Hiking Day One!

 

Here are the trails we hiked! 

Everything from the Hemlock Trails to Great Head!

NOBODY told us it was fire alarm day!

Lets just say, we missed the memo about fire alarms all day today! Day 1 in Maine started out with someone set the fire alarm off in the house. Now back home in Texas there are fire alarms set up through out the house...here, there is an alarm in every room, in every hallway, in every corner it feels like. The alarm noise is different too. It's not as loud but its in every room and gets louder in certain rooms than other. Let's just say, getting ready yesterday morning was interesting. Kids walking around with rolled up paper towels in their ears as ear plugs, people yelling over the alarm, headaches at 7am, it was just peachy!

If any of you have known me for any period of time, I am very adventurous.  If I see an old abandoned house, you can bet I will be one of the first to crack that door open! Basements?! YES SIRRRR! Well there is a cellar outside. Guessing like a storm shelter? There is a random door in the kitchen that leads to a basement I would assume (based on the structure of this house compared to the last house we stayed in---we are thinking they had the same builders due to the similarities), but it is locked :/ My only other option was the cellar. Well I got the door open and I found the main alarm!   HALLELUJAH!!! Shovels and rakes lined the stairs and it looked as if that was my last adventure...ever! Very creepy. Almost like something you would see on Criminal Minds or Law and Order with knives, syringes and tools. None of that was down there but by golly I got the goosebumps! Anyways, the alarm that was down there spoke to you. YES, it talked to me. It would make the ringing sound 3 times, pause, 3 more times then say, FIRE FIRE. 3 rings, pause, 3 rings, FIRE FIRE. (weirdest fire alarm I have ever heard.) After a few minutes, I still couldn't figure it out and it was time to leave for breakfast...and of course, being the redneck geniuses my family is, we ended up duck-taping the speakers on all the alarms to muffle the noise! Anddddd left for breakfast!
(during the day we kept hearing alarms go off, in restaurants, sirens, alarms, you name it!)

Cafe This Way. An AWESOMEEEEE cafe with some of THE best breakfast combos. 

That is called the KITS BURRITO!!! Amazing!! If you go to Bar Harbor, this is a must!

The COUNTRY BREAKFAST is like Ihop's 2x2x2. If you know me (..CHARLIE..) when I go to Ihop, that's all I get, And this is like the 2x2x2 but on steroids!!

After an amazing breakfast, we walked the town, went shopping and just explored. Sat down on the Village Green and enjoyed the morning! 

If you only knew how beautiful this place is. Pictures do NOT do it justice!

After an eventful morning of running around town and soaking up the Maine scenery, we went back to the house for NAPS! Yes, Naps! I love nap time. You wouldn't think that after a morning of breakfast and walking we would need a nap, but let me tell you one thing, naps are amazing and any chance you get for one, TAKE IT! You'll need it!

I was lost in an awesome dream for a few hours, woken up to load up for a hike! I dont know any other way to be woken up that is better than going for a hike! We started at Wild Gardens of Acadia Nature Center then hiked the Hemlock/Jesup Loop. 

 Moved on to the Satterlee Trail to Great Head Trail to Sand bBeach. 

We then picniced at Fabbri Picnic area on Otter Point. 

Yesterday was amazing. Beautiful. Peaceful. Breathtaking. All in all it was an amazing day. My Uncle has used our GoPro to make videos of each day. Here is yesterday Morning. The Hike will come later as we have SLOWWWW internet connection and it takes approximately 39 hours to upload to YouTube!

Prepare For Take Off

Every year for the past 20 years or so, my family has taken a vacation to Maine. Yes MAINE! As most of you know, I take absolute pride in this trip. It is so hard to explain why our family loves it so much but we just do. Everyone has their vacation spot. Whether it be Orlando, Hawaii, Colorado or Mexico, that place holds a spot dear to them in their heart. Ours just happens to be 2,012 miles away!

Mount Desert Island....also know as an absolute paradise! I am finally here! It is 12 am here and I finally get to crawl into bed! I started this journey mannnyyyyy hours ago, and NOTHING seemed to go as planned. Let me explain...

Sunday was Father's Day and due to my awesome job, I had to work. I've worked Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's day, and many more holidays for the past 4 years it feels like. This year was NO different. After work, I went home to start some laundry..easy right?! It's easy when you only have a few clothes, but I am a female, an indecisive one at that, and I have enough clothes spread out across Tyler, Tx to clothe a small army. So laundry, packing, sorting is like a second job! Anyways, I started the laundry and headed to my parents house to see everyone before I left, especially my dad, seeing as the day was dedicated to him! I get to the house and before I know it, it's 10pm! Ive got to pack, clean, sort, all of that and try to get some sleep before getting up at 4:30. Well let me make a long story short, that DID NOT HAPPEN! I may have dozed off for a total of 45 min that entire night. Can you say, exhausted?!

