Happy New Year

Who's excited for a new year?  Who was more than ready to put 2014 in the books?  So we're four days in...how are those resolutions?  

If I'm being honest, 2014 wasn't a terrible year for me.  Yeah it definitely had its downs.  It downright sucked at times.  But I can't complain too much.  I met some of my most favorite new friends in 2014, got a new niece, got a new nephew, finally took control of my health and wellness (have lost 53 lbs so far...what up!), landed an awesome job, did some traveling...it was pretty great.  I'm super excited to see what 2015 will bring!  

So I'd say if you haven't broken your new years resolutions yet you're doing pretty darn good!  Or are you one of those people that thinks making resolutions is cliche and dumb and pointless? That's ok, too.  I definitely get it.  But I do think the beginning of a new year is a good time to reevaluate things. You know, to make sure we're doing things to make ourselves happy and healthy. I think it's important to reevaluate old habits...maybe some friendships...just to make sure we aren't on the verge of toxicity.  So that's what I've begun to do.  I didn't make any resolutions, per se. Wait, yes I did.  I made one.  But it's a secret and only a couple of people very close to me know about it so that they can keep me accountable.  ;) I have begun, though, to reevaluate life, habits, friendships...just to make sure I'm keeping myself happy and healthy.  

So that's the deal.  What are your plans for 2015?  Are you as excited as I am??  Maybe I'll even blog a little more often....

                                                                                                                                                     Jess

The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of

 

 

 

I haven't blogged in a while, but I had a dream last night that I can't get out of my head.  Literally CANNOT stop thinking about it.  I was going to post about it on Facebook and go on my way, but it would have been a super long post that would have annoyed everybody, so here I am. 

 

Those that are really close to me know that I've been going through some real...for lack of a nicer word...shit the past couple of months.  Not something that I'm going to go into here, but just one thing after another all piling up.  My stress level is maxed out.  So last night I had this dream and I've been trying to figure it out all day.  I have dreams a lot.  I remember them when I wake up, if they're really funny/significant/cool/scary I'll tell a few people, then I usually forget all about it.  The one from last night has been on my mind nonstop.  Now I'm no dream interpreter.  I don't even know if that's really a thing. And I'm definitely not someone that tries to ever make sense of my dreams. But I really think there is some reason I haven't been able to shake this one.  So let me tell you about it...

 

I was on a beach somewhere.  Not one that looked familiar at all, but on a beach.  I was so excited about being there, which is not surprising since sun, sand, and the ocean have always been my happy place.  Anyways, I run into the ocean and just started swimming.  And I swam and swam.  I'm talking I Forrest Gumped that ocean, only...I was swim-in' (in my best FG voice).  When I finally stopped I couldn't see land anywhere but I was happy.  Brace yourselves...it's about to get a little weird.  Next thing I know this whale and dolphin start swimming all around me.  One whale and one dolphin.  I wasn't a bit intimidated; I was in awe.  I just remember being so happy.  Then all of a sudden, completely out of nowhere, my happiness turned to panic.  Good things happening all around me and all I could think was, "What about sharks?"  "What if there's a shark right around me?"  At that point the beautiful, clear sky turned dark...like as dark as night.  The wind started blowing and I could tell a storm was coming.  More panic.  There was no land in sight and I had no idea from which direction I had come.  So what did I do?  I started swimming.  Fast.  And I swam and swam.  Again, think Forrest Gump, only in water.  I eventually made it to shore and ran up the sand, clearly in a panic, and there was a small kid right there that grabbed my arm and said, "Hey, don't worry.  You made it."  I feel like that would have really creeped me out in person, but it was oddly comforting in my dream.  At that point I went inside my condo (that I didn't know I had in the beginning of this dream) where my sister and brother-in-law were hanging out (weird).  By the time I had gotten inside there was no worry inside of me at all.  It was like nothing bad had happened...and I sat down to tell them the beautiful story of my ocean adventure with the whale and the dolphin. 

