New Year's Resolutions

I know, I know, I've been away forever! But all that's about to change. I decided to share my New Year's resolutions with my readers so that I have people to keep me accountable to my new goals.

First, like so many other people, is to live a healthier lifestyle. That includes exercising regularly, eating better and taking better care of myself in general (taking my vitamins, getting enough sleep, etc.).

Second, another popular resolution, is to be better with money. My husband (that's right, I got married since my last post!) and I have created a budget to follow starting in the new year along with a plan to save money. We are also committing to completing the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University courses in our quest for financial freedom!

Third is to start preparing freezer meals. For any of you who may not know what that is, it's cooking meals ahead of time (generally in one day) and freezing them so that you can just pull them out of the freezer and heat up when you're ready to enjoy them. I enjoy cooking and I want to do it more. Since I generally never feel like cooking after a long day at work, I thought freezer meals would be the best route to go: I cook on the weekend and I still get to enjoy homecooked meals during the week.

Thank you to all of you who've stuck it out with me this year. I will do better for you in 2014! Happy New Year!

Double Duty Decor

I have always known that my wedding would be something that my future husband and I would have to pay for on our own. Even as a young girl, when I daydreamed about my big day, I was being practical and frugal. Now that the time as come for me to actually start planning, I am trying to make my wedding elegant yet thrifty. I have scoured the Internet in search of money-saving wedding ideas and one idea I repeatedly came across was to make the wedding favors double as centerpieces. Genius idea? Yes! Easy to come up with? Not so much; at least not for me anyway.

I am not big on flowers and giving flower centerpieces as favors is just not my style. I was leaning towards the idea of candy or some other treat that looks nice on display and could be taken home for later but my fiancé mentioned that he thinks a wedding favor should be something that people can keep to remember the special day and edibles wouldn't allow for that. Hmm, good point, honey. I searched online for more ideas. I found votive candle holders that could be etched with our names and/or the wedding date. I love candles! But I didn't love the idea of giving someone a candle holder with our names on it. Unless those people happen to be our parents, I didn't see that being a good favor. Then I came across these little beauties! 

These are Chalkboard Frosted Glass Tealight Holders from David's Bridal. The plan is to write wedding day-related things on them and then our guests can take them home to erase and reuse as they like. Plus, I won't object to keeping any extras!

I'm Baaaaack!

I'm still here, people! I am so sorry it has been forever since my last post! Life has been a little hectic (in good ways) the last few months. I started a new job, Nice and Knotty has been racking up the custom orders for the chilly months, then the holidays creeped up on me and to top it all off...I got engaged!

Blake's dad and stepmom were visiting from out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday and his dad had suggested we have professional family photos taken. We hired my good friend, Alla of In a Dream Photography, to take our pictures. On Saturday, November 24th, Blake's family and I gathered at Duncan Gardens in Manito Park for our photo shoot. We did various group shots and shots of individual couples. We took pictures in different places around the grounds. Blake and I had done several shots together so when we did one last group of shots, I didn't think it would be anything special. We took a couple silly shots and then Blake asked Alla if we could take one more picture. He positioned me to stand facing Alla and he stood to my left. Awaiting further posing instructions, I just stood there, trying to figure out why he was getting on one knee. I thought to myself, "We can't take a picture with him on one knee! It will look like a proposal photo!". Before I could even open my mouth to ask what he was doing, he pulled out a ring, looked up at me and said those 4 magic words: "Will you marry me?" I said, "Are you serious? Right now? For real?" He responded with a smile, "Yes, right now." I took the ring, said, "Oh my God!", kissed him and then said yes.

Blake knew I always wanted the moment he proposed to come as a surprise. He also knew I would love to have photos of the proposal taking place. It was perfect and a total surprise (as you can probably tell from the look on my face in the photos)! The wedding is set for October 2013 with an exact date to come soon. I plan to keep you all updated on the wedding planning as we go.


All photos in this post are courtesy of In A Dream Photography.

RV Road Trips

When I was growing up, my grandparents took my cousin, Johnathan and I on several summer road trips in their RV. We travelled to places like Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore. We even went to Fargo, North Dakota to visit our great-uncle once. My cousin and I were reminiscing about these trips recently and I decided to share a few of my favorite memories.

During one trip, we were driving to our campsite for the night and my grandpa was absolutely convinced that we had to rush to get there because there would be no spots left by the time we arrived. We got there as fast as we could and checked in at the registration desk. To my grandpa’s amazement, they had an opening. Surely, we had gotten the last spot there was! We drove in to find our site and looking around saw only one other site had been taken up. To this day, my grandpa still can’t live down how he frantically raced to get the last spot.

