Tonight I'm writing you from underneath the covers of my sheets with pure guilt pushing me to tell you about my day. Don't get me wrong, I loove blogging :) Lately, this whole being positive thing in the new year, enjoying everyday, and looking for little pockets of sunshine in my life has kept me so busy and on my toes that it's taken some adjustment to this new schedule. 

I decided that there are a couple of highlights from last week that I still want to share with you, and I have an idea for a blog post maybe tomorrow night that I can't wait to try. ((rumor has it that littms is trying to get mr.ray to come on once a week! stay tuned!))

But moving forward I can't wait to share with you my committed progress to the gym, my growing goal list for 2011 - I give myself the entire first month of the year to really grasp my resolutions and goals - and wonderful days that I get to spend with N like today. 

We started, of course, at the gym where it was so nice not to have to work out in a hurry since neither of us had to work today. Day 3 is definitely not like day 1 last week - my LOVE for running is quickly coming back to me and training for the spring time will be cake! :P With lots of sweat and pain none the less. A quick shower and costume change put us at Noodle's for an amaaaazing bowl of Mac'n Cheese :)) It more than hit the spot, let me tell you! 

mr. ray lovin' his penne.rosa

warm on the inside..

while N is a good hubby and gets the collecting snow off my car. 

Colorado decides it's time for a blizzard and so we get snowed in, stuck, and hit rush hour out of Boulder - FML - and it takes us almost 2 hours to go 4 miles. I'M NOT KIDDING. N fell asleep and when he woke back up we were still in this:

It was freakin'' miserable!! But once we got out of that hot mess, we met up with my mom, Bev & friends at Corona's for some much needed happy*hour margarita's and forgot all about the snowy day. 

xo . jess

skinny for the wedding.

I have exciting news! Or at least, I totally have exciting news for me. I was hopping up and down in my car on my way to work today when I read and email from our wedding photography Adam Houseman from Imthiaz Photography sent me an email saying that our wedding pictures were picked up by the lovely wedding blog With This Ring and will go live sometime in February!
SO COOL!


I've had something stuck in my eye all afternoon. Yes, I felt that was viable information and pure entertainment for you to know. I am sorry. For a minute I was sitting here, wondering what the heck I was going to blog about tonight and I drew a complete blank. Hence, the random insert. 
But here we go - I remember now. the gym.


So - usually and somewhat unfortunately, when a modern woman in our society is getting married, she's usually on some sort of diet or trend in order to get herself as thin as possible for her big day. They all try to hide behind the fact that they're "just wanting to look their best" and every bridal magazine and dress shop will make you aware of the fact that you must "look your best". Don't get me wrong I was just as obsessed with what I was going to look like, as the next girl. Well of course! You're being photographed all day, probably even filmed, and you have anywhere from 75 - 300 people staring at you for quite some time. Well, starting last year there I was brainstorming how I was going to take the 8 months leading up to my wedding to get "skinny for the wedding". Well, turns out I was going to spend the entire year (unfortunately almost literally) NOT doing what I had planned. I don't think I set a single foot in a gym, or on the treadmill all year long. The two times I got up semi early on a Sunday off when I lived in Fort Collins, definitely don't count. But, all ends well and I still fit in my dress perfectly fine and manage to pose successfully without "weird arm fat" in the majority of my pictures. :P :P :P 


So today I finally went, to work out at the gym for the first time in basically a year. Mr. ray signed us up last week and of course, the guy couldn't have take a WORSE picture of me! I might as well have held the camera up my nose for him. Anyway..it was fantastic. I can't wait to go back tomorrow :) I used to be the biggest Yoga fan, and I would love to go back to it. 

Happy Friday peeps.

xo . jess

Diagnosis: Paranoia.

I love you guys. And because I do, I'm advising you now, with a warm hand on your shoulder, that in the event you should be feeling a little ill or experiencing some weird symptom that you've never had before (like I have been for the past two days), if you're a girl, wouldn't hurt to double check the baby thing first, but whatever you do

don't Google your symptom. 

I've been having this weird pain in my chest and throat, more like, esophagus really, because it's much lower than when you say "sore throat" and I simply cannot figure out what's up. Did I get something stuck and it's actually tearing a bit at my esophagus and it's inflamed?! Is it anxiety???

Can't be the last one if you ignore the fact that I sort of woke up and left my brain under the covers today, and I've actually had pain when swallowing. 

So, off to Google I go.

And what does it tell me? Something that includes all my symptoms that basically just means you swallow like an idiot and when you do so it hurts. Oh yea, and bad teeth can cause it. 

Really?

Really??

Really funny. I'm so gonna have dentures by the time I'm 30. Email me if you would like to place your bets. 

Aaaanyway. It was a blah Sunday. But a beautiful one I'm sure. Supposedly some arctic winter front checked in late last night and tucked us into the prettiest white blankets this morning. It was soo pretty. Everything white. 

