separation of church and state

in an effort to keep this blog from becoming solely a baby blog, i have actually created a separate blog just about henry. that way, you can make the decision for yourself if you would like to see what my adorable child is up to ;)


introducing: oh henry!

27 weeks and other random stuff

well hello third trimester. so nice to meet you. its hard to believe you're already here! i feel like my belly has no more room, which makes it hard to believe i still have three full months left! eeks!

favorite foods this week: bean with bacon soup (i want to eat it every night for dinner!), caramels, hot chocolate, and strawberry poptarts. healthy mix, huh? don't worry, i'm still getting some fruits and veggies in :)

ew, do my arms look bigger? i think its the top i'm wearing...

yesterday night we went and saw kathy griffin in salt lake city. she was a riot, as usual. this is the third time we've seen her live, and probably the best show yet. tonight we're going to dinner with some friends, and i'm going shopping (!!) with my girl emily. you all know i'm obsessed with shopping, so its going to be a very fun night :)

also, i recently found something amazing. have you heard of sweet paul? he puts out digital magazines that are amazing, and has an awesome blog. i'm obsessed. you need to check him out if you haven't already.


this is the cover of his fall issue, and i am planning on making these maple syrup baked pears sometime soon! who wants to come over and help enjoy them? :)

happy weekend! any fun plans?

blog love: not martha

have you guys seen the blog not martha? its amazing. she is a diva, and i want to be her. my latest obsession on her blog is food baked in tiny jars. SO cute and delicious looking.

red velvet cupcakes

cobbler

pie (the heart just makes it better!)

soooo, because i'm lazy, i think someone should make all of these for me. or just buy me a bunch of little jars so one day i can make cute desserts in them. everything is just cuter when it's smaller!

you guys should check out her blog. she does more than just cook (grr, jealous) and she has tons of cool ideas. now go buy me little jars!! :)

girl crush: fancy treehouse

over at the blog fancy treehouse, coury reigns all things fashionable and adorable. she looks like a young, blond julia roberts. she has the best sense of style, and i want to own everything she wears. which would be possible, since she sells most of it in her store. but we're trying to save money or something like that, and somehow vintage clothing doesn't fit into that idea... soooo, if you're looking to get on my good side, feel free to buy me anything from her store! i will most likely love it.


this lovely lady is married and has a boston terrier. so normal, right? which is encouraging because she seriously seems like alice in wonderland. i love it. if you are a fashion lover, go check out her blog asap.

one of my true loves

so, i dont know if you have picked up on this, but we love movies. LOVE. so much so that we started a movie review blog: we review. and now i am going to tell you about myself, in regards to movies. if you've actually read through our review blog you will know that i posted this on there a while back, so i apologize for the repeat.

if there's one thing i have always loved as a hobby, it's movies. and yes, i consider it a sort of hobby. if people ask the weird question "so what do you like to do in your free time?" i give them an awkward stare and then say "we love watching movies."

[via]

when i was little i used to watch my favorite movies over and over and over. on this list were: 101 dalmations (my fave as a youngster), shirley temple movies, and my fair lady. i was raised watching disney, shirley temple, and musicals (state fair, oklahoma, brigadoon, the divorcee, singing in the rain, sound of music, etc).

my movie tastes have changed (obviously), and now i love dramas and comedy, and some action movies. juji loves scary movies so my viewing of those has increased, but usually begrudgingly. i have left the theater a time or two when i get too scared...true story. i also hate gore. anything gory is absolutely disgusting to me. violence is not appealing to me. if it is in some sort of action movie i can usually be ok, but i just hate it.

there are some movies i refuse to watch, which i think are just stupid. example, the twilight movies. another example, transformers 2 (i wasted enough of my time watching the first one). if anything looks too childish or unbelievable, or based on a stupid book, i wont watch it.

anyways, i just love movies, and feel like i have a pretty good grasp on if they are awful or not. (dont ask juji though, because he will bring up movies i like such as "failure to launch" or "sex and the city" and then will say i have movie faults). you can decide for yourself though.

some of my favorite movies are: best in show, baby mama, gran torino, slumdog millionaire, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, misery, the river wild, changeling, dark knight, date night, and many more

[via]

favorite actresses: zooey deschanel, kathy bates, tina fey, amy poehler, lisa kudrow, kate winslet, meryl streep, sarah jessica parker, britney murphy (rip), and some other ones i can't think of right now...

