Jadelynn Brooke

Okay who has heard of Jadelynn Brooke??? I am currently obsessed!! 

This company was started by 3 sisters in Texas. They have the cutest shirts!  I came across them on Instagram about a week or so ago and now I am trying not to order every shirt. I am going to show some of my favorites. Which one or two will be ordered tonight! 

This one is most definitely being ordered tonight! Football season is here!!!!!

So true!!

Ugh, don't ever met me leave the south!

This one is one of my favorites as well.

One of my favorite things about this company is you can get free stickers!! I got mine in the mail the other day and a sweet note! I love this company!

How cute is she?????

Go check them out! http://www.jadelynnbrooke.com

Jess

Friday Five - Music Edition

This week I'm going to give you my 5 current favorite songs I've been listening to...

1. Can't stop, won't stop grooving

 Shake It Off by Taylor Swift

Oh Taylor, she knows how to put out a song and kill it. I cannot wait for the album, it's going to be so different from her old stuff but different can be good.

2. Jammin' to some old Alabama with you, baby

Laying right here naked in my bed

I'm just doing my thing

You love it when I sing

Burnin' It Down by Jason Aldean

Okay, I love this song. There is something about this song, I think it's super sexy. I don't know. I highly suggest a listen!!!

3. Aww no, Conway and George Strait 

Never did it this way

Back in the old days

Aww y'all, we ain't a cliché 

That ain't no way 

To treat a lady 

Girl In A Country Song by Maddie & Tae

Okay this song is hilarious and such a funny take on brocountry... These girls are going places.

4. She might've let you hold her hand in school, but I'mma show you how to graduate

Bang Bang by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj

 

If you want to really jam out and look like a fool this is the song you are looking for. I love it! 

5. We could straight up blame it on the whiskey, 

you ain't gotta wake up and miss me, no, 

I hope you get lonely tonight

Hope You Get Lonely by Cole Swindell

Gah this song is perfect in so many ways. I just love driving around and singing this at the top of my lungs.


If you can't tell I'm really into country lately. I love me some country, but I love everything so you could very well see something completely opposite in a week or two!

Organized? Hilarious

I appear to be organized at the beginning of the semester, but it takes A LOT of effort for me to continue to be. I struggled the first couple of semesters back in school because I had never worked full time and go to school full time. Then to make matters worse, I hadn't been in school for like 3 years. So, there was a lot of trial and error with finding a strategy that works best for me and that really hurt me in the long run. So I spent the last year searching Pinterest and finding different ways to stay organized. All of these ideas are not mine, I'll link all the original posts for you to see their way of doing things because some I have changed to fit me and my schedule.

The first is my planner. I have a gorgeous Lilly planner, however when I first got it I wasn't sure exactly how to use it. I was constantly forgetting to put things in it or just not using it at all. Last spring I really committed myself to using it the best way possible for me. I did a lot of research on how people use theirs and I found a system for me. COLOR CODE EVERYTHING! If everything has a certain color then you should be able to see the color and know what you have to do. I use flair pens for this. I like that they are bright and bold and they write amazingly. I use these a lot when studying as well. At the beginning of each I go through and put anything that's due that month in the monthly view with their designated pen color. I also go through and I go through the daily views and write in each class. That way when the teacher is spouting out random things at the end of class I don't have to worry about finding the certain color it's already done.

This is my weekly view with my flair pens.

This is my monthly view with my color coded assignments.

The other thing that I do at the beginning of the semester is go through the syllabus from each class. This takes some time but in the long run it helps to see what's going on through out the semester. I make two spreadsheets: 1. Readings 2. Assignments.

1. Readings: I have a hard time knowing when to read things and by when. I go through each class and figure out what chapters we are on and when. I also color code these with their special color so I can pin point what's going on.

2. Assignments: if you have ever looked at your syllabus then you can see in that jumble you can hardly pin point a test or paper and when they are due. This helps with that scenario a lot!

    

This my spreadsheet, it is far too long to show the whole thing. This kind of gives a general idea. 