I get everything packed, I've actually managed to get pants on and I'm out the door. Double checking everything as I walk out, I say aloud, MAINE, HERE I COMEEE! It can't get here fast enough! My flight was scheduled to leave at 6:05....well, let me back up real fast. There was discussion over the week of who was taking me to the airport, picking up my truck, and nothing was resolved. Dad finally offered to take me. Before I left the house Sunday night he said to be there by 4:30 (which meant I had to leave my house at 4am!). As I am about to leave, he says "Just park the truck in long term parking and mom and I will come get it for you." SOOOOOO now I'm back to square one! 

I am flying out of Tyler Pounds Regional Airport, on a Monday morning at 6am! Surely I do not need to be there 2 hours early, or even an hour early. Tickets take like 5 min, Security takes at the most 10 (that's with taking shoes off and on), so I convince myself I don't have to rush! I show up about 30 min before my flight leaves, and its gone. Doors are shut, plane is leaving, its gone. I missed my flight. YAY! 

Let me just be the first to say, security guards at the Tyler airport are not my biggest fan. I could care less about your donuts, I NEED TO GET ON THAT PLANEEEE! "Sorry ma'am, its gone. You will need to speak to someone at the ticket counter." Great! There is just one small problem....THERE IS NO ONE AT THE TICKET COUNTER......so I call my dad. And of course, he thinks I'm playing and doesn't take me seriously for a minute, then I guess it clicked, THE PLANE HAS LEFT THE RUNWAY! At this point it has been a few minutes, and let me tell you the kicker...ready?! I was NOT the only one left to get on the plane. Other people were waiting as well, and well, Mr. Sasquatch over there was not happy. Security finally put his donut down and called a cop over there because Mr. Sasquatch was getting a little loud. Im sorry, but if I was not intimidated by cops, I probably would have been right behind him! 

So I call mom, and we finally get new tickets. My new flight doesn't leave till 11am. GREATTTT! That means I wont be in Portland, ME till 7pm. At least I am there though, right? So, I head to mom's house to catch some sleep seeing as I am running off of 45 min of sleep and NO food. I'm driving to her house, I'm crying due to becoming delirious, and as I am thinking about everything, I get PULLED OVER. yes. yes. yes. yes. Thank you MONDAY MORNING! It was just a warning, but still, I think the fact that I was bawling my eyes out before he pulled me over, and as he came to the window I was still sobbing, helped...a little. So I get the warning and head to auto zone to get a replacement bulb for the tail light that is out....and they are closed....At this point I just want to scream. 

I get to mom's, pass out, get woken up by a dog that looks exactly like a gigantic squirrel (she got shaved haha), and two pretty cute sisters.  We load up, head to the airport and I am  FINALLY ON MY WAY TO MAINE! 

First flight went fine...not much can happen in a 30 min flight to dallas.  I sat by a very sweet Pine Cove counselor named Befriend Me or Bees.

Second flight was alright as well...neck was beginning to hurt due to horrible sleeping arrangements. I sat next to a very cute 4 month old little boy. Cute as a button

Third flight...lets just say I got to the gate for my last flight with 3 min to spare......hahaha..no. I sat next to an older gentlemen who lets just say, was so stinking cute!

Finally got to the baggage claim and in the car, pack to the gills, 8 people later and I was on my way to the house! It was a stressful day to say the least but here I am! Day one is over and it was amazing! I cant wait till next year (and my week has JUST begun!)

 

My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad!

I want to start off by saying Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. But I want to take a second of your time and tell you about MY dad.

David Charles Murphy 'Chuck'. I don't even know where to being. You are amazing. You are kind. You are loving. You are witty. You are sweet. You are MY DADDY. You became my dad even though you did not have to. You took on a role of a father to someone's child who was not yours; but you made me yours. You have shown me time and time again what a dad/husband is supposed to be. I could not thank you enough.  

