free bull

Scott has been good friends with Craigslist for awhile (apparently it's the new avenue for finding bands to play with... who knew?!). But neither of us knew of the "free" section until our friends Steve and Katie informed us. They recently found a free piano listed and snatched it up! So we too quickly hopped on board the "free stuff" train  in search of a washer and dryer. Unfortunately, the one really GOOD listing we found has not contacted us back (I think we weren't "needy" enough to receive the generous donation). Our venture onto the "free stuff" page was not a complete waste though, because as we scrolled around we found...

... that people give away some REALLY unusual things for free on Craigslist! Like this bull for example; why would you not just throw it in the salvation army bag and DONATE it to a worthy cause? Would YOU be motivated enough to get in your car and drive to go pick up a free stuffed bull? Well, if that doesn't motivate you, maybe some of the OTHER free items I found will....

• free (slightly vandalized) trailer home 
• free dirt, broken brick, and broken cement 
• ONE, count em', ONE coupon good for $.50 off Baby Wipes! 
• free chicken feathers from a REAL chicken farm! 
• free container FULL of various packaged condiments 
• free, broken t-mobile cell phone
• free random stuff from the junk drawer
• .... I could go on, but do I REALLY need to?

This is truly a fantastic function on Craigslist, but as with anything good... some people just use and abuse. Dang!

from jessie (I don't get people sometimes)... with love 

Opportunity Knocks

Etsy is a WONDERFUL networking tool! Case in point...

Yesterday I received a very fun convo on Etsy from a fellow, local crafter named Mia. She is organizing a local craft show/fundraiser in partnership with Chili's Newport News and CHKD, saw my stuff on Etsy, and invited me to play a part. I'm STOKED that she not only found me but liked my stuff enough to invited me out to join the cause. Barring some "rules and regulations" and clearing the date, I'm SERIOUSLY considering doing it. The $50 buy in for space at the show is really the ONLY big thing possibly holding me back right now (granted this is a VERY reasonable booth price!). 

So I'll be talking to Scott about the opportunity today (he knows about it, but we need to go over it in detail) and keeping you updated as to wether I do it or not. HERE'S HOPING! 

from jessie (she found me!)... with love 

never send a JESSIE to do a SCOTT job

I contemplated titling this post "never send a woman to do a man's job", not because I have some weird misogynistic principals, but because there are some things that my husband clearly does better than me. However, this post was less "him and her" focused and more "scott and jessie" specific. Stick with me for a long moment, there's lessons to be learned...

When we found out we were moving, Scott and I made several trips to Verizon to weigh our options for combining cell phone plans, adding internet, and possibly Fios to our bill. We figured out the cell phone issues, but we were STUCK on the internet and Fios problems. The thing is, our apartment complex is VERY specific about what services they allow you to have. If you want internet, you HAVE to get it through Verizon. If you want TV, you HAVE to use their 22 channel satellite option. And if you WANT to have a choice in the matter, you HAVE to get over it! (hehehe) Scott and I had resolved ourselves to this reality until a set of acquaintances, who lived here previously, put the idea in our heads of possibly "sneaking" Fios TV though the internet line, thus having more channels and still "confiding in" the rules. We should have known better at this point in the story, but we wanted to explore the possibility presented to us.

Since Scott was SUPER busy with work and getting things ready for school, and I clearly WASN'T, I ventured to Verizon to discuss our options with an associate. I presented the lady with our situation and asked if we could "discretely" get Fios and internet so as not to "really" break the rules of the apartment complex. After looking, she informed me that Fios was not available in our area but there was another TV option. She murmured something that sounded like "di (something something something) TV" and informed me that we could bundle this service along with phone and internet for LESS than we'd been paying for Cox. I was hesitant, re-presented our "situation" and asked several times "If I sign up for this today, could we cancel before the move WITHOUT PENALTY because I'm not 100% sure about committing to it without my husband's approval." To which she replied "SURE SURE SURE, no real commitment is made until they do the install." After having her REPEATEDLY reassure this to me, I "signed up" for the bundle package. Here is where I need to inform you that I CANNOT make decisions on the spot (it's pathetic). SO, when she handed me the print out copy of the "possible order" and I saw that the "di (something something) TV" that she had mumbled at me was "Direct TV" and that it would REQUIRE a SATELLITE being installed on our ROOF at the APARTMENT COMPLEX that has VERY STRICT RULES saying you can ONLY get TV though THIER SATELLITE PROVIDER... I literally FROZE. I thanked her for her time and told her she'd here back from us once Scott saw the paperwork. Immediately, I called Scott and explained the uninformed choice I had just made. Scott, who had been hesitant about "sneaking" the Fios in the whole time, called the lady back, dealt with the misunderstanding, and had her cancel everything but the internet. 

