heavens to betsy, it's good to be back.

since i left you on thanksgiving

so much has happened.

thanksgiving day-

woke up to a husband missing...

happy first thanksgiving married hunny - sent through a text

BIGGEST day for hunting.

this day is when I usually start rocking out to my Christmas music.

thanks to JB I've been secretly listening to him when the hubs is not around.

not this day... it was blaring so hard that when my brother called to wish us a

 Happy Turkey Day, I wished him a Merry Christmas instead. Opps!

before preparing my thanksgiving dishes, I thought I'd tell the hubby what

I'm thankful for.

so I wrote this and taped it to the front door for when he came home he'd see.

Aaron always gets lucky with a nice deer on this day, however not this year.

sorry babe.

 

we arrived at my uncle & aunts house at about 12:30 - most of my family were there.

we drank too much wine.

speaking for myself.

only like 5 glasses.

my aunt Amy and I were on a roll.

{full thanksgiving recap later}

i made our families traditional celery/olive/pickle dish...



both of these were demolished before dinner was ready. :) 

and my favorite -  

{how about my pretty willow house dish... LOVE IT} 

after dinner with my family, we headed back to our home town for

another feast with Aaron's family.

we were home & watching football by 8pm.

------------------------------------------------------

we were both back up at 5:00am

he was headed out the door to go hunting, while I was meeting my parents.

i left my hubby for the weekend & tagged along with Mom & Aaron {my dad} to Charleston for the weekend along with my steph sister, her hubby, & step brother.

First time to Charleston... LOVED it.

It reminds me so much of Savannah, would love to go back.

we shopped, shopped, and shopped.

we went to St. James Park on Saturday where they have a drive through Christmas light show. If you are close or even a few hours away from Charleston, you must do this.

it's $12 a car and totally worth seeing.

we got out at Santa's village & roasted marsh mellows & ate smores - a lot for children to do & see.{Rock Climbing, Train Rides, Carasols, etc.}

did I mention it was only the ladies.

Me. Momma. My step sister, Jennifer.

We walked around and walked through the trails to see more lights.

amazing.

seriously, you need to go.

another first timer for me, was shopping at Kohl's.

Wow.

We went there twice. Once Saturday & once at a different Kohl's before we left on Sunday.

We also made a trip to Best Buy on Friday night -

where I bought my hubby's big Christmas present...

I'm super proud.

however, i can not hide this - or should I say I didn't hide this very well.

a Christmas present delivered a month early.

remember in our second month of marriage when everything broke in our house?

okay well since then, we've been using his parents back porch T.V - 

Wa-La.

Not only did his mouth drop when my dad asked him for a hand to carry this bigN out of the motor home, but he also about crapped his pants when he saw the 8 bags of stuff also trampling into our house.

Let's just say, Our Christmas list went from 36 people down to only having to buy for 2.

Yes - I'm good.

Now for my favorite part. Wrapping.

Sunday  was spent with Aaron & unpacking.

It's always nice to get away, but wonderful to come home.

he was very happy to see me. ") {i'm blushing}

is it rude to admit when hearing him say "my weekend was lonely."

mind you he hunted all weekend but them came home to quiet.

i love it when he misses me.

we ended our weekend with dinner in the living room {pizza} & football.

it was great until ....

about 9:00 - my body took a turn for the worst.

I started to feel extremely sick.

minutes later - i was on the worst date of my life with our guest bathroom.

remember this day when me & the hubs were both out with the flu?

well it was deja vu' all over again for me - minus the body ache.

I stayed home from work yesterday - yuck.

let's just say Aaron was at the 24-hr gas station up the road from our house  Monday morning at 5am getting me gingerale - this body could not hold anything down.

it.was.awful.

 Here I am today -

back to ME - back to Jessica, feeling wonderful!

Thank you Lord!

 

 Oh - How could I forget, I did complete my fireplace Sunday evening also

Now - if we can just go get our Christmas Tree {Tonight maybe?}

... final picture.

Happy Tuesday Bloggers! :)

{please give a warm prayer for step-brother Chris, as he & my parents drive to Emory this evening for his first round of Chemo tomorrow morning.}

Oh. one more thing.