Binders and notebooks. Why do you need both? Some don't, me I do. I keep hard copies of my syllabus that way if something is changed I can mark it ASAP and make my changes on my spreadsheet at home to reprint. I also keep all copies of my power points in my binders and any notes I type up. I also color code these. If you can tell, I love color coding things.

We will see how long it takes me to fall off the bandwagon of organization, but I hope it sticks around!

Organized Charm (Spreadsheet)


Jess

First Week Recap

Okay, someone explain to me how it was Labor Day and it was hotter than the whole month of August? Dear Mother Nature, are you confused??

Anywho, I cannot believe I have already been in school a whole week. I also cannot believe it is my last fall semester. I think this semester is going to be interesting. Of my five classes, three of them involve group projects! I hate group projects, but I am incredibly lucky to work with Hayley (she is amazing, check her out) in two of those groups! My school schedule and work schedule is looking quite promising.

M-W-F

9 a.m. - Managerial Skills Development

This is a class with Miss Hayley! We were thrown into a group with others, it shall be interesting.

10-11 Break time!

This is an hour break that me and Hayley usually use to talk blogs and youtube videos. You know a social media recap.

11 a.m. - Business Stats 2

This class is pretty much self explanatory.

Then I head to work from 1-9 pm.

T-Th

I try to be at school by 9 a.m. to have some time to do some reading, blogging or to watch some shows (lately it's been Nashville since this show is AMAZING!). I like having some extra time to do some things I wasn't able to get to do the night before.

11 a.m. - Financial Management

Another group project class, in which we have to pick a company and decide to purchase stock from the company. Joy! I am the only Admin/Management major amongst 5 Accounting people. It'll be interesting. So far we've only learned the time value of money, which I learned in Real Estate last semester so I'm doing okay in the class thus far.

12:30 p.m. - Social Entrepreneurship

Before taking this class I am pretty sure I have never spelt the word entrepreneurship. It is also the hardest word for me to spell! Between that and convenience, it would look like I couldn't spell! I wasn't sure exactly what this class was before, okay I lie, I apparently had an extremely different idea of what this class was. However, I have it with Hayley and we are in a group together. Our group is working to help find a solution for a homeless need. We are going out to interview some different homeless people around campus. It's going to be very interesting.

3:30 p.m. - Managing People In Organizations

This class has been rather boring. I can't pay attention long enough, if my life depended on it. Not to mention I don't have any friends in the class. However, there is one of those people in class, you know the people who have something to say about EVERYTHING! It drives me crazy.

I pull the rest of my hours on Saturday and Sunday. My main goal of the semester is to be in bed by 10:30 and asleep before midnight. I've done pretty well so far and I hope to continue it, which is why I am rapping this up now.

Goodnight and I hope everyone has a good week at school!

Jess

To be given another day...

                                   

I don't talk about my dad too much on here if at all. I have a hard time even four years later thinking about it. My dad passed away from complications of a heart attack four years ago today. My dad was a huge part of my life. He was my best friend. We hardly ever fought and I remember calling him after I met Nick Jonas the first time and he understood me completely. Because my dad and I were so close our pastor asked me to write something about my dad for his sevice so I'm going to include that below because it describes me and my dad to a t. 

"Here is just a few things about my dad.

My dad wanted boys so he raised a little bit of boy in both my sister and I.

He taught Eleni and I everything he could about football and racing. Eleni and I were raised as Redskins fans but that only lasted long enough for both of us to gain our own opinions. Now he has me a Patriots fan and Eleni a Colts fan. Now to this day I love football and here in a week or two I'll still be watching knowing he's right there watching with me.

Though I am not a racing fan, I still would sit and watch the race with my dad whether he'd be watching with his eyes open or closed. Because even if his eyes were closed he knew everything that was going on. 

My dad taught both Eleni and I how to throw a punch and how to take one. That backfired on him when he wanted to play around with Eleni and I. He received many bruises from Eleni and I. It's what we did, we play fought. There were many times where Daddy would have to quit because he taught Eleni and I how to throw a punch a little too well.

