Another week in the books. Is it just me or is the summer flying by? I feel like I haven’t taken nearly enough advantage of it either by going to the beach or laying outside (though my Instagram may tell you differently).

I’m so happy to have more of you visiting my blog and social channels and following along on this journey with me as I continue to balance life, love and blogging. Since there is some new peeps around, I thought I’d share 10 things you don’t know about me. So we can get to know each other better. Share secrets. Did we just become best friends?

1. I”M SELF TAUGHT ON THE GUITAR AND WRITE MY OWN SONGS

After a tough breakup when I graduated from highschool I did what any overly emotional 18 year old would do…… I channeled my inner Taylor Swift  and I picked up the guitar, figured out how to play some chords, and wrote a song about it. Once I wrote one song, I couldn’t be stopped. I learned every Taylor Swift song possible, a few Pearl Jam classics because duh, and started writing a dozen of my own (in true Taylor Swift style) inspired by my recent breakup because what else are those ex’s really good for. I even recorded a few and made a myspace music which I recently found and had a good laugh about. I was, and am still, so shy to actually play and sing in front of ANYONE but my friends at college wouldn’t stop bugging me about it so I spent most of my college experience in dorm rooms playing mini concerts. The most requested song? My original song called “Just Another Frog (that I kissed)” which is actually about my now husband who at the time had clearly pissed me off (we still laugh HARD about this one). Happy to say he most definitely turned into my prince 😉

 

2. I ACTED IN COLLEGE AND I REALLY MISS IT

I found my love of acting in high school when I first auditioned for one of the school plays and got a small role. After that I auditioned for every show I could and was in every performance from there on out in a variety of roles I loved. I continued this passion in college (thought I didn’t study it), auditioning for the college shows and got some amazing roles that I will always remember fondly. I even got to do The Importance of Being Earnest as Cecily alongside Dana Ivey who went to my college and was back to do a play with the students. Coolest experience ever. She coached me on my British accent and acting in general. I still LOVE acting and sometimes wish I pursued it further, anybody want to cast me?!

 

3. I CAN NAIL A LOT OF ACCENTS

I’m not even sure how or why, but accents just come naturally to me. I’ve had to do several for different plays I’ve been in and I just come to them very naturally with little study (though when I’ve done them for shows I have done study to make sure I get them perfectly). I can do southern, New York, Jersey, British, and Wisconsin/Minnesota (I cannot do Australian but it is a goal #oneday). My husband finds it hilarious and mostly enjoys my British one. Though I think my deep Wisconsin one is a REAL winner.

 

4. I’M FLORIDA BORN AND RAISED

And detained. Jk. Kinda. You see, my entire family (grandparents on both sides, parents, sister with three kids) are all here, and I kinda really like all of them, and we are really close, and it’s really hard to leave them. But growing up in Florida wasn’t all that bad. My field trips as a kid included Disney, I can go to the beach even in the winter, I’ve been to the Florida keys on so many vacations and seen beautiful bodies of water, fished, surfed, and probably taken for granted what a beautiful state this is. With all that at my finger tips, would you leave?!

 

5. MY NICKNAME IS J

I’m not sure if it is pure laziness or something else that brought about this nickname but when my mom and sister started saying it 5 years ago, it really stuck. I’ve never really been a “Jessica” (my full name), and I think the ease of J just really suits me. I’m also lovingly known as Auntie Jay (to that handsome little devil smooching me above), but I’d like to think I’m too young to be your Aunt so we aren’t going there.

 

6. I’VE BEEN TO SOUTH KOREA

When I was getting my MBA, part of the program involved an international trip for our international business studies. My class trip was planned for South Korea, somewhere I had never been before or had on my list and to be honest was a little afraid to be traveling to because during the time North Korea was doing some particularly shady things where it seemed like a volatile time to travel. I am SO glad that it worked out because it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. While I had traveled out of the country before to Italy, I had never been to an Asian country and the culture differences between the US and Asian countries is so different it’s absolutely wonderful. We stayed in Seoul and I was so impressed by how technologically advanced they were in relation to the US, how many Koreans spoke English (and were SO nice), and the AMAZING fashion sense they had there. They say that the girls spend most of their money on clothes and I totally believe that’s true because nearly everyone I saw was so well dressed and the shopping there was so good (I still dream about going back and shopping). And the FOOD. I am the pickiest eater (though I’ve come a long way) and I was super intimidated to be eating in a country I knew I wouldn’t be able to read the menu’s and had never had the food before. But omg, Korean BBQ galore, fresh veggies and just all the goodness. Oh and Soju. Basically vodka but way cheaper and just awesome.

 

7. I LIVED IN SCOTLAND FOR A FEW MONTHS

In 2013 my serious boyfriend at the time, now husband, got a job that sent him to Edinburgh, Scotland, and he offered to take me with him. Not happy with my current situation at the time, I did something I would normally NEVER do, and took a risk and went with him. And it was amazing. I had no job, no way of getting a job and completely had to rely on him for a few months. But he took care of me. And we traveled around Scotland a bit. And explored amazing parts of the city. And absolutely fell in LOVE with the Edinburgh. We are going back there next month and I absolutely CANNOT WAIT.

 

8.  I CAN SPEAK SPANISH, KINDA

My dad was born in Argentina, his first language is Spanish and his entire side of the family speaks primarily Spanish. Being exposed to it from childhood, I picked it up decent in highschool and took a little bit in college as well that rounded it out for me. I think I can speak it better now than in highschool, but I am SO self-conscious about it that I rarely speak it unless I need to. Or unless I drink a margarita.

 

9. I HAVE BABY FEVER, BAD

Something MUST be in the water. The hubs and I have always known we want kids and we look forward to that day, but before now I didn’t really feel ready and I still felt like I needed more “Me” time. While I still feel that to some extent, right now every baby I see I just DIE over. My little 7 month old niece being the most beautiful little thing in the world certainly does NOT help my case, but every time I’m around babies lately I just melt and really dream for the day that we have our own. The hubs and I say we want a big family of 4-5 if we can, but everyone tells us to get to the first one and then re-vote. I guess I’ll settle for my nieces and nephews for now and work on getting our first baby, a house.

 

10. I CAN GRIP A SKATEBOARD REALLY WELL

I got my first job as soon as I could when I was 16 and it was at a surf and skate shop. I loved it. I had the best coworkers, I helped people pick out their outfits (which maybe started my love of fashion), and got a discount on all the surf clothing brands I loved. One of my favorite things to do was build skateboards which happened regularly around the holidays when parents would come in and buy them as presents. Now some of you may be thinking, aren’t skateboards already put together? But no, the ones from a shop are all separate pieces that you pick out separately: wheels, trucks, bearings, board, grip, the whole shebang. I especially loved gripping boards, putting the sandpaper like top on them. It comes in sheets and it’s quite an art to do it well, but I was good at it. I loved when a guy would buy grip and see me go to do it and kinda get nervous and then I gripped it so well he just kept his mouth shut. It’s been a few years – but I’m pretty sure I still got it.

 

 

Now enough about me, tell me something about you! Drop a line below.

 

XO,

JESS

 

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