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. 

Classroom Craft: Cork Board

Classroom Craft Two: Nifty Cork Board

Materials:

Plain Cork Board, Ribbon (I found 3 I loved!), Paint, Masking Tape, Exacto Knife

Step One:

Tape off the edge around the cork board, use the exacto knife to make sharp edges.

Step Two:

Now the fun part!! Tape the entire cork board with the masking tape. You can leave the edges rough until the end and cut them all at the same time with the exacto knife.

Step Three:

Now this is really the fun part... all sarcasm aside! Since I love MATH and NUMBERS (...and this is going in my classroom...) I decided to sketch the numbers 0-9 on the board in different fonts and sizes, but the great thing about this is that you can do anything! You can sketch your name, flowers, sailboats... whatever your heart desires!

Step Four:

After drawing your design take the exacto knife and cut out each shape. I wanted to leave the numbers as the natural cork color so I removed the tape around them, but you can easily do it the opposite way!

Step Five:

Now paint whatever you want! I went for a blueish-yellow look, but you could do polka dots, rainbow, or anything!

Step Five:

Now the most amazing part is when you peel away the tape and you see your finished masterpiece! I was so amazed by how it looked!

Step Six:

Know you must add bows and ribbons! I screwed in two round hooks to the top so that I could tie the ribbon and bows, but you could easily use hot glue!

I hope you have fun trying this craft, or if you want me to make you one I would love too... I am trying to figure out where I could put another cork board!! :)

Classroom Craft: Fabric Pennants

Hello All!! So I have been in a super crafty mood and I have made two special classroom crafts and I can not wait to show them both to you! So... to begin grab you your favorite drink... (mine is Pepsi Max!!) .... haha

Classroom Craft One: Fabric Pennants

Materials:

Iron, Multiple Fabrics, Scissors, Ribbon, Heat'n Bond, One Piece of Paper

Step 1:

Cut 8.5 by 11 piece of paper in half, then fold the half in half... haha.

Take the half that you just folded and cut out an isosceles triangle. (It doesn't have to be perfect, because you want even notice in the end... trust me!)

Step Two:

Iron fabric... yes I know this sounds boring, but it will only take you a second! :)

Step Three:

Do some estimations to figure out how many pennants you should make of each color... I rounded so I had some extra pennants left over!

Step Four:

Take your fresh made pattern and trace out 11 times on each piece of fabric.

Step Five:

After you have cut out all 55 pennants line them up in the order you would like them for your cute little banner! :)

Step Six:

Take ribbon and Heat'n Bond and iron. Suggestion: The widths of my ribbon and Heat'n Bond were exactly the same; if I did this again I would make sure the Heat'n Bond was a tad bit smaller.

Step Seven:

Lay pennants out on your ironing board and iron away... yes this may take a little while!

Step Eight:

Since my ribbon was wide I decided to fold the ribbon over to make sure the pennants would not fall off! This definitely took some extra time but I think it is worth it! :)

Step Nine:

And here is the finished product! It looks much cuter in my classroom, so I will definitely post those pictures soon! :)

Have fun crafting! :)

New Horizons...

WOW! I have so much to tell you! Since my last blog my life has taken some insane turns that I am excited about sharing.

As I began the month of July I was so stressed out with everything going on in my life: graduate school, calligraphy, and AIG certification.... AIG really was the most stressful because I was going to have to teach two groups of elementary students about sea turtles by the third week in July!!! I had so much to make before the camp and I was so overwhelmed by teaching ELEMENTARY kids... yes I knew I could do it, but really... I teach HIGH SCHOOL! As the week began I was on a natural high because things were going wonderful! The students and I were really connecting and diving deeper into how we could protect these amazing creatures. Throughout the week I began to realize what I was missing in my current teaching position.. EXCITEMENT! I was so intrigued with these students want for learning and their excitement for everything that I brought to the table everyday! Though at my school I would find excitement in select classes and students, but everyday it was such a grind to pull that out of my students.