I had an anonymous blogger ask me to do a link up to share our engagement rings - she & her {soon to be} fiance' are ring shopping and she wants some ideas. So go ahead an prepare your posts, I hope to do this sometime this week.

Fill in the blank Friday...

FRIDAY

only it's Saturday...

I'm here on this beautiful {holy humidity} day stuck.in.the.office!

Work is so slow, why am I here? Oh wait, because I took the first two weeks off

of the month.

My husband is only 10 minutes from me along with the rest of my family

at my sisters house. Every year her and my brother in law host a 'boston butt cook-off'.

We brought our camper {for the first time} so we can enjoy the entire day and {sip on cocktails} ... oh wait. I'm at work. Our friends, Jon, Shanna, & their son Jonathan are joining us also.

Hurry up 2:00pm! I ready to join the crowd.

I'm bring these two things for my covered dish...

Spicy Chick Tortilla Rolls {Pinterest}

&

Taco Cups {Pinterest}

Both first timers for me. Both simple and delish!

Can't ya tell I love anything in the 'mexican' department.

Ohhh yummy. You just can't go wrong!

Ending this post with a little fun!

HAPPY SATURDAY!

 

1. The best thing I did all week was ________________

{get up with Aaron and enjoy breakfast together.

It really started our days off happy & also I found extra time in the evening to relax

due to getting house work done in the mornings! Why haven't I been doing this before?}

2._____________ make me super happy.

{walking in from a long a day of to find Mr Wonderful wearing my apron

preparing a wonderful dinner. AND the table set!}

3. Pets are _______________.

{another family member & a wonderful friend.}

4. _______________ is the best thing about my life.

{waking up to see another day. There isn't one best thing, life is really great in all aspects.}

5. With the cooler weather, I'm looking forward to___________________.

{That feeling I get every year when it first turns fall. The crisp air makes my heart feel so in love and warm. Snuggling up to a warm backyard camp fire. Making smores' and drinking hot chocolate [even though I drink it year around]. The look of pumpkins and the smell of a Christmas Tree. Thanksgiving Dinner! Boots, sweaters, and scarves...

Oh this.is.my.favorite.time.of.the.year!

6. Something that is on my wish list right now is _________________.

{a new closet make-over}

7. This weekend I am going to______________________.

{Well, half of it was stated before this fill in the blank linky, but LAST NIGHT

I had a Pure Romance party, it was a bachelorette party and yes, I will give myself a pat on the back for saying it was my BIGGEST party yet. Very happy.}

Standing Ovation for Darius Rucker!

Did anyone else give Darius a standing ovation in there living room, as I did last night?

via google

I'm 200% TEAM kids & adults with special needs.
I've always had a heart for special needs children & adults.
Best thing I did in high school was work with a few children from the special ED class. It changed my life and brought great happiness to my everday living. Since then, I've become apart of SOGA. Special Olympics of Georgia. It's been an extraordinary experience. My heart is full of love to help anyone with special needs. They do more for me, than I do for them♥

via google
The ACM's were on last night. It was great watching, as always. However, I never cry.
I cried last night. HUGH tears were dropping as the seconds past by. My heart was racing 90 to nothing, and I was wearing the biggest smile on my face. After this performance....

via google
I found myself of my couch, cheering this Country Singer and his talented special needs adults who sang behind him. I was clapping so hard, crying joyfully, and standing proud...
so happy and touched by this amazing performance. I could watch this over and over again. BEST part of my weekend!


I loved him as a Hootie & the Blowfish band member.
I love him as a country singer.
I love this man even more after this performance.
I have tears dropping as I type this.
He touched me tremendously♥

----------------------------------------------

This weekend was really great!

It was busy. It was fun. It was busy.

Friday- Work til 6pm. Had my second party as a Pure Romance Consultant.

Saw my first boobie. Focus Jessica... Focus. Sold $406 in product to only five ladies.