 



 

I know, totally weird, right?  But y'all, with it being on my mind all day all I could do was sit and try to figure out how it pertained to my life.  I summed that long dream up into just a few short, but super meaningful (to me) statements.  This is what I've taken from it:  Life is beautiful.  Life sucks.  I love it and I hate it.  It gives the good and it gives the bad.  And when it gives me the bad, I have to choose to stay focused, to push forward and push through.  And who knows, when I get back to safety...when I've made it...there just might be a beautiful story to share from it all.  Xoxo...

                                                                                                                                              Jess

 

            





Judge Away...It's Human Nature

Disclaimer:  This was written several months ago.  I went back and forth with whether or not I was going to post it and decided I would.  And I thought I did.  Turns out it's been hanging out in my drafts for a while.  Oops.  :/



So in a very casual conversation with a coworker the other day I made these statements:

"I don't do that.  I mean, I don't judge people that do.  I just don't do it."

 

His response: "Yes you do.  Judge people.  Everyone says they don't judge people and everyone does.  How did you come to the decision not to do it?  By judging."

 

Now this particular coworker, although one of my favorite people, is somebody that you just want to argue with.  Know what I mean?  Like he always has to be right so you just want to argue and hope you can prove him wrong.  Surely I'm not the only person like this.  Maybe I am.  Anyways, so I open my mouth for the argument of a lifetime...and then just pause.  I had nothing to say.  He was right.  He was absolutely right.  I simply said, "you're right," and closed my mouth.  (I might have rolled my eyes, too).  He just grinned...like I said, he REALLY likes being right...and continued with his point.  Look, dude, I already said you were right.  We can stop this conversation right here, thank you very much.

 

Now I don't even remember what "it" was that I insisted I didn't judge people for doing, but that little conversation kept me thinking for days.  Almost consumed me.  In fact, I wrote part of this blog post in my head in the shower.  (Some of my best thoughts come while I'm in the shower.)  So here it is:  Everyone judges.  It's partly human nature.  It's partly instilled in us as we're growing up.  If it weren't for being so judgmental, most of us would probably be dead by now.  We learn to judge between right and wrong.  Between safe and unsafe.  We judge all the time what is pleasing to our eyes and what is not.  (<--- That sounded way nicer than saying we judge between pretty and ugly.)  If we think drinking alcohol is wrong, we judge people that do it.  If we think smoking cigarettes is wrong, we judge people that do it.  If we think being gay is wrong, we judge people that are.  Hell, a lot of us think judging others is wrong...so we judge people for judging.  Do you see where I'm going?  "I'm judging the action, not the person."  Shut up.  "But the Bible says not to judge people."  Does it?  Now I know I don't have the right to condemn people for their wrongdoings, because I have plenty of my own.  And I believe that's what a lot of the verses of the Bible that talk about judgment are talking about.  We have the right to judge.  We DO NOT have the right to condemn others for what we judge to be wrong. 

 

So to those of you who, like me, claim "I don't judge people that do it," yes you do.  And it's ok.  There is a difference in not judging people for doing it and accepting them even though they do it.  Judge away.  It's human nature.

End of Semester, NLN Nursing Exam, a New Job, and Another New Job

Wow, it's been a while! 

I've been locked up lately studying for finals and trying to pull a 4.0 my first semester back in school.  And guess what...I DID IT!  It put a little bit of a hinder on my social life towards the end, but the studying and hard work paid off and I ended the semester with an A in all my classes.  So proud! 

Although the semester ended, the studying didn't.  After I finished my last final I immediately had to start preparing for the NLN Nursing Entrance Exam.  I had heard from several people that this test was "stupid easy," but I bought the handbook and studied it just to be on the safe side.  And I'm glad I did!  I took the test this morning, and y'all, I struggled!  I'm not a stupid person (see 4.0 reference above) but it was tough for me.  I'm going to blame it on the fact that I have been out of high school for so long and some of that stuff I haven't studied in about 20 years.  We'll go with that, right?  Right.  I won't have my score for a few weeks, but fingers crossed that I scored high enough to get into a nursing program.

