ramblings on becoming a better person

Disclaimer: this is super rambly and possibly quite annoying to anyone besides myself.  Read at your own risk ;)

Last month I had a kidney stone and it was a whole ordeal involving surgery, a stent, and a kidney/bladder infection from hell. Let's just say I didn't always handle it with the best of graces... There was a lot of tv watching, and a lot of me losing my patience and wanting to just go take a nap. It wasn't too pretty. Finally I just got fed up with myself and started browsing the internet for quotes on becoming a better person. And there were seriously SO MANY. Like, a never ending amount. Which actually made me instantly feel a little better that I'm not the only person in the world that's trying to better themselves (ha!). Reading all these quotes and thinking about how I need to change my attitude made me really think about humanity as a whole. NONE of us are perfect, no matter how perfect things may seem to outsiders. There's always something going on, something you're working on, something you could improve (even if you don't want to...), etc. It's kind of comforting to realize and accept that fact.

I wrote a snippet about this on my instagram account, and this is the quote I used. At the time, it was the most fitting. I didn't like how I was acting, and so I needed to change the story. I woke up the next day with a different attitude and perspective, and actively tried to be a better person and a better mom. While I wasn't perfect, obviously, it did make a huge difference throughout my day.

 

Whether I'm trying to change stuff or if I'm stuck in a rut, I'm still the same person. I can make the best out of what I've got in the present situation. I will always be Jess, I just want to be the most fabulous Jess that I can be ;)

In order to be in love with every minute of your life, you need to make the "good times" awesome, and make the "bad times" bearable, or at least try to see some reason for the crap that comes your way. Obviously this is easier said than done, but I think it is something to aspire to.

 

Another outcome of my soul-searching evening was that I realized I need to be pushing myself more. Challenge myself and my behavior. Delve into interests that may have perpetually been on the back-burner. Some days this really does just translate to *get out of the bed and feed your kids!*  haha

I liked this because there are all those sayings about acting the way you want to feel. If I want to be awesome, then I need to just start being awesome. Stay true to your own ethics/morals/personal guidelines, but DO the stuff you want to do, and ACT how you want to act!

This concept has been on my mind a lot lately. What makes me "come alive"? What am I passionate about? How can I create future employment from that? If you do what you love then you'll love what you do, right? I love being a mother and I'm forever grateful that I get to raise my two boys. While I want to work on being a better mom, I also need to figure out what else I really love and start developing my other interests as well. I feel so inspired by some of the people I follow on social media, and how they really do "come alive" and just radiate energy and love. That's how I want to be too. ♥

quotes...

no real time for blogging...oops. we've been all busy and stuff being grown ups. i honestly don't know how people do it... anyways, here are a couple funny things that have been going on, just to keep you entertained.. ;)

josh: ew, i hate used stuff. i like new stuff. we don't buy used stuff! oh...unless it's jess buying "vintage"... then it's ok i guess...

a guy at work was talking about how he was worried a newer guy might accidentally mess with voltage or something (note: we now work for a transmission line construction company...)

safety guy: that kid could use a good shock!

josh: wow, good job on that!

me: duhhh, it's because i'm--

josh: if you say you're awesome one more time...!!

::disclaimer...i've been saying i'm awesome a LOT lately, mostly kidding, but yeah... haha::

and lastly, josh was doing some sort of pilates/dance moves while watching the game a couple nights ago. when i happened to look over he screamed: jess! don't be inappropriate! don't look at my lumps!!

out. of. control.

to keep the my-significant-other-is-funnier-than-yours streak going, here's a little gem from a few weeks ago:

watching kids jeopardy. josh: this is easy! i could dominate all of them!
umm...yes josh. that's why it's called KIDS jeopardy...

yup, that's my husband. and that whole saying he's funnier than whoever is in your life part is a joke. although really.....theres no competition. ANYWAYS, to the real story. a lot of people lately have been telling me how long my hair is. i think this translates to "ew jess, your hair has reached the too long stage." you know what i mean, right? like when someones hair is too long and it's gross looking? and you're like ew, go cut your hair already! hopefully i haven't reached that stage [tell me if i have!]. however, this friday i am going to get it trimmed and colored, so i'll have them take off an inch or two. here it is in all its [straightened] glory:

what up, g-money? i'm just chillin in my new shirt.

and me sticking my tongue out, so you can see how long it is in the back. maybe i should have fixed my shirt in the back first. oh well. then you can see how close my hair is to my booty. perhaps...a little too close? a little out of control? i don't know. i can only read so far into other peoples comments about my hair length.

funny stuff and a new DIY

i should seriously have a whole separate blog for the funny conversations i have with my husband. he is the funniest person i know in real life, which is why i married him (duh). anyways, the other day i cleaned the back room, cleared some shelving space for all my fabric, and cleaned off the sewing desk. this simple act of cleaning the sewing desk added room for my computer to sit, and then i just kept being on the computer back here. josh accused me of being a hermit, and i matter-of-factly told him that it feels like my new "office." so just about half an hour ago i was sitting back here working on something and calmly told josh that there is a turd in the litter box (also, conveniently located in the closet of the 2nd bedroom). he didn't exactly care.. fast forward about 20 minutes, where this conversation happened in the front room:

me: im gonna go blog in my office
josh: your office has a turd in it

such a sweetie, huh? hahaha♥. anyways, yesterday i worked on a little project that was inspired by this post from the blog ruffles and stuff. unfortunately she has stopped writing on that blog but she left it up full of lots of tutorials and fun things. i took this project from her tutorial about refashioning a long sleeve top into a short sleeve with ruffles.

in hers she just has one panel of ruffles going all the way down the front, with the buttons all the way down in the middle. i decided to just do ruffles on the top, and do 2 layers, with a smaller layer overlapping the larger layer on bottom. [i wish i would have checked out this tutorial before i made it so my ruffles could have looked more finished, but oh well..] the lighting in my apartment is horrible so the shirt actually looks a lot better in person, and the buttons are all pink vintage buttons from my collection. i'm pretty pleased with it, since i hardly ever wore this shirt (i'm not a huge fan of long sleeve shirts) and i found i don't have as many short sleeve ones as i would like.


i think it's pretty cute now. what do you think? are you going to go tear through your closet for all your long sleeved shirts now? haha. there are a ton of other cute tutorials on that blog that you should go check out.

it's been a pretty chill monday night. we were supposed to go out to dinner for josh's work but that fell through. boo. instead we watched our most recent netflix arrival: it's complicated. see what we thought on our review blog. it wasn't a totally wasted night though because we had delicious eggs in a basket. yum.

what did you do tonight?

he knew it first...

me: i want to do an outfit post today
josh: i knew you would say that
me: what? i only decided just now!
josh: i knew since this morning.
me: so what, you know me better than me?
josh: basically.

hair: wig
white blouse: forever 21
blue tshirt: wet seal
silver dress: express
leggings: forever 21
boots: etsy (vintage)
necklace: lia sophia
bangle: forever 21
sunglasses: nordstrom

i guess if you want to know anything about me you should ask my husband first. haha.
happy sunday ♥