April 2011

Any other hopeless romantics??

by Jessica on April 29, 2011

I’ll admit it: I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. this morning just so I could be up in time to see Kate Middleton get into the car with her father and head to Westminster Abbey at 5:51. I love how they detailed every minute leading up to the wedding- made it very easy for crazies like me (and the millions of others) to get up at the right moment! So, who else watched this morning and wished they were there? I love weddings, and I thought this one was so spectacular. I cannot image how she must have felt this morning when she woke up, knowing she was about to be watched by millions upon millions of people. I mean, I had to take a few Xanax with my wine the morning of my wedding, and there were only about 150 people there. I bet she had a very expensive glass of champagne before she set out, if nothing else!

The big question was about her dress, and I don’t know about you guys, but I thought it was gorgeous! It was so different from what I had imagined, but I thought she did a great job of mixing classic, modern, conservative and flattering to make her perfect dress. I loved the neckline, and I thought her veil was perfect. It was so sheer, so you could still see her face so well. She is seriously gorgeous, too, which doesn’t hurt! I thought she looked perfect, from hair to tiara to dress, everything.

I love that they broadcast the entire ceremony, too, which was amazing. There’s something about being able to pray along with all those people, even from an ocean away, that is so awesome. The architecture of that building is breathtaking. It would be very intimidating to have your wedding there!

And the kiss… cracked me up. I loved how there was all of this wondering about how long it would be, and it was like, half a second! LOL- at least they kissed a second time for everyone.

I was talking to Trevor about it, since he was at work and didn’t see any of it, and said that even though there’s a gazillion people watching them in this royal wedding, they’re still just a couple of young people in love with each other. I love that you could see them stealing glances at each other throughout the ceremony and smiling- so cool that they let us all be a part of their day.

Oh, hi, and did you see this cake?? Nice.

Anyway, that’s enough wedding chatter, but I am such a romantic and LOVE weddings, so I kind of had to talk about it with someone (or several someones) that actually care because my husband will only listen to so much talk about dresses and tiaras.

Have a “royally” great Friday! (sorry, couldn’t resist)

{ 12 comments }

Masterful? I hope!

by Jessica on April 28, 2011

After much contemplation, I am 99% sure that I am going back to school. Online. Because I don’t have the physical availability to go back to a traditional “on-campus” university with a full-time job and family. I have a bachelors degree in Public Relations from the University of South Carolina. Which works great, since I am currently a PR and Marketing Director. But. I’ve felt a stirring in my heart for some time now to move forward with a completely different calling. After much prayer and discussion with my husband, I am diving in.

I’m going to be getting my masters degree in Ministry or Divinity. !!!

I found an online program (accredited, of course) that would earn me a “Masters of Ministry” degree from Anderson University in SC. This is what I was originally planning on doing, and after talking about it with Trevor, he is actually going to do it, too! His current job involves a LOT of down time, so he’d be able to actually go back to school at work (pretty ideal), and if he gets the job he’s recently applied for as a firefighter (more on that later), he would be working 24 hours on and 48 hours off, so that would allow for his schooling to fit in perfectly, as well.

So, while I was planning on moving forward with that, full steam ahead, I researched more and now, I am contemplating just going all-in and getting my “Masters of Divinity.” I found another online program through Liberty University (if you know anything about either of these programs, let me know!) That is the standard degree for pastors and ministers. If I’m going to do it, I might as well really do it, right? I have a meeting with our pastor tentatively scheduled for next Friday so I can get his feedback, and I am waiting until after then to make my final decision on which way to go.

I am unsure of my end goal. I know I want as much knowledge as possible, though, and I know I want to be involved in women’s or family ministry in some way, shape or form. Please pray for Trevor and I as we enter this brand new phase of life! We need all the help we can get!

{ 6 comments }

Evolution of a Living Room

by Jessica on April 26, 2011

It’s funny to me how much spaces can change over time. When we first moved into our house, I had one decorating idea in mind, but now, I’m in a totally different phase. I wish I still had the pictures of how our house looked before we bought it, but somehow those got deleted and lost forever. (I will just tell you… it looks way better now!)

This is how our living room looked when we moved in about three and a half years ago:

Recently, I got sick of the red. We had already replaced the red couch with some more neutral brown couches, but I felt the need to cool things off a bit, so to speak. Of course, I decided this after I spent many an hour sewing my new, warm-colored curtains (doh!). Oh well. I saved them so that when I inevitably get sick of this new color scheme, I can go back, ha ha.

This is what it looks like now after a few changes like mounting the TV and changing up the colors (though, please ignore the super awesome digital antenna on my mantle… note to self: move that junk and turn off the TV before taking pictures of the living room! ). Obviously, Knox never misses a photo op!

This reminds me to put the Jumperoo in the attic! LOL. My new curtains are super expensive and made of linen. Just kidding, they’re actually $10 6×9 dropcloths from Lowe’s and Wal-Mart. I didn’t even sew them. I just folded over the excess fabric and used ring clips to attach them to my $5 Big Lots curtain rods. Because I’m thrifty (and lazy) like that.

And you guys have already seen my knock-off Pottery Barn tile art over the couch that I made utilizing art I already had, some spray paint and a good ole’ sanding block.

My fun, new palmetto tree art is from a local artist we call “The Chicken Man” (because he likes to paint chickens). I set him up with a free spot at our festival (for work) and he hooked me up with some pictures on the cheap (like $50 for three, cheap). I love that they’re all slightly different shapes and sizes.