Since the last time I posted, I also got a new job!  And then ANOTHER new job!  (Whaaa??) So, I interviewed for a position at a small doctor's office and was hired on the spot to do front desk, insurance verification, pull medical records, and do some medical assisting.  Great experience for school and for nursing in the future, but the pay was low.  VERY low.  And then between New Hire Orientation and actually starting work I got a call from another company with which I had been in contact and was offered a similar job, but for way more money.  So I had to make a decision.  The first one would have been better experience, but the second pays more, is still in the medical field, and even mentioned an RN job post-graduation.  The right choice seems clear, right?  Wouldn't you know I still struggled with which job to take.  I talked to a couple of my friends and to my family and listed out the pros and cons of each and decided to take the second job.  Have you ever had to let one company know you have decided to accept a position elsewhere?  It's terrible!  It's like breaking up with someone.  I made myself so sick over it, worrying about upsetting the people at the first office, which is so silly.  But I thanked them for a wonderful opportunity and respectfully declined the position.  So tomorrow I go for my (second of the week) New Hire Orientation and CPR certification.  While the last nine months (being unemployed) have been some of the most fun months of my life with all my travels and whatnot, I'm a little excited to get some structure and normalcy back in my life.  Now, let's see if I can pull a 4.0 next semester while working a full time job at the same time!

Hope you and yours are having a fabulous Holiday season so far!



                                                                                                                                                 Jess

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

I hope y'all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  I love any excuse to spend time with my family, so mine was wonderful.  I started the morning in the kitchen with my mom finishing up last minute lunch dishes and listening to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade from the other room.  I just love traditions!  Every time we'd hear something coming up that we knew we wanted to see, Mama and I would drop the knife or whatever instrument was in our hands and run into the living room to watch.  I love being in the kitchen with my mom.  She cooks exactly like my grandmother did.  I've learned, and even mastered, a few of our traditional Thanksgiving recipes over the years, but she always amazes me.  I keep saying I'm going to learn her (Grandmother's) dressing (not stuffing!) recipe.  She makes that difficult..."well, you just add a little of this and a little of that and then you taste it and see what it needs."  Got it, Mama.  :/ 

 

Family started arriving around noon and the first to show were my cousins, Nikki and Shaun.  Now, if you know anything about Nikki and me, you know we've grown up the best of friends and anytime the two of us are together something stupid is going to happen.  Good-stupid, bad-stupid, funny-stupid...just something stupid.  Well, yesterday was no exception.  Mama mentioned a little something about a Santa suit she had in one of her closets. Nikki's and my eyes lit up immediately.  We knew what we had to do.

 





 

Dressed within 5 minutes we quickly ran outside to await more of our family and wave at the cars that would pass.  The cars humored us and waved.  Some even honked, which was really exciting for us.  The next people to arrive were Nikki's parents, sister, and cousin.  They looked at us like we were crazy, but also with the, "it's Jessica and Nikki, what do you expect?" look and walked right past us into the house.  At that point we'd had our fun and figured it was time to put the Santa suit away before my niece arrived and we ruined Christmas for her at age two.

 

Pretty soon there were 18 of us all cozy in the house flipping the TV channels between the dog show and football, waiting for lunch to be ready.

 

Lunch was ready around 1, and Mama set it up buffet style in the kitchen.  So we all lined up to fix our plates then took our place around one of the tables.  At 34 years old, I still haven't graduated from the "kids' table," which is fine with me.  I think I was the oldest at that table this year, so my time for movin' up may be coming!

 

After lunch we continued with another tradition of ours...LEAVES!  Every Thanksgiving we pile up the leaves and play in them.  (This tradition was brought on by me, and might be why they're making me stay at the kids' table.)  So Drew got the blower out and made us a big ol' pile and we played in them for about an hour.  I was still pulling leaves from my boots and from down my shirt at bedtime last night!