So at the end of AIG camp I was told about an AIG position that was open in Pitt County and I was strongly encouraged to think about it... WOW what a big decision. Everything in my entire life has been planned... to a tee and much thought has gone into every movement, but this was such a BIG and QUICK decision that had to be made. After many phone calls to very trusted family and friends I decided to apply for the position. Long story short... I interviewed on Monday and received the job on Monday. I was amazed at how much courage it took me and very proud of myself, but also sad of what I was leaving behind. I loved my previous school and my coworkers so all of the phone calls were so difficult, but in the end I felt as if they were proud of me for taking this next step into a career that I hopefully will love.

In the end I am very happy about the path that I have set up before me and I so excited about seeing my new classroom on Monday! I will definitely post pictures soon!

Europe Trip!

So yes there were hundreds of pictures taken... (all on Facebook) but I decided to compile my favorite moments into a video... I hope you enjoy it! PS I will get back to blogging soon... Grad school and Twisty Twig are taking up a ton of time right now!

Europe from Jessica Jennings on Vimeo.

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

Savannah Project Complete

This past summer my cousin, Tracy and I traveled from Harker's Island, NC to Savannah, GA with a small pit stop in Charleston, SC and I must say that it was absolutely one of the best southern road-trips ever! Once arriving in Savannah we had the idea of having a scavenger hunt to find the letters of our name in the city signs! It was so much fun!

Well... here I am almost a year since the trip finally completing my name project from Savannah. I surprised Tracy with her name this Christmas (it was so easy to find a five picture frame, but seven was such an adventure)! I finally ran across this picture frame while in TJ Max this past weekend and I was SO excited!

I must say that my favorite letter is the "J" which was the arm of a park bench turn sideways. The "I" is also very cute too and was found in a park in Savannah! I must say that everyone should try this on their future trip to a city because it brings back so many memories!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

John 11: 25-26

PS... Easter is my 24th birthday!! So super excited about the wonderful holiday and being with my family!

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 ;-)

Twisty Twig...

Twisty Twig was busy today since it was rainy! I know someone out there needs something addressed for an event... I need a practice event for free... Will you be the one?!

I think this was my favorite from today's playing... of course there is more so head to Twisty Twig!

Two Little Birds

Meredith (my friend and fellow carpooler!) and I were on the way home on Friday and normally we would be heading to River Park North for a run which we are trying to make a habit... but with my hurt ankle we were mourning our non-running afternoon.. haha! ;) We then sparked a conversation about painting and decided we wanted to paint since running was not an option... darn!

So here is what I came up with:

I was so excited about how the piece turned out and how it fit in with my picture wall perfectly! I absolutely love painting and being creative and I wish my teaching career could sometimes lend itself more to both of those. Math is very difficult when pressed with EOCs and others who look down on you when your students are actually "having fun" in math class. I am hoping that upon completing my AIG licensure I can begin my career in something I am very passionate about and use my creativity there... ohh one day!

So I have a tip for the day... go be creative and if you have kids offer them every creative possibility that you can!

Tagxedo

I must! I must show you this amazing site.... Tagxedo!

You can create word clouds, like this...
All you have to do is go to the site and choose "create" at the top! What I did was choose load on the sidebar and I typed in my Beautiful Adventure website link and voila... my words popped up in a cloud! You can choose any shape that you want which is even more amazing. When you first start on the website you see an example using Abraham Lincoln! I hope you have fun playing with this!

Bonjour Paris!

WOW two post in one night!! Exciting NEWS! The girls of the 2011 European Adventure will be taking a day trip to Paris!! I had to update my journal and of course I have to share it with you! ;-)

Before (no Paris) :

After (Paris has been added!) :

I am so excited!! I can't wait to share more with you after I return!

Au Revoir!

Craft like you mean it

I have recently wanted to craft in every way, shape and form recently! Last night I worked on some calligraphy and I am becoming better and better as time passes on. I hope one day I will be able to address envelopes for someone other than myself... (hint, hint, wink, wink)...! Hopefully I will find that one willing person... :)

I have also found my future craft purchase.... wait for it... drum roll please....

