I Surprisingly Suck At Keeping a Schedule

I'm so happy that it's Friday and that this kinda week flew by! So anyways I'm skipping Wise Words this week (ugh I'm SO bad at keeping a schedule), because it's my Dad's birthday tomorrow! Not to brag or anything, but I have the best Dad ever. Like seriously, ever. He coached our soccer teams (and basketball teams, and Odyssey of the Mind teams, and.. yea you get it), is an awesome husband to my Mom for 27 years and counting, plans an awesome Earth Day festival every year, works his butt off to provide for his family, takes my dogs for walks multiple days a week when I'm at work (my Mom does this too, thanks guys!) and is pretty much just all around a great guy! Happy Birthday Dad, I love you!!

At Mom's senior prom!

Alsooooo I decided to fill out Erin's Blogmopolitan Quiz for your viewing pleasure this week, woop!

Have a great weekend guys, stay warm and cross your fingers that if we get this huge storm everyone is talking about on Sunday night into Tuesday that we get 2 feet again so that we at least get off one day from work.. 8-10 inches gets me nothing except an annoying drive into work, blah!

Songs from the Unknown

So one of my favorite bloggers, Elizabeth at Southern Finesse, does a weekly series called Songs from the Unknown where she lists songs in different genres that have never been released as singles. She is having a link up this week, so I decided I definitely need to participate. I think that most of time when you listen to an entire album put out by an artist, instead of just their singles, you can come across some of their best stuff! Today I'm going to just talk about my two favorite album artists. I also recommend Billy Joel, The Monkees, The Beach Boys, The Carpenters, and John Michael Montgomery, but considering so many of my favorites songs of theirs are singles, I couldn't include my favorites in this post.

Taylor Swift. Okay, it's controversial but whatever, I think Taylor Swift is one of the best song writers of all time, of all time! I really don't understand all the hate she gets; this girl is talented! Every single one of her songs is catchy and honestly, there isn't even ONE song off any of her 4 studio albums that I don't like. Plus she's a good person, she's been deemed the world's most charitable celebrity for two years running! She is the epitome of album writer in my opinion; she doesn't only write singles (but she does have a bajillion). I got her first CD when only one of her singles, Tim McGraw, had been released back in September 2006. P.S. When you buy her CDs, always buy the bonus editions from Target because she releases like 3-4 extra songs on those and they are usually awesome! Here are just a few of my favorite of her non-singles:

The Band Perry. Okay, if you don't have their album, you need to get it. I love listening, okay, singing along to, ALL of their songs. Seriously, this is one of my favorite albums ever, GET IT and listen to ALL the songs. Here are a just three of my favorites not released as singles, but I really love all of them:

Have you heard of any of these songs? Who are your favorite album artists?



P.S. If you're participating in the Local Products Box Swap, don't forget your boxes are supposed to be in the mail (with tracking #) today at the latest!

What I'm Loving Lately

So I found some new makeup products that I LOVE recently, like seriously, I love them and don't know how I made it this far in my life without them, and I felt it only right to shout it to the blogworld!

I love this eyeshadow! I got it in Too Cool (white) and Barely Branded (a light bronzey color, goes with everything). It stays on well and it's buildable. I can make it light and barely there for work, but if I want it more vibrant at night, I can just use more. I usually use a brush to apply it, but you can use your finger too.

This mascara. Ahh! This is definitely my new favorite. You know I use Latisse, so my eyelashes are already pretty long, but when I wear this, WOW. People have noticed my eyelashes from across the room, and that is not an exaggeration! This is definitely the best mascara I've ever used! Check out all the other eye products I've reviewed here.

So I jump all over with foundations, and recently I've tried a few more, drugstore and expensive brands, and this is definitely one I am going to buy again. It matches my skin so well (I use 1.2, warm fair), and it blends so well with this Real Techniques Expert brush I got at Ulta (it feels like such an expensive brush but it was only $9!). I know this foundation is $42, so it's pretty expensive, but it's so worth it. Plus when you use a brush you don't need as much so I expect it will last me a long time. Check out all the other face products I've reviewed here.

