Oh hey, Friday! I'm so glad you're here!

It's Friday y'all!!!!!! I know I can't be the only one who's happy it's the weekend! I'm linking up for {Oh hey, Friday!} to tell you about my whirlwind of a week!

Monday was pretty typical work and then playing coach at dance team practice. Their first performance is Wednesday, October 14th and I'm so sad to be missing it but I'll already be in Cleveland in full wedding mode so I'm having someone film it for me.

Tuesday was quite the day! You may have heard me talk about my younger sister and how much I adore her but what you may not know is that we met for the first time in 2011. My mom found her on Facebook of all places! We have the same biological father but were raised separately. Our families have fused together so well and I adore her parents and I'm so thankful that we were both brought up by such extraordinary people. We are truly a modern family and I'm very thankful for them and the fact that I'm treated like one of their own and vice versa.

All of us at one of my sister's cheer competitions in Nashville a couple years ago.

At my sister's high school graduation.

With that being said we both had never really met our paternal side of the family but that all changed on Tuesday. I got a notification that someone commented on one of my pictures on Instagram and it turned out to be one of my paternal cousins! Her name is Thatcher and in a matter of a few hours she connected us with so many of our {Dominican} cousins (two of them being her sisters) and we all have begun to get to know each other! I grew up not looking like anyone in my family (in WV) and had a lot of self image issues because I felt so "different." Luckily I had an awesome mom who taught me that I wasn't different, that I was special. She taught me to be proud of who I was...modern day translation, "Jordi embrace that you're not #basic." When I met my sister for the first time all those insecurities went away because I knew I wasn't alone anymore. Something about having someone that serves as a mirror {in looks and mannerisms} to you is amazing and I can't even begin to describe it, then to see so many more people that look like me is so wild! I'm so lucky to have been blessed with the family that "raised" me and so grateful that I'm getting to learn about the family I had only wondered about for so many years. An infinite amount of happy tears were shed about this and how awesome to have this happen right before the wedding so my mind is happy instead of stressed!

Stolen from Instagram {Thatcher, Ash, & Cherly} It's safe to say our gene game is strong.

Wednesday and Thursday were filled with more work and getting things in order for Cleveland on Monday. Which leaves me to today and the excitement that I'm only a few more sleeps away from getting to put on a pretty dress and marry the greatest guy I've ever met. Have a great weekend y'all!