Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Makin' The Move!

Okay, this will be my final post over here at Typin' Away With Jesstagirl. I've loved this name, but it's time to move on.

So without further ado, please change your subscriptions, retype your bookmarks, and come follow me over at:

http://jessicalynnwrites.blogspot.com

And don't worry! The name may have changed, but the "old" content still there!

Doname Change

Heh. Do you see what I did with the title of this post? It should be "domain" but I changed it to "doname," oh, I'm so clever sometimes!

All cheesiness aside, I'm considering changing the domain (URL) of this blog. My reasoning is because I've heard from some people (who don't have this bookmarked or subscribe to it) that "jeslynn02" is confusing because it's one "s" and two "n's." Plus I want it to be simple and have this blog name correlate with my professional Web site (debuting sometime within the next few months!).

But here's my problem. I've been blogging under this URL for quite some time. I think I know a way to easily swap out domains and leave a nice little message at this one in case people still show up, but here's my dilemma: I like to link to past posts and I'm afraid that those will all be broken links if I switch names.

Oh maybe I should just start a whole new blog all together since I'm kind of starting a new chapter in my life anyway.

Hmmm...decisions, decisions...

*I'm so sorry if this is going over your head. I think I'm mostly writing this out so I can try to figure out what I'm doing!*

If you kept up with this and know what I'm talking about, advice would be greatly appreciated!

To Do Till We Do

Today marks the nine-month mark. Yup, in 276 days we'll be tying the knot! I made a to-do list of all that I could think of that I need to take care of before the wedding, so I thought I'd share it. Feel free to let me know if I'm missing anything!



The Look:

  • Dress DONE! (Brides by Demetrios)
  • Engagement Ring: DONE! (Blue Nile)
  • Veil:
  • Garter:
  • Ceremony shoes:
  • Bride accessories (earrings, necklace, etc.)
  • Bridesmaid dresses:
  • Flower girls dresses:
  • Groomsmen suits/tuxes:
  • Rehearsal dinner dress:
  • Something old
  • Something new
  • Something borrowed
  • Something blue
  • Talk to custom jeweler about creating my band:
  • My wedding band:
  • His wedding band:
  • Find MUA:
  • Find Hairstylist:
  • Makeup trial:
  • Hair trial:

Pre-Wedding:

  • Wedding website DONE!
  • DJ: DONE! (my brother @ Tuffersound
  • Photographer: DONE! Kim Jackson Photography
  • Pre-wedding photographer:DONE! Don James
  • Videographer DONE! my cousin @ Kiko Productions
  • Engagement pictures DONE! (ask for link)
  • Wedding Planner: DONE! Karen with Celebrations! Style
  • Get e-ring insured
  • Check with fire marshal to have candles at reception
  • Guest list
  • Design Save The Dates (Laura)
  • Make/print Save The Dates
  • Send Save The Dates
  • DIY Invitations
  • Send out Invites
  • Registries
  • Block rooms at hotel
  • DIY Programs
  • DIY Guestbook
  • Have our Tasting
  • Find a florist
  • Decide on Honeymoon
  • Rehearsal dinner location
  • Book Honeymoon
  • Pickup Marriage License
  • Gifts for BM and parents
  • Family must-take photo list

Ceremony:

  • Ceremony location: DONE! (Hotel Albuquerque in chapel)
  • Ceremony music:
  • Pick “readings”:
  • Find faux petals:
  • DIY Pomanders for aisles:
  • DIY flower girl baskets
  • DIY Table Runners
  • DIY Labels for wine bottles (if venue allows it)


Reception:

  • Reception location: DONE! (Hotel Albuquerque in the Franciscan)
  • Music
    • First Dance:
    • Father/Daughter:
    • Mother/Son:
    • Bouquet Toss:
    • Garter Toss:
    • Cake Cutting:Sugar Sugar, Pour Some Sugar on Me, How Sweet it is (to be loved by you), Build Me Up Buttercup
  • Get coffee beans for centerpieces:
  • Get square vases for centerpieces
  • Get flowers for centerpieces
  • Cake:
  • Groom’s Cake:
  • Cupcakes:
  • Photobooth (?)
  • DIY cupcake/cake flags
  • DIY crossword puzzle:
  • DIY photo upload cards:
  • DIY Centerpieces
  • DIY Napkins (?)