Now I know, over the years I have not made the wisest selection of men (or boys if you must) to spend time with, but one thing continues to play, on REPEAT, in the back of my mind: HE'S NO DAVID MURPHY. I watch how you treat mom. I watch how you love her, even when she swears she's right, you just roll with it. Never once have I seen y'all fight. Never once have I had to watch mom cry because of you or hurt because of you. That by far shows me exactly how a marriage should be. It shouldn't be about the fighting, or who is right all the time. It's about loving each other unconditionally and when there are arguments, it's taking it away from the kids. I know y'all don't have a perfect marriage. NO ONE DOES. But the fact that you refuse to let us kids see y'all argue whether it's about money, or who is right, or where the dang girl scout cookies went for crying out loud, means the world to me. I want to have a marriage just like y'all have. I love that you play fight, chase each other around the living room, sit outside with each other and watch your kids play (or run laps hahahaha), I love that you kiss each other in front of us and not fight, complain, or hate each other. I could not ask for a better set of parents. 

I am going to admit, which if you know ANYTHING about me, is hard to do, but I resented my dad. As I got older, I wanted to embrace that I was adopted and find HIM (my sperm donor). I wanted to be the kid with the step dad cause that was what I thought was cool. So I quit using David's last name. I went back to my mom's maiden name. I thought that was what was right and correct. I was born a Hadden and I will always be a Hadden. Which is true. But I have the BEST of both worlds! I was born a Hadden and BECAME a Murphy because of my dad. Because he loved ME. He wanted to marry my mom, but only if he could have me as well. I dont know many men these days that would do that. Many take on the responsibility as 'Step-Dad', but not many take the time to BE A FATHER. And now, I could care less to meet the man who left. He's missing out on one heck of a daughter (yes, I have to brag about myself a little), however, I cannot thank him enough. He gave me the most amazing, loving, kind hearted man in my life.  MY DADDY!

I want to thank you daddy! For all those spankings I was supposed to receive but instead you told me you loved me and gave me grace. Thank you for being there even after I resented you time and time and time again. Thank you for being an amazing dad to Jonathan, MaryGrace, and Kathleen. But most of all, THANK YOU for loving my mom. For showing her what it was like for someone to be there, to love her daughter even when it wasn't required. I love you. I hope you have an amazing father's day. I couldn't ask for anyone better to be my dad. 

(I love you all the way around the world, forever and always)

So, who wants my number?

I am no writer. Yes, I went to Grace, and yes I learned the in's and out's of how to write a literary analysis (shoot me!), but that does not mean I was born a writer. These are simply thoughts that I have buzzing around inside my brain. And besides, you should feel really special! I mean, I do NOT let people in very easily and this is like the golden ticket!

That being said...here goes....

Why is it that a number defines you. In order to reach someone, you dial a NUMBER. A NUMBER tells someone how old you are. The size pants or top you wear are measured and labeled with NUMBERS. You have a NUMBER when you step off a scale. I get like mathematically (yes mom, I'm talking about math!) numbers are essential for day to day use. I'm not talking about those numbers. I'm talking about the NUMBERS we use to define ourselves.

I don't care about your phone number. I don't care about how old you are or the size you are. I wish when it came to human beings, numbers just didn't exist. I am human. And being human means I am different.

I was not born to look like a super model (which would be nice but it's something I have come to terms with). I was born to look like Alyssa Joy Murphy. I'm not a size 2. I'm not 110lbs. I am just me. And right now, the only NUMBERS I am worried about are the days I have left here on this earth. So when I am surrounded by a bunch of girls and they want to talk weight and size and numbers, it takes ALL the energy inside my body not to just chunk every single one of them out the window. We have been given this life to live and all you can obsess about is a number? Please, there are bigger, better and worse things in life we could be using our time on. I do not want to waste one more second discussing this. It is a beautiful day today, lets live our life. I have watched what numbers do to people. People obsess, long for, dedicate, evolve into this other person just because of a stupid number. And that to me is insane.

Now before I sound like a hypocrite, I do believe a person should stay fit, but there is a difference (to me) between staying fit and obsessing over your weight. So dont get me wrong and in no way am I saying "gyms are bad" or "screw working out" cause that is NOT where I am going with this. It's about the mind set and the people that are critical of how other people look or judge them because their number isnt what they have or they deem worthy. And I will not rely on you to prove my worth.

We live in a world where its dating site, after dating site, (and again, some of those rate people on looks, another number ordeal that just blows my mind), social media, every possible way to communicate without having to see that person. I was all about the social media life. Trying to figure out what profile picture looked best, how many likes I could get on one status (again, numbers), just being a normal teenager. But lately it hit me, I am relying on how other people view me, to be the basis of my self esteem. NUMBERS have ultimately been the basis of who I have made myself to be. THAT MY FRIENDS IS NOT OKAY! I am not a number, I am a person. And by golly, no matter how hard you try, your jokes, humor, hate filled tweets and comments are NOT going to shake me.

Guys, this one is to you. And before you either get butt hurt or disagree within the first few sentences, read.the.whole.paragraph.  Got it?

