Today...

Today I will wake early and watch the sunrise.

Today I will count my blessings.

Today I will pray every chance I get.

Today I will eat healthy.

Today I will laugh more than I frown.

Today I will breathe deeply.

Today I will dance with my daughter.

Today I will enjoy the company I'm in.

Today I will stretch.

Today I will get outside.

Today I will not worry about the dust bunnies under my couch.

Today I will tell my daughter how much I love her.

Today I will tell my daughter how beautiful she is.

Today I will love unconditionally.

Today I will not lose my cool.

Today I will be patient.

Today I will sing.

Today, I will live. Truly live.

Today, and every day afterward, I will live.

On Living in the Moment

The other day my girl, KB, and I were having a discussion about our lives, and she mentioned that lately she'd been trying to live more in the present. This intrigued me, so I asked her to elaborate. She went on to say that, instead of worrying about the future, she's been "showing up" and being fully present in whatever life throws her way.

What she said has stuck with me the last few days, and I can't stop thinking about it.

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Living in the moment, not worrying about the future, that seems like such a beautiful way to live life. I know as a mom, even though I want to, I don't really live in the moment. My mind is constantly skipping ahead to dinner, or bedtime, or what our schedule looks like for the rest of the week. In fact, I already have things on my calendar for June. And I know it's not just moms that do this. I bet most bloggers I know would say they're the same way.

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I mean, I get it, our lives are busy. We have full time jobs (and yes, being a stay at home mom or wife is a full time job!), we have blogs, we have social lives, friends, and families, and it can get a bit hectic at times. If you're anything like me you're a crazy person very organized and like to write everything down. My mind races 90 miles a minute with things to do. Laundry, dishes, work, playdates, grownup dates, my writing, twitter, facebook, meal plans, the list goes on and on, and my mind never shuts off. I hate this, because I'm so pre-occupied in my own head, I miss things that are going on around me. And that's just the small things I think about, don't even get me started on the big things that I worry constantly about. I'm so stressed about the future, I can't enjoy my day to day life.

{via}

But, I've decided this has to stop. I need to be more like KB, I need to live more in the present. More of a day to day kind of living. I need to push aside my worrying, and focus on what is happening right now, right here, right in front of me. Now, I'm not saying I'm going to stop obsessing over things, I'm just saying that for me, there needs to be a designated time for it. Maybe in the evenings when M goes to bed, or even naptime. And, since I only get two nights a week to spend time with The Hubs, I'm going to try to be more present with him those nights. No blogging, no writing, no social media, no texting, and no stressing about the future. Just be with him. I hate to admit it, but lately our relationship has suffered because of our schedules. We're tired and stressed, and we end up arguing and pouting like 4 year olds on his nights off.

I plan on blogging in the eveings and scheduling for the next day. Or, ya know, just blogging at work. I don't really need to be "in the moment" at work, do I?

So, you're probably going to be seeing less of me during the day, unless M's asleep, while I try to live more in the "now".  Because the present?

Is pretty darned sweet.

Do you spend too much time worrying about the future, or do you live in the moment?

Surviving the Storm

I'm a little late in writing this, but I've been so swamped, I haven't had a chance to sit down and sort my thoughts.
Last Thursday, a tornado ripped through my tiny town. There was no warning, no tornado watch, the fire department didn't even have time to sound the emergency siren. We had been having bad weather all day, but there was no indication that a tornado was going to hit. It derailed a train, and destroyed our town's baseball and football fields. There are trees uprooted and huge branches scattered everywhere. I've seen much worse damage, but it's still devastating.
I wasn't scared at the time, simply because I wasn't 100% sure what was happening, but afterward, once it was confirmed, and we saw the destruction, I lost it. M's daycare was hit pretty hard, and I'm still having a hard time with the fact that she could have been there if I would have had to work that day. Her teacher, and a couple of other kids were there, though thankfully they are alright. No one was seriously injured, so we are all very, very blessed.
What amazes me the most, is the way our town has come together, and how everyone is refusing to let this affect them. Everyone is helping each other clean up debris, and pretty much the whole town came out Saturday night to our annual German festival, despite the fact that our streets are still lined with huge branches.
I've never had much pride in where I live, but I have to say, that's changing. I'm proud of the way we've all come together, and how we're all helping each other out. I hope we never have to go through that again, but I know that if we do, our town will come together, once again, and be there for each other. And if the tornado has taught me anything, it's that I'm very blessed. I held M way too much yesterday, but I couldn't help it, I was celebrating my third Mother's Day, and I realized that could be taken away from me at any moment. So, I'm begging y'all, hug your loved ones extra tight, and be thankful for your blessings, because you never know how long you'll have them for.