GET MARRIED!!!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Gimme A Break!

Sorry for the lack of blogging over here, there's a lot going on in my life right now and yesterday the stress took over. I love that post-it note to the left because it's exactly what I feel like doing lately.

Just for shits 'n giggles (really? who came up with that phrase?!), here's a look at what I have going on in the next several months, and why my IBS is kicking up all of a sudden. Oh, was that TMI (too much information)? Sorry!

May 22 - flying out of ABQ at 6:50 pm to Denver.
May 23 - arrive in ATL at 6 am
May 25 - driving to Pensacola, Florida with Kenny (this is a new change of plans thanks to the Air Force)*
May 26 - flying from Pensacola to Atlanta, from Atlanta to Denver, and from Denver to ABQ. Woot.
May 29 - flying to San Diego at 7 am
May 31 - HALF MARATHON - YEA!!!
June 1 - flying back home at 8 pm
June 7 - friend's bachelorette party
June 12 - friend's rehearsal/dinner
June 13 - friend's wedding
June 28 - ATM Chef Knockout
July 3–July 6 - Georgia to see Kenny
July 11 - FSIL (future sister in law) bridal shower
July 24 - Brother and FSIL rehearsal
July 25 - Brother and FSIL wedding!!
August 15 - Absolute last day to get TNT fundraising money in
August 24 - Vegas for my cousin's 21st birthday
September 1–September 15 - Going. Back. To. England!!!! (I booked my ticket last night!!!)

Um. So. Yeah. I'm kinda stressed. Not to mention, work is kinda stressing me out at the moment, but I think that's more due to thinking about all of the above than actual work. I also want to start working on all these little DIY projects I have for the wedding since I "have so much time," but now I'm afraid all the time is going to fly by without me doing any of the fun projects I want to do.

And as a completely different side note, can I share a major pet peeve with you? I can't stand it when people call pets (usually dogs) their "kids" or "babies." For some reason it just gets under my skin. No offense if you have an animal you love just as you would another human being, it's just a thing that really bugs me personally!

Okay, there's my rant for today.

*The Air Force likes to mess with Kenny and I all the time. It seems like whenever we make solid plans (usually they include purchasing a non-refundable airline ticket) they give him or change his orders a couple days after we get the ticket. For example: We bought the ticket on Friday and on Monday they told him he's going to Florida for work the day I'm supposed to leave. Oh, Air Force, you're really quite annoying.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Favorite Things

Hey Readers,

This is my 400th post! Whoa! So in honor of making it to number 400, here are a few of my favorite things (in no particular order, and I know I'm leaving things out).

Kenny
Ranch dressing (specifically from Dions, Chilis, pelicans, The Quarters BBQ)
Baked Flamin' Hot Cheetos
Garlic croutons
Green chile
The dry climate in Albuquerque
Flip flops
Blogging (here and here)
Planning my wedding!
Trying to pay it forward
My wedding gown
Traveling (cars, planes, trains, automobiles, truck stops, airports, etc.)
Coffee ice cream with apple pie filling, and cinnamon from Cold Stone
Schmumfy and Harry
Chick flicks
cupcakes

Okay. I think that's all for now! Leave a comment with your favorite things. Hope you had a good weekend :)

Friday, May 15, 2009

Friday Poll

Whoops! I almost forgot to post a new poll for this week. Here are the results from last week, and I'm very happy to see there are two other readers who are left handed just like me (woot woot!):For this week I'm curious what you guys top your salads with! Are you all about the creamy ranch or a light vinaigrette?