Flash forward three weeks later when the Direct TV gentlemen show up knocking at our new apartment door with a very perplexed (and slightly frustrated) maintenance man. I quickly explained that we had CANCELLED the order a while back and (looking at the maintenmance man) reassured that we knew the rules of the apartment complex. All three gentlemen were understanding, but it left Scott and I wondering about the supposed "cancellation".....

Flash forward to last night when Scott informs me our Verizon bill for internet was unusually high. So, he called today and found out our "order" for the bundle was never cancelled and we were paying for all three services while receiving only ONE! Apparently, the "oh yeah, you can cancel at anytime" was all a HUGE bluff because we are having to pay an early termination fee and will only receive a PARTIAL refund on the HUGE bill we payed for two services that WE cancelled and DON'T HAVE!

There are three points to be drawn from this VERY LONG story:

1. Verizon is SNEAKY! Make sure you know exactly which questions to ask and follow up on EVERYTHING they tell you they're going to do (Scott axiom)
2. Attempting to "work the system" is a bad idea. We should never have entertained the idea of "sneaking" Fios in through the internet line. It is just TV... and there are these wonderful inventions called BOOKS when the boob-tube isn't cutting it for entertainment.
3. THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON OF ALL... never send a JESSIE to do a SCOTT job!

from jessie (vengeance on verizon)... with love 

Jones New York in the Classroom

So today (well yesterday because my computer wouldn't sync up to our wireless last night...sad) marked my first official day back to school! As should be expected, it was nice seeing everyone again and it didn't take much to feel back in teacher-mode once again. The day was less than productive thanks to meetings in the morning and a SERIOUS brain cramp in the afternoon when it came to rearranging my classroom to accommodate 30+ desks along with my other essential furniture! GRRRR!

Back to school is synonymous with shopping (at least in my mind)! For a year or two now I've caught glimpses of advertisements for "Jones New York in the Classroom" in various magazines and admired their lovely "apple" inspired t-shirt designs. After looking at their site, I realized they're doing ALOT of good for teachers and students; I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE for them to come and give me AND my classroom a makeover (or maybe and upgrade in my case... i do wanna give myself SOME credit!). Since the chances of that are slim to none, I'd happily settle on one of the LOVELY shirts they are selling to support the cause this year! 

If you want to buy one for yourself and me (size M), I'd happily support you in your decision as you'd be making a WONDERFUL fashion decision while supporting a good cause. What could be better. 

from jessie (teaching in a t-shirt)... with love 

ABDC date night:: Week 3

So last night myself, Scott, Megan, and Drew all gathered round the plasma and watched week 3 of ABDC; and all any of us had to say was, "where's the WOW?!". Over the past three seasons, crews have pulled out original moves, thrown at the viewer so fast you hardly knew what had come at you until the judges called for a replay. This season, we haven't yet had WOW moments. We've had "hmmm, that was cool" and "oh, neat move", but no "did you SEE THAT?!". Kinda sad. 

This week the show didn't seem to "get going" until the bottom two crews performed at the end in a battle to win over the judges and stay on. Rhythm City, from the Bronx, came out triumphant and rightfully so. Both crews in the bottom two danced CIRCLES (pun intended) around the crews that won "America's Votes" and I really hope for my (and the family that I make watch it) sake that the crews start to STEP IT UP. Here's the best performance from last night courtesy of Rhythm City... enjoy!

from jessie (step it UP already)... with love 

ABDC date night:: Week 2

We don't have MTV at the new apt. This normally wouldn't bother me because they are ALL ABOUT false advertising (music television?! please?!)... but it also means I don't get to watch ABDC! Thankfully, sis-in-law extrodianre, MEGAN, came to the rescue and started recording it on her DVR for me. Now we have an official ABDC Date Night (as I've so lovingly termed it) on Monday nights to share quality time together and watch my FAVORITE show. 

What's all the hype about you ask? Well, I answer: AWESOME DANCING! I guess the show is like "So You Think You Can Dance", but instead of induvidual contestants there are "crews", and instead of a "professional variety" of dance styles you get awesome variations/interpretations of hip-hop! That's what I'm talking about.

