Personal

About Myself…

September 15, 2018

I am a 26 year old female that is living the SoCal dream in San Diego, CA.  But first, lets take a few steps back and start from the beginning…

I was born in Phoenix, AZ April of 1992 and then moved to Honolulu, HI when I was 6 months old with my birth mom, Crystal, and my dad, Michael (but goes by Mike). Shortly after moving to HI, my parents split and I stayed to live with my mom.  I grew up in Hawaii for the first 10 years of my childhood and I am sure your automatic thoughts are, “wow, that’s awesome!” but in reality, it wasn’t all that great.  My mom did do the best she could of raising me, but she had problems of her own.  She was an addict and alcoholic and we moved around a lot making friends and school difficult.  I missed out on a lot of the basic fundamentals that set you up for the years to come.

One summer, after visiting my family in Fairbanks, AK it was decided that it was best for me to live with my aunt Sherri (mom’s oldest sister), her husband-uncle Rod, and their two kids-Dallas and Trey due to my mom being unstable.  It was a really fun year living with them, but I also remember one of the most difficult because I had a lot of catching up to do in school.  I remember only missing one day of school and that was a record for me!

That father’s day, I called my dad collect.  I remember him asking immediately where I was and when I could come and see him.  Little did he know, I was living in Fairbanks with my extended family.  He purchased me a ticket right away, and I flew down to Seattle, WA.

I had a great summer in Seattle, and when it was nearing an end, my dad told me I was staying to live with him and my stepmom, Lisa.  And let me just say as a little side note, Lisa is an amazing mom to me and always has been.  I have known her since I was about 5 years old, so she is not the evil stepmother you typically hear about.  She is full of empathy, patience, compassion, and may I add…FUN!! When I stayed to live with my dad, it continued to ruin the relationship my birth mother & I had due to her feeling like I was choosing my dad over her.

High school was a whirlwind of an experience. I went to Foster High School in Tukwila, WA which has been declared the most diverse high school district in the Nation by New York Times.  There are over 90 languages spoken and I was the minority for once.  I learned a lot about other cultures and I am grateful for that experience.  Although in high school, I did some pretty stupid stuff (I mean it’s high school and we all did right?).  That is when my parents “punished” me and enrolled me in Young Life Camp at Wild Horse, OR.  I remember thinking how I did not want to go because I thought that it was going to be a bunch of Christians sitting in a classroom reading bibles and I thought that it would be sooooo boring.  Well let me tell you, I was SO wrong and it ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me.  I gave my life to Jesus before leaving at the end of the week and you can totally say I was on a “Jesus High.”

After I graduated high school, I attended the University of Washington (GO HUSKIES!!).  I did the whole greek system thing and joined the lovely sisters of Delta Gamma on 21st street.  I started as a nursing major, but soon realized it was not something I was called to do.  I felt that I was more attracted to the idea of being a nurse knowing it was a great field, there were always jobs, it paid well, etc.  But little did I know, God had something else planned for me.  I remember when I went to my advisor and told her that I no longer wanted to pursue nursing, she asked me to describe my dream job.  I remember telling her, “something in healthcare still, something working with patients and families, something to make their experiences less scary…” and she asked, “Have you ever heard of Child Life?”  I looked at her puzzled, and she said, “Go home and do some research and let me know what you think…”  The very next day, I was committed to becoming a Child Life Specialist, and here I am 6 years after as a Certified Child Life Specialist.  Attending UW was one of my best decisions I had ever made.  Nothing will ever surpass the friendships and memories that were made and plus, I met my now husband, Bryan, Freshman year Winter quarter!  

I mean how cute were we?!

When I graduated college, it was a huge success of mine.  I was the first college graduate in my family! After all my trials and tribulations from my childhood on, I was so proud of myself for not letting anything stop me from accomplishing this huge goal of mine.  I am so blessed that I a lot of family and friends supporting me along the way.

From left to right: Aunt Naomi, Dad, Grandma Rita, Uncle Chris, Lisa, Grandpa Don, and Uncle Pat.

After college, I was offered two Child Life practicums.  One was in the East Coast at C.S. Mott in Michigan and the other was on the west coast at CHOC Children’s Hospital in Orange, CA.  I am sure you know which one I ended up choosing!  Needless to say, everything began to fall into place.  My practicum coordinator was amazing at setting me up with a beautiful place and was tremendously helpful.  Right before starting my practicum, all internship applications were due.  I submitted about 13 applications across the U.S., and I remember right off the bat, 8 Hospitals had emailed me stating they were not accepting applicants for the Winter of 2014.  I immediately began to freak out thinking that more than half of my options were eliminated.  The very next day, I began to get phone calls from the other hospitals.  The funniest thing is, all the places I got interviews were all places located in the SoCal region from Los Angeles to San Diego.  In the end, I ended up accepting my internship at Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach.  During this time, Bryan was still in WA finishing his degree and looking for a job in SoCal to join me.  After I completed my internship, Bryan was able to move down to Los Angeles because he accepted a job at a big four firm, KPMG.

Bryan’s first day as a Cali Boy
Hermosa Beach, CA

During this time of him starting his new job, I was working as a nanny and studying for my certification exam.  That August, I took the exam and PASSED!! I was so happy and thrilled, but then the next big challenge was ahead and that was finding a job.  With Bryan just moving to CA, I was trying to stay local or at least within a few hours of driving.  I remained patient seeking God’s will for me, and lo and behold, I locked down a job at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, CA as a Certified Child Life Specialist starting in the Emergency Department (which I loved!).  Now that did mean I had to move further south, but distance makes the heart grow fonder right?

It sure did! We got engaged about 5 months after I moved to San Diego.  Bryan’s proposal was AMAZINGGGG!  It was more than I could have ever imagined and dreamed of.  Long story short, Bryan and I used to always say an acronym before bed over text when we did distance.  His was, BRLTMTAF (Bryan Really Loves Taylor More Than Anything ((except God)) Foreve…and yes without an r because that means it doesn’t end).  So each letter of the acronym was a part of the scavenger hunt.  Not only did he organize a scavenger hunt from San Diego to Orange County, but he also managed to have his best friend, Nathan Calacat, and almost all of my best friends  in one place to help celebrate this big chapter in our lives. 

Well fast forward to present day, we are now happily married.  Since then, Bryan has moved down to San Diego to join me since my job is a little more challenging to find.  My parents, Mike and Lisa Brenner, have now moved to Honduras July of this year to open a Boys Home called Casa del Camino, meaning “House of the Way.”  It will be a home that encourages hope of a future, stresses the love of Christ, and provides the opportunity for the boys to grow in their God-given potential, spiritually, mentally, and physically. My parents have a blog as well if you would like to follow along their journey, at chosen2followhim.org/. 

Now, I know this was a long “About me” intro, but I felt that it was important for my audience to know who I am and get a glimpse into my life since this blog will be more around a lifestyle blog.  I felt like I have always enjoyed writing and so this is the new modern day of writing and sharing with the world. That includes a variety of things from day-to-day life, child life, cooking (meal prepping, budget meals, etc.), photography (passion of mine),  yoga and weights, christianity & God, traveling, relationship stuff, etc. So if you would like to follow along, subscribe down below 🙂  My goal is post about once a week!

xoxo,

T

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