On Life With a Toddler

Y'all? Two year olds are fun. And tiring. And dramatic. But, mostly fun.
Back in January, when M turned two, I had a bit of a breakdown. How could my teeny tiny baby have grown up so fast!? It's like she's practically an adult!! I cried for two days straight and may or may not have drowned my sorrows in a pint or two of Blue Bell. And then I was all, "buck up, J, and make the best of it!"
So, I changed my snot and tear stained shirt (ew) and went to play with my teenager two year old.
And, y'all? I realized that this stage is awesome!
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying my child doesn't suffer from the terrible twos every now and then, because, whoa, Nelly, believe me, girlfriend can throw a fit! I mean, full out, "fall on the floor, scream your lungs out, and spin your head around" kind of fit.
But, then she makes up for it with snuggles and cuteness. And funnies. Oh, man, is she a funny one!! Her personality is getting greater by the day, and it's so exciting to watch her learn and grow, and become her own little person. From potty training to learning how to ride her tricycle (she rocked both of those!), her little brain is just absorbing so much information. And it all amazes her so much. My heart swells with pride and excitement every time she sees something new. Her little eyes open as wide as saucers, and she lets out a tiny "Wooooowwww!" I never knew I'd be so in love with motherhood. I mean, I knew I'd love it, but I never knew this was secretly was I was meant to do with my life. She is, and always will be my greatest accomplishment.
OK, enough with the sappies, let me share with y'all some of my favorite M things and sayings.
Lately she's picked up this thing where she walks up to me whenever she's leaving the room, and says, "Be back, mommy, ok?" and she puts her little finger up like she's telling me one minute, and her voice gets a little higher when she says "ok". And then I giggle and die from cuteness.
She's also picked up a bit of an attitude. For instance, I'll ask her to put her toys away, and she does the "oooookaaaaaay" and does her version of rolling her eyes. Or she says "Whateverrrrrr, man". Not sure where she got that one. Or the one where she says "Oh, gawwwd" whenever she's annoyed. Full out thirteen year old sass, y'all. And I can't help but find it adorable.
Then there's Drill Sergeant M. She comes around whenever we take the dogs out in the yard. There's no chance of our dogs getting too close to the road, because little miss thang stands in the middle of the yard with her hands on her hips and yells, "Nonie Bug, get o'er here, NOOOOOW!" Or, "Ixie, 'ere are you!?" which translates to "Dixie, where are you!?"
And, finally, there's Rock Star M. She comes around at least once a day, and brings Rock Star Elmo with her. They set up their instruments in the living room and play a free show for us locals, complete with drums, a microphone, and a tambourine. And she throws in a little "Rock and roll, babeh!" at the end of every show.
There is never a dull day in our house. Even on days when she's sick, she still keeps a smile on her face and radiates happiness. My life is so much greater with her in it. I can actually say my life is complete. And, I've come to realize, that no matter how big she gets, no matter her age, she'll always be my little girl.

Life in Photos: Week Three

Hey y'all! I can actually wish you a happy Monday, seeing as how this is probably a holiday for you. Not for me, though. The life of a bail bondsman never stops.

How was your weekend? Mine was spectacular! Once again, we spent the weekend at my mom's house. We only do this on the weekends that B has to work, but M absolutely loves going to stay at her Gan's house! We had a very uneventful weekend, in fact, I spent most of it whining to my mom about a toothache. Because I'm a big ol' baby who still needs her momma to comfort her. And I'm completely ok with that!

Anywhoodles, I guess it's time to catch up on my February Photo A Day Challenge!

Just in case you missed it, here's week one and week two! Now, on to week three!

Day 13: Blue. I loooove it when we have days like this!

Day 14: Heart. Heart pockets on toddler cardigans are the greatest.

Day 15: Phone. We don't have a land line, and I was off from work that day, so this is what you get. Meh.

Day 16: Something new. My mark. starter kit! (Speaking of which, right now you can get free shipping on any order over $30!)

Day 17: Time. Bedtime, crashing at Gan's.

Day 18: Drink. Or, lack there of. Can someone get me more sweet tea? Please and thank you.

Day 19: Something you hate. I love coming to my mom's but I hate picking up after Hurricane M when it's time to leave!

Obviously we also celebrated Valentine's last week, but I'm saving that for tomorrow's post!!

Now I wanna know, what did you do this weekend? 

Also? Did you see that Chantelle has announced a March Photo a Day Challenge also? You know I'm on board, are you!?

