DORM LIFE.

*Disclaimer, there are lot of pictures in this post!*


So I finally moved into my dorm at school on the 18th! 

The move was easy! I am still getting settled in, but below are the pictures of the dorm as of right now! I might move some things around, but I'm not sure yet!

I am really enjoying living on campus, it's a lot of fun and so nice to be on a small campus and less than four minutes from any of my classes! 

My roommate is really sweet and we are getting along great so far! 

I am so excited for this new stage!! 

xoxo, Jess

You'll Never Have Your Fill....Things That Just Won't Fit in the Suitcase.

In less than an ten minutes this beautiful EF of mine will be turning 21, and I can't even believe how time flies.


When we were young, stressful things amounted to not being able to pass notes in class, or another friend acting stupid. Things were easy. We had our rough moments, and we've both done things we regret. Yet, here I am, ten years later, still standing next to one of the most inspirational and meaningful people in my life. Yeah, she's a little OCD, a little bit of a worry-wart, a little bit of crazy-mom-personality with a ton of awesome thrown in. She's organized to my messy, she's the country music to my hip-hop, she's the modest to my revealing, the brunette to my blond. She's my JESS LYNN CONDERMAN, and I love her SO MUCH.


Tomorrow we're all going on this little trip to some wineries to celebrate her big 2-1. In buildup to this trip, Jess and I have established a list of things I, Heather Rae, am NOT ALLOWED TO DO. We'll see how this goes.


NUMBER ONE:
I am not allowed to dance like so;

http://www.1000funnypictures.com/photos/Weird-Pictures/192-1.jpg

(I lost the original picture we took for this, but I think this guy pretty much covers it...Thanks bro).

NUMBER TWO: 
I am not allowed to throw down. (We didn't explicitly cover the extent and rules of this one, so I'm going to have to use some judgement here. But basically what I think she meant was I can't be like...)

NO WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!! SAY IT AGAIN!! (or something).

okay, so we didn't actually develop this list as much as we had said we would, here are a few things that I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to do during my EF's birthday celebration...


NUMBER THREE:
I am probably not allowed to dress incognito and stare at strangers;

NUMBER FOUR:
I am probably not allowed to eat an apple and use that as an excuse to ignore the things people say to me;

I am eating an apple, therefore your argument is invalid. 

NUMBER FIVE:
I am probably not allowed to put on a high school football helmet and run around ramming random things with my protected skull. 

But I might try to get away with it anyway.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS LYNN!!! Thank you for putting up with antics like these for ten years and counting. I wouldn't have it any other way!!! Here's to the official start to another year of awesome. Cheers!

<3 HR

NICKEL CREEK. OBSESSED.

To say that I am obsessed with Nickel Creek would be an understatement. 


The two songs below are by far my favorites!

                                                      When You Come Back Down"

                                                                  "The Hand Song"


I am fully blaming Mindy for this obsession and the fact that my most listened to song since Saturday is "The Hand Song". It's her fault. 


Annnnddd, my children will listen to their albums as lullabies, they are amazing artists and are so soothing and meaningful songs. 


LOVE them.

New words.

"I am both a contradiction and conviction, lost and purposeful... But I am trying to live each phase of  my life in a way that feels right to me."


So, as time is quickly flying by and Fontbonne is only 33 days away, I have begun thinking about how the next two years are going to be a new stage in my life. How the relationships in my life are going to change, how I am going to grow and discover myself and the people around me. 


I am all together thrilled and terrified. This is a whole new stage and place in my life. One that I can't wait to explore with myself and John and friends and family. 


I am counting down the days and seconds and yet, thanking God for the ones that are quickly passing through my fingers. 


The next few weeks are going to be stressful and crazy, but the next two years are going to be WORTH IT. 


xoxo, Jess

Because Frozen Yogurt Does Things for You That Your Boyfriend Never Could—The benefit of an EF’s encouragement and the dichotomy of attention

I’m sure that some of you may have noticed that once you are out of high school and into the college scene it becomes especially difficult to maintain any kind of fitness pattern, particularly if you were never in the sports scene, like me. So after about two years of playing the ten pounds on ten pounds off game, I guess me and my EF finally got fed up and decided to get serious. Jess happened across this really AWESOME running program for smartphones called “Couch to 5K,” and it is tailored to those of us who have had about as much exercise as lifting the remote control. And I would like to just tell you, it freaking works.

A Butterfly that I saw during one of my runs at Lakeside 370 Park. Running is a great way to explore parts of your town you never even knew you would like.

My first run was tough, but not so tough that I could not complete it. From there it just builds you up and up. I kind of suck at consistency, so I’m actually just now moving into week two after two weeks of week one, one week off, and another week of week one (when you work three jobs at once, running is hard to make time for). Eventually you start wanting to work in other activities, like long walks, and cycling. I actually find myself getting anxious if I don’t get out and do something physical every day. And none of this would have happened without the encouragement of my EF.

That all being said, I’m addicted to Frozen Yogurt and it’s all her freaking fault. I didn’t even LIKE frozen yogurt until she was all: “ooooh come eat at Yo My Goodness with me” and I was all “ewwwww” and she was all “no it’s so much better than FroYo” and IT IS. We go probably two or three times a week. Lucky for us they have a rewards program, so I don’t feel quite so guilty about spending what I am sure will eventually equal the cost of a year of education at OU. So it’s a GREAT thing that she also introduced me to C25K so that when I stuff my face with the frozen goodness I’m not gaining a jillion pounds too.

