Bridal Shower Bliss

On Sunday, January 20, 2013, Jonathan and I had the most amazing Bridal Shower day! We enjoyed being able to hug some necks for the people that we care about so much and the day was simply beautiful. My family did such a great job of putting everything together and it was so sweet.

Dad and I getting ready for everyone!

Super excited to see all our family and friends!

My wonderful Mother who deserves a million thank you's.

My girls! These girls mean so much to me and it made my day to see them!

Jonathan and I were so excited about all of the wonderful gifts we received! We are so blessed. Loading the car was an adventure, but Jonathan and his Dad made it happen! It took us about 5 hours to unpack everything once we made it to Buxton. The kitties thought it was Christmas again and were flying through all the boxes and tissue paper - haha! We have even had fun using some of our items already - here are tonights adventures....

Dinner: Lasagna

Lasagna for dinner with our new lasagna dish, frying pan, and wooden spoon!

Dessert: Trisha Yearwood's Lemon Meringue Pie

Now... dessert... cute grinder to grind graham crackers for the pie crust!

Precious measuring cups to measure out sugar!

I have never been able to zest a lemon!! It was so much fun - I wanted to keep zest-ing and zest-ing! Haha

Sugar bowl in the background and another precious measuring cup! Are they not cute?!

Final result - ah-mazing lemon pie on one of our beautiful pieces of china!

As you can tell - I really had fun in the kitchen tonight and I am thankful to everyone that have filled our home with love! It is so wonderful to think of each person as we pull out an item. God has definitely blessed us!

Have a wonderful Saturday evening, y'all!

Engagement Parties

This past July my parents arranged a beautiful Engagement Party for us that was so wonderful! One of the main ideas that we have had with the wedding events is to make sure that everything flows together, so we decided that our centerpieces and arrangements had to display that shabby chic feel that we envisioned at the wedding. We had such a great afternoon and truly loved seeing everyone together in one place!

 Some of my wonderful family enjoying each others company!

 The appetizers! I absolutely love this Pepsi crate! I found this in the little town of Bunn, NC at a old antique store.

 Haha--we were a little sweaty! It was very toasty that afternoon!

Some of my bridesmaids all together!

 Most of our bridal party! :)

Mom and I ordered lots of flowers from the wonderful Chelsea Barrow at Greene County Florist!

Not only did we have a great family day with this engagement party, one of Jonathan's groomsmen wanted to throw us a little get together also that was a little more casual... so we had a pool party! Here are some pictures from that event...

Dad, Mom, and I at engagement party #2!

I was so happy Beth could make it!

We loved having everyone together again!

Of course I was on the hit list to get thrown in... haha!

Sweet Kathryn could make it and I was so excited! :)

To finish this up, we are so thankful for everyone that celebrated our engagement with us. Jonathan and I are so happy and we are looking forward to the big day! Can't wait!

The Little Details

This weekend has been a blast and I am loving all the little details of our wedding that are coming together. Every little piece is making me so anxious to see it all as a big picture on the wedding day. Last weekend I received a call that my wedding dress was in! I was so shocked that it had come in so quickly, so this Saturday I decided that I was going to take the trip to Raleigh to pick up my wedding dress and go to one of my favorite places... the Flea Market! Also... of course any trip to Raleigh has to include one of my very best friends, Angel. So, I called Angel up and we set a date!

I was so excited that Angel was able to go with me to the Flea Market! We had such a wonderful time!

Along with finding some awesome blue mason jars, we ran across these wonderfully hand made frames.

The whole idea behind our wedding is romantic, sweet, and simple. To me all three of those can easily be found in a shabby chic way. I have a little project up my sleeve that will include this frame and I will share it with you soon!

Finally... the main event on the trip was to pick up my wedding dress! I have already put it on twice just for fun since it has been in my possession! I love it and I can't stop admiring it. I absolutely can not wait to see Jonathan's face when he sees me at the end of the aisle.

To close my wonderful weekend, Jonathan and I also ran some errands today. A big part of our relationship is corn-hole... haha (I know so random!) Basically the deal is is that I really stink at it, but Jonathan is really good... so to be honest we don't make that great of a team, but it is something that we love... (I think he likes it when I step away from the game and let him play with someone else... haha!) so with that we have decided to include it into our wedding day. Yes, we will have corn-hole at our wedding and we couldn't be happier!  We are also going to use the boards at our engagement party, so today we went and picked up some unfinished boards that we can paint---post coming soon! Along with our corn-hole trip we also went to start our first registry... and WOW can I just tell you what a work-out it was...