Like in Home Alone when they show the house perfectly peaceful on Christmas morning :) But for me, a snow hating weekend worker, got to make myself presentable and steer my little two door Chevy down I-25. It really wasn't bad and work wasn't that trying either. I was just in a mood.  

And so, I leave you with this little gem. Sorry, you're getting all my attractive sides tonight, including confusedmoddyJessica who doesn't really know how to explain things lately so she just agrees with this: 

Second to the Right, and Straight on til - wait, what?

Excuse me, do you know what day it is?

I woke up this morning in the dark with my phone on its third round of snooze. I can't remember the last time it was that hard to get myself out of bed. 

Things are funky around here lately. Reeeeaaaal funky. 

And then, when I turned away from N for the third time to hit the snooze button, I let my hand dangle over the side for a minute and sort of stopped; I could not for the life of me figure out what day it was. I just kept thinking "wait. Am I working today?" "wait. Is it Thurs- no..do I have to go to the dentist today??"

That's right R.Patts! (Hey-maybe you CAN act?!)

By the time I got my ducks in line I was already running 20 minutes behind. Nothing a hot cup of coffee, no morning traffic, a Colorado sunrise, AND the KS107.5 morning show! :D 

If you live in Denver, you KNOW who they are. The funniest, makeyouspityourcoffeealloveryourdashboard

most hilarious morning show ever! :)

Nevertheless, my day panned out okay, more or less, until N shared with me yet more annoyingness that I've been having a hard time with lately, but I made it through through to McDonald's fries, sweet tea, icing my foot (keep reading - see Thursday), and watching Chicago with my mamacita. Who even let me vent my little lungs out, completely out of nowhere, after the movie. (Not about the movie :P) 

So, I am really sorry for being pretty much completely MIA this week. I've got quite the agenda tonight and I am saddened to say that you missed a pretty eventful week! 

Good thing I'm here now to recap you on all the juicy goodness.

You're welcome.

Let's use bullets. I ♥ bullets.

Tuesday

- N and I actually have a day off *together* for the first time since we were in MI together. Alas, we still manage to nag and fight the entire morning and on our way to catch a matinee of Harry Potter, kicking off our "date day". 

- Harry Potter ends up amazing. Jess cries through the ENTIRE thing (I think I'm more emotionally attached to those books/movies than I'd like to admit. Katie. I need you.)

- N and I snap out of it, walk out of the movie arm in arm and N kisses my forehead and laughs as I wipe away some left over tears. 

- We ditch our errands for the day, nap the afternoon away and stuff our bellies at Chili's for dinner. 

Wednesday

- My alarm fails to go off and I wake up 15 minutes before I have to leave my house. I rush to work with a super funky hair do and still manage to arrive 15 minutes late. Thank you Denver morning traffic. xo 

- Swiftly ditch work the second it turns 4pm and brave the afternoon rush hour traffic for a fantastic catchup dinner with my beloved and missed J. Oh, and did I mention? I'm gonna be a bridesmaid! :D 

Thursday

- Yours truly, rolls out of bed in adorable morning sweats :P and a pretty bouncy ponytail off to the dentist for my follow up appointment since I had my procedure. - Dentist tells me that unfortunately, I have genetics to thank for a set of very bad teeth and we have quite a few procedures to go. Whoopi. 

Thursday 1 - Jessica 0

- I seize the chance to show off my grace and balance as N and I are carrying out Goodwill boxes to my car as I'm leaving to go to work. I step off the sidewalk with my heel and roll my ankle onto the grass, tearing a hole in my black tights and dropping the Goodwill box on my left arm. Thursday 2 - Jessica 0

- Running so late that I neither have time to change my hose, let alone grab a second pair of shoes. I later realize I have a fold down black pair of ballet flats in my purse - HALLELUJAH! Thursday 2 - Jessica 1

- Manage to put together a fabulous outfit and have a great close at work. Thursday 2 - Jessica 2

- Remember to make N take a picture of me so I could show off my rags to you guys. Thursday 2 - Jessica 3 (And that's how it's done!)

- Pulling off the ballet flats (I posed with the CUTE booties I had on for the picture. Screw the stupid ankle) and realizing that I can't deny a little swollen ankle and tenderness. and oh hey (!) it's starting to hurt when I walk - double whoopi - I grudginly lay in bed with an icy pack under the sheets. 

Thursday 3 - Jessica 3 (yea yea..)

Friday

- It was one of those "spittingmycoffeealloverthecar" kind of morning listening to KS107.5 and watching the Colorado sunrise :) (seriously, this IS the best place in the world)

- Most definitely rock my high waisted tweed trousers at work. Don't manage to get a good picture by myself after to work to show you :( fail)

- Surprise my mommy with fresh Freesias and a card when she comes home. :) ♥

- Spend the night on the couch, icing my ankle, indulging in McDonald's fries, and spending time with my mommy ♥ 

- happy weekend -

xo . jess

60 degrees funk

I use to looooooove the swings when I was a girl. I would beg to go on one from the moment I saw them. I'd stretch out my arms and kick my legs and enjoy the feeling of flying, if that's what it was like. 

