Hinz Home

Cricut...

2011-09-10T23:57:00.000-05:00

I bought a Cricut cutter...

i'm in love.

Best. Day Before My Birthday. Ever. pt. 2

2011-07-09T22:20:00.003-05:00

So, Tom and I had desert after my birthday dinner tonight.

We went to Scrumdiliumptious IceCream.

Tom was looking around on the internet for ice cream shops and just stumbled across it. It's in Sherwood. He thought, man! It's called Scrumdiliumptious, that's cool! and thought that I might like it.

He was beyond right!!

We walked in, and right away, you could tell it was an ice cream parlor, but then, the lady had us take a look at the menu, and said she'd held us as soon as we were ready, and pointed out that their were photos of the menu items on the wall.

So i looked at the menu, and low and behold, half of the menu was named after Willy Wonka characters, the other half, were named after HARRY POTTER STUFF!!! There was the Haggrid, Dumbledoor, Fizzing Whizbeez, the Weazlee, and so on... everything was just BARELY misspelled, so that there weren't any trademark infringements.

Everything was delicious!! and fantastic!!! I can't wait to go back next week!! I'm going to bring my big camera next time i think though. hehe!!

Here are the pics we got!!

Me at Platform 9 3/4!!!

Hagrid, on one of the doors

The sign on their little half door that led behind the ice cream counter. "No Muggles Allowed."

The door to the bathroom, painted to look like the Fat Lady, who normally guards the gateway to the Gryffindor common room.

How fun is that?!?!?!?!

ok gotta go!

<3 Jessica

Best. Day Before My Birthday. Ever. pt. 1

2011-07-09T21:05:00.006-05:00

What a great birthday!

Well, the day before my birthday...

Ok, let me start with Thursday.

When I got home from work Thursday, I found this "big dang box" on my front porch:

I didn't open it until today, (Saturday). It is a wrapped package from my Father-in-law and Stepmother-in-law. It is a GORGEOUS 12 spot cupcake tower. IT IS AWESOME!! I can't wait to use it next weekend when we have friends over!!! Thanks Dad and Pam!!!

After opening my gift, Tom and I sat down to watch the first movie of our Harry Potter-athon. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Woohoo!!

Friday, I took the day off from work. Tom was doing flex-time, which means that he was working from home. So we watched Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in the morning. Then, we went to lunch, I stopped by the office to pick up a file from work, then came back home.

We watched Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, then headed off to my parents' house. My parents' had gotten me a cake, and we hung out there for a while. I had my picture taken in the dreaded birthday hat.

I got this hat for my dad's birthday a couple of years ago, it has been passed around throughout the family over the past two years lol. it's ummm... nice, right?? lol!

After coming back home, Tom and I watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, my lease favorite book and movie of the entire series. Anyway, after the movie Tom said "You want to open another birthday present? I've got a scavenger hunt for you!" It was a photo scavenger hunt... of DOORS IN OUR HOUSE. lol!! when I made it to the right door, I got another text with the next door on it. After about 7 or 8 doors, I was in our bedroom at our closet door, I got a text with a video of our closet door opening. So I opened the closet door, dug around a little bit in the closet and found this!!!

Do any of my fellow Disney fans know what this is??? It's Andy's Toy Box from Toy Story!!!! Look what it had inside:

It is a ten disc, blu-ray, dvd, special edition Complete Toy Story set!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been telling Tom for MONTHS, I wanted to get the movies, but I wanted to get the full set! And that's what I got for my birthday!!

Then, we went to bed. I got up around 1030 Saturday morning, we hung out for a while, then headed out to lunch, then to Home Depot looking for new grill racks for our grill, then did some dreaming for remodeling stuff we'll be doing on the house over the next couple of years. Then, we picked up our Harry Potter tickets for the show next Friday. We got our 3D glasses which are awesome:
They look like Harry's glasses!! They are freakin' awesome!!!

After getting our tickets, Tom stopped in the middle of the parking lot and said "Pick a number 1 through 10." I laughed really hard! and said "7!" So then, Tom reached into his wallet, and pulled out a Best Buy Gift Card! It was to cover getting me an Ipod radio charger for my office, he wanted to make sure I got to pick it out!! How awesome is that?? Well, the card was actually for TWICE what the radio I wanted cost! So I got my radio AND Cars and Wall-E on Blu Ray!! woohoo!!! Then, we hit up Starbucks for some iced frappuccinos. Then, Tom said "Pick a number 1 through 10". I laughed again, and said "4!" Then we went to Goodwill to donate some stuffed animals, and to look around for an old Monopoly set. Didn't find the set... if anyone has one they are willing to part with, please let me know!!

Anyway, then, we stopped at the house to drop off our purchases for the day. Then, we left for dinner. We went to Red Lobster in North Little Rock. We both got drinks.

I got a pina colada, and Tom got a Lobsterita! lol! It was great!

After dinner, we grabbed some dessert - See Best. Day Before My Birthday. Ever. pt. 2 for the details - and now we're at home watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

It's been a great birthday celebration!! Tomorrow I'm going to chill and relax!

Love you all!!
<3 Jessica

needed to post...

2011-07-08T11:25:00.002-05:00

hey guys, i had to post this pic of the mickey cake to link for a fellow baker, cake decorator.

I'm sure you have all seen this one before:

<3 Jess

such a great weekend...

2011-05-15T21:13:00.004-05:00

So, this has been a great weekend.

Friday, was a long day that ended a long week. sometimes I feel like the weekends don't last long enough, but this has been great. Lot's of Tom and Jess time.

Friday afternoon after Tom picked me up from work, we stopped at our local gas station and picked up a couple of sodas and headed to the house. We stepped out onto our deck to get the grill going, and when we opened it up for the first grill of the year - what do we find? A wasp nest! eek!! We don't want to spray chemicals into our grill, so currently we are researching non chemical ways of getting rid of a wasp's nest.

So, we cooked our steaks indoors, along with broccoli and some of the best bread EVER. Then, we spent the evening watching some Netflix, just hanging out. it was AWESOME.

Saturday morning, we got up and hung out in our bed, playing on our phones, then got up and headed out to shop around for a graduation gift from Tom's younger cousin, TJ. He's graduating from UT Austin... which we're going to go! ME!!?! at UT?!?! woot! Gotta hit up the book store... I don't have enough burnt orange stuff. lol.

Anyway, then we met Tom's mom in Maumelle for lunch at Beef O' Bradys, which none of us have ever been before. It was really good, I got their chicken tenders (of course... i go to a place for beef and i get chicken lol!) Had a good time hanging out with Tom's mom. After lunch, Tom and I did some more shopping around... we had an idea about what we wanted to get for TJ, but couldn't find it... come to find out, the company that made what we wanted to get him, quit shipping to the US a while ago... they are GOING to be shipping again, just not yet. Oh well! we found something EVEN better! I can't say what it is, because Teej is on my facebook page. lol!

While we were shopping around for TJ, I found something that I just had to get!!

I love, love, LOVE Harry Potter. And you have to know, I have passed up on a LOT of board games, with no interest because they are based on just one book of the series. However, this one... This game is not based one one book... it's more of based on the series as a whole... and it is AMAZING!!!!!! Tom and I've played like 6 games already!

Ok, so that was Saturday. Oh wait! I forgot! I also baked and decorated Ashley's birthday cake! It's based on the cake that Hagrid made for Harry on his 11th birthday:

Hagrid's cake

The cake I made for Ashley

I think it turned out cute! lol!! So Sunday, Tom and I met up with Ashley for brunch at IHop. Well, I guess I should say Lunch. We met up at 1130 and all three of us got lunch items. haha! The waitresses and waiters came and sang to Ashley, even though her birthday was last Tuesday. It was hilarious!! I have to tell you, that i can not explain how funny it was... Ashley was so freakin' embarrassed. oh it was great. I'm laughing as I'm typing this from the memory of Ashley's face "Oh my God, they're coming this way!" lol!!

Ok, so after lunch, Tom and I went back to the house, played another couple of rounds of Harry Potter Clue, then I starting playing my Sims2 game for the PSP that I got the other day... it's for the Texas trip. yay! and Tom got to play a couple of hours on his game on the xbox... THEN, we cooked dinner, and i played for a solid HOUR on the solitaire on my phone...

omg. I needed a weekend like this...

How was y'all's weekend??
mine was great...

<3 Jess

Super Excited Much?

2011-04-08T21:40:00.005-05:00

Omg...

Omg...

Omg...

Ok, so my best friend, Kandi, just told me that her boss - the owner of one of the day cares in Conway, AR - wants ME to come and take photos of the kids in the day care!!!

EEEEEEK!!!

How cool is that? Kandi said that her boss loved the way I "capture the moment" when I take kids' pictures! I've asked for a practice run - working with two of the younger classes in the day care. I think I've got a decent idea of a system to utilize, I have GREAT organizational skills, and a THRILL every time I pick up my camera... That should be good enough right?! lol!

So, in light of this new found appreciation of my "work," (I can't actually call it work, because of how much fun it is in the process) I am going to post some of my pics here on my blog, so I can share some of my favorites!

Bling Bling Shamrock Pin!

2011-03-17T00:04:00.004-05:00

Ok, so since it's a few minutes after midnight, technically it's St. Patrick's Day! wooohoo!!

Honestly, I have no clue how the holiday started, or why we actually celebrate... but it's a GREAT holiday!!

I get to wear green! I don't look good in green... but i love wearing it! I don't get to wear it often, so when St. Patty's Day comes along... i milk it... big time...

like sparkly green bowler hat with a green Christmas bow attached...

like green ribbons in my hair...

like green Mardi Gras beads around my neck...

I know... I'm awesome... LOL!!

Anyway, so I found a few places online were people were making Shamrock Pins, or buttons... and they looked SUPER cute, so I said to myself "Self... we're going to make some of these..." and so we did... I mean... I did...

whatever.

All I needed was:
1 Green Pipe Cleaner
1 Pin Back (or whatever those things are called)
1 Rhinestone (you can barely see it on my crimper)
a Jewelry Crimper
a Glue Gun

First, you are going to play with your pipe cleaner:

Bend it, shape it, twist it against itself. whatever you gotta do to get a leaf shape, DO IT! (this is where all the websites lost me... I know there is some magical, graceful way of making leaves... I just couldn't grasp it, I guess...)

When you have one leaf, do a second, then a third - and if you must, a fourth if you are doing the elusive 4-leaf clover!

After you have your leaves "built," shape them.

After I shaped my leaves, I used my crimper to crimp the wire inside the pipe cleaner against itself. I normally crimp one direction, then flip over my piece, and crimp again - making my "crimping" an X.

After I crimp, I shape my stem, and depending on the length you want, cut the stem.

Then, I grab my pin back. These that I bought had a foam sticker on it, so i peeled that off, then hot glued it to the shamrock, trying to be careful to make sure the pin back didn't peek through where my leaves were.

Then, I flipped it back over, and hot glued a rhinestone in the center! Viola! Isn't she purty?? I made one for Hubby, minus the rhinestone. lol! He doesn't want to get pinched tomorrow!

Anyway, If you guys get a chance to throw one of these together for tomorrow... err... today... i mean, after i fall asleep... err... never mind! Go make one!!

It's only been a minute...

2011-03-06T18:06:00.002-06:00

I know, it's been a little more than a minute since my last post...

I'm doing LOTS of cakes, LOTS of photography, and LOTS of cleaning house! haha!!

Hopefully I'll have pics of everything here soon!!

I did want to share this link...

actually, i'm lying...

I don't want y'all to do these... I wanna do them... but the only way I can save the video is to post it to my blog!!! lol!!

I'm a sleeze, right?

You love me though!!!

Anyway, I got this video from Alison at How Does She? OMG! If you have not been to How Does She? you have not lived!!! lol!! I love it!!!

Anyway, the vid:

Gosh I hope this works!!!

hehe!!

ok...

2011-01-30T15:07:00.002-06:00

ok so here's the deal:

You get two choices - The Short Version or the Long Version.

The Short Version:
Truck is Dead. Long live the Neon. Jetta is the new black. Brett is going to be an adult. I need to go to church more often.

The Long Version:
While we were in Texas we started having some oil problems with the truck. Sounds like the oil sending unit was going out. We were able to make it back home, no major issues. The day after we got home (Sunday), we started getting snow and ice. We wound up hitting a patch of ice on the road, less than half a mile from our house. We lost control of the truck (at like 10 miles per hour) and hit a light pole. No one was hurt, but it crunched in the front passenger side quarter panel and the headlight. Called the insurance company, filed a claim.

Monday, because of the snow and ice, the body shop was closed. so we had to wait until Tuesday to have them come pick it up. We were left with only my car - which i have always called "arthritic" because it doesn't like to work really well in cold weather. We knew we were going to be blowing our whole savings on the $1000 deductible that was on the truck to fix the front end damage. So we had no money for a rental car. My dad let us put the rental on his card, and we were riding around in a 2010 Honda Accord for a week and a half.

The Friday of the second week, we were able to pick the truck up from the shop. I guess from it sitting idle for almost two weeks, it was clanking and banging in the engine - BAD. so we had to take the rental back - bc the insurance wasn't going to pay for it, now that we got the truck out of the shop.

We basically decided then and there that we were going to have to trade the truck in on whatever we could. #1 to get a vehicle that was going to be reliable, and #2. to get the truck out of our hands, we didn't have the money to fix it, better to just cut our losses - it was paid off in August.

Tom talked to our credit union, and got some figures and rates, and we started looking online for vehicles. We found a few that were in our price range, but most were previous rental cars - which i refuse to buy, and they ALL had really high mileages for the years they were.

During this time, we also did some work on my Neon. Come to find out, the thermostat was bad, and it was causing my car to not operate at "Normal Operating Temperature". We drained the coolant, replaced the thermostat, and replaced the coolant, and, pardon my French, "I'll be damned" if she doesn't work like a newer car! She doesn't die on us like before, the heater works. It's amazing!

Wednesday night, while I was on the treadmill, Tom decided to hit up Landers Imports' website on a whim - and there it was: a 2007 Volkswagen Jetta, great mileage, pretty car, decent amenities. Great price. So we decided to put in a dealership info request through the internet to get some more info about it.

The next morning (Thursday - 1/27), Tom got a call from one of the sales women, saying that they had just gotten the car in, and weren't sure if we'd be able to test drive it that night, but if we wanted to come look at it, we were more than welcome to. We jumped at the chance, and went after work. She was right, the service guys were still checking it over, and we weren't allowed to test drive it. They hadn't even cleaned it by the time we got there.

Come to find out, they had only made the trade in for the car less than a week prior, and they had only had it on their lot for 2 days. Now, somethings gave me goosebumps on this first day: 1. When Tom got into the driver's seat, he went to kick the seat back for his long legs, and said "Woops, I'm too far back!" It's the first time i have EVER heard my husband say that in a car! 2. When we were shopping for houses, we found our house when it was only on sale for - get this - TWO DAYS. How funny is that?!?

Anyway, we really liked the car, and asked when we might be able to test drive it. She said either Friday evening, or Saturday. She also said she'd give us a call. Well, we didn't get a call on Friday, so we gave her a call Saturday about 9 a.m. She said the car is available for test driving, if we are still interested (well, no duh! we are still calling about the car... ding dong. lol!) They also requested that we bring the trade in.

This worried us, because of all the clanking in the engine - I was really terrified that it wouldn't make it. So, tom drove the durango, and I drove my little car. I followed him, the whole time, keeping my eyes peeled, in case he threw his hazards on to pull over. From where I was, behind him, I didn't see any problems. When we pulled into the lot, I didn't hear any problems. Here's why:

We took back roads to the lot, that way, we weren't putting extra stress on the truck. Also, in case we broke down, we were stuck on the freeway lol! Anyway, so on these backroads, they are kind of hilly, so from what Tom said, whenever he crested a hill, he'd throw the engine into neutral, to try and save what cylinders he had. He said he could tell when we lost a cylinder - because of the scraping and stuff. Well, at one hill, when he threw it into neutral, the engine DIED on him... and wouldn't turn back on. So, he kept trying and FINALLY it started back up for him. There is a huge hill right outside the dealership. Tom said that when he crested that hill, he turned the engine off, and just coasted down into the lot, and into a parking spot.

We are thanking God right now that the truck made it. Technically, it should NOT have made it. Tom says that the 8 cylinder engine MIGHT have had 3 or 4 cylinders still working when we turned it off. It's honestly by God's grace that we made it.

It was so weird, whenever the manager went out to start it, to value the trade in amount, because we could hear it inside, and on the far end of the building. it was a scary, terrifying sound. and it did NOT want to start. So they gave us bare minimum on trade in value. I'm thinking if we had traded in my pink bicycle, we might have gotten more on trade in value. lol!

Anyway, after that, we did the test drive. Tom and I each drove it on the highway, backroads, hills and curves. I was very pleased with the handling, lots of safety amenities, lots of cup holders, moon roof. it was nice. We were very happy. So, after the test drive, I didn't even ask Tom, I just asked the lady "So what do we need to do to make it ours?" lol!

Then, we did the financing, which took about an hour and a half. The guy we talked to was AWESOME! We had financing through our credit union, but he was able to get us a MUCH better deal. for a 2007 Jetta, we are paying $40 more than we were paying on the 2003 Durango. Plus Gap insurance (basically if you total out the car, and you owe more on it than the total amount, the Gap insuarance makes it to where you won't have to keep paying on a car that is totalled.), it also includes a warranty - bumper-to-bumper, and Taxes and Sales tax. We are so pleased with our experience.

The only downfall is, they still had some service work to do - for example, the headliner (i always call it the ceiling carpet lol!) was coming down in one place, so they ordered a whole new peice - it was supposed to be there on Friday, but it didn't come in, so it'll have to be done on Monday. and when we were test driving it, we noticed that one of the blinkers was accelerated, which means there is a light out on that side somewhere. So they are SUPPOSED to get all that done on Monday and/or Tuesday at the latest. So we should have our car in the next two days.

We are SO excited. If anyone is wanting a great experience while buying a car, please try out Landers Imports - the sales woman's name was Susan, and our financing guy was Jonathan. They were AWESOME. They do have an expensive lot: Land Rovers, VW, Jaguar. we are hoping, when it comes time to trade in my neon, to work with them again.

That's been the frustration of my January. The good points: 1. I was asked to make a wedding cake for one of the girls in the office. She's having a "low key wedding" so nothing super fancy, but white cake, white buttercream, black fondant ribbon, and black frosting squiggles. I'm also thinking about making red chocolate candies to put on the middle of the three tiers. I think that will tie in everything nicely. Their colors are black and white, with a touch of red (basically the roses).

Also! I got a promotion! I am now the License Director - at least that's what I think my title is anyway! I have my own office! I love it! I LOVE the new position, and I really like still being able to help the girls doing testings.

AND! my nephew Brett is getting confirmed in the next few months, and I'm so proud of him. I remember my Confirmation, and it meant so much to me. Basically, for those that don't know: Catholics get Confirmed around the age of 14, 15, 16. It is when a Catholic Young Person becomes an adult in the eyes of the church. The sins of a child fall on their parents, basically because the parent should be teaching them better, or taking better care of them. When a Young Person is confirmed, those sins are on their own shoulders. Each Young Person chooses a Sponsor, who is supposed to help them in the learning process. I have been told by my sister, that my nephew wants ME to be his sponsor. Before today, I had not been to church in almost a year. Not because I didn't want to. but I felt I didn't have to. I pray to God every day. I try to thank Him for everything we have, and I always believe their is a reason for everything. i never thought about what it was doing to my neice and nephews. I forget sometimes that these kids look at EVERYTHING I do, and they either admire it, or they dispise it. I've tried very hard during their whole lives to make sure I was not a bad influence with things I do, I never thought about the things I don't do. y'know?

Ok, enough rambling! Sorry it's so long! I guess my "Short version" was too much of a teaser, ehh?

<3 Jessica

Checking in!

2011-01-03T14:27:00.002-06:00

Hey guys! I'm on vacation! I know things get super hectic and super crazy this time of year!!

Slow down!!

Love you all!!
Jess

Silhouette Giveaway!!

2010-12-27T10:39:00.002-06:00

Little Miss Momma is doing a silhouette giveaway!!! woohoo!!! Entries started gathering on Christmas day, they end on New Years Eve!

What a great way to start 2011?! Right?!

Go enter!!!

Do it...

You know you wanna!!

<3 Jessica

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-25T11:04:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Hinz Home!

Christmas morning was spent opening gifts, eating cinnamon rolls, and getting our turkey ready to cook for lunch!

Please remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season! Keep Him in mind during the year! Not just at this time of the year. Thank you Lord for giving us your own son.

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family. You all are in our hearts and minds.

Please have a safe and happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

2010 is almost over, but 2011 is looking bright!

Silhouette SD Machine Giveaway!!!

2010-11-28T21:28:00.004-06:00

Hey y'all!!

My friend Allison is giving away a Silhouette SD Machine...

and I want it!!!

Part of her entries say to blog about her giveaway and link her back to it!!!

so here goes:

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2010/11/25/giveaway-silhouette-sd-machine

Alison shows on her blog how she made this fantastic canvas for the house. Also, she's got lots of other links to other projects she's done...

She's sooooooooooooooooo fun to read, I love her blog bunches!! I hope you guys head over to her site, to check her out!!

<3 Me!

Booked.

2010-11-22T19:36:00.002-06:00

Whew!! Am I bushed!

Here's the deal:

This past weekend, I did the Branscum/Anderson Photo shoot, then I went with Tom and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Now, this week I have Thanksgiving to cook on Thursday, plus two cakes, shopping Thursday night, shopping Friday morning, decorating the two cakes, baking gingerbread cookies, catching up on sleep (haha, yeah right). Saturday, I'm delivering the cakes, doing lunch with hubby, frosting gingerbread cookies.
Sunday, we have to cook green bean casserole and go to my parents' house for Thanksgiving!

I also have to start prepping for a Dora cake for December. I also have to start working on my idea for Tom's birthday cake. hehe!

not to mention decorating the house, working on Christmas crafts - since we are doing an entirely hand made Christmas this year. Handmade gifts, handmade ornaments, handmade decorations... it's fun!

I'm having the time of my life... but buuuuuuuuuuuusssssssssssssssyyyyyyyyyyyy!

lol!

And now, we're talking about making a trip to Texas here soon. Hopefully this time we can hit up everyone... who knows, right?

