10/12/10: It's been so long!

It has been FOREVER since I last blogged (June, to be exact)! My life has been insanely busy the last few months between work, church, craft fairs with the Ladies, concerts, road trips, etc. So here in a nutshell of mostly pictures, are the last few months:

GIRLS NIGHT OUT 2010

This is the tent that Mandy, my Mommasita, and I put together. We wanted a more "intimate" feeling this year, so we all sat in the tent for the message! GNO was August 27th and it was my first time to speak at it. The girls were all very receptive and we had a blast! Can't wait til next year!

KNITTING

It was one of my goals this summer to learn how to knit, and I did! It took me a couple of hours to get going, but now I can knit, purl, and even stockinette! So far, I've made a Sherpa hat, and I'm working on another!


Kev liked my hat so much, he wanted to model it! (Check out his B.A. Baracus face! haha)

CONWAY CAMPUS - CRAFT NIGHTS
CPC is opening a new campus...in Conway! Since Krystle is so dang crafty, she volunteered to start a small group at her house in Conway that is centered around the Bible and crafting!! So far there have been two meetings and it has grown already!


Krystle made a cutesie baby hat with teddy bear ears on it, and her roommate's dog, Ms. Dinkus was the PERFECT model for it!

CPC CRAFT FAIR
Our church did it's first Craft Fair and even though it was small, it was a great success!


Mandy and I crafted it up in true craft fair style!


Krystle's second mom, and cake teacher, Carla came and displayed some of her A-mazing cakes:


This one was my favorite. If you look closely, you can see the little yellow flowers have baby's feet for leaves! I love silly little details like that!


I consider this one the perfect Sweet 16 cake!

9th ANNIVERSARY

In September, my Sweet hubby and I celebrated 9 amazing years together! He truly is my best friend, and I love him SO MUCH! As part of my gifts he got me these lovely roses!


He knows I like unusual colored roses, that's why he got these!

HILLCREST HARVEST FEST

I don't know how we had never heard of this event before. One of our crafty friends, Tara told us about this, and we happened to get our foot in the door and do a booth. It was the best event we have done so far! Here are a few pics from the day:


Yep. That's a man. Wearing a kilt. Nope. We aren't in Scotland. Central Arkansas, people. I have to admit tho, he rocked it out.


It got a little chilly towards the evening time, so Mandy and I broke out our Sherpa hats and held down the fort from the wind!


We also found out that the Hillcrest/Kavanaugh/Heights area is a little more "Bohemian" than we expected. Haha. There was a LOT of interesting people. These two guys were interesting to say the least.


MUSE CONCERT

And finally, October 8th, Jordan (of HL) and our friend Jessica went to see one of my favorite bands in the whole world, MUSE in Oklahoma City at the Ford Center!!


Our tickets right after I bought them. We thought they were gonna be funky seats, but they ended up being really good!


Waiting in line outside the Ford Center...the anticipation was almost too much!!


We got our seats!!


And Muse was SO AMAZING!! I have better pics on my camera, but this is all I had on my phone. It doesn't do it justice, but take my word for it, they were awesome!!


And, we stayed with some of Jessica's friends after the concert. I took a pic of it right before we drove away, I didn't want to be a creeper and walk around taking pics of people's house that I just met, but their house was SO CUTE, even Elsie would be jealous of it!!


Well, that's pretty much the major events of my life for the past few months. It's been busy, but it's been fun too!

Smooches!
Jess

06/17/10: Short and sweet.

Just a quick note to say I'm still alive! I have been so busy lately I haven't had a free moment to blog anything. There's been a TON of stuff going on with the River Market, the Variety Show, etc. I'll try to get some pics and info soon!

Smooches,
Jess

06/02/10: The boy of my dreams

I'm having one of those, "I love my husband days". I know I haven't blogged about Kev a lot, but I'm going to start, and I want to start it with the fact that I have the best husband in the world. He is quite literally my best friend, and I love hanging out with him. Last night, we just hung out at the house, didn't do anything particularly spectacular, but we did nothing particularly spectacular together and that's what counts! :) He's silly, yet serious, immature, yet mature, funny, sexy, smart, anointed, and I love him sooooo much! Just wanted everyone to know, I married up!

Smooches!
Jess

05/28/10: Topsy Turvy Tomato Tourture Chamber

Have you ever seen those "Topsy-Turvy" Tomato pot things? You know, the things that hang the tomato plants upside down so that "all the nutients get forced down into the tomatoes via gravity"? What a crock!

