In Case You Needed This Today...

In case you needed someone to tell you today that 

you are special

beautiful

needed

wanted

loved

you are.

Dudes, we got a God that both holds the stars in place, cares for every little flower, and loves us.  We can do anything.

<3

Tips For Organizing Clothes and Changing Out Seasons

Well peeps, winter is finally letting it's veil fall and giving way to warmer weather!  In trying to encourage the warmer weather that it was time for it to make its appearance I went through my dresser and reorganized and put away my winter clothes.  And since to me this is such a fun chore, I thought I would share some tips to help you along the way! =)

Tip #1:

Pick a Work Station and Dump Everything Out

      This may seem like a silly thing to say, but it really is helpful.  Pick a workstation; anything from your bed to the kitchen table; and dump your clothes out.  I do drawer by drawer to keep everything manageable, but it's up to you.  Even if your clothes are already folded, I would recommend unfolding them simply because you want to get a good, honest look at them to make a decision about what to do with them.

Tip #2

Make 3 Piles...

        And those piles should be:  To Keep, To Get Rid Of, and To Try On.  The keep pile is clothes that you know that fit you and you know that you want to keep.  The get rid of pile is obviously clothes that you know don't fit you, you don't wear, or that after getting a good look at them to plain decide you don't want.  (I'll come back to what to do with these piles later)  And the last pile is for clothes that you like the looks of but don't know if they still fit you from last season, or that you don't know how they look on you.  Fold everything and file it into one of these three piles, and then tackle each one afterwards.

What To Do With The "To Keep" Pile: 
     This pile will be all the clothes that you know you want to keep.  Fold these neatly and put them away in their respective drawers.  When I do drawer by drawer I put the clothes that go back into that drawer away, and if there are any that don't belong in that drawer I just keep them in a pile until I get to the drawer they go in.

What To Do With The "To Get Rid Of" Pile
      These clothes are either torn/unwearable, don't fit, or you don't want.  The torn clothes should either be sewn or thrown away.  I can't sew so I usually just throw away.  And only keep clothes to sew unless you know you will sew them!  Because they are no better sitting unworn on a sewing desk than they are sitting unworn in a dresser drawer.  With the clothes that are just too small or unwanted you have many options.  They could be passed down to a younger siblings/realitive, given to a thrift store, sold in a yard sale, traded with a friend, etc, etc.  

What To Do With The "Try On" Pile
       I save touching this pile until I am completely done with going through all my drawers and have taken care of the other two piles.  Then I go through and try them on, keeping a full-length mirror close.  Be honest with yourself as you go through these; does it really fit, or do you just want it too?  Does it really look as good as you had hoped?  Letting go of old beloved clothing that simply doesn't fit is hard; but I guarantee that once it is out of sight it will certainly be out of mind as well.  Clothes that fit and you want to keep can now be filed away; and clothes that do not can be treated like the rest of the "Get Rid Of" pile. 
   

Tip #3

Storing Going-Out Season Clothes

     These tubs (pictured above) are amazing.  You can get them a Walmart (probably haha) and they slid really nicely under beds.  I just fold or roll up my clothes, pop the lid on, and under the bed it goes; forgotten.

 

 You've Been Doing It All Wrong:

Folding Clothes 101

  Okay, so folding clothes is something we all know how to do, but there are ways to make clothes look much more professional, stay in place, and fit better in tiny spaces.  One of these I learned simply from watching an employee fold tee-shirts.  So observe, and may your folding forever be amazing.  ;)

Just a note, with both folds you want the design side of the shirt down so that you can see it once it's folded.

Tip #4

Organize By Drawer

It is best to have some sort of organization for your drawers.

I separate mine by under garments

                 t-shirts

              shirts

             pants

                              pj's & swimsuits

The order and what you separate by doesn't matter; it's up to you.  

But having specific drawers for specific things really helps in keeping everything neat and tidy.

