sunshine, snow + Nutella drizzle.

Although I was very happy to have today off, it was a bittersweet teaser since I have to go back tomorrow until Friday before I get to enjoy the weekend like the rest of the lucky weekenders :) In the meantime, either the weather or work got to me a little yesterday with chills + a fever and so I didn't plan much for this free Tuesday. 

And so.. trotz chills and a crummy tummy when I got home from work yesterday, we had to get Oli on a walk in the amazing sunshine. Little did we know that we would discover the coolest little park in our backyard. 

Spring time is just around the corner :) 

it's a simple fact: i have the cutest dog in the world. 

I think my running shoes and I are going to have some magical mornings in the near future. 

Foooollow the leeader!

i'm in dire need of new shades. hence the reason i'm sporting these oversized giants :)

i dreaded leaving the couch, but by this point was sooo glad N forced me out the door. 

especially since 12+ hours later ... ... ...

i was back to my down jacket + beanie

don't worry Colorado. we love you for the bipolar weather bitch you are :)

 N surprised me for breakfast and took me to one of our old favorite breakfast places in Fort Collins called The Farmerstable. greatest breakfast food ever!

My kind of Farmerstable :) Italian Bread French Toast with fresh Strawberries, Nutella drizzle, whipped cream + almonds. you better believe I devoured all of that. It was divine!!

thanks for following along my little picture show :) i've found myself very picture happy lately. even more so than usual! hope you all enjoy a good rest of the week! 

xo . jess

happy birthday bruderherz.

Monday celebrated my little brother's 14th birthday! It was a pretty big shock to come home to my mom's house and find this giant, teenager man, towering over my sister as he hugged her hello and pats her on the head. :-) We used to stick the poor guy in our tutus when he was still in diapers and gel his hair into moahawks, ..it's not okay for him to be this big already! :) I had hoped to get a few pictures from this night, since it's so rare for my family to get together for dinner, but I had too much fun yelling, laughing, and screaming with my siblings - I have my mom to thank for these few shots of the big birthday boy. 

tyler + tyler. the biggest friends and even bigger dorks :P

sparkly smile.

make a wish. 

Jersey meets Fort Collins saturday

This weekend I was visited by my dear friend Nat :) who I met a few years ago working at f21 and have had the pleasure of calling my friend ever since. It was her first time visiting Fort Collins so of course N + and put on our tour guide hats and got busy. Follow me as I recap for you, my 

weekend-in-pictures.

1. We had to start our tour on CSU's beautiful campus. The Oval is the prettiest place in Fort Collins <3 

2. Introduced this little girl from Jersey to the deliciousness that is Noodles + Co. 

3. And on to O'Dell's Brewery we went :-]

4. Where damage was done. 

5. Jordan. Our friend + coolest tour guide. 

6. Who could get enough of this town. 

7. N made a new friend :)

8. ♥ 

9. Our guest decided it was time to waste away the afternoon swinging on swings. 

9. I had to peak into the Cupboard in Old Town to snag some of this :))) 

10. Wobbly beautiful Fort Collins' sunset. 

I thank my love for coming up and spending the weekend with me and N. It was sooo great to have her and explore town together! As sad I am to say goodbye weekend, I get to round it out with a N + Jess couch session watching Walking Dead and look forward to celebrating my little brother's 14th birthday tomorrow night! Here's wishing you all a great Monday! Make sure to stop by Tuuuuueesday ;) ;) ;) 

xo . jess

Hair.Tuesday on Wednesday

happy valentine's day !!!

whether you are a hater, a celebrater, or like me - a mutual person to the infamous holiday of l.o.v.e. I hope you had a great Tuesday. I was a very proud girl walking home after I kicked my own butt at the gym for a good two hours, all before 10am. Which made me feel zero guilt when I devoured [almost] the entire box of Ferrero Rocher chocolates N gave me all afternoon. He had one! 

