Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!!!

Oh my gosh, ya'll! I am just. so. EXCITED!!! I just finished getting a sneak peek into our NEW SPRING Take Out Menu for Origami Owl, (which launches April 22nd) and...

it's AHHHHHHMAZING!!!!

I totally thought I was not going to be one of those annoying people who talks about their business and products all the time... BUT I AM!!! I can't help it. I just love, love, love it. So many cute new things!! How will I ever choose?!?!? I WANT IT ALL!!!!!

• 111 new Charms 
• 6 new Living Lockets®
• 11 new Dangles 
• 3 new Chains 
• 10 new Tags 
• 12 Crystal Elements

And what's even MORE exciting is the new HOSTESS PROGRAM that gets hostesses

MORE FREE STUFF!!!!!

And THAT is what I love. Giving away free, beautiful, fun goodies.

So, here's the deal. Mother's Day is just around the corner. 

You need something awesome. 

Something fabulous and totally original. 

I have a few dates left on my calendar AND I have open up a couple Thursdays for Jewelry Bars:

• Thursday, April 25th
• Sunday, April 28th
• Thursday, May 2nd
• Friday, May 3rd

*ALL THESE DATES WILL GET YOU YOUR JEWELRY TO YOUR DOOR BEFORE MOTHER'S DAY. *

ok, here's the part where you need to pay attention:

If you book one of these 4 dates, NOT ONLY will you get the fabulous benefits of our hostess program, but I am giving you 4 FREE CHARMS OF YOUR CHOICE!!!!!!

But it's first come, first serve, so you need to call me, text me, email me asap to reserve your date!!!

214-773-8920

jessica.l.hooten@gmail.com

OO! I just love giving away free goodies!!!!

Ok, ready, set, go!

Love,

jess

Love

Sharing my belief in Jesus Christ is not something I have been good at. Ever. I spend far too much time worrying that I might offend people and not enough time loving them enough to share The Truth.

We just finished watching The Bible on the History Channel tonight, and above all the ugliness, gore, death, politics, and corruption, I am left with an overarching theme of Love.

How can that be???

If you've been watching his series, you know how brutal it has been at times. Let's just take Jesus out of the picture for a second and just talk about how incredibly difficult it would have been to live in times like that. Persecution. Oppression. No thanks. I want to kiss the ground i walk on because we live in a place where we can worship The Lord without fear of persecution.

I watched the crucifixion in anger and disbelief that these Sadducees and Pharisees would persuade a crowd to convict this man. Our Savior!!! How could they??? How could they not believe??

And the scary thing is...

We would be among them.

We ARE among them.

Because when we hate, and mock, and judge, and crucify others with our words, we are just like that crowd. Spitting and spewing at Jesus. And what's worse... We do it in HIS VERY NAME!!! Giving Him a reputation that is all but true to who He is. Jesus. Is. Love.

And that's the Truth. The Gospel.

Jesus Christ was a man. A real man. Sent to Earth to live a life without sin, but not without strife. He experienced what it was like to live like us. Hardships, temptations, and pain.

He had friends.
And he had enemies.

He loved. Better than anyone ever has. He loves us SO much that He paid our debt for sin, forever, with His own blood.

He was Crucified.

Mocked.

Lashed.

Stabbed.

Tortured.

Nailed to a cross.

And then rose from the dead. He is who He says He is. Always. No matter where I've been or what I've done, He loves me. I just can't believe it. I can't believe He would go through all that torture and pain just for me. To save me. Because He loves me. Because that's who He is. Love.

And after He did all that... The very least I can do is share who He is with those who don't know. What an honor. What a privilege.

Happy Easter.

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen!"
Luke 24:5

Love,
jess

Hannah

So, I hadn't planned on going to our ladies Bible study that started today. Hadn't even crossed my mind really. But my mom text me this morning and said, "come!" So, I collected myself a bit, got Q up and ready and headed out.

And the study happens to be on Hannah, Samuel's mother. If you don't know this story, please go read it. It's an oldie, but a goodie. (1 Samuel) The study is called: Entrusting Your Dreams to God.

Y'all... Exactly what I blogged about on Friday!!!! Creepy!!! But like in a good way. Now I feel like The Lord really has something planned for me here. Something He wants to teach me, show me. And I'm excited!! What could it be??? I'll be sure to update you as it plays out, but I just wanted to share the craziness with you. What's even funnier, is that after I wrote that post I was like, "uh... That was totally random and pointless, but oh well, it's out there..."