Well, that's about all I have.  Let me know if any of these tips work for you!  =)

Do you have any special tricks for organizing clothes?

~ Jess

Hi!

Hey-lo people!

I don't have much time, but I just thought I would pop in and say that indeed I still live.  Life is crazy crazy busy.  Like, seriously girlfriend.  But that's okay.  As long as I get a chance to stop and catch my breath every few days or so, I'll be okay. ;)

SPRING IS HERE!! I've worn shorts for the past 3 days, people!!!  *Squees with happiness*  But also, I forgot about fire ants, mosquitoes, sticky seed pods and the such being a part of warmth.  All winter I've been dreaming of summer and my first day in shorts I get attacked by all three mentioned above.

The big news is that this past week I was contacted by eShakti to do a review for them of one of their products.  I chose the most gorgeous dress ever, which should be coming in the mail by the end of this month.  So be on the lookout for that review!  I'm really excited to be showing you all this amazing company.

Okay, and in honor of St Patrick's Day I put green food coloring in my oatmeal this morning.  Observe:

And GREEN tea in a GREEN cup. haha

And my friend/hangout bestie told me it looked disgusting and my guyfriend told me it looked like puke....  Whaaa? 

Do you guys think that?  I mean, is it really that bad?  If you do, I don't hold it against you.  But if not, I need to know I'm not alone.  I mean, it's food coloring.  No one is calling those chemical sugar cookies with green frosting disgusting.  (Although I have to admit I secretly love those things.  But beside the point) XD

SHORTS!!!!!

Well, I really got to go.  I love you guys.  Every single one of ya.

Keep dreaming, hoping, wishing, loving, smiling, and living guys.

This is our life.

We got 'dis.

~Jess

20 Things To Do When You Are Bored

    As children we all have times of boredom.  Us kids all learned quickly though to never tell Mom that we were bored...Unless we wanted a list of chores!  ;)  But I've had quite a few friends respond to texts of mine with; "Nothing much.  Just bored."  Which, being the person I am, thus brings on a list of boredom busters.  That list I am now sharing with you.  Enjoy.

1}  Read a book you never have before

2}  Learn Origami

3}  Start a Journal (And if you need a list of idea for this, look HERE)

4}  Pick one topic and learn everything you can about it (like a war, a person or period of history, or a trade, like blacksmithing)

5}  Buy a plain white tee-shirt and decorate it

6}  Start a blog // work on your blog

7}  Go outside and study plants

8}  Learn to count to 10 in 10 different languages

9}  Write a letter to someone (to really send or not)

10}  Create a survey for siblings/friends, guess their answers, then see how close you really were when they complete it

11}  Bake something out of a cookbook that you haven't baked anything out of yet

12}  Clean something

13}  Make something special for someone

14}  Leave notes around the house for your family

15}  Go through a junk drawer

16}  Wash all the windows in your house

17}  Call someone you haven't talked to in a while

18}  Take a walk

19}  Play a board or card game

20}  Think of something you haven't done since a child; like climbing trees or finger painting; and re-discover your inner kid.

A Walk in the Woods // Prince

   I've had a pretty confusing and busy week.  Busy because we created a new school schedule to see how much time I really have and I discovered that I really have none.  Confusing because the weather has been back and forth, up and down; everything from sunny and 75 to rainy, snowy, 20's.  And I had a boy tell me he likes me.  (Whole 'nother story on that, sister.)

Last week, words were coming easily to me.  I had a pretty good control on my emotions and moods, and poems were just popping up everywhere.  But this week threw me for a loop.  Words disappeared, I was having feeling that I couldn't process and I was struggling to make sense of it all.  I'm a "make-sense" type of person.  I like math.  I like sorting things and solving things and fixing things.  I like being in control and able to put everything in it's proper place.  But unfortunately life doesn't work that way most of the time (read: at all.)  And I was unable to even process my feelings.

