‘family’ Category

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10 October 2011

A memorable weekend at home

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: family, Wisconsin

Happy Monday everyone! If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know that I don’t talk about family much at all anymore, but this time I had to share.

This weekend, I was back in Wisconsin for a big family event.

My grandpa was taking part in the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, the Wisconsin branch of the national Honor Flight Network, which honors World War II veterans.

As part of the flight, my grandpa and hundreds of other vets from Wisconsin flew to Washington, DC for the day and visited several of the monuments. And, due to my grandpa’s age and health, my brother went as his guardian.

No kidding, those guys had a 21+ hour day Saturday, leaving Milwaukee at 4 a.m. and returning home at 9:25 p.m. for a parade through the airport for families and friends to attend. The parade is a surprise for the vets.

So Saturday night, my mom, grandma, SIL and her parents crowded at the airport (elbows out!!) and waited for the guys to return. Yes, the wait was long, my legs cramped and I may or may not have SHUSHED a child (who was annoying) but when it came time to watch my brother and grandpa walk down the parade route to us, I was a total mess.

And I caught it on video. It’s a little Blair Witch with a Cloverfield moment thrown in.

I literally start to cry every time I watch because the emotion, joy and crowd made it so special.

It was a great night and I am so glad that I got to be there. And a big thanks to my mom and brother for coordinating the application, I won’t ever forget the look of pure joy on my grandpa’s face.

How was your weekend?

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29 November 2010

Weekend recap: Fur nephews and Thanksgiving fashion

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: family, Fashion, Wisconsin

Instead of calling today Monday, I’m calling it BTR day, as in “back to reality.” Not only because this was a long weekend, but also because my previous two work weeks were three day weeks because of Mexico. So this week is going to be a tough one.

But I wanted to share some pictures from the long weekend because some are too cute for words. Literally.

While I was back in Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, I stayed with my brother and SIL and got to meet my fur nephew (aka their dog), Steve. He’s a daschund and (in my opinion), the most adorable, sweet and loving fur nephew a girl could ask for. I was fully prepared to cash all the love checks he was writing.

And write them he did!

Auntie Jess and Steve

Steve sitting on my lap (LOOK AT THAT FACE! How could you NOT love him?)

Butt shot (he was camera shy)

During my three days with him, he licked my eye (right on the contact too), nose, lips, boobs, hands and fingers. Yes, it grossed me out for a minute but then I gave in to it.

The best part? Thursday morning, he scurried out of my bro/SIL’s bedroom and ran right over to my closed guest room door before going downstairs. And when I gave the okay for him to come in, he came BOUNDING in the room, beyond excited to see me. Okay, he may have been excited for anyone but I think I made an impression.

I literally cannot wait to go back for Christmas to cash some more love checks and snuggle with him. I LOVE HIM.

And after my fur nephew morning snugglefest, it was time to get ready for the meal. In the past, I’ve worn dress pants or even jeans to Thanksgiving and honestly, after that meal, I feel like those pants could pop off themselves. So, I’m all about comfort now.

Here is this year’s Thanksgiving outfit:

(Flannel top: Ralph Lauren outlet, T-shirt: Banana Republic, Leggings: Hue, Boots: Banana Republic, Necklace: Nordstrom)

It was comfy and fashionable. Win, win.

How was everyone else’s long weekend?

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30 December 2009

Peace out 2009 and hello 2010

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: BlogHer, celebrity, Chicago, family, Friends, Random, travel, Wisconsin, work

So tomorrow is New Years Eve, which means I’m taking a look back at 2009 and looking ahead to 2010 by making a list of resolutions.

Or as I like to call them “things I try to achieve when I’m not lazy.”

But before I go out tomorrow night, drink loads of champagne, possibly force a guy to make out with me and spend the first day of 2010 hungover on my couch, I want to highlight a few 2009 highlights (in no particular order):

All in all, 2009 was a pretty good year, lots going on but a lot of positive things too. So as I continuously try to become a better person, let’s look at how I plan to do that starting Friday. Oh and this is separate from the yearly pledge to lose more weight.

2010 resolutions:

  • Sign up for dance classes (real ones at a real dance studio)
  • Run a 5k (and start the Couch to 5k program)
  • Be a better friend and daughter
  • Start a knitting project (other than a scarf) and FINISH it
  • Make one new recipe a month
  • Be more active in blogging communities in addition to my blog

Well that’s my 2009 wrap up and 2010 sneak peek for now. I hope 2010 will be as exciting and good to me as well as for all of you. I think 2010 could be the year of me!

I’ll be back this weekend with more but in the meantime, I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year! My New Years Day plans involve my couch, a pizza and lots of water and Naked Juice. Let’s party.

