" in the road, I love it. I don't have anything against PC, though.

Mobile phone: iPhone ALL the way!

Do you believe in ghosts? I think I believe in energy and weird stuff like that, but I've never done enough research to really form an opinion.

Do you believe in UFOs? I think there is other "life" out there besides what's on this planet. But UFOs like in the movies? No. But really, who knows.

Abortion: Vehemently pro-choice. As my friend Hannah so eloquently said, being pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion, so in some way I actually consider myself pro-life, just not in the way most people see it. Honestly, I just believe that every woman should have the right to do what she wants with her body. As an "oops baby" myself, I know that my mom could have chosen to abort her pregnancy, and I'm ok with that, although obviously thankful she chose to have me. My mom also put me up for adoption but ultimately didn't go through with it. Again, I'm thankful she raised me, but I understand that sometimes we have to make difficult choices. All I ask is that we're allowed that choice.

Death penalty: Ironically, I'm pro-death penalty. No long reasoning, just am.

Gay marriage: PRO. Pro pro pro proooooooo. One of my best friends is gay and I cannot imagine denying him the RIGHT to marry. The argument against it truly does not make sense to me and I cannot fathom ever understanding where anti-gay marriage supporters are coming from. That being said, we're all entitled to our own opinions and I respect that :)

Where have you traveled? Well let's see...how about I just list my end destinations? Domestic: NYC, DC, OBX, multiple destinations in Florida, Chicago, LA, Bay-area. Foreign: Mainly Caribbean islands and a few cities in Mexico. I've never had a great urge to go to Europe, but I would *love* to go to Spain.

Where else can you be found on the internet? Facebook (where you can't actually search for me), Twitter (@Em219) and, LinkedIn (buuuut you don't know my last name so HA HA you can't find meeee!) But I mean, I guess if you really want to be friends (and still kind of like me after reading my stances on religion, abortion, gay marriage and the death penalty), we'll figure out a way to connect. Just let me know!

One more thing: wondering where I got the name for my blog? Well, I had the hardest time thinking of something. I thought about it a lot and decided to look through the lyrics of some of my favorite songs to see if anything jumped out at me. Some of my favorite songs come from the musical RENT, so naturally I sifted through those songs for inspiration. Yep, I'm a nerd. Anyway, this is a small part of a lyric from the song "I Should Tell You":

Trusting desire starting to learn

Walking through fire without a burn

Clinging a shoulder a leap begins

Stinging and older asleep on pins

It really is a beautiful song. So why "A Leap Begins"? Life is a series of leaps of faith. I feel like I've taken a lot of big leaps lately, getting married and moving to a new state/city to name a few. My goal for this blog is to document my triumphs as well as failures as I navigate through my new life. I hope you enjoy reading it!

Have you done this survey or one like it? Link it in the comments so we can get to know each other better!