The Story

Hello! Lot's have changed since I last blogged... and I am sure many of you already know, but some of you may not know the entire story...

so.... the news.... Jonathan and I are engaged! Wow to be honest I really never thought I would say that.

Well this is how it happened and I am sorry if this is way too long, but you know me... I have to give all the details...

A few months ago Jonathan's mom wanted us all to go on a trip to the mountains just to get away and be together, so after a few decisions on different places and rental houses were made we finally all decided to go to the "Tree House" in Gatlinburg, TN. We left early Friday morning because we wanted to make the most of our time there. To be honest in my little brain I had thought... how wonderful it would be if Jonathan popped the question on this trip... but then like always I quickly negated the whole idea.

Once we made it to Tennessee on Friday we did some of those crazy tourist things while in Gatlinburg and then Jonathan and I were dying to go to our favorite eatery, The Smoky Mountain Brewery... well let's just say it was amazing and we savored every bite of our favorite pizza! That night we made a stop at the grocery store to pick up some foodies for the next few days and once we got back to the house it was a pretty lazy evening.

The next day Jonathan and I decided to go on a hike up to Gregory's Bald. The bald overlooks Cade's Cove, which is where Jonathan and I really started our relationship and got to know each other when he worked there the first summer we were together. Looking back on those days I knew there was something special in our relationship, but little did I know what wonderful things it would lead to.

Beautiful Cade's Cove

View from top of Gregory's Bald and you can see Cade's Cove on the left.

Okay, back to the story. So we began the hike with much confidence... we had all intentions to rock that hike without a single huff... but let's say as it began to incline there were many, many breaks along the way. As we finally reached the top of the bald I was amazed at the view and how beautiful it was... and of course I thought... come on Jonathan this is the perfect spot to whip out a ring... but then of course I threw out the idea.

Almost to the top... little did I know what was about to happen!

As Jonathan and I were resting at the top I began to ramble like I always do about how cool it would be to get married at the top... obviously that would be very difficult, but I was rambling... anyway time passed and eventually we decided that we needed to get started with the journey back down (it took us 3 hours to get up!) as I was heading to gather our things Jonathan grabbed my arm and said, "hold on a minute, I have to ask you something..." my heart stopped, he then said, "I know that we could never get married here, but I can ask you to marry me up here..." okay, now my heart had really stopped and I thought he was kidding until he started the journey down on one knee.. and then he asked that beautiful question, "will you marry me?" At that moment I just started crying... tears fell and fell and fell... I think I cried gallons because I was so happy. I finally said a tearful, joyful yes and we hugged for what felt like hours. God was definitely present in the entire moment and I think he stopped time for us just for a moment so we could savor it. It was magical and overwhelmingly perfect. I couldn't stop smiling or looking at my hand. After a while we then realized we had to head back down the mountain, before Jonathan's mom called out the search team.. haha (you see we had no cell phone service in the park... so we went four hours without telling a single soul...) To be honest those four hours were perfect in every way, but we were very anxious.

All smiles... :)

He did an amazing job... I absolutely love it!

Right where I was standing when he asked!

The rest of the evening was filled with smiles, laughter, phone calls, and many congratulations. Everyone we talked to was so happy for us and that only made the moment more precious. Jonathan and I really love our family and friends and their support made our night. I loved hearing Jonathan talk to his family... it was priceless...

Well there it is... all of it... of course I will keep adding updates and excitement as it happens!

Have a wonderful night!

Bella Get's Some Style

Most of you know that I have two precious, absolutely adorable cats named Francesca and Bellabee.

Even though they have the cutest little fuzzy faces their claws can destroy most of my furniture.... so with this comes my newest quickest crafty trick...

I have always thought that cat scratching post were super ugly... mainly the beige carpet that is wrapped around the base. So I decided to change it...

Materials
Basic Scratching Post (I found mine a PetSmart)
1/2 yd of your favorite fabric
Staple gun
..... and finally a good friend.....

Step 1: Admire very ugly scratching post and imagine some sort of possibilities!

Step 2: Turn scratching post upside down and unscrew the post from the carpet base.

Step 3: Cut out fabric to fit around base.

Step 4: So that the corners will not be bubbly cut diagonals into fabric.

Step 5: With the staple gun and a good friend pull the fabric tight and staple. Sorry I don't have any pictures of this because both Meredith and I were using all of our hands to pull the fabric super tight!

Step 6: Admire your cute little base and re-attach post!

Step 7: Find a cat that will love your cute scratching post! Also you can totally see that I used some of the fabric that I had left over from the chair reupholstery!

Hope you enjoy making your personalized scratching post!!

Happy crafting!

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.