Earth to Jessica, I'm ALIVE!

hell-Oo friends!!!

Where on earth do I begin? Maybe with explaining my absences on le blog. Well, I'm here to say that life kicked back in the last lane for Aaron and myself.

We've been non-stop for weeks now. It's one thing or another - but we aren't complaining terribly.

Truthfully, I started slacking in the blog area back when I signed myself up for an 8 week challenge that I have promised to update you all about - loosing weight?

Yeah - complete fail. Which in fact, is why I did not really write about it.

I hated that I failed. It's totally bummed me out. Seems like I get a burst of motivation && them wham - it's gone.

Remember when I was running daily? I will filling up your instagram with random running shoes & sweaty facial pictures daily. I was doing SO good. However, my hometown went through a time when it rained for like 5 days straight and sadly that's my excuse on why I quit running. I believe I lost like 5 or 6 lbs?

Yeah, well I gained it back. && became more bloated it seemed.

Me = completely miserable.

Then I dropped the $$$ for a 6 day body detox which I completely failed.

I don't think I made it through the second day. I bought thermus, hand held blenders, a lunch tote && LOTS of fruit & veggies. I did manage to eat a lot of fruit & go more natural however, the detox was horrible. I could not for the life of me

get anything to taste normal. My shakes were gritty & ... just not pleasant.

I struggled terribly getting it down. By the time I was ALMOST finished with breakfast shake/smoothie it was lunch... another one? Yes, && by then it was Dinner. Needless to say I still have an entire kit. Anyone want it? I'll ship it to ya!

Because I'm out.

Where I am at with my weight goal? So I went on my trip with my

friends from Middle School, which was a complete success. Awesome weekend & yes, I wasn't quite where I wanted to be, FAR from it. In fact, I had to go bathing suit shopping because I have NEVER like the story Moby Dick & I was NOT gonna look like him on the beach.

However, as of today. I've been going to the gym every morning && learned that I love running on the treadmill. Seriously. So much easier?! Ay?

I signed up for weight watchers last week for a 3 month trial && I've lost 6 pounds so far.

SIX POUNDS IN ONE WEEK.

Hard work pays off. I'm not taking my diet life to serious yet as serious as I want to be which is pretty damn serious. What I mean by it is, last night I had ice cream.

Not the weight watchers kind - my throat was killing me && I had a headache.

It's the only thing that seemed to make sense. I'm not going to beat myself over it.

Enough of that.

Aaron and I are 1.5 weeks away from celebrating our

 FIRST Wedding Anniversary.

Saaaay WHAT?
Can you believe it? ONE YEAR.

Which is another reason I've been away from the blog. All my time has been looking up && planning out our trip to Destin, Florida.

 

 I have a lot planned for the blog to you must not give up on me.

I have a few guest bloggers coming to visit, a "Paper" tutorial {hence, first wedding anniversary gift} & several other wedding/anniversary related posts.

Super fun!

Last but not least, I'll tell you my fingers, toes && every other part of my

body that can be crossed is cross && have been for months now.

I've been looking to transfer to another location with a raise && promotion...  I want this so bad - so if you could say a prayer for me, it would be awesome. I'd love you always && would appreciate it.

&& ....

The hubby and I have been house searching.
Whaaaaaa-t!!!

That's right. We are looking for our start home to raise our little ones
who have no been created yet {nope, not preggers} with a LOT more space
&& something we can grow into for the next 10 years!

Hours && Hours - Texts back-n-forth ALL.DAY.LONG looking, searching -
getting pre-approved by the bank {score!} && then walking through...
It's tiring but very exciting. As of yesterday, I believe we found THE ONE.

I'm in love.

House talk comes later. We are into the paper work now, so you'll
here more soon. {hopefully}

For now, my time has come to an end.
This blog && my typing actions will be back in gear...
Don't forget to come back next week!

Xo, j

Fourth of July {Take One}

Yesterday was such a wonderful day.

I spent the Fourth of July celebrating with my dear friend, Holly & her family.

Every year, Aaron & I are invited to this big cookout her parents host annually but

every year we are usually out of town. That being said, the 4th fell on a Wednesday

therefore we had no plans {until the weekend to follow}.

Our dear friend, Nathan is moving out of State on Friday so Aaron actually spent most of the day with him soaking up the sun {in sweat} fishing here & there.  I headed over to the gathering early before his arrival.

