A Lovely Weekend

Friday night was my last party for the busy busy season. It definitely ended with a BANG! These girls were fantastic and it ended up being a $1600 party! Love it!

Saturday morning was Valentine's Day and as I had posted in my previous entry, we usually don't do much. Not this year, my husband gave me a beautiful diamond heart necklace.....it was so special. Funny thing is though.....I got him a puzzle. Hahaha! I thought that we could have some great together time with a 1000 piece puzzle and a glass of wine. Oh well, he still loved his puzzle.

Unfortunately Lou Lou was still sick so she again spent most of the day in bed :(

Kaedin had a great time playing in between the 1st and 2nd period of the High School hockey game. It was precious! The HS boys lined up as the boards and both teams went full boar! When one team scored the crowed cheered and the "big boy" buzzer went off! Kaedin felt like a super star and was really bummed that it was just a short 10 minute game.

We hurried up to get Kaedin undressed from his hockey gear to run off to the Inver Grove rink for Carson's game. He was so nervous my poor boy :( They were playing Apple Valley and the last time they met on the ice Eagan won 9-0 so this time around the coach decided to switch things up a little. He wanted the players to experience different positions on the ice to have a greater appreciation for what goes on on the entire rink. That being said Carson had to move from Left Wing to Defense. He was not liking the idea and actually was trying to get out of even playing at all. We encouraged him to do his very best and to take it all in. I reminded him that it is a full circle, once you play that position you will have a better understanding of what your defensive line goes through also. He did it! There was some very obvious confusion during different shifts, but hey that's ok! It was a learning experience! With one minute twenty-seven seconds left in the 3rd period, Carson got a hold of the puck back from the point....he did a one timer and....HE SCORED! It was hilarious, Carson had no idea it went in! He surprised himself.....a true proud moment.

Lindsey had Sadie Hawkins and boy how things have changed since I was in High School ions ago. They no longer wear matching flannels and jeans....the entire group ( in Lindsey's case 34 people ) dresses up....kind of like a Halloween theme. Cute I guess, but Sadies is all about flannels and hay bales isn't it? Anyways she had a great time with lots of pictures to prove it!

After Carson's game we went to our favorite local restaurant for family, Jakes. Justin, the boys and I had a great dinner came home, cuddled up and watched the Wild have a horrific loss to the Senators..... I was asleep by 10pm.

God Bless & Warm Regards,

~Jessica

xoxoxo

Valentine's Day Rush!

It's almost over! Obviously in my line of work this is one of the craziest times of year for me! It is exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time! This year has been fantastic! This entire week has been go go go....everyone wants their goodies by the time the big V-Day rolls around!

It's funny though, as I am delivering products to my customers and taking orders over the phone and email, everyone seems to ask the same question.... "So what does the Pure Romance lady do on her Valentine's Day?" I think they are pretty darn shocked when I say "nothing"! Haha! By the time Saturday rolls around, I am sure the pretty little pillow will be calling my name at a very early hour.

Valentine's Day has always been such a Hallmark holiday to me anyways. Why do we have to have a special "day" to show the people we love really how much we do? Shouldn't this be a daily thing.....I know Justin and I share little quirky cards and fun little surprises on just any regular ole day. Ugghhh, bah-humbug I guess. I am sure Justin and I will go out to dinner ( with at least 3 of the 4 children of course ) and cozy up by the fire with a great movie....sounds good to me! The kids asked dad what he was planning on getting mommy for Valentine's Day and I LOVED his response " flowers".... "on Sunday"....my cheapo hubby! Gotta love it!

The kids are excited for their class parties of course! I remember the excitement of those fun days! Kind of a bummer though how much things have changed. Kaedin does not get to make a box at home....they make a special bag at school :( I loved having my own unique style of my very own Valentine's Day box. Carson went all out....he made the "Love Rocket" the picture does not do it justice, but him and Justin had a great time coming up with and building this together. The bummer for Carson though is that due to so many allergies in his grade, they are not allowed to bring any type of candy!!!! What the heck? I get it, but can't they limit it to certain kinds? That's half the fun of getting Valentine's cards....what kinda goodies come along with it. Oh well!