Salad Dressing Preference:
* Ranch

*Blue Cheese
*Vinaigrette
*Thousand Island
*French

*Lemons

*Nothing

*Other


About 10 minutes ago, Kenny and I bit the bullet and bought a ticket for me to go see him over Memorial Day weekend. I couldn't be more excited about this, because that means I get to see him one. week. from. today!!!!! I must have spend at least two cumulative hours trying to find a flight that would give us the biggest bang for our buck, so to speak.

Here's my flight info so you can see the craziness I go through to see my man! Luckily I love traveling and usually don't have any problems sleeping in airports or on planes.
(click to enlarge and get the full effect)

I love the feeling after I buy a plane ticket somewhere! Hope you all have a great weekend.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

The Pain Game

I'm possibly being the laziest person ever right now. You see, as I type this—from the couch—there's an extremely fit woman hosting a Comcast OnDemand Bridal Shape Up on my TV. Yup. I gave up on it, so here I am.

(Side note: I wasn't completely lazy today, I even did this workout before I clicked for the bootcamp, and you know what? It was freaking hard - seriously, watch that segment and then try doing it! I hate how these trainers make it look like a piece of cake!)

I think I forgot to mention that I hurt my knee about two weeks ago, and the back story to that is that it's the same knee I had surgery on several years ago. My knee has never given me trouble before, but the second I felt—and heard—a not-so-pleasant feeling I knew I did something bad. Luckily it only hurts if I put a lot of strain on it (i.e. walk up hill, downhill, do jumping jacks, squats, lunges, etc.), so I'm still continuing with training for my half marathon (16 days away!!!).

But here's the crappy part.

A couple days before I hurt my knee I kinda sorta ordered my wedding gown (WOOTY WOOT!!!), but I may have ordered it in not one, but TWO sizes smaller than what I am right now. Yup.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Hello, my name is Jessica and I just became a crazy bride. So now you can see why a knee engery is kinda cramping my style - literally. It hurts to do cardio and I need to do cardio because that, combined with my healthy-eating lifestyle, is how I will lose weight.

These are some of the videos I've been using and actually enjoy working out to, but I think I may need to take up swimming again until I get this knee problem under control. It's really a gigantic inconvenience because I actually like working up a sweat in the mornings. Lately I've been working a lot on strength and sclupt using hand weights, but I can only do so many arm work outs. If you guys can think of any other low-impact way to get my cardio in, please let me know.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Smell You Later

I opted for a healthy lunch today so I went to Subway, but I always forget about one thing when I go there: how much it stinks!

Seriously! If you've never noticed it before then you're sure to notice it now, but it just smells. And the worst part is that you reek of of "Subway" the rest of the day.

On the bright side, they do have tasty sandwiches if you managed to get a decent "sandwich artist."

P.S. Hello to everyone reading from around the world! I like the fact that even though I'm not traveling these days my blog is!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Not-Frequent-Enough Flier

I've been flying back and forth to see Kenny for the past two years and I try to visit him every other month. Now, I'm not good at math (I wrote papers about math and played tic-tac-toe in my college math class and I still barely passed— but that's a whole other blog post), but after flying more than 3,000 miles round trip each time I go out there, you'd think I would have racked up enough frequent flier miles by now to have a free trip, right? Wrong.

I'm sure this would be the case if I had stuck with one particular airline, but I'm cheap so I fly by who offers me the cheapest flight. This means I'm part of the Frontier, American Airlines, and Delta flier programs, all of which only give you super-flier status if you fly around a million miles with them.

I think I'm pretty close to getting a free flight (or at least the next membership level which means I'll get a free drink and movie on a flight - whoop) on Delta and Frontier, but here's my dilemma: I'm about to book two more trips for June and July, but the cheapest flight is on American. Do I pay around $100 more for each trip out there just so I can get the extra miles? Or do I go the cheaper route and just hope that someday I reach the next membership level.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

My Mama

(When I lived in England in 2004/2005 I would periodically send e-mails home to friends and family. This was one of those emails - I hope you enjoy! Happy Mother's Day!)