I'd already determined two of my "must watch" crews during the first week. The first was Artistry in Motion. The awesome thing about these women is that they tried to get gigs and establish a professional dancing career but were turned down because they didn't "look the part", be they too short, too wide, or too unique. This reason alone would have had me backing them, but I really loved the stories they told with their dances. Check out the dance they choreographed for the Beyonce challenge:

SUPER unfortuanatly they got kicked off last week.  An over-sexualized group who's dance involving "bumping and grinding" in all kinds of unexpected places won over the judges insead. BOOO!

The other "must watch crew" you ask?! Vouge Evolution! Just watch and then I'll explain.

They are an all gay crew from New York City who did/do underground dance/runway battles! Is that NOT something straight out of the movies?! You can't HELP but watch. And DID you see that girl snap her hair and head in ways that would have sent me STRAIGHT to the ER?!

So now we are OFF to meg and drew's to commence ABDC date night and I will be back tomorrow with another update!

from jessie (your ABDC correspondent)... with love 

some rules were meant to be broken

In all seriousness, I went to do my usual "eat-some-cookie-dough-before-baking-the-actual-cookies" move and saw a label on my tub-o-dough warning me NOT TO CONSUME raw cookie dough. Really?! I get why, and I get that Nestle Toll House does not want to be sued if someone gets ecoli, but who doesn't sneak a little raw cookie dough every now and again? This label got me thinking: some rules were made to be broken. 

Do you agree?! I was attempting to think of MORE rules that might be destined to be broken, but fell short. But I'm SURE there are MORE out there... I just know it. So now I'm on a mission that I'm hoping you will help me with... what rules do YOU think were meant to be broken?! DO SHARE!

from jessie (breaking the law rules)... with love 

The long and short of it

So one of my first projects in the new craft corner yesterday was to hem a fun little dress I found at T.J. Max during some retail therapy the other day. I haven't made a lot of clothing purchases lately because my focus has been on items for the apartment, but I just couldn't pass this one up. What's NOT to love about a sun dress?! It's causal, cute, and dressy without being TOO over the top. 

So if you look at the first picture you can see the problem with the dress "as is" (or "as was"): it ended in a very odd spot. For ONCE I was too tall to make the dress work in it's given state. So what's a seamstress to do?! HEM IT UP BABY! Two layers of tucking and sewing later and it was the perfect "cocktail dress" length. Love?!

Being able to tackle simple issues like this in clothing is a major perk of knowing how to work a sewing machine! 

from jessie (awkward to adorable)... with love 

in my own little corner, in my own little chair...

I am quickly learning to love our new place. We've created a "modern loft" look without the actual open floor plan or urban setting price. One of my favorite places of all is my new CRAFT CORNER! In our old apartment I had no permanent place to set up my sewing machine or accessibly store my crafting notions, so often the dining room would fall victim to a craft takeover for MONTHS at a time; forcing scott and I to eat in the living room and wade through the craft-tastrophy to get back and forth to the kitchen. Thanks to our new place, this will no longer be an issue!

We made it a point to set room aside in our spare room for me and my crafts. Now, I've got easy access to my projects and notions anytime I feel inspired without having to lug everything out of the closet and go through the "set up phase" first! I cannot convey to you just how excited this makes me feel! So, I will be breaking it in today to hem a FABULOUS dress I found at T.J. Max as well as create some new headbands and items for my jessiemint store on etsy! Let the creativity commence...

from jessie (LOVING IT!)... with love

(p.s. the title is a Cinderella reference from some weird movie version of the tale that I watched on Disney when I was a child... anyone else recognize it?!)

long time no... post

Thank you PATIENT readers... while you have been anxiously awaiting the next "from jessie (insert witty nickname/tagline here)... with love" post, Scott and I have been BUSILY establishing our new place together! Over the past week we have packed, moved (in the rain), unpacked, shopped, and all while balancing our normal schedules. HORRAY for being done! And although we are still attempting to rid the apartment of the "new paint smell" in an effort to make it feel like home, I remind myself home is where the heart is! 

So posts shall resume as of... NOW! All kinds of fun material (I hope) is on it's way, so check back in TOMORROW, and the NEXT DAY, and the NEXT for continued goodness from the mind of jessie (mwuah-ha-ha)!

from jessie (BACK on BLOG!)... with love

moving meltdown

I'm finding time to post today to give a friendly update to all dedicated readers: Scott and I are moving down the road from our current "really nice pool" apartment to a new more "wallet friendly" apartment. I have high hopes for our new space as it will actually be the first place we've ever ESTABLISHED together (Scott moved in with me when we first got married). I'm hoping that not only will this make it feel more like "our" place, but that it will present new opportunities for my furniture arranging abilities!