Once again, I'm proud of myself. Finishing late, I stopped by a friends house on the way home...Where my man was playing poker with the fellas. Not to bust in on the men, but to say good bye to my very good friend, Cj. We've been friends for years, close friends. He is moving to Dallas in two days. I'm completely broken hearted by this, however I know this change is good for him. We've been through a lot together and I will surly miss him.
I really hate good byes. I don't like people leaving my life. It's never easy for me.

Saturday- Work again. Pooh on that. We were supposed to be camping this weekend.
Our annual camping trip. Last Years Camping Trip. However, everyone agreed to cancel and switch it to another weekend. That being said, I never never have plans. My weekends are always booked. Went home, found out my amazing fisherman finace' won the bass tournament he & his friend Michael were in. Yay! Due to him being up at 4am to start the tournament, Aaron was pooped. As I watched a little TV enjoying my time, Aaron fell asleep there next to me. I woke him up after three hours because I was restless and needed to explore. We got an invite to play some tennis at the courts a few miles from our house. My tennis skills came back. Ending the night with a visit to the Waffle House with my bestie Kristie & her hubby Michael! They are always fun to be around.

Sunday- Happy 27th Birthday to Michael Chavis.
Aaron killed his first turkey of the year, yay!
Beach day with my ladies, Danni & Heather. We go way back.
Drinking a few daquiris on the beach, eating boiled peanuts, & catching up on our everyday lives... Yesterday was a beautiful day.
Ended my night in my LOVE's arms, watching the ACM awards!

First taste as a Business Owner = She's a Bad Mam'ma Jamm'ma...

Exhausted? 110%

Friday Night - The hubby to be and I had a date with Bass Pro Shop and Target.

Had intentions of grocery shopping at Walmart, but learned tht Target was just as good for the items we needed. [30 Smart Ones]  Our reasoning for hitting Target was because my dearest, hometown, blog friend Caitlin @ A Journey from Miss to Mrs. had her first wedding shower. Being we got caught in Bass Pro Shop for entirely to long... it lead us little time in Target. Wedding Registry? I realized I can not do this kinda thing. I was running in circles. Caitlins invitation had a recipe card attached to it asking for one of our recipes.

My mind instantly thought, Homemade Chicken Alfredo. I had all intentions of buying everything that went with this recipe. Food, [minus the Chicken and Broccoli] Frying Pan, Cutting Board, Etc. Being I stink at findind items on a registry && we were running out of time before Target closed. I left it with Aaron... Ha!

While I grocery shopped. Caitlin got the most random items, however "well, they were all on her list." [Quote Aaron] She still got the food to go with the recipe, however not a pan or cutting board.

Saturday - I had to work from 10am - 2pm. This was a day that didn't reeeeally have a lot going on, to everything. I went everywhere this day. Got up, showered, got ready. Filled my car up with gas. [my car had been out of gas for three days and had been using Aaron's truck.. I ran out in my driveway. ??? Who does that?] Headed to work. Clocked out. Dollar General. Bi-Lo. Office Max. Now headed to the Shower.

We live in a small town, so I was able to see a lot of people. It was great. Never seen so many woman in my life. I believe she opened gifts 5pm. [It was a Drop In] Left later than expected [I talk too much], headed home to do my cousins hair. [Voted -Most of hair I've ever dealt with] Took me three hours from start to finish. Time- 7:00pm. I've mentioned once before that I joined the Pure Romance Team. I am a consultant and even though I'm new at this... I'm very fimiliar with this company. Very good friend of mine, Karen works for this company and has been trying veeeerrrry hard for YEARS to get me to join. Well, Aaron and I decided it would be a great opportunity to start, so we can [hopefully] be 100% debt free by our wedding day. I had my product but didn't have a clue what I was doing to prepare for my FIRST SHOW that very next day, Sunday. So I put everything in my tubs and headed to Karens house, where she helped organize my showcase and guided me. [Karen is crazy successful at her job. I wanna make HALF of what she makes] Being I've hosted many, many, many shows for her for many, many, many years... I had a really big head start. I have also been shadowing her for weeks now, paying attention to everything. I left her house at 10pm. LONGEST DAY EVER!