Ok, so I just tried to upload pics from the photoshoot, and i can't get them to upload... rar... I've got the pics tagged to me on my bestfriend's facebook page.

<3 ya!
Jessica

Leo Reynolds + Adobe Photoshop

2010-11-15T19:51:00.002-06:00

Leo Reynolds has a full collections of numbers and letters to use to combine to make AWESOME freaking photos/name plaques.

How cool is that?!?

I love it!!!

PS. 2005 is the year Tom and I got married.

Three Weeks?!

2010-11-13T20:40:00.002-06:00

I know, I was doing so good keeping up with blogging on a regular basis... I have excuses though! Are you ready?

#1. Fall Nationals - One of the three National Events where testing and midterming is available to my high ranking Black Belts. It's held in Orlando, so I have to have all of my materials ready almost a week in advance so it can be taken with those that actually GET to go to Orlando... me? I'm a peon, therefore, I get to stay at HQ and pray everything goes well. LOL! Anyway, I get super slammed the few weeks prior to testing and then again the couple of weeks after... it gets a little crazy...

#2. Christmas Ornaments - This year, Tom and I are not buying any Christmas ornaments/decorations for the house, everything is going to be homemade, or reused from years past. For example, I've made 25 Chenille Stem snowflakes, about 30 Chenille stem candy canes, and 25 Chenille stem snowmen. I already have all of the ornaments Tom made as a kid, the very few that I have that I made as a child, plus I have a couple dozen gingerbread men from last year.

I am waiting on supplies to get delivered for bell wreaths. Those should be lots of fun!! Also, I want to make Ribbon Wreaths, but I haven't gotten the gumption to do it yet. lol! I'm also going to take Crepe paper, and make paper snowflake chains for garland - and i think we're going to thread popcorn for a garland.

I still have to come up with SOMETHING for a tree topper. I don't have a clue yet...

I also have a craft to do with Cathy's kids, but I can't say much about it, since my sister may read my blog lol!

#3. I've been on a kind of anti-computer stint here lately. I just think sometimes I'm on it too much, and not doing something else productive... Today, though, I've done a LOT! lol! I've been busy busy!

Sorry!

I am hopefully doing a couple more photoshoots in the upcoming weeks. plus i have a few cakes to do, some cookies, and a couple of cheese cakes. lol

OH! Not to mention the new Harry Potter movie comes out this coming week... I SOOOOOOOOO want to see it!!!

Gotta run!

<3 Me!

2010-10-21T13:32:00.001-05:00

Wow... What a loping friggen week... Again. Is it nap time yet??

craaaaaaaaaaazzy week...

2010-10-19T16:31:00.002-05:00

wow... between last week to this week, it's been CRAZY.

Last week, I was chewing on some gum (which I had done every day all day for months...) and CRUNCH!!!! I popped out a filling. Son of a fricken BEAN! It hurt! Well, THEN, I thought it had come out of the top of my left side my mouth. So I started babying that side of my mouth, but I was starving, so I decided to take a bite of granola bar with the right side of my mouth... guess what? I was wrong... the filling came out of a tooth on the bottom LEFT side of my mouth... you know, the side of my mouth that I had just crunched with granola...

again... SON OF A FRICKEN BEAN!!! Pain... Holy bananas! So then, after digging that crap out with a toothpick, I finished my day.

Now, for those who have been wondering where I've been, I've been working on Fall Nationals for ATA International Headquarters. Our guys didn't leave for Fall Nationals until today (Tuesday), so i had to haul butt last week and yesterday to finish everything, once I had all the pieces, which of course come in at the last minute. Anyway, because I had Fall Nationals to finish, I made an appointment for today. So that I waiting almost a solid week between losing the filling and getting it filled. Yeah... NOT a lot of fun. But, I made it!

Ok, here's the other thing, I haven't been to the dentist in WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY longer than I would like to admit. Not because I am gross or anything... It's more of a "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of theory. I brush and floss. AND (in a very "Thank you very much" kind of tone) I was told that considering it had been so long since I had been to the dentist, my teeth were in GREAT condition. No cavities, a couple of "worrisome" spots, but nothing that a little extra brushing and flossing won't be able to take care of.

Yay me!

Now, I also asked my boss (Mr. Jacobs) if I could have the day off after my appointment, so that I could relax after doing all of the stuff for Fall Nationals. He said yes. So I went in this morning and worked my butt off, and headed out for my appointment at 11. I got out of my appointment around 1:30, ran through Mcdonalds, and then headed home to wait out the numbness before I tried to eat... my biggest fear is that i'll bite the side of my tongue off... because if you can't feel it, you can't tell if you're about to bite all the way through your tongue. lol

Ehh, ok so that's been what I've been dealing with...

Tomorrow, it's back to work as usual. Darn... well, the fun thing is, our bosses will be gone... and you know the saying "When the cat's away", right? Well, I do tend to relax a bit when the big wigs are out, but I do not PLAY. I still get my stuff done, it's just less stressful. Usually. If everyone will pull their weight, I'd be very surprised. Just because the bosses are gone, does not mean that our customers are gone. We still have a job to do... I know this, I remember this... I just really hope every one will get their stuff done!

lol! I'm off to relax a bit.

<3 Jessica

2010-10-12T10:39:00.001-05:00

Work is not the place to do your hair, or study for a test, or talk about someone else's kids physical therapy.

It's not the place to do your make up, or text your ex just to harrass him or her.

Check your email? Fine.
Make a doctor appt for your kids? Understandable.

But really? Work is not your personal little playground to do whatever the heck you want! It's a job. DO YOUR JOB.

This goes for walmart, kroger, burger king, the dollar store, corporate jobs, salary and hourly positions.

Sorry, i didnt realize some people needed it spelled out for them.

Uh oh... too much caffeine?

2010-10-10T15:00:00.002-05:00

"I got chills, they're multiplyin', and I'm losin' control
Cause the power you're supplyin', it's electrifyin'"

Yes, I've had three cups of coffee, a 20 oz bottle of Barq's Rootbeer, pizza, and jalapeno poppers...

I think I'm buzzed...

Ok, so the lyrics are from Grease - but it's honestly how I feel when I get into a project. What?? Another project?? Shouldn't I be sick of projects by now... HEEEEEEEEEEEEECK NO! Cuz that's how I roll - yo!

Anyway, so Project #1: My bestie and her hubby are working on getting her two oldest adopted by hubby. Then, the name change - and of course, we don't need a reason for a good ole fashioned get-together, but it'll be partay time! So I'm working on cake ideas for the adoption party. There is not a whole lot of ideas out there on the web, because normally an adoption is a quiet spiritual time for a family. But that's not the Branscum Way! mwhahaha! They love to party! So, I'm coming up with cake ideas, and party decor ideas. Should be fun. We don't have a date set - probably sometime in the spring. I'll know more later.

{Side note!! Tom's playing a game on the xbox called "Naughty Bear" and they just announced in the game that there are "flesh eating Zombie Bears"! And I just watching him defeat one by using his lazer beam eyes! Mwhahaha!! Oh my gosh that's hilarious!! Sorry! Had to jump in there for that!}

Project #2: One of my best friends from high school, Ashley, has a birthday in May - and I'm working on ideas for her cake... oh my goodness it'll be awesome!! Definitely Harry Potter inspired... gunna be awesome!!

{PS. I know, another interruption?? the newest Harry Potter movie comes out next month. I refuse to go on opening night, but maybe that first weekend? Anyone wanna come with?? Should be lots of fun!!}

Project #3: Birthday cake for a girl at work. Normally, we are off for her birthday, but we are going to surprise her with a bday cake... I'm thinking a simple cake with a design on top. The cool thing is, I'll be doing it all by scratch... no pan to help! EEEEK!! Should turn out cute though!

Project #4: Harry Potter cake for the new movie! Yes, I know i broke in earlier with the new movie coming in.. but that's how my brain is working today... haha! oh well. But, yeah, I got an HP cake pan off of ebay for super cheap, I'm planning on making that for the day the movie comes out... or as close as possible to that day.

Project #5: Christmas cake for our family Christmas at my parents' house. Gunna use my jumbo cupcake pan, and decorate it like a christmas tree. Neat, yeah?

Ok. So those are my baking projects - not to mention getting/keeping the house clean, decorating for Halloween, and getting ready for Christmas! I dunno... gunna be busy! But should be lots of fun! Oh! And I spent yesterday evening tweaking the announcements for my besties' sister in law's baby when he comes! They are ready to stuff with info, a pic, and ship to her for addressing and mailing! Whoohoo!

Anyways, I'm out y'all! Gotta get ready for the Nickelback concert tonight!

See ya!

<3 Jess

What. A. Long. Weekend.

2010-10-03T19:17:00.007-05:00

I am soooo not ready for Monday.

I have had a looooong weekend!

Here's the fast run through:

Friday night, after getting off of work, Tom and I loaded up the car, picked up Nikki from her gramma's house, then grabbed some Sonic and headed to Conway. When we got to Kandi's mom's house we ran to Wal-Mart to grab some supplies. Came back to the house, and started making chocolate birds nests. Kandi melted chocolate, Kay and Nik crunched up shredded wheat, and i started making cupcakes.

I wound up making 3 dozen cupcakes. After the chocolate was melted, we mixed it with the shredded wheat and the girls started shaping small handfuls into bird nests. Then, Kandi used peanut butter to adhere blue peanut m&ms inside the nests. Super cute! We finished up and the adults crawled into bed around 3 in the morning.

Saturday, we woke up at 7 a.m. We did breakfast, then headed out to the Dollar Tree for some last minute supplies. Went back to Kandi's for a bit, then off to Toad Suck Park to start setting up. It took us about an hour and a half to get everything decorated and set up. At about 12:30, guests started showing up and the party started!

Prizes for the games

Cake and Cupcakes (Cake was made by Jamie's friend, Brian)

Kandi and Kayla

Tom and Jamie opening presents

Jamie opening gifts

After the shower, we cleaned up, then headed back to Kandi's house to unload vehicles and get ready for Jason's very first baseball game. Then, we headed up to the ball field. Joey is the assistant coach for Jason's team. It's called Buddy League, a teaching league, to teach the boys (and girls on some teams) the rules of baseball. They use a pitching machine, and umpires are so great. For example, one of the boys on Jason's team, the catcher, got hit a couple of times in the arm with the ball, and he toughed it out for the first hit, but the second one hit in the same spot towards the end of the game, and he wound up sitting out the last inning of the game. After the game was over, the ump came over and gave the little boy the "game ball". How cute is that?! Anyway, here are a few pics:

Jason's practice swing

Jason was so excited about his game!

Swing for the fence Jason!

First time up, Jason got a good hit and wound up on first base.

Jason plays 3rd base, he's pretty good while he pays attention!

After Jason's game, Tom and I headed home. We stopped at Whole Hog Cafe for dinner. Then came home and started baking TJ's cake. While the first layer was baking, I made the vanilla (Peach colored) icing. Then, Tom pointed out that I didn't save out some of the white icing for the eyes, and some more white to tint pink for the tongue. So, I went ahead and made the chocolate icing, pulled out the first layer. Then, Tom and I went to wal-mart so that we could pick up a tube of white decorator icing. This was at like 10:30. I was sooo tired!

After we got back from Wal-Mart, we baked up the second layer of cake. Then, we set everything to cool over night and went to bed. I woke up this morning at 8, showered, and set to work. When I practiced before, I clocked myself at 2 hours to ice the entire cake. This time, it took me closer to 3 hours. I think it was because I was so tired. I finished icing and boxing the cake at around 11:30 - party was supposed to start at noon. I was going to be late. oh well. At least the cake looked good, right? Well, turned out, they changed the party time to 12:30 and they just didn't tell me... lol! nice, right?

Here are pics from TJ's party:

The party table - All done in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

TJ opening gifts

You got a helmet TJ? What for??

Oh! That's why you needed a helmet!! You got your first bike!!

TJ and his cake! (He was so excited!)

So, after TJ's party, I wanted to come home and clean house... but I just have NO energy! So I got on the computer and started uploading photos. Then, for dinner, Tom and I tried a new restaraunt. it's called Grampa's - it's not too far from the house, and it has really good food, and fantastic prices!

Then, we came back to the house and started watching Dogma! We love this movie!

As soon as it's over, we're putting laundry into the dryer and then crawling into bed... early? Heck yeah!! I'm tired! So I'm getting off the computer now.

Hey check me out on Facebook to see more pics!!

<3 Jessica

Look what I got on ebay!!

2010-09-27T20:49:00.004-05:00

I got the Harry Potter cake pan AND the Super man cake pan for... guess how much?

$1.04!!

Get out of freakin' town, right? lol!

I'm so excited! I'm thinking about making the HP cake for when the new movie comes out! I'm looking for a decently healthy recipe that I can smother with not at all healthy icing! haha!! It's all a balancing act, right?

Anyway, I'm also planning some cakes... I have 7 birthdays in January and February... i should probably start figuring out what I want to do, huh?

I know for Nikki's I'm doing a Jumbo Cupcake.

Only, Nik's is going to have a pink bottom, and white icing on the top with pink, white and light purple sprinkles... super easy, yeah?

That leaves, Cathy, Dad, Kandi, My mom, Kandi's mom, and Kayla...

Jeez... lol.

<3 Jess

2010-09-27T10:15:00.001-05:00

Let's face it

After Monday and Tuesday...
even the calendar says - W T F.

Lol! I couldn't resist!

2010-09-26T00:41:00.001-05:00

Blogging from my phone?? Very cool!!

Fun day!

2010-09-25T22:28:00.002-05:00

Today has been such a fun day!

This morning, Tom and I headed out around 10:30 or so. We went to Sports Clips to get Tom's ears lowered. {hehe} His normal girl wasn't there, so he had another girl. She cut his hair a shade shorter than he normally gets. It still looks good, don't get me wrong! It's just shorter.

After Sports Clips, went headed into town and went to Michael's. I'm telling you, this is like the greatest store EVA! {lol!} We walked around randomly around the store for a few minutes. Then, we hit up their Clearance Section. {I mean, really, who doesn't hit the clearance area??} Anyway, nothing really reached out and said "Buy me! Take me home!" So, then we went to their Baking section. {Seriously, I could live in Michael's... You can live off of fondant, right?}

I am very, very interested in all things cake & cupcake decorating right now. So, I can drift for hours down the cake isle. Anyway, so I knew I wanted to get a couple more coupler sets. {For those who don't know, couplers are used in/with your icing bags and tips so that you can easily, quickly, and cleanly change your icing tips.} So I grabbed a package of 4. Then, this really nice lady leaned over and asked if we knew where the birthday candles were. She said she wouldn't have asked us, but we looked like we knew about cakes. {Awwww!!! How cute, right?}

Anyway, so we still spent another 20 minutes or so on the baking isle. I had my couplers, and I also grabbed a fondant smoother. I don't use a lot of fondant, but I found a super cool tip online to make your buttercream icing super smooth. {Want to know the tip? Yeah, I knew you would.}

After frosting your cake, let stand until frosting becomes "crusty". You know it's at the right stage when you can tap the frosting and it will move slightly, but not come off on your finger. Once at this stage, place a non patterned paper towel on your cake, and apply slight pressure in circular movements around your cake. You can use your hand, but a fondant smoother also works, and can apply pressure more evenly. Check your cake multiple times to make sure you haven't completely screwed up the icing. {hehe} You can apply this same technique on the sides of the cake as well!

Ok. So after Michael's, we hit up Hobby Lobby. We walked out empty handed, {which is always disappointing} but we did get some good research done. For instance, a lot of the stuff that Michael's has, Hobby Lobby has too. And, some of the stuff is cheaper at HL than Michael's. However, some of the stuff is cheaper at Michael's than HL. Good research!

Then, we hit up Whole Hog! {Nom, Nom!} I got the loaded baked potato, and Tom got the bar-b-q nachos. We got to catch a bit of the Tennessee vs. Alabama at Birmingham {I think that's the school anyway} game. Tennessee was woopin' butt. Grr... Not a big fan of TN.

Anyway, after lunch, we ran through Garden Ridge. I found some super cool stuff... but again, walked out empty handed. {I'm starting to think that "empty handed shopping" is Tom's favorite kind of shopping.} Then, we hit up Sam's Club. Fantastic time to go shopping. We didn't have to dodge 1,000 people! It was busy but not slammed like it usually is! They have this really neat 3 in 1 dish. {Sorry about not having a pic or link... Sam's doesn't sell it online. I wish I had taken a pic with my phone!} Anyway, It's a Cake Plate (with lid), or a veggie and dip platter, or a salad bowl. Still a little out of our price range, but AWESOME! We did pick up potty paper, string cheese, and some buffalo chicken.

We headed home to watch the Razorback/Alabama game. The first half of the game was REALLY good. Good as in, the Hogs scored a TD in the first 45 seconds of the game. The second half of the game was still good, but 'Bama won in the end... and by "end" I mean the last 6 or 7 minutes of the game! Darn it!! Well, once we hit about 10 minutes left in the game. Tom and I headed to dinner, because we knew people would be on the edge of their seats, and we'd have time to get to Chili's and possibly catch the last couple minutes of the game. And we did! Just like at Sam's, we hit Chili's at the PERFECT time! I got my Crispy Chicken Crispers, and Tom got his Buffalo Ranch Burger. yummy!

After dinner, we came back to the house, and started watching Killers, which we got from Netflix, but the disc messed up about half an hour in. So, we notified Netflix that the disc was bad, and put on Mythbusters! We've been watching Mythbusters for about 2 hours now! Yay!

Oh! I forgot to tell y'all! When we went to Michaels, we got a 40% off coupon! The only thing is, it's only good until next Saturday. Since we'll be doing the baby shower next Saturday, we're going to hit Michael's up again tomorrow! I'll be getting a new set of cookie cutters! Woot! I'm thinking about making some cookies tomorrow! Cookies... yummy! I can't wait!

Anyway, it's 11:30 now. I'm almost ready for bed!

I'll talk to you folks later!

<3 Jess

Linkies!!

2010-09-25T15:39:00.002-05:00

Ok, so you all know I'm a dork about certain things:

Scrapbooking
Cake Making/Decorating
Digital Scrapbooking
Photo Editing
Crafts
Decorating

I wanted to share some of my favorite sites that support my "habits" lol!

Crafts/Decorating
Crap I've Made: "Sometimes it's amazing and sometimes it's just crap..." lol!
LollyChops: If you have an aversion to teal - do NOT go to this site! lol!
Mod Podge Rocks: This girl has GREAT ideas... some you wouldn't even think about! It's great!!
Make It and Love It: Such great ideas for home and daily living!
TidyMom: Tidy Mom is great! She has great ideas, great finds on the internet too!
Kreative Knack: Nikki so awesome!! She finds yard sale finds and fixes them up! She's really good!!
House of Hepworths "HoH": Allison is probably one of my top 3 blogs that I read. She's smart, funny, witty, and oh-so-talented!!
Cottage Instincts: Cindy at CI is so amazingly talented when it comes to decorating!! Everything is so elegant!
Skip to my Lou: This is a great site! Join their mailing list you get great ideas straight to your email through out the week!
Shanty2Chic: If you like to reburish stuff, this is a great site!
One Pretty Thing: Don't let the title fool you... This is a site that COLLECTS lots of links throughout the week - multi posts, great theme links. Another top 3 site for me!
Craftster: Another site that links lots of projects! Also has forums that walk you through projects, lets you ask questions, get reviews, etc.
I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar: Cheri has a great site, lots of crafts, definitely a great read!
Mini Mocha: Lots of great family stories, and kids crafts
Somewhat Simple: lots and lots of ideas, decor, and crafts!

Baking/Cake Decorating
I am Baker: TOP THREE Jessica SITE. Such great ideas for baking, recipes, party ideas, cookies, cakes, candies... omg... Also! Sign up to get the email updates!! She'll send you a link every time she updates!
If Life was like a Cupcake: Amanda is so cute and quirky!
Confessions of a Cookbook Queen: great recipes and cake decorating ideas
Cupcakes Take the Cake: Great cupcake ideas!!
Cupcake Project: An Experimental Cupcake Blog: What a great site! The cupcake project started off by the writer being asked to do a wedding with cupcakes, and she's done three weddings now! she's very talented and has great ideas!

Digital Scrapbooking/Photo Editing
Brusheezy!: free brush downloads for Adobe Photoshop
Jessica Sprague: omg - this is such a great site for learning! Some of the classes are free - most cost money, but are TOTALLY worth it!
DaFont: great free fonts to use!
The Blog Train Blog: A bi-monthly list of links for digital scrapbook kits! totally awesome!
Word Art World: cute word arts to use in digi-scrapping
Elegant WordArt 2: Bethany has a great site! Great word arts almost every day! Plus, she's so fun to read when she's blogging about her family!
Living Locurto: "free printables, recipes, fun party ideas and DIY crafts" I love this site for free printables for cards, projects, and like I already said "fun party ideas"!

Ok, so when I'm not on facebook, these are the sites I'm on lol!
If you have any sites that you like, link me, who knows - i may have to make a "Top 5 list"? lol!

<3 Jess

Mr. Jacobs' Big 4 - 0 Party!

2010-09-24T23:24:00.005-05:00

Our department at work is lucky enough to have one of the best bosses EVER!

Mr. Jacobs turned 40 on September 20, 2010. We knew he wasn't going to be in the office, so we threw him a party the Friday before!

We had fun... can you tell?

Maddy's Birthday Party

2010-09-24T22:44:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Maddy!!

The Party Crowd (the "Cool" table)

The rest of the crowd (there's actually MORE people too... this is just part of them!)

Maddy's Monkey Cake!

Banana "Trees" (Vanilla Cupcakes with green banana flavored frosting with Runts banana candies on top!)

I think Maddy likes her Monkey cake!! I can't believe she's 5!!

Oh no!! Icing to the face!! Should have seen that coming! lol!

Time for presents!

It's my party I can stick my tongue out if I wanna!!

Maddy's birthday party was SUCH a success!! She's so darn cute!! I can't believe she's 5!!

Totally spazzed y'all!!

2010-09-23T23:04:00.002-05:00

I have completely forgotten to post about Maddy's birthday party!!

omg! What a horrible aunt am i?!?!

I promise to try to do it tomorrow night, it's after 11 and I'm WIPED!!

<3 Me!