What was your 2009 highlight (blog or otherwise) or what’s your big 2010 resolution?

New movie review is up! You can read my full review of the musical Nine, get those jazz hands ready!

What I’m wearing: Sunday, I put up a picture of me wearing the below outfit over the holidays and then I didn’t share what stores I got everything from! I’m sorry! Details on my comfortable, “trendy” look are below.

Outfit breakout:

Shirt: Old Navy

Long vest: Banana Republic

Leggings: Hue, purchased at Nordstrom

Necklace: Banana Republic outlet

Boots: Banana Republic

Bracelets: Old Navy (black jet beaded ones) and David Yurman

As many of you know, I’m a huge Gap/Banana/Old Navy fan. Minus the Yurman bracelets, the most expensive item from this ensemble was the boots, which were $100 on super-end-of-season sale. Everything else individually was $40 or below.

29 Comments

28 December 2009

I hate passive aggressive behavior

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: family

I can admit that I’m a double standard when it comes to acting passive aggressive. I hate when others do it, but I’m guilty of it too.

When I lived in Germany, people joked that I had a passive aggressive monkey that stayed caged until I let her out to play and wreck havoc. Then, it was hilarious, but as I’ve matured, being passive aggressive is a pain in the a**.

I used to be passive aggressive because I was mortally afraid of confrontation. I had trouble expressing how I felt when people upset me, so I would bottle it up and wait to unleash it. This means I may teach you a lesson by hiding cassette tapes or when I would fight with people, stuff would start coming out like, “six months ago you didn’t call me back and I was mad.”

I’m still not great with confrontation or harsh criticism but I like to think that I do better at talking to people about it and working through it so it’s “resolved.”

I’m also clear with people I’m friends and work with that I want them to be honest with me and tell me if I do something to piss them off. Believe it or not, I’m not a mindreader (if I was, I would be making SO MUCH more money). I don’t always know if I’ve done something that has upset someone or if they have misinterpreted something I said. The popularity of texting, IM and email makes it difficult to determine what’s sarcasm or just mean.

Today, I had a bad run in with the passive aggressive gorilla living in my parents house, which resulted in a big fight and me in tears all day (literally) and en route back to Chicago early. And when this person and I had this blowout I said, in a stunned voice, “why didn’t you tell me you were upset earlier?”

I got no response but realized through this awful situation that I need to be better about talking out my issues and problems with friends and family before it’s too late and it explodes in a tirade.

So what about you? Do you talk to friends or family when they’ve done something to upset you? Or do you have a tendency to be a little passive aggressive at times? Or do you hate when others are passive aggressive to you or others?

Movie review reminder: Just a reminder that my review of The Young Victoria is over on the review blog! My first one ever!

30 Comments

27 December 2009

Weekend recap: Holiday recap

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: family, Fashion, Food, Movies, Wisconsin

Happy Sunday everyone!! I hope you all had a really great holiday and that Santa was extra good to each and every one of you. I had a nice few days off and am now slowly trying to remember what day it is.

Honestly, I had to write down that today is Sunday because I totally forgot. That’s what happens when you’re off for several days in a row.

Santa definitely visited my house this year and it was clear that dad told him I was a very good girl :) I’ve had some past issues of dad not following my Christmas list (which he always requests), but after a heart-to-heart about the difference between what I want/need and what he wants to give me, this year went much better.

Santa managed to fit in his sleigh for me several fun/practical things like a Wii, Wii Fit Plus, Huntress boots, yoga mat/bag, Glee seasons 1-2 CDs, JCrew/iTunes gift cards and a crock pot. Seriously, I was really excited about that crock pot. I cannot wait to bust that out!

And of course we had insane amounts of food in our house. I swear, any healthy food was replaced with M&Ms, fudge and cookies. My stepmom made a fruit salad and I devoured the entire thing because I FORGOT how good fruit tastes. Sad.

Festive ice cream cake, nummy

So all of this food meant I had to constantly wear comfortable clothing (to avoid another uncomfortable pants hissy fit) and I ended up wearing variations of this outfit anytime I went out in public. At least I was trendy.

A few other highlights of the last few days include: the first time having fondue with my work/WI buddy Lizz, seeing a few movies and not washing my hair for a few days. God, that was liberating.

Oh and I had to share a picture of my mom’s new ornament, can you guess the classic movie this appeared in? :)

How was everyone else’s holiday? What was your favorite present?

Review blog update: I’m staying strong on my no shopping pledge, but that means I’m behind in having things to review, so I’ve added movies! And my inaugural movie review is one of the best movies I’ve seen in recent memory (minus New Moon): The Young Victoria.

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