Sunday - Was I nervous? Oh yeah. But felt so prepared and on top of things. Got up. Cooked Breakfast. Aaron left for Fishing & I jumped in the bath. Got myself ready and started getting everything together.  I went through all my stuff and practiced in my living room all morning long. Yes, my couch pillows were the best listeners. I set my display table up multiple times and before I knew it, it was that time to throw my clothes on and head for Metter, GA. Yes.. I still felt good, but was nervous at the same time. I left my house earlier, leaving me time to get lost. I texted my sister "I'm gonna need for you to give me a HELL YEAH, You got this, please!" Well she did and then she called me and boosted me up. When arriving I wasn't terribly nervous. Got in, set up and was ready to rock N roll. How'd the party go? Let's just say, I sold $600 of product and accessories! Being I made $240 after taken taxes & shipping out.

She's a Bad Mam'ma Jamm'ma!

MY first show ever. EVER! Definitely gave me confindence and the want for more.

 Holy Moly!

My goal was to sell $100 dollars and book another party. I didn't book a party, however I have a few ladies interested. So, I will be making calls... I will get my party from them.

Aaron worked all weekend as well. We was on call, so he fished in between, but had a veerrrrry busy weekend at Badger. He said they worked him over.

After my party. I went BACK to Karens house so she could show me how to enter everything and re-order. Once again, another late night. Got home around 9pm, around the same time  my Aaron was walking in the door.

We were BOTH exhausted and pooped. We Ate. Took our showers and hit the pillows.

Monday- My body hates me. Tonight will be an EARLY night for the both of us.

Weekend Recap -

Friday -
After getting off work, I rush home to throw myself together. Danielle [My Bestie/Partner in Crime] and myself were headed out to Savannah to have dinner at Wild Wing Cafe' & a few drinks! It was great! We got there early, before the party crowd showed up. We sat, talked, and laughed our little hearts out! It was so great to catch up. After dinner, we headed across the street to another bar Pour Larry's. Once upon a time, we used to rock this little basement bar out! After sitting there talking & watching the band set up, I noticed the lead singer looked very fimilar. [Hidden Element = A Band that the both of us and my other bestie, Heather absoultely adore. We are secretly infatuated with them.] Walden [We call him Waldo] is the lead singer and I've always thought he was some kinda sexy. I told Danni, I'm pretty sure that Waldo. It WAS! Yaaay! However, we were very sad to know he left Hidden Element! Time passed & our friend, Heather showed up. She too, was very excited to see Waldo! Having the three of us together was SO awesome. It's been so long. It wasn't too much longer, when we decided to call it a night. It was an early night compared to our old days, however it was late enough. - [Sadly, I took NO pictures]
Saturday-
I woke up with no voice. Whatever came out.. was terribly scratchy. I sounded like a man! However, I had to be at work and ready to knock it out [Tax Season] @ 10am. I was there and .... struggling. Not because I was tired or hung over... because I had a terrible head cold! We were SUPER crazy at work. The four hours passed in a hurry! After getting home, I had a choice of cleaning house... Scratch or resting. Well, Instead I did wedding stuff. I didn't want to sleep, because I would NOT get up in a great mood in order to make it to our friends [Brannen Edwards] birthday gathering that evening. [Once again, NO pictures]
Sunday-
I got up & struggled to have motivation to CLEAN. Boy have I been a slacker housewife! Seriously, I've been bad. So, once Aaron left to play golf that morning, I started reaarranging my spare room. I had to move the futon in order to lay out all my wedding crafts. I couldn't handle it any longer in my living area. That got me in the mood to organize and CLEAN. Only 3 hours and my house was done! It was great. I took a 1.5 hour HOTT HOTT bath, went to visit my Mom & Dad for a bit and headed back home to prepare for the Super Bowl Party! Aaron's parents host a hugh party every year [This year we had about 75 people attend]. I made Buffalo Chicken Dip [It was gone after the first hour] for the party! It's one of my favorites! I wasn't really rootn' for either team. Aaron was pulling for the Steelers, so I went with him. However, friends of ours [Paul & Amanda] are die hard GreenBay Packer Fans. Well, More Paul and Amanda has no choice. :) I was excited for the both of them and wanted their to win just because it was their team! Make Sense? Good! Below are a few pictures I captured of the party. Mostly of Paul & Amanda....