PS. Did you see the new blog layout? No? You're reading this on facebook?!?!

Check it out: Hinz Home

Another party to plan

2010-09-19T16:49:00.002-05:00

lol!

I know, I'm getting caked out. lol! But, my best friend is going through a big change. Well, her family is. Here's the back story:

Kandi had two kids before she met Joey. Then, she and Joey had their youngest child and got married. They've been together for about four and a half years. After a couple of years of searching around they have found a great lawyer who is going to be handling the process of Joey adopting the older two kids.

It is such a great time in their lives. I can't wait for the adoption party! I cannot wait to design up invitations, and create a great cake with their names and new "birthdays"! I can't wait to decorate for it and to make games for it!

hehe!

<3 Jessica

Just when I want to be a whiner...

2010-09-17T22:49:00.003-05:00

ok. so today is not a great day... it's that lovely time of the month... yay... the first couple days are the hardest. I know, hormones, cramps, blech... But some of it has to do with "well, this is another month we didn't get pregnant." and I was feeling all bitchy and whiney... so before I posted my blog I wanted to check up on some of the blogs I follow, and I hit up Bethany's Elegant WordArt blog.

Bethany does some of the most beautiful word art I have ever seen. Also, her daily stories, wisdom and photos normally brighten my day. I'm a "stalker" I guess, because I really do enjoy reading about her and her family. I love how she describes herself on her blog:
"Hi all. My name is Bethany, and I'm a 34 yr old, happily married, stay-at-home mom, with 5 kids. Yes, they're all mine. And they have the same Dad. And we had them AFTER we got married."

Anyway, I really like her and her blog. Well, so I checked her latest update, and it was her husband writing, talking about Bethany being in a mental hospital... WHAT?! Yes, a mental hospital... so then I had to go back about 3 blogs to get the beginning. Let me give you the short version:

Bethany worked for a few years to lose 110 pounds, she's always writing about her meal plan, and her work outs. Well, she says at one point that she just quit eating. there were times she'd go a day or two without eating anything, but she'd drink diet pepsi like it was going out of style. Anyway, a little less than a week ago, she was very down, sleepy, tired, and just wanted to take a sleeping pill and go to bed. She was very depressed and made an offhanded comment to a friend about how she just wanted to hurt herself. The friend rushed over, got her out of the house. Hubby went to lunch with her, and realized things were bad. He took her to the ER at the local mental hospital, and they wound up admitting her. They think that the depression was brought on by her not eating (vitamin deficiency maybe).

She's been there for most of the week, and she seems like she's doing better. They put her on an antidepressant and she's eating better, still foods on her meal plan, but multiple meals a days. Her faith in God is getting stronger too. I think they are Mormon, and her faith was strong before, but she's strengthening it every day. She misses her kids, husband, and friends.

So yeah, I'm whining about having a bad day... I know I'm not depressed, just an off day. It's kind of hard to be depressed with a husband like mine, he's just so much fun... and my friends are wonderful and I have the most precious beautiful nieces and nephews a girl could ask for... I know I have a good life. I know I have faith that in the end, things will work out the way I want them to... it just takes time...

I shouldn't pray for patience, because patience only comes when it's tested, and I don't want it to get tested. So now, I pray for wisdom for my doctor, strength for my husband, and readiness for when it does happen to us...

I feel like I'm about to cry... time to quit blogging...

Sorry for the long post... just the hormones from Aunt Flow, huh?

<3 Jess

(Sorry for the TMI)

Looooooooooooong Weekend.

2010-08-29T20:40:00.005-05:00

Ok, so for those of you who read my blog, or watch me on facebook, I'm making my niece Maddy a Monkey Cake for 5th birthday. I've been practicing all week and all this weekend. Let me give you a run down of what I've been doing:

Monday night, I made a cake. It's baked in a stainless steel bowl, so it's rounded... well Round 1 was a failure - #1. I didn't use enough cake mix in the bowl... #2. The bowl I used was too big... #3. I didn't let the cake cool long enough before I pull it out of the bowl... #4. I tried to cut the cake to make two layers... and it crumbled - cuz I didn't let it cool...

LOL! Mega-Fail! lol! But I learned a LOT from the experience.

Wednesday, I bought more cake mixes. Round 2: #1. Smaller bowl, but still not enough cake mix to fill the bowl like I wanted... #2 I guess I didn't learn to take the cake out of the bowl... because it was still SUPER moist (like pull the top "crumb layer" up while I was icing) #3. I forgot to attach the ears before icing the cake. So, I had iced the rounded "head" of the cake, then attached the ears... and they slid WAY down haha! (even using toothpicks to hold them)...

Again, more learning... But, I also did Martha Stewart's "fluffy buttercream" recipe in vanilla, and in chocolate... turned out better than most store bought icing... i was really pleased!

Friday, I picked up more cake mixes... Round #3. #1. Right bowl. #2. ALMOST the right amount of batter to fill the bowl like I wanted. #2. Still didn't learn to take the friggen cake out of the bowl to cool... I PROMISE next time I will! #3. I learned that Martha makes a BUTT load of icing in a "batch". But, it was fabulous.

This one, I knew was THE practice cake... Let me post my pics (I didn't take pics of round 1 and 2... I was not pleased enough to take pics...)

This is my rounded cake and the jumbo cupcake. The cupcake gets leveled off, then cut in half vertically and then attached for ears.

Hehe, this is actually an "oopsie" pic! (Do you notice it's not cut horizontally to create two layers?) I had to remove the ears, cut it horizontal, fill it with chocolate icing, then reassemble it!

After, fixing my "oops," I iced the cake with the chocolate butter cream. (notice the wax paper? It keeps your plate or board clean while you ice! Thanks Martha!)

All iced in chocolate - I know the icing doesn't look FANTASTIC. The icing was just a bit stiff (cuz I made the icing Wednesday or Thursday night, and I didn't ice the cake until Saturday) I'm also looking into techniques to get the icing to be smoother. Practice makes perfect, right?

I added a star border... turned out fantastic!! I was very, very pleased! Oh! Real quick, the ears are NOT even. Tom's my "Level Man", and he was working on the OTHER weekend project (more on that in a bit). When I do the final cake in a couple weeks, I'll DEFINITELY have Tom's eyes the whole time. *Promise!*

I used the same star tip for the border to create the hair. I was really pleased with how it came out. The hair will be super sturdy to hold up a number 5 candle for Ms. Maddy's birthday.

I asked Tom to take a pic of me icing the cake, cuz I wanted proof that I was doing it. lol! However, this is the part that i had not practiced at ALL. So I think I went a little TOO quickly and impatiently. Tisk Tisk... I will definitely imprint a pattern for me to follow.

The ears turned out ok. I definitely want to do them the same way, just slower next time. First, I marked out where the inside of the ears were going, then filled it in with the yellow butter cream. Then, I smoothed out the icing so it didn't look all "gloppy". (Is that even a word? idk...)

This is the semi-finished picture. I was NOT happy with the yellow for the mouth part... It's too high, too thick, not symmetrical, too low. However, again, that's why this was practice, right?

I don't have a final picture. I've already wrapped it up so that I can take it to work and let the girls at work have some... I'm so friggen sick of cake right now... lol!!!

So, ok, I mentioned Tom had another project he was working on Saturday. We had some errands to run, and a trip to Sam's Club in Little Rock to do. Now, again for those who follow me or Tom on facebook, you remember when we were on our trip back from visiting Tom's dad, we had the air compressor on the truck start rockin' really bad, and we thought it was going out on us. Well, we made it back to little rock, and basically were just waiting for it to go out before we made the purchases to replace everything. So, we were in Sam's Club, got done buying supplies, after loading everything up in the back of the truck, we started the Durango up, and heard it SCREAM. The poor girl was in pain... then, it started smoking and we realized the air compressor had seized up on us, and fried the serpentine belt.

I had to call "Daddy Auto Recommendations" lol! Yes, I'm 27, Yes, my husband is HIGHLY capable to fix vehicles, and yes, I called my daddy to come rescue us. lol! After Dad said we CAN fix it ourselves, but it would be easier (read: more expensive) to put it in the shop, we decided to have the car towed to the house so we could take apart the a/c to figure out how bad the damage was. Dad went ahead and took me to the house so i could put away our groceries. Tom stuck around at Sam's to help the tow truck guy to get it to the house.

I think my sis said it best "dont you hate seeing your baby on the tow truck???" lol! Poor Tom was so sad his truck was being put on the back of the tow truck.

We got the truck back to the house, Tom started disassembling the a/c stuff while I was icing the monkey cake (thus the wonky ears lol!). Anyway, he came in at one point and looked like he was almost in tears - the compressor clutch, which we originally thought was the problem is not the problem. The bearings actually had crumbled inside the compressor, and we were going to have to replace it.

This was a pain, because no one had one in stock - except O'Reily's in North Little Rock. Well, we decided we needed to replace the accumulator dryer, and the orrifice tube. We ordered the parts from a local place (this was at like 4 o'clock Saturday afternoon), then went to dinner, because neither one of us wanted to cook after such a frustrating day.

Sunday, we picked up the parts, got everything back to the house, and then come to find out, it was the wrong friggen compressor. There are two for his model. Yay. We put the accumulator/dryer and the expansion valve on. When we were putting the new expansion valve on, we had to remove two bolts. While we were removing that bolt, Tom said "It feels like it's misthreaded." And almost immediately the darn thing snapped in half. There were a few choice words used from both of us. We thought we got it back together as well as we could without drilling out the bad bolt. Then it was back to the compressor. We called O'Reiley's to find out if they still had the one we needed, and they did, so we drove out to NLR, picked up the part, returned the wrong compressor and headed back to the house. We got the new compressor in, attached the hoses and hooked up the vacuum pump and got it "vacuumized" lol! (nice word right?) Well, it very quickly said it was a vacuum. Which kind of worried me, but Tom didn't seem worried. Then, we started the recharge kit, and we heard our biggest fear - a leak. Then, we started seeing the coolant spitting out of the darn expansion valve. Yeah... more choice words. Well, we didn't want to mess with taking it apart. again. lol We decided that redoing that stupid expansion valve and drilling out that friggen bolt was not a "this weekend" project. Tom has a drivable truck, and that was the biggest thing.

So yeah, that was my weekend... haha! I have to say, even with some ups and downs, I feel blessed that I got to spend the whole weekend with Tom. It was so much fun to get frustrated and dirty with Tom. lol! not dirty but like, grimey lol! He appreciated the moral support. I kept telling him that my daddy taught me well. He taught me how to hold a flashlight, and how to give support and be company while someone is working on a vehicle lol!

Alrighty, I'm off to get ready for bed!

Sorry for the long post!!

<3 Jess

how tired am I...?

2010-08-07T22:09:00.002-05:00

So, how tired am I?

Well, I'm at my desktop computer versus my lappy - cuz I tend to give up on the lappy when I'm a little sleepy... lol plus hubby is playing his scary Alan Wake game...

I helped lay about 1/3 of the bricks for our patio... which is exhausting! Those chunks are HEAVY - 9 in long X 6 in wide X 2 1/2 in deep. Those suckers are CHUNKS! haha!

Plus, Hubs and I were up super late last night - like until almost 2, then we were up at 7 to get a-cracka-lackin' on the patio! lol.

Anyway, so please bear with me if I ramble... lol! (what? ME? ramble? no.... must be someone else's blog you're reading, right?) Also, please don't pay attention to the typos and missing words... it's the sleep deprivation haha!

I've got a contest I am entering some of my photos in... should know in a couple of weeks how that went... Also I have the invites to Jamie's shower going out on Monday. They are SUPER cute!! I was bragging to the girl at Walmart about how well I thought they turned out - she wants me to call walmart HQ to see if they would sell my template! hehe! I'm not so sure of that, haha... Wal-Mart is the "Evil Empire" lol! They shouldn't have my work! lol

Anyway, so I mentioned we are working on our patio... I can't wait to do the full blog about it... it's so freakin' awesome! I'm really proud. It's our first home improvement project - well, unless you count demolishing the original wooden porch that WAS where the patio is going... and that was DEFINITELY an improvement haha! I'm really excited! My dad has been helping us a LOT too...

We have a trip planned here soon... probably won't detail about it until we get back... some slime balls are out there scouring the internet for people who talk about being on vay-cay. So i'm trying to be better... anyways, so if you don't see updates or anything from me for a few days, I'm not dead I promise!!

What else....? Oooh! I was talking about walmart earlier... haha... We found these 160 calorie ice cream sandwiches that are TO DIE FOR. omg. so good. Please go buy them... I need to buy stock in them... I dont' remember the brand though... such a horrible fan, eh?

okie doke y'all... I'm at 70% of downloading the Office 2010 for my desktop... rar... I think I'm going to hit up some Frontierville on FB!

Peace out g-monies!

<3 Jess

PS. How tired am I? Pretty-freakin'-tired. lol!

week in review

2010-08-01T11:14:00.003-05:00

week in review

Last week was end of month, which means it gets super hectic because we have to get everything in house in our department done! Crazy! But, it's been really good, because we have been at least hitting some of our numbers haha!

Last weekend, Tom and I measured out where our back patio is going to go. Yesterday (Saturday) we went and priced all of our materials - basically went to Home Depot and got prices, then went to Lowe's to see who had the better deal. We were wanting 500 bricks. Home Depot had then for 98 cents each. Not bad, about what we thought we were going to pay on the bricks (about 1/2 the budget). Then, after pricing at Home Depot, we went over to Lowe's and found the exact same brick, on clearance - for get this: 39 cents a brick! WOOHOO!! We more than halved our cost on the bricks! SAWEEET!

Also yesterday, my dad came over and helped us stake out where the patio is going to go, and helped us finalize our design plans for the patio. Then, we started digging... lol!

We are about 2/5 of the way done digging, I think we'll get it done today. Then, we'll need to level the ground, then decide how much sand we're going to need. Then, lay the bricks. We should (if everything goes well, mind you) be able to sit down on our back patio this time next weekend! woohoo!!

I have some pics, I will definitely be taking more... I'll post them all once we have the finished project!

Time to get digging! Please pray for my poor blistered hands, and my aching back! lol!

<3 Jessica

Blah and 1/2.

2010-07-27T20:19:00.003-05:00

Grrr. I don't feel good. I feel lazy. I don't want to do anything... rar...

I do have a couple of small projects to work on! Gunna work on those tonight.

tired!

blah!

ready for bed...

it's only 8:20 in the evening.

Fun weekend!

2010-07-25T15:24:00.006-05:00

Ok, so I have had 4 of the best days so far this year. It's just been a great 4 days. 2 great days at work! 1 of which was my friend Marissa's birthday. She's been excited about turning 30 for a long time, and I turned 27 on the 10th - which I have known since I was like 15 that 27 is the "perfect age". It's going to be a good year! lol!
Anyway, Saturday, we went to Conway to visit Kandi and Joey and the kids. We had a lot of fun, started off at Kandi's mom's house. We got to hang out with her for a little bit, and I got to show off the stuff I'm working on for Jamie's shower - I got very good reviews. :) hehe!

Then, we went back to Kandi's house and hung out with her and the kids all day! It was so much fun!! I even did a photo shoot with the kids. Check these out!

Jason

Jason 8 years old

Kayla 6 years old

Maddy 4 years old (Almost 5)

Maddy and Jason

Maddy & Kayla

While the lighting wasn't great because of the time of day I was taking these, I think I have a couple of FANTASTIC pics!! hehe! I love taking photos. These kids are so much fun to take pics of too!

I can't wait to steal Cathy's kids to do a photoshoot!

After the photo shoot, Kandi, Joey, myself, and Jamie (on speaker phone) cleared up the last of the details for Jamie's shower. Then, Joey and I talked money. Then, it was more hanging out!

We headed out around midnight. Slept in until about 10 Sunday morning. We spent the morning hanging out, just me and Tom. Then, we got to talk to Tom's dad - He's still in Germany but hopefully heading back to Texas soon.

Then, we went out back and started mapping out where our back patio is going to go. Now, it's just a matter of getting our materials list together, and quite possibly start clearing out the area and setting things up next weekend! Yay!! Possibly by the end of the summer, we should have our patio finished! We should be able to have a nice fall patio party... How great would that be?!

Anyway, now I'm working on trying to relax before this week - End of month gets me so wound up! lol!

Anyways, I'm off here now. I've got to upload pics on Kandi's facebook page and then on to mine. Love you all!

<3 Jess

"I love you!"

2010-07-18T21:39:00.002-05:00

That has got to be the three greatest words on the planet.

Tom and I tell each other, probably 20 to 30 times a day that we love each other. It never gets old either, y'know?

Anyway, we had such a great weekend.

Friday, was a pretty good day at work. Nothing super great, but nothing to shake your fist at, y'know? Anyway, after work, Tom and I went to mom and dad's for burgers and chips for dinner. We hung out for a while, then, once we we were ready to go, we grabbed Brett, Nikki, and TJ and headed off to our house!

We love having the kids over, there's a lot of energy in the house, and they are super well behaved kids. They've been begging to come over since before World Championships, but because of how crazy things were - trying to get Worlds set up, then Worlds itself, then 4th of July weekend, then my birthday - this was honestly the first weekend we had available to snag the kids.

Anyway, once we got to the house, Brett and Tom settled down for some Halo action on the Xbox. TJ, Nikki, and I got to work working on some birds nest prototypes for Jamie's baby shower. Once we got those done, we all sat down to watch A Goofy Movie and TJ, Nikki, and I were coloring. Nikki fell asleep on the short couch. Once the movie was over, we let Brett and Tom play more Halo. Because TJ needs almost no stimuli while he's trying to get to sleep, I had to put him in our guest room to go to sleep. we put a night light in the room, and within 20 or 30 minutes, he was out.

I got on my computer and was looking up more stuff for the shower, and finally went to bed around midnight, Come to find out, Brett was up until about 1 a.m. (probably the latest he's ever stayed up!) and Tom was up until about 2 a.m.

I woke up multiple times between 430 and 630 - I usually wake up lots of times all night long when we have the kids over. I always have this fear that something is going to happen while we have them over... Nothing has ever happened, but they are not my kids, i'd feel terrible if something happened. I'd never be able to live with myself.

Anyway, the last time I got up, I checked in on Tj, he was asleep, then I went to check on Nikki and Brett in the living room, and they were both asleep - i was super excited because i had just gotten it into my head that I should get a shower and wash my face, brush my teeth - you know, normal morning routine before the kids woke up... Then, as I walked past the guest room again, TJ said "Sausau?" It was so darn cute!!

He had made it through the night with a dry diaper! Yay TJ man! so we celebrated with a little bit of chocolate! lol! Then, we went into the living room and watched spongebob before the other two got up. After about half an hour of spongebob - TJ looked at me and said "I'm hun-gee Sausau" so I told TJ he had to ask Uncle Tom to go get donuts... hehe!

So, TJ crawled up into our bed, and I sat down on the edge of our bed, and TJ said "Uncle Tom?" really really quietly. and Tom rolled over and looked at him. and TJ burst out the with the biggest most adorable grin ever! and said "Uncle Tom, donuts please? and chocolate milk please?" lol! Tom couldn't contain his happiness at how cute TJ was. I mean, how can you resist that?? So Uncle Tom got up and went to pick up donuts and chocolate milk.

TJ and I went back to watching sponge bob. About the time Tom got back with breakfast, Nikki was up. Then, the ruckus in the kitchen for breakfast woke Brett up, so he joined us for breakfast.

After Breakfast Tom and Brett got back into Halo, and the younger ones and I got to using WonderColors markers and coloring books... Those are super cute! Then, after about an hour for Brett and Tom to play Halo, we played Carnival Games on the Wii - super fun!
Then, we gathered up all of their stuff and headed back to their house - cuz they were hitting up Magic Springs that afternoon.

We got lots of hugs and I love you's then we headed off to get Tom a hair cut, then we met Tom's mom for a lunch in Bryant. We went to Layla's - a greek restaurant kind of tucked away. OMG it's fantastic!

After lunch, Tom and I came back to the house and relaxed. I was able to do a lot of stuff for the shower, and also able to set up the address list that Jamie supplied us with, and then started thinking of a lot more things I need to get/do to prepare. Y'know, things I can get started on now? Well, then, around like 5 or 530, we started playing Lego Harry Potter - omg I love that game! We played for a good 3 or 4 hours!

I swear Lego games and Harry Potter games are the only ones I can really play for more than half an hour or so. it's hilarious. Anyway, we hit the sack around 1030 or 11.

Today (Sunday), we got up, I watched a couple episodes of SpongeBob, and did some more research/design work for the shower. Then, we headed out - dropped off a computer program to my dad, then grabbed some yummy lunch at Taco Bueno. After lunch, we did a little shopping, got some stuff for the shower, then headed back home. We watched some Whale Wars on netflix, then just kind of hung out for a while, then we waited until it "cooled off" outside. (Read "cooled off" as "dropped below 'hotter than hell!'" lol!) After it "cooled off", we got busy on our front yard. Now, the other thing to remember, because our house is on basically a corner lot and it's as large as a lot and a half... haha! I have about 50% to 75% more front yard than a normal lot lol! It looks so much better now! and everything smells like fresh cut grass! Too bad we were hot as heck, and stunk to high heaven lol! so we showered, and now we're watching more whale wars.

lol!

Sorry no pics this time! I just always get so busy and hands on when i have the kids over, i just forget that other people might like to see what we're up to! lol! I'll have more pics here soon, hopefully! lol!

love,
Jess

Best. Birthday. Ever.

2010-07-11T00:52:00.003-05:00

Ok, so for as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be 27. I don't know the "logistics" of it... but I always thought 27 is the perfect age... This is THE year, this is MY year... So far, 25 hours into being 27, I'd have to say the theory stands.

At 12:15 a.m. Saturday, July 10, 2010 - Tom let me open my birthday gifts! We had received a package from his dad and step mom with my presents in it! One, was a t-shirt that said "Scrap Queen" It's pink and has a pretty design on it! I love it! Then, there was a whole bunch of "Scrap supplies". New file folders for my box where I organize my papers and stickers, sticky notes, tabbies, a journal, a new mousepad (that i can put a picture in!) and notecards with envelopes.