This is what they promise on the commercials:


This is what they actually look like (This is a really good picture):

Notice that the leaves on the left side of the plant have begun to curl and dry up. Also notice that the tomato plant's limbs/leaves have TURNED AROUND AND STARTED GROWING UP TOWARDS THE HEAVENS. That is the way they were designed to grow. They need sun, people. I wish I had a picture of what my neighbor's poor, sad, little tomato plants look like. Every time I drive by I want to take them down and plant them in the ground to save their lives. They have been in those upside down pots for like, a month and they are less than a foot high, have no tomatoes on them, and they are beginning to turn brown. I have a message for the inventors of the Topsy-Turvy Tomato planters, or as I like to call them "Topsy-Turvy Tomato Tourture Chambers": God didn't design tomatoes to grow upside down! I know we like to think we can improve on His genius, but we can't. He's got it all figured out, thank you.

That's all. I just wanted to vent. :)
Smooches,
Jess

05/20/10: It's the little things.

Some days it's the little things that make me happy. I got a new work phone the other day and as I was programming numbers in it and labelling the buttons, I got a tiny bit crafty:


It's not much, but it makes me smile every time I have to push one of those buttons. Just thought I would share...

Tootles,
Jess

Friends and stuff

So, this is going to be a short post. I am really excited that tonight Kev and I are going to my best good friend Mandy's (oh yeah, and Brand's) house for dinner. :) YAY!



I've missed my friend. We've both been so very busy that aside from the occasional walk at the lake, we haven't gotten to hang in a long time, not to mention its been like 400 years since we last crafted together. She's kinda my "craft fuel". She keeps me going along. I'm hoping to accomplish both of those things (hanging out and crafting) tonight. :-D Anyway, I'm REALLY excited about it!

Smooches,
Jess

Where did this Greyson kid come from???

Ok, so I stumbled upon this kid the other day and I am a total fan. Apparently so is Ellen, because she had him on her show yesterday!

He's very talented for sure! Especially to be only 12 years old. I'd like to know if he's a Christian or not, he said that the first performance he did was at a Church talent show in Edmond, OK so I wouldn't be suprised if he is. Anyway, I just thought I would be a goofy fan today and post two of his videos. Enjoy!

Smooches,
Jess

The Quest follow-up.

Soooo...the Quest was A-Mazing and the kids were first class. God totally moved and the kids were forever changed. We are SO proud of them! The thing that made us the most proud wasn't what happened at Quest. What made us the proudest was when we got back and had youth the following Sunday night. They brought it back with them people! We started praise and worship, and I felt them pulling on me harder than I've felt...well, ever. They were ready for whatever God wanted to do and believe me, God did it. I can't wait to see what all God is going to do with our young people. They are world changers for Him and now that they know it, everybody better watch out! :)

Hello Quest

Well, it's been a while since my last post, and for that I am profoundly sorry. We have been busy with major events at the Church and youth. Tonight we begin our "Quest" youth retreat and I am excited about what God has in store for His kids! I tried to find a non-cheesy pic of a knight to go with the whole "Quest-ness" but I only found cheesy ones except for this pic from a Knight's tale! :)

It's gonna be a good weekend!

Smooches!
Jerskuh

Brooke, Darlene, & Me.

So I was in a funk this morning. I came to work and wanted to be anywhere else. So I knew what I needed to do. I put in my earbuds and started blasting some Brooke Fraser while I worked.

That chick is anointed to soothe me specifically. Kinda like David when he played for Saul. The thing is, I WANT that. I want to have an impact on people. I want my music/worship to help people all because I am obedient to the call of God.

I listen to powerful leaders like her and Darlene Zschech and I hear how God uses them to encourage the people to press into God and His presence. I want to be able to reach people in the way God has for me. I don’t want the exact anointing as Brooke or Darlene, I want the exact anointing for Jessica because that’s the one I can walk in successfully. That’s the one that’s going to effect change in people and to cause them to reach further. In order to do that though, I have to focus on God, draw on His anointing, draw on His strength and be who HE has called me to be. I can't be Darlene or Brooke, but I can be something that's so much better for me: His Jessica.

Betty, Doris, Audrey, Ingrid, & Katharine!