so go check out our movie blog! what are your favorite movies or actresses? i love being nosy... [plus, i'll just be honest. i sort of judge you based on what movies you like. ok not really...well, kind of. we can still be friends though]

ps: i realize this post is sort of shameless self promotion for our review blog. and i'm ok with that. please dont be a hater.

pps: one of our more "controversial" posts is on alice in wonderland. because we um.....didnt like it. and now i'm going to run away before i get burned at the stake.

popularity contest

blogging is such a strange and awesome thing at the same time, don't you think so? lately i've been a little caught up in wanting my blog to be popular. which is a mistake. the other day i asked my brother-in-law why he doesn't comment anymore and he told me it's because my blog has gone too "corporate." ouch. so i've been trying to get away from that a little. for starters, i stopped doing my BESTeam features, because i honestly felt like they were a little incongruous with the rest of my blog, plus i wasnt seeing any business benefits from being a team member. i did meet some awesome people from my membership though, so i won't say that i regret doing it (hi besteam friends!).

instead of being worried about having the most blog followers, i'm just gonna do my thang. if people like it, they will read it. i only follow blogs i enjoy reading. i expect others to do the same. this blog started as a place for me to document my life happenings and stay in touch with family members/friends. so what do i care if it's popular? yes, i admit i have this inexplicable need for people to like me. maybe it stems from having bad self esteem growing up? not being popular in high school? not always being the best-i-could-be friend to others when they needed it, and therefore feeling that i need to make up for it now? i have no idea.

i just found this blog (and therefore this controversial post) yesterday, and it made me think about my blog posts a bit. and what i got out of it is i need to be more true to myself. write about how much i love my homosexual cat, even if other people arent interested. post my outfit of the day posts if i feel like it, because i love fashion. act like i am a model, because i like to pretend i am. admit that i [reallllly] want a black baby, even if it may not be politically correct to do so. blab about our infertility problems because sheesh--that is what we are going through! this blog is real life. MY real life. i'm not forcing anyone to read it, and i need to get rid of that desire to have my blog make it big in a world full of blogs. quite frankly, now that i've written it down, i feel quite ridiculous for even thinking that way.

i do enjoy the internet-friendships i have made with my readers. the support and laughter and advice, etc from you all has really made blogging that much better. so i'm not condemning having followers and all that jazz, i just mean i need to stop worrying about it. it's silly. juvenile. embarrassing to admit. ok, really embarrassing to admit. from now on, it's lets-keep-it-real time. if you join me for the ride, thanks. ♥

if i were rich... part ii

i'm beginning to think i need another blog that's just titled "if i were rich." because seriously...i wish i was. i was just telling my coworker how i am obsessed with clothes and a [little but lingering] part of me wishes i would have followed through with my high school dream of going to school for fashion merchandising. although if i had done that...where would i be? i wouldn't be here in utah with my little joshy-poo, thats for sure! which would not be cool. so instead i'll just dream about being a fashion buyer. maybe (if i were rich) i could go to school for it in the future. fashion school is expensive though!! anyways, this post is about my current fashion lusts. for your viewing pleasure:

revival house. $48. i'd totally pretend i was eleanor roosevelt in this.

(like...in my mind...)

gosh. $49.95. ah-mazing, right?

modcloth. $34.99. in the words of rachel zoe, i die. [aka i need these]

modcloth. $87.99. adorable.

gosh. $90. so mj, right? love!

i could seriously go on and on and on. those are just some current obsessions. feel free to purchase any of the above and give them to me. i will love you forever (yes, you can buy my love, ok?). also, i found multiple awesome fashion blogs today. i've been drifting in bloggy-world a lot lately and found so many great new blogs [if you're visiting from one, hello!]. i love it ♥ anyways, one fashion blogger in particular is doing a bomb-dot-com giveaway, including the store gosh (pieces above). so go check out le blog de sushi for a chance to win (but don't enter too many times...you'll lower my chances of winning...)!

pleasepleaseplease

hi. i'm back. i dont have much time to write but i wanted to have everyone PLEASE go check out THIS LADY's BLOG!! she is currently having a raffle of three giant prize-filled baskets in order to get money to adopt!! they almost have all the money they need, but they need a few extra thousand. please go look at her blog and peruse the baskets up for raffle (3 baskets, each with a link on the top of her blog through the pictures).