Then, Tom let me open my gifts from him. On our kitchen table, he had said a Bath & Body Works bag - he knows I LOVE Japanese Cherry Blossom body wash - there were four bottles, then underneath the bottles was a BRAND NEW 50 - 200 mm LENSE FOR MY NIKON D60!!!!!!! EEEEEEK!! It's fantastic! I can take upclose, tight photos without my subject knowing I am taking them! I can zoom in, from across the room, and get the freckles on Tom's face! (and he doesn't have a lot of freckles!) It is PERFECT!

After presents, we went to sleep. Saturday morning around 930ish, we got up, showered, dressed, and started in on some coffee. At some point in the morning, Tom had called his dad (who is in Germany right now- more on that in a bit), and left him a voicemail. Well, somewhere in the middle of our second cup of coffee, his dad called back. We had the best phone call with his dad. We talked for probably a good hour. It was fun! After a couple incoming calls, Dad decided he needed to get off the phone and get some work done. So Tom and I headed out to lunch.

Now, for those of you who don't know, my husband is awesome! When I say we headed out to lunch, I mean that Tom kept asking me to give him a number - any number - and it would decide which way we turned, which direction we went, which street to turn down! It was great! Well, we wound up at CheeburgerCheeburger (which is funny, because that's where we went for Tom's birthday in December!) I had the veggie burger, with guacamole and olives - it was the best sandwich I've ever had there, and probably within the top 3 veggie burgers I've ever eaten (and I love me some veggie burger!) We also got their fries - nom nom!

We decided after lunch, we wanted something sweet, so again, more numbers! We wound up at Shake's off of Chenal Parkway! I got their Butter Rum Cake Concrete - it was GREAT! The best concrete I've ever had there!

Then, Tom said "no more numbers, you don't get to pick where we go next." and I figured 'ok, what's he got in store for me now?' GATOR GOLF!!! (for those of you not from around Southwest Little Rock, Gator Golf is a putt-putt place, with two courses, go karts, and batting cages. We did both courses of golf! I loved it!! The first course, we were behind this really nice family - three teenaged boys, mom and dad. Really nice people (but where there are only two of us, and five of them - we kept getting right behind them). Anyway, after the first round, the family went inside the main office (where the a/c was! haha!) then we did too. They were taking a break before they started their next round. We grabbed a bottle of water and a White Cherry Slushie and headed right back out for the second course. It was so much fun! We didn't take score - but we both got a hole-in-one! Legitimately! We didn't cheat!

After Gator Golf, we came back to the house, played a little Lego Harry Potter and cooled down. Then, showered, dressed, and got ready to go out for dinner. Again, the numbers game! haha! We wound up at Crazy Hibachi in North Little Rock; a new restaurant for both of us. It was FABULOUS! For anyone from the Little Rock area, it's kind of like Shoguns - where you seat 6 or 8 people around a table, then a chef comes to the table and cooks all of the food. It was really good! We were kind of worried about the ticket - because some of the stuff was really expensive. We got the Fried Calamari appetizer, then I got Teryaki Chicken, and Tom got Teryaki Salmon. Oh - My - Gosh! it was fabulous! When we got the ticket, we were both surprised to see the bill was only like $35 for the two of us - maybe closer to $40. But if we went to Shoguns, we'd have had a $60 ticket! So, great prices, great food, great atmosphere, DEFINITELY going back!

After dinner (around 9ish) we headed out to find us a movie, we stopped at the Rave in little rock, but I don't like a lot of people - and I really wanted to see Despicable Me - and this was opening weekend for it! so we opted to head out to Benton's Tinsletown, and got to see it there - with almost an empty theater. It was great! SUCH a cute movie! Go see it! Take your kids! Take your nieces and nephews! Take the neighbor's kids! haha! It's so cute! "It's so fluffy I could die!" hahahahahahahaha!

Anyway, now we're back at the house - it's 1:20ish in the morning, and I am so ready for bed. But, before I do, why is Tom's dad in Germany?

Tom's Oma (his paternal grandmother, who lived in Fulda, Germany, passed away Thursday morning). Tom's father is an only child and has been in Germany for the past month with her, after her latest heart surgery. The initial surgery went well (I don't know the details about why they were doing surgery. But we know that the surgery itself went well. Afterwards though, she began to deteriorate. She wound up on life support, kidneys had shut down. The doctors were saying they couldn't take her off of life support, because she could "bounce back". Well, tom's father got to talk to her regular physician and had him talked to the doctor who was taking care of Oma, and convinced him to remove the life support. After they removed the life support, the doctors said she would only have a few days. Tom's father was there. He was able to speak with her, to be with her, and to help her go.

It has been an emotional time for Tom's father, and for Tom. He's never been as close to his father as I am to mine (I'm a daddy's girl - always have been, always will be...) but, with the passing of Oma, both Tom and his father seem to have a renewed sense of becoming closer, really getting to know each other. It's a very amazing thing to witness as an "outsider". Especially, to see it come from both sides. In the past, I have seen where Tom has pushed for that bond, other times where his father has been the one working towards it, but now, with Oma watching down, her boys are going to learn how to go from Father and Son - to Dad and Tom. Now, I know that makes it sound like they had no relationship, but they did. It was just more 'strained'. I don't know if that is the right word. But, it makes sense to me... haha! Sorry to ramble.

Anyway, Dad has a lot of photos of Tom when he was younger that his Oma kept. Dad's come across a lot of things in her home, which he is packing up by himself. I know it kills Tom to not be with his dad, when he clearly needs him near. But Dad knows Tom is here for him and will be with him in spirit. Also, Tom and Dad both have Skype (the internet phone program) and so they have talked multiple times over the last couple of days, and the calls will continue, the visits will continue. They will share memories, and thoughts, and feelings. It'll be an amazing growth for them both, and I'm so proud to be included in it all.

Anyway, I'm done with the talking! I'm going to add my photos from today, and then I'm going to hit the bed! I'm exhausted! lol!

I love you all! Thank you all for the bday wishes! It was so much fun to keep getting emails and notifications on facebook all day with thoughtful sentiments! Thank you again!

<3 Jessica
(The new and improved 27 year old version!)

Death

2010-06-29T20:37:00.001-05:00

Death - What a great way to explain it...

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to

Leave the examination room and said,

'Doctor, I am afraid to die.

Tell me what lies on the other side.'

Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know..'

'You don't know? You're, a Christian man,

and don't know what's on the other side?'

The doctor was holding the handle of the door;

On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,

And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room

And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doctor said,

'Did you notice my dog?

He's never been in this room before.

He didn't know what was inside.

He knew nothing except that his master was here,

And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.

I know little of what is on the other side of death,

But I do know one thing...

I know my Master is there and that is enough.'

Monday is ALMOST over!!!

2010-06-14T21:06:00.002-05:00

Thank God! Monday is almost over...

however, for those of you that are calendar-impaired... do you realize that tomorrow is halfway through the month halfway through the year??? 6 months until Christmas!

WHAT THE HECK!?!? I swear, I feel like I was just leaving for our Texas trip, and just celebrating our anniversary... and now, it's time for WORLDS!? Already?? Jeez!! I've got a LOT to do! eek!

please do not expect to see me online much other than the occasional "When will this week be over?!" post lol! It's gunna get crazy up-in-here!

I love you all!! Gunna have great pics for Worlds though, I think?!

See ya!!

<3 Jess

please disregard the mistakes...

2010-06-10T20:28:00.002-05:00

please disregard any spelling and/or grammar errors...

i'm a little out of it.

oooooooooooh. i want to get new end tables for our living room. we have glass ones right now, and they don't match... at all... lol

ooh! we are watching csi... that's an awesome show.

i don't want to do dishes tonight... does it make me a nasty person cuz i don't want to do the dishes tonight? I will be doing them tomorrow night, i try really hard to not let dishes sit more than 1 day - cuz it's yucky... but i just don't wanna...

I am so excited! There is so much excitement in the air for World Championships. We had a meeting today, giving us kind of a run through of worlds, I'm really excited. we have two weeks to the day until International Rank Testing. I'm really excited! I know, now i sound like a big goob - there is a really good chance that i'm going to get to do lots of stuff downtown for Worlds. i LOVE this time of year - super busy, super hectic! I love "crisis managament" situations. and this is like a full week of it. plus! I get to hang out with a lot of GREAT people that i only get to see once a year!

I love it.

so if you're coming to worlds, let me know!

Blogger is back up! Yay!

2010-06-07T21:56:00.003-05:00

so I was trying to update the page yesterday and blogger wouldn't let me... :( oh well... i'm good now.

Things are great right now, I have a couple of little projects i've been working on here at the house, hopefully, I'll get pictures up soon... lol...
That's the goal, right?

Anyway, the countdown has begun... 17 days until World Championship Testing/Midterming...
I think I'm doing good... yay me... I am working on the last few applications. Tomorrow I'm going to work on my number stickers. Also, this week I need to start setting up my score sheets. hehe, then I gotta get my "Jacobs Box" going, pens, highlighters, etc.

anyways, I need to get cracking on my list to go to the Tournaments department... so i guess i'll do that for now...

Anyway! I'm out!
PS. What better marketing than the truth - "Drink Barq's. It's good." lol! darn strait!

...a little too much fun...

2010-06-05T21:56:00.004-05:00

lots, and lots of fun...

I got to work on a big project today... but i can't say much about it - because it's a practice run for a friend lol!! message me, or email me, and I'll send you a pic!!

Love this...

2010-05-16T17:33:00.003-05:00

K, so we are watching this show called "Prototype This", which is really cool - a show with a bunch of geniuses who come up with futuristic ideas then build them, and then they show them off - sometimes without even having a full test run of their invention - in front of a full audience.

It's pretty neat.

So I'm stealing it's title structure and writing today on "Love This", lol!

Anyway, so that's where my brain is haha!

It's been a great weekend.

First, Friday night, we went to my parents' house and hung out with them and my sis and her family, and Robert and his girlfriend, Merit. Then, we did dinner - Robert and Merit had to head out to dance class - we had Nachos. Yummy! Watched a little bit of tv, then did Chocolate Covered Strawberries - nom nom! Then, Tom and I headed back to the house, watched Charlie Bartlett.

Saturday morning, we woke up kind of late, played a little "Words with Friends" lol! Then headed to US Pizza Co for lunch and it was fantastic!! Then, we stopped at a yard sale - i found some FANTASTIC black and white dining room chairs, $25 each, but I just couldn't justify it. Besides, it's for a short table, we have a pub table. lol. I wanted them though lol... but we didn't get them lol!
After that we hit up Best Buy, that was fun! I found out that Apple does all of their own software - lol. I know this probably sounds dumb to people who HAVE a Mac, but this is the first I've ever really had experience for it. lol! But I was amazed at how FEW programs there are for Macs... but the programs they have are pretty all-inclusive.
After Best Buy, we went by TCBY and got frozen yogurt (i got mint chocolate chip, and Tom got a parfait with coffee yogurt and white chocolate mouse haha). Then, we headed to the beer store, then home.
We ordered and picked up pizza and wings from Pizza Hut. I've never had wings before - they were FIRE! Then, we spent the evening together, drinking our beers, and watching movies, and just hanging out.

Sunday, I woke up kinda early - well earlier than Saturday lol! I started out cleaning up the kitchen, taking out trash, etc. fun fun, right? Not so much... Oh well, then, I started some laundry, then went to take a shower. After I got out of the shower, Tom got up, he showered, then we sat down on the bed and played "Words with Friends" for a couple hours! lol! Yes, I said hours. haha!
Around noon, we got up and started getting ready to head out to meet Ashley for lunch. Jason's Deli - I forgot how much I missed eating at Jason's... it is soooo friggen good! The only problem we had was it was packed! Worse than that, there were ungrateful teenagers at the next table acting like little prissy assed kids. I just really have a problem with ungrateful kids - if your parents are buying your lunch, you should at least help mom carry the tray of food to your table - not make her balance 6 plates at one time.
Ehh, we had to leave, because none of us - Ashley, Tom, nor myself are quiet. Lol!! We are quite verbal when it comes to dumb kids haha! So we left, and went to Starbucks on Chenal. Not a good experience. I was kind of pissed at one point, because at one point, they just set down our cups, and no one was working on them... it was like they forgot them... Which is frustrating, because there were not a lot of customers, and it wasn't like they accidentally forgot to work on one or two of the drinks and they started working on the customer's drink that was behind us. No, the guy just absolutely stopped working on drinks and didn't tell anyone he just didn't feel like making any more drinks. Ass. Oh well, the manager felt really bad - she wound up finishing our drinks, and we got coupons for free drinks. and she was going off on the guy. but I don't think he really understood what was going on, I don't think he spoke English well. Oh well. We had a good time cracking jokes. Then, we got Ashley hooked on Words with Friends lol! and we played for a couple of hours haha! That was a lot of fun!
After Starbucks, we said bye to Ashley - and headed back to the house. Now we're watching more "Prototype This." lol

Plans for this evening? Not a darn thing... just hanging out. Gotta cook fajitas here soon. Plus, I'm running laundry... fun fun.

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

<3 Jess

May... already?

2010-05-01T08:58:00.002-05:00

It's really May???

like 7 weeks until Worlds??

Are you friggen serious???

Someone shoot me now.

Not because of Worlds - just because of how much i still have to do for worlds! Jeeeeez.

I'm out.

wow...

2010-04-28T21:28:00.002-05:00

So my arm is twitching.
My eyes is twitching.
My legs hurt.
My head hurts.
My stomach is too full.
I want to go shopping.
I'm really wanting to not go to work tomorrow.

But, I know that tomorrow will be a better day. I've gotten to the point where I don't give a rats hairy butt if other people are happy. I'm sick of being the one who always make sure everyone is happy.

So from now on, I'm on "Me Time."

If you need something from me, you might want to ask nicely.

<3 you all. Fo realz yo.

Nikki's Softball Headband!

2010-04-04T15:09:00.003-05:00

My niece, Nicole, has started playing softball. She plays second base for the Softball Sweeties. An adorable softball team in hot pink and black. Nikki doesn't like to have her hair up in a pony tail - so I did a little research online and found lots of SUPER cute ideas, and came up with the following:

Nikki's Softball Headband

Materials:

Plastic Headbands
Fake Hot Pink Flowers
Satin Ribbon (Hot Pink & Black)
Rhinestones
Puff Paint (White and Black)
Hot Glue Gun
Scissors

Step 1: I hot glued the ribbon to the inside of the headband. It's going to get covered up, so it doesn't have to be perfect.

Step 2: I started wrapping from the end - all the way up to the center of the top of the headband. Make sure to glue every so often (on the under side of the headband).

Step 3: At the center of the top, I glued down the ribbon, and cut it off. Then I started again from the other end. This way I didn't wind up with a weird look at either end. :)

Step 4: After finishing the black ribbon, I took a piece of pink, and wrapped it - not as close together, but still tight - I also glued down the pink on the underside of the headband.

Step 5: I disassembled a couple different fake hot pink flowers to see which one I liked better on the top (I decided on the flower on the left - because the other was a little wild lol!)

Step 6: Also, you see the two ribbons on the top? I used the puff paint to put her softball nnumber (#20) and her name on them, then I embellished them with a couple rhinestones. Those are going to hang down from the back (to kind of mix with Nik's hair while she's out in the field).

This is the finished product! I hot glued the name/number ribbons to the top center of the band, then hot glued the flower on top to hide the ends of the ribbons.

Super cute right??

Well, I played softball when I was a kid, and I remembered using shoe strings to tie up my sleeves while I played - so I decided Nik needed matching Sleeve Ties:

Nikki's Softball Sleeve Ties:

(Sorry the pic is turned sideways - I was the loser that didn't flip it before I posted... lol!)

Materials:

Satin Ribbon (Hot Pink & Black)
Rhinestones
Scissors
Tacky Glue ( I use Aleene's because it's the best stuff on earth - to me haha!)
Tweezers (you don't HAVE to use tweezers, to me it's more work than necessary - but every tutorial I saw said to use tweezers to hold your rhinestones when you glue them.)

Step 1:
Take a piece of black and a piece of pink - lay them on the counter and adhere them together in the center (I used hot glue, because I was too impatient to wait for the Aleene's to dry.)

Step 2:
I glued 3 rhinestones to the ends of each ribbon (this gets a little tricky - because you want to make sure that your rhinestones are on the "out side" of your ribbons.
This way you make sure there are sparklies for your wee one to show off!

I will have to put up pics later of my Nikki girl sporting her hot pink and black get up! :)

I hope y'all like my little tutorial/walk through lol! I had a lot of fun making them! I hope Nik likes them!

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Wooden Anniversary...

2010-03-21T21:12:00.005-05:00

Tom and I have been married for 5 years as of the March 19th. The 5th anniversary is the Wooden Anniversary.

Friday afternoon, I left work early. I stopped by our house, packed a weekend bag, and gathered our toiletries. I loaded up the truck, and left to pick Tom up early from work. I arrived at Tom's work around 430 and texted him:

Me: Can you leave early?
Tom: I'll have to find out... Yes.
Me: Then come on!
Tom: You're already here?
Me: Yup! Let's get this weekend started! I love you!
Tom: Lol
Me: Are you smiling?
Tom: Kind of...

Tom knew I'd planned SOMETHING for the weekend, he's known that for a few weeks, he just didn't know WHAT I had planned. Tom got into the truck and we were off...

The hotel that I had booked a room at was right around the corner from Tom's work, so we drove over. It was at that time that I told Tom what was in store for him for the weekend... He didn't even realize there were clothes in the back! lol!

He had a huge grin on his face! It was so adorable! We got to the hotel, and checked in, and then grabbed our stuff from the truck and took it to our room. It was nice - top floor - river view. Very nice... we stayed at the Double Tree, and Tom was excited because we got chocolate chip cookies at check in lol!

Anyway, so we dropped off our stuff, and then headed out to dinner. We went to Red Lobster - had a couple drinks, some lobster and shrimp, stuff mushrooms, and cheddar bay biscuits... nom nom nom...

This was a Sunset Pina Colada - It was awesome!!

After dinner we had to go back to the house, because I fail at packing lol! I forgot to pack Tom a couple of Tshirts, some socks, and I forgot to grab our clothes for the wedding we were attending Saturday afternoon... Tom said I was fired from packing ever again lol!

Anyway, after we picked up the forgotten items, we went back to the hotel. It was nice to have satellite to watch lol. We don't even have cable at our house. So we watched some Discovery Channel and Food Channel lol! We also had some good old fashion celebrating... lol (I'll spare you the details lol!)

Saturday, we woke up kind of late and walked down to the River Market for some lunch at the Flying Burrito. It was really good. Then, we decided to walk across the river, which I've never done... because I don't like heights, or fast running water lol! Anyway, we walked to the North Little Rock side, down to Dickey Stadium, and then back across the Broadway bridge. It was a nice walk, except I was in flip flops lol!

Anyway, after our walk, we went back to the hotel, (a little more celebrating), then showered and hung out until we needed to get ready for the wedding. We watched some more Discover Channel, they were running a Dirty Jobs marathon. Neat show, some of his jobs were just nasty though lol!

Then, we got dressed and ready for Keith and Bethany's wedding. Keith is a friend of Tom's. He's also the real estate agent we used when we bought our home. Bethany is a great girl, super sweet. She is family of one of the clients at the massage center I used to work at. I'd only seen her in passing, until our house warming party. She's a doll though! I wish I'd taken a picture of the bride and groom. She was gorgeous and he was just smitten! hehe! I did snag a couple of pics of me and Tom:

We clean up pretty nice, don't we?

Seriously? Can't keep a straight face to save his life...

Anyway, we had a lovely time at the wedding, spoke with a few of Tom's co-workers, and other friends of Tom's. He seemed to enjoy showing me off lol! We ran into one of his old co-workers, who left after a year and a half ago. He didn't get to see Tom during his transformation (weight loss), and was really taken aback when he ran into Tom. It was cute. haha!

Anyway, had a really good time at the reception. After which we wound up running to Arbys for some roast beef and potato cakes (yummy!). Then back to the hotel room. We watched some more Dirty Jobs.

Hanging out in the hotel room.

Again, can't keep a straight face to save his life...

Then, we fell asleep, but not before filling out our room service card. I know, I'm a goob, but I've never had room service before. Anyway, so we ordered breakfast to be delivered at 9 a.m. That was a neat experience. AND EXPENSIVE!! haha! But sooooooooo good!
After breakfast, we showered, and got repacked so that we could get out on time for check-out.
Then, we headed out to grab lunch before heading home. We went to US Pizza Co - quite yummy! Then back home.
I cleaned up our bedroom, dusted everything from the ceiling to the feet of our night stands. I vacuumed, and threw away some stuff. Then, I changed the sheets on our bed, and ran laundry. A LOT of laundry. While I was doing laundry, I got interrupted:

She's just so darn cute!!

Anyway, we went to dinner, then the grocery store. Now we're just waiting for bedtime!

I hope you guys had a great weekend! I know I did!

<3 Jess

So, I joined JibJab

2010-03-16T22:08:00.001-05:00

LOL!

Yes, I joined JibJab!

How fun is that??

You should join! It's GREAT!!

Miserable...

2010-03-14T10:05:00.002-05:00

This is the only friggen week this entire year that I DON'T want to be sick... Well, this week, and the week of worlds. Anyway...

I'm sick. I've got the coughy, sinus-ey, fever-ey crud everyone else has had, but, I am one of those - when i get a fever - which is NOT very often at all. I go home. No sense in getting everyone else sick, right?

Well, so here's the thing, I seem to be the only one at work that feels that way. there are A LOT of people at work, who just work sick - which is fine if they'd do their work at home, and like tele-conference it in or whatever. but to purposely come to work, when you know you are sick and quite possibly contagious - WTF?

Anyway, so I'm sick, and this week I was going to finish up all of the last minute stuff for Spring Nationals. I wanted to have it all done by Wednesday so that if I needed Marissa's help with any of it, i'd have her available. But now, it looks like I may have to ask her to do it - depending on what her schedule looks like.

The real #1 reason why I don't want to be sick this week, is Friday is my and Tom's 5 year wedding anniversary... I spent $250 on an anniversary surprise for him, and now, it might be $250 down the friggen tube. All because some people couldn't go to the doctor - or just stay home when they realized they weren't well. Grrr.

Ok, I'm done ranting... Tom's making me some coffee... maybe that will help me be not such a witch. The biggest problem I am facing right now, is that because I haven't had enough sleep, my nerves are shot and i've been crying for the past half hour or so, and can't stop.