A MINI Sewing Machine!!

Perfectly, perfect for my tiny apartment!

My plan of adventures follows quickly after I purchase that sweet little machine...

1. A travel wallet for my Europe trip that will hold a credit card, passport, and plane tickets!

2. The most amazing ruffled scarf on the planet...

I can't wait to post pictures of these future sewing adventures so keep checking back... or follow me... that would be much more exciting I might add! :)

Happy Crafting!

O, Raleigh-Durham Airport

Today Stephanie and I embarked on a new adventure to New York City... alone... (that is when bad things happen to us, we have decided.) So here is the story... be prepared for stupidity of the "monkey man," (reason: we don't know his name and we don't like him either...)

So today we were very good travelers and arrived at the airport early before our "first" departure time of 10:10. We quickly made ourselves comfortable and were prepared to wait for about 45 minutes, then the "monkey man" asked for fifteen volunteers to take a flight into LaGuardia instead of JFK, so we begin to debate. We then decided that it probably didn't matter what airport we flew into so Stephanie went to talk to the "man." After telling her that the new flight would leave 30 minutes later he then proceeded to tell us we didn't have an option and he was already switching our flights.... so ugh....

Finally, it was time for our original flight to board and we started to notice that only three people switched flights (like we did) and everyone (including two standbys) was getting on the plane! So to summarize this the "monkey man" really messed up all of our plans and Steph ended up getting a compensation for two free flights in the future. With all this you would easily think we headed to New York shortly after... sadly no... the flight that we were put on then had a delay until 2:05, but we really did not take off until about 3:45 and sat in the plane on the runway from 1:30 till take off....

great ending - we are finally in NYC and received a complimentary room upgrade at our hotel... we quickly thanked Jesus!

I hope everyone had a much less eventful day than we did!

P.S. To make the ending of our day more crazy there was a man in his apartment across from our room that just walked across his apartment with a towel on and drank milk from the carton... oh typical New York... (he was not very attractive by the way...) haha

Sweet Adventures

Hello all! I have been pretty slack in my posting recently, but if you haven't noticed I did revamp my page! Don't you just love that subtle blue/gray?

As for the reason for the post: I do not have one... maybe I will tell you about my future European Adventure...

On June 11, 2011 I will leave the comforts of my precious Greenville apartment to head to London, England with some of the favorite people in my life: Mom, Tracy, and Aunt Jackie...

Below is a picture of them plus my Great Aunt Faye and Grandma. I truly love each of these ladies and I am so blessed.

This trip is going to be a blast and I recently bought a journal to document the journey! Thanks to Anthropologie for providing such cute things!

I have already started the journal because I couldn't resist the blank pages... you know me! I decided to map our journey so that I can follow where we are heading along the trip! I was very pleased with how it came out! Jonathan thought the loop in the plane trip was a little scary... I promised him we wouldn't end up in the ocean!

I can not wait to tell you all about it when I come back! I will provide tons of pictures!

On another sad note since my last post my Papa passed away. It has been very difficult dealing with my first loss of a grandparent, but I know that he is safe and much more comfortable. I will admit that you never know how much you will miss someone until they are gone. Each time I was able to talk to him and spend time with him I never took it for granted and that has helped a lot. With his passing a lot of great pictures are coming out of the boxes and I would love to share a few with you in memory of my Papa.

Mama and Papa.. what an amazing photograph.

Papa and my dad. How cute. It has also been talked about how much my dad looks like him. It is truly amazing.

I absolutely love this photograph. To be honest these pictures are so close to my heart. I can not wait to display them one day at my wedding; I secretly love when brides share the love that brought them where they are now.

It is now time for me to go work on graduate school work and quit blogging. (I wish I could blog for days, but graduate school takes up so much time!)

Have a sweet day.

Twisty Twig Calligraphy

...In love with calligraphy recently. So in love that I already created a name... Twisty Twig Calligraphy... I am so excited about practicing more and more! I am up for free practice projects if anyone needs any invitations addressed!

Happy Writing!