Friday's Letters

 Friday kinda snuck up on me this week...

...but yay for the freakin' weekend!

Dear Park City, I can't wait to spend the weekend with you for our Anniversary trip! Yay for Alpine Coasters and Slides, breweries, fall colors in the mountains and time with my favorite person ever. Dear The Big Ass Show, holy moly we're excited for you tomorrow! Neon Trees, The Used, Grouplove, Awolnation, Imagine Dragons, Eve 6, The Wombats, Dead Sara, and more! All in one place! I. Love. Live. Music. Dear Grecian Key, I'm still bitter. Dear Husband, thanks for being so handy and helpful! The guest bedroom is so cute and our yard is slowly coming along! It is now no longer only dirt. There's rock too! ;) You're the best! Dear Football, I haven't got to watch one game yet. This makes me sad. Although maybe it is a good thing I missed out on the temporary refs. I'd hate to embarrass myself like everyone else crying over a football game. Pretty sure there are more important things to voice out about. Dear everyone invited to our housewarming party next weekend, I apologize in advance for having no idea how to plan a party. I hope you'll drink lots of booze so it seems way funner more fun. Dear everyone, I hope your weekend is full of adventure and may your socks be rocked off. I know mine will be!

Cancer Sucks

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I wanted to send you over to Lauren at Life. Love. Lauren to hear her story and to spread the word about childhood cancer. Her original post is below and make sure to head over to her blog as she'll be posting about it the rest of the month. Most importantly, help spread the word!

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of this month, I am going to take the time to write about my baby sister Ellie.

Ellie was 5 when she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). From the moment she was diagnosed, she fought hard, not truly knowing what all she was dealing with. One of the most haunting moments in my memory is when she was carried out by my mom and dad, sobbing, "why is everyone sticking needles in me?". I have so many other memories, but I could be here forever talking about them. What I will say is I think of my parents having to watch their little baby girl going through this and it is tough. You have no idea how much they wished they could take Ellie's place in this fight. I wished that I could take her place. I hope to never have to see any of my future children go through this.

My sisters and I

Ellie losing her hair

Before Ellie was diagnosed, I knew cancer was there, and that people got cancer; you would see the images of bald children for Ronald McDonald and St. Jude's. But until it effected me (granted I was only 13) I truly did not understand how unfortunately common childhood cancer was. (The number one killer of children)

Now imagine this headline: "Seven children were killed today as their parents watched in horror." This headline would prompt us all to take a moment to give thanks to our loved ones and maybe lower the flags. But the thing is, that this happens everyday because of the monster called cancer. 

In a divided nation where it is hard to get people to come together for a cause, we really need to draw attention to childhood cancer and stand together for a cure. We need to raise awareness and funding for this disease in an effort to ensure that the children lost are never forgotten and that no parents have to watch their child endure cancer. Or even worse, take their last breath.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Did you know this? Come October we will be flooded with pink ribbons and everyone knows that it is breast cancer awareness month. Let us make September the same. Let us draw awareness. My hope is that someone reading this becomes more aware of this disease and may be moved into action. Be it a monetary donation, passing this post onto others, or thinking about the kids suffering every day.

I know that we could say this about many other diseases out there, but for obvious reason, childhood cancer strikes me.

For the rest of the month I will be writing more pieces about childhood cancer.


p.s. happy 21st birthday to my middle sister Tess! Love you! 

Help Spread the Word!

A Sad Anniversary Story & Our 1 Year Photo

Okay, that is probably a little dramatic, but just hear me out. We had very excitedly planned on going to dinner to our favorite place in town, The Grecian Key, for our first Anniversary. They catered our wedding and they have the best Greek food I’ve ever had…and I’ve been to Greece before. Seriously. Amazing. Anyways, we already planned what we were getting…delicious dolmathes, terrific tiropitakia, a glorious Greek salad, perfect pita bread, crazy good chicken souvlaki, great Greek pasta and very delicious veggies (this might explain why we’re fat kids).
So, after our fun gift-giving adventure (I’ll get to that tomorrow), we hopped in the car and headed downtown. I told Travis to park out front, which we usually don’t do. I smiled ear to ear before opening the door and suddenly was stopped in my tracks. “Travis, we can’t go!” I’ll let these few pictures explain the rest.