For dinner I drove to my dear mama's house to visit her and my brother - whom I hadn't seen since before Christmas! :-} the kid has braces and has now finally passed me in height. big kid. 

So besides a little Vday celebration - it was just a normal Tuesday for me. A very much longed for, normal Tuesday :) 

Volume 12: loose curls + side part

what you need:

+ (any level) of curly hair. I tried this same 'do the day before with freshly washed/air dried curl - took me all of 3 minutes and had a chic but messy look to it. below you'll see my cleaned up version with day 2 hair 

+ large size curling stick or 1 inch curling iron

+ your choice of hair product. I recommend either a curling spritz, hairspray, or a light weight conditioner to make your curls extra soft

+ Bobby pin 

what you do: 

1. I gave my day 2 hair a good comb through - I can't do knots. I parted my hair only once and curled 1 inch sections at a time. Rule of thumb is always the thicker the chunk of hair, the softer the curl. Therefore, if you desire curlier cues, make your sections smaller and keep wrapped around curling stick longer. 

2. Tousle your curls and apply your choice of hair product. If your choice is hairspray, you might want to hold off, we still have to arrange our part :) Where ever your hair is parted, pull 1 1/2 inch section, starting from above the end of your eye brow, across your head, until you're lined up with the end of the opposite eye brow. Secure with bobby pin. 

3. Arrange and tousle curls and yes it is now safe to apply your desired amount of hairspray :) 

(thank you to my loove, Jana for my new favorite h&m shirt :) it was very fitting for Vday, I thought)

Voilaa! easy breezy hair do!

xo . jess 

cleaning habits.

I can't deny that I'm fairly quickly getting a hand on this domestic thing. Cleaning, cooking, and obsessing over the never ending decor + organizational possibilities, have all recently become past times of mine. My cleaning obsessions have taken it to a bit of a new level, but it always leaves me wondering how I get so messy in such a short time period?? Anyway, my innocent 2-3 hour cleaning rages have turned into myentireSaturdayoff cleaning frenzies. But it's all good. This is more a confession than a complaint. :P My sister's voice always echoes in my head, when I realize several hours of cleaning have gone by and I'm reorganizing our storage closet for the third time since we've moved in, "Gawd jesska, quit cleaning everything!". 

So it happens that I found myself on such a Saturday this past weekend, on the floor in my bathroom organizing my side of the cupboard, which holds of course, 15 times the health & beauty products than N's side. Once I took a look at the recent state of my make up bag I couldn't bare to zip it back up without deciding to give it a good clean. 

This is serious stuff ladies. I have seen some seriously scary looking make up bags and this is me slapping you in the back of the head. Nothing wrong with giving yourself 20 minutes tops on a lazy day to give your daily make up tools a quick bath. :-) don't make me use the "think of the germs" line on you. 

First off, I realize there are plenty of cleaners you can buy for this kind of stuff, but I keep it simple, repeat at least once a month, and my make up + wallet stay happy. 

how to: clean your make-up kit

1. Collect your needed utensils - Towels, paper towels, 2 jars of water ( 1 hot + 1 cold ), Johnson's baby shampoo, and of course your make up bag  

2. Start with your brushes as they will take the longest to dry.

 3. Squirt a little of baby shampoo in the hot water jar ( large mason jars are perfect for this) and give your brushes a good scrub.

 4. Rinse + sometimes repeat. :-)

5. Pat your brushes dry with a paper towel, squeezing out the excess water. 

6. Lay out your brushes to dry - *depending on the thickness and type of brush they could take up to 24 hours to dry. Plan accordingly ladies :) 

7. Empty out the rest of your eye shadows, blushes, lipsticks, etc..take a damp paper towel and give them all a little scrub. Most importantly, don't forget to take your actual bag and dump + scrub out all that gooeyness :-) Lay everything out on towels to air dry. 

8. And if you haven't already noticed in previous shots :-) your face will thank you!!!

good habits, ladies :-) good habits. 

xo . jess