Anyways,
I'm out
<3 Jess

Two things:

2010-03-11T19:45:00.003-06:00

1. I always want to go shopping when I'm broke - whats up with that??

2. National Geographic Traveler contributing editor Andrew Evans (@Bus2Antarctica) snapped this photo of a rare black penguin during his travels around the world to Antarctica. He wrote that it’s a "rare melanistic trait that’s practically undocumented" on king penguins.

K. That's all for now!!

It's been too long...

2010-03-03T21:30:00.003-06:00

Sorry It's been so long - here's the low down...

We've been SUPER busy - at work and at home!

This month we have two big things:

First, my and Tom's 5 year anniversary! March 19th, 2010! I can't wait! I have a surprise weekend awaiting my doting hubby! We have a wedding to go to on Saturday - :) - Perfect event for an anniversary weekend, right?

Second, Spring Nationals for ATA in Las Vegas - don't get all excited... I don't get to go lol! Maybe another time. lol But I handle all of the registration - eek! so i've got to finish that up so everything goes smoothly. That's the week after our anniversary. Should be fun!

February FLEW by!

We had Nikki's 7th birthday:

Nikki and Kayla went to Pink Bliss in Little Rock, and got to have a little pink and purple princess make over!

Nikki and Kayla had a photo shoot - aren't they adorable?

Then, we had Kayla's birthday:

[ok, now my blogger is messing up! GRRRR!! Oh well, I'll post the pics on my facebook if you're interested!]

For Kay's birthday we did a slumber party and then a party on saturday afternoon!

Tom and I didn't do anything special for Valentine's day, because our anniversary is so close, but the girls and I did decorate our office. It was super cute! Lots of hearts every where! It was a busy month - but this month is going to be a LOT busier!!

Gotta head to bed! Y'all have a great day!

<3 Jess

Playing Catch Up

2010-01-15T22:11:00.005-06:00

Ok guys, sorry for taking so long for an update - I just knew it would be a long post, so bear with me! gunna have some pics too... I think lol!

End of year at work was CRAZY! Too much to do and not really enough time, but we managed! After work on New Year's Eve, Tom and I went to hang out with Kandi and her crew at Sherry and Lanny's place in Mayflower. We had a really good time!

Me and Kandi - First pic of 2010!! (I love my bestie!!)

Kandi, Me, and Mom - spending New Year's Eve with them is the ONLY way to ring in the new year!!

I kissed my husband at midnight. It's going to be a good year Tom - I just know it (Do I look tired or WHAT??) The green ring around my head is a glow stick necklace - I thought I looked cool, lol!

We had a bonfire, and counted down to the New Year! We had a blast! Maddy was the only kid who didn't make it to midnight - but she's four - can you blame her? When we got home from celebrating, we started a load of laundry, and took a shower, then crashed.

We woke up Friday, the 1st, packed all of our crap, loaded the car, made one last pass through the house and then we were on our way to Texas - I felt bad, we didn't even spend any time with our kitties before leaving!! We did make sure their food bowls were full, my sis checked on them the whole time we were gone, so we weren't too worried.

We got stopped in Nacogdoches (sp??) [hereafter dubbed "Nac"] to say hi to Marti and Rudy. We weren't staying in Nac on this trip - we'd spent the last two trips there. But, we got to stop by, and visit a little, stretch our legs, borrow the restroom, and then we were on the road again... That was a 5 hour trip, after our short stop in Nac, we had another 3 hour drive to Houston - or well, just north of Houston to Kingwood. We got to visit with Lila and Karl, Sam and Mimi, Carol (Mimi's mom, who is quite possibly, the coolest grandmother I know!), Samantha, Ian, Mandy, TJ, and some of Karl's family. PLUS! Pepper, Sandy, Cashew, and Peanut (the four legged family members!)

It was a good night of talking, catching up - a lot of "Wow, you guys look great!" which is always nice to hear. We played some Wii, some pool, and some pinball. Then, around midnight, we crashed. Well, I crashed - Tom stayed up talking with TJ until like 3 in the morning. lol.

Saturday, the 2nd, we left Kingwood and headed to Austin, so that we could spend a couple of days with Tom's dad and stepmom, Pam. That was sooooo much fun! We spent that night trading christmas gifts, I think Tom's favorite is our new Pressure Cooker! Sunday, we went to the Salt Lick outside of Austin - VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY good food!! I got a HUGE pulled pork sandwich, and Tom got a HUGE plate of ribs. I was very full afterwards! lol! Monday, we went to Fredericksburg.

It was officially the farthest West I've ever traveled. It's a great little town, a little "touristy", but perfect! If I could pick a little town to live in, it would be just like Fredericksburg!! We found some cute shops, one of which was a kitchen store. Tom and I picked up some fresh coffee beans to grind in our coffee pot and an asparagus peeler. hehe!

Tuesday, Dad and Pam had to go to work, so we headed back to Austin. We had heard a rumor that the headquarters to a website we like was in Austin, and we had a couple of addresses to try, but we never could find it... bummer!! But, we did get to see the capital building, downtown Austin, and the University of Texas - Go Longhorns!! We wound up going to TJ's bachelors pad lol! It's him and a few other guys who live in this HUGE house. It was awesome! They have a "Darth Vadar Bathroom" lol Because it's all black - or well, mostly... lol! Anyway, awesome house! We went and did some shopping in austin, went to lunch with TJ, and then headed back to Kingwood. That night we got to yack and hang out with Tom's Aunt Lila - she is so freakin' cool! We stayed up talking until too late, and Lila had to work the next morning. Sorry Li!!

Wednesday, we did something I've never done before in my life... we went to the Gulf of Mexico - now, while I understand that the Gulf is not TECHNICALLY the ocean - it is. It is ocean water, for as far as you can see. i've never seen the ocean. This was a totally amazing experience. The water just kept going... It was COLD! The wind and the water! I put my foot in the water, i felt the sand, and then, I tasted the water! BLECH!!! It was salty and nasty! lol! I picked up some sea shells and we got chased by some sea gulls! I hate birds! blech!! lol!!
Tom, trying hop back our of the water! lol! Like I said, it was COLD!!

Me, in front of the Gulf - my hair is flying like CRAZY. I couldn't keep it looking nice lol! And yes, I'm rockin' the Longhorns hoodie!! Woot!

I wrote in the sand - JH 2010. Cuz I was there - yo. lol!

Anyway, when we decided we'd frozen enough, we went to Gaido's for lunch - Tom's Dad suggested it. It was a little pricey - but very very good. We brought back leftovers lol! We had taken Ian with us to the Gulf, he seemed to have fun with us - we're all just big kids lol!

We got back from the Gulf, and hung out at the house, played some more Wii, then we had dinner with Lila's crew. The Championship Game was the next night - and we knew we were going to go shopping on Thursday. So we didn't stay up TOO late. lol. well, not too late for us - we kept Lila up past her bedtime - again lol!

Thursday, Tom and Ian and I cleaned Lila's kitchen before heading out for the day. Basically, it was a "Thank you" for letting us stay with them. Then we went to Whataburger for lunch, yummy yummy! I got a burger, a shake and some french fries... I only got the fries so I could dip them into my shake lol! Yummy!! I wish we had a Whataburger in LR. oh well! Probably better this way, huh? Anyway, after lunch, we hit up the Dillards Clearance store - it was in a decaying mall... and we could tell why they could dub it a CLEARANCE store... they had some FUGLY clothes in there! There were coral colored pants... FOR MEN! eek!! I did find a cute sweatshirt top for Kandi - I was aiming to find one for me, but no luck there. We did go and walk through the mall for a little bit, that was fun too. Ian definitely makes for a fun trip! LOL! We went back to the house, did dinner, and watched the Longhorns-Alabama game - sad times, sad times!

Friday, we got up early, so that we could say bye to everyone before we headed back to LR. We had done laundry on Thursday, so we had everything packed. Then, we hit up a pretty good donut place for some Kolaches... yummy! Then, it was back to the road. We hit Nac up again while we passed through, stopped in at Marti's and at Mimi's. Then, it was back on the road again. we were ready to see our kitties... poor babies.

We got into Bryant around 5 - so we stopped to mooch dinner off of them, and see my neice and nephews. had a good time. Then, we got home and unloaded the truck... I was surprised to see how much we actually HAD with us! Our poor babies, they just kept looking up all wide eyed at us like "Oh wow, you're home!" and of course, they were up our butts the whole evening! But it was ok, we'd missed them too!

Saturday and sunday passed in a blur. Then, almost immediately, it was time to go to work Monday morning... Yeah, definitely a Monday. and the week has almost passed in a blur... Now it's the 15th of January and I can't believe how fast it's gone!!

So how has y'alls first two weeks of January gone?

<3 Jess
PS. More pics to come on facebook when I get the chance - or the motivation! lol!!

Holy Bananas!!

2010-01-06T00:07:00.001-06:00

Ok, so it's 12:07 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2010...

I've had six full days of 2010 and it has been FANTASTIC!!

I'm going to do a full blog about what all we've been doing while on vacation - but that will have to wait until we get back.

I did want to jump online and wish my big sister HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I hope her day goes really really well!

Love you sis!

Love,
Jess

What a great time!

2009-12-27T16:29:00.002-06:00

Ok, I know, I haven't posted in a LONG time, but I'm hoping to make up for that in 2010.

Here's the skinny - in 2010 (and just so you all know, in my head I'm saying "Twenty-Ten" lol!), I turn 27. For some reason, I have always thought that 27 was the perfect age. I don't know why, I don't know when I started believing this, I just think it's going to be a good year. Also, Tom and I are starting off the year with a vacation!

We're taking a trip to visit Tom's family in Texas! A week long fun fest! Plus, we're going to visit the HQ of one of our favorite websites, and see the Gulf of Mexico - which I've never seen before!

Also in 2010, we'll get to celebrate lots of birthdays and holidays with our friends and family; we've got lots of projects planned - new back patio, possibly painting some bedrooms, redecorating our master bath, and POSSIBLY new flooring in our Kitchen/Dining room (depends on how tax-time treats us!); and, our Five Year Wedding Anniversary is in March! eek! I can't believe it's been that long! In April, Tom and I will have been together for 8 years! He's my soul mate, I could have never imagined myself with a more perfect man.

2010 is also going to be the year of debt reduction and debt loss. For example, I believe our goal is to have at least two of our smaller credit cards completely paid off and cut up by this time next year! Yay! Also, the possibility of paying off Tom's Durango seems to be in the cards. The quicker we pay off the Durango, the quicker we can get myself a new car!

The economy looks better now than it has in the past 3 or 4 quarters - hopefully we'll be able to make the headway we want, and possibly receive more monetary incentives in the upcoming year. We can hope, right? lol!

We have other hopes and aspirations for 2010, but we'll leave those for another day - no reason to get any one's hopes up. Nothing is definite - more like planning and trying for "certain things" but nothing as of right now.

I don't usually make New Years Resolutions, because I don't like the pressure you get from them. However, here are a few I am hoping to keep:

1. Make sure that my husband knows everyday that he makes me the happiest I have ever been in my life. Show him the appreciation he deserves, and treat him like the King of my heart that he is.

2. Say "Yes" more times than I say "No." There are times when I say "Not right now" to my nieces and nephews, but why? What better time than NOW to play with them, to play BoomBlox or Wii bowling? what better time than NOW to cuddle with them, watch movies, play with their dolls, or watch them skateboard?? Why shouldn't we go out and play an impromptu game of Horse with Brett, or sit down in the floor and play memory with Kayla? Why shouldn't I color with Nikki? Or read with Jason? Why shouldn't I watch Sponge bob with Maddy, or play blocks with TJ? Why shouldn't I run to the store with Cathy? Or play in Lisa's room? Why shouldn't I sit down and watch M*A*S*H with my dad? Or just cuddle with Deloris? Or go outside with my mom when she goes to smoke? Why shouldn't I visit my brother when we're in Conway? "Yes" is so much more fun than "No". And this is the year of years for us. Why shouldn't we have fun?

3. I want to keep the friends that I have, keep them close, and grow our friendships. I love you guys, and there are times, I know I should make more phone calls, it's just "easier" to hit you up on facebook or email. This is probably the hardest, because I really don't like making phone calls, but I'm getting better!

4. I want to get into good eating habits, like we had in 2009, that helped us become healthier than we've been in the past 10 years. I'm also hoping to keep walking, playing softball, getting out and just playing!

5. I have not been a regular church goer in over a year. It's been hard, it's been rough, I've fought with my faith. But, in this year I've realized, you don't HAVE to go to church to know HIM. You don't have to participate in all of the church activities to have HIM in your heart. It helps, it strengthens the faith, and it brings you together with people who believe the same way as you do. I've found faith so many times in this past year, in places I never thought I would. I know HE is alive in me, and HE shows himself in the most unlikely ways. Kandi has helped me see that. My goal for 2010 is to see HIM where others may over look HIM. see the beauty in what we have everyday, and to enjoy those special moments even more. The "Ordinary Moments" should be cherished just as much as the special ones. I'm wanting to show those special moments in ordinary life more attention.

Those are my "resolutions". Those are what I want to do in 2010. A lot of people do the weight loss resolution - I did last year. We dropped 90 pounds each. We had to work hard, and I think it has paid off ten-fold. This year, I want to work on relationships, build good habits, and strengthen my Faith. It's not a long list, but by golly, it's going to keep me busy all year long! :)

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas holiday, and have a fantastic New Year's celebration. 2010 is the year. It's my year.

Will you make 2010 your year too?

A lot to be Thankful for!

2009-11-26T09:29:00.002-06:00

Where has this year gone??

It's almost December 1st.

Wow... we've been through a lot this year!

We've lost 90 pounds this year...
We played co-ed softball this fall...
Tom and I have both had a great year at work...
We've been able to tuck some money away this year - to go towards christmas gifts, and our trip to Texas in January...

It just feels like we've had a great year.

I'm so thankful for the friends and family that have been with us this year. So thankful to have a wonder God watching over us. So thankful to have two "fur-babies" who are no longer babies, I guess! They seem to always know when we aren't feeling so great! I'm so thankful that both, my and Tom's, companies are doing well enough to keep us on.

Our prayers are with those who have lost loved ones, jobs, and pets. It's been a hard year, but we'll make it because He won't give us more than we can handle!

I love you all and pray that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!!

Our plans include: me watching the Macy's parade while Tom sleeps in, cooking our own Thanksgiving dinner, and watching movies! yay for a great day!!

Thank you all for being in my life!

Love,
Jessica

Joe and Jose

2009-11-15T10:49:00.002-06:00

Ok, firstly, I don't normally post things quite this political... but to me, it hits the spot!

This is scary and so close to the truth, too.

Joe and Jose

You have two families: "Joe Legal" and "Jose Illegal". Both families
have two parents, two children, and live in California .

Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes
$25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.

Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number,
and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table".

Ready? Now pay attention...

Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $ 1000.00 per week, or $52,000.00
per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe Legal now has
$31,231.00.

Jose Illegal: $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week, or
$31,200.00 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has
$31,200.00.

Joe Legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for
his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe Legal now
has $24,031.00..

Jose Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the state and
local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has
$31,200.00.

Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or
welfare. Joe Legal pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6,000.00 per
year. Joe Legal now has $18,031.00.

Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps
and welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal pays rent of $1,200.00 per month, or $14,400.00 per year. Joe
Legal now has $9,631.00.

Jose Illegal receives a $500.00 per month federal rent subsidy. Jose
Illegal pays $500.00 per month, or $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal
still has $ 31,200.00.

Joe Legal pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 for insurance. Joe Legal
now has $7,231.00.

Jose Illegal says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance!" and still has
$31,200.00.

Joe Legal has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.

Jose Illegal has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities,
gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month.

Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after
work.

Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.

Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same school. Joe
Legal pays for his children's lunches while Jose Illegal's children get
a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal's children have an after
school ESL program. Joe Legal's children go home.

Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire services,
but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.

Do you get it, now?

If you vote for or support any politician that supports illegal aliens...

You are part of the problem!

It's way PAST time to take a stand for America and Americans

2009-11-04T22:30:00.003-06:00

I am going to do this project this month for my parents - done by my niece and nephews!! How cute?? Fingerprint Snowmen Ornaments!!

I took this video from WonderHowTo. Such a cute site for How To videos!

Getting ready for the holidays! I'm going to try and keep everyone posted on my craftiness during this time!!

<3 Jess

What a great week...

2009-10-24T20:00:00.003-05:00

Wow... this has been a fantastic week!
1. Numbers look good at work. We have been bustin' ass and takin' names!!
2. Fall Nationals was Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in Orlando. Sounds like everyone had a good time.
3. I gave my Miley Cyrus ticket to my niece, well, she's my best friend's daughter, so she's my "niece" lol! I love my nieces and nephews - biological or not! So, I decided she'd get way more out of the concert than I would. That's tonight.

Here are the girls in front of the stadium at the Miley Cyrus concert!

Here they are in front of a green screen! Aren't they adorable??

4. I won tickets on Tom FM to Billy Joel and Elton John!! I'm so excited! I was begging Tom to try and win tickets for me, but I wound up winning them! yay!
5. I stepped on the scale - I started the diet at 290 pounds, I'm now at 196.5! Only 6 1/2 more pounds, and i hit goal.
6. Tom and I went shopping for new jeans today. I got a pair of size 16 jeans... yay!! And they are super cute!!

I'm having so much fun in life right now!! I hope things are going well for everyone else... I can't wait to see pics tomorrow from Cathy. She's with the girls at the concert. Sounds like they are having a BLAST!!!

<3 Jessica

2010 Survey

2009-10-23T19:38:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the new 2010 edition of getting to know your family and friends. Here is what you are
supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun. Change all the answers so that they
apply to you. Then send this to a bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person who sent it to
you.

Some of you may get this several times; that means you have lots of friends. The easiest way to do
it is to hit 'forward' so you can change the answers or copy and paste. Have fun!

I want to see your answers!

1. What is your occupation right now? Testing Representative for the American Taekwondo Association
2. What color are your socks right now? no socks right now!

3. What are you listening to right now? Hotel Babylon on tv.

4. What did you eat last night? Tom took me to the greek restaurant in bryant, we had hummus and pita, and i had a lamb and mozzerella calazone. yummy!!!
5. Can you drive a stick shift? technically... i know the physics behind it, anyway...
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My sister
7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? yup, it was Tom's Aunt Marti
8. How old are you today? 26
9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? baseball... but i'd prefer to watch it in person, AND I would always prefer to play!!
10. What is your favorite drink? diet dr pepper
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? yes, i need to do it soon, too.
12. Favorite food? anything Tom cooks.
13. What is the last movie you watched? Wanted
14. Favorite day of the year? March 19... my anniversary
15. How do you vent anger? i cuss... a lot...
16. What was your favorite toy as a child? either a barbie - or my kid brother lol!!
17. What is your favorite season? fall
18. Cherries or Blueberries? blueberries
19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? i love it when friends email me!
20. Who is the most likely to respond? ???
21. Who is least likely to respond? ???

22. Living arrangements? homeowner/wifey
23. When was the last time you cried? umm... earlier this week... because the vending machine was out of peanuts... lol i was emotional... bite me.
24. What is on the floor of your closet? nothing.
25. Who are the friends you have had the longest that you are sending this to? I'm posting it on my blog... lol but Ashley and Cassandra are probably my friends i've known the longest! (more than 10 years!!)
26. What did you do last night? watched Hotel Babylon, hung out with Tom, watched CSI, and hung out with my amazing husband.
27. What are you most afraid of? heights...
28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? plain

29. Favorite dog breed? German shepard
30. Favorite day of the week? Friday or Saturday
31. How many states have you lived in? just the one.

32. Diamonds or Pearls? Diamonds
33. What is your favorite flower? i love gerber daisies! but roses are also wonderful...

Wow...

2009-10-11T12:57:00.004-05:00

Ok, so let me tell you - other than a bit of cold, rainy weather, and my sinuses not liking our Summer-to-Fall weather change - I have had one of the best weeks since I started at ATA.

No drama in our office.Michelle, Marissa, Mr. Jacobs, and I went to lunch on like Monday or Tuesday - it was a nice lunch. (I was really happy because I got to steal everyone's checks and pay for lunch. I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing that! hehe!!) After lunch we all stopped and bought lotto tickets, i won like $8 (after spending $10) lol! I don't mind the lottery because it means that when my nieces and nephews or, God-willing, my own kids go to college, they will have access to the Arkansas Challenge scholarship. Tom had that scholarship when we were in college, his
second or third year they ran out of money - but they still paid him his scholarship money, Thank God! Hopefully, this will make the scholarship more wide-spread and be able to pass out more money to high school graduates to help them go to college.

Anyway, so great week at work. I only have a couple more applications for Fall Nationals to take care of. Then, I can do my score sheets, and print my numbers! Yay!!

This weekend has been really good too. Friday night, Tom made dinner, and we watched our first Netflix dvd - Wanted. OMG! What a weird/awesome/gorey movie!!! Then, we watched a couple episodes of Dexter on Netflix (PS. I love Netflix!!). I wound up crashing a little early with a sore throat.

Saturday, we woke up kind of late (i needed the sleep!) and got dressed and headed to Pine Bluff to hang out with Tom's mom at an SCA event. SCA is an organization that, for a very short and subtle explanation, likes to recreate medieval armor, weaponry (out of pvc pipe and rattan), and clothing, and like to reenact certain battles and/or scenarios of wars. To me, to begin with, it sounded like a lot of hype for a hobby. But, some of these guys take it really seriously, definitely to a higher level than other participants. It is a game. They all refer to it as a game. Some of the clothes are cute. I'm a big cloak person (Probably because of Harry Potter lol!)

It was definitely an interesting experience. The event was named Diamond Wars and held at a camp in Pine Bluff. Here are some of the photos I took:

Can't go wrong with a pic of us two, right??
Here is a pic of them fighting - the guys on the outside of the fort have to fight their way INTO the fort. easy enough right?? No!! Even though their weapons are made out of PVC pipe and rattan, they can be pretty brutal!!
Here is Tom's mom in her period garb. She looks cute, doesn't she??

Nick and Tom, "Bottle Jousting". What you can't see is that they are each standing on a piece of PVC pipe that is about a foot long, and you have to balance on it, while trying to off balance your competitor. Also, you aren't supposed to hit the other person - just their stick.

