One Lovely Blog {Blog Award}

Hey y'all,

Sara from Sara Smiles, who I originally met via the internet way back when I was in college and had a Tumblr, was so sweet to nominate me for the One Lovely Blog Award. These posts are so fun to mix it up and you really get to know the person behind the blog.

How this whole thing works:  I answer the questions Sara left for me, then I nominate some of my favorite blogs. They then answer the questions I leave below!

1. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
Europe. I loved living there and there are so many places I still want to explore like Denmark, Rome, Portugal, etc. I have never really been an island person even though I love the beach, it must be my pale, sunburn prone skin but I love the cultures and history of the various nations of Europe.

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2. What is your favorite season?

Spring! Next favorite would have to be fall but except for a lot of rain and my allergies I think Spring is perfect. You get to wear your sandals and sundresses without the 100 degree heat!

3. If you had to be stranded on a deserted island with one person who would you want that one person to be?
Hmm, this one is pretty tough. As far as having people to hang out with until we are rescued I would probably say either my bestie, aMl, my best guy friend TS, or my Mom. If we are talking about surviving on the island hands down my Dad. He would be able to hunt and fish for food, perform medical procedures if we get hurt, and I am sure he could have us out of there in no time.

4. Did you have a favorite toy as a child?
I had a doll called "Special Dolly" that I took every where as a child. She was essentially my security blanket. Apart from that I loved my American Girl Doll Molly.

Special Dolly was a Fisher Price Puffalump

5. When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?

Reading a book or cruising through my social media to check on everything.

6. What is your favorite book of all time?
It would probably be a tie between Mansfield Park and Ella Enchanted. I know they are so different but I read both of them almost every year and the stories never get old. I also love Acheron and Persuasion.

7.  If you could have any superpower what would you pick?
Not flying. I hate heights. I would probably want the invisibility cloak from Harry Potter. Sometimes you just want to disappear for a while.

8. What is one of your life goals?
To become a Mom.

9. What song would you sing at Karaoke night?
I love musicals so probably anything from the Wicked or Legally Blonde the Musical soundtracks. I also am currently loving the History of Wrong Guys from Kinky Boots. I also tend to belt out T.Swift, Spice Girls, and Disney music. I mean, we don't have to win Karaoke, right?

 10. Do you have any pet peeves?

I think some of my biggest pet peeves occur when I'm driving. I have a bit of road rage sometimes.

11. Why did you begin blogging?
I started blogging after creating a Tumblr. My first blog documented a lot of my senior year of college. I loved the creative outlet when I was writing so many papers and there is such a wonderful community you establish when you begin to blog.

I nominate:
A Little Seersucker Sass
Chelsea of Girl Growing Up
Ryann of Meet the McCalls
Lindsey of Prescription for Preppy
Allie of Alexandra Bee Blog
C of The Portuguese Prepster
Ashley of According to Ashley
Chesson of A Southern Twenty-Five
Emily of Emily's Bright Life

Here are my questions for you:

1. Who are your style inspirations?
2. Name 5 things in your bag apart from your keys, wallet and phone.
3. What is one book you recommend to friends?
4. If you could be an extra in a TV show or movie what show would you select?
5. Did you make a bracket this year for the NCAA tournament? If yes who are/were your Final Four?
6. What's your go to recipe when you have no idea what to make for dinner?
7. Favorite song of the moment?
8. Favorite item in your closet right now?
9. What are you looking forward to most this summer?
10. Favorite blog posts to write?

52 Questions in 52 Weeks {2}

Hey y'all,

It's the second week of 52 questions in 52 weeks so let's get started with today's topic:

2.When and where were you born? Describe your home, your neighborhood and the town you grew up in.

San Antonio, TX

Ok, so I was born on January 31st in San Antonio, Texas. As far as the home and neighborhood I grew up in I was an "Army brat" meaning we moved a lot when I was little. I lived in Texas, upstate New York, San Antonio again, Germany and then North Carolina. I feel that as far as a home I grew up in they were all very varied. I mean I lived in an old farm house with lots of land including my own vegetable garden when we lived in New York but in Germany I finally had my own room but the house we lived in was not detached and in fact had one-two rooms per floor so think 7 floors including the basement. 

Rochester, NY

Towns also varied. San Antonio is a large metro-center and I loved growing up there, yes I have been to the Alamo and RiverWalk numerous times whenever anyone came to visit. But, in New York we were outside of Rochester in a rural part of the country and in Germany we were in the suburbs of a large city. In North Carolina my parent's have lived in the same house now for over 10 years so it feels very rooted. It is part of a large town but still suburbs and I am glad they are only a short drive away from me now. 

