Creativity

I've always been a creative person. It's something that I've always been proud of, and I make a considerable effort to encourage my daughter's creativity and give her plenty of opportunities. It makes me sad that modern society is taking emphasis away from creative endeavors in an effort to get everyone to conform to the standard ideal of "success." If being creative makes you happy, be creative! It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

I found this picture on Facebook and decided to share it with you all:

While we are on the subject of creativity, I have quite a few half-finished projects in the works, and even more ideas buzzing around in my head, so expect a flood of new posts coming very soon!

Until next time,

Happy (Belated) New Year!

Wow! So this last couple months have been crazy for me, and I have been neglecting the blog (sorry!), but I have a LOT of new projects and ideas in the works at the moment. Unfortunately, I have so many things going on at once it is hard to get any of them finished! (I'm sure at least some of you can relate)

A little snapshot of what is going on in my life right now:

• Realizing that school is such a time suck! What happened to the days when I didn't have to study for hours on end to understand the material? BUT, I'm getting good grades, which is the important thing, right?
• I just started working from home, which is a welcome change from all of the pointless, dead-end jobs I've been working my ENTIRE adult life. I will give you guys some more information about that later, but for now let's just say I'm very excited!!
• I have sooo many friends that are expecting babies this year, so don't be surprised if I post a lot of baby-related projects in the coming months. (No, I'm not pregnant... yet)
• I may not have been blogging, but I'm still very active on Pinterest, so make sure you follow me there to get all the inspiration you can handle!
• Putting the wedding planning on hold for now. I'm still madly in love with my fiance but we decided to focus on other areas of our lives that need attention first (which is totally understandable). I'm just going with the flow and letting God show me when it is the right time to finally tie that knot. =]

NOW, here is where I need you, my followers, to give some input.
What kinds of projects/topics would you like to see me cover in the coming months?

This blog is built for you and around you, so any and all opinions are necessary! Post in the comments, or hit me up on Google+ (you can add me to your circles over in the sidebar).

Until next time,

Thanksgiving Prayer

I'm usually not very good at coming up with prayers, especially for holidays, but this one just came to me, and I decided to share it with all of you. Many members of my family do not practice religion, and therefore do not pray at holidays, but this year my goal is to at least change one person's mind. Opening myself up to the Lord is one of the most fulfilling things I've done in my life. If you are a Christian, or religious, please feel free to pin this, share it on Facebook, whatever, and let's spread the joy during the holidays this year =]

PS: Sorry I haven't been posting much lately, I promise I'm working on a ton of new projects that I will be able to share with you very soon!

Until next time,







Linking up to:

   

Happy November!

I thought I would give you all a laugh today, because I sure needed one. My boyfriend always participates in "No-Shave November" and I presented the idea of females also taking part. Obviously, he was against it, but I sent him this pic anyway. =]

[image credit]
I added the text

My boyfriend was not amused.

Happy No Shave November ladies!

Until next time,

Fall is in the Air!

Hello to all of my new followers!

I'm pretty sure I've said it before, but I will say it again: I LOVE FALL! It's finally starting to get a little chilly outside, which is definitely making me want to curl up with a good book and relax till spring comes again. But, I also find that fall is a great time to focus on a lot of indoor activities (especially since this winter is supposed to be pretty harsh for us here in the Midwest). That being said, here in the next few weeks I will be focusing a lot more on my decorating and craft projects, so expect a lot more in the way of tutorials, and as it gets closer to Thanksgiving, I will definitely be flooding my page with all of the new recipes and ideas I find!

I hope you all stick around with me and see what's new in the coming weeks!

Until next time,

Welcome to My Beautiful Midwest Life!

Hi everyone! Since this is my first post, I think it is only fitting to let you all know why I'm writing this blog, and also tell you a little about myself.

My name is Jessica. I'm 24 years old and newly engaged. I have a beautiful 4 year old daughter and 22 month old future stepdaughter. I was born and raised in the Midwest and I absolutely LOVE it here! I consider myself to be a country girl through and through. I love being creative in every aspect of my life, so one of the purposes of this blog is to catalog some of my many craft projects. I love to cook, so i will also be posting some tips as well as some tried-and-true recipes.

However, my real motivation for starting tis blog is to document my journey of planning my wedding (which will hopefully be happening next fall). I know there is already alot of literature out there about wedding planning, but it's all quite overwhelming for someone like me. I'm a pretty average working mom. I don't have a million dollar budget or endless connections or a miles-long guest list. So my goal, ultimately, is to paint a more realistic interpretation of the daunting task of planning a wedding (on a normal working family's budget). I hope that whoever reads this blog will learn something.

This leads me to my secondary goal. I also wish to use this blog to share things that inspire me, in the hopes that they inspire others as well. I will be linking up to my Pinterest page (which, in my opinion, is the greatest social networking site ever invented) to share some of the many ideas that are constantly bouncing around in my head. I plan on sharing my trials and tribulations, failures and successes, so that others may learn what works and what doesn't. I will also be sharing ideas I've come across from other blogs, because I absolutely love it when creative people from all over the world can get together on the internet and bounce ideas off of each other.

Which leads me to where you, the reader, fits in to this equation. This blog cannot possibly be a success if no one is there to read it. I know most blog writers ask readers for feedback. I will be doing the same. But what makes me different is that I thrive on reader feedback. I assure you it's not because I'm an attention whore (quite the opposite, actually), but because I actually enjoy hearing other people's opinions, both positive and negative. I hope you will take some time to share yours with me. let's get a conversation going!

Until next time,
Jess
My Beautiful Midwest Life