 Oh, the blasphemy. Holy disappointment, Batman! We sat there in shock for a good 10 minutes. We couldn’t believe it…of all the days, they had to choose that one! I know, I know, lots of worse things have happened and we still had a good dinner and I got to spend the evening with my favorite person ever, but sometimes your hopes just get so high, and then to be crushed like that, well, needless to say I had an extra glass of wine. If you look really close, you can see our Thank You card hanging inside. Oh, the irony.

Now that I got the sad part of the story out of the way, how about some happiness! I've seen this picture idea on both on Pinterest and Katie's blog. Using a bar stool as a tripod wasn't ideal but hey, it got the job done!

 

I'll be back tomorrow with snippets of our fun little scavenger hunt!

One Year: Happy Anniversary!

While I usually despise Mondays, I'm pretty excited about this one. Today marks my first wedding anniversary with the love of my life! This year has been a whirlwind of adventure and one that I will never forget. I'm not going to lie, marriage is interesting. Not only is it full of love, compromise, happiness, adventure and trust, but it can be hard sometimes. Hard to admit you're wrong, hard to make sacrifices, and hard to leave one another's side. But to give yourself totally to one person for the rest of your life is so totally worth it, especially when they are your one true love. I never thought I'd find the one that made me want to give my whole self to one person for the rest of my life, but when I met Travis, I knew it was him.

I'm not going to get too mushy, but I can't wait for the next 100 years and all the adventures that will come along. I'm lucky to have such a wonderful person put up with my stubbornness and nonsense! It was pretty perfect that when I got in my car to leave for work this morning, "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers was playing. Listen to it if you've never heard it. The chorus of "I belong with you, you belong with me" is perfect for a day like today.

Travis, thank you for being an amazing husband, friend and adventure pal. I can't imagine life without you! You're the best thing I could ever hope for! Muah muah muah!

Dirty Weekend Adventures

Life is crazy. Two weekends ago, we made our way to Boise for a fun weekend with my BFF and old college roommate. It was a blast and went way too fast. Floating the river, cold beers, grilled turkey burgers, house shopping and a delicious brewery was all wrapped up in two days. I didn't take any photos but I did manage to snap one for instagram.

 

 Gorgeous, no? She's the one I have to thank for making me obsessed with wine and teaching me a little about cooking...and for keeping creepy boys away from me because they always were after her! Ha! I'm so thankful I met her in the dorms and I'm glad she's only 3 hours away!

This past weekend was finally the Dirty Dash in Missoula, MT! Holy fun, batman. If the Dirty Dash or any other fun mud run comes to an area near you, do it! Even if you haven't ran a day in your life! It was such a blast that I didn't want it to end. I'm waiting on some photos so look out for a full race recap in the next week or so. Until then, here are just a couple teaser photos:

 

This is before. Ignore my squinty eyes, but don't ignore my sweet pants.

 After. We were dirtier at one point, but a few of the obstacles kinda clean you off.

This was taken after the race. I'm dirtier than I look, I promise!

It was such a blast and it has made me a little more excited and a little less nervous for the Tough Mudder next month. I'm still terrified though. Being shocked while swimming?? An ice bath? 12 miles? Yikes.

I brought two of my girlfriends from Pokie with me and met my other BFF and her friend in Missoula. It was such a fun weekend. We decorated our shirts, drank wine, ate food, ran the race, got pretty, and went downtown. Missoula is a really fun college town with a neat downtown and a pretty awesome College Football team. Go Griz!

This is my other BFF, Elishah. We've been besties since the 4th grade and she's the sweetest person you'd ever know. She is a chef and made all the cupcakes and cake for my wedding! So yummy. It's been a few great weekends and I'm excited to be spending this one at home! Our dirt yard needs some TLC. I'll leave you with one more instagram photo (follow me @ jstjessontheloop, I'd love to follow back!)