I'm honestly feeling a bit crazy about the move because we've been living with boxes for what feels like MONTHS (read 3 weeks) and I'm ready for them to be gone!!! I want our house back in working and living order!

If I'm unable to get to an internet connection, you might not hear from me until Monday when our internet gets installed at the new place. Please wish us luck and pray for us as we move TOO many boxes and what feels like a looming amount of large furniture! Lesson learned from the moving/packing process: even after purging...we have ALOT of stuff!

from jessie (packing it all in)... with love 

AC adventures

If you are my "facebook friend" you already know that Scott and I had quite a night last night... here's the short and long of it:

The AC in our apartment has been an ONGOING problem. It makes the weirdest of sounds on and off, and for the past 6-9 months Scott has consistently called in the complaint to the office. Everyone once in awhile it would cut out, only to come back on again when the repair men finally came by. They replaced our circuit breaker and control panel, but never really looked at the main problem (I feel like Rob did a post about this exact topic... hm). So, sometime yesterday, the AC finally gave up it's life. Scott called the office and was told that maintenance would be on it soon. 

When maintenance finally came by, Scott had left to go try out his new drum set in a secure, noise friendly location (his parents vacant house in Hampton) leaving me to manage the problem (uhoh!). The VERY NICE head maintenance guy confirmed what we knew, and declared the compressor the problem. He reassured me they'd be by FIRST THING in the morning to replace the entire unit. I figured we'd tough it out, because frankly, I'd delt with it being out all day and figured one night of sleeping with no AC wouldn't kill me; Scott came home around 10:30 and had a different opinion...

My husband was DRENCHED with sweat and quite moody because hot, sweaty scott= grumpy scott (and to be fair, I hadn't been in the best of moods either). I really should have known this would be the scenario because living in our apt is like living in an ice box, and asking him to sleep in a warming oven for the night was OUT OF THE QUESTION! In the "heat" of the moment (HA!) we tried to come up with a plan. Scott called maintenance once again asking for a window unit, I tried to think of friends that had spare room that wouldn't mind being bugged at 10:30 at night, and I protested the idea of spending money to stay in a hotel...

So we stayed in a hotel. Best Western of Newport News to be exact. It all turned out to be quite nice; we were checked in by a very concerned concierge and slept in a king size bed... did I mention we got to eat WAFFLES for breakfast?! 

So now, I am back in my apartment, AC has been fixed, and I am awaiting complete cool down once again. Welcome back to the ice box!

from jessie (warm up and cool down)... with love

Special thanks to Monica (not a stalker) and Rob as well as Kim G., and even Megan, for offering their respective pads to us! We'll remember you next time around (which hopefully will NOT happen any time soon)! Love being blessed with such caring people in our lives! 

business choices

Let me start by thanking EVERYONE who left a comment or voted in the poll to help me choose my business cards. I really do enjoy getting others' input and opinions, because they "buff and refine" my own opinion ultimately allowing me to make choices (which, as stated earlier, can be VERY tough). 

I ended up choosing card no. 1 ,but tweaked it minority; after reading a few comments, decided I needed the store name and my own name to pop... so I made them blue. It was a toss up between no.1 and no.3, but I chose no.1 because I thought the colors and the "feel", if you will, represented the store and my crafts best.

With the help of my parents, these lovely labels were also designed and purchased. I'll be using them to mark the bags I package headbands in as well as the "tags" I hang on larger items!

Special, special thanks to MOM and MEGAN for helping make the business cards and labels happen! And please know that all of you who have already ordered from jessiemint WILL be getting some of my business cards in the mail to share with your friends when they inevitably compliment you on your fabulous accessories! HA! 

from jessie (taking care of business)... with love 

shiny happy people

While Scott and I were driving in the car the other day he remarked to me, "You know I was thinking, we don't have a lot of happy people in our lives right now." To which I responded, "That's silly, we have lots of happy people around us like..." at which point I had to pause and reflect, who ARE these people "in our lives" and how happy are they currently? I took a moment to ponder the answer to both these inquires.  

When it came down to it, I did have a difficult time naming the people in our lives who were happy. This is not to say that Scott and I surround ourselves with drab, moppy (sp?), woe-is-me type induviduals; on the contrary, I like to think we surround ourselves with a well rounded assortment of wonderful induviduals. It just so happens, that at this current moment in time, those induviduals are not experiencing/exuding much happiness... let alone joy (the lasting type of happiness that comes as a gift from God).  