On another trip, my grandparents, my cousin and I were playing a few hands of Uno before bed. My grandma was doing unbelievably well; she was calling out “Uno!” like crazy. After we played a few rounds and my grandma was racking up the points, my grandpa discovered her secret: She was cheating! She would slip a card or two underneath her leg so that she could declare “Uno!” and play her last card. Once my grandpa realized this, he called her out on being a cheater, threw his cards on to the table and yelled, “I’m going to bed!”. He walked stomped to the back of the RV and climbed into bed. As we cleaned up the cards, my cousin started giggling…turns out he was cheating too, just like my grandma! My grandpa has not played another game of Uno since.

I mentioned before we had taken a trip to see my (late) great-uncle in Fargo. When we went to visit him, he had a girlfriend at the time named Alice. One morning, we had my uncle and Alice over for breakfast in the RV. My grandma was making pancakes and Alice was served first. She took a bite and made a bit of a face but didn’t say anything and continued chewing. All of the sudden, my grandma shrieks and tells Alice to stop eating. My grandma had two containers: one had pancake mix and the other had flour…she had accidentally used the flour instead of the pancake mix! Alice didn’t believe in wasting so she ate the entire “paste pancake” without complaining!

The trips I took with my grandparents and my cousin have provided me with many more memories than I could even list here and I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to experience them. I hope you enjoyed reading these little anecdotes as much as I have enjoyed experiencing and telling you about them.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the U.S.

I recently had to have some labs drawn to check my thyroid levels (as I was diagnosed with Grave’s disease a little over 2 years ago) and I got to thinking about a funny thing that happened to me so I thought I would share it with you. Let me start with a little background information: Due to the Grave’s disease, I had to stop my thyroid function. I did this by taking radioactive iodine to destroy the gland. I was emitting radiation levels high enough that I had to stay away from people as much as possible for one week. I even had to carry a card with me for a little while stating why I was radioactive! Ok, moving on...

In 2010, my boyfriend, Blake and I made a quick trip into Juarez, Mexico. Now, I know what you’re thinking: ‘Why would you go in to Juarez?!’ Well, we were staying in El Paso for a few days and the border was right there; we couldn’t resist. Going into Mexico was easy: the border patrol officers stood at their posts and just waved their hands, signaling to keep the line moving. Getting back into the United States was not so easy.

As one would have expected, each car had to stop at the security post and show identification. When it was our turn, I handed the officer our IDs and waited while he stepped inside the booth for a moment. When he emerged, the officer asked, “Has one of you had a procedure done recently?”. Blake and I glanced at each other and then I realized what was happening. “Yes, I have,” I answered. The officer handed me the IDs back and directed us to pull off to the side. We were directed to a line of cars that were passing through a radiation detector. The officer running the post kept signaling for Blake and I to back up because I was setting off the detectors from several cars back. We eventually made it through but then another officer asked us to pull over and get out of the car. We did as we were told and the officers made us sit on a scalding hot metal bench; they told Blake he needed to move as far away from me as possible. Two officers came up to me and started interrogating me about what kind of procedure I had done, when it was and if I had the paperwork proving it. (Remember that card I told you about? It had an expiration date and this trip took place after that date so I had tossed out the card)! After being grilled about my procedure, the officers started questioning both of us about what we were doing in Juarez. Once we convinced them that we were on an innocent exploration of the city, they went into the office and came back with a Geiger counter. They held it to my throat numerous times and discussed amongst themselves if they believed my story.

Finally, we were given a scolding about coming to a dangerous city like Juarez and released. As we crossed the border back into the United States,  we let out a sigh of relief and vowed never to return to Juarez again!

About Me

Welcome to my blog! I thought I would start off with a little information about myself.

My name is Jessica. I am a graduate of the Journalism program of Eastern Washington University. I am a self-taught crochet addict who has an online shop called Nice and Knotty. Along with crochet, I am also obsessed with DIY projects, cooking/baking, writing and scrapbooking.
I'm the oldest of my 4 siblings, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. My boyfriend, Blake, is my best friend and better half. You'll hear more about all of them as I continue posting. :)

My idea behind starting this blog was using it as a way to gain more writing experience and strengthen my voice. Not wanting to limit my choice of topics, I thought it would be a fun way to share my projects, creations and musings with others. I hope you enjoy following me on my adventures!