I was so excited about the little "gun" thingy... haha! The lady at Bed, Bath, and Beyond thought I was crazy... but who doesn't?

Finally, as adventures on the wedding side of my life have been beginning to happen God has opened my eyes to many new thoughts about how we should live each day. I have learned a few lessons these past couple of months and I would love to share these lessons with you through my favorite Bible verses, Psalm 139... it sums up my every thought perfectly.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men.
 For they speak against You wickedly;
Your enemies take Your name in vain.
 Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
 I hate them with perfect hatred;
I count them my enemies.

 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.

I pray that your week is wonderful and that God will work in your life each and every day.

On a Wedding Veil Hunt

Twenty-nine.. yes 29 years ago my parents said their "I Dos."

Tonight... Momma and I went to my Grandma's house on the search for her old wedding dress and veil. The other day while we were at Grandma's house for the traditional Sunday night dinner I thought about how cool it would be to wear my Momma's veil.... so tonight we took a journey into my grandparents attic... scary. Haha.

We were just a little nervous to head up there... but it had to be done!

Let's just say that this was not going to be an easy find...

Not only were there lots and lots of stuff up in the attic, it was actually slightly scary haha... my mind started to wonder because it was dark and dusty and just plain scary... We finally were feeling as if we would never find the dress and we knew Grandma knew right where it was, but she wasn't home yet... So while we were waiting for Grandma we started rummaging through some of Momma's old things... and look what I found

How awesome.. what great doodling. Too cute! This was Momma's notebook from when she was at ECU for graduated school.

One of her old college notebooks.. fun!

Finally.. Grandma finally walked in the door and as soon as we could get the words out of our mouths she was already pointing to the exact location of the wedding box.. haha

So here is what we found.. be prepared.. we are going back a few years.

We found it! We found it.

 Once we opened the box the memories flooded the room and Momma had actually forgotten that her veil had a cap on it.. haha way old fashioned for today. We were actually surprised though that it had not yellowed as much as we thought it would have. Momma and I are going to try our handy-crafty work at it to make it more up to date and a little whiter. I truly hope that it works because I would love to wear it on my wedding day minus the cap. :)

Now on another note... the wedding dress was in the box. Haha. So everyone (Grandma, Aunt Faye, and Momma) convinced me to put it on. Can I just tell you I felt like I was back in the Titanic times.. it was hilarious, but it was awesome because it fit perfectly.. maybe a little short in the sleeves and the length... ok so I will just let you laugh for a bit...

Momma's wedding dress.. It had been in the box for 29 years!

The dress had yellowed really bad and had some stain issues, but it was actually really cool to put it on. I can tell you though that I will not be wearing this.. haha, but it was fun.


I really hope that we can get the veil to be perfect so say some prayers!


Have a great weekend!

Before-After Pic

Weight Loss Story...

hello

(...imagine me presenting you with a box of cookies as I tell you I am sorry and plead my love to you...)

I have been horrible with blogging since school started and graduate school and I am sort of depressed when I look over my blog. When summer time is around I am so on it... but school starts and boom... I quit. Once again I am sorry.

Well, a lot has changed since the last blog entry... here's my story... 30 pounds lighter.

Forewarning: The rest of this post may inspire you and may be life-changing… I sure hope it is. Also my plan here is to be completely honest and open, so be prepared.

On April 28, 2011, I made the decision to change my life. It was truly a, “this sounds interesting, let me try it,” idea. Okay… so what I am talking about is changing my food lifestyle. No I do not mean a diet… a lifestyle change… seriously. Lifestyle because I have no plans to go back to the previous way of eating.

I had read many blogs about counting calories and to be honest I never thought it would work. I was one of those overweight people who thought I was just made that way. Personally, if we are all being honest here I really just didn’t want to think about weight loss… I enjoyed talking about how skinny people couldn’t eat that amazing chocolate fudge brownie with ice cream and I also loved the statement, “fat people are happy people…” COME ON… Really? I continued to tell myself this because it made my weight okay, but honestly it wasn’t. Outwardly I would seem happy, but in front of the mirror, I would be disgusted in the flab that was all over me. I also hated summer time clothes because I would be expected to bare more skin, where in the winter I felt that I could “hide” it. Last summer I decided I needed to purchase a tankini because I would never have that “body” again, but seriously I was 23… and in a tankini?! I realized that I was making every excuse possible to not change myself and it was getting me nowhere in my self-confidence and this had to change.