read their road to adoption here. raffle tickets are only $5 each so go get some!!

our store is giving a $25 GC in the 'for the kids' basket! we are so honored to be a part of her cause. please go check it out!!

xoxo ♥

feature AND giveaway!!!

hello!! want to win one of our lovely headbands??

the daisy. [giveaway is for a blue one, this is purple]

please check out my feature and a yourstrulydear giveaway on the lovely eleise's blog over at one artsy mama!

oh deer

have i ever mentioned the "oh deer" story before? its actually josh's story, but whaturr. he was working a few summers ago and they were out in the field driving to a site (he does vegetation measurement stuff). josh and i are known for saying "oh dear" a lot, since its just a habit of mine to say. all of a sudden he saw a deer running towards the van and started exclaiming oh deer! oh deer! oh deer! and everyone was like "what...?" turns out the deer ran into the side of their van. it did a flip off the van and then ran away. CRAZY STORY, right? true, tho.

anyways, i have found about 100+ new blogs to check thanks to my new indie biz class. and since you all know i am OBSESSED with blogs, this is very dangerous. which is why i am cutting myself off from looking at them right now so i can work and make some money.

[what i feel like now]

as you can see (from above), i am having a cold-relapse. i thought i was getting all better. but then josh got my sickness and then now my sniffling and coughing is back. shoot me. but literally, i do have a photoshoot tomorrow for OUR SHOP DEBUT and i cant very well look like rudolph, right? i need to start smearing the vicks asap.

[what i need to look like tomorrow. or better.]

♥

friday followers, listen up!

if you are here from friday follow, hello. PLEASE ONLY FOLLOW MY BLOG IF YOU GENUINELY LIKE IT!!! k thanks.

off to school and work til later. hopefully i can have time later to blog fo' rizzle. happy friday!! ♥

holy wow

i did this friday followers thingy on my friend kerry's blog, not really even knowing what it entailed besides putting my name on a list, and then i have like a bazillion comments (which really means like 10 on 1 post...wowee haha) and like 7 new followers! so welcome!! maybe i will figure out more what it is for next week and do it here or something haha. we shall see...

now scroll down to learn about my denver trip, byu's big win, and my latest sister: a series post!!

♥

good things come in...4s?

4 shows i like to watch:
-project runway (love it, wish i was talented so i could be on it!)
-bad girls club (addicting, admit it!)
-jersey shore, and all the spinoffs. this one is hilariously cute.
-americas next top model (someday you will see me on this show, i can just feel it)

4 things im passionate about:
-recycling
-water (hydrology, water conservation, etc)
-crafting
-josh, our families, and our pets ♥

4 words or phrases i say a lot:
-"love it"
-"that is cute"
-"rude"--i think this one is quite common in our circle of friends haha
-"you dont know me!!" ha ha ha

4 things i've learned from the past:
-everything happens for a reason
-buy good deodorant so you dont have to worry about smelling (since i dont have a sense of smell, this information is key in my life...haha)
-when you treat people nice you actually feel better about yourself
-people love you. always.

4 places i would love to go:

-egypt--i've wanted to go since the 3rd grade when i learned about it (and became obsessed with it for several years)
-hawaii. never been. now if only someone would pay for me...
-england!
-china. particularly the great wall of china

4 things i did yesterday:
-woke up freakishly early to go TA a lab
-went to classes
-worked
-played with jeff and dorris and ate pizza and watched project runway

4 things i'm looking forward to:
-turning 23, because i feel like i am already and it always confuses me.
-graduating!!! finally!
-josh getting a job, and starting mine and darci's business
-getting a house. and a dog.