And it WASN'T random! God put that on my heart for some reason. I just LOVE a good mystery.

Love,
Jess

21-Day Challenge

I love looking at other girls' blogs. Like, the professional ones.

Dear Baby is one of my favorites
And Heather's Dish is a friend of mine from college gone Pro.

I'm always so inspired by these women and yet totally jealous at the same time. My favorite posts involve fashion. What they wore. Where they got it. Ya know, stuff like that. They talk about favorite summer wedges (shoes, for those of us less fashion savvy) and those adorable brightly colored skinny jeans they found for a steal in some random vintage shop around the corner... Ugh...

Styling is not my forte. And I want so badly to be good at it!! I'll have these visions of some great outfit in my mind, but either a.) I don't have all the pieces or b.) I don't have the guts to pull it off

Anyone? Anyone? Just me? Ok.

When I go shopping, no matter how hard I try, somehow I seem to gravitate to the "sweatpants and t-shirt" section. I have a mental picture of myself in great outfits that are the perfect combination of trendy and comfy. Taking Instagram photos of myself just out and about casually looking fabulous...

But alas. That's not real life for me.

So! I've decided to do something about it. A challenge. For myself.

They say it takes 21 days to create a habit. 21 days to change your ways. I've signed up with Stitch Fix and am anxiously awaiting an email that will let me know my number is up. They will be sending me 5 pieces to try on that are specifically picked out for me. I can purchase anything I like or send it all back. No charge. And I'm. So. Excited.

So, for 21 days, starting April 1st,  I will be dressing like a girl. No sweatpants. No t-shirts. No holey Toms (this is serious business). And I'll be posting my outfits. I've got some work to do first. I'll need to do a little shopping for a few key items and I'll be ready and waiting for my first Stitch Fix. In the meantime, I'm brushing up on my styling skills via their blog cause I need some serious help people!!!

This should be interesting. I'm excited!!!


Love,
jess

Dream on...

Clay and I were having a conversation a couple nights ago about our "dream jobs." This is just a game I like to play every once in a while. I feel like it gets us out of our rut of thinking, even if just for a moment. Helps us think big! Think the impossible!

What would you do, if you could do anything?

It's harder than you think. And it's better to do it with someone else. You learn a lot about a person that way. I think it's important to dream. And dream big. I remember when I was maybe in junior high, living in Lubbock, me and my best friend Tiffany decided that we wanted to buy a horse. Yeah, ya know. Just... buy a horse... to share. We looked through the Thrifty Nickel (a local paper dedicated to classified ads) to see what the going rate was for a horse. And since we lived in the suburbs, we had to explore the cost of stables, food, a saddle, and other miscellaneous accessories. I can't even remember what the total was that we came up with, but we were optimistic. 

$3,000 and then maybe $300 per month for stable rental.

Sure.

No problem.

We got this.

So, once we had crunched the numbers, we decided to come up with a plan to earn this measly few thousand dollars... eh-hem...

Naturally, we decided that we would start a dog-walking business. We drew up flyers and decided on what to charge people. Came up with a name (that I can't remember, but I just KNOW it was something awesome).

And after ALL that... you know... I can't remember walking one dog. Earning one dollar. It was something we had dreamed up over a do-nothing afternoon and were so excited about one day, and the next, we had moved on to the something else.

Ok, so there is a part of me that remembers this story and thinks, "What were we thinking?!? That's absurd!!! " 

But is it???

I mean, how does anything get started? Facebook, Toms shoes, Zippers??? With an idea. And usually a crazy idea. And you've got to have some serious drive and support to make it through the fire to the other side. I love hearing the back story on something I assume doesn't have a back story. Know what I mean? 

Anyway, Clay is still trying to come up with an answer for what he would do if he could do anything. And I'm looking forward to hearing whatever it is. But my answer was this:

I would have liked to have been a magazine editor. When I started college at Texas Tech, that was my goal. My senior year, I even went and visited Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois, in hopes of being accepted into their Masters program. If you've ever seen The Devil Wears Prada... that's me. I wanted to do that. Be Meryl Streep (minus the whole being a complete wretch of a human being). 