Mattie & Kendal {Holly's girls} being just as cute as ever!

Boy was it HOTT!

Seriously, I'm not used to it. I sweat worse than the average girl {gross} - it did not take

much for ALL of us to be drenched in sweat. We played multiple games

of cornhole, in which I was totally off my game. Our last tournament I was partnered up with Holly's Dad, in which he is REALLY good - I was so nervous. We ended up

hanging in there for a very long time, playing game after game but did not do good enough to win. It was still fun.

&& Eventually I went to pick my better half up to where he could

enjoy all the socializing & CH tourneys.

Caitlin, Me, Ashley & Holly trying to cool off in the shade while

watching the action from afar.

We had a wonderful time over at the Raulersons sharing this

holiday && to end the night, Mr. Lawrence gave us a beautiful loud firework show.

It was such a wonderful day & I was so happy to have finally spend it

with Holly & her family.

♥ getting ready for the fireworks

Holly & Matt also ready to watch the show

I did not even pull my camera out - ugh! I'm slacking now a days.

Thank goodness for camera phones!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July celebrating our

countries Independence! We have one more round of celebrating this Saturday with our family & more friends! Maybe I'll do better with taking pictures!



Farewell 26.

photo credit

Today is my twenty-seventh birthday - how fun♥ I love birthdays of all kinds. But I must confess that turning twenty-seven feels bittersweet. Cheers to another year of life - Thank you Jesus!  It is not because I hate growing old because I am probably the only lady you will meet that actually likes growing old. What, how, & why - right? Every year gets bigger, better & happier. Why would I not?  But saying farewell to year twenty-six and welcoming age twenty-seven has probably been the birthday that I've actually thought about what really happened in my life and where I've been. What is next? What can ever top age twenty-six? Can happier exist? 

My twenty-sixth year of life was definitely the most memorable year I've ever had, hoping it won't be the last or the only. As good as life has been in all my twenty-seven years, twenty-six was my most comfortable, my most joyful and the one year where I grew a completely different outlook on life and definitely on love with a lot of small memories in between. That being said, I also realized that every day is a new day and you can never take for granted the people in your life.

Speaking of getting old, I've realized some changes with my age this year:

1.} I've weakened in the catagory of "motion sickness".
On our honeymoon, our Bahamas Vacay & our Deep Sea fishing trip - all three
I was at some point weezy from the water. That's never happened before.

2.} When I stick my hands under the blow-dry hand machine in a
public restroom, my skin ... sadly it has more elasticity && it's not as "tight".

3.} Life is to precious to take for granted.  I've always known this
but this year, my eyes were really opened to how valuable life really is. It scares the shiii outta me yet I've learned to appreciate every waken second - my life is precious
& so is the people around me. Tomorrow is not promised.

4} Changes in my body.
I never understood when people said the older you get the harder it is to drop weight,
I thought they were nuts - well I am experiencing it now.
Also, my face is no longer take a nights rest with a days worth of makeup.
If I do not wash my face before bedtime, I pay for it.

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

Cheers to 27 years of life. It's been so awesome words can not describe.
Life is great. I'm happy. I'm healthy. I'm in love. && I'm MARRIED!

I look forward to what this year has to hold.
Let's see if it can top it?! Ya think?

Uh, Duh? Of course!

photo credit

VLOG {Epic Fail}

Yep!!! That's right, I humiliated myself && that's pretty hard to do.

Okay. So I rushed home today to prepare for my Vlog.

I had no idea what I was doing being this was my first time.

NEVER is my husband showered and ready to settle down when I get home...

but today? Yeah - he was.

Let's just say I BEGGED him to leave the house, I was really really shy.

I am NOT a shy person anyone can tell you this. But being behind a camera, talking to it...

ONLY YOU - It's a bit intimidating.

I was really feeling dumb.

So. Not only did I lock Aaron in his man room but I also had to turn the TV on.

Seriously, I was dying of embarrassment.

I go through my ENTIRE VLOG ... I show & Tell EVERYTHING.

I turn it over && it stopped RIGHT before I started showing my items.

UGH?!
Before you watch, You should know:

I was so nervous.
Watch out for adnormal weird faces
My video is super dark even though it wasn't before I downloaded it.
Please Excuse the music.
Massive Cleavage due to my horrible posture. {Usually have pretty good posture}
Dont Judge.