 

 

I just loved spending the whole afternoon with my family.  I wish I had gotten more pictures of everybody!

 

Last night a few of us went over to my sister's house to watch the dreaded Egg Bowl.  We ate shrimp creole and had adult beverages...it was a good time.  And, although we lost (typical rebs), I will say that watching the game by the fire with a glass of wine was much better than in the stadium with high winds and 20 degree weather like last weekend!

 

 

I'm not sure if my heart can take anymore Egg Bowls, by the way. 

 

 

A rebel win would have made yesterday perfect, but all in all it was pretty great!  I adore my family, so I love, love the holiday season and spending so much time with all of them.  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!

Happy Holidays!

 

 

Jess



 

North Mississippi Allstars, Rebels, and Katniss Everdeen...A Weekend Recap

I'm a little late posting my weekend recap.  The school semester is coming to an end and I've been swamped since I got back to Memphis!  But I had an AWESOME weekend!

So this was the first game this season that I didn't have a place in Oxford.  (And thankfully the last.)  We went back and forth so much with our plans.  Do we try to find someone to crash with for the weekend?  Do we just rent a limo to take us down there Saturday morning and bring us back Saturday night?  Plans changed a few times.  My sister, BIL, nephew, one of my fav friends, and I ended up heading down Friday afternoon and staying with some friends for the night, and I'm glad we did!  We had so much fun!  We got to town around 5 and shortly after my nephew was invited to go to the Rebels basketball game and spend the night with some of his friends, so the adults headed out for a fun night.  We started out with drinks on the square...always fun...then moved on for dinner (and more drinks, of course.) 

 As luck would have it, the North Mississippi Allstars were playing at The Lyric on the square Friday, so of course we couldn't miss that!  If you haven't checked them out, do it!  Awesome!

 

You know it's about to get real when they bring out the washboard!

The show was awesome!

 

The last three of us that made it out the longest finally decided it was time to catch a cab and get home.  We had a big day ahead of us.  Oh...and leave it to me to NOT see a step (that's the story I'm sticking with anyways) and fall straight forward...ALL the way down...once we get outside.  Thankfully my knees caught me before my face hit the concrete.  And considering I didn't even rip my leather leggings, I'm calling this one a success.

 



(Excuse the pasty skin color...I gave up tanning because it was starting to make me look old.)

 

Oh, and my sister in reference to my injury: "Well, that's one of your less severe ones."  She's right.  :/

 

Saturday morning was REEEEEAAAAAL questionable.  At one point I woke up and promised I wasn't going to the grove OR to the game.  I was going to lay right there in that bed until I could stand up without puking and then crawl to my car and drive home.  Thankfully by about 8:30 I was sort of in the land of the living and could get up, eat something, and start getting ready.  Can't say the same for my friend...he took a little longer.  But by the time we got out to the grove we were both able to rally and get the party started all over again. 

 

 

 



At this tailgate we all wrote on cards things we were thankful for and displayed them on a line of twine.  These were a few of my favorites.  :)

Some of my favorite ladies!  (Trying really hard to stay warm!)

 

 

 

Before we knew it, and way before I was ready to endure more cold, it was time to head in to the stadium.  We played Mizzou on Saturday and it was STUPID cold.  The only thing I remember from the game was trying to stay warm.  Oh, and my friend acting real confused during the Hotty Toddy chant.  He was a real trooper, though.  He played the rebel part well all weekend, especially considering he's a...shhhh...vol.  :/  Somehow, though, my family found a way to accept him.  (haha)  Anyways, we lost to Mizzou and I honestly didn't even care.  I was just ready to get warm.  Still love my rebs!  Hotty Toddy!

 

When the game was over we went ahead and jumped in the car and headed back to Memphis.  I had to be at church Sunday morning and getting home late Saturday sounded better than having to get up really early on Sunday.