Wurzburg, Germany

So as far as the Miranda Lambert song of the House that Built me goes, I have multiple homes over multiple cities/states/countries.

Link-Up below:

Behind the Curtain: 52 Questions for 52 weeks

Hey y'all,

So one of my goals this year is to plan out more posts and really have great quality content. Well, on my break I stumbled onto a list of 52 questions and since Saturdays we are always running around I figured I would answer these questions one a week. Who doesn't want to peek behind the curtain like Dorothy did? 

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Here is the list of questions:

1. What is your full name? Why did your parents give you that name?
2. When and where were you born? Describe your home, your neighborhood and the town you grew up in.
3. Tell me about your father (his name, birth date, birthplace, parents, etc.) Can you share some memories you have of your father?
4. Tell me about your mother (hers name, birth date, birthplace, parents, etc.) Can you share some memories you have of your mother?
5. What kind of work did your parents do (farm, salesman, manager, seamstress, nurse, stay at home mom, professional/laborer, etc.)
6. Have any of your family members died yet?  If so, what do remember of their death and what were the circumstances of their death?
7. What kind of hardships or tragedies did your family experience while you were growing up?
8. What are the names of your brothers and sisters? Describe one or more things that stand out in your mind about each of your siblings.
9. What were some of the family traditions that you remember?
10. Did your family have special ways of celebrating specific holidays?
11. Share a few memories of your grandparents.
12. Did your grandparents live close by? If so, how much were they involved in your life?  If they lived far away did you ever travel to visit them?  What was that like?
13. Do you have any aunts, uncles, or cousins who really stand out in your mind? Write something about them (names, personalities, events that you remember doing with them, etc.)
14. Where did you go to school? What was school like for you?
15. What were your favorite subjects in school? Why?
16. What subjects did you like the least?  Why?
17. If you went on to get a college or vocational education, what school did you go to? What did you study? What memories do you have of those years?
18. What do you see as your personal strengths?
19. What were some of the challenges you faced growing up?
20. What medical issues have you had to deal with throughout your life?
21. Was religion an important part of your family life? If so, what religion did your family practice and what did it mean to you? Is it still an important part of your life today? If religion was/is not a part of your life, why isn’t it?
22. Who were some of your friends in school? What were they like? What ever happened to them?
23. What foods do you like?  Dislike?
24. Where there two or three dishes your mother or father made that makes you smile every time you think of them?
25. How did you meet your spouse?
26. How would you describe your spouse?
27. What was your courtship like?
28. Share some stories about your spouse?
29. How many children do you have?  What are their names?  Share a few memories about each of your children.
30. What were some of the major community, national and world events you lived through?
31. How did some of these events change your life?
32. What are some of your life philosophies or life views that you would share with others.
33. What are some of the personal values that are very important to you? What have you done (are you doing now) to teach these values to your children?
34. Thinking of people throughout the world and throughout time. List at least 5 people who you would categorize as truly great men or woman. What did they do to be great in your mind?
35. List 20 or more things that make you happy.
36. List 20 things or more that you think the world would be so much better off without.
37. List 20 interesting things you’ve experienced in your lifetime.
38. If you could spend a day with any famous person in the world, who would it be and what would you do during your day with him/her?
39. What scares you?
40. Share a few of the deeply moving (spiritual) experiences you’ve had in your life?
41. What advice would you pass on about raising children that you learned from raising your own children?
42. What are some of your talents? How did you discover them? What have you done to cultivate and improve them?
43. What were some of the truly life changing experiences you went through. How did you handle them? In what ways did they change you?
44. What did you do for a career? Why did you choose to go into this career?
45. What were some of the jobs you had throughout your life? Were there memorable experiences you had with any of those jobs?
46. What would you consider as two or three truly significant challenges in your life so far?
47. What are some of the life lessons that you would like to pass on to your posterity?
48. How many places have you lived. Provide a brief description of each place you’ve lived and why you lived there.
49. If you could go back in time and do things over again, what would you change?
50. When all is said and done, what do you want to be remembered for? What are you doing now to make that happen?
51. What kind of health issues have you experienced?
52. What were some of your more memorable vacations?

Extra Questions:

1. If a newspaper wanted to do a story about you, what would the story be about?
2. If someone gave you $100 and told you that you had to give it away, but you could NOT give it to your immediate family, what would you do with it?
3. Have you traveled to any place outside of your home country?  What was the reason for making such trips and what memorable things happen with some of those trips.
4. What were some of the popular fads during your younger years?
5. How did you spend your summers?

