Category:

July 2020

7/28/2020

So!
It has been a while! Both on here and social media, on all of which I have been unusually quiet over the past month and a half.
I took a little hiatus from social media starting June 18th, and really enjoyed it as my last month in Atlanta quickly came to an end.
I was not anticipating staying off of social media for as long as I did, but then lots of things began happening, very quickly, and I found myself a bit overwhelmed with life, and just needing a bit of solitude and self care. So I stayed quiet, letting myself feel what I needed to feel, and doing what I needed to re-connect with myself.
Now I am here to share with all of you, what has been happening in my life in July 2020.

The first day of July 2020 started out with a bang, being my last day at my leasing consultant job. It was a whirlwind of a last day, and I was very sad to say goodbye to my wonderful coworkers.

The craziness got kicked up a notch two days later, when in the early morning of the 3rd, Nick was involved in a shooting. Those of you who follow him on Instagram probably saw him post about it. He was riding in our neighbor's car when someone opened up 6 rounds into the passenger side and rear window. A bullet grazed our neighbor in the back, and Nick miraculously did not get hit at all.

The week of the 5th was our last full week in Atlanta, so it consisted of trying to hang out with as many people as we could, and getting the apartment packed up and cleaned.
On the 13th I had a wonderful picnic in the park consisting of sake and Chinese dumplings, potstickers, and eggplants with one of my dearest friends. It was a wonderful time, and the perfect way for us to say goodbye.

And then on the 14th, two days before we were going to leave, Nick told me that he is not coming back to Ohio with me.
I was devastated.
And shocked.
He is doing really great with his career and feels like he is so close to accomplishing what he wants, and is finally where he wants to be, after over a decade of tattooing. If he quits now and moves back to Ohio, he will never know how far he could have got in his career. We had also been fighting for a while, and he told me that he wants us to both take this time and figure out what makes us happy.
Last week he began his one year lease at his new home in Georgia.
I still have a bit of whiplash- it all happened so suddenly, and I am still stunned and confused.

So on the morning of the 16th, running on emotions, a bit of excitement, a whole lot of apprehension, and a grand total of 7 hours of sleep for the last two days combined, I hopped up into a 16 foot box truck, said a tearful goodbye to my love, and I began on the long journey with no one but my faithful dog at my side.
The trip back to Ohio took 12 hours, with the only stops being for gas, and bathroom breaks for me and Rocco. It was exhausting, terrifying (I've never driven a box truck before!), and a bit empowering.

It's been twelve days since I left for Ohio.
I have not cried once since the morning that I left. Considering I cry regularly at commercials, I believe it's because I am still in a bit of shock. I am also not exactly 100% sure what is happening, I have kept very busy since getting back to Ohio, and I have been feeling so many emotions that range from anger to happiness, and everything in-between.

I have spent my week here unpacking, putting my room together, spending lots of time with Rocco trying to make sure he is adjusting, listening to vinyl with my brother, helping out around the house, talking with my mom, hugging my dad, reading books over morning coffee in the sunroom with the dogs, and just having an all around amazing time. I even got to visit Lake Buckhorn for a day and go boating, tubing (yeah that's me, don't mind my face!), swimming, and spend some time with extended family.
Being here has been good for my soul.
So good.

I do realize that I am in a very unique season of my life.
I am basically starting over, and there is a large amount of uncertainty;
I have decided to retire from waitressing, and have no idea what I want to do instead.
I have no car.
I am 33 years old, back living with my parents.
I am not living with my husband-we're not even in the same state-and I have no idea what is going to happen between us.
And surprisingly, I'm not freaking out.
I am instead choosing to look at this time as an exciting season for me to start fresh, and do whatever it is my heart desires (but I am sure some freaking out will happen once the dust has settled)!

Thank you so truly much for all the support I have received from those of you who know what has been going on, and even those of you who didn't!
All your kind words and concern has meant more than you could ever know.

Be sure to follow me on Instagram to keep up with my daily life as I have a blast getting situated back in the country, and try to sort my life out! See you soon!

Peace Love and the July 2020
Jess <3

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Fashion on a Budget Outfit of the Week; Inuhele Edition

3/9/2020

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This weekend I was lucky enough to attend Inuhele, Atlanta's Tiki and Polynesian Pop Culture Weekend!
It was a complete blast, getting to soak in the tiki culture-and meet some really cool people along the way, plus it's always a good time seeing my pinup sisters!