So the first step was actually to decide that this was going to be my plan. I found an app on my phone that allowed me to count calories and they also had a website too! Myfitnesspal.com has been the source of all success along with determination. I typed my current weight in, which was actually a guess because I didn’t own a scale. I loved to tell people that I based my weight off of how my pants felt… yeah right that really didn’t motivate me in the morning; to be honest I would blame it on the dryer. So off I went to buy a scale… my first one in 24 years! I decided to wait until the next morning to weigh at my “skinniest” moment… yeah right, I felt like a whale when I looked down at the number… 166 pounds. OH MY… 34 more pounds and I would be 200 pounds. This is definitely not true! This was definitely more motivation than any tight pant could give me… and no wonder they felt so snug!

After the wonderful horrible scale experience I knew I had to do something. I was thinking that counting my calories would be easier than any thing else I could do, because I could eat regular food as long as I paid attention to serving sizes and many restaurants post their calories online. Also I had considered Weight Watchers, but I am a poor teacher and I was not about to pay for weight loss… really?!

Throughout the first week I was realizing how easy this was for me, but it also brought forth some nutritional facts on some of my favorite things, so I had to change my lifestyle. I am pure southern and I love my sweet tea. I would take a sweet tea and Pepsi any day, any hour, but this meant TONS of calories. As I was researching calories I found that there are 100+ calories in 8 ounces of sweet tea and that is about half the size of a regular restaurant glass! WOW! At dinner I am sure I could sometimes drink up to four glasses if I had a great waitress… 800 calories, just for a drink! Of course sweet tea was the first change, but I couldn’t get rid of it, I just had to change it, so I now order unsweet tea and I sweeten it with artificial sweetener. Yes… I know it does not taste exactly the same, but I like the idea of looking in the mirror and actually being happy for once. After the realization of my favorite drink choices I then began to tackle my favorite food choices. I am a girl that craves… I crave chocolate, frozen yogurt, tea, Pepsi, and Bojangles. I had to learn to control my cravings and yes... satisfy them immediately. I found that if I waited to fulfill cravings then they would be ten times stronger in the end.. so I always carefully satisfy my cravings.

Not only did I decide to change my eating lifestyle I also decided to change my fitness lifestyle too. On October 8, 2011 I ran a complete 5k in 33 minutes with one of my best friends, Meredith. When we started running in May neither one of us could run a complete minute without being out of breath.

I am happy to say today that I have lost 30 pounds and I only have 6 more to lose. I started at a size 12 and I am now in a size 4. I am so proud of myself and amazed at how much motivation came out of someone who would make so many excuses and always had "one-day" diets. My God, family, and friends have been a truly wonderful support system and I love them all more than anything.

I hope that you find my story motivating and inspiring because honestly if I can do this anyone can. 

Baby Love

When I was growing up and still to this day my mommy has always called me "baby love." I have always found it so sweet and loved the sound of it every time I heard it. In about an hour (it is currently 12:00a) I will turn another year older. (24 to be exact.) Yes, I know that this isn't "old" by any means, but this number has brought so many memories to the surface and has made me have a nostalgic look on my past.

As I was growing up as a little girl I was surrounded by people who loved me. I was the center of the attention most of the time because I was the baby of the family. I still enjoy watching home videos of my cousin John (basically my brother because I was an only child) pull me around in a cardboard box and my head would experience whip lash with each pull. The family still laughs about this memory and we all swear that is why I am slightly out of whack... haha.

Throughout this entire week leading up to my birthday I have thought about different memories and they are always filled with my amazing, fantastic, best in the world parents. Yes, I know most everyone thinks their parents are the best, but in my humble opinion mine have yours beat. ;) Life with them has made me the person I am today and I am so thankful for them ten times over. Tonight as we were sitting on the patio together before dinner I had an overwhelming feeling of how blessed I am and I wouldn't trade it for the world. So to my mommy and daddy, thank you. God blessed me with the best family and I am so happy to call you mine. I love you.