So today's question is: 

1. What is your full name? Why did your parents give you that name?

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Well for safety reasons I will just tell you that my name is Jessica Lynn. I was actually the only child in my family not named after a relative so it is kind of strange to look at the family Bible and see my sibling's connection but not mine. My name is a mash-up of names my parent's liked. I mean my Mom liked Jessica and my Dad liked Lynn so here we are. I have had many nicknames over the years though including Messy Jessie, Jess, Jessica-Jessica, Jessie, etc. but I am very happy with my name.

Do you have a fun story behind your name? Want to take part in 52 questions in 52 weeks? Should I make a link-up for this challenge?

Commencement Questions: All About Graduation

Hey y'all,

I have seen a few people ask about other's graduation experiences and since college graduations will be occurring over the next few weeks and high school graduations in the next month or so I thought I would share my two cents about all things graduation: dress, photos, etc.

High School

The bestie, aMl and I after graduating

Dress:I attended a public high school that had very strict dress code rules for graduation (and everything else for that matter...) and therefore there was not a whole lot of room for what to wear on graduation night. The dress code included closed toe, closed heel black shoes  so I found some ballet flats (we had to walk down escalators and other stairs before even entering the and for all the previous years leading up to 2008 the girls had to wear white dresses so of course when I was a junior marshal and had to buy a white dress we knew what I was going to wear to graduation but the policy changed a few weeks before my graduation so I stuck with the dress I already had.

Senior Pictures:In my school you took your Senior photos the summer before your Senior year so that took care of that.

Announcements: My parent's ordered the school announcements and then I labeled each one with the small photo of Senior Pictures.

Day Of: So of course the day of graduation it was expected to rain. My county does our graduations at the local expo center so our school always had the 8pm Thursday night graduation slot. So instead of doing anything with my hair it was natural crazy curly.
Carry: Nothing. My graduation was very formal and we had to walk in alphabetical order into a specified seat. We even had a practice run that took a few hours so I knew that I would not be carrying anything but my parents held on to my phone and extras.

Party: There will be lots of graduation parties to attend so my family and my bestie's had a joint neighborhood shindig since we are cul-de-sac potluck people.

Refer to the rules of your graduation, my school did not even allow for cheering or yelling at all during the ceremony so that all students' names could be heard when they were read. 

College

Dress: In college I actually had 3 graduation ceremonies. One was the large graduation for all students of Carolina and then I had one for my major department and one for my Women's Studies minor. My minor department had a small gathering on one of the reading days so the dress was casual and it was more like a party (yay for small departments). So for the departmental graduation for the English department was held in the theater on campus so since it was inside and required walking across the stage making it a bit more formal so I decided to opt for my J.Crew Carolina blue silk dress. For the larger graduation I knew was outside in Kenan Football Stadium so my cotton J.Crew Lorelei in white was the way to go. I wore Jack Rogers with both dresses since I knew I had to walk across a stage in my department and walk down some steps in the Tar Pit for the large graduation. 

English Department Graduation

Large Graduation Dress

If I was graduating this year from Carolina I would be debating between these dresses:

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Senior Pictures: I had a friend take photos one Friday afternoon a few weeks before graduating since I knew then that I could spend some time at all of the major highlights of campus. As it gets closer to graduation the main points of your campus will get more crowded. It took a few hours for us between changing and viewing different locations (the Old Well, Bell Tower, Arboretum, Kenan Stadium, South Building/The Quad/The Seal, the Sundial, etc.) Be prepared that during graduation weekend the main attractions will be crowded with a line. My parent's took some photos with me after the English Graduation at the Paul Green Theater and then on the day of the large graduation we took some by the Bynum fountain.

Daddy's girl

My sorority also picked a day in which we took some photos together and then on the day of the large graduation we all met together so we could sit in the stands as one group(we don't walk across the stage or read names at the large graduation only speeches and symbolically awarding degrees). 

Before heading in to graduate

Announcements: Once again my parent's ordered the school designed announcements and since they were paying I wasn't going to argue.

Day Of: I carried nothing to my English Department graduation but during the main one I had pockets in my dress and carried my camera and phone. My parent's gave me a designated place to meet after the event since 4,000 graduates plus their families means chaos so we met over at the student stores before heading to lunch. Our large graduation is much more relaxed then the individual departments: think proposal, neon signs, balloons,etc. 

Our Graduation Address by Mayor Michael Bloomberg

To Decorate the Cap or not? I did! I knew that I wanted mine decorated and I still have my cap out in my room now. It is decor and a reminder of the last four years of hard work. It has my letters since my sisters are always with me from the beginning of my college journey to standing next to me on the day of graduation (a sister even drew my monogram). 

Party: My family and I had a small gathering at our house afterwards but we did not stay in the area long after my graduation but I had some celebration at home.

What are your graduation questions? Anything I forgot?

Peace and Blessings (and Congrats Grads!),

jDl