Here is a breakdown of my $6.00 outfit;

-Hair flower $0
I made this hair flower as a part of my hair collection.

-Earrings $1.00
These earrings were a part of my Summer 2019 Thrift Store Haul.

-Bangle $0
I got this vintage bangle from my mother in law for Christmas.

-Purse $0
This insanely adorable purse that resembles a Chinese take out box, was given me for Christmas by my step mother in law. So cute!

-Shoes $5.00
These flats that I get from Wal Mart remind me of my "peasant shoes" as I call them that I buy in China. Since I currently don't have any from China, I use these instead.

-The dress $0
I was given the above dress by my Aunt, which I then turned into the dress I wore to Inuhele.

And that is how you get an entire outfit for only six dollars!!!
I just love proving that you do not have to spend a lot of money to look fun and fashionable-save your money for something important!

Peace Love and Fashion on a Budget
Jess <3

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Rocco's 7th Birthday Bash!

2/27/2020

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My baby puppy angel turned 7 on the 18th!
This little guy came to us two years ago. We found him at the Atlanta Humane Society, we fell in love, and he has absolutely changed our lives ever since.
Rocco's diet already consists of raw foods, so we bought him a nice big juicy lamb steak for his birthday meal (don't worry, I didn't let him eat the whole thing that night!)! He also got some new toys, which he is obsessed with, and of course his insanely adorable party hat!
Ok enough with the talking, I know why you're really here, and it is to see some adorable pictures of a puppy in a party hat, so here you are...

Happy Birthday Rocco!

My Peace Love and Rocco
Jess <3

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Nick's Surprise 30th Birthday Mexico Trip!

1/30/2020

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Nick's Surprise 30th Birthday Mexico Trip!

Last year I took Nick on a surprise trip to Mexico for his 30th birthday. And when I say surprise, I mean he didn't know where we were going or what we were doing until we got to our gate at the airport and I let him look at his plane ticket! It was pretty amazing, and I was super proud of myself for pulling it off!

We stayed at an all inclusive resort in Riviera Maya, and had a complete blast!

Barcelo Maya Palace is absolute perfection. See for yourself this paradise on earth!

The bathroom in our room!

There is little I love more than free food, and hardly anything Nick loves more than free booze, so we were in absolute Heaven our entire stay!

Me getting to cross off number 75 on my Bucket List; Eat tacos and drink tequila in Mexico!

Ahhhhh the beach...I feel wonderfully at peace by the ocean, and the little slice of beach that our resort sat on was no exception!

We had the incredible opportunity to visit and spend part of a day at Emotions Native Park.

Zip lining was an adventure!

We also got to ride ATVs throught the jungle which Nick was crazy excited for.

We also swam in a cenote, which is a body of water in an underground cave, and I was absolutely obsessed with the experience!

Thanks for coming over and enjoying our pictures!
Be sure to follow me on Instagram for more!

Pssst! Don't forget to check out my book I wrote, "Creating Your Dream Life; A Road Map" on Amazon to learn how you can take fabulous vacations like this, and also rock your everyday life!

Peace Love and Mexico
Jess <3

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Where to Stay in Mui Ne, Vietnam- Full Moon Village Resort

4/11/2019

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Where to Stay in Mui Ne, Vietnam- Full Moon Village Resort

As most of you who read this blog know, about six months back the husband and I spent two glorious weeks in sunny Vietnam!
The first week was spent attending the yoga and mindfulness retreat with saigon om. I wrote all about this life-changing retreat if you would like to read that.
The retreat was in Mui Ne, Vietnam and was held at the fabulous Full Moon Village Resort.
If you are planning on traveling to South Vietnam, this place is a can't miss!
Here's why you need to book your room at Full Moon Village Resort now;

Ok first let's start with the room! And when I say room, I mean an entire villa! To ourselves! Completely fenced in! With an outdoor hot tub! Yeah this is it right here!

Way too fabulous, right?!
As you can see, to say this space is luxurious is an understatement indeed!

And housekeeping is wonderful!

Pretty romantic huh?!

And don't even get me started on this pool...too late! You got me started!
But for real, have you ever seen a more luxurious pool?! And let's face it, at least half of a resort's must-stay factor lies in the Instagram worthy-ness of its pool! And with this incredible view, you will have all the Instagram pictures you need! Don't believe me? Check these out!