But also in my senior year, I started dating Clay, fell in love and changed my major.

The 110 Roomies. We look like we're 12. And what we are sitting on was Clay and I's first "couch." A pint size futon. Yep. High rollers, that's us.

One of my favorite pics of Clay and I. Lake Limestone.

Me and the bestie, Mel on a camping trip. It's our mission in life to see how hideous we can look. And then we laugh about it. A lot. I mean... a lot.

In D.C. about to tour the White House. Excitement!

More 110 fun. I got burnt to a CRISP on this trip. I mean... you can't even believe how red my skin was. It was basically awesome. And by awesome, of course I mean horrific.

Warrior Dash with Kathy. Love this girl. She is ALWAYS up for an adventure.

Our sweet angel.

Isn't it funny how the big plans we have, when looking back, weren't nearly as big as we thought. And how the Lord's plans for us are so much bigger than we could have ever imagined? I would have missed all these sweet memories!! Clay and I have been married 7 years and I have zero regrets for not moving to Evanston. What a life I would have missed!!! But that doesn't mean I quit dreaming. I just have new dreams now. Different ones. Still just as big (and some just as crazy as buying a horse as a 12 year-old). Cause it's just fun. So dream on, ya'll.

Love, 

jess

SAHM I Am.

So, here I am. 2 weeks as a SAHM. It's basically great. While I am really, really, really, really happy to be home with Quinn, I have to say that I am forever grateful for getting to experience what it's like to be a mom who works outside the home. And let me just tell you.

It's tough.

Either way. Go to work. Stay home. It's all hard. I get so sick of women battling each other for the choices that they're making for their families and children. And let's just get one thing out of the way... I am totally guilty of this. Before I had Q, I was an expert on all things children.

"Oh, I'll never let my child do that..."

"I can't believe she let's her kid _______..."

"Did you see how that mom _______..."

That's right. Guilty. And here's the deal. I want to punch myself in the face for ever thinking or saying anything like that. The choices that you have to make as a mother, a wife, they are customized to every family. And like every child, every family is different and has different needs. 

On the other hand, I have to confess that a lot of the decisions that we make on raising Q, I have kept to myself for fear of being judged and/or coming across as if I am judging others. Ya know what I mean? Like, if I choose to cloth diaper my child, I don't want anyone hearing me say, "this is the RIGHT way to do things, so if you're not doing what I'm doing then you're a dummy."

Am I the only one who thinks this way???

The Lord has humbled me on more than a few occasions, and I can honestly say, from the bottom of my heart that I believe we (moms) have to go with our gut. We have to decide what is best for our families and our children. And it's not always going to be the same as the next girl. AND THAT'S OK!!! Isn't that great news?!? 

So, this exercise is for me. A "confession," if you will. A few of the choices that I have made in taking care of Q that I have been embarrassed about.... maybe "embarrassed" is the wrong word... but whatever, I think you know what I mean. 

Here goes. 

No excuses. 

No explanations. 

(deep breath):

We use cloth diapers

We have been teaching Quinn to use the potty since she was 4 months old

We don't let her cry it out

She sleeps in our bed... not all the time, but a lot.

I let her nurse to sleep

When I see these things typed out, they don't seem like that big of a deal. But they are!!! Ask Clay. I can't tell you why I care what people think. It's definitely my least favorite thing about me. Well... that and my sweet tooth. Anyway, I know there's like a million more, but that's all the vulnerability I can stand for one day. 

Enough of that. How about a picture??? Ok. If I must.

Love,

jess

Testing one, two...

So, here's the deal. We have a laptop. A really nice Apple laptop. But Clay uses it as his work computer so I basically rarely have access to it. So that's my excuse for the year absence.

Well...

Plus, we bought a house, had a baby and and I turned 30 all in the last year. So it's not like I haven't been busy.

Anyway, I'm testing out this Blogger app on my iPhone. I tried those several months ago and it was terrible a d didn't work. So far, I think this is about a million times better. And if its this easy and I can do it from my phone?!??!? Looks like I can start blogging again!!!!

I've got so much to share these days so let's cross our fingers and say a prayer that this works when I click "post"

And let's just throw in a photo while we're at it to see how savvy this app really is. (Ok. Nevermind. That's not working. Grrrr)

Ok. Here goes nothin...