My little wall collage (which isn’t actually crooked… I’m a super talented photographer) contains a lot of spray-painted items- I collected various frames and such, then painted them all the same shade of ivory. The largest frame on the right used to be black with a white mat- I bought some burlap at Hobby Lobby and covered the mat with it, then spray-painted the frame, put the burlap mat back in, and voila! A whole new look. Gotta love those quick, inexpensive projects!

The only thing I really have left to do is replace our little cabinet underneath the palmetto tree paintings with a Craigslisted dresser- we are in desperate need of more kitchen space, and since that’s not exactly something you can wrangle up, I am creating some storage for lesser-used pieces in the living room. I figured a dresser would work great for platters and such. I’ll show you guys once I do that- I’m thinking of painting it a fun turquoise or something equally cheery. We shall see! And I need to slipcover the ottoman. I’m avoiding that like the plague because I hate to sew with a passion.

I like how everything has turned out (even if it’s still not as pretty as my friend Lindsey’s decorating… she is my decor idol. LOL), and it feels so much lighter to me, now! Trevor is quite glad that I am “finished” for the time-being because he is sick of me redecorating all the time! I can’t help it, though, I get this compulsion to change things up and can’t ignore it. At least I drive him crazy on a budget!

{ 9 comments }

Our Easter Sunday

by Jessica on April 25, 2011

I hope all of you had as beautiful of an Easter Sunday as we did! It was definitely a busy day, but a great one. When Knox woke up EARLY (joy), we showed him his Easter basket.

M&D Nesting and Stacking Blocks, M&D Barn Balance, M&D Wooden Blocks, two cups, "That's Not My Teddy" book and some eggs filled with Earth's Best cookies.

No, the Easter Bunny didn’t spend $75 on a basket full of Melissa and Doug toys… I found a toy store going out of business last week and was thrilled to find that everything was about 40% off- including all the awesome M&D stuff (and the lone boyish “That’s Not My” book)! So exciting… it was a major deal! I may have to go back and stock up for Christmas, too! Of course, Knox had to test out his goodies right away.

The grass was his favorite part. Of course.

After his fun, we went to church for an amazing service, then we went to our Sunday school class, then Trevor’s parents’ house to celebrate his dad’s birthday (and Easter). We ate lunch, Knox refused to take a nap (it’s too much fun playing for napping, you know) and played with his Easter presents. He cracked us up by carrying around a bottle of Burt’s Bees lotion that his Mimi put in his basket- he loves lotion! LOL.

After visiting with Grandpa and Mimi, we made a quick pit stop by our house for nap time (not for us adults, unfortunately), and so I could whip up some macaroni and cheese as my contribution to dinner, then over to my mom’s house.

Testing out the tiny rocking chair... he thought it was so funny!

He soon decided that pushing the rocking chair was WAY more fun that sitting inside of it.

We had an Easter egg hunt first- this was Knox’s first experience with hunting eggs, so he was pretty confused on what we were doing. So, this is pretty much what happened:

Yep. I had to pick him up and kind of hover him over each egg so he'd pick them up. It was 90 degrees outside, so this got tiring pretty quickly!

So it soon became Daddy's turn!

I seriously wanted to cry that these came out blurry! He was cracking up and RUNNING towards me (hence the blur)- but I am sharing a few anyway!

And his Easter outfit?? I know. It kills me with its adorable-ness. His little initials are monogrammed on his leg, too.

Knox and my brother, "Uncle Austin." We all love Austin so much, but we don't get to see him as much as we used to since he's so busy with med school.

When we finished up with our outdoor fun, ~~we stuffed our faces until we felt sick~~ ate dinner. After dinner came the traditional water fight. Since I was little, my cousins and I have always had a huge water gun/ silly string war after Easter dinner. It was always one of the highlights of the day for us, and SO much fun… at least until the end when I ended up with entire cans of silly string entangled in my hair (thanks, Sean). Boys are very vindictive and always go RIGHT for the hair! I didn’t participate this year, but never fear, my very mature husband and brother took one for the team and joined in on the fun. [For the record, they always participate. And they always pair up. And they always end up dumping a bucket of ice water on a poor, unsuspecting cousin. It's pretty hilarious.]

Using his brains for evil, Austin figured out he could remove the tiny reservoir from the water gun and attach a 2-liter of ice water. Crafty.

Yes. That would be Trevor and my brother, using rafts as shields, and attacking the team of six others... outnumbered, but not outsmarted!

Of course, they end up throwing each other in the pool (which was FREEZING) and finish the day soaking wet and shivering. They have a blast doing it, and we have fun watching from inside and staying dry! I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture of my cousin’s baby, Addison, in her sweet Easter dress, but alas, I was not thinking. I got to cuddle her while the boys were creating chaos outside. Knox does great with her, and he doesn’t mind at all when I hold her, so that’s a definite plus. Of course, he was not lacking in the attention department and got to play with his favorite Aunt Kayla for a good long while!

It was such a fun day, and since he was so worn out, Knox slept from the time we got home at about 8:30 until 6:45 this morning! Woo hoo! Which means, it’s also a good day today.

I hope you guys had a great weekend as well, celebrating the resurrection of our Savior!

{ 10 comments }

He is Risen!

by Jessica on April 24, 2011

^“24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus^[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

-John 20: 24-29