So I took a walk.  With my dog.  And a notebook.

And I just thought.  And prayed.  I opened up my thoughts, laid them out, and talked them back into place.  Having an excited pooch beside me with a tail wagging a mile a minute helped some too.

And then I went back to get my camera because it was too beautiful to let go to waste.  And I came back with another dog, two siblings, and two cats.

It was wonderful. 

I'll admit I didn't get everything as nice and neat as I would have wanted it.  The second trip around was nosier; more chaotic.  But it also reminded me that sometimes the most beautiful things are nosier and more chaotic.  And that's okay.

Taken on a high speed setting to get the mid-air look and edited with the help of the coolest Jedi-brother ever.

Cutest dog/girl/dog combo EVER!

*Also notice that cats photo-bombed both of these above pictures. XD

Aaaand, just because, I'm going to rave about my dog.  Because he is the BEST ever.

 This is Prince.

Adorable, right?

He is part Whippet (Small grayhound), part retriever something, the rest who-knows-what

and 100% Awesome.

This dog is like, my soul-mate.  He and I are basically identical (besides the fact that, ya know, I'm a female human and he is a male dog....But I digress)

He is the sweetest thing ever. He will always cuddle up with you, wag his tail when you come in, and he follows me around everywhere.  Like, seriously, we are always in the same room.  I'm at my desk; he is sleeping behind me.  I go to the bathroom; he lays outside the door.  I go outside (with out him) and he sits at the screen door and watches me.  He sits in my lap. (Biggest lap dog ever, but I don't care.)  We got him from a rescue when he was still too young to be away from his mother (he was dropped off alone, we still don't know how it happened) so he and I bonded.  Like, basically wielded together.

He is so willing to please. I spent a lot of time training him when I was little (we got him when I was 9) and he was always willing to please.  I spent hooouuurrrrss out there with him.  And it has totally paid off.  I don't command him any more; I talk to him.  When I take him for a walk, I don't say "Heel" or "Slow" or "Sit."  I say, "Walk with me, bud"  or "Hey, wait up" or "Take a rest."  Seriously, I do.  And he looks over his shoulder at me and wags his tail and gets the message.  I talk to him, not command him.

He is a great listener.  Okay, I know all animals technically are because they can't talk back or interrupt, but he does.  He looks you in the eye and rests his chin on your hand and reacts to my emotions.  He knows.

He is a gentleman.  Seriously, this dog is more of a gentleman than some teenage boys I know.  Say, for instance, that I'm in my room and the door is shut.  He will sit down, knock with his paw, and then wait.  When  you come and open the door he will stay seated looking up at you until you say something like, "Come on in."  I am serious!  He has done it since he was a puppy and no one taught him that.  If you drop food on the ground, he will wait for our other dog to eat what she wants and then after she leaves he will go up there and see what's left.  He will not fight over food. (For this reason I've learned to save him some until Lucy leaves!)

He is the most adorable thing to ever grace the universe.  Don't believe me?  Ha.  Take a look at the following 2 pictures.  One of him the day we got him, and one I took just 2 days ago.

WAS HE NOT THE CUTEST PUPPY EVER?!

LOOK INTO THOSE DEEP BROWN EYES, PEOPLE!!  *dies from adorableness*

But, he is also a stress ball like me, and a little scared of anything that he thinks might be dangerous, like me, so he can be really nervous sometimes too.  But he is still adorable:

I hate to laugh but it is just too funny. Look at the fear in those eyes. XD (For the record the scary thing at this moment was that we had him sit on a slab of cement that was about an inch high. haha)

Annnd, because Julia said I should, here is a picture of 9-year-old me holding him the day we got him.  You are not allowed to laugh XD

Weeeeel, this post was a lot longer and more side-tracked than I had imagined.  Oh well.

Have a lovely day,
Jess

ps. Sense I never got back around to responding to comments; the salt in the picture on my last post was for the humidifier. XD