Learn to travel like me in my book, Creating Your Dream Life; A Road Map.

Swimsuits hand-picked by me

Now let's not overlook the ocean in all of this (pun intended!)!
A resort on the beach needs...a great beach!
Sadly with so much pollution the beach was littered with trash, but the resort staff did a great job of clearing the debris from their beach every morning! So that left us with a beautiful beach to relax on, and take lots of great pictures.

One of my favorite things about this beach was that you could see ocean and mountains at the same time. Breathtaking!

The Full Moon beach is the perfect place for some early morning qi gong and mindful walking, both of which we did every morning during our retreat.

Speaking of mornings, the sunrises here are definitely something special!

Check out the before and after of this sunrise picture of me! I made the after picture using my 'Sunrise Surprise' preset, from my Beginner's Wanderlust Lightroom Preset Pack. You can purchase this for only $9.99, or get it for free with Kindle Unlimited on Amazon! Check out all the befores and afters, using all six of my beautiful and unique presets.

The path from our room to the beach.

The food and drinks were absolutely gorgeous! Prepared by an on-site chef, everything was fresh, healthy, and delicious.
Everyday I got to feast on freshly prepared pho, while sipping fresh squeezed watermelon juice, and the darkest most perfect Vietnamese coffee, as well as plenty of other fresh fruits and some of the healthiest and best meals I have ever experienced.
Side note, if you are vegetarian or vegan, Full Moon has plenty of options for you!

We loved staying at the Full Moon because it is located at the very end of the long stretch of seemingly un-ending ocean side resorts that the southern coast of Vietnam offers, so it was nice and secluded. The other reason it was perfect is that they have a van that runs multiple times a day between the resort, and their sister resort that is located in downtown Mui Ne! By staying at Full Moon you have access to the other resort, and can simply hop on the (free!) shuttle bus and be whisked downtown!

This aspect was so perfect because after our retreat was over Nick and I wanted to explore downtown Mui Ne (as you definitely should, read about our experience). The bus not only took us into downtown Mui Ne free of charge (even though we had already checked out of the hotel!), it also dropped us off directly in front of our new hotel (that was not the sister hotel)! This was especially incredible considering we don't speak the language!

The owner of The Full Moon Village Resort, Pascal, is a Frenchmen. So if you speak French or English, no need to worry about communicating, as you will find plenty of people there who speak both languages!

And the best part? Rooms at Full Moon Village Resort start at less than $70 a night! Gotta love Southeast Asia, you simply cannot beat luxury living for that price!

Full Moon Village Resort's Facebook.
You can also find them on Booking.com, and Expedia!

Send me a postcard when you're there!

Do you love my pictures? You can have insta worthy pictures too, with my Wanderlust Preset Pack!

Peace Love and Full Moon Village
Jess <3

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Mui Ne Vietnam, a Fishing Village by the Sea-that You Have to See

1/20/2019

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A couple weeks ago you read all about our yoga retreat in Vietnam with saigon om.
We spent five wonderful days at this retreat, but spent a total of two weeks in Vietnam. So what did we do the other nine days? I'm so glad you asked!
We split our time between Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), and Mui Ne, so I will split these two cities into two blog posts-here is the first one, welcome to Mui Ne!

Mui Ne Vietnam, a Fishing Village by the Sea-that You Have to See

Mui Ne is an adorable little coastal fishing and tourist town along the southeastern edge of Vietnam.

During our first five days in Mui Ne we enjoyed the luxury of the Full Moon Village, a secluded and glorious resort that we stayed at during the retreat. This place was so awesome it will be getting its own blog post soon!
We love the ocean, and there was no shortage of it here as you can see!

I absolutely loved watching the fishermen hard at work, their little boats bobbing around in the ocean, and cruising around the beach on their motorbikes!

Once the retreat was over, Nick and I hopped on a bus and headed into town, a bustling little touristy area with no shortage of restaurants, bars, convenience stores, and seafood. Downtown Mui Ne is divided in two- the ocean side of the road, and the non-ocean side.
The ocean side of Mui Ne is where you can find the luxurious ocean front hotels, ocean front dining, and one of the best clubs I have ever been to. The non-ocean side is usually made up of less expensive hostels and backpacker hotels.

Nick walking on the ocean side of the road.