To finish the lovey dovey moments I can never finish this post without talking about my sweet Jonathan. Two years ago I met Jonathan in a bar. Haha, will that not be a great story to tell our kids... it actually goes like this:

My friend Ashton and I were heading up to Raleigh to do some shopping and on our way up we were having the normal girl discussions (boys, feelings, clothes, etc...). Well, when we began the discussion of boys I mentioned how I really wasn't looking for anyone and I was going to basically let the next one fall in my lap because I was done trying... two seconds later Ashton is chiming in about all the guys in her recreation classes and there was this one guy, Jon, who would be "perfect." Hahaha little did I know. A week or so passes and I have completely forgotten about this "perfect" guy and Ashton calls me about how she has talked to him about me and he wouldn't mind meeting up! Wow... didn't expect for that conversation in the car to Raleigh would go this far. So my birthday was coming up and I hate blind dates so I told her to tell him that we were all meeting up at Lucky's downtown and he should just come, that way if it was awkward we both had an escape route and were not stuck at dinner. Well, we ending up talking a little and I spilled water on him... haha. To make my rambling short... he then called me the next day and we had a couple of dates and decided to start a relationship on April 30th. He shortly left for TN, but I still fell head over heels (with every 8 hour drive up there...) and I have never been happier.

So you see my birthday now has so many more added memories and it makes life so much sweeter. I am very thankful for the past 24 years and can not wait for the next. Whoa.. I will be 48 then... wonder where I will be then. (I have a few ideas, but we will let life take me there!) Hopefully someone will have created a miracle drug to get rid of wrinkles and make chocolate the weight-loss food... oh 2035.

Finally, tomorrow is Easter! I hope that each of you remember what great gifts your Savior has given you.

When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.
Luke 24:23

Let's Go Canes!

One feature of my relationship with Jonathan that is very special to me is hockey. Yes, I know this sounds silly and random for a girly, girl like me, but I never in my entire life found it any bit interesting. I never understood it and I didn't know anyone who actually really liked it... that is until I met Jonathan. After about a month of dating Jonathan asked me to go with him to a Hurricane's hockey game (Jonathan wanted me to add in this tidbit... "it was a playoff game by the way..." haha) and I was really not interested, but I wanted to go to be with him... with that being said I now love a hockey game (especially the CANES!) and the craziness that comes along with it! I still do not know where these players get all that aggression from!

Connie keeps us laughing! She always comes up with the best sayings! Hurricanes vs. Buffalo = "Let's Cook Buffalo!" and previous sayings... East Carolina vs. Arkansas = "H1N1!" hahaha!

Connie and I!

Jonathan and his dad!

Our "buffalo wings!"

Hockey = Super Aggressive People! Haha, but it makes great entertainment!

Who I Am

(found this on Dream Book Designs Blog... which is awesome by the way)

I am... slightly nervous about what the future holds,

but I can't wait to see what it is.

I want... for the sun to shine and lay out on the pier

at Harker's Island (of course today is a rainy cold day).

I have... a wonderful family and boyfriend that

I love dearly and I am so thankful for.

I wish... that high school students would not take

anything for granted; they are so blessed!

I hate... when my neighbors are loud...

haha which is very often!

I fear... that my life will not be everything I wish it to be.

I hear... a kitties purr. :)

I search... for what I am passionate for daily.

I haven't quite found my calling yet.

I wonder... if Jesus ever looks down on us and laughs.

(He really has to have a sense of humor!)

I regret... past relationships that had negative effects on who I really was.

I love... so many things... Springtime, Family, Jesus,

Flowers, and Anything Vintage! (There is much more!)

I ache... when I see others not having passion for people in need.

I always... enjoy a good book!

I usually... hit the snooze button 3 times every morning.. haha!

I am not... interested in jeggings... haha!

I dance... full out when I am alone and bored.

I sing... in the car when I am in a good mood! I am sure the

people next to my car are worried about me.

I never... understood Calculus 3 because my

teacher was Russian... ahh so random.

I sometimes... wonder why some people stress

out so much over little things.

I cry... atleast every other week... I am slightly

emotional (ask Jonathan... haha)

I am not always... focused (doodling helps me while in meetings)

I lose... my car keys all the time.

I am confused... with our state budget and our Governor...

I need... a real house where I can paint the walls and call it mine.

I should... enjoy the present, but still dream of the future ;-)

Fatty Moments

Currently life is ordinary, but I am in love with it.