&& so I try to pick up where I left off.



&& it's officially an EPIC FAIL.
... Apologies for my ANNOYING ANNOYING hand gestures.
I could NOT quit moving them around. My nerves were killing me!

&& then I tried one more time && this is what happened....



Clearly you can see VLOGING is not my thing. My voice was weird.
My boobs were hanging out every where.
I didn't get to show you hardly anything && I even shared POSITIONS!!!

Maybe I can try again soon && really share some of my favorites.
Until then, Peace ouT! My husband has had enough.

"... But everyone is doing this." excuse is no longer working. He needs my attention!

There was this one time, I went to the Bahamas.... && I never blogged about it.

Yeah, that's right, back in April me, my husband & our parents went to the Bahamas.

Yes - I said it. I cruised with my in-laws & parents.

Maybe I've never really explained our relationship on le blog but

I am pretty tight with my parents and for in-laws, we have a very close bond.

Don't get me wrong.

We tried to get a lot of other people to tag along -

It was just the six of us and might I had it was freaking awesome!

So April 19th the six of us packed up in one vehicle and ventured down to Jacksonville, Florida

to set sail on the Fascination Carnival Ship.

We cruise carnival mostly. Actually, I've never cruised anything else.

We actually left earlier than we really needed to because when we got on board

there wasn't a whole lot to do - Aaron & his dad are BIG gamblers.

My parents like it too, but not as addicted as the The Drew men.

Being we were still in the U.S - the casinos weren't open until later that night.

So we walked the ship and got to know where everything was.

.... waited for the most important yet most boring class {life boat class} there is.

.... &&& another one.

&&& then we pretty much forced ourselves into our rooms so we could make ourselves a drink as we waited on our luggage. {the worst part for me... so nerve racking & scary}

We enjoyed our first time having rooms on the very back of the ship - we loved this much better than a side view. Not really sure why but the balcony view was beautifully-amazing!

We opened all the doors so we all had space to party room to room! :)

I love this picture even though my feet look CRAZY long. I mean, I have big feet but not like this.

&& yes, I wore my little cowgirl hat for my dad. You will see he wears his && loves when I wear mine too.

It's become the thing to do on the past cruises we've been on - watch the sail away from our balcony.

Before long, it was time for dinner. In which is the one night I didn't really take many pictures. I depended on Aaron's parents camera. {&& also the reasoning for this post being so late. I was trying to wait on their copies and when I finally got them on a disc, I don't know how to use it. UGH!}

NO PICTURE OF THE FIRST NIGHT - FAIL.

However I will introduce you the cutest little boy on the ship... even those this was not taken on the first night, I will still spare the space and show you the little man who wouldn't quit staring at me...

every night.

Day two = a day at sea.

Being it was a three day cruise we only had one day at sea, which sucks.

But we did spend a lot of time around the pool - we watched the Hairy Man contest {in which we tried to get my Dad to enter, he rocked the house last cruise & carried home the title...  as he played Rambo} && my favorite... people watched.

Which is where a very funny story comes into play...

... Aaron and i slept in everyday except the last morning.

It was great - so breakfast was room service && ate on the balcony.

Aaron always takes the best pictures. I mean, he waits so patiently until I'm ready.

Again, the water and view was astonishing. Ahhhh....

Now onto the pool -

The very first thing we do is order us a fruity drink. I'm usually head-over-heels in love with Miami Vice' ... && I was - however I tried something new, this was "Twilight".

it was good but It didn't match my ritual.

... I hate when he steals my cherries but I love it when he "thinks" I don't know.

I'll be honest and say that he was in no mood for laying out by the pool. He has lost about $300 the night before in the Casino & $100 already that day. {we HAD to hit the casino up before going to lay out} But because he is an awesome person, he knew this was on my list of to-dos.

So here is the story.

I'm laying out - getting my suntan on fried as Aaron goes to get us a drink.

There was a group of men & ladies behind us that I noticed now {the men} were now down below us onto the left - by this spray on tattoo stand. I didn't really know what was happening but I kept hearing them laugh so hard. I assumed the guy got a tattoo && maybe his friends decided to change the tattoo of his choice. They were all hysterical && I could hear the ladies behind me talking about it wondering too - what the hell was going on.

So Aaron comes up && little did I know he was right by the bar of the tattoo stand. Apparently the guy lost a bet and THAT... that up there was what he had to do. Best part, it lasts two weeks.

