about

Hello, friends on the internet–welcome to my blog!

What you should know about me :

First thing’s first, I’m Jess! I’m currently studying art history and women’s studies at Brigham Young University in good ol’ Provo, Utah,  I am married to the coolest nerd you’ll ever meet, Chris, a guy I met in high school but who didn’t spark my interest until a few years after graduation.

I’ve moved around the country my whole life (thanks, Marine Corps), but I claim Southern California as home, as I spent most of my growing up years just five minutes away from the beach. After high school, I moved to Provo, where I completed my first year of college. When I turned 19, I packed up my scriptures, skirts, and ugly, yet ever so reliable, shoes in order to move to Portugal to serve an 18-month mission for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I came home in January 2016 and spent some time at home before moving back to Utah. I started dating Chris, he proposed right before Christmas, I said yes, and we were married for forever at the end of April 2017.

If I’m not studying or working, I’m generally watching Parks and Recreation and working on plans for travel adventure with my husbands, or I’m organizing and reorganizing my apartment and thinking about how I should exercise and maybe eat more vegetables.

What you should know about this website:

I have plenty of opinions about just a few things, including feminism, why Kesha is my all-time favorite artist, the importance of families, why re-watching your favorite shows is healthy, belief in God, belief in yourself (while not taking yourself too seriously), the importance of visiting all the cool stuff as possible (and what “cool stuff” means), and the seemingly average occurrences of my day to day scene, which will likely make themselves manifest here. Over the past five years, I’ve started and deleted a couple of blogs, mostly because I was ultimately not comfortable with the site as an outlet for hormonal angst. My intent here is to create a journal of sorts because I aspire to be someone whose experiences and perspectives motive and uplift those around her. And because nobody needs (or wants) to deal with my teenager/young adult emotional vomit.

In Portugal, I learned more about the world, myself, and the importance of sturdy footwear, no matter the cost of fashion. Since coming home, I have developed and deepened the belief that we all owe our hearts patience, love, and tenderness. The world is tough and wants us to be so, too, but I have seen that true strength comes from vulnerability and a willingness to be who you genuinely are in order to lift others.

As a creator, I strive to develop an environment in which people can be their genuine selves and ultimately help others to the same. I know that change comes slowly as individuals make daily decisions to be a little better and help their communities.

So let’s start today by heading over to our favorite soda shop, buying too many ounces of caffeinated holy nectar, donning some flower crowns, and celebrating our different paths to greatness together.