We found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the long stretch that is Nguyen Dinh Chieu, the street dividing the ocean side and the non ocean side, staying at Cocosand hotel, a little hole in the wall on the non-ocean side. It only cost us $16 a day! We could have gotten an even cheaper room, but we wanted a private bathroom.

We absolutely loved it here-I mean look at that courtyard!

This drop dead gorgeous, magnificent, perfect courtyard was in the middle of the hotel, with a sidewalk going all the way around it, and the rooms branching off of the sidewalk.

This was our room!

Can you tell I'm obsessed?! We were so very happy with our stay here.

Oh yes, the food! Food and drinks are usually one of our favorite parts of vacation (ok life!). Add in an ocean view and crazy cheap food and drinks? We were in heaven!
This was our favorite place, with our favorite view, with our favorite food!

Speaking of restaurants! I am obsessed with this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant where you take your shoes off before you enter, sit on mats on the floor, and the waitress brings you newborn puppies to hold because her dog just had babies!!!

Goooooood morning Vietnam!

As you can tell, we had the best time during our stay in Mue Ne, Vietnam. I whole-heartedly recommend it as your next vacation spot! Why not join saigon om on their next yoga retreat here?!
Thank you so much for reading- stay tuned for upcoming posts about The Full Moon Village Resort, and our time in Saigon!
Have a wondeful week loves <3

Peace Love and Mui Ne Vietnam
Jess <3

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A week in Vietnam with saigon om

11/20/2018

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"Sitting on our mats on the ground, joining in a guided meditation, listening to the birds chirping in the top of our shala, and the waves just beyond, I couldn't help but smile, and just be thankful to be alive, and to be spending a part of my life in this glorious slice of God's earth."
This was an entry I wrote in my journal I kept while at the retreat. I don't normally journal, but there were so many moments, and so many emotions happening, that I didn't want to forget a second of it. A good portion of this post has been taken from the journal I kept at the retreat.

As I am sitting here looking at my three hundred plus pictures, and going through my pages and pages of hand scribbled notes, I am wondering how on earth to truly share with you guys, and do justice, to the five days and six nights I spent with saigon om. I guess I will just share with you what our week looked like, and start by telling you our daily schedule while at the retreat. I know I wrote a little about the schedule in my previous post, where I told you all about saigon om and how excited I was to attend a retreat by them. If I'm being honest, when I wrote that schedule down, and then showed it to my husband, it left us both feeling a little overwhelmed. Neither of us were super advanced in yoga, had ever attended a retreat, or knew anything about mindfulness, and that schedule, while it looked amazing, was a bit daunting! If any of you felt the same way when you looked at it the first time, don't feel bad! But I knew it would be good for us, we wanted to do it, and so we did it! And wow, I can't even begin to explain how happy I am that we did! So with that in mind, here is what our week looked like while at our yoga and mindfulness retreat with saigon om in beautiful Mui Ne, Vietnam.

Daily Schedule
6:00-7 a.m. Qi Gong, mindful walking on the beach, and guided meditation
7:00-7:45 a.m. Fruit, tea and coffee
7:45-8:30 a.m. Lecture
8:30-10 a.m. Morning yoga
10:00 a.m. Brunch
11:00 a.m -4 p.m. Free time
4:00-6 p.m. Evening restorative yoga, mindful tea drinking, group sharing
6:15 p.m. Dinner

6:00-7 a.m. Qi Gong, mindful walking on the beach, and guided meditation
I am a bit embarrassed to admit that one of the things I was worried about, was our schedule beginning at six o'clock in the morning. I have trouble getting to bed before midnight, and getting me out of bed before eight is nearly impossible, so the thought of having to start my day every morning at six, was a bit troubling! However, I discovered with delight, traveling to a place eleven hours ahead of home, is the perfect solution for that! I fell asleep every night before eight, and every morning we arose before sunrise. Sneaking out of our villa, following the trail to the ocean, we would watch the magnificent sunrise, the clouds slowly peeking above the ocean, the sun casting its fiery rays. This was a beautiful moment for Nick and I every morning.

Once the sun had rose, we would wander up to our shala, which was a second story open-air hut with a beautiful thatched roof that housed a large number of birds, that had a breathtaking view of the ocean. Shala means house in Sanskrit-it is used in yoga to mean a house of yoga. This is me at the front of our shala.