 

 

 

Sunday after church some friends got together to go see Catching Fire, the new Hunger Games movie.  It was right in line with the book and I LOVED it!  Nikki and I were like giddy little girls in the theater the whole time.  So good.  Plus I have a girl-crush on Jennifer Lawrence/Katniss Everdeen.  The boys were a little less enthused, but what do they know?  After the movie we went for Mexican to end the fun weekend.  Annnnd I've had my nose in school books ever since. 

 

 

How was your weekend?

 

 

 

Jess



Weekend Recap

 

What a fun weekend!  We had a home game this weekend so Oxford was poppin'!  I spent most of Thursday and early Friday getting ready for our tailgate...relabeling water bottles to say "Ole Miss," painting an old, giant picture frame red, painting terracotta flower pots to look like Colonel Reb...you know, the usual.  My peeps all got to Oxford Friday night.  LOVED, LOVED having some of my best friends in town for the weekend!  Bro-in-law grilled us dinner and of course there was wine involved...apparently more than we really remember...and we all went to a friend's house for a little bit to visit with everyone that was just making it to town.

 

 

Loved my late night cuddles (and impromptu boxing match) with this beautiful lady!  She moved to Nashville shortly after I moved to Oxford and we just haven't been to get able to get together as often as we used to.  It's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder, because she didn't get on my nerves once this weekend!  ;)  I kid!  I Love her!  We went to bed meant to go to bed early Friday so we'd be ready for Saturday's festivities, but being reunited with her and my other BFFs proved way too much fun for that to happen. 

 

Still, we got up bright and early...and by bright and early I mean it wasn't bright at all because it was so early...Saturday morning so we could be in the grove by 7a to start setting up for our tailgate.  Ole Miss played Arkansas Saturday, and since it was an early game we had breakfast foods, mimosas, and bloody marys to start the day.

 

our bloody mary bar

 

While most of our group went to the game, a few of us stayed out and awaited the arrival of our main course for the postgame festivities, Petey the Pig.  Like I said earlier, we were playing Arkansas so we knew our main meal would be BBQ.  I mean, makes sense, right?  We were playing the hogs.  We took it one step further and ordered a whole smoked hog.  And by whole, I mean...well, the whole darn thing.

 

Petey the Pig

 

 

Don't worry and don't be offended...we didn't just kill a pig for shits and giggles or to display in bad taste.  We ate him and he was delicious.  And besides, we gave him a proper memorial beforehand:

 

(No, that's not really a picture of our actual pig.  That would be terrible.)

 

Thankfully the Rebs beat Arkansas 34-24 (hotty toddy!).  This meant everyone came back for the postgame tailgate in a good mood and ready to eat!  I'm not even sure there was anything left of that pig by the time we packed up. 

 

By the way, it's ridiculous how much fun can be had with a hanging picture frame and a little chalkboard:

 notice the handcuffs in these two pictures...TROUBLE

 

 

Another exciting thing about Saturday was FINALLY getting to meet this lovely face-to-face!

We've been blog/twitter/instagram friends for over a year.  We met Saturday in person and it felt like we'd been hanging out for years!  Love her to pieces!

 

Loved having my BFF (cousin) and her husband this weekend!  They're Auburn fans, so props to them for playing the Ole Miss part! 

 

After packing up our tailgate we went back to my house to charge our phones (priorities) and take a cat nap before heading over to my friend's house for more cocktails and the Alabama/LSU game.  Our plans to head to the square that night just didn't happen.  I didn't even see the final score of the Bama/LSU game. We were SO worn out from the fun of the day that I'm pretty sure everyone at my house was passed smooth out by 10p!

 

My Sunday has consisted of driving to Memphis, going to church, lunch with mama and little sis, taking care of my brother's chickens, leading youth groups, finishing an article review for my Psychology class, and taking care of a friend's dog.  Normal?  I think so.

 

 

Such a fun weekend!  I loved being around so many people that I adore so much!  How was your weekend?

 

                                                                                                               Jess