So a couple weeks ago we were at Yo My Goodness (as usual), and we are sitting on the bed of her truck talking and indulging in the gift from the yogurt gods, when something happened that has just stuck in my mind. Now don’t get me wrong—I’ve seen my share of boys acting silly. But this was straight up RIDICULOUS, and it really made me think about some things.

We were sitting on the bed of Jess’s truck when this boy walks by and is totally eyeing me—again, not really unusual. But then he heads back past our spot to his car, and suddenly *notices* something on his shoe and just *bends* over to *rub it off* and then gets up all *slow like* and you can see that he’s hoping some killer background music will start playing. As he gets up, he is looking directly at me to see if I was watching this little display he put on. Seriously? A male version of bend-and-snap? I feel somewhat bad that after all his hard work we basically just burst out laughing at him. I mean, sure. That’s one way to get my attention. It’s also one way to ensure that I will never think twice about turning you down.

Anyway, this little event got me thinking about attention. Ask anyone who knows me—I am definitely an attention whore. It’s nice to be paid attention to, and I feel like as long as you don’t cross certain lines, that it’s not an issue. Until, of course, you find that one person whose attention you want more than anyone else’s, and then no one else’s really matters. That, my friends, is the dichotomy of attention. On the one hand, you love it and it’s fun and makes you feel appreciated. On the other, unless it’s coming from the source of choice, it’s worthless. I see it a lot in relationships, for instance, your guy friend might spend a ton of time with you until he meets a girl he likes. After that you don’t really hear from him much except for facebook chat and group events. If they break up, suddenly you have a buddy around again. I’m not saying it’s wrong, it’s very normal. I just never really noticed that it was such a pattern before.

So that’s what’s been on my mind lately! Now that I’ve posted my EF will be happy. There’s a rule or something that she doesn’t like about consecutive posts. J Things are getting crazy now that school is right around the corner. At the moment I actually have no place to live at OU, but you can be sure I’ll blog about it if I end up living out of my car.

<3 HR

THE BIRTHDAY BOY.

So there is this boy, that I am apparently "desperately" in LOVE with... And I have to agree. 

We met almost four years ago, I yelled at him, he eventually asked me out, we fell in love. 

                                                             (John and I Easter 2012)

We've celebrated many things together, but this birthday is a big one. He is turning TWENTY ONE. 

I am so blessed to have this wonderful, smart, talented and loving man in my life... I don't know what I would do without him by my side!!

In honor of his 21st birthday, here are 21 things that I desperately love about him... In no particular order!

1. He is handsome, do you see that face up there?! 

2. He is giving, he seems to have this way of saying just the right thing, just when I need it the most. 

3. He is sarcastic (which I love most of the time) and he teases me all the time!

4. He has the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen!

5. He makes me laugh, not just a regular laugh, but a full-on belly laugh with tears!

6. He demands respect, but in a loving and Godly way. 

7. He believes in God and fully lives it out. 

8. He is so thoughtful and reminds me daily why I love him.

9. He has such an awesome tender side.

10. He respects me and my decisions and our decisions.

11. He has a way with computers, he just gets them! And fixes them for me whenever I break stuff (which happens to be a lot!)

12. He is incredibly smart. 

13. He wears his facial hair longer cause I like it like that. 

14. He is honest. 

15. He has a way of keeping me sane and calming me down, I don't know how he does it, but he does!

16. He lets me drink coffee even though he HATES it. 

17. He knows the best time to just wrap his arms around me and kissing my forehead.

18. He lets me call him the silly names that I come up with, and some are really silly!

19. He makes me feel safe and cherished. 

20. He lets me give directions and doesn't get mad when we get lost and I get a bit yelly. 

21. BECAUSE HE LOVES ME.

Seriously, John is the best thing that has happened in my life and I can't wait to spend many more birthdays with him, celebrating the best person I know!

                                                    (John and I on our first date almost four years ago!)

John, I love you and I can't wait to spend your wonderful birthday with you my love!!

"You know I'd fall apart without you, I don't know how you do what you do... cause everything that don't make sense about me, makes sense when I'm with you...

p.s. I know that you love to brag about being one month and fourteen days older than me, but I secretly love that you are, because you will turn thirty before me!! Bahahahaha, love you boo!!

xoxo, Jess

WORK IT OUT RACERBACK SHIRTS.

So I'm doing this thing called the Couch to 5K (post coming soonish)... This involves working out and that involves getting sweaty, really sweaty! I hate wearing regular t-shirts when I work out because I get hot and the t-shirts don't let me breathe and I feel cramped and I suffer from claustrophobia (It may be imagined, but I feel it!!) I also hate how shorts ride up when you run, it happens to everyone, but honestly can't Nike create shorts that don't ride up?!


So... I was looking at Pinterest for workout clothes and ideas and this lovely thing showed up!


http://pinterest.com/pin/109493834660668690/

(source)

I decided to try it out on an old t-shirt and after some little adjustments on my end, I am really happy with how it turned out!! Of course my back does not look that toned, but whatever. :)


This allows me to not feel so hot and stuck in my t-shirts and it's cute!! Which, trust me, anything can help me look better when I run because I look like this. 

(source)

Except, less cute. 

So hopefully these workout raceback shirts will help me feel better about how I look and be yet another reminder to get out there and train! I've got to go to GoodWill or something and stock up on some old t-shirts... after I raid the boyfriends and his brothers old shirts of course!!

p.s. I'm calling it "training" cause it sounds way better than "finally-doing-something-that-has-taken-me-three-ish-years-to-get-the-guts-to-do"... plus it's shorter too.

XOXO Jess