Now they scare me shitless. 

Why is that? 

_________________________________________________________

Since this has officially been the weirdest and lamest Winter I've ever seen in Colorado (just when I thought I'd seen it all) with our 50 degree days and the fact that I still don't wear a Winter coat on a regular basis, I realized that the only thing I have been able to make a decision about lately is that fact that I simply cannot call this weird mood I'm in "Winter Blues". I'd be a fake Winter Blues girl if I did and so let's just call it the 

"60 degrees funk". 

I don't know what it is. Sitting here with my beloved morning coffee, my notebook and you guys is among my top three favorite things to do by far. And even though I'm fully enjoying it and my coffee is more than searing hot, I'm 100,000 different emotions lately. I'm mad at my Dad who, even though sent me a Christmas card with $ in it yesterday, didn't even call for Christmas. And I know he's at home sitting the "no, you call me" game and I'm appreciate of the $, sometimes I'd just really love a fucking phone call. Because if there's one thing I can tell about my dad, is when he's being sarcastic, and his Christmas card is full of it! 

"Merry Christmas to you guys wherever you guys are now"

Really? Juno couldn't put it any better with her collection of cacti "Thanks a heap, Coyote ugly. This Cactus-gram stings even worse than your abandonment."

Then there's a million other people that confuse me, upset me, anger me, and some of them simply just piss me off, yet,...hehe oopsi..some of them quite possibly come and read my blog on occasion (I really have to stop sharing my links on Facebook) and I'm not about to open that can of whoop ass. 

I'm really impatient. So I don't like just sittin pretty and letting the outcome arrive with its lost luggage and excuses of missed flights. Just tell me what I did wrong? Why are you so annoying? And why can't we all just hug, sing cumbaya, and play games? (I'm kidding. that sounds absolutely terrible.) 

Thirdly, one thing I am absolutely not adjusting to in this new adult married life of mine, is that, without college, you don't really have your life set for you, one semester at a time. Anything could really happen and you can completely do whatever it is you feel like. 

Want some babies? Why not. 

Get a second career? Sure! 

Just work and hang out? I'll take door number 3, thank you. 

But I know that's not going to keep me quiet in the corner for long. I'm really antsy I think. N and I are really looking forward to this year, don't get me wrong. N is working hard at his dream which I support 100%, because fact is, we are without kids, for now we're without the stress of a house or mortgage, and we are getting a grip on our mountain of bills thanks to school and paying 90% of our own schooling. 

(Again, thanks a heap, American Secondary Education. You're a doll.) But I can't decide if I've been thrown into the infamous soup bowl of retail where your fate is pure luck and you're swimming around, hoping you look like a yummy potato that will get picked next to move up. I've worked my behind off this year and if it's not in the cards for me this year, well then I'm out. which brings me to my next dilemma of what's next? 

My master's in Education? 

Maybe I should follow my love for photography down the path of a real education in it? 

What if I go to beauty school and open MY own business and have the most rocking little shop in downtown Denver? 

I have it all figured out don't I. 

Happy Hump Day. 

xo . jess

Christmas Come Early!!

There here! There here! There here!

I know Christmas isn't quite here (2 tage!) but I have been in the best Christmas mood today! I've just now ignored and passively accepted the fact that we will not be seeing any 

"White Christmases" 

this year, because I can still go to work without a jacket, here in lovely Colorado. And of COURSE I'm wearing my sunglasses everyday still. But I spent my morning jamming out to Christmas music, my commute around town for chores and cruising off to work blaring "Mele Kalikimaka" down I-25, and even singing "You're a Mean One, Mr Grinch" up the stairs of the parking garage..Santa apparently felt like giving me a little gift early by bringing me our

**  wedding photos **

I've been so happy all day, I couldn't wait to come home. And now, it's 2.01am. I have uploaded half of the 665 images to Facebook and have to be awake and functional for work again in the next 6 hours. 

I need sleep. 

Now. 

But believe me when I say, that I'm stumbling off to bed with the biggest smile, excited to share with you my wedding pictures tomorrow, the second I get home from work. 

I promise. 

Did I mention I arrived home from work today at 12.23am? Oh no, I realize that it means I didn't get home from work until the very next day. 

I saw that. 

night kids. 

xo . jess

I had all these blogging plans for tonight. But all I can think about is my mouth surgery tomorrow. 

Really, I'm making it sound much worse to be honest. But I'm so so scared. And upset. :/  

I'm having a tooth removed and the thought of being without a tooth isn't very comforting to my unstable self conscious.

:[

xo . jess