I also asked my awesome Sidekicks to share their favorite products with you guys too, because when I find a new product I love, I want to tell everybody about it!

So I'm not much of a makeup girl. In all honesty, I didn't even own any real makeup until I was in college (I don't count the ugly Wet 'n' Wild lipsticks I bought for like a dollar in high school- you ALL know what I’m talking about). Even now- I rarely wear it unless we are going out for a fancy dinner or something. On the rare occasions I do my makeup- it's normally just a bit of eye shadow, liner and mascara. But there are a few beauty products I've been loving lately, mainly due to the dryness that winter causes. EOS lip balm has been a lifesaver and something I never leave home without. I thought it was just a lip balm- but it has worked wonders on my chapped lips! Plus it smells good and it's in that cute little container. My other go to has been Aveda Hand Relief. This is the most amazing moisturizer for dry winter hands. It doesn’t leave your hands feeling greasy- but gloriously smooth and moisturized. And it has an awesome scent- nothing overpowering, just a little herbally/citrusy (obviously I suck at describing this- but I promise it awesome). Definitely two of my go to beauty products- especially in the winter!! -- Margaret at Life After Athens

Hello beautiful people! I'm Kay and I ramble and rant over on The Best Of Intentions. When Jess emailed me and asked what beauty product I was loving right now, I didn't even have to finish reading the email before I knew exactly what product I was going to tell her about! Mary Kay's Ultimate Mascara in black. I am a mascara SNOB! I've tried ridiculously, embarrassing expensive mascaras and I've tried cheap drugstore mascaras. Been there, done that. THIS mascara is the BEST and my new obsession! Highly, HIGHLY recommend!!

What new products have you been loving lately?

P.S. If you're participating in the Local Products Box Swap, don't forget your boxes are supposed to be in the mail (with tracking #) by tomorrow at the latest!

Awkward B&Bers

So two years ago, Brian and I decided it would be fun to go away for a weekend around Valentine's Day. Now, we are not cheesy romantic people at all, but at my Mom's suggestion, we decided to try out a Bed & Breakfast. My parents go to a B&B for their anniversary every year, but apparently what they go to is more of an Inn in a cute little town, where they can walk around to all the shops during the day and then come back at night to sleep. Well, being a avid Gilmore Girls fan, I should have known better than to go to a B&B. I mean, Lorelai and Rory make fun of them all the time! And there's even a whole episode about an awful, flowery, no-free-time B&B that they are forced to stay at after they go on a road trip with no directions (please tell me you've seen this episode?!).

I wrote something similar in the guestbook in our room to pay homage to the good old GG

Anyways, where was I? Yes, we should have known better but we thought it'd be fun. Mistake # 1- picking a B&B in the middle of nowhere. Ours was literally on a farm, animals included. This guy walked right up to us as we walked out of our room.

Anywhere we wanted to go was at least 20 minutes away, and it was nearly impossible to find somewhere good to eat dinner. We ended up finding some weird restaurant to eat our Valentine's meal at.. I think I got mozzarella sticks? Then we went to the movies, and back to the B&B. There was seriously NOTHING TO DO. Everything in the area was closed, not that there was much to do anyways.

Mistake # 2- Picking a place that made you have your breakfast at EIGHT A.M. Yea, and if you weren't up and in the breakfast room by like 5 minutes til, they knocked on your door to remind you. Ugh and going right along with that, Mistake # 3- picking a place that made you eat at an elementary school cafeteria-style table, right next to other people with their PJs and morning breath. Nothing like eating breakfast (which, by the way, was one size fits all-- there was no menu, they didn't let you choose!) with people you don't know while you can see their underwear. That's a good time in my book. Except nobody saw our PJs because we are civilized people who come to breakfast in our clothes.