Peityn is invited to a girls V-Day Slumber party on Sat. but she just can't kick this nasty cold she has going on so I don't know if that will happen ( poor baby ). Linds has Sadie Hawkins that night so she will be off partying like a rock star with her buddies!

Just another Saturday night at the Otto pad.....

God Bless & Warm Regards,

~Jessica

xoxox

Spahhhhhh

This morning was a ME morning! It was absolutely divine! Peityn has a horrible cough so she was home, bummer but I think she also needed a mental health day....we all do every once and a while.

So, I took the boys to school this morning and drove as fast as I could to my spot......SOLIMAR Spa! Ahhhh it was lovely! The minute you walk into the door there is this immense feeling of peace and tranquility that comes over you. The music, the smell, the atmosphere.....it's perfect. I have been blessed with being able to visit some amazing spas in different parts of the US and other country's and although this doesn't hold a candle to those, it is a quaint little spa close to home.

I am obsessed with the amazing warm neck wraps that they give you along with the oh so comfy robe to lounge in by the fire place while you sip your cucumber water or hot tea and wait for your appointment. I cozied up in my goods and headed to the waiting lounge....."Jessica" a soft voice says... " are you ready for your massage?" "Of course" I replied and literally almost ran the poor tiny girl over. It never fails to amaze me though.....this girl was all of maybe 5' 2" and 110 pounds soaking wet. How in gods green earth were her little hands gonna work out the crazy ass knots goin on in my neck, back and shoulders? Well, she did! Amanda did a fantastic job and I will definitely request her the next time. After my 60 minutes of paradise, Amanda showed me back to the lounge with a fresh neck wrap and cup of mint green tea to wait for my next appointment. Mackenzie greeted me with a warm hello and I was off to the next escape.....my facial. Again, AMAZING! As Mackenzie was doing her magic on my face, I of course was letting my mind wonder.....I actually thought about how I was going to write my experience in my blog this evening. As I processed the experience through my head, I thought.....Hmmmm, I can't write this! It will sound silly for me to put this into words......but ya know what, I don't care! HA!

This girl has MAGICAL fingers....not kidding! She was doing some crazy stuff to my face and it almost seemed like it was not normal ( in a good way ). Her fingers were moving in a rhythm like fashion over my cheek bones, around my eye lids and bridge of my nose.....there was this crazy eight thing that she did and it was just plain great! Only down side of it all was when she put the "blue light" on my face and warned me that there was beginning signs of sun damage.....DUHHHH I had just been to the electric beach the night before! :) Oh well.....i only do it once a year when I am goin on a trip.....although I took it into consideration, nothing was gonna bring me down at this point! After my appointment with her was finished, I decided to spend some more time with my best friend, the neck warmer and another cup of tea. I took a few deep breaths and enjoyed every minute of the peace......

The morning adventure had come to an end. I paid my bill.....and with a smile on my face because it was worth every, single, penny.... took one last deep breath of that earthy, friendly, calming smell and walked out the door.

I will say, I was totally and completely relaxed and nothing was going to take that away from me today. However, walking out of that spa into the "real world" is NOT a fun dose of reality.....

I think I will go back in 2 weeks, my birthday is coming up soon and what better way to spend the day?

Ahhhhh.....

God Bless & Warm Regards,

~Jessica

xoxox

Anniversary's, Birthdays and Life

This past weekend was a toughy. Friday was Justin's 36th birthday ( Happy Birthday Love! ) Being the busiest weekend of the year for me, I had to work. I felt really bad, but had asked Justin if he would mind weeks in advance. He is really not much into birthday's, so he encouraged me to go give the gals a little fun! :) Lindsey's best friend Rachel shares a birthday with Justin and this was a biggie for her.... SWEET SIXTEEN! Friday's are a short day for Justin so we had a little pizza party and sang happy birthday with a pan of cinnamon rolls since they are Justin's favorite and he is not a fan of cake. After he opened his gifts, which he absolutely loved, I was off to my party and Lindsey off to spend the evening with old friends to celebrate Rachel's day. Surprisingly enough there was no hockey practice for anyone so the 3 younger kids and daddy just spent the night playing street hockey ( it just never ends around here :) ). All and all I believe Justin had a good birthday. This day however is bittersweet. February 6th is the last day that Lindsey saw her mom. She was such a trooper in trying to stay upbeat for her daddy and best friend, but the poor sweet girl was hurting so badly inside. What do you say? Justin and Linds had a great conversation on the ride over to Rachel's house about "the day". He consoled her on the hurt and anger that she was feeling and let her know, that he knows exactly what she was feeling. I can't imagine, nor do I EVER pretend to know.