This is our view while laying in bed every morning. I will never put blinds up! Have a great Thursday!

p.s. Next Monday is our First wedding anniversary! This has been the best year of my life and I plan on recapping our wedding adventures next week!

Friday's Letters

Someday. And yes, I do. Photo found here.


Dear Riley and Home, we will be missing you again this weekend. Off on another adventure! Dear Boise, we are so excited to see you this weekend! I can't wait to have my last hot summer day there spent in the sun! 95 degrees still?? Yowza. Dear Sara aka BFF, I can't wait to see your pretty face and drink too much wine and float on the river and have girl chats and go shopping and eat too much and just hang out! I miss my roomie! Dear September, I love your crisp mornings and cool evenings and changing leaves! Dear Labor Day, I'm wearing white skinnies today, mwahahaha! Take that, fashion peeps. Dear Husband, you are amazing! Our yard is going to be great and you are working so hard! You are the most handsomest Bobcat operator I ever did see! Oh, and Happy Anniversary Month! I can't believe it has already been one wonderful year! Dear Football Season, I am so excited for Sundays and Monday nights! Let's go Vikings, let's go! Dear Readers, I hope your weekend is full of adventure and memories! Have a great one!


I'm linking up with the gorgeous Ashley and Aunie!

A Girl, a Boy, and a Convertible…

There once was a boy and girl who went on a lovely trip...

They had to get a rental car. The cheaper the better.Since the boy is a salesman, it's hard for him to say no to other salesmen.

The boy was convinced that they needed to upgrade.The weather forecast was looking awfully niceand Colorado has some beautiful scenery to take drives through.The girl looked at the boy and said 'Do what you want'. She would have said no.

Cheap-skate.So off the boy and girl went in their mid-life crisis convertible.The girl ended up being happy with husband's decision. This doesn't happen very often.She happened to love the wind blow through her hair and smell the fresh, Colorado, mountain air.They made bets that each of these houses had at least 3 convertibles.Yogi and Boo-Boo probably do, too.Pit stops were made at local bakeries.Yummy juice, and delicious dips. The boy knows how to keep his wife happy.The adventure ended back home with a songand an amazing sunset.

If you ever find yourself in Colorado, DO the Peak to Peak Highway drive, with or without a convertible. You won't be sorry. We didn't have time, but we would have loved to enter the Rocky Mountain National Park. Someday. 

Happy Thursday, everyone!

p.s. If anyone is looking for someone to swap buttons with, check my Swap page!

A Colorado Wedding

What a wonderful Labor Day weekend! The long weekends seem to always go by so fast! I hope everyone had a great one full of adventure, fun and shared with the ones most special to you! I know I sure did. It was also mostly drinking and eating. Yay for Colorado beers!! For this post, I’m going to let the pictures do most of the talking. You’ll be seeing photos from my Aunt’s rehearsal dinner and her wedding. The wedding was very simple and gorgeous, so mostly you’ll just be seeing my beautiful family with the beautiful background. Tomorrow I’ll be back with pictures from our drive on the ‘Peak to Peak Highway’ in our mid-life crisis car convertible rental car.

Uncle Scott. Worse than the kids.

Aunt Kory, Aunt Eileen (the bride), moi

The Bride's Mom aka my Grandma and hiking/travel buddy

Father of the Bride aka my Papa

Always getting picked on...

Delicious food from Whole Foods for the rehearsal. So yum.

The backdrop of the wedding ceremony in my Aunt's backyard. So pretty.

Had to show the bride's shoes!

The cake...after the two little ones shoved their fingers in the back. haha

Eileen and I following the ceremony. She needed a beer right away!

I did the wedding hair. First time ever. No practice. I think it turned out great! My Grandma made the hair piece.

The sunset was spectacular.

The happy bride and groom. I love this picture.

These are just the photos I was able to snap. The professional took more of the detail pictures which hopefully I will be able to share soon! The Bride had fresh flowers that we put together the afternoon of the wedding. It was so worth the savings and a lot of fun! It was a small wedding of mostly family and a few close friends. It was such a special weekend and I couldn't be more happy for Eileen and Brian. She is like a big sister to me! I hope you guys enjoyed the photos!