This is Brandon AKA Buddah... He was rootn' for the Steelers.

And after the game, I was able to snap a few. Aaron too, was pulling for the Steelers!

Today, I am hating myself for not resting. I am SOOOOO sick, working, and REALLY kicking myself in the ASS for not resting. Pardon my french. I need a bottle of NyQuil!

holy.poop.

What.a.busy.busy.weekend.

Before I explain, let me apologize for my absences on the last three days of the blog challenge!

Frown! Yawn!

I had no time, whatsoever to keep up this weekend. If I would have known it was going to be this hectic, I would have prepared! So, please excuse me being completely unprepared!

However, I did have a fabulous weekend. I had much fun,but super tired!

Friday - After work, I rushed home to attend The Drew Christmas Party. Aaron's daddy's side of the family. They decided to do it a little earlier this year because his cousin lives in the Dominican Republic & was headed back today. It was good, but I had to leave a little early. Before knowing about this party, I already RSVPed to my girlfriend, Rachel's Gingerbread Christmas Party. So, I left there to attend that. It was great fun. However, I did not get home until REALLY late. I will post all the pictures from the party sometime this week.

Saturday- I had to work. Which usually isn't bad. It's only four hours every other weekend. BUT, due to my lack of sleep, I got up late. Looked horrible, in my car to find it NOT starting [ran out of gas in my driveway, ha. didn't even know]. I rushed inside, told Aaron... Grabbed his keys and headed to work. When I drove up in my parking spot, it dawned on me....

I did NOT have my key to open the store. holypoopwhatamigoingtodo! I was panicing. I called Aaron. In my hectic, freak out voice said get here, asap, now, with my keys! "Get here now" is impossible. We live 35 minutes away. So... I prayed very hard to not be very busy and thank goodness we were not, until I sat at my desk and then everyone trampled in. Blah! Clock out at 2, got home and wanted to sleep... but needed to put my outside lights up. :( [I was thinking about the blog challenge] Succeeded in that, we went simple this year. Finished in time, to get a shower and get ready for my Sisters 30th Birthday Celebration. Again, it was small and simple, but we had the best time! :) My parents were taking her out to dinner & we tagged along.

Mom, Aaron [Step Dad], Me, Aaron, Kim & Tommy piled up and went to Mexican restaurant in Statesboro, El Sombrero! It was great! We drank Margaritas & laughed the night away. We then tried to see a movie, but they all started too late. Kim & Tommy have four kids, so the don't get out much. But, we didn't wanna go back just yet, so....went to Walmart  [ha] && shopped for random stuff. But had the best time... 6 of us... together... in Walmart... it was great!

Sunday- I did get to sleep a little, but I was up and ready to meet the ladies I used to work with [when I work for the Salon/Spa]. We had lunch at a restaurant called Cheddars. It was great & nice to catch up. Came home, changed and went to my in laws house. They were having a gathering for the Falcons game. In which they beat Tampa! Go Falcons! In the middle of this, I left to support my hometown friend, Caitlin who also blogs A Journey from Miss. to Mrs. She is in the middle of planning her wedding, in Nursing School, and now she and her future MIL have start their own boutique. [They have a website, but it is under construction, I will share it with y'all later] I'm super excited for her. Go check her out! She's great & has a really awesome blog! [Excuse Caitlin for lack of Blogging, but she has been very busy]

After attending her party, I went back to the in laws.

So... Again, I'm sorry for my absence!

I have another busy week ahead & weekend!

My girlfriend, Heather is graduating Georgia Southern University Friday. SO, verrrry proud of her! Saturday is our hometown Christmas Parade & my other Girlfriend, Holly's Dance Studio is performing so I must be there to support the precious girls & that night is MY Tacky Christmas Party, in which I am SUPER pumped out. Sunday... I'm not doing a darn thing! Nothing. Not ONE thing. I'm staying in my PJ's all day.

Happy Monday!

( Yaaaawn! )