Re-Store....Doubles!

Get it, get it? Cause we went to the Re-Store and also I re-stored something to use. Ha!

So, doubles.

Still no?

Well fine, I'll explain it all in depth. Don't worry, I was going to anyway.

Alrighty so, as mentioned in a previous post, my sister and I ventured out on our own last Friday and hit up a bunch of places. One of those was the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. Ever been to one? Let me show you some of the awesomeness...

Yeah. Lots of good stuff to pick from. Personally, I REALLY wanted to splurge for these great deals (seems ironic, doesn't it??? splurging for deals. oh well, I'm a college kid after all):

Check out this awesome little chair.

Which wouldn't be complete without Marci modeling it, of course! 

This wood/glass bookcase was $30.

I SO wanted this over the toilet shelf, but for $20, I just couldn't force myself to give in. 

This was a STEAL, at only $2.50! I loved it, but I wasn't sure where I'd put it in my apartment, so I held off for now.

And besides just visiting the awesomeness of the Re-Store, we did have a mission. See, I had spotted a nifty little project over on Pinterest of course, both here and here. And so, thanks to all the jewelry I've collected, which is A LOT, I decided to do a mash up of both. Nifty.

First off was finding a good frame to use. I stopped by a thrift store here in Houston and somehow came across the PERFECT one: it was big, white (which just meant I wouldn't have to paint it since that's what I was going for), and empty. Amazing. Plus, it was only $3.98. Minus a discount of the day deal, I ended up paying $3.40. What a steal.

Then on Friday, I was on the lookout for a good siding panel to match. I had plans, I tell you. And since the Re-Store is awesome, I came across this bin full of them.

And soon I found the perfect one. Oh, did I mention that I ended up paying a total of .54 cents for it? Woohoo!

So next step was to find some good ole drawer knobs to attach. Out of the entire display, I only found two that were suitable to my tastes for the project. They were both wooden, and would have been easier to paint than any brass ones I had found.

Also, over by the knobs, we found this stack of lamp shades for only $2 a pop.

Imagine all the possibilities! Marci was most excited I think ;)

So after some careful consideration, I decided ix-nay on the knobs there, and decided to opt for a chance that we would come across something good at Hobby Lobby. So off we went.

I was a little worried that we wouldn't make it after Marci had some troubles figuring out left from right. But don't worry, after a little trick we learned in elementary school, we were back on track.

And can I just say: Best. Craft. Store. Ever.

Seriously, look what I came across!

Anyone who knows me can imagine how much I was freaking out at the idea of bordering everything I owned in as much Little Mermaid as the $2.15 clearanced roll would allow. Alas, Marci convinced me that better things could come of the money, so I sadly left it there for anyone who's interested.....

Unfortunately, I also came up short in my finds at Hobby Lobby that day. Nothing fit what I was looking for to make my jewelry holder work like I wanted. And then, I remembered that my wonderful Mother had bought me some shower hooks a while back that I hadn't used, and probably wouldn't just because of the way my curtain hangs now. So after some careful consideration, I deemed them worthy for the job. Total cost = $0. Even better.

Finally, for the last step of the project, I needed to acquire some screen. Now it should be noted that I was on the lookout at both the Re-Store (in the form of an old screen door) and at Hobby Lobby. But still nothing. So when Marci suggested Lowe's, I thought, "Sure, why not?" And of course, we came across the perfect roll for my project. Also (doubles again!) I was in need of some that I could cut to cover the windows in my apartment. They're the old school half-of-the-window-vertically-pops-out kind, and so during this wonderfully chilly weather, I haven't been able to keep my windows open at night due to the bugs that I know would try to take over in my sleep. So this was just what I needed! Total cost with tax = $6.47

So, that's that! All materials acquired. And of course, I'm going to ask you to come back tomorrow for a tutorial and revealing of the awesomeness :) 

Until then,

~Jess

Girl's Night Part 2 (AKA: Pony's Revenge!)

Alright, well I know it looks like I've been skipping out on you, but it's just been so busy! So here's a quick rundown of what happened:

• My weekend actually started on Friday (woohoo!) which means Thursday night after babysitting, I spent the night with my lovely sister and her husband in their cozy little apartment in Sugarland
• Friday, my sister and I hit up the local Re-Store (awesome, btw...) and then went into Houston to tour campus, hit up Hobby Lobby and Lowe's, and experience Rice Village
• Saturday we went home to watch my oldest younger brother coach my youngest brother's basketball game (confusing, I know!) and then I attended game night with our awesome pastor and his family, along with the Bruce clan
• Monday (late night) I got back to Houston
• Tuesday, classes started at UH (I took off work cause I knew it'd be crazy busy)
• And then today (Wednesday), started my first full day of classes/work/crazy schedule

Oh, and did I mention that I'm having financial aid issues throughout all this? Quite stressful to say the least. 

Right-o. So, Thursday night. Girl's Night Part 2. Also entitled Pony's Revenge. I know, sounds ominous. So turns out that Trisha (the same one from Girl's Night Part 1) accompanied me on my weekly babysitting journey for our BSM director and his wife. Their kids (6, 4, and 8 months) are great, but I'll try to leave out names since I don't have permissions.

Anywho, during our playtime with the enormous (no lie) My Little Pony collection, the poor ponies fell under attack. As you can see here, the bad guys started their attack:

However, they were obviously outnumbered!

There's no way these girls were letting those bad guys take the Cotton Candy Cafe.

But somehow, they managed to capture our allies. Hmm...

You can see the casualties we encountered. Obviously, they put up quite a fight. 

      

 Here's a good action shot of the battle playing out....

And what, you might ask, was my role in all this? Just the camera girl??? Well I daresay not!