My dad to everyone else was Ray the boy who grew up on the hill. But what everyone else didn't see was my Daddy. He was the one who passed out before I was even born. He was the one who while sleeping Mama and I put hairbows in his hair. He was the one who had to buy me Achy Breaky Heart on cassette because he cut it off and I threw such a tantrum it was the only way to make me stop. He was the one who taught me everything I know about sports. He made sure my grades were to par because he wanted better for me and he wanted to make sure he had something to brag about. He was the one who in the middle of the night would go to every room and check on us. He could tell you where Eleni or I slept and where each cat and the dog was. He was my Daddy and nobody will never be another him. 

I'm sorry that so many people never knew the same person I knew because you knew a great guy but I knew greater guy, Ray, the dad."

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of my dad. There will probably never be one either. So go hug your dads for me today. 

Jess

Back To School: School Supplies Haul

....sorry for the crappy photo....

Aaaah where has the summer gone??? I swear just yesterday I was counting down the days until summer began and now in just a week a couple of days I'll be back at it again. Anywho, anyone out there care about my school supplies I bought for the semester? 

1. First up are some binders. I bought 2 binders, one for my MWF classes and one for my TR classes. The thicker one is for my TR classes because I have more classes that day then MWF, so a smaller one will suffice for that. 

2. Tab Dividers, that's a given right? One tab for each class.

3. Page protectors, you can't see them too well in this picture. How I use them will be better explained in a post to come.

4. Notebooks, okay some of you use one 5 subject notebook. That method does not work for me. I write far too big and 5 subject notebooks do not have enough paper for me.

5. Pen Pouch. I love this pen pouch. I got it at Kirklands and it is beyond perfect. It's even monogrammed with my initial, J. 

6. For pens, I went with Pilot G2 gel roller pens. I love these pens because all the colors they come in and how thin the write. With how big I write the thinner the better! 

7. For pencils, I went with the Paper Mate Clear Point mechanical pencils. I like these because the comfort grip on them that most mechanical pencils do not offer. Lots of writing with uncomfortable pencils cause too much pain some days. 

8. Highlighters, when it comets to studying highlighters can be my best friend. Plus all the pretty colors! 

9. Index cards are my best friends. Each subject can be studied through flash cards at some point! 

10. My final and favorite thing is my agenda. Lillly Pullitzer makes the best agendas in my opinion. They offer lots of room to write my assignments and a monthly view for me to always see in the future. Once school gets rolling I'll show how I use mine.

Sorry that my photo sucks. I haven't felt too well so I didn't have the energy to take a picture, load it on him laptop and what not. Sorry. 

Jess 

What a rollercoaster of a summer...

Before I get into this post I am so mad because I had this whole thing typed out and it didn't save on Wednesday! Grr...

This summer has been a whirlwind of day trips, family time and vacations. 

This first trip since my last post was to Busch Gardens. We went for their Wine & Food Festival. It was fun trying different things from different countries! 

<iframe src="//instagram.com/p/p1qbWznK8V/embed/" width="612" height="710" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowtransparency="true"></iframe>

My yummy Frozen DIrty Shirley!

The following weekend was 4th of July and that brought family time and a surprise party for my sister. We were all sick of hamburgers and hotdogs so we instead did a baked spaghetti dinner, MUCH BETTER! My sister was definitely surprised. 

The following weekend brought the beginning of vacation. About a month or so ago after helping someone out he surprised me with two lower level tickets to see Justin Timberlake in Charlotte. To say I was shocked is not even the right word. The worst past however was that Charlotte is about 4 hours from where I live and I had to be back that night because we left for the beach the following day. So after a whirlwind of about 9 hours in the car it was so worth it for 3 hours of Justin!!!! Here's a couple of pictures from the show! 

So the next day we loaded the car up and headed back south for the Outer Banks!! I am so sad to be back home. I much preferred sitting on the beach all day and sitting by the ocean all evening. I'll do a full blown post about the beach in a couple of days but here's some shots from my phone.

Like I said I willbe doing a more thorough vacation post in a couple of days but that was a teaser!

Jess