This thing was huge. Later we ran into him coming out of his room {which was across from ours} && we had quite the chat. He was so embarrassed.

Hairy Chest Contest

It was great.

Of course the guy with no hair on his chest {hence the shirt, he did at one point have it off}

won - and of course he was from Georgia. Imagine that - but he had the crowd going crazy.

It was great - I may or may not have went down on stage && danced my ACE off.

-----

Night two - Captains Night

I was fried. Aaron started his "I like to act like Jean Claude Van Dam with our towel buddies". I was ...

drinking a LOT.

Seriously, I love this man for making me laugh every single day of my life.

But really???

He is my man-child.

That was BEFORE dinner. Well this is in between dinner & ... whatever we were doing.

 Notice the two different animals? {Ohhh and I filmed him. Do I dare show it?}

And then we tried to take a picture (10 second style) like we did on our honeymoon... and it may or may not be inappropriate to share...

notice the two drinks we just made ourselves??? Yeah - we were lit. I was definitely.

&&& then dinner took place.

This is my drunken night - I was lit. Totally. This was the night I said what the hell & became friends with every single dealer there was because my husband loved losing money. This was the night I may or may not have gotten videoed while shaking my ACE .... again walking down the main deck!! This was the night I entertained our party as they watched me ... be shit faced. Speaking of shit... this was the night I ended up in the bathroom with the total  shiiits. My dad still to this day has no idea why or where I went when I told him to hold on for a minute when he asked me to shake my tail feather to the oldies along with him - one of our favorite things to do together.

Baaahaha.. Yes. I said it. Yes. I just announced it on le blog.

Remember me being Gluten Free? Well, it's true - when your body gets accustom to one way of eating and then you {try very hard to stay on track} eat everything the cruise ship has to offer

PLUS drinking ALL.DAY && ALL.NIGHT --- NON-Stop ... you find yourself at the end of the night in the bathroom. Yikes!

This was also the night that my parents tucked me into bed as my husband gambles away having the time of his life knowing nothing about my shitty-ness.

This was the night that turned into morning && I woke up to this....

Whoa. we are back in the game && swing of things.

Have I mentioned I love to play Roulette. Don't let me fool you - I was playing every night & day too... losing my ass.

Day two - Nassau, Bahamas

We woke up to this view -

Being we've all been here many times && have done most of the excursions, we decided not to do any. With Senor Frogs around the corner - I was happy as can be with partying away.

So we walked the straw market && then stopped in for lunch.

... && that's when things got interesting-ly weird.

my husband was in love with this wood carving - we wanted a fish {in which he has one from many years ago as a kid} but it wasn't good enough. He was just totally at AWE by these carvings ---

he bought a hermit crab.

... I know - that's what I said.

It sits in his man room at home && while I must admit, it was pretty cool looking.

But still... really?

... && I thought a hermit crab was a bad choice.

Whoa - who would buy that? It seems very uncomfortable to me. Check out the detailed {I'm whispering} balls on the horse.. Whoa!

&& then I saw these, in which we got a kick out of.

Okay, so we didn't buy any. I kind of wanted to but I would feel totally weird even picking it up to purchase it.

Then I saw this really cool man who wanted me to buy his coconut from him.

How cool - fresh coconut milk.. I have to have one.

worst thing I've ever put in my mouth.

the taste of HOT MILK... coconut milk at that - puke!

I threw it away immediately.

Gross - Aaron tried to warm me. At least I can say I've tried it. {blahhh}

my husband gets his shortness honest - This thing about swallowed Mrs. Kandi -

Onto to Senor Frogs we go -

at this very moment I realized I passed ONE frog I was told to visit && to be careful of his wandering hands. In case you have no idea what I am talking about, check out Raven's guest post from her trip to the Bahamas.

I went back for you Raven! ♥

We get there. We drink. We order & we take shots.

Me at my best.

Not really - but that jello shot was hard to get down!

Wait... what's this all about???

I mean, I can't help I was looking pretty fly that day....

Ha! No really..

it was my lunch they were big-eyed about -

it was so good!

&& that's when two things happened. Some random employee decided to put this on ME...

... in which I immediately thought of Raven AGAIN - && knew something she asked has to happen.

&& then the Wobble came on.

What do I do...

Dance my ACE off.