So...I'm weird. The other night, Kev and I were watching Jay Leno and Betty White was one of the guests. I LOVE Betty. She cracks me up. During the show I mentioned to Kev how pretty Betty White was when she was younger and I looked up a pic on Google to show him. He agreed that she was very pretty and that was kinda the end of our conversation. In the process of looking up the pic I had saved it to my phone and a few days later I was flipping through my pictures and saw it. I thought to myself, "Hmmmm...Sarahbeth loves Betty White, I'll make that her picture id in my phone." That got me to thinking. What if I made all the "Ladies" pics in my phone their favorite old movie actress? So I started looking up old pictures, and texting my girls. They told me who they like, and here they are:

Sarahbeth: The one who started it all. Sarah is sassy just like Betty all the way, and you never know what might come out of her mouth! Betty is one of those actresses that you can't NOT like! She's been in biz for 62 years and she's a trooper deluxe. Here's to you Betty Boo!


Mandy: She LOVES Doris Day. I think she has seen more movies with Doris in them than any other movie star. (She's Mandy's woman-crush I think.)I personally haven't seen a single Doris Day movie, but she looks pretty amazingly cool, and she kinda makes me think of Mandy!


Jenna: Jenna was the most nonchalant about picking her actress. She's not really into old movies, but she picked Audrey and that's saying something. Breakfast at Tiffany's, My Fair Lady, Wait Until Dark, Sabrina, Roman Holiday... She's the "it" girl when it comes to classic movies, to be sure. I personally LOVE Audrey Hepburn, and I love Jenna too!


Krystle: I sent out a list of actresses to be picked from, and Ingrid wasn't on it. Krystle came up with her all on her own. That's so textbook Krystle, she's her own person, always has been. Ingrid is a star I'm not 100% familiar with, I know she was in Casablanca and The Bells of St. Mary's, but one thing I DO know, is she's the momma of one of my favorite actresses Isabella Rossellini, and she seemed to be alot like Krystle: her own person and everyone loved her for it!


And then there's me: My favorite classic actress of all time is Katharine Hepburn. She could do tomboy, she could do elegant, but I more than anything, she was a tomboy at heart. (Kinda like me, except for the elegant part) :) Some of my favorite films; Bringing Up Baby, The African Queen, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and even later in her career, On Golden Pond. I mean, she dated Howard Hughes for crying out loud!


Anyway, that's my list! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope the ladies know how much I love 'em!
Jess

My Morning...

So I woke up a tad late this morning. I was little freaked out, but managed to get myself under control, and realized if I hustled, I could still make it to work on time. As I was getting dressed, Kev came into the bedroom and with rather large eyes says, "I need you to come look at something real quick. It's not anything bad, but I need you to come look at what's on the dog gate." So immediately, in my over-dramatic, vivid imagination, I see something crazy like an owl, or a snake, or Satan himself sitting on our dog gate. (I know, I'm dramatic, but I'm just being real here people) So, I nervously peek around the corner out at the gate, and there clinging to the bars is one of these little guys:


We have two hermit crabs and apparently, it had been a rough night for the little fella. Somehow, he had managed to get out of his terrarium, gotten down from the kitchen counter, which means he had fallen from quite a great height, hid out for several hours during the Ultimate Body Makeover party I had, managed to NOT get stepped on somehow, and then found his way to the dog gate. There he sat, in his little American flag shell, clutching for his dear life to the gate. I swear his eyes were bugging out of his head. He was definitely frightened, I couldn't get him off the gate, he had his pincher directly on the bar, so I just left him clinging there.

So I go back to getting ready for work. I gathered my things up and put my lunch together. Suddenly, my cell phone rings and it's Kevin. He starts the conversation off with, "Ok so don't get mad..." Anytime he starts a sentence off with that line, I get a bit concerned. He continues, "...but I need you to bring me a gas can. I ran out of gas."


Ugh. So I get my stuff, load it in the car, go dig through the garage and find our gas can, and head out to the gas station. Oh, and did I mention to you that I've never filled a gas can in my life? I'm not a girly girl by any stretch, but it's just one of those things I've never done, and I most definitely did NOT want to smell like gasoline all day. So I'm praying as I pull into the Murphy station, "Ok God, I don't want to get gas all over me, and I've never done this before. Please help me get this easily and cleanly." And as always, God is faithful. I got the gas can filled, and I even had a couple of Wal-Mart sacks to put it on so it wouldn't stink up my car. I drove it to Kev he got his truck going and he made it to work.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Bob is still hanging on the gate. So I managed to swing back by the house, I walk in, and poof! No Bob on the gate. "Oh NOOOO! Where is he??" So I slowly begin walking around, looking at the floor like I'm looking for a lost contact. I make may way into the living room, and right in front of the loveseat, I see a tiny American flag, attempting to make it's getaway. "Aha!" I say, "You're going back to your home!" I put him back in his terrarium with his friend Gary, and head to work! Whew! What a morning!