The Chinese practice of Qi Gong was a delight! Qi in Chinese means energy, and Qi Gong is the practice of using breathing, meditating, and movement to get your energy moving (Sarah and Hang explain it much better!).
I loved learning about this thousands of year old art form, and getting to use the free flowing movements to wake up my organs, and even ease some of the tension in my shoulders!
The photo above and below are courtesy of Pascal Lefebvre, the owner of Full Moon Village Resort.

Our mindful walking was a beautiful time spent every morning walking in mindful silence, as a group, along the beach.

Guided Meditation
During our first morning guided meditation I sat on my mat, and participated in the guided meditation. I closed my eyes, listening to the sound of Sarah's voice gently guiding us on our meditation journey. Tears ran down my face as I listened to the birds chirping, the waves crashing, and focused on loving awareness towards myself. I was overcome by such deep feelings of joy, peace, and a love for myself and my surroundings.

7:00-7:45 a.m. Fruit, tea and coffee
Once the guided meditation was over, we all walked down from the shala where fresh fruit and teas were awaiting us. If that wasn't enough, we got to order a fancy tea or coffee from the wait staff. My iced Vietnamese coffee with coconut cream was probably one of my favorite parts of the day! I also loved the opportunity to sit and conversate with the amazing individuals from five different countries, and all walks of life that were at the retreat. Being in a group of like minded people, talking, sharing, and nobody on their cell phones (!!!) felt like paradise to me!

7:45-8:30 a.m. Lecture
After we had our fill of the glorious fruits, teas, and coffees, we made our way back up to the shala. I thoroughly looked forward to, and enjoyed the lectures. The word lecture conjures up for most hard chairs, fluorescent lighting, and a long-winded professor. More opposite of that this could not have been! We sat in a semi-circle in our shala, on our yoga mats, with the wind in our hair, and the ocean beside us, learning lessons that we would later practice on the mat, and in everyday life. Hang and Sarah enraptured and delighted us with their vast knowledge, humor, and contagious joy. We learned about the different doshas, mindfulness, the garden of the mind, and how words can affect us, and more! I took lots of notes and am so excited to keep applying these wonderful principles to my life.

8:30-10 a.m. Morning yoga
Ahhh morning yoga...can you think of anything more perfect?
Lying there on my back focusing on my breathing, hearing only the gentle sounds of Hang's voice, and the crash of the ocean, with its cool salty breeze blowing delicately on my face, I knew i was truly in paradise. And yes, this is the view from our shala!

10:00 a.m. Brunch
Brunch was an absolutely glorious time! After four hours of yoga, meditation, and lectures, we were all invigorated-and hungry! We made our way downstairs where a buffet of freshly squeezed watermelon, coconut and other various juices were waiting, along with a different vegetarian pho every day, as well as fresh salads, coffee, and other various brunch foods. We ate these with the glass doors wide open to allow the outdoors access to us. Sigh, heaven.

11:00 a.m -4 p.m. Free time
After brunch we had five glorious hours to do whatever our hearts desired. This included for Nick and I spending time at the pool, walking the beach, and spending time in our room.
A note about the hotel, I have never stayed in a place more secluded, delightful, and luxurious, all rolled in to one, than the Full Moon Village Resort in Mui Ne. It housed the most beautiful pool I have ever swam in, incredible and authentic vegetarian Vietnamese cuisine, amazing staff, the ocean right at our back yard, and don't even get me started on our room! It was not even a room, but our own private villa! A completely fenced off, perfectly private villa with a spacious kitchen, dining and living room, bathroom, and a bedroom with romantic netting surrounding the bed! This luxury was completed by our very own outdoor hot tub! I will be writing more about this amazing resort in an upcoming blog post about Vietnam.

4:00-6 p.m. Evening restorative yoga, mindful tea drinking, group sharing
At four we all arrived at Sarah and Hang's villa, yoga mat and couch cushions in hand.
We would start the evening with a mindful tea drinking ceremony, first reading the above mantra, then partaking in mindfully, gratefully, and with purpose drinking our tea.
Next was group share. I loved group share! We took turns sharing whatever was on our mind and heart. Some were joyful things, some had realizations and epiphones, and others were struggles and losses. We shared together, we cried together, we experienced together.
Last was restorative yoga. If you are a person who thinks yoga is too hard, then you must try restorative yoga! The lights were dimmed, soft music was played, and we all lay on our yoga mats using big fluffy couch cushions for comfort. Hang and Sarah took turns guiding us on this relaxing, and healing yoga session. Nick even fell asleep one day and started snoring real loud. And Nick never takes naps! It was that relaxing and good!