Life in Photos: Week Two

Happy Monday, lovahs! I hope y'all had fabulous weekends, and an even better Monday morning! (Ha!) It's cold and rainy here, and it was even colder over the weekend. Which translates to us having a lazy weekend at my mom's house.

Wanna see our February Photo a Day pictures?

Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this, right?

Day 6: Dinner. I forgot to get a picture of our delicious fajitas, but I did get a shot of my "dessert"!

Day 7: Buttons. I'm surprised these aren't more worn out than they are.

Day 8: Sun. Partly sunny afternoon.

Day 9: Front Door. A little Lone Star pride.

Day 10: Self Protrait. Me and my mini-me on the way to Gan's house.

Day 11: Something that makes me happy. She makes me pretty happy.

Day 12: My Closet. I have a bit of an obsession with cowboy boots. Araits in particular.

What else did we do last week?

Well, M drove her jeep for a lot. And when I say "drove her jeep" I mean she played her "try your best to run the dog over" game.

She got to sleep with me since we were staying at Gan's for the weekend, and she rocked her jacket and sunglasses most of the time, even though we were inside.



And we got to see the people with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo ride through my mom's town. They ride to Austin every year to hand deliver an invitation for the rodeo to the governor, it's pretty cool to see it in person. M loved it.

Overall, we had a pretty laid back week. M's been working on potty training, and (knock on wood), it's been going incredibly well. I plan on posting about it later in the week for all of you mommas out there!

I hope your weekend was as good as ours! And if you're doing the February Photo a Day Challenge, and I'm not already following along, let me know!!!



Life in Photos: Photo a Day Challenge Week One

Happy Monday, lovahs!! Hope every one's weekend was spectacular! Did you watch the super bowl? More importantly, did you watch the puppy bowl?

I didn't watch either. We spent the day cleaning house. Yes, seriously. M has gotten to where she loves to sweep, or "fweep" as she calls it, so I take advantage of it and let her pull the swiffer around and pick up any stray dog hairs that I missed. It's never too early to teach her about child labor!! I kid, I kid!

Anywoodles, we didn't watch the game, but I did follow along on twitter and I apparently missed some pretty good commercials. Like this one:

Too cute.

But, now it's Monday, the Giants are the champions, and everyone is hungover at work.

Whomp, whomp.

And with Monday comes my February Photo a Day wrap-up!

I've got days 1-5, today's theme is dinner, which I obviously can't take until tonight, so you'll have to come back next Monday to catch days 6-12!

Now, without further adieu, here are my photos:
(If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen these. Sorry.)

 Day One: My View. We spent most of the day on the road. Have I mentioned how much I love the Texas landscape?

 Day Two: Words. Keeping it classy with alcohol in a pouch. Don't judge me.

 Day Three: Hands. Little hands love Dora cereal.

 Day Four: Stranger. The only strangers we saw that day were driving by our house. Lame.

Day Five: 10am. For some reason M decided to sleep in on Sunday, so at 10am, Dixie and I were the only ones awake.

And for more of a peak into our lives, here's a random phone photo dump. You're welcome.

Oh, you know, just breaking it down at the laundromat. Keepin' it gangsta.

Laundromats now fascinate me. Our mattress protector has to be washed in a commercial size washing machine, or dry cleaned, so we ran it up to our small town laundromat last week when I needed it washed in a hurry. Let me tell you, there are some.... interesting people who hang out around there. And M apparently wanted to fit in.

She's killing me with this outfit. She normally wears black flats with this, but for some reason she insisted that she wear her "pink kicks" that day. And who I am to squash her creativity??

She absolutely refuses to sit in a high chair anymore. Boosters are all the rage now.

Although, I think it's so she can do this.

And this.

And definitely this. She's just too much.

Have a wonderful Monday y'all!! And if you're doing the February Photo a Day Challenge, let me know!!

Life In Photos

So, all of you have heard of Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day Challenge that she did for January, right? Well, I just found out she's doing one for February also! I didn't hear about the January challenge until it was too late, so I'm glad that I found out about this one in time. Here's the list for February:

I'm so excited to do this! Here's how to play from Chantelle's blog: 

1. Use the list above as inspiration and take a photo everyday. For example for number one on the list, 'your view today' you'd take a shot of whatever it is that you can see today. This would be a wider shot of your office space, where you went for a walk, or whatever it is that you can see!

2. Share on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, your blog or where ever it is you want to share. If you're sharing on Instagram or Twitter use the hashtag #FEBphotoaday so everyone can find them. There's a great community around the photo sharing, so do share!