Anyways after breakfast we hightailed it out of there.. after I took Brian's picture with this angry mini horse. So random. I'm not going to say which B&B we went to because it was nice for a B&B I think. Maybe this is just what B&Bs are like and some people must like them but it was just not for us! Never again! The only word I can think of to describe our entire experience is awkward. Have you ever been to a B&B? Was your experience as awkward as ours?

This wasn't from that weekend but my hand was so awkward in this pic that I felt it was only appropriate to include it

Wise Words of the Week.. and a funny dream story

Soooo yea, this week has not been the best week ever, just saying. I mean, ugh, I am exhausted and I am so freaking glad it's Friday. I know I say that every week but I really mean it, I just feel like I haven't had a free minute to relax and everything has been going wrong and blah! So in the spirit of my negative attitude, I've decided to make this week the Jerks edition Wise Words of the Week. All of my quotes are things that I wish were NOT said this week, but actually were.

"Rejected"

We put in an offer on another house this week and TWO other people put offers on it, one of which was after ours. Ours was supposed to be looked over at 8pm and we rushed to have our offer in in time, then they postponed looking at it so that these other jerks could put an offer in too to be looked over at the same time. Well obviously at that point they knew they had to put in a super awesome-er offer, so they must have offered over the asking price to have beat us out. Grr, I know the right house is out there for us, but I just want to find it now! 

"The dogs peed on the floor at the top of the steps!"

Yea, I said this on the phone last night to Brian when I got home from work and found pee on the carpet. I was NOT happy, especially considering my dad came over and took the dogs on a nice long walk while we were at work. 

"They forgot to pack half of your dinner."

Boo, Brian picked up our food Wednesday night and I was starving when he got home with it and so excited but they forgot to pack half of it in the bag! It would have been 30 minutes round trip to go back and get it, so they just got a hangry phone call from me. 

"Ravenswood has been cancelled."

I hate when my TV shows get cancelled. That is all. I am not going to rant about this again haha

"You have reached your data limit." and "You are being charged overtime minutes."

Yea so I somehow went over my minutes and data for the month. How? No clue. The data thing has to be wrong, because I mainly use my phone on wifi, so I am pretty annoyed about this. I never even used to use like a quarter of my data until I got the iPhone 5s in December. Brian adjusted some of my settings now because we think my phone must have been backing itself up to the cloud over 4g, which is dumb. 

source

Sorry for being a Debbie Downer today. Let's leave on a happy note... hmm how about I tell you my dream from last night.. Davy Jones came and took me out on a date in a red sports car. How's that for a random dream? Except you wouldn't think it was so weird (or maybe you would) if you knew that I LOVE the Monkees and the theme song from Monkees TV show is the ringtone on my iPhone. I'm basically Marcia Brady, president of the Davy Jones fan club. We had tickets to see the Monkees in concert back in 2011 but they cancelled the show and we thought "oh well, we can see them next year" except we couldn't because Davy Jones died and it was sad and I cried. Okay this turned out to be sad again so I better just go, have a happy Friday guys! Linking up with Whitney

Yes, I realize this isn't the real Marcia

Murphy's Law of Dogs

If you leash them up to go outside, they will get all tangled up because they each wanted to be on the opposite side of the hand you were holding their leash in, go figure.

If you are running late to go anywhere, they will puke, or poop, on the floor.

If you change their blankets and take your time to fold up nice fresh ones and put them down, they will dig at them and mess them all up, then puke on them.

If you've just finally fallen asleep after struggling to do so for hours, you will wake up moments later to, you guessed it, a dog puking. 

If you try for once to take them on a long walk by yourself (it's hard because of the leash tangling remember), you will wear flip flops and the grass will be wet and the dogs don't like wet grass so you try to drag them up a wet, grassy hill, all while sliding up it looking ridiculous in your flip flops. You get to the top of the hill and decide to head home, and on the way your dog poops in the middle of the road.

If you try to take them on a walk with your dad, you will get to the bottom of a very large hill and the dogs will refuse to go on, literally sit down and not walk anymore, and you and your dad will have to carry them back up said large hill and all the way back home, while laughing hysterically at how ridiculous you look. 