Tom, trying to keep his balance while Nick kicked his butt at Bottle Jousting.

After we watched a couple more fights, we all went up to "Merchant's Row" and checked out the shopping. It was cold, muddy, and miserable, so there were some shops closed. But the ones that were open held some of the neatest stuff. It was almost like walking through Toad Suck Daze in Conway. I think my favorite little shop was selling all sorts of jewelry, earings, pendants, bracelets - even a THONG - made out of links of chain-male. Like the Knights from that time period wore! It was neat. I thought it was a very ingenious idea to use the links as decoration instead of protection.

After that, Tom and I headed out to meet up with Ashley. But, come to find out, the cell tower in White Hall was down, and so we couldn't get in touch with her. We tried calling a few times, but couldn't get through, so we went to The Pines mall - it was a good sized mall, but it looked like a lot of people had closed their stores. Tom and I discussed the death of the "mall" setting. I enjoy malls, but I don't shop enough at them. I like going to Dillards, and Pennys, and sears, but some of the smaller shops, I won't shop at. I'll go and look around, but very rarely do I ever actually BUY something there. I'm the cause of the death of the mall. Maybe not me, specifically, but people like myself.

I also saw Senior Master Anderson's studio in the mall:

Not a great pic, sorry, it was on my phone lol!!

Anyway, at the Dillards in the mall - lol, yeah I know - I'm a nerd. Tom bought me a new Fossil purse!!! Super super cute!! It was originally $98, marked down to $29.50, on clearance with another 50% off, PLUS, Tom's Employee discount. We got a $1o0 Fossil purse for **drum roll please!!!** $16.04 AFTER TAX! haha! Yay us!! I love Dillards.

We decided for Christmas, rather than buying for each other, we decided to spend money on us. We are going to buy us a kick ass coffee maker from Dillards. AND, i think we're each going to get a new pair of jeans. Then we're going to do like $40 or $50 a piece for our stockings, but other than that, we're not doing anything for each other for Christmas. We always get each other a new ornament for Christmas - so that's a given. I've already got Tom's picked out! yay me!!

Anyway, so we wound up not getting to meet up with Ashley - because we couldn't get a hold of her because the cell tower was down in White Hall. We drove around for like an hour and a half looking at random apartment complexes in White Hall, trying to see if we could spot her car. But we could never find it! We tried! I promise lol!

After that we headed back to Bryant, and wound up eating at our favorite little mexican place. Then, we decided we were going to go walk around Best Buy to work off some of our dinner. lol! We wound up picking up a new laptop mouse for me - wireless! yay!! And we picked up Halo ODST for Tom. I think he likes it. He played last night for a couple of hours, and has played for a good part of today on it!

Oh! yeah, with it being blistery cold and windy yesterday at Diamond Wars, I seem to have knocked this "sore throat" into overdrive. I'm having sinus issues and drainage and a sore throat. So, today, I'm relaxing, resting, lots of fluids, Tom's even got me some Drunken Chicken Soup going for us tonight for dinner in the crock pot!!

I'm off to check my facebook and to do some more photo editing! Plus, I've got to load all the pics from Diamond Wars into my facebook and tag the snot out of them!!

Here's to another great week! We have a couple of softball games (hopefully!), some good shows on tv, possibly heading to my parents house for dinner one night. ALSO! We should get the first disc of season 2 of Hotel Babylon from netflix!! yay!! Plus! Monday is Columbus day! No mail, which means that we should get a little caught up on some piddly stuff at work! YAY!!!

Next weekend is going to be cram packed too. Friday night, Nikki's going to spend the night, then my sis is going to pick us up and we are going to do the Walk for the Cure. Then, we're probably going to go to Conway so Kandi and I can work on our costumes for Halloween! I'm trying to talk her out of Wilma and Betty and do something a little, i don't know, WARMER?? It's going to be COLD!! I love this weather though.

Sorry for the long post, but dang it's been good. I hope you guys are all having a great October!!

<3 you all!!
Jessica

Wow...

2009-10-04T18:09:00.005-05:00

Ok, so this week has been way hectic! We were behind at work. Finally, got caught up and then, one of the girls in our office got fired on the last day of the month. Michelle and I handled the 1st and 2nd day of the month (Thursday and Friday) by ourselves pretty well! I was quite surprised at how well we kind of slid into our One-Man-Down mode. But she and I work really well together - when we don't have someone trying to keep us at odds.

Anyway, so that was this past week.

This weekend has been great! Friday night, Tom and I went to dinner at Chizi's- our favorite little buffett pizza place. Then, we went to Dillard's and picked me up a new wallet. Then we walked around the mall and then we went to Garden Ridge in west little rock. That was a lot of fun! Very rarely do we ever buy anything at Garden Ridge - but we love to look around at the stuff that they have.

Tom and I are doing a Gingerbread man christmas theme this year! I can't wait! We have most of the decorations already - I just need a LOT of felt, some buttons and some thread lol! Oh! Did I tell you?? I'm making my halloween costume this year! Well, mine and Kandi's! I'm super excited!!

That's off topic! Ok, so we got home Friday night, watched a movie, then Tom played his game, and I crashed on the couch. Then, Saturday, Tom and I worked on our computers in the office. Then, we went to my sister's house for my nephew's birthday party!

Kayla, Nikki, Maddy, and Jason were all there.

TJ and his Lightning McQueen cake!!

TJ wanting to share his cake with me!

TJ, after he opened some of his gifts. He looks excited doesn't he?

TJ and his mommy!

TJ and his big gift, a scooter!!

Nikki and me!!

We had a great time! After TJ's party, we came back home and hung out, watched a movie or two, then headed to bed.

Sunday, we woke up, took a shower, and slipped into fresh pjs and watched the 10th Kingdom! Now, we're waiting on dinner, and watching Bad Boys with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Dinner smells freakin' righteous!

The weather today has been awesome! cooler temperatures and rain! I am in flannel pj pants and a long sleeve tee! We have the windows open!! It's awesome!! I'm looking for new recipes to use - I got one for White Chili - Super excited!

October is a super busy month for us:

Saturday the 10th - Tom and I are possibly going to go with Tom's mom to an SCA event so I can photograph them. Then possibly trying to meet up with Ashley for dinner that night in White Hall.
Sunday the 11th - I need to go to Conway so that I can get working on my and kandi's halloween costumes.

Friday the 16th - Nikki is going to come and spend the night, then Saturday the 17th, Nikki, Cahy, and I are doing the Walk for the Cure.

Saturday the 24th is the Miley Cyrus concert - and yes I'm going. It's me, Cathy and Nikki going! Nikki doesn't know yet. It'll be a total shocker!

Then, we have Lisa's 3rd birthday on the 27th.

THEN, we are going trick or treating with Kandi and her kids and brothers. We're going to have a blast!!
I'm tired just thinking about this month!!

Anyway! I'm out!

<3 you all!
Jess

What a great weekend! (So far anyway!)

2009-09-26T15:18:00.003-05:00

This is starting off as such a great weekend.

I had a really rough week - lots of drama. Work was crazy. Things seemed to settle down - haha - once I got home! Anyway, Tom decided that we should have a weekend of our own. Our plans for today? to veg in front of the tv/laptops.

I came home last night, and asked Tom if I could have a "testosterone" evening lol! I wanted to watch action movies, and play Halo, so I could blow people up! lol

Friday night (last night), we watched Die hard, which I've never seen before. I was pleased with it! Then, we watched Batman and Robin - not the greatest movie - but definitely good enough to satisfy my "testosterone" craving lol! we both got busy on our laptops and rather than playing Halo, we put on a couple of episodes of Rough Science - it's a neat show from PBS. Definitely a good NetFlix find!

Tom plays a game called EV Nova, that's what he was busy with last night. Me? I did photo editing:

Nikki

Andrea and Juan Sebastian

Kayla and Nikki

Ashley

Nikki

So then, after a couple of episodes of Rough Science, I crashed.

This morning (Saturday) we got up and headed back to our living room. We've loafed around today. haha! We started the day by watching Blazing Saddles, and now we're finishing up Rough Science. Here soon, I'll need to work on dishes/cleaning the kitchen, I need to clean the cats' bathroom. (Yes, our cats have their own bathroom lol!) Then, I also need to work on laundry.

Oh well, gunna be a decently busy evening.

Tomorrow, Sunday, Tom's got to go and help my dad move my grandfather from one building to the next at his Assisted living place in little rock. Then, Tom's mother is coming to dinner. I don't know what we're going to do after dinner. Probably just sit around and yack. Oh well.

Then it's back to the dailey grind on Monday.

Talk to you all later!!

What an awesome weekend...

2009-09-20T20:10:00.003-05:00

So, Friday night, Tom and I went to one of my best friend's mother's birthday parties. Her 50th!! They are so awesome. That was at Gabe's Grill in Bryant - Tom and I had never been there before, but it was quite good! We did turn down some chocolate raspberry cake... darn! It looked REALLY good!!

Saturday, we woke up kind of later than we meant to. We were going to try and pop in at Tom's mom's house to visit for a little bit - but we just didn't have time. Because! My Maddy's birthday party was Saturday!

Her actual birthday was last Tuesday, but we did her party on Saturday!!

She loves Spongebob:
Her cake was spongebob sitting on top of his pineapple house! It was awesome!! Doesn't she look so determined to blow those candles out?

She loves Dora:

So Aunt Jessica and Uncle Tom picked her up a Dora mermaid! It must have been a good idea, cuz two other people also picked up the Dora mermaid! lol! But that's good though, cuz now she has one for her house, Gramma Tammy's house, AND Gramma Sandy's house!

She had a blast at her party - can you tell?? How can you NOT just fall in love with this child?? All of Kandi's kids have that affect on people though! They are all great kids!!

Here is Maddy giving Gramma Tammy kisses. Gramma is ordering Maddy a Design your own skateboard kit, so we can design it with Dora on it!

After Maddy's party, we went back to Kandi's house to watch the hogs game, well, we had a lot of people there, so Joey moved the TV out to the front porch and we watched the game outside! It was neat! Tom spent most of the time fixing Kandy and Joey's computer. We had to wipe it, which sucks. But, we should be able to get all her photos back on her computer.

Oh! That reminds me, I have to log into Kandi's myspace and facebook and add some photos to her pages!

Today, I spent most of the day doing "Fall cleaning" and decorating for the fall. I love this time of year. I really do. Then, we had my parents come over for dinner. They are having a rough time right now. Tom made some killer beef brisket. we're talking about making it again next weekend.

It's been a great weekend. However, I'm ready for bed! lol! Too bad I have some work to do!!

<3 Jessica

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-07T20:20:00.003-05:00

Wow, this has been a really good weekend. Here's the short version:

This was a cheat weekend for us with our diet. We ate whatever we wanted the whole time! It was great!!
Friday night: Tom and I went to dinner - but we didn't know where we wanted to go - so Tom had me just start picking numbers between 1 and 10. Certain numbers meant we turned left, others meant we turned right. Some meant we got on the freeway, others meant we took the service road. It was SO much fun!! I dubbed it "Spontaneous Human Interaction". So anyway, we wound up at Chili's in Bryant. It was AWESOME!!

This is Tom at Dinner - isn't he so dang cute???

Then, we played the game again, and wound up in West Little Rock and watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 3D!! We didn't get home until like 1:30 in the morning! It was such a fun date night!!

Here is us waiting for the last showing to empty, so we could go in to watch the movie... These geeky looking glasses were the 3D glasses. How cute are we??

This is us in the theater... damn we're cute!!

Saturday, we spent the morning just kind of hanging out at the house. Then we went to my parents' house to do "family crap". I was really surprised at how much fun I had. My Aunt Dianne and Uncle George came over with one of my cousins' kids, he's like 2 or 3 months old. Super cute. My cousin doesn't really want much to do with his own child. Breaks my heart, y'know? Any way, my other cousin, Leon, came over with his girlfriend and their two kids. He is doing really well to take care of his responsibilities. I'm really happy for them.

Anyway, after that we came home, Tom made me a couple ring tones and we listened to music for a while before hitting the bed.

Sunday, Tom and I went to Conway to hang out with Kandi and her crew. It was a lot of fun. Tom, Mom, and Kandi all had Tequila. I've learned my lesson, I only drank about half of a Mike's Hard Lime, and a quarter of a shot of Tequila. I really didn't want to get sick. Anyway, so we had a great time at Kandi and Joey's. We got to hang out with her mom which was nice. We watched some Nascar - which I have never in my life actually paid attention to. it was interesting... a lot of left turns, but mom was trying to teach me some of the strategies within the pit stops and the crews and stuff. It was fun. The Tequila kicked Tom's butt, he wound up sleeping off some of the effects on one of the kids beds.

Poor guy... When you lose 80 pounds, your body can't handle quite as much Tequila as it could before. lol. Kandi and I got to talk for a while, and we watched "I Love You, Man." Super cute movie!! I thought it was a really good movie. I don't know how much Tom would have liked it, but oh well!

Today, Monday, we have just hung out at the house. I've ran a couple loads of laundry. We did the dishes earlier, swept and dusted the front room room. Tom even filled all of our bottles of water up.

We have softball practice Tuesday night, a game on Thursday, and I have no clue what all is going on this weekend! I know we have to mow the yard... hehehe... we skipped out on that this weekend!

Anyway, I said it would be short, and this is all but short lol!

Love you all!!

Only Tuesday??

2009-09-01T21:48:00.002-05:00

Man, last week FLEW by, but this week is dragging!!

Tom and I have been watching a show called Penn and Teller's BullShit! It's awesome! We have so far watched episodes about the so-called Obesity Epidemic, Wal-Mart, Handicapped Parking, and Illegal Immigrants.

You have to understand, Tom and I talk about just about everything. We actually discuss issues. It's really nice. I like that we share a lot of our beliefs and ideas. But, I'm also glad that we are adult enough to discuss each others' opinions without causing a fight. We have a really good relationship.

Anyway, I was hoping to clean house all week, but have DEFINITELY not been motivated... maybe I'll get to it later in the week?? I dunno...

<3 Jess

I should find something productive to do...

2009-08-30T20:48:00.000-05:00

A waste of about half an hour... lol! oh well!!

A - Available: only for Tom
A - Age: 26
A - Annoyance: annoying people?

B - Best Friends: Kandi, Monica, Ashley and Cass - and Tom
B - Bar: not much of a drinker.
B - Birthday: cake on Labor Day!!

C - Crush: Tom
C - Car: Neon
C - Cat: Penny and Ellie

D - Dead Pets Name: Idgy
D - Dad's Name: Bob
D - Dog: don't have one

E - Easiest Person To Talk To: Tom
E - Eggs: boiled?
E - Email: not likely lol

F - Favourite Colour: purple
F - Food: pizza
F - Foreign Slang: Hasta Lasagna!

G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Bears
G - God: yes
G - Good Time: hanging out with friends and family

H - Hair Color: brunette
H - Height: 5 5
H - Happy: yes

I - Ice Cream: only carb right stuff
I - Instrument: I play the radio pretty well!
I - Idol: My favorite is David Cook - or Andrea if she makes it!!

J - Jewelry: my wedding ring and my engagement ring are all I ever wear
J - Job: ATA Testing Rep
J - Joke: i am not a big fan of the "dumb blonde" jokes

K - Kids: one day
K - Karate: Taekwondo
K - Kung Fu: Panda - hehehe!

L - Longest Car Ride: to Nashville, TN
L - Longest Relationship: almost 7 years!

M - Milk Flavor: i haven't had milk in almost 9 months!
M - Mother's Name: Linda (it means beautiful in Spanish - but we're not spanish.)
M - Movie Last Watched: The Italian Job

N - Number of Siblings: 1 bro, and 1 sis
N - Northern or Southern: Southern - with a mid-west accent... no clue where THAT came from!
N - Name: Jess-kah

O - One Wish: to have kids
O - Otter Pop: wha?
O - One Phobia: clowns

P - Parents, Married or Divorced?: married
P - Part Of Your Appearance You Like Best: my eyes
P - Part Of Your Personality You Like Best: my sense of humor

Q - Quote: Balls to that - thanks Luke!
Q - Question For The Next Person: Why are you reading what I'm putting here??
Q - Quick or Slow?: say wha?

R - Reason To Smile: Tom
R - Reality TV Show: umm... I don't think I watch much reality tv...
R - Right or Left: right handed

S - Song Last Heard: the song that never ends
S - Season: Fall - starts this week - I think?
S - Sex:Female

T - Time You Woke Up: 10:30 a.m
T - Time Now: 8:43 p.m.
T - Time For Bed: probably around 10ish

U - Unknown Fact About Me: i don't know...
U - Unicorns: i'll take two please.
U - U R: L?

V - Vegetable You Hate: brussel sprouts
V - Vegetable You Love: asparugus
V - View On Politics: conservative

W - Worst Habits: umm... actually, right now, I don't know... we quit smoking, I quit biting my nails...
W - Where Are You Going To Travel Next?: back to texas in January

- X-Rays: never had one... other than my teeth
X - X-Rated Porn: no thanks.
X - X-tra Special Someone: Tom

Y - Year You Were Born: 1983
Y - Year It Is Now: 2009
Y - Yellow: banana flavored laffy taffies

Z - Zoo Animal: penguins rock!!
Z - Zodiac: Cancer
Z - Zoolander: i was not happy with this movie.

What a great few days.

2009-08-25T21:59:00.003-05:00

Seriously, the last three or four days have been really great!!

Saturday, Tom and I went to Sam's club, then we came home and watched movies all day! We had a great time watching the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, then we watched He's Just Not That Into You, THEN, we watched Bob the Butler. We had a lot of fun.

Sunday, we went to Conway and had a GREAT church service! The message was about marriage and true love. It was a great message! One line that sticks out to be from service is "True love has not happy ending. True love HAS no ending." It was great. Very uplifting.

After church, we went to lunch at IHOP. I had some great tilapia with holandaise, and took a super cute picture of my wonderful husband.

Anyway, after IHOP, we went back to Tom's mother's house and hung out for a while. Then we went to Kandi and Joeys and had a great afternoon hanging out with them. We came back home and did laundry afterwards.

Monday went really quickly. Then, we got home and had dinner, then we headed out to Softball practice. Softball practice went really well! I had a great day! I hit well, played catcher well. Tom caught some great balls out in the field too!

Today has gone by really quickly... time for bed now!

Hopefully we'll have a great rest of the week!!

Happily Married

2009-08-15T20:07:00.001-05:00

Are you sick and tired of hearing songs about "hooking up"?

I am. I am happily married. I really like this song:

Shoppers Hotline

2009-08-14T18:14:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,

Just dropping in to talk about Shoppers Hotline - I LOVE this program!

You get sent a scanner - if you qualify - and you scan everything you buy...

Once you scan it in, it's transmitted through either your phone line, or your computer, and you get points for your shopping trips!

Once you have enough points, you can cash them out for money on a visa debit card!! It's GREAT! I love it!! I have a document I can email anyone who is interested with my member number as a reference - I get bonus points if you are active with them for 6 months!! It's got the phone number and everything!! Message me, or email me if you're interested!! It's a lot of fun!!

<3 Jess

This year...

2009-08-05T21:32:00.004-05:00

This year has been chock full of changes. It's crazy... the biggest one, I've written about before - losing weight. I'm down right at 70 pounds according to my scale. According to the doctor's scale I'm down 80... lol! Anyway, We're holding steady again, but we do that for weeks at a time, then we lose again.

The other big change happened on Saturday, August 1, 2009. This is how I looked:

See how long my hair is in a braid???It measured longer than Tom's ruler!!

Well, my bestfriend's daughter wanted to donate her hair to locks of love, and I got roped into the whole shibang!

So here's the new look!!

I love it!! It's shorter than I was originally going for, but it's super cute! Super easy to manage!!

What else is in store for 2009?? Guess y'all will just have to wait and see!!

<3 Jess

Me X 100 = A lot of me! haha!!

2009-08-02T19:53:00.002-05:00

1. Real name → Jessica
2. Nickname(s)→Jess, Sweetie
3. Zodiac → Cancer
4. Male or female → Female
5. Elementary → St. Theresa's Catholic Schools, Watson Elementary, and Landmark Elementary
6. Middle School → Didn't do middle school (it was k through 6, then 7-8 was jr high, then 9-10 was high)
7. High School→ Bryant High
8. Hair color →Reddish Brown - more brown than red though
9. Long or short → haha! Short now!! Super cute though!!
10. Loud or Quiet → both
11. Sweats or Jeans → Jeans
12. Phone or Camera → Camera - my Nikon D60 is nice!
13. Health freak → sort of... but not really
14. Drink or Smoke? → yes
15. Do you have a crush on someone → my hubby!
16. Eat or Drink → Eat
17. Piercings → Ears
18. Tattoos → Not yet

HAVE YOU EVER?
19. Been in an airplane→ Yes
20. Been in a relationship → Yes
21. Been in a car accident → Yes
22. Been in a fist fight →Yes

FIRSTS:
23. First piercing → The first one I remember was when I was like 5 years old.
24. First best friend → ummm... Ashley Thompson or Lindsey Gilbert (both softball friends)
25. First award → in the 2nd or 3rd grade I won a $500 Walden Books giftcard

LASTS:
29. Last person you talked to → Tom
30. Last person you texted → Kandi
31. Last person you watched a movie with → Tom and my parents
32. Last food you ate → Homemade crustless pizza
33. Last movie you watched → The Yes Man
34. Last song you listened to → Uhh, Heaven by Los Lonely Boys or something like that
35. Last thing you bought → Diet Dr. Pepper

FAVES:
37. Food → ummm... I think fish
38. Drinks → Water, diet dp, or Pecan Torte Coffee
39. Clothing → I love jeans and sweatshirts
40. Flower →Gerber Dasies and roses
42. Colors → Navy Blue, silver, and dark dark red
43. Movies → What Dreams May Come, The Harry Potter Series
44. Subjects → I loved my science classes, and most of my marketing classes in college

check all that apply
In 2008, I....