6:15 p.m. Dinner
The first fifteen minutes of dinner was spent in mindful silence. We first gave thanks to our higher being, and then gave thanks to the food. We were encouraged to say hello to each piece of food, imagine the journey they took to get to us, and to chew slowly and thoroughly. Doing this, we got to experience mindfulness and a different way of thinking in something we do every day, in something as simple as eating a meal. Truly amazing! I actually really enjoyed the mindful silence at dinner time. I got to really taste, and really enjoy every bite, instead of wolfing it down like I normally do. After fifteen minutes we were free to get seconds, and talk. Nick and I usually stayed until about seven thirty talking with all our new friends, then went back to our villa for bed.
The next morning we got to do it all over again!

I am someone who loves to totally immerse myself in things; cultures, languages, experiences. And being totally immersed in this culture of mindfulness was completely transformative! We got to listen to teachings about mindfulness, and then experience it during a yoga session, a walk on the beach, even eating! And that was just perfect.
And yes, yoga and meditation can be daunting. But Sarah and Hang guide you through it with ease. Giving you tips, helping your form, and always teaching you new techniques and sayings, it was such a special experience.

Not a bad way to spend five days!
I 1,000% recommend trying a yoga and mindfulness retreat at least once in your life. Hang and Sarah hold retreats and trainings year round in Vietnam and Australia, if you've ever wanted to visit one of these delectable places, and also Canada if you live in Canada or the States and don't want to venture too far from home. It doesn't matter which location you choose (though I'm quite partial to Vietnam...), just go! Go on this transformative, once in a lifetime journey with saigon om.
If you have any questions about the retreats or different training courses, feel free to email them (saigonom@gmail.com), Sarah and Hang are the greatest and will be happy to answer any questions. Just tell them Jessica from My Peace Love Life sent you! Go like them on facebook to see all the amazing things they are doing!

*A million thank yous to my wonderful husband Nick for going on this adventure with me, and for all of these amazing pictures he took, and also to saigon om for sponsoring this post and for being so so incredible*

Peace Love and saigon om
Jess <3

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An update on this crazy thing called my life

10/10/2018

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Hello there everyone! If you have been following my Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook the last couple weeks, you have probably caught a glimpse into the craziness that my life has become! By some cruel twist of fate, everything that could possibly happen, has come together to happen in the same three months. The months of September, October, and November 2018 have come together for the perfect storm!

On September 29th one of my best friends who I've known over half my life got married, so we of course had to be there! Me and Nick left the 26th and drove up to Ohio. The wedding was incredible, and getting to see and hang out with everyone was even better!

We spent the next six blissful days at my parent's house, spending our time sitting outside talking and laughing, enjoying each others' company, and the wonderful fall weather. We also went shopping at all the amazing discount stores we have in the area, snuggled with puppies, shot guns, me and my mom read a lot of books, and we hung out with some friends.

On Friday we headed over to Nick's Dad's and Step-Mom's house. We had a great time hanging out with everyone. Saturday morning we got to watch Nick's sister's volleyball game, then headed from there to Nick's cousin's wedding!
On Sunday we returned to Atlanta, getting home at 2:30 in the morning.

All day Monday and Tuesday was spent printing out tons of financial paperwork, hanging out at the police station, filling out more paperwork, getting fingerprinted, paying about a million dollars in application fees, and running all over God’s green earth, all to get our business license! Now we are just waiting for them to do inspections and get back to us! This is really stressful, because we don't really know when they will do the inspection, or when they will approve our business license. So we could be open this weekend, or in a month, who knows! So as soon as we get the go ahead, we will be moving everything in to the shop, and opening!
Now on to even more craziness...

I'm sure all year you've been reading and hearing about our upcoming trip to Vietnam for a yoga and mindfulness retreat with saigon om. We leave for this retreat that I planned almost a year ago, in less than two weeks!!!

So to sum this all up, in the same month that we are trying to open our own business, we are traveling not only out of state, but out of country as well! And we will possibly be opening up right before we leave for Vietnam, leaving us to pay rent the entire two weeks we are there! Sheesh!
Obviously we didn't plan for any of this to go this way. We had a lot of trouble finding a location for the shop at the beginning of this year so we had to push it back. We thought that we wouldn't be able to open until next year, but then this location popped up out of nowhere, and here we are!