If you try for a second time to take them on a long walk by yourself, they will get to the middle of the road and not go any further because apparently the salt from the snow is hurting their cute little feet and you will have to turn around and try to carry them both, all while they are literally screeching because their feet hurt and you look like the worst dog mom in the world, when all you were trying to do was take them on a nice walk. Then they will come inside, and, yup, poop on the floor right in front of the door.

If you are wearing your cute new Toms with hearts on them for the second time, the dogs will poop on the floor, you will step in it, then you will accidentally clean your Toms with bleach cleaner, ruining your brand new Toms. 

The one time you leave your favorite moccasins by the front door, your dogs who never ever chew on anything, will chew them to pieces while you're at work. 

Most of these aren't exactly "Murphy's Law" things per se, but they all are things I never expected to happen haha. Dogs! Can't live with them, definitely can't live without them. 

Washi Tape Greeting Cards!

Ahh we have looked at so many houses and all of them have been a bust, boo! I am so exhausted and getting worn out and ahh I need a break! If I mysteriously go missing for a few days, don't worry, I just ran away. Anyways, I have the lovely Steph from A Time for Seasons taking over today with an awesome craft, so take it away Steph!

Valentine's Day is behind us, but there seams to be a few more weeks of cold weather before we can freely venture outside. I like to write a lot of 'just because' cards during this time. It helps me pass the time and helps warm someones heart. Recently I discovered Washi tape (Yes, I'm a little late jumping on the bandwagon). It's so easy to make boarders and decorate mason jars now. I decided to use it to make my own greeting cards.

Supplies:

Washi Tape of different designs

These printables:

Card 1	Card 2	Card 3
Card 4	Card 5

Instructions:

1. Print off the card(s) of your choosing. Each card is formatted to be 5X7. This means you can print 2 on a 8X11 page of card stock and cut them apart.

2. Fold in half and add Washi Tape to make a scarf.

3. Write a note and warm a heart!

I have purposely left these cards blank so you can add your own greeting: "Happy Birthday", "Get Wells Soon", "Winter Greetings".  You are welcome to alter the cover, all I ask is that you leave the web page on the back of the card. The customization of these cards is almost endless so, go warm someones heart! ;)

***

Steph Seibert is the WAH, homeschooling, mother of 3. After several years of missing seasonal activities, her family started making seasonal ‘bucket lists’. She posts about these adventures, crafts, DIYs, recipes and more at A Time for Seasons in hopes of helping other families get the most out of each season.

She's a Spaz

I hope you all had an great Valentine's/long weekend. Mine was pretty awesome! And Brian and I actually both were off yesterday woop! So we spent a lot of the day with our agent looking at houses.

In case you've never read this post detailing my embarrassing moments, many of which involving me falling or tripping, I should let you in on a little not-so-secret.. I'm a klutz. I've gotten worse lately, and seriously, it has gotten out of control. I am constantly tripping, running into walls, falling up steps, or spilling stuff. Let me just describe this past Saturday morning to you, as an example of a pretty typical spazzy day in the life of Jessica.

Wake up. Try to pick up my phone off the night stand. Drop it on the floor. Try to grab it, almost fall out of bed, and knock over my earring holder, spilling all the earrings on the floor.

Fast forward. Drop a cereal box. Can't get my shoes on to take the dogs outside. Drop a dog leash while the dogs are attached.. twice.

Sit on the couch, get cold, Brian gets me a sweatshirt. Try to put it on, get it stuck on my head, my arm swings out, and BAM, mimosa spills everywhere. Literally. It was on my sweatshirt, the coffee table, the carpet, Schnitzel, the couch, both of our phones and both of our computers. Clean up ensues for 30 minutes.

Time to get ready. Don't feel like taking a shower. Get dressed. Fall over putting on my socks. Go into the bathroom. Drop my mascara on the floor a few times. Knock a candle and the soap into the sink. Dip my sleeve under the faucet while washing my hands. Try to shave my armpits while holding my sweater up, but my arm gets stuck, yanks free, and the razor scrapes across my nose, making three, yes, THREE, adorable cuts across the tip of my nose. Bleed for the next hour.