Saturday was the actual anniversary of Carrie's death and Lindsey spent the night with her grandma. They comfort each other without having to say a word.....it is a bond that only they can share and I think that although it hurts, it is an indescribable feeling that Lindsey and her have together. Something very special.

Carson apparently played the game of his life and unfortunately I missed it due to work. Justin called me on my drive and gave me the play by play and the excitement came right through the phone. I cried. Nothing to surprising, I'm a cry baby, but I could here how proud Justin was and could feel through his voice how amazing Carson was on the ice that afternoon! Way to go buddy, you have improved leaps and bounds this season and I LOVE watching you and being a part of your hockey journey ! Every single minute of it!

Sunday was LAZY.....Peityn and Kaedin "chilled in their jammies all day, Carson had a morning game and Linds was with grandma for the better half of the day.....I LOVE lazy days with my family.Simply. Love. It!

Monday came and although I promised myself I wasn't going to let this day get to me....it did a little. Subconsciously the feeling of pain surrounded me. This year marked 15 years since. Nothing I wanna talk about, just sometimes marking it with a quick note is sort of like the "period" or "exclamation point". It's done.

So we move on. It was emotional, it was tough. We cried a lot this weekend, but we also laughed and reflected. I love my life. I am blessed with such amazing people. My husband is my rock, my children are my spirit and I have an amazing soul that carries me through this beautiful chaos....our life!

God Bless & Warm Regards,
~Jessica
xoxox

Bleckity Blek blek!

That's how I have been feeling the last couple of days. Not sad or mad, quite happy with my life actually.... the shit that other people are going through right now makes my life look like something out of a fairy tale!

There is A TON of drama surrounding the people in my life right now and I am doing everything in my power to stay away from it. I just keep telling myself the power of positive energy and to keep all of the negative "crap" outta here! It's exhausting!

So, I have come to terms with the fact that here we are in Feb. already and I just am not happy with my lack of commitment to myself! I am fully admitting that some of my life style changes have just not been happening and I go to bed every single night saying I am going to change this or that tomorrow and guess what? it hasn't happened! ughh....I get so dang frustrated with myself and my pure laziness! People argue that fact that I am lazy because I am ALWAYS on the go, but goodness gracious where does the time go? I have been promising myself this damn Y membership for months.....and I still don't have it. So I asked myself why that was today.....I actually sat in my favorite spot with my coffee this morning and talked out loud to myself ( it was pretty funny to watch the dog one eye me with a cocked head every once in awhile). Honestly what I came up with is if I go and get this membership then I am held accountable for having to go, if I am held accountable and don't follow through....then I fail.

FAIL:
Function:
verb
a: to lose strength : weaken

b: to fade or die away

a: to fall short

b: to be or become absent or inadequate

c: to be unsuccessful ; specifically : to be unsuccessful in achieving a passing grade

d: to become bankrupt or insolventtransitive verb1

a: to disappoint the expectations or trust of

When I read the description of Fail, it is pretty intimidating to me.....so if I don't set myself up to "fail" then I cannot "fall short" or "lose strength"...what a HORRIBLE way to live! Honestly, how much am I missing out on because of this fear?

It's so funny too, because yesterday on the way home from Carson's hockey game we had a little discussion about constructive criticism.....Carson of course did not want to hear about it, although I could tell that he was really listening to what I had to say. I am a huge believer in leading by example.....I think this is one I need to work on!

I have felt horrible with the way I have been eating lately.... I wasn't losing it fast enough on my plan so I "gave up" ( kinda, not fully )I am still smoking.... if I try to quit again and it doesn't work then I "lose strength", I know my business could be even better than it is today if I would take the risk, my relationships in my life better....the fear of failure affects so many things, it's crazy.

God Bless & Warm Regards,

~Jessica