So what are we to do? Stress like crazy and freak out?
Nope! I have decided that that is not the way I am going to handle this! The whole situation is definitely not ideal, but there is nothing to be done about it, it is what it is. I have just decided to be as prepared as possible, and not under any circumstances let it get me down! We have rent and all of our other bills (excluding the shop) for November already paid, so when we get back from Vietnam we won't have to worry about anything except for the tattoo shop.
So there it all is! The craziness of our lives right now. But you know what, I wouldn't trade it for anything, because I know that we are going for what we want. Even if it's scary. Because I know that fear is temporary, but regret is forever.

I will just leave you with this, because it is us. Yes we are scared. Really scared actually! We have moved away from home, spent so much money, and put everything else on the back burner for this dream. And going all in on something is about the scariest thing you can do. But we are doing it, and we know that it will pay off!
So thank you for reading, and following us on this journey, I will keep you updated on our life!

Peace Love and My Crazy Life
Jess <3

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Why I am a Modern Day Housewife

9/15/2018

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I am so excited to share that I have recently written an article that got published in the first issue of Peachy Keen Pinup Magazine! Not only were some of my waterfall photo shoot pictures included in the magazine, but directly opposite it was my article that I wrote specifically for the magazine! Go check it out, you can purchase a digital copy, or have the magazine shipped directly to your door! There are some beautiful girls in there!
So since I love you guys so much, I am sharing this article with you that I hastily scribbled down in a day to meet the deadline, but it actually turned out really good, and I am very pleased with it! Here you have, "Why I am a Modern Day Housewife", accompanied by the amazing photos I just received from my latest photo shoot at Dixie Pinup Studios. They were shot by the greatest pinup photographer around, Brooklyn Brat Images. Enjoy!

"As someone who loves 1950's culture, I have come to take the role of housewife very seriously. I have always been pretty good at cleaning, budgeting, and cooking the occasional meal, but it wasn't until I got married in 2015, that I began taking all of that seriously, and embarking on my housewife odyssey!

For those of you getting offended, saying that women aren't servants, and that the concept of a housewife is antiquated, just know that being a housewife isn't about being inferior, and treating your spouse as if they are your superior. Just the opposite actually! I feel such an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment when my house is spotless, the money is budgeted, the bills are paid on time, and there is a healthy, delicious meal made from scratch, waiting on the table. For me, being a housewife is about the most empowering thing I can think of. And of course there's that lovely Mother Teresa quote; "If you want to change the world, go home and love your family." Swoon! That is exactly what to me, being a housewife is all about. Showing my husband, our dogs, (and someday if we have kids) how much I love them.

I am a housewife but; I also work a part-time job as a waitress, I have my own blog which I
love, I donate time and money to different charities, I do pinup modeling and events, and
my husband and I are in the process of opening our own business!
I consider myself a modern-day hosewife; I am a strong, smart, independent woman who does a little bit of everything, while taking care of the people she loves. And I love it.

P.S I'm not always in the mood to cook and clean, so I found myself a man who also likes to cook, clean, and who does the laundry every week (because I hate laundry)! We are a team, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

Me with some of my beautiful Georgia Pinup Posse girls, embracing the nostalgia together.

What do you think?! Does being a modern day housewife resonate with you? If this is something that you want to delve more into, I have tons of great resources on this blog!
Check out my recipe section for some great food inspiration,
my money section for budgeting tips,
and my blog post "How to Host a 1950's Housewife Dinner Party" for inspiration!

P.S Go like my pinup Facebook page, or follow my Instagram for more great pictures like these!

Peace Love and Modern Day Housewife
Jess <3

2 Comments

Tiki Time!

7/26/2018

0 Comments

Hello fabulous darlings!
A couple weeks ago I was fortunate enough to attend the Trash Diva Atlanta One Year Anniversary Tiki Party! I was able to attend this amazing event with my fabulous ladies of the Georgia Pinup Posse, which made it a thousand times more memorable!

First there were free mai tais in coconuts, along with great sales at the North Highland Avenue location of the beautiful Trashy Diva stores!

Next we were treated to a completely fabulous burlesque show at the stunning North Highland Inn and Ballroom. I have never quite seen anything like it!