A Father’s Surprise

My grandma loves England. My grandma loves England so much that she's gone abroad just to go on a garden tour, yes, a tour of only English gardens. So when she found out that her only granddaughter would be studying in England for a year, she booked her flight to London and convinced her long-time college friend, Betty, to go with her. Really, it was a great excuse for her to visit the UK again; this would be her sixth visit to England.

I couldn’t be more excited to have them come out and see me. Not only would I get to be with family again, but I'd also get some much-needed ‘supplies’ from home (i.e. tortillas, batteries, shampoo and conditioner, scarves, and basically anything I could think of, because everything is cheaper in America.)

About two weeks ago I was talking to my mom on the phone and she mentioned that my dad was also sending me a surprise! ‘Oh fantastic,” I thought, “Maybe he’ll send me Reese’s Pieces (he knows I love them, and can’t get them out here), or an article he saw on a band I like since he likes clipping things from newspapers sometimes.” I thought of all the possibilities of what the ‘surprise’ could be….

My grandma’s flight arrived in London at 7:30am on Friday, the 29th of October, and she told me she’d call
if she could when she landed, to let me know she and Betty arrived safely, but she said ‘not too worry’ if she didn’t call since she would be busy and a bit stressed. She told me to expect the two of them sometime in the afternoon.

Around 2pm I began to get a little worried and considered calling Peter (the tour guide for the weekend) to make sure everything was ok. I also considered calling home to ask my mom and dad if they had heard from her, but I remembered that my mom was going to an all-day workshop and my dad was going to work early. I heard my mom's voice in my head telling me not to worry and to be patient. Luckily my best friend, who was also studying abroad in Australia, eased my mind and called me around 2:30pm. We talked for a little bit, but my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a car.

I quickly got off the phone with her and ran outside. I gave my Grandma a huge hug and a kiss and I turned around to welcome Betty. But, there was one problem.

When I turned around it wasn’t Betty who I was looking at… it was my mom! MY MOM!!!! Thousands of thoughts were racing through my mind and I didn’t know whether to laugh, or cry, so I did both.
I heard her say, “Surprise! I’m Betty.” But at that moment I couldn’t comprehend what exactly was going on! I invited my mom, grandma and Peter into my house and gave them a very brief and scattered tour. They proceeded to give me treats and things from home. As this was happening I was still trying to put everything together – boy did they have some explaining to do!

About a half hour later we were ready to go begin our weekend of sightseeing and touring. And what do you know; the weather began to clear up the moment we left the university, and was actually unbelievably nice the whole time.

On the way to our Bed and Breakfast my mom and grandma filled me in on everything. They told me how EVERYONE knew about this surprise…EVERYONE, that is, except for me and all of my friends. So, for ALL of you who knew about this, I congratulate you for not letting the cat out of the bag!!!

It was on the way to the B&B when I finally calmed down and stopped shaking. I called my dad and thanked him for my ‘surprise!" I’m still so happy and so surprised; it’s very surreal. My papa’s gift was a very unselfish and amazing surprise, I’m very lucky to have such great parents!!!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

This one is hands down, my favorite picture from my entire time in Bournemouth, England.

Notting Hill on a Saturday!

Buckingham Palace changing of the guard.

White Cliffs of Dover

Stonehenge

Us posing in front of Stonehenge with a local paper!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

THE Dress!

The title of this blog may be a slight teaser, because you see, you're not going to see any pictures of "The One." Kenny sometimes stops by here and I'd hate for him to catch a glimpse of the dress.

(I know you all must be SO disappointed I'm not going to wear the one on the left...I kid, I kid!)

