True Friendship. Sisterly Love.

Sometimes I will stumble onto someone's Facebook profile and start perusing the most random thing...and then get totally sidetracked and spend a good 30 minutes focused on this one thing. Well tonight, that happened with my sister's Facebook page and her amazing collection of profile pictures. :D Whether artistic, funny, beautiful, funny, they're all each more cooler than the next :)

I couldn't help but share this one with you. It's fabulous, hilarious, and makes me love my sister so much. :)

xo . jess

Aspen I

I know I know. I'm a faceofmyblogchangingwhore. I just love changing things, finding new backgrounds, creating new headers. Keeps it fresh! :P Okay, truth is, we all know I get super bored with stuff like that. I know I've blogged about it before - but I really like the way this one turned out so far, so expect for it to stay this way for awhile ;) 


I had planned this morning to get up at 7:30 to spend some serious time blogging with you, but unfortunately, my soft sheets and the ability to hit the snooze and actually stay in bed, got the better of me :) And so..two hours later with my time being a little more limited, a steaming cup of coffee and crazy ass hair (you should see it this morning!)...here I am ready to share more Aspen goodness with you! 


To start from somewhat the beginning, we spent the weekend at my friend Bev's parents house. They live in a little town right before Aspen and are the world's greatest hosts. Wine is always there for you, breakfast basically ready when you wake up, skiing 10 minutes away from their house, hot tubbing, and they take you to the *best* places to eat while you're visiting. It's all around fantastic! So up we went on Friday afternoon once we'd all made it through the day of work hopping from one foot to the other all day with excitement and made it safely through the snowy mountains by around 10pm. 

Next morning we got up and spent the afternoon skiing which we of course couldn't manage without showing some of our true colors to being girls :)...aka we each got whiny about something :P my mom with her dang asthma coughing up avalanches everywhere...Bev and her socks that were making her foot hurt, which we later realized that it was actually her dad's sock she was wearing - didn't feel good - and then the queen of all things dramatic, yours truly, decides she's going to get herself separated from the group and spends a good hour getting lost on Snowmass ski resort. :) Oh no..I'm not making anything up. But all things ended well and my wits and ability to hold back the tears of frustration while walking around a strange ski resort all alone paid off in the end and I found my group all on my own in the end :P No, I'm still not making that up. 

After our mountain adventures we returned to our beautiful private hotel, did I mention Bev's parents own a beautiful victorian home???, and dipped our sore butts in the hot tub, glasses of wine at the ready. Once we got ourselves all pruney and I myself a little tipsy (hey - hot tub + alcohol can through lightweights for a loop, okay?) we got ourselves presentable for the evening and headed into town to stuff our bellies at Smokey's: an amazing bbq restaurant! 

There was somewhat of a wait when we first got there so what better to do then snap some shots of us beautiful ladies? :) 

After the best bbq pork, chicken, and other goodies were devoured we politely ditched the fam and drove us ladies into Aspen to have a couple drinks. Regardless of the cold we trotted through snow to window shop a couple streets downtown, laughed, drank, and people watched some funky Aspengoers :) Saturday went by so fast and was filled with so much fun that we sort of forgot a little bit of everything around us, including to take lots of pictures :) But day two we were much better prepared and the day was even more fabulous. I'll be back tonight to share you the rest of the adventures, as well as give you lots of tips for shopping goodies if you ever visit Aspen! And of course I have to show you all the goodies I got myself :)

 For now I hope you have a wonderful hump*day and enjoyed my weekend rants. Leave it up to me to turn a weekend's trip into a week long series of posts :P I know, it's talent. 

xo . jess

Hair Too{s}day.

Volume 7: romantic winter headband

Welcome to my  weekly tutorial  of what do to with your hair!! People are always asking me 

"How did you do that to your hair?" 

And so here are my answers, trials, and step by step tutorials of 

"How you can do that to your hair, too!"

Hi kids, 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! We made it safely back down from the mountains even though we were sad to leave Aspen. However, we can't deny that we made it just in time, because Denver Colorado is getting snowed in to it's little nose at this very moment. 

And I'm praaaying, for a snow day. 

I have some new fun things prepared for you this week and since I have decided to theme this week's posts all about Aspen I can't wait to get started with the first Aspen post :) aaaand since it's Tuesday and I've vowed not to miss another tutorial week it's an 

Aspen themed Hair.Too(s)day !!!

>>I'm also introducing a new fun thing I will do every other times..which is to feature other lovelies that have inspired me for hair do's. If you'd like to be featured as one of my guest inspirations email me or leave me a note in my comment box!<<

what you need:

- a thick, warm, knitted headband such as this ^ (I purchased mine at a hand made shop in Aspen over the weekend called misstyx. I've seen them sold however also at Target, Forever21, and other common retailers.)

- at least day old hair --> best hair for the perfect pony tail. 

- hairspray

- a hair tie

- bobby pins for too short hair loose pieces

what you do: 

- If you have bangs like me and you are following the "second day hair" instruction from above, give your bangs a little fix, smoothing, or quick refresher with the blow dryer (my most recommended). 

- Gently begin to gather your locks at the crown of your head. Don't make a super tight gymnastics girls pony tail. Let the texture of your hair give you the hold to create volume in your pony tail. 

- Inspect the ends of your pony tail - if my hair is curly, because of the shape of my hair cut, my pony tail never lays or "hangs" cute!? so I always touch up my ends with my curl stick or flatiron. 

- Once you've secured your pony and touched up the ends, pull it upward a little bit in a teasing motion to create messiness. Hairspray will help you hold on to that messiness. 

- My hair is still just a tad to short so I get fall out pieces in the back that I softly secure back up. (I hate when it's all pulled tight and you can see the bobby pin, so I always try to hide it good. 

- Make sure you're not pulling too tight so that you loose softness. I think soft, messy ponytails are so romantic and chic. 

- If you're satisfied, take your headband and slip it on from the back, gently placing it the way you want it on your head - especially if you have a flower like mine - and untucking your ponytail gently when you're happy. 

- Give the whole thing a little spray. 

- Pull and play with your bangs to keep it sweet and playful. 

- Voila..you've got yourself an adorable feminine look that will keep you warm on a cold winter's night out. 

Leave it to me to fall in something baby pink so much that I can't wait but to immediately wear it and pair it with my mint colored scarf. Could I be wearing anymore colors?

>>and now for the first time ever my first ever<<

guest**inspiration

kristy lynn schultz

about kristylynnschultz: 

We met when I lived in Michigan for a short period of time right after mr.ray and I got married and she became a friend I simply adored. The sweetest person with the biggest heart, amazing hair, and effortless style I could only drool over, I've ever met :)

why kristylynnschultz: 

Kristy was wearing this style back when I first met her in MI. I always adored it and never thought I could (nor did I try to) pull it off. I intend to copy Kristy's adorable unique twist of wearing hers like she does here. 

Kristy - I adore you so  and miss seeing you. Hope you don't judge me if I make an inspiration board of just you for myself. ;) xo , jess

Last but not least..in order to not overwhelm you with just a huge photo heavy post with pictures from Aspen, I'm including them pieces by pieces spread throughout this week's posts. 

These are of Bella and I after we'd slipped into our jammies after an amazing Italian dinner at Bella Mia in Aspen, and were goofing around on the floor in Lori's kitchen. I'm including these here, because you can see the way I styled my pony tail that day with my headband (minus the headband, of course).

Happy Hair.Too(s)day, hope you all enjoy. 

xo . jess