Someone's got to keep up the girls' hair, afterall.

These were just a few of my clients:

 (Minus Minty, the green one of course, who jumped in there at the last second apparently) ^^^

So as you can see, we had a blast. Shout out to those awesome kids, they have quite the imaginations!

Keep checking back for more updates from this weekend, which I'll share throughout the week :)

Girl's Night Part 1

So, I took a little stroll along with my good friend Trisha last night in Rice Village. It's always super fun to go out with her because she always makes me try these weird slash interesting things that I wouldn't have tried before. Last night, for instance, we ate at this little Turkish restaurant called Istanbul Grill. YUM. Let me not give away all the details right now, because it'll be showing up later. But let me just suggest it to you next time you're in the area.

I must say though, along with girl talk and catching up (it's been literally forever since I've seen her!), one of my favorite parts of the night was Half Price Books. Call me lame, but there's just something about being surrounded by books and ideas that I love. Especially one's that are on clearance for only $1!!! Yep, three whole bookshelves floor to ceiling full of fantastic marked down books. And that was only the super cheap ones.

Man, I love that place.

So anyway, while perusing the sections, we came across this sign, which I couldn't get enough of:

Yes, a guide to romance, thank you Half Price Books.

I think the best part about this was how there's a Scottish section. haha! Just in case you were on the hunt for a Scottish romance, search no more! Thanks to this handy dandy flowchart, you are no longer lost. Cowboys and Indians come in a close second, with suspense clinching third, in my opinion.

What do you think?

Also--I've got great plans for this weekend (which starts tomorrow btw-woohoo!), so be sure to check back Monday for some updates :)

Bring on the Scheduling

Oh school. It's baaacckkk. Well, almost.

And since I'm still waiting on my financial aid to come through, I decided I'd go ahead and get my classes all ready to go in my shopping cart online. So, after a BUNCH of rearranging, switching classes, class times, and professors, making sure that they had good ratings (thank you ratemyprofessors.com!), I finally came up with this...I give you, the official Spring 2012 Schedule of Jessica!

And it's nicely color coded, of course. I decided I'd hurt my eyes looking at a bright red for UH (Go Coogs!), so opted for a paler version instead. And no schedule looks complete without the 'official business colors' of blue and gray.

So....that's not too bad, right? I'm maxed out for work at 20 hours (which should be getting moved up, hopefully, thanks to a mini-premotion...do they even have those officially? anyway...) and I'm taking a full load of 12 hours, as opposed to my norm 15, to hopefully boost my GPA this semester.

Fingers crossed!


UPDATE!!!! THIS IS ACTUALLY MY OFFICIAL SCHEDULE FOR SPRING:

DIY Star Wars Snowflakes

Ok I'll admit it, I didn't see Star Wars until my boyfriend and his family decided they needed to save me from the humiliation of having not, when I was 18 years old. I know, shocking. But the good news is, I loved it!


So, in honor of the holidays and Star Wars, I decided to use my newly acquired Exacto knife and these templates to decorate.

OH MAN. Let me just warn you, the results are A W E S O M E. But these little boogers are time consuming, to say the least!

First, I cut out some designs:

And then, after a fun trip to Hobby Lobby with my sister (can you say SALE?! on the scrapbook paper), I modge-podged them into these:

Not bad, not bad. Yoda is definitely my favorite! You can see in the picture that he's laying on top of a fantastic green background. I think it's perfect. And now what to do with them? Well, that thought is still in process actually. I'm thinking of framing them to adorn my oh so needy apartment walls. 

What do you think?

DIY Wrapped Headphones

I assume you've heard of it: Pinterest. The biggest addiction since Facebook came along.

It really is quite useful though, and I for one have actually taken to tackling some of my pinnings. The first Pinterest project I ever did was to glam up my Iphone headphones. That's right, you heard me. Check out the inspirations for my project here.

So after a little research of how to actually tie the things (this website will hook you up quite well!), I set out to Hobby Lobby, or Hobey Lobey as we like to call it, for some embroidery floss.

My color choices ended up being #3840, #3746, and #3326. Which, for those of you who are curious, are a light blue, perfect purple, and rose pink. And yes, those are my wedding colors for the wedding I'm not planning---no, really. And yes, I use them to coordinate like everything in my life. Needless to say, after about a week of picking it up, putting it down, getting lazy and forgetting about it....

 and then finally deciding it was getting finished that day, I ended up with these little beauties:

The great thing is, you only end up using just under one 'package' of embroidery floss per color. So at 35 cents a pop, that's some cute decorated headphones for a total of $1.05!!!! Woo hoo!

So have you tried this yet? Let me know how it works out for ya! :)

The Beginnings

A Zest of Jess!

Why, you ask? Well why not?

I've become addicted obsessed much more interested in crafting lately, and I want to share some of those things with you. Also I'd like to share the daily ramblings of this small town girl living in a big city, head over heals in love with a Godly man, and trying to obtain success at the University of Houston. Oh, lucky lucky you.

But why Jess Zest? Well that's pretty simple if you ask me. You see, my name is Jessica. Or, as I prefer to be referred by, Jess. And well, I'd like to think that I add a little zest to life. What is zest, you ask? Why my good reader, zest is: 

1. an enjoyably exciting quality. 
2. keen relish; hearty enjoyment; gusto.
3. an agreeable or piquant flavor imparted to something.
4. anything added to impart flavor, enhance one's appreciation, etc.
5. piquancy; interest; charm.
6. liveliness or energy; animating spirit.

So there you have it; take it or leave it. I think I prefer definition #6 myself. But hey, who's to decide?


PSST! Wanna get to know me better? Check out my About Me page for some more info!