I am amazed by my students and how I apparently "enlighten" them on a daily basis. The other day I was asked, "how in the world are you always so happy?" I immediately responded with how life is a gift and I cherish each moment I can have in this world! I quickly tell them... yes I do have my down days, but there is no need to make you feel bad because of them! I wish most of the world could feel that way!

Tonight I had a fatty-fat-fat-fat moment... I had a craving for "School Cookies," sometimes referred to as no-bake or boiled cookies, but whatever you call them they are filled with chocolaty goodness... but there is a story... and note to self--no-one can cook them better than the momma, Karla, who is also the only person in the world to cook perfect Macaroni and Cheese..

So I began my journey to make these wonderful cookies (recipe will follow after story)! I took out all the ingredients.. which I had thought I had bought at the grocery store the other day, but come to find out I was out of milk :( sooo I suppose God decided I didn't need these cookies, but I did.. I then traveled to Sheetz to buy milk.

As I return home with my milk I begin the cookie making journey... yes journey

These cookies are very TIME sensitive and you have to make them happy! Well I always become very worried that I am going to cook them toooo long or tooo short (my mom gave me this recipe and I never listen to the time on the recipe, but it is actually perfect.. go figure) so I am nervous during this whole process. Since I was so nervous I forgot the butter! THE BUTTER! Paula would kill me! So these cookies were awful. So I trashed them!

Next..... here comes the second batch, which turned out wonderfully and delicious.. (hence mom always knows best on cooking durations)

Jessica's Mom's Delicious Fatty-Fat-Fat-Fat Cookies

a.k.a School Cookies

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

4 tbsp. cocoa powder

1/4 lb. butter

2 tsp. vanilla extract

spoon full of peanut butter

2 cups quick oats

Mix the sugar, milk, cocoa powder, and butter together. Bring to a boil. Let boil for 3 minutes. Take off heat and mix in everything else. Drop spoonfuls of gooey chocolaty-ness onto wax paper. Then EAT in the joy of an empty house with no one to make you feel bad about eating 6 at one time! :)

you must try this at home.

Too Long...

It's been way to long my dears....

I must admit that I have been awful with my blog ever since I started grad school and becoming the cheerleading coach at my school. I am amazed at what craziness I can get myself into.. below are some aspects of my life currently...

Spending Time with Jonathan

Why yes.. I did have to mention that "person." As Jonathan and I spend more and more time together I know we were meant for each other. God definitely had a plan when he helped us find each other. I am so thankful. This past weekend I found myself blissfully happy as I sat on the beach and read while Jonathan was fishing away. Apparently though I am bad luck, because he never catches anything when I am with him... haha. I hope he still enjoys me sitting with him though.. I am sure he does ;)

Graduate School... the journey to a MAed in Math Education and an AIG licensure..

WOW... this is really a difficult journey, but I am making it happen. Oh Summer of 2012 can not come fast enough!!!!! I am learning so much but it is so difficult when so many other things are going on. I am so excited though because I did make an A in Advanced Calculus. Trust me.. I have no idea how in the world I pulled that out!! The professor made it difficult because his way of grading was to compare our score to others and then sort of "rate" you... yes I know CrAzY! Other than all that I am making do...

Cheerleading... rah.rah.ree. kick em' in the knee.

I know you are probably thinking...

Cheerleading = DRAMA... but I am happy to say that it has actually not been that bad and instead of the girls bringing drama.. it has been any outside source possible. I think God is testing me on this one. It seems like I can not go a day without someone having an issue with a form we fill out or something to do with this and that. I am glad to say that the 14 girls make it worth it. They are so amazing in every way and I am so happy to be apart of their lives. I hope I will make an impact on them... hope.

School- yes, the reason why I created this blog a year ago.. Yahoo a year?!

I went into my lonely, deserted classroom today to show it how much I love it and I wanted to become so sucked in in perfecting each piece. I know I am too much a go-getter when it comes to my classroom decor and feel. I went to school at 10:00 planning to only stay 30 min, well I spent about 20 of those minutes catching up with some definitely missed teacher friends and then 10 min to fix my desk where I wanted it... yes that's all I got done :( Along with school starting I also have some great news!! I was chosen by the County Office to speak to the new teachers in the county! I am so excited and I feel so privileged! I hope this means I am doing something right...

I am one of those weird people who find non-exciting things like starting back to school exciting. I can't wait to meet my classes and teach them some awesome math that makes me tickled with joy! I love it so much and I hope I can help them to appreciate it a lil' bit!

Well happy August!