Cricut...

I bought a Cricut cutter...

i'm in love.

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

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

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...

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...

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?

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!

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!!