3. Check out everyone else's pictures. I do it before I go to bed each night and it's so fun to see how different everyone's photos are. There are people from every corner of the world playing.

I plan on posting them to my blog once a week, but you'll also be able to find them on my Instagram (@ohheyitsj) and my Twitter. If you're planning on playing along, please let me know, because I'd love to follow you! 

And if a month long commitment is a bit much for you, there's also a Quick Challenge that I'll be participating in sometime soon!!

Hope y'all have a sensational Wednesday, here's to being one more day closer to the weekend!

Why Do You Blog?

I've always kept my little corner of the interwebs private from my family for the most part. It's not that I care if they read what I'm writing, it's just that I knew that wouldn't get it. They wouldn't understand the urge I get to put the words in my head out into the world. It would be a completely foreign concept to them.
My little blog was brought up in a conversation with a relative and she reacted the exact way I thought she would. "You blog? Why? What's the point of it?" And I found myself wondering what was the point of it.
I realized today that I've been blogging for over three years now. If you've followed along from the beginning, you know that I blogged for a long time, and then ended up deleting everything I'd written and took a bit of a break. Looking back, I regret deleting everything. Those posts had chronicled my pregnancy, and now I don't have them to look back on. But, the past is the past, and there isn't anything I can do about it. I started blogging again after M was born because I missed it so very much. But, over the last two years, I've forgotten the reason that I had started blogging in the first place. To empty thoughts out of my head, to be able to look back and have my life chronicled, and to make a connection with people. Then, when I came across this the other day:

it was like a kick in the teeth. I suddenly remembered why I had started blogging. It wasn't about the numbers, it wasn't about the free swag (although I do love it!), it was simply about writing just to write. When I redesigned my blog a few months ago, I wanted it to reflect who I was, so you can imagine my delight when I saw that in the manifesto. At least I was headed in the right direction! 

I want to get back to blogging just to blog. Just to empty my thoughts and to chronicle my life. Mind you, that doesn't mean a review of something won't show up here or there, and I'll definitely still do giveaways every now and then, I just don't want to do this sugar coated blogging anymore. I want to make a connection with y'all, and I want to do some good with my blog. 

So, I hope that y'all stick around for this. I'm going to try my best to stick to this manifesto. I definitely don't want to go back to "sugar coated blogging"! I can't promise I'll write everyday, simply because there are some days where M and I do nothing but lounge in our pajamas (or, as M calls them, "ya-yas") and watch Yo Gabba Gabba, but on the days where we actually do something, or I've got something of substance to blog about, I'll write. And obviously there will be some days where I just post adorable photos or videos of M, because, let's be honest, the girl is too fabulous not to have her mug posted all over this place!

Happy Tuesday, folks. 

When Did This Happen!?

Y'all?

My kid is two.

I'm not sure how it happened so quickly, but suddenly, my baby isn't a baby anymore. She's a full fledged kid. It seems like just yesterday that we were welcoming her into this world. How could it have gone by so quickly!? I now have an opinionated, independent toddler living in my house. She wants to pick out her own clothes, she wants to give kisses when she wants to, and she has no problem giving me the silent treatment when I tell her that she absolutely cannot have leftover birthday cake for breakfast.

I look at her and see that she's growing up right before my eyes, and I don't even realize it until it's nearly too late. My heart swells with pride, but breaks at the same time every time she learns something new. Parenthood is going to be the death of me. "J passed away this morning at 8:45 am. Cause of death was a broken heart brought on by a child who grew too fast."

Don't look at me like that, I am not being over dramatic.

Anywhoodles, I just thought I'd drop in and share some of the photos from her Rhinestone Cowgirl birthday we had last Saturday. Thankfully, I only cried once during the entire party. Go me!

M and her favorite cousin, Cade

Blowing out the candle



M and her two favorite cousins, Cade and Reese

See? I told you she's a stinker. 

Pawpaw and M

Rocking her pettiskirt and pistol boots

"WANTED: For crimes of cuteness and random bouts of sass"

Her party wreath

This one kills me.

And now you know my child's name is Mylee. Don't tell anyone, m'kay? We like to keep our secret identities.

Overall, the party was a huge success. There were a few other things that I would have liked to have finished, but no one missed them.

And I'm already planning next year's party. But if someone could figure out how to make her stop growing, we'll cancel those plans and just freeze her in time.



 *I'd like to thank my friend, Misti, for the amazing photos of the party! She does all of our photos, and having her there to shoot the party made it so much easier on me!!