Oh, and Happy St. Patty's!
Jess

Gearin' up for the Green!

So...St. Patrick's Day is Wednesday.

I. AM. SO. EXCITED!

This is a recent love for a Holiday that I have acquired in the last 3 years or so. My friend Sharon (Sharonius) always used to go out and celebrate St. Patty's like crazy which got me to thinking...what the heck is St. Patty's all about? So, I began to research St. Patrick and found out he was totally an awesome dude. On fire for God like crazy. Here's some interesting "St. Patrick facts":


1. St. Patrick was actually not Irish. He was born in Britain, and he died in Ireland March 17, 461AD.

2. At the age of 14 he was kidnapped by Pirates, sold into slavery, & imprisoned for six years. During this time, he had a dream, given to him by God that he was to be in the ministry.

3. He escaped to France, and joined a monastery.

4. There were 33 documented people raised from the dead by St. Patrick (through the Lord of course), and this is an excerpt from records about the miracles of St. Patrick: "For the blind and the lame, the deaf and the dumb, the palsied, the lunatic, the leprous, the epileptic, all who labored under any disease, did he in the Name of the Holy Trinity restore unto the power of their limbs and unto entire health; and in these good deeds was he daily practiced. Thirty and three dead men, some of whom had been many years buried, did this great reviver raise from the dead, as above we have more fully recorded."

5. Not only was he totally on fire for the Lord, St. Patrick was a great missionary bishop who converted a whole land from paganism, overturning the religion of the druids. He consecrated 350 bishops, erected 700 churches, and ordained 5,000 priests. In less than 30 years the greater part of Ireland was Catholic; St. Patrick so consolidated it in the Christian faith that during the Protestant Revolt Ireland was almost unique in its preservation of the Faith.

See what I mean? It's such an exciting Holiday for me! I love hearing about the great men of God throughout time. Even though its been commercialized and alot of people use the Holiday as an excuse to go out and get sloshed, I like to look at it as an awesome time to see what God did through a man who as completely in love with Him and willing to do whatever it took to tell people about God!

Kiss me I'm Irish!
Jess

March 11th!!

So today they posted the Eclipse trailer online and I am so excited! So in honor of that momentus occasion, I have posted the offical Eclipse countdown clock from Stephenie Meyers' website! If you want it, just grab it off my blog. It will post to your blog automatically, you just put in your info and click "post to side bar". Enjoy!

Jerskuh

Wood flooring! (well... Pergo anyway.)

So last night went well. It started off a little bumpy, but after a quick prayer it started to smooth out. We got just over half the living room floor done, so Thursday we should be able to finish it and hallway. Especially now since we've got our system worked out. Here's some pics I took as we were going along:


Mom and Kev: The brains of the team.


Dad: The brawn and the silliness of the team. (I get it from him!)


This is when we were about finished. I think we put on a row or two more after this. Isn't it pretty??!?

Anyway, there's the latest on the ongoing Saga that is my living room!

Catch ya laters,
Jess

Tiling & Flooring...

Working...ugh. I would much rather be doing something else.

So the renovations continue. Last night Josh finished the tile, and we cleared out the living room and cleaned the floors in preparation for putting down the wood flooring tonight! I'm pretty excited about it! More than anything, I'm excited about having my house back in order from all the renovations! Here's a few more pics of our renovation progress:


This is a pic of our back deck entrance. We had Josh do a 4 x 3 pad of the slate.


Our fireplace right after Josh floated it out to make it more level for the tile.


This is halfway through the tiling process.


This is pretty much the finished product. Excuse the piles of Pergo in front. As of this picture it hadn't been grouted yet, but you get the idea.

Anyway, that's what been going on. I will post some more pics tomorrow, hopefully of wood flooring! Everybody pray!

Smooches,
Jess

Looks like somebody's got a case of the Mondays.

Soooo...It's Monday...ALL DAY LONG. I'm not one of those people that love to claim how evil Mondys are so I'll just stop with that. :P


We're still in the process of re-doing our living room. The process is coming along pretty nicely. The painting is done and tonight we're beginning the tiling process. then we're gonna do the floors.

Here's a couple of pics of our progress:


This is my sweet Daddy painting. He wasn't originally supposed to come, it was just gonna be Mom and I, but I was so glad he came!


This is a picture of one of the side walls and the color it has become. It's dark, but I like it alot!