4 things i love about winter:
umm ew... i hate winter (but if i were forced to answer i would say: boots, sweaters, warm cars, and hot chocolate with marshmallow fluff)

4 things on my wish list:
-these boots, size 8
-these gifts labels are pretty awesome
-a shopping spree to forever 21
-world peace. not possible? oh, i'll take a house instead :]

4 people i tag:
-livia because we've been blog buddies 4eveh!
-sarah, my sister-in-law, cuz she is awesome and likes blogging [almost] as much as i do
-angelina la dawn tomato because she is cool and we're basically e-twins
-ashley cuz she's funny and has the cutest baby evurrr

switching it up, getting carded, and house-buying wishes!

i switched up the blog a little bit. do you like it? i wanted to have it be 3 columns but i didn't know how to do that and still have a background [and not lose all my widgets]. if anyone wants to do all of the above for free, that would be awesome haha. until then, this is how it's gonna be! unless i change my mind later tonight or tomorrow and then you'll just have to be surprised.

now, did you know that they CARD you for buying dayquil!? i finally bought some this morning (6:30am...ew) and i was in self checkout, and all of a sudden the screen tells me to show my id to an attendant. i was like what in the world!? yeah, they card you. the attendant man said they usually just give it to you if you look old enough, but it pops up on the self checkout (obviously). now, i dont really understand the reasoning behind dayquil-carding. will dayquil make you high if you take too many? can you make meth or something out of it?? getting carded will not stop you from doing any of those things if you are over 18. it seems kind of pointless to me, unless if you are above 18 you are therefore allowed to get high and make meth. is that what theyre trying to say?

also, i want a house. rent here is just as high as if we had a house. and i think our crazy landlord is ripping us off. i havent seen the gas bill since august '08, and so i sort of thought [read: hoped] that it didnt apply to us anymore. a year and a half later, all of a sudden it's sprung upon us. want to know how much it is?? $611.60!!!! and our landlord expects that to be paid in full with february's rent check! i mean, if that was said to me like 2 or 3 years ago i honestly wouldn't be able to pay it, considering our rent is a bit higher than that bill. luckily we have [some minimal] savings, and we just filed our taxes so we wont have to starve. but good grief!!! has your landlord ever done anything like that!?

hopefully josh will get this job that he'll be interviewing for in a couple weeks (pray for him!) and then we'll be able to save money and buy a house. wouldnt that be lovely? we can all dream, right?

sunday...thats my fun day...

have you seen my husbands blog? he got his diploma. craaaazy. last night i accidentally put domino's pizza boxes on top of it. oopsies. ha ha ha [btw, the new domino's pizza is positively scrumptious. i want more, i ate like 5 pieces last night!]

tonight i made lasagna. it was delicious. i used a ton of cheese and sauce and yummm my mouth is watering. darci threw it up, but she's pregnant so i'll let it slide... haha. [she did eat more afterwards so i guess it wasnt necessarily my food...]

doesnt it look good?

also, want to know how awesome my husband is (besides being smart and graduating college)? he let me buy these:

vintage cranberry boots, '70s

vintage blouse, '70s

both pieces are from this awesome vintage etsy store: Q's Daydream. i cant wait til they get here!!! i really love vintage clothing, i'm just kind of poor so i only own a few select pieces. these will add to my collection quite nicely. :] remember one of my "goals" was to dress cuter? i really want to dress more like i want to, instead of just how everyone else dresses at BYU. i mean, i dress a little differently, but i tend to calm it down for school. not like i want to be crazy, just a bit more fashionable perse (per say? perse? whaturr). a lot of blogs i've been lurking lately have only increased this desire. especially this one. she is adorable and looks like zooey deschanel and i love the way she dresses.

also, for the record, i won mario party tonight. booya. hope everyone had a wonderful sunday (or if not, that your week gets better!) ♥

pick me pick me!!!

ok, so this lady is the one who designed the blog template i have now (free templates). she's doing a contest that ends on the 20th to get a custom blog template. I WANT IT!!! she has cute stuff, and i love birds (in picture form, remember, ID-ing them in real life is beyond me).

the contest is related to resolutions, which is fitting since one of mine is to pump up my blog. which is why i hope i get picked.

i like these. sorry if you dont.

1. What is your name and whats your blog name if you have one?
duh, my name is jess, and my blog name is "the mundane adventures of miss jess," but i have also branded myself as yourstrulydear. the blog name came about because my nephew and niece would call me miss jess (before i was married to josh), but now im aunt jess. they are cute.

2. Where do you live? City, State? if you could live anywhere where would it be?
i live in provo, utah. im from north yarmouth, maine. i dont know where i would live...san fransisco? australia? somewhere really nice where it doesnt snow too much...