But! I am so giddy and excited over this gown. I didn't have the magical moment when I first tried it one, and it certainly wasn't the first one I tried on, but after I put this one on and "sat on it" for a few days I knew it's the one I wanted to wear. I know it's silly but I think about it often throughout the day and I'm really sad I only get to wear it for one day.

So far my mom, Laura (maid of honor), Natalie (bridesmaid), my dad, and my grandma have seen the dress on me, and I think I'm going to keep it that way. I want people to be surprised at the wedding.

Anyway, I decided to write about it today because I'm going back to try it on again and get the size to order. We already paid (half the cost) a week and a half ago, but now I need to go and sign the contract and all that jazz!

Did you (or are you planning on) show your fiance The Dress before the wedding?

Friday, May 8, 2009

Friday Poll

*Wow! Two posts in one day and three within 24 hours? Consider yourselves lucky!*

The media sure has a way of freaking out the human race (remember the Hanta Virus and the West Nile virus?) But with the Swine H1N1 Flu, I was really scared for awhile. Sure, I'm also sometimes a hypochondriac, but the flu is something people can feasibly get! Combine the real-life threat with the fact that I was flying on an airplane while this pandemic was spreading didn't give me much comfort.

But then I realized that hundreds of thousands of people get the flu every year and more than that, people die from the regular flu! Anywho, long story short, I got over the media-hype and realized that I just need to be sanitary (wash my hands, use sanitizer, and keep myself healthy...like people should always be doing!).

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought that this silly scare will fly by sooner or later. (Ha. ha. get it? FLY by? Swine flu? When pigs fly?" Ha. Okay, that was kinda lame...)

Now for today's poll:
Are you... * Left handed
or
* Right handed

I hope you all are having a great Friday!

For All You Do

Today is Military Spouse Appreciation Day and even though I haven't joined the ranks yet, I'm learning to appreciate all that spouses do for our country and our men and women. As a previous girlfriend and present fiance, I've had my ups and downs of already dealing with what the military dishes out. I've been through a deployment (and preparing for another one), I've had dates changed on me, and have realized that nothing is ever certain till he's literally in the air on his way to his destination...and even then I'm pretty sure things are negotiable.

I've been very fortunate to meet some unbelievable military wives who have already made me feel welcome and I can't wait to meet more women like the ones I've already met.


p.s. I'll post the results of this past week's poll later this afternoon, but you can start taking the next one now. Oh! And check out the post I did late last evening (below).

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Someday My Life Will Begin

Some day my life will begin, but just not at this moment.

I'm so ready for my next chapter to begin that I can hardly stand it. I just watched Grey's Anatomy tonight and it sure reminded me of what love is.

Love is wanting to still touch someone even when they're dripping wet from humidity.

Love is making new friends with strangers even when the thought of "people" scares the heck out of you.


Love is putting up with families that are as different as night and day.


Love is moving across the world to follow someone because you can't stand another day without them.


Love is finding comfort in an email or a text when your significant other is thousands of miles away from you.


Love is being patient when she doesn't understand how to make gravy or how to hang curtains.


Love is realizing that someone is just as beautiful after waking up or after working out than they are when they get all dolled up.


Love is having durn good inside jokes to make each other laugh.


Love is understanding two people are different by finding balances between the two.


Love is taking naps on his lap when you know he'd rather be doing anything but wasting an hour of his day.

Love is feeling your heart ache, because it's missing its other half.


Love is giving up your dream of eloping in Vegas at a drive-thru chapel because your fiance has a dream of wearing a gorgeous dress.


Love is always saying goodbye, but knowing there will always be a hello.

Love is all around.


Love is.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Nice To Meet You!

I've been noticing a lot of traffic lately on my lil ol' blog, so I figured it'd be nice for a meet and greet type of post!

So what do you say? Are you ready to share a little bit about yourself? I see you lurking on here from Canada, the UK, Brazil, Virginia, Massachusetts, California...oh how the list could go on!