Saturday us ladies went to Hot Springs for a girls day after the photo shoot. It was soooo fun! We went to Rod's pizza cellar (and ate waaaay too much!), shopped at several different stores, and hit the Habitat Re-Store (which is awesome btw). We also managed to play dress-up in my car on the way there. Now when I say "we" I mean Krystle and Sarahbeth got into my mom's bag of photo props that was in the back of my SUV and tried on hats and feather boas. They had great fun and Mandy even got pics of it. Hopefully she will post some soon.


Here's a pic of Mandy and Krystle trying on hats at TJ Maxx. Don't be fooled, those hats were NOT cheap.


This is a crocheted pillow we found at the Habitat Re-store. We didn't buy it, but we will probably make some updated versions as soon as we figure out how!

I did also get a good deal on an awesome retro lamp at the Habitat Re-store for a $1!! It's amazing, and I can't wait to incorporate it in my living room! (Sorry no pic of it yet.)

Anyway, that's the rundown of my week/weekend. I'll holla back soon!

Updates...

So I'm listening to Kings of Leon at work and I realized something...I haven't blogged in a while!

So basically we've had about four inches of snow here the last couple of days, which is exciting, and they're saying we're supposed to get more on Thursday & Friday! YAY!

Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, my Saints won the Superbowl and Drew Brees got MVP! Sarahbeth and I had fun rubbing that one in at the Church Superbowl party on Sunday night, complete with a toe touch from Sarahbeth. Needless to say, there were some sore losers there. :)

I am in the process of cleaning out our office at home so I can start working on my artwork again. It's something I've let kinda burn low in my life, but I am still quite passionate about it. Sooo, this year I'm planning on fanning the flame of that talent and hopefully, I can make something good!

Kev and I are about to redecorate, or should I say DECORATE our living room! My uncle gave us a bunch of wood flooring, so we're gonna rip out the carpet and put that down. We're also gonna paint, and put down some different tile around the fireplace and at the back door. I'm pretty excited about it! I love decorating, but I never take the time to do it. I hope this goes well!

Anyway, that's the immediate update on me lately. I'll try to blog some more tomorrow!

Lovin life, lovin you!
Jess

SUPERBOWL TIME!!

So, quick note. I am SOOOOO excited about the Superbowl this Sunday. I'm rooting for the Saints! (WOOO Drew Brees!) Tonight Sarahbeth and I are making personalized shirts to wear on Sunday at our Church's Superbowl party! YESSS!

Who dat?
Jess

Here's hopin'!

So this week we're having our semi-annual Fireside chats. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous about going to this. Not because of anything that Pastor will say, I'm totally in support of him, but because of the people that like to cause controversy and strife during these meetings. Ugh. These are supposed to be a laid back, fellowshippy meetings where Pastor casts the vision for the year and updates everyone on the situation of the Church. In previous years, it's been a bit trying to be there, because usually at some point in the meeting, somebody throws out a controversial question or makes a smart alleck remark with the specific intention of causing strife. I mean, if they're so unhappy with things why don't they set up a meeting with Pastor and let him have it in private? That's why I know it's specifically designed for strife. If it was pure concern they were expressing, they wouldn't need to spout it out for everyone to hear with the hopes of inciting a riot. Anyway, sorry for venting. This year I am holding out hope that it will be a good time and all involved will be excited for the coming year!

Jerskuh

Have you met my best friend? He's quite amazing. He saved my life...

It's been a good week. God is so good! My mom's friend Kathy, who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, had been healed by God! She had a pet scan the other day and they can't find any cancer in her body!! We've been praying for her for a while now, and believing God for her healing, and it was confirmed by the very same doctors who said they weren't sure if they could treat her or not. I love it! I love how awesome our God is, and how faithful He is to His Word! Now we're believing for her arm to start working correctly again. It's nothing for the Lord. He is so much bigger than any situation we could ever face. He is so awesome and I am so honored to know Him and be called His child! He's truly the best Dad ever and I wanted to take my blog today to give Him glory for all He's done! Take time today to give God glory for all He's done in your life, and for all He's blessed you with!

Smooches,
Jess

Sirrrr...yo bref stank

So, every single person that I have carried on a conversation with has had terrible breath.

Maybe I'm shallow, I dunno, but seriously I want to give gum to the last three people I've talked to, and the insist upon getting waaay to close to my face with their mouth. Ugh. Maybe my nose is sensitive today. Or, maybe people just need to brush their teeth.

Gross.

Long time, no write.

It's been a busy one today. I'm currently listening to a Brooke Fraser song and it's helping soothe my nerves... ahhhhh. I can't wait til tonight! We're crafting and I'm really excited about it!! Anyway, this was a quickie today. I'll blog more soon!