All this to say that we made a point at that moment to stop and THANK the individuals who have shone their "happy light" (if you will) into our lives. Yes we freaked Katie out with our text (she thought scott was depressed) and I didn't alert Bethany P.right away (because I wanted to call her out for the wonderful person she is on the world wide web-o-sphere), or Kim T for that matter (cupcakes!), but I am making it a point to let them know how much their "light" has brightened my current world. 

Take a moment today and thank those individuals who are shining their "happy beams" into your life! And perhaps reflect on how YOU can be that person for someone else!

from jessie (shine a light and let the whole world see)... with love 

business decisions

As many of you know by now, I've got my own shop going on etsy.com (very exciting indeed). I had some wonderful sales to start with thanks to some wonderful friends and family and I'd like to expand my "impact" if you will. As I see it, there are two really wonderful ways of going about this: shameless self-promotion (check) and wonderful friends/happy customers talking about my shop with other friends. After having several friends (thank you Bethany, Katie, Kim, and Scott),tell me that it would be easier to share and talk about my items if there was a business card involved, I got a clue! So friends... I'm attempting to answer your call!

Myself and wonderful sister-in-law Megan have been working tirelessly on creating a logo to go on a business card of my own creating. After much deliberation, I've got it narrowed down to four templates from vistaprint.com. I now require YOUR help in choosing a design! 

CARD no.1

CARD no.2
CARD no.3
CARD no.4

Leave your "vote" in the comments section or in the poll located on the side of this web page. I'm desperate for some input, so BRING IT ON! 

from jessie (all business like)... with love  

note:: you must help, because as my husband and friends will tell you, I CANNOT make decisions on my own... save me the brain cramp! 

being random

So I promised myself that I would spend the majority of my free time today packing and organizing, which leaves me little time to "dilly-dally" on the computer. I will be posting about the hardships (and joys) of moving later, but today calls for a lighter fare! 

At the conclusion of our community group last night, my wonderful B.F., Katie, shared a funny 80's video with everyone. I would like to share it with YOU now... (just watch and be entertained). 

This video reminded me of another similar video, applying the same concept to the 80's AH-HA video for "Take On Me" which you can see here along with other literal videos ( I could waste hours laughing on this thing, but I won't .... today)  

Now these next two videos made me laugh so hard I wanted to pee when I first saw them. Attention to the notes and enjoy! 

note: do not watch if you are offended by children cursing (I know it's wrong to find it funny, but it just is)

The Landlord from Will Ferrell

A favorite clean comedian of mine that is appropriate for all...

Hope these videos will excuse the real lack of "content" in this post, but as I said earlier, I have some SERIOUS packing to do! 

from jessie (distracted)... with love 

from YUCKY to YUMMY

Not quite a "Yummy or Yucky" post, but the purchase of our NEW coffee pot deserves props of it's own! Scott and I made both some good and bad choices with our wedding registry/money (mostly good). Two of our not-so-great purchases included an elliptical machine (which we used all of a month... the Y is so much better!) and a Mr. Coffee coffee pot. This coffee pot had all the pleasing design features you'd want in a kitchen appliance: sleek, black design, stainless steel carafe, and "clock" face. However, after a month or so, this coffee maker started making the YUCKIEST coffee. It was tolerable, but something just wasn't right about it. Scrubbing, cleaning, a rinse with white vinegar, all attempts to make the coffee taste better were FUTILE! So we've suffered... till now!

     

OLD & YUCKY ------------------> NEW & YUMMY

With a move looming on the horizon, we decided to mark the occasion by purchasing a new coffee maker. I did some research, and decided on a 12-cup coffee maker by Hamilton Beach that cost us around $40 (because coffee makers can get pricey!). So far we've successfully brewed 3 tasty pots of yummy coffee. It's the little things in life that make your day!

from jessie (would you like some coffee with that creamer?!)... with love 

FUN call

On our drive up to see Scott's parents yesterday, I got a VERY FUN phone call from my good friend (and adopted sister of sorts), Agatha. She's currently on vacation down in the bayou with her beau, Mike, and he PROPOSED! They are set to be married some time next summer. 

Aggie and Mike... the NEWLY ENGAGED! 

Just wanted to take this opportunity to CONGRATULATE them BOTH on the joyful and wonderful life they're getting ready to embark on together. Did I mention she asked me to be part of the wedding?! WOOOOHOOOOO! I love that she thought enough of me to ask me to be part of her special day. I'm honored and can't wait to help her celebrate in all the many ways that come along with having a wedding. 

from jessie (honored bridesmaid)... with love