I know commenting on a blog may seem scary for some of you, but I personally love knowing I'm writing stuff that people actually read. Besides, you don't even need to sign up for an account! Just click the little "thoughts" down at the bottom of this post, copy and paste the questions, and write your own answers. Or shoot, don't even answer the questions, just say hello and tell me where you're from! (See, I even purposefully made it "thoughts" with the idea that more than one person would comment!)

Here, I'll even go first:
  • Hi, my name is: Jessica
  • Do you have any pets? I have two hamsters, Schmumfy and Harry, and a dog named Oreo.
  • What's your favorite food? I love chile and Italian food.
  • Have you ever lived in another country? Yep! I lived in England four years ago.
  • Have you ever met a famous person? I've met Drew Carey, Eddie Izzard, several musicians, and...yeah, I think that's about it.
  • What countries have you visited? Oh wow, Mexico, Canada, England, N. Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and France.
  • Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person? Morning!
  • How many cities have you lived in? Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Atlanta, and Bournemouth.
  • What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Coffee or cookies 'n cream. Put if it's from Cold Stone then I like coffee ice cream with apple pie filling and cinnamon sprinkled in it. Mmmmm...so good!
  • What's your favorite color? Red and black, which surprisingly are not the colors in my wedding.
  • What season do you like the best? Fall - it's gorgeous wherever you're living.
  • Where do you live now? Albuquerque, New Mexico
Okay, now it's your turn! Please? Pretty please?

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Catchin' Up...again

My apologies for being MIA again for the past several days. You see, I took a little weekend trip to Georgia to go see my man and when I go out there I seem to forget what a computer is. Spending time with him becomes my top priority. Anyway, this weekend his base was hosting an air show, so I got to see lots of fast plans in action; twas very fun if you ask me!The Thunderbirds in action!

If only I had a video camera! This guy was doing flips, twists and flying upside down!

:) Good times. I'm surprised I'm smiling despite the yucky humidity!

This is where my airman works. Notice just how gigantic those computers are! I think someone needs to let the Air Force know that computers come in much smaller packages these days!

And this is the plane he flies on, called the JStar!

I have about 50 more pictures from my trip - all from the air show - so I'll hopefully get them on my photo blog very soon (as in later tonight, maybe).

Since I was gone on Friday I missed out on the Friday Poll, so let me just recap that and get a new poll up now.
It looks like we have a few die-hard tweeters, but the majority of you are "just saying no" to Twitter. I wish I could've done that, but unfortunately I do have an account; I just don't update it all that often. Personally I like Facebook more...

Moving on to other business of the morning. For this week's short poll I thought I'd take a cue from the recent Swine Flu scare and see if you're letting the H1N1 Flu get in the way of your life:

Swine Flu thoughts:
* I'm freaking out, man!
* This too shall pass
*Whatever
*Other

Whew! Okay, apology (check), air show (check), poll (check), mention the swine flu (check). Ah. I know what I'm forgetting....


As many of you know, to my family Cinco de Mayo is more than just a day to enjoy margaritas. It's the day my dad was diagnosed with cancer (click link for that post).

I hope, if you haven't already, you'll check out the little button to the right that says "Help Me Fight Cancer." And I hope even more that you'll donate something...anything. It's because of donations and research (and prayers) that my dad is still alive today. Some of the medicines he was taking during his treatment were outragiously priced, but thanks to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (and from people who donated money), they gave him a sort of scholarship, so we didn't have to pay $3,000 per dose - I kid you not.

So while everyone is out drinking Coronas and eating yummy fajitas and guacamole, I'll definitely be thinking about receiving that phone call from my mom four years ago today. I hope you all have a fantastic Cinco de Mayo, and I also hope that maybe when you dip your chip into that salsa you'll remember what today means to me and my family and maybe, just maybe (!), you'll come back to this post, click the link, and donate some money so other people can enjoy their families on holidays.

 
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