3. Where do you work? whats your job title? Do you love your Job?
i work in the byu herbarium. i am an "herbarium specialist" as well as a TA (teachers assistant). my job is sort of boring, but i like it in the aspect that i work with plants. i also really enjoy being a TA, even though a lot of the time i feel stupid

4. If you could work anywhere or do anything what would it be?
get paid to craft (darci and i have a business in the works, be sure to stay tuned!). or be a hydrologist. or run a recycling program. or get paid to blog. or be a fashion merchandiser. or a model. i have many interests and aspirations...

5. What are you reading right now?
sue grafton's books. i havent had a lot of time to read, so i'm still on "A is for Alibi" (sorry Mok, I'm slow!). whats funny is i actually am a fast reader, but i usually dont have time to really enjoy reading and get into books unless its summer, or vacation or something.

6. What are you listening to?
right now, josh playing uncharted 2. as far as musically? i am currently obsessed with metric, along with many others

7. Guilty pleasure?
blogs. as you saw in my previous post, i am obsessed. i love them. otherwise, candy. its quite a nasty addiction actually... oh, also tv. its true--see #8

8. Name your TV shows:
project runway, bad girls club, jersey shore, family guy, parks & recreation, snapped, and lots of others i cant think of right now

9. What is one thing you do everyday?
look in the mirror to make sure i look cute. and then ask josh if i look cute. dont believe me? ask him (go ahead and start singing youre so vain. ive admitted it before. im cool with it)

10. How did you find our blog?
i found this survey on a couple of the crafty blogs i listed yesterday

11. What do you like to do for fun?
watch movies, play canasta and spades, eat food, go on adventures with friends, shop, etc

12. do you have twitter? lets be twitter friends!
yeah, but i dont use it too much: yourstrulydear

13. What was your favorite gift that you gave or received this year?
received: getting to see my parents down in arizona, and my new purse♥
gave: a large art piece of the salt lake temple for my parents. they were married there. it was cool because i made it, like the frame and the finishing touches on the picture, etc

14. Whats on your bed side table?
ikea lamp, my scriptures, my happy book, my "lotions and potions" as josh calls them, hair ties and bobby pins, etc. its pretty messy actually. josh calls that side of my bed "Narnia," and warns the cat he could get lost in there.

[ps: tag, youre it]

oops...

this is my favorite picture right now.

*scene: me looking scrubby in glasses, sweatpants, and the tshirt i wore yesterday
[yeah...oops...we slept in. sorry church]
josh: youre cute
me: youre cute!
josh (running away): youre cuter!!
me (shouting): youre cutEST!!!

yeah, we're sickening. so what. i read a post on someones blog today saying they dont think true love is real. i felt sorry for her.

ANYWAYS, speaking of blogs, some of you may know i am obsessed with blogs. i will sit at my computer for hours looking at blogs. i love them. they are fun, funny, inspiring, enlightening, etc. so, today i have spent probably 2-3 hours straight (since i umm...woke up...) looking at new blogs. i have a fun little list if you want some new crafty/inspiring/heartfelt blogs. these are the ones i like (in no particular order):

a beautiful mess (love love love this one!)

pixies & bears

beautiful bridget

run with scissors

strumpets crumpets

smile and wave

making chicken salad

i heart mondays

the dainty squid

sometimes sweet

heres looking at me kid (love her outfit posts!)

skunkboy creatures (she has the cutest pictures of her and her little girl)

dos family

now...somehow i need to convince josh that i need to have a beautiful studio like this one. ps i just spelled beautiful wrong and had to fix it...oops. anyways, a lot of these blogs have pictures of their craft studios and im super jealous. maybe i need to become a stay at home mom so i have more time for crafting. except then there would be that whole baby thing...yikes...

for my final "oops"...(no im not pregnant haha)... tomorrow is the first day of my last semester (!!!). i should probably shower today, since its been awhile (oops) so i can look all nice for school. maybe i should take a first day of school picture like we used to do when we were little. cute.

about an hour ago josh asked me what i was doing. i said, of course, "looking at blogs..." to which he laughed and made fun of me. but hey, he's been playing uncharted 2 on the ps3 all day so he better watch what he makes fun of...

have you heard of NieNie?

tonight i read this blog. i have looked at it before, a long time ago, and i kind of knew about this lady, but not that much. i cried. this is an amazing woman in an amazing family. if you have not read her blog, you need to.