Go to the bagel shop. Try to put a napkin in the trashcan. Drop it on the floor. Try to put a stirrer in the trash can. Drop that on the floor too.

Okay, you get it at this point. I am a freaking MESS! And keep in mind, all of this happened before noon, and I'm actually a morning person. Also, I was a varsity athlete in high school, so it's not like I've been uncoordinated my whole life! Maybe I have a disorder, symptoms of which include having no balance and terrible hand-eye coordination. Any ideas? Have a happy Monday Tuesday. Only 3 more days til Friday!

I Don't Know Much About History

I'm pausing Wise Words of the Week because, duh, today is VALENTINE'S DAY!! But before I do, I just have to share one funny thing my mom said yesterday. She asked me "do you have an extra 'masonairy' jar that Savanna can have? You know, like the ones you use for jam." hahahaha Also, unrelated but important, we got dumped on yesterday and got over 2 new feet of snow on top of what we already had. We took advantage and actually went sledding, after like 2 hours of Brian shoveling a path to sled on because you can't just sled down a hill with two feet of snow on it!

Anyways, I think Valentine's Day is one of the best days of the year! And yes, I know I'm lucky because I have an awesome guy to spend it with, but I loved it even the years I spent it without a guy. I know there are mixed opinions about the holiday, especially in blogland, but I am here to tell you the top five reasons why you should love Valentine's Day as much as I do (it's okay if you don't though, I still love you and I can enjoy it enough for both of us):

Sorry for the blurry pic but this was what Brian got me for our first Valentines.. so sweet!!

Candy, flowers, and teddy bears. If you know me AT ALL, you know I am obsessed with candy and anything sweet. What is better than a box of chocolates, some sweet tarts, and an awesome dessert? Umm, that's right, nothing. You can't get enough of these things, you just can't.

Love songs. You know, those songs you can belt out in the car when hopefully no one is watching and you just feel like you should have tried out for American Idol because you would have rocked their socks off? Yea, those songs. "I would do anythinggggg for love"

Sweet gestures. Like last year when Brian drew hearts and "I Love You's" all over my car with car paint, so sweet!! Guys, I realize that we should go out of our way to show the people we love how much we love them everyday, but realistically, life often gets in the way. Plus, even if we do show our family and friends how much we love them everyday, why not spend this extra special day treating them even more special? It can't hurt, I'll tell ya that!

PINK! My favorite color. I love wearing it and decorating my house with cute pink heart stuff!

Yummy dinner. Whether you go out to eat or stay at home and order in pizza, Valentine's Day is an easy excuse to eat whatever you want and not feel guilty. I always take advantage, no doubt about it.

Tell me, where do you stand on the Great Valentine's Debate? I hope you all have an awesome Valentine's Day! Everyone should have someone to celebrate it with, whether it be your significant other, your family, your friends, or your dog. Love you guys!!

A Ghost Story, Part 2- Carolyn's Story

If you need to catch up (and believe me, if you want to be sufficiently freaked out, you need to), here's Part 1. I'll wait... Okay, ready now? So picking up where I left off, Kerry, Dennis, and Danielle had to move away a year or two after the events in my story took place, so goes the life of a military family. Kerry and Danielle went on ahead to their new house in Virginia, but Dennis stayed back to get things in order and sell the house. Dennis found a family to buy the house, whom Kerry had never met (this is important, remember this). The buyers were Bill and Carolyn, and their two young sons Brandon and Christopher.

Bill and Carolyn move in, Dennis moves to his new house with his family, and all is great, right? Wrongo, again. My mom became friends with Carolyn and during the good old dog days of summer, all the moms in my town would tow their kids to the pool for the day.