You have this magical ability to bring out the butterflies that are deep down inside a girl's heart. Do you realize that? From the moment we watch Cinderella and Prince Charming ride off in the horse drawn carriage, we instantly want to know what that feeling is like. And the only thing missing from the puzzle is YOU (well besides the talking mice and horse drawn carriage). But some of you are so wrapped up in yourselves and how many girls you can talk to at once, the number on your TO-DO list (see what I did there?!), and how many reps you can do in the gym. You guys have one of the most amazing gifts ever, and yet you're wasting it on pointless flings and giving it away to every girl at the party so you can look like a stud (when in reality you look like a man whore). Girls drool-dream-desire. Sounds weird but we do. We drool over the guy that is hott and good looking. We dream of a sweet, fun loving guy to sweep us off our feet. We desire love. But the only way that can happen, is with you. So before you get that girls number and put her name in wrong in your phone because you are so drunk and have no intentions of calling her the next day, remember we ultimately rely on you for our fairy tale ending. Life is about having fun and taking risks. So instead of having fun at that party, why not take the time to get to know that girl you have been secretly eyeing and take her out to dinner.  Who cares if she's 21 or 27? She's a human. You're a human. Who cares if shes not your ideal size, that smile is gorgeous and she is beautiful. You have the gift to make us feel like a princess for the rest of our lives. Dont throw that away for a few phone numbers and names added to your list. Eventually, you are gonna have to come to terms with who you are and what you have made of yourself over the years. And if I know any man, I can guarantee he is going to want a great, godly, good hearted woman standing beside him. Not 3 baby mommas and a bottle of whiskey.

I may make no sense and I may have confused the ever loving mess out of people. But I guess what I am ultimately trying to get across is, what happened to the good, old fashioned days. Where if someone wanted to get to know you, they stopped by your house. You talked to people face to face and if there was a conflict, you talked it out. You didn't CAPS LOCK THE MESS OUT OF EACH OTHER UNTIL SOMEONE'S FINGERS CRAMPED UP, you worked things out. Numbers didnt matter. What mattered what your character and who you were. As a person. As a friend. As a human being. To me, that means so much more than anything else in this world. My worth is not based on numbers. And neither is yours.

Guess You Wanna Know Who The Heck I Am...

Well for starters, my name is Alyssa. I am a sister, a daughter, a niece, a granddaughter and a friend. I'm 21 years old and I have a lot to talk about. 

 I love my family!

I have a beautiful mother who has been there for me even though I am a brat half the time.

 

This man right here has stepped up to be the best dad any girl could ask for.

 

Oh the monkeys of the family. MaryGrace (10/L) and Kathleen (7/R) are two of the tiniest, sweetest, most adorable girls I know.

 The Brother. Jonathan Kaleb Murphy. What a goofball and a great young man!

Besides trying to be a somewhat good big sister (which I fail at more than anything), I lead a very amazing, fun filled, interesting life.

NOT

I wish I did. But to be honest, I am living with my amazing grandmother, jobless, heartbroken, recently lost a whole entire group of friends, constantly hungry, and debating on whether I should leave the good ole town of Tyler or stay. You see growing up, I always thought being 21 would be amazing. I could drink, do whatever I wanted, wouldn't have to answer to anyone but myself, and it would be awesome. Well, its not. It sucks. Not every moment is awful but growing up is for the birds. Who knew?! Oh yeah, you did. 

I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there, I am in no way, shape or form a comedian. I think I am at times butttt, I'm not. I just talk to myself way too much and I realize if I don't get these thoughts out of here, I'm going to go crazy (which some may claim I already am..but that is upon their discretion). Oh and I'm ADHD so it may get random and jumpy but know I'm trying here.

I'm lost in this huge world. I constantly feel like I'm drowning and no matter who is willing to help I cant seem to grasp on tight enough, and I slip right back in. So bare with me. I'm only 21 and right now it's just me and this keyboard. So when I say I have absolutely NO IDEA what in the heck is going on, take it seriously. I don't know the first thing about a blog. I know the background looks pretty and I'm sick of trying to write in a journal because I am sooo critical of my handwriting (just ask my mom). Yes, that was a serious statement. Plus my childhood friend (Lauren) told me I should just put my big girl panties on and write a blog. I swear I laughed at her for years but here I am. And to be honest it actually feels good. I don't need a huge audience, or even anyone to see this. I just need to be able to express what is going on in my life and maybe someone out there is in the same boat. If so, thank the Lord cause I sure could use some advice.

Bare with me. It's not only a journey for you to read and comprehend what is going on inside my brain but its also a journey for me. Welcome.