45. [X] kissed someone
46. [X] participated on Halloween
47. [X] had your heart broken
48. [] went over the minutes/texts on your cell phone
49. [] someone questioned your sexual orientation
50. [] got someone pregnant
51. [X] got pregnant
52. [] had an abortion
53. [X]done something you've regretted
54. [X] broke a promise
55. [X] hid a secret
56. [X] pretended to be happy
57. [] met someone who changed your life
58. [X] pretended to be sick
59. [] left the country
60. [X]tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it
61. [X] cried over the silliest thing
62. [] ran a mile
63. [] went to the beach with your best friend
64. [] got into an argument with your friends
65. [X] hated someone
66. [] stayed single the whole year

CURRENTLY:
67. Eating → Nothing, still digesting dinner
68. Drinking → Diet DP
69. I'm about to → Digi- scrap!
70. Listening to → Nickelback!
71. Plans for today → wind down, take a shower, go to bed
72. Waiting for → nothing... I'm pretty content

YOUR FUTURE:
73. Want kids? → Yes, hopefully soon!
74. Want to get married? → Nah - I'm good thanks!
75. Careers in mind →I would love to be a project manager for marketing firm - or a manager for a massage center.

HAVE YOU EVER:
83. Lost glasses/contacts → don't wear
84. Snuck out of your house → no
85. Held a gun/knife for self defense → nope
86. Killed somebody → Would I tell you?! lol No
87. Broken someone's heart → not that I know of
88. Been arrested → nope
89. Cried when someone died → Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
90. Yourself → Here lately
91. Miracles → totally
92. Love at first sight → no, but I do believe in love
93. Heaven → Yes
94. Santa Claus → Yes!!!
95. Sex on the first date → Does "Believe In" mean you AGREE with it? Or just that you've done it?
96. Kiss on the first date → Depends on the guy, the night, the mood

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
97. Is there one person you want to be with right now? → Yes
98. Are you seriously happy with where you are in life? → Pretty much
99. Do you believe in God → Yes
100. Post as 100 truths

Don't tell God how big your storm is; tell the storm how big your God is.

2009-07-26T17:20:00.003-05:00

"Today, July 26th, 2009, my faith has been renewed.

Tom and I had a hard time in 2008. Two miscarriages that shook us harder than I think either of us really knew at the time. Coming to service became so hard, and “not worth it” in our eyes. It was like we felt God had not tried for us, so why should we try for him?

It didn’t take us very long to decide we didn’t want to try again for children in 2008; obviously 2008 was not the “Year of the Baby” for us. We slipped into what I truly believe was mild depression. We hid from a lot of our feelings. We still spent time with our friends and family that we love dearly, we still had a great relationship, but, to me, it always seemed like we were skating on a thin layer of ice, and we were always fearful of falling through. We skirted around certain topics because it was hard. God and babies became some of those topics.

Around Christmas time in 2008, we decided we needed to begin bettering ourselves. Not so much for anyone else, but for ourselves. We began eating better and exercising January 2, 2009. We have been going strong for almost 8 months. We have lost 75 pounds each, 150 total! We are hoping to celebrate 100 pounds lost, each, around Thanksgiving. It’s been a process; one, in which, we have learned will power, self-control, self-discipline, and something we thought we had already learned: open-ness.

Throughout the months, we have pushed each other, we have celebrated milestones for each other, and we have cried with each other. We have always had an extremely close relationship, always talking, always sharing our feelings, I didn’t feel like we hid anything from each other – but mile after mile that we walked, pound after pound that we shed, we talked. We have opened up more in the past eight months than I thought possible.

The more open I felt with Tom, the more open I felt with God. Surely, He knew what He was doing when he put Tom and me in the same dorm. Surely, He knew what He was doing, when we grew to be friends, and then began a relationship. Surely, He knew what He was doing, when he gave Tom the inspiration to propose. Surely, He knew what He was doing, as he gave us the strength and courage to speak our vows, to promise ourselves to each other. Then surely, He knew that Tom and I together could handle the trials he gave us.

And we have.

In the past month, Tom and I have been discussing religion, God, and church, but probably most frightening: the possibility of trying to get pregnant again. We plan on waiting until after we hit our 100 pound goal, because of health reasons. We want to be healthy, to make it, hopefully, an easier pregnancy.

We have been so scared. The closer the goal becomes, the more nervous, the more burdened we, both, have felt. We are scared, not just about the prospect of having a child, but with our medical history, and the worry that it will be hard for us, financially, to support a child. My sister has always told me “If you wait until you can afford to have a child, you’ll never have kids.” We know this is true, but it still a fear.

Today’s sermon at Peace Lutheran Church in Conway, hit me like a Mack Truck. "Don't tell God how big your storm is; tell the storm how big your God is." That was the message that rang out, loud and clear, in my mind. No matter what your fears are, God can handle them. No matter your worries, give them to God. It reminded me of something I'd heard in the past: "If God brings you to it, he will bring you through it." Needless to say, I was in tears through the entire sermon.

It was exactly what I needed to hear.

Poor Tom, when he noticed I was crying, he thought I was upset. But, it wasn’t that. It really hit home. It is hard to put into words how it made me feel. Lighter? Less burdened? Less troubled? Yes and no. I still have fears, I still have worries, but I know if I bring it to Him, He will guide me.

His message has renewed my faith."

[This was taken almost word for word from an email I sent to our Pastor today. The Gospel reading and his sermon rocked me to my core. We are still scared about the possibility of becoming pregnant in the future. But, this message will stay with me for quite some time.]

Me, Me, Me!!!

2009-07-24T22:38:00.002-05:00

If you've been tagged or you are reading this, you have the honor of copying all these goofy questions, writing your own response, and tagging 25 other victims. You have to tag me so really you just need 24 more people. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you - but not in a creepy stalker kind of way.

To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your title as "Getting to know each other!", tag 25 people including me (tagging is done in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:50ish

2. How do you like your steak? Medium Rare? I think?? I like it pink in the middle, but not bloody

3. What was the last movie you saw? Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (and I liked it!)

4. What is your favorite TV show? Probably Chuck and House

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Ummm... Somewhere futher north, but not TOO north! lol

6. What did you have for breakfast? an Atkins shake, and a pack of peanuts

7. What is your favorite cuisine? mexican

8. What foods do you dislike? brussel sprouts

9. Favorite Place to Eat ? Cabana Joe's (pizza place in Benton)

10. Favorite dressing? Ranch from U.S. Pizza Co

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Dodge Neon

12. What are your favorite clothes? I am actually loving my black and silver warm-ups from work! haha!

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Germany, Tom's Oma lives there.

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 1/2 full

15. Where would you want to retire? Vermont - snowed in every Christmas with my Tom... I'd be in HEAVEN!!

16. Favorite time of day? 3:38 p.m. haha??

17. Where were you born? Little Rock, AR

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? Baseball, I've gotten into football too.

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? uhh... Probably Tom, cuz he's a goob like that

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? Uhh... IDK!!

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? Tom, but please refer to question 19.

22. Bird watcher? not unless they are dive bombing me and trying to build a nest above my front door...

23. Are you a morning person or a night person ? Midafternoon/Evening

24. Do you have any pets? two beautiful kitties!

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? We are planning a vacation!!

27. What is your best childhood memory? oh wow... Umm, learning to ride a bike, roller blading for the first time, BSB concert, spending the night at my grandaddy's house

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Definitely cat

29. Are you married? to my soul mate

30. Always wear your seat belt? Always... It's too easy of a step to take when you get in the car that can save your life. Why wouldn't you? Too cool for a seatbelt?? Well, here "Mr. Cool" meet "Mr. Windshield", don't worry, you'll only meet as you pass through him.

31. Been in a car accident? a couple fender benders, nothing major, Thank God.

32. Any pet peeves? hehhehehehehe, me? Nooooooooooooooooooooooo.

34. Favorite Flower? I love colored gerber daisies! I think they are gorgeous in like LIME GREEN, and NEON PINK. Like the ones that came in Marissa's bouquet she got yesterday!

35. Favorite ice cream? French Vanilla

36. Favorite fast food restaurant? oh, uhh... I guess Burger King?

37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? I didn't, I only missed like 1 question maybe 2? I don't remember, that was TEN years ago!! EEK I'm old!!

38. From whom did you get your last email? My dad

39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Right now? Old Navy, cuz I'm finally down far enough in weight to shop IN STORE!! Yay me! Well, US!!

40. Do anything spontaneous lately? got in my car and drove around a couple of blocks at lunch today to clear my head (and thaw out a little)

41. Like your job? Love the job, some of the people that work there are less than desirable.

42. Broccoli? OMG! YES! I love it!!

43. What was your favorite vacation? What's a vacation??? Oh wait, it's that thing that you do, when you want to get away from people, and relax... yeah... Must be a couple of weekends ago, when Tom and I went camping... it was beautiful. The perfect weekend.

44. Last person you went out to dinner with? Tom

45. What are you listening to right now? "Beautiful Soul" by Jesse McCartney!

46. What is your favorite color? Purple, Navy Blue, and silver

47. How many tattoos do you have? i don't... I want one, but I doubt I'll actually do it... I'm so terrified of needles.

48. How many are you tagging for this quiz? A LOT!

49. What time did you finish this quiz? 10:52 p.m.

50. Coffee Drinker? only from my own kitchen, with Splenda and cream. lol!!

Human Evolution

2009-07-22T21:03:00.001-05:00

For those that don't know about history. Here is a condensed version:

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

1. Liberals, and
2. Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can was invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food is standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most liberal women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history:

It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it.

A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.

And there you have it. Let your next action reveal your position.

How well do you know your husband??

2009-07-14T20:03:00.002-05:00

Here's a chance to see how well you really know your husband. Cut, paste and fill in the answers . . . shoot, you know what to do. The real challenge is to send it to your husband to see how right you really are.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
probably a game of some sort

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ceasar - cuz he always gets a chicken ceasar salad

3. What's one food he doesn't like? peas

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? water or a beer.

5. Where did he go to high school? Conway High

6. What size shoe does he wear? 12 1/2 to 13 depends on the brand

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? quarters, and tools lol

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Ham and cheese

9. What would this person eat every day if he could? pizza or good lasagna

10. What is his favorite cereal? umm, i don't think he's a big fan of cereal - unless it's kix

11. What would he never wear? breifs

12. What is his favorite sports team? LSU or UT Austin

13. Who did he vote for? McCain - cuz that's how we roll

14. Who is his best friend? Robert

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? get whiney

16. Did he play sports in high school? Nope, he was in the band

17. What could he spend hours doing? playing nintendo!

18. What is one unique talent he has? constantly curling his toes under his feet lol

My birthday... a definite MUST READ

2009-07-10T10:04:00.001-05:00

So today, July 10, 2009 is my 26th birthday.

This is what was in my email box at midnight last night:

"Dear Mrs. Hinz

As a member of Hinzcorp, it is my pleasure to congratulate you on your 26th birthday. And what would be more rewarding than a token of gratitude offered by Hinzcorp? Why, your very own birthday present, that's what!

So here is what we are going to do: hidden somewhere in your house is a present just for you. To help lead you to it, we are going to send you various hints via email to lead you to it. You will have exactly 5 days to claim your reward, or else it will be forfeited. Just kidding.

Since today is the 10th, that gives you until the 15th to figure out where your special something is stashed inside your luxurious home. If you cannot find your gift within the allotted time period, it will be removed from its hiding place and given to you with much chiding.

Here is your first hint:
It is located in a corner.

Finally, guessing your present does not mean that you get a free pass to its location early. You must FIND it!!!

Thank you for your loving support of Hinzcorp, and we look forward to hearing of your success.

Sincerely,
H. Thomas Hinz
Co-CEO Hinzcorp"

I absolutely love my husband. He is AWESOME!!!

<3 Jessica

4 Fun Things About Me!

2009-07-07T20:30:00.003-05:00

Fun things about me

Here is a fun and quick way to stay in touch. Let's see
how many people do this too

1) 4 places I go over and over:

My parents' house, Kandi's house, walmart, work

2) 4 people who e-mail me regularly:

Marti, Tom, Sue (from Australia), Angelle (from Slidell, LA).

3) 4 of my favorite places to eat:

Casa Mexicana, Red Lobster, Chili's, and my kitchen when Tom is cooking!!

4) 4 places I would rather be right now:

Germany, in the middle of the woods, in bed, Vermont

5) 4 people I think will respond:

EEK!!! I don't know!! Maybe Crystal (my cousin), Jessica (a couple of them possibly), my kid brother, and... ... uhhh... I don't know! Maybe Cassandra?

6) 4 TV shows I watch:

Heroes, Chuck, NCIS, and House

Red, White, and Blue!!

2009-07-04T23:39:00.003-05:00

Happy 4th of July Everyone!! PS. I took that picture at the top! With my camera... and mad skillz lol!! Anyway,

Day 1 of our 3 day holiday weekend was climbing Pinnacle Mountain, and going swimming.

Day 2 has been all about relaxing! Tom and I started the day by getting up and playing on our computers. Then, around 2 o'clock. Robert and Monica came to the house so that they could follow us to my parents' house to do fireworks. We shot off probably $250 worth of fireworks... I think Tom and I spent about $75. Part of which was one a kick ass "Finale" piece.

(l>r) Monica, Tom, and Robert, lighting sparklers for Lisa to play with.

My mom and dad, a really cute pic of my mom, too bad Dad's eyes are closed... lol

Brett, getting to light fireworks for the first time this year!!

Anyway, it's been a great weekend so far, and we still have ANOTHER day. It's GREAT.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we have Brett's birthday party. He turned 13 years old on July 1st! I can't believe how quickly all "my kids" are growing up!! It's crazy.

Anyway, Happy 4th of July!! Thank you to all our troops at home and abroad. You keep us free, and for that, there is not enough "Thanks" on the planet.

<3 Jessica

P.S. I took that last photo too with my camera!!

On top of Ol' Pinnacle! All Covered in trees!

2009-07-03T22:58:00.003-05:00

Ok, so you get a day off from work. A PAID HOLIDAY. What do you do?
Tottle around the house?
Maybe go shopping?
Me?
I go climb a big ass mountain. haha!

Pinnacle Mountain State Park
West Summit Trail'

Length: 1 1/2 miles round trip
Time: 1 1/2 hours (took us the better part of 3, because I kept stopping because I was EXHAUSTED!!)
Difficulty: Strenuous (no one ever pointed out to me that this was STRENUOUS!)

Description: This rocky trail begins at the park picnic grounds and winds its way to the top of Pinnacle Mountain. From the top is a spectacular view of Lake Maumelle, the Arkansas River Valley, the Ouachita Mountains and west Little Rock. This is truly a breathtaking view. To return, you must retrace your steps or hike down the rugged East Summit Trail and return via the base trail for a total hike of 2 1/2 miles."

-Yeah, ok, so first of all, I haven't hiked this mountain since I was probaly 13 or 14... ok, so a good 12 or 13 YEARS. Plus, Tom and I noticed that a lot of the kids going up and down the mountain didn't seem to FEEL PAIN...

How are they breeding these little demons??

Anyway, in August of 2007, Tom and I had intentions of climbing this mountain, but I was only able to do about 3/10ths of the way up, because it was so hard on my legs... Well, I got this idea, since we're 65 pounds lighter than we were last summer, and we've been walking 3 1/2 miles twice a week, SURELY I could handle a silly little mountain...

oooooooooooooooooooooooooh nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Don't tease the mountain, it's a bitch.

But, Tom was very patient with me, and was so great. He pushed me, but not to the point of pissing me off. He kept telling me "Make a small goal, reach it, and make a new goal" or "Take as long as you need, sweetie, we're making it to the top!" He's so great.

I made it though!!

It took us the better part of 2 hours to go up the mountain, then we loafed around for about 20 or 30 minutes at the top, taking pictures and resting. Then it took us a little less than an hour to get back down... WHEW.

I tell you this much, that mountain honestly felt like I had just done the stair stepper machine for 3 hours... it was crazy. My calf muscles burned, my thighs burned, my back hurt... It was seriously the most rewarding 3 hours I've had in a long time. It was totally worth the hike, once we got to the top, and I couldn't have done it without my wonderful husband, Tom.

I love you, baby!

4th of July Weekend Break down!

2009-07-03T10:15:00.001-05:00

Hey guys! Here is my break down for the weekend:

Friday (today): Gunna go climb Pinnacle Mountain! Super excited! Then possibly some swimming.

Saturday (tomorrow): Robert and Monica and their two kids are coming with us to mom and dad's for swimming, grilling, and fireworks!!

Sunday: Brett's 13th birthday party at Playtime Pizza!!

Should have some awesome photos!!

Can't wait!

Love you all!!

<3 Jess

Reader, be warned...

2009-06-30T22:54:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry, this may upset some people. but I have to get it out. You don't like it, don't read it.

I don't want to be around anyone's teeny weeny, new born children. I'm sorry. I don't. By this time, had all things gone well, I should have a 7 month old. and I don't. I understand, God works in mysterious ways, but it sucks.

So please don't HATE me for not going to the family reunion/bar b q. I don't want to be around something that is going to upset me. Why put myself in that position?

I have enough problems on my plate, enough worries, enough sadness, without adding more.

I'm sick of feeling pressured into going. This year, hasn't been QUITE so bad, because they chose the weekend of my birthday to put the reunion on, and I, thank God, already have plans to spend it hidden in the woods with my husband. But seriously, two miscarriages does NOT make me want to hold your new born infant.

Over a year after the two miscarriages, it still freakin' hurts. so just drop it.

Thank you.

Best. Day. Ever.

2009-06-25T22:42:00.004-05:00

#1. Didn't have to be in the office until 1:45 p.m.
#2. Got to meet some wicked awesome people ALL DAY LONG!
#3. Got HELLA compliments from school owners, and random taekwondo students.
#4. Saw my bestie (downside: it was at the Arkansas Children's Hospital, where her daughter had just had her tonsils and adenoids removed.)
#5. Had a great dinner with Tom.
#6. Had a FANTASTIC walk, a great pace, it was killer!
#7. Checking my facebook/blog has been really rewarding
#8. Listening to Tom sing along with songs on his computer.

Thank you Dear God, for the day you've given me, the friends you've put in my life, and the opportunities I've been able to take part in.

Mk. Now that THAT'S over with! LOL! Testing at World Championships was freakin' AWESOME!

I got to dress SUPER cute:

I got to watch Master Dendy do his board breaks, I got to watch sparring from 1st Degree Black Belts all the way up to 6th and 7th Degree Black Belts. I got to take part in what is DEFINITELY the best Worlds, EVER.

{This is from the tester's meeting right before the Testing/Midterming began. There were over 300 people there doing testing and midterming. It was a GREAT turn out!}

I got to meet Chief Master Ozuna - who is really nice, even though some of his paper work was messed up - Not my fault though! I know that for a fact, I double and triple checked... Anyway, it's fixed. He'll get his corrected paperwork tomorrow morning. I've got at LEAST two school owners coming to visit me tomorrow!

It's been a good day, tator... It's 10:30 p.m. and I'm BEAT!

Love y'all!
{Currently listening to Tom sing Thin Lizzy "The Boys are Back in Town" sung by my main squeeze... he's so hot}
<3>

And so it begins...

2009-06-22T22:31:00.002-05:00

Today, marked the unofficial beginning to World Championships 2009 for the American Taekwondo Association! Technically, classes and seminars don't start until tomorrow, but we've already had a few instructors come through. Mr. Peirre Aucamp, from South Africa, and his students, also from South Africa, came through today. They are really neat people, plus, they have really nice accents! I think it's cool that he tries so hard to get his students to be able to come to the US for Worlds. It's neat.

Anyway, so I spoke with another of my instructors today who want to come by and say "hi." Mr. Jade Hockman - from Columbia, MO. I can't wait to meet him, he's probably one of my favorites. Doesn't hurt that the girls in my department say he's "hot". haha! He'll be one I'd like to get my photo with so I can post it here in my blog, and on facebook. I have two event links for Worlds on my facebook, which is cool. There are a lot of people on there that I need to add as friends.

Today was kind of rough. Poor Marissa, she's been so stressed, and we were working on our score sheets, and it just wasn't going as smoothly as it could have. I think we got it in the end though! Yay Marissa!

Other than that, it was a good evening. I made mini cheeseburgers for dinner, then we went for an hour and 17 minute walk around Shannon Hills. It was muggy, and we sweated a lot... which is good! The hills don't seem quite so hard anymore, here soon, we may have to start jogging! EEK!! PS. 60 pounds down, 40 more by Thanksgiving and I'll look HAWT for my Christmas pics!

Oh! Also, tonight, Robert and Monica stopped by, they had to pick up Tom's Euphonium (looks like a baby tuba) for an audition for an assistant band director's position at a high school close by! I hope he gets it! They are talking about coming over here in the next week or two, to spend time and hang out.

Alrighty, I think I heard the dryer buzz, saying that my bed sheets are dry!

Love you all! I'm out!

<3 Jess

Almost a month away... Sorry!

2009-06-20T22:05:00.002-05:00

Ok, so the past month has been crazy... here are the, umm... HIGHLIGHTS... haha

* Still working on World Championships for the American Taekwondo Association. It all comes to an end on Sunday, June 27, 2009, THANK GOD! Then I'll actually get some days off.

* Been reading the Harry Potter series again, in preparation for the next movie coming out in July. I'm on book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I've been reading for two weeks haha... Prisoner of Azkaban is probably my favorite.

* A couple weeks ago, we went to Sears and took family photos. They turned out great. If you want to see them, go to: www.facebook.com/jessica.hinz, and click on my photos. They are GREAT!!!

* Tom left for 5 days starting on June 15th. He went to help our friends move from Blytheville, AR to Jacksonville, AR. He was wiped by the time he got home Friday night.

*While Tom was away, I cleaned the entire house. (with the slight exception of my craft room... I just didn't get to it, and it wasn't high on the priority list.)

*Again, while Tom was away, I didn't get on the computer much. Cleaning took up most of my time, also I moped around the house a lot, since I was alone.

* We've been making lots of plans for the rest of the summer, since I haven't been able to take off ANY time since March:
1. Going camping
2. Going to see Harry Potter
3. Going camping again... (maybe?)
4. Climbing Pinnacle Mtn. (Should be an adventure)
5. Getting back on our diet (starting Monday)
6. Going camping again... (maybe?)

Haha!