&& we danced, watched an extremely {too old to be making out} couple get their freak on on the dance floor - it was pretty hysterically gross.

We drank && before you knew it was it was time to go.

But wait... before we do., We have to find the Sex Machine finger-pointer.

"Aaron you HAVE to take this picture - it's for Raven, my blog friend" - he totally thought I was destroying our family at the moment but I didn't.

Yes, this is photo shopped writing on this napkin. But if you look closely it says the same thing in pen written on out napkin.

 

Seee??? You were thought about the whole time!

&& that was that. We completed out scavenger hunt that my dearest blog friend requested!

We headed back on board.

Do you see our room?

We went back to our rooms, settled down && soon it was time to say good bye to Nassau.

Dinner - 3rd night {in which I was not feeling great. I could float away from all the food I had eaten in the past few days... I think I ate soup for dinner}

No, I did not walk around with my dress that long - don't judge.

I had my shoes off...

Mr. Paul {FIL} sings. Have I ever told you that?

We watched his Karaoke && raise the shirts off of peoples back as he sang Unchained Melody -

It was amazing - he got a standing ovation.

&& Soon to follow we went to play Bingo {for the first time which is very usual}

I remember standing in line with Aaron - waiting to get all of our bingo cards && saying "I've never won a game of bingo in my life. Not even as a kid. I don't know why I love this game so much."

The game starts - being there was about 300 people playing, the first to get the B & the O line straight down wins.

Well my card sucks, along with everyone elses. Time passes & several people are standing up {they ask you to stand up when you have one number left to be called.

I hear my Mom tell my Dad to make sure to check his numbers in case he misses one.

So I did. && I miss O63 - which lead me to ONE number. I stand up grinning big..

069

BINGO!!!!

They checked my card & there I was the winner of the $500 jackpot.

Hell to the yes!!

I think I was more excited about screaming bingo than actually comprehending winning $500.

Let's have a drink on THAT.

We ended up playing the casino a little and then calling it a night - we hit room service as we watched some new Disney movie out. Being I didn't eat much at dinner, it started to catch up with me.

our ritual mid-night snack every cruise we take {clearly it isn't a snack}.

We woke up to NOT being ported at Freeport, Bahamas.

The water was so rough & it was more of a danger to port rather than keep sailing.

So we actually had another day at see. However, we spent our day a little differently other than than JUST the pool side.

The water was rough. The waves were huge && we may or may not have had a great big conversation topic on Christopher Columbus && this voyage across the ocean in a wooden boat...

sitting in these two very comfy chairs right here.

But we didn't let that stop us.

We {as country bump-kins} signed up for the cornhole tournament, along with about 15 other people. Remember, we all live in a one red light town - cornhole is a weekend ritual for us.

As you can tell, it was a little different. There wasn't a partnership - it was you by yourself.

The ladies stay a few rounds however it was our men who dominated.

1st, 2nd, 3rd, & 4th place - our men & a random guy who has never played before.

It came down to Aaron & his Daddy for 1st & 2nd ---

... && the winner is --

Aarons very first "24K plastic, Ship on a Stick"

Off to the casino.

I didn't mention earlier, but on the "Day at Sea" day, we all joined in on a "Slot Machine Tournament" - Momma, Mr. Paul & my Dad placed in the top therefore we all had to meet up to watch them play the finals.

Momma almost took the winnings but a Red Hat lady took home the title! It was fun && exciting.

Meanwhile, Aaron couldn't stay away...

Thank goodness he didn't because he won more at the tables -

He was SO lucky. Seriously, he had the HOT hands after the second day on the ship.

Last night = awesome night!

excuse the boobies. Whoa. a little much!

After dinner we went to watch the BEST, and I say the BEST show I've ever seen on a cruise.

It was a musical - 80's style!

Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow any pictures or cameras, but I wish I could share some of the show - it was awesome. Very talented singers & dancers. We all enjoyed it thoroughly.

Us at the show.

The night ended... I'm not really sure. The "double" we both ordered at the show has us ... Yeah, tipsy again! I know Aaron and myself ended it by eating mid-night pizza.

&& that is the LONGEST re-cap ever! But that was our trip. It was great. Of course, not everything was captured or written down but that's what WAS captured...on our camera. Maybe when I can figure out this disc, I can show the first night.

Oh and - we may or may not have come home with $2100 richer.

Until then. Peace out!