Dang I miss having my birthday parties there

So one weekend when Kerry and Danielle came back to town for a visit, we all went to the pool and who was there but Carolyn. My mom introduced Kerry and Carolyn, because remember, they had never spoken until this day. They chatted about life and kids and the weather, until the all-important hushed question came from Carolyn. "Kerry, did anything...weird.. ever happen to you in the house?" "Umm, why?" Kerry asked.

The gist of Carolyn's story was that one day, 5 year old Brandon was up in his room playing and Carolyn called him down for lunch. Brandon didn't come, even after repeated calls. Carolyn marched up the steps and into Brandon's room and asked Brandon why the heck he didn't come down when she called him for lunch.

"Because the little boy in the corner wouldn't let me Mommy."

Double-U, Tee, Eff. Kerry shared some of her horror stories with Carolyn, somewhat relieved she wasn't the only one to experience the weirdness in that house. A few years later, my mom casually asked Carolyn if anything else weird had happened at the house, to which Carolyn quickly and nervously replied, "What? No? What are you even talking about?" Needless to say, Carolyn and family no longer live in that house.

Let me just qualify these stories to say that Kerry was literally one of the most rational people I ever knew, so for her to admit to these stories must mean they're true, as far as I'm concerned. Do you have any scary, inexplicable stories? Happy Hump Day guys!

Strange But True

So I did a post on Strange But True Facts back when I first started blogging, and here I am for a second edition. Welcome to Strange But True Facts: About Me Edition. Yup, since there are definitely some newer faces around here, I figured I'd let you all in on all sorts of weird stuff about me.

ONE. I hate lots of little circles all close together. It's a real thing I swear, and my Mom can't stand looking at them either. It's a fear called trypophobia. I can't even Google this to show you a picture of what I'm talking about because it is super gross and I literally will throw up (I'm not even kidding).

TWO. I must wear socks to bed. I simply cannot fall asleep if I'm barefoot. I know most people are the opposite, but it weirds me out to even think of sleeping without socks, you freaks! I feel like someone is going to reach up from under the bed and touch my foot or something. Probably because when I was a kid my Mom hid under my bed once at least 3 times to scare the crap out of me. Thank you Mom.

Yup this was pretty much my mom, minus the clown disguise

THREE. I’m super awkward at small talk. Like, I can't shut up and just let the awkwardness of a situation wash over us, I have to fill it up with words, usually super strange ones or with unnecessary detail.

       Example #1: My first day of work, a secretary asked me if I wanted coffee. Well, I didn't want to tell her that if I drink coffee in the morning it upsets my stomach (at least I didn't say that), so instead of just saying "No thank you" like a normal human being, I stuttered, "Umm, no, I usually just drink… water." WHAT? That is not even true, I don't even know why I would say that. She just stared at me and was like "alriiight."

       Example #2: Family friend walks up to me at church: "Hey Jess, congrats on passing the bar. Super exciting!" Me: "Thanks!... *Silence*...I am so happy and super excited about it. I got my application for the bar the day after I found I passed the bar exam so sent it in my application 2 days after that and I had to get it notarized and signed by an attorney who motions for my admission and pay $100 more on top of everything else they made us pay but I already got my bar card back and it's super flimsy and you'd think it'd be a little more substantial right but oh well I don't think they expect it to last long because it expires in July and then they will mail me a new one and...." *Blank Stare* Him: "Yes, interesting, oh look church is starting..." Blahh why can't I just STOP TALKING!

FOUR. I get embarrassed if I go to the mailbox and there’s no mail in it. Like I look around and hope no one is watching and judging me for being an unpopular loser who gets no mail. 

FIVE. I am a compulsive list maker, and I rewrite them multiple times a day, even if only one thing got crossed off. 

SIX. I wear my retainer at least 3-4 nights a week. I do NOT need my gap teeth coming back that I sported until I finally lost all my baby teeth and got braces from 8th-10th grade. I know it wants to come back and it tries hard so I will wear my retainer until im 85 if I have to!

Man, I sound super fun, want to sit with me? haha please tell me some strange facts about you so I don't feel like the only weirdo in blogland!