Oh, I got to feel SUPER geeky today! I got to install a new hard drive into my desktop computer. I was very surprised at how easy it was!! I did have my sexy IT guy help me with it. hehe! He watched over me while I did the work. Too bad the harddrive was corrupt or something. It wouldn't work and wouldn't let me format it. Bummer! Oh well, I was able to take out the slave drive without real supervision.
After working on the computer, Tom and I played in the office on our computers. Which is a big deal, since we've basically used this room as STORAGE for the past 6 months... we haven't been able to get in here and use it. (Part of my super cleaning I did this week.) Tom seems really happy with it. His laptop doesn't work really well, so to have a computer that actually works, he's pleased.
Around noon, we headed out to Downtown Little Rock, and hit up the Whole Hog Cafe (we have seriously broken our diet this weekend...) we got pulled pork stuffed baked potatoes and a brownie!! yummy!! Too bad I ate WAY WAY WAY too much... oh well..
After lunch, Tom and I came home and took abt an hour and a half nap... well, part of it was nap... haha!
Anyway, after the nap, we went to my parents house and swam for a couple of hours in their pool with my neice and nephews, sis, bro-in-law, and one of my sister's friend's kids. We did dinner with them. Then headed home.
I've been playing on facebook a lot... stupid Farm Town application... what the heck? Oh well, it's cute, and something that Tom and I can do together.

I'm so glad he's home!!

I'm off to go back to facebook, then to bed... I'm tired!

<3 Jess

I have a hall light again!!

2009-05-17T16:18:00.002-05:00

So, ok, we moved into our house in July 2009. About two months after we moved in, we seemed to have a lightbulb go out in our hallway. Well, at the time, Tom tried to change the lightbulb, but it still wouldn't work to turn on the light! We decided the switch must be bad... well for 2 1/2 years we have dealt with not having a hallway light. Not terribly bad, just annoying.

Anyway, well, this weekend, Tom and I have been busy! Saturday, we ran to Sam's Club with my kid brother and his girlfriend so they could see if it would be worth it if they got a membership. We love our membership. Then, we went to my parents' house to hang out with them and my sis and her kids. Had a good time, but we were definitely beat by the end of the night.

Then, we came home. I spent some time on my laptop and then we went to bed.
Today, we woke up kind of early. Then, we started on some cleaning. We did the kitchen, front room, living room, hall way and our bed room. Well, then Tom had a great idea to try and replace our hallway light switch! It worked!!! I'm so excited!! I was the happiest I've been in FOREVER. over a stupid light coming on!!

It was crazy. I'm just really happy!!

Now, Tom, and I are watching SEPERATE movies haha. He's watching Resident Evil on the xbox, and I'm watching "A Cinderella Story" on the netflix... we're such nerds!!

Anyway, I'm outta here. I've got pics to post later. Talk to you later!

<3 Jess

This picture is worth a 1000 million words!

2009-05-15T12:37:00.001-05:00

This Picture is Worth 1000 Million Words...

We truly take a lot for granted. Forget the football "heroes" and movie "stars". Pass this on so that all may know the price of freedom

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you,

Jesus Christ and the American Soldier

One died for your soul; the other for your freedom.

How can you NOT PASS this along, we all send dozens of jokes

3's of Me!!

2009-05-13T21:40:00.002-05:00

I thought this was super cute!! Copy and paste and change the answers if you'd like!!

<3 Jessica

Just a little about me ... Read on ... 3's About Me

Three Names I have been called

1. Jessica

2. Jess

3. Sweetie

Three Jobs I have had in my life: ONLY 3
1. ATA Testing Rep

2. Assistant Manager for Arby's

3. Sales Associate for Walmart

Three Places I have lived: ONLY

1. Conway, AR

2. Bryant, AR

3. Shannon Hills, AR

Three TV Shows that I watch: ONLY 3 Again
1. House

2. Heroes

3. Chuck

Three Places I Have Been:
1. Austin, TX

2. Nashville, TN

3. Branson, MO

Three People That Email Me Regularly:
1. Marti

2. Tom

3. KC

Three Of My Favorite Foods:

1. Bread

2. Fajitas

3. Lobster Tail

Three Things I Am Looking Forward To:

1. Being a Mommy one day

2. Buying a new car

3. finishing our back patio

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T00:53:00.002-05:00

I just posted on my Facebook page that I probably won't be online tomorrow...

Gunna try and keep myself busy all day...

For those who don't know, this should have been my first Mother's Day. But, it's not...
One day.
Just not today.

Anyway, it's going to be a really rough day for me, but I wanted everyone to know I with them a wonderful and happy Mother's Day.

We are starting the day at Tom's mom's house and then taking her to lunch. We'll probably hang out for a while, then we're heading to my parent's house in the afternoon/evening time to spend time with my own mom. Should be cool.

Anyway, I love you all. Enjoy your Mother's Day!!

<3 Jess

The Bucket List

2009-05-07T21:19:00.002-05:00

The Bucket List.

Hit forward and place an (x) by all the things you've done and remove
the (x) from the ones you have not. Then post it, and either email it to me, or post it on your blog or journal and link me to it!

This is for your entire life!

()Been to Europe

( )Been on a cruise

(X)Been on a blind date

(X) Skipped school

( ) Watched someone die

( ) Been to Canada

( ) Been to Mexico

( ) Been to Florida

(X) Been on a plane

( ) Climbed a lighthouse

( ) Swam in the ocean

(X) Cried yourself to sleep

( ) Seen the Cherry Blossoms in Washington , D.C.

(X) Played cops and robber.

( ) Flown a plane

( ) Owned a boat

( ) Watched grandchildren grow

(X) Recently colored with crayons

( ) Been to the Kentucky Derby

( ) Been to Key West

( ) Been to a rodeo -

(X) Sang Karaoke

(X) Paid for a meal with coins only?

(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?

(X) Made prank phone calls

( ) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose

(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue

( ) Danced in the rain

(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus

(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe

(X) Watched the sunrise with someone

( ) Seen the green flash at sunset ?

(X) Blown bubbles

(X) Gone ice-skating

(X) Gone to the movies

( ) Owned a convertible

1. Any nickname? Jess, Sweetie

2. Body Piercing? Ears, twice

3. How much do you love your job? pretty good.

4. Birthplace : Little Rock, AR

5. Ever been to Hawaii? No

6. Ever been to Africa ? No

7. Ever eaten just cookies for dinner? Yes

8. Ever steal any traffic sign? No

9. Ever been in a car accident? Yes

10. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4 door

11. Favorite number? 9

12. Favorite movie? Star Dust & What Dreams May Come

13. Favorite holiday? Christmas

14. Favorite dessert? Cheesecake

15. Favorite food? US Pizza Co Salad

16. Favorite day of the week?Thursday - also known as Friday Eve

17. Favorite brand of body wash?Japanese Cherry Blossom by Bath and Body Works

18. Favorite smell?Japanese Cherry Blossom

19. How do you relax? Scrapbooking, paper crafts, playing on the internet, hanging out with Tom

20. How do you see yourself in 10 years? hopefully with children

21. Furthest Place you will send this message? uhhh... not sending it... I'm posting it on my blog

22. Who will respond to this the fastest? respond?? I'm posting the damn thing

23. Favorite sound? Tom's heartbeat or breathing while he's asleep, TJ laughing, Hearing Tom say "I love you, Jessica"

Toad Suck Daze Washout and too much sleep!!

2009-05-03T21:45:00.002-05:00

So, this weekend, Tom and I went to Conway. Well, we had not visited our "other mom" in a long time. So we went to her house first on Saturday. That was a lot of fun, we were able to catch up a lot. We also gave mom a "pre-used" camera. it was the camera I have used for the past like 5 years. It took graduation photos, wedding pictures, photos our house when we bought it. It was actually a lot harder to give up than I thought it would be. But Tom bought me m insanely nice Nikon D60 and the older camera (which is a Nikon CoolPix - one of the first ones) wasn't getting used like I knew it could be. This way, while Mom is in California in June, she can take pictures of back home to bring to Kandi and the rest of the family.

Well, it rained ALL day saturday, and my dumb butt was in shorts... Bit I figured, even if it WAS raining it was supposed to be like 75 degrees. Perfect shorts weather... yeah... not so much... If I was outside, I was wet and cold from the rain, if I was inside, I was damp and cold from people running the a/c. Oh well. Because of the rain, Conway City Council decided that it wasn't safe for kids and families to be outside at Toad Suck Daze. So it was cancelled. Completely. For the ENTIRE DAY!! Which really sucked, because that was what we were going to be doing for the day! oh well! So we hung out at mom's, then went to Kandi's, then went running around Conway shopping. Then, went back to Chik-Filet for lunch... now you have to understand... to me, everything at Chik-Filet tastes like chicken livers... but, we each got a Grilled Chicken salad and they were really good! Then, we headed to Tom's mom's house to drop off a late birthday gift. We had put together a little basket of things she'll need for her yard sale: tags, stickers, and a cash box! We also made a coupon good for one free weekend of our help (for the yard sale). We didn't stick around long. She had a lot of people over, and I just wanted to get out of my wet clothes. Well, rather than doing THAT we wound up back at Kandi and Joey's. Kandi decided she wanted to go skating. So off we went. Kandi's youngest asked me if I would help her skate and so I said sure, well Joey wound up helping her:
Joey said he can't skate, so he doesn't. haha!

Well, then I talked Tom into skating... which was SUPER cute!! I upgraded my skates to roller blades, but the blades at the skate rink weren't great so I only got a couple of laps in before my ankles were killing me. Here is a pic of me and Tom skating. Doesn't he look really sneaky? After skating we went back to Mom's house, and Kandi and Joey had invited us to dinner, so he grilled brautwersts that were KILLER!! They were fantastic! Then, Bubba (kandi's middle brother) brought out this toy, it's Guitar Hero!! But you clip it onto your belt, and it plays the song as you strum the guitar pick! It was totally cute!!(quick note about the pic above: The shorts I'm wearing, I haven't worn in TWO YEARS because I couldn't fit in them... look how slim my legs look??? I love the results of our diet, even if I don't like the diet itself!!)
After that, Tom and I went back to Kandi and Joey's and decided to watch a movie, then we headed home.

We got to bed around 1:30 in the morning... we didn't wake up until about 1:15 in the afternoon!! haha! It was hilarious! I cannot believe I wasted an entire morning like that... Oh well.

We went to Sam's Club, then to my parent's house, and then i played some Harry Potter on the XBox. Now I'm letting Tom play his Prince of Persia game, then we're heading to bed....

I might get some scrapping done now!! Who knows!!

<3 Jessica

If today was your last day...

2009-05-01T20:35:00.003-05:00

[BEWARE: THIS GETS REALLY FREAKING DEPRESSING!!]

So, I'm listening to If Today Was Your Last Day by Nickleback. Very good song. Anyways, so it got me to thinking about what I would do if today was my last day...

First, I'd wake up super early in the morning (make the day longer y'know). Watch the sunrise with my love. Then, meet up with my friends for a breakfast all the pancakes, french toast, waffles, bacon, eggs, sausage, biscuits, gravy... milk, coffee, orange juice, chocolate milk... the works!

Then, we'd all go to the park and swing... Remember swinging on a swing set? The wind in your face, your hair blowing CRAZY. We might even do the see-saw. I'd let all my friends take whatever photos they wanted to, ask me any questions they felt like they wanted answered.

After the park, Tom and I would go for a ride on a great motorcycle. Out into the middle of nowhere. We'd park the bike and just walk hand in hand. We'd talk about all the great memories we had, there would be no tears.

After our ride, Tom and I would gather all of our family together. We'd just sit and talk. I'd ask them to never forget the times we had. I'd ask them to help Tom through this time. We'd talk about how we all were together for our graduation, and our wedding. We'd talk about how far we'd all come and how amazing our lives were because of each other. No harsh words, no speeches on how people could have done this better, or gotten certain places faster. We'd never mention all the places we'd never been, just the places we enjoyed.

Then, we'd have a great big family dinner - with everyone sharing the same kitchen and smiling. We'd talk about the time I "burned" the water. We'd laugh and joke about how we did things differently, but always seemed to get to the same end. I'd praise all of our family members on things they have accomplished, and hopefully push them towards their goals as their lives continue on. We'd hug, we'd smile, there would be tears here. There's no real stopping it. I'd ask my parents to never push Tom out of their lives, not even when he found another to spend his life with. I'd tell them to not worry about me. I'd see them soon enough in the here-after.

After I'd said goodbye to my family, Tom and I would come home. This would be the hardest part. Telling Tom how much he really means to me, and how much I would miss him until we were together again. I'd ask him to not push away my family when they tried to help him. I'd tell him to not create a shrine for me. If there were things he wanted to keep of mine, he should - but to get rid of the rest. We'd sit together and smile about the times we had. We'd cry about the times we should have had. We'd laugh about the times that didn't work out just right. We'd be silent - but a good silent. We'd walk hand in hand into our bed room and lay down, snuggled together so tight we'd think the world had halted all around us. Imagining for one minute, that it wasn't the end. Praying together that things would be ok for both of us. Somewhere in there, we'd fall asleep.

[This is probably the hardest thing I've ever written in my entire life. Not so much because of what was written, but all the things that couldn't fit into words... It's amazing all the things I would want to say to my friends, my family, and Tom that I just couldn't get to come out of my head. I know I would want all of my friends and family, and Tom too, to be happy, to know that I wasn't in any pain, but jeez... I think it would awkward.

Anyway, well that was really depressing at the end. It really does scare me, to think that one day I'll have to say goodbye to Tom, or he would have to say goodbye to me. It seems so hard. I never want that day to come. I always stole a line from Winnie the Pooh:

"If you live to be 100, I'd only want to live for 100 minus 1 day. So I'd never live with a day with out you."

I love my life, sure there are things I'd change, but if I found out I was done tomorrow... I think I'd be pretty happy with how I lived, the friends I've made, the love of my life. He really is my soul mate... I never thought he could (for use of a really cheesy line) complete me the way he does. I could hope that if I do pass before Tom, he would able to find someone to share the rest of his life with. So that he wouldn't be too sad. Ok, enough of this sad stuff... Time to go to something fun... and kiss my husband for good measure... Just because we aren't "planning" on either one of us being gone any time soon - sometimes you just don't know.

I love you, Tom. You are my soul mate. You are my best friend. If I lost everything and everyone in the world, I know I'd be ok... because I have you. I really hope you don't read this... because it's really depressing haha! I love my friends and my family...

(PS. If there are typos, please don't mention them, I can't even reread this thing... I can't make it through it again! Sorry!!)

Love, Jessica]

The ABCs of me!

2009-04-26T18:34:00.002-05:00

The ABCs of me!!

A - Age: 26 in July

B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate: cleaning the toilets... bleh!!

D - Pets' names: Penny and Ellie

E - Essential start your day items: toothbrush and toothpaste haha!

F - Favorite color: navy blue, I've actually started liking green too?? whoda thunk it right?

G - Gold or Silver: White Gold

H - Height: 5'5"

I - Instruments you play(ed): not a darn thing haha

J - Job title: Testing Representative

K - Kid(s): 2 in Heaven

L - Living arrangements: 3 bed/2 bath house with my own craft room in Shannon Hills! hehe oh yeah, with Tom

M - Mom's name: Linda

N - Nicknames: Jess

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: never.

P - Pet Peeve: people who are blatantly argumentative... OH! And people who let their kids run wild in Mazzio's!!

R - Right or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: 1 brother, 1 sister, and one bro-in-law (sis's hubby - my hubby's an only child)

T - Time you wake up: between 630 and 645 in the morning.

U- Underwear: cute, but not hootchie haha

V - Vegetable you dislike: brains... oh wait I mean Brussel Sprouts - they remind me of brains!

W - Ways you run late: I'll be late to my own funeral... haha... I guess I am named after the perfect person - my mid name is Dianne - my Aunt Dianne is ALWAYS late... but that's ok. we still love her!

X - X-rays you've had: only my teeth

Y - Yummy food you make: sausage balls... probably our biggest hit to date... but we have some great ideas for this Christmas season!!

Z - Zoo favorite: Penguins... I really want to go to the zoo, I haven't been in YEARS. Maybe I can talk my sis into letting me go with her and the kids one weekend?

11 Days...

2009-04-25T23:01:00.002-05:00

Wow, it's been 11 days since my last post! Crazy!! EEK! Am I losing my touch?

ehh...

The last couple of weeks have been pretty cool actually...

At work, things are good. I'm really getting the hang of the World Championship Registrations I've taken over. My phone is ALWAYS ringing now, since MY name and extension are listed on the paper work I keep sending out. Here in the next week, we have "End of Month," which is always stressful, because we HAVE to have every test processed by the end of the last day of the month, which means I won't be able to really work much on the World's stuff until it's over... Oh well, we'll call it a lesson in time management, right?
We have two girls that work on my level in our office. The three of us process ALL of the testings for all of our schools from all over the US, and schools in Canada, South Africa, Australia, South America, and Spain. It's really neat to get to know all of these people from around the globe. Anyway, well one of the girls has been there for three years, and the other one has been there for about 6 months. I started my second year on April 4th. I don't always have the best patience at work. Especially because the newer girl doesn't seem to grasp some of the most simple processes. Most of the problems/questions she has asked in the past month are issues that were covered in the first two months of her working at ATA. It's not like we change what we do each day, it's quite monotonous. So we get aggravated a lot... Well, the other girl gave me some very good advice on Thursday - basically, to not let the other girl get to me. It just makes me seem petty, and just looks bad on me... So, I worked hard on Thursday and Friday and basically just ignored her and how frustrating she can be.
We each do our own work, have our own schools we handle, it's not like we are working together on a one-on-one basis. So, I think I did well on Thursday and Friday.

We had a pregnancy scare - that fell through. I was late on my monthly event last month by a solid week, this month by about 6 days. Tom chocks it up to being stressed at work... The girls at work think it might be the diet we're on... I don't know... We call it a "pregnancy scare". Honestly, it's not a scare any more for the whole "oh my gosh, we're pregnant," it's more along the lines of "oh my gosh, I don't want to lose another one." It's kind of depressing... I don't know what is worse - NOT being pregnant, or being so terrified about losing another one. I don't know, I know God works in mysterious ways... I just wish for once he would say "You'll get pregnant with a successful pregnancy on September 1st, 2010." or whatever. So I could at least know that we will be parents one day... it's just rough... I know He will not bring us to something we can't handle. I just wish things weren't so hard...

Anyway, enough of that... I don't like being depressed... haha! I'm doing more scrapbooking tonight... getting some pages done I meant to do weeks ago!

Oh! Good news!! We did yard work this afternoon! We mowed the front yard (both of them haha - the side yard, against the main road through Shannon Hills, and then the front yard that is against our street.) Tom also got up on the roof and brushed off all of the pollen that has been piling up for a month... it was gross! Well, it started raining right after we started the back yard... that kind of sucked, so we didn't get as much done as we wanted... but, we did start thinking about how we are going to do the landscaping along the front of the house. We're going to plant Boxwood bushes... I think they are going to look GREAT. I can't wait...

Oh, on another topic - but still the house haha! We have some neighbors down the road who are selling their house, well, they were nice enough to ask us if they could put a For Sale sign in our yard (since we're on the corner lot). Well, we just asked them to not point their arrows towards our actual house, because we've gotten people knocking on the door in the past asking to see the house, since it's for sale... haha! Well, the guy that was putting up the sign said they had already gotten calls about "the house on the corner" haha! i guess that is good news when we decide to sell this one! It's a good location, Bryant School District, doesn't flood, Big deck on the back, 3 bed 2 bath... I'm already laying out the flyer in my head for when we sell it, but that's not for a few more years down the line...

Anyway, I'm off to do more scrapping! IM me if you need me, or email me!!

Talk to you all later!!
<3 Jess

Faith Booster

2009-04-16T20:05:00.002-05:00

I had never seen this email circulated - however, it gave me goosebumps. I love it.

Little things like this give my faith a boost - how about yours?

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection? I never noticed this.......

John 20:7 tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.

Early that Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, "They have taken the Lord's body and I don't know where they have taken Him!".

Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and

went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the napkin that had covered Jesus face was folded up and lying to one side.

Is that important? Absolutely!

Is that really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about the Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition.

When the Servant set the dinner table for the Master, he made sure it was exactly the way the Master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the Master had finished eating. The Servant would not dare touch that table until the Master was finished.

If the Master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm finished".

I did not know this....

If the Master got up from the table, and folded his napkin beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because....

The folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!".

He is coming back!

During this Holy season, I pray that you are blessed with peace and joy in the knowledge that He IS coming back someday.

Hinz Home

Cricut...

Best. Day Before My Birthday. Ever. pt. 2

Best. Day Before My Birthday. Ever. pt. 1

needed to post...

such a great weekend...

Super Excited Much?

Bling Bling Shamrock Pin!

It's only been a minute...

ok...

Checking in!

Silhouette Giveaway!!

Merry Christmas!!

Silhouette SD Machine Giveaway!!!

Booked.

Leo Reynolds + Adobe Photoshop

Three Weeks?!

craaaaaaaaaaazzy week...

Uh oh... too much caffeine?

What. A. Long. Weekend.

Look what I got on ebay!!

Fun day!

Linkies!!

Mr. Jacobs' Big 4 - 0 Party!

Maddy's Birthday Party

Totally spazzed y'all!!

Another party to plan

Just when I want to be a whiner...

Looooooooooooong Weekend.

how tired am I...?

week in review

Blah and 1/2.

Fun weekend!

"I love you!"

Best. Birthday. Ever.

Death

Monday is ALMOST over!!!

please disregard the mistakes...

Blogger is back up! Yay!

...a little too much fun...

Love this...

May... already?

wow...

Nikki's Softball Headband!

Wooden Anniversary...

So, I joined JibJab

Miserable...

Two things:

It's been too long...

Playing Catch Up

Holy Bananas!!

What a great time!

A lot to be Thankful for!

Joe and Jose

What a great week...

2010 Survey

Wow...

Wow...

What a great weekend! (So far anyway!)

What an awesome weekend...

Labor Day Weekend

Only Tuesday??

I should find something productive to do...

What a great few days.

Happily Married

Shoppers Hotline

This year...

Me X 100 = A lot of me! haha!!

Don't tell God how big your storm is; tell the storm how big your God is.

Me, Me, Me!!!

Human Evolution

How well do you know your husband??

My birthday... a definite MUST READ

4 Fun Things About Me!

Red, White, and Blue!!

On top of Ol' Pinnacle! All Covered in trees!

Pinnacle Mountain State ParkWest Summit Trail'

4th of July Weekend Break down!

Reader, be warned...

Best. Day. Ever.

Pinnacle Mountain State Park
West Summit Trail'