To Sparkle Punch...

High Five for Friday: December 2

JessComment

Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by—I’m so glad you’re here! 😁


Where did this week go?! Things were, ah, a bit less exciting than last week 😂 but here’s what brought the sparkle:

  • The obligatory “I made an effort” Thanksgiving selfie. I’m not sure why the lighting in our kitchen is always spectacular on Thanksgiving, but I ain’t mad at it! 

  • Okay, what did you guys get on Black Friday? The most exciting things I got were some of my favorite, super comfy bras and this $20 shoe rack from Amazon, which makes our entryway look 200x better already!

  • We haven’t quite figured out what we’re doing re: a Christmas tree this year (our first cat Christmas!), but Pops and I did manage to pack up fall and get the house decked out for Christmas! I love working from home in a winter wonderland! 🎄

Love having this gal out again!

  • I made Pops’ dreams come true when I had him watch his favorite baseball player (Chris Taylor) do an Instagram Live, haha! I’m usually just annoyed when I get dings from people going on Instagram Live, and I can’t tell you the last one I actually watched, but it was adorable seeing Pops so excited. He kept saying, “This is so cool!!!” 😁 I don’t know what came over me, but I submitted two questions, and CT and his fiancee actually answered them! Which had Pops and me both freaking out! 😂😂 I don’t know when I became a “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” person, but it is really adding some spice to my life! 💃🏼🔥😂



  • Lastly, I usually start writing these posts on Wednesday night, but Pudge had other plans—she came looking for me while I was putting away clothes and wanted to snuggle in my room (which never happens), so we watched Christmas movies in bed instead! 🫶🥹

Paul Campbell is officially my favorite Hallmark actor because I was willing to try a 2013 movie of his that I thought was called WIDOW Wonderland. It was, in fact, Window Wonderland, about department store window-dressers. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

What put the sparkle in your week? ✨ 

Happy Friday! xoxo

Linking up with Andrea and Erika over at Friday Favorites!

High Five for Friday: November 25

JessComment

Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by—I’m so glad you’re here! 😁 And if you’re in the US, I hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving!

I’ve been off all week, and it has been so lovely—especially now that I’m used to it! (Anyone else need, like, five days off before you’re remotely relaxed?) Lots of Hallmark/Christmas movies, cat snuggles, visits with friends and family, and another Take Your Daughter to Walmart Day! 😂

And, most importantly, my anxiety has been manageable, unlike when I was off in October! 🥳

One major source of sparkle this week, though, came from doing something waaay out of my comfort zone. On Sunday, I went to a Meet and Greet with Lexi Ainsworth and Haley Pullos from General Hospital! This sums things up pretty well:

I’ve watched GH on and off since 1999 (Lucky and Liz 1.0 🥹) and was “on” again when I started grad school in 2009. (Gotta love being home and free at 3:00 in the afternoon!) Lexi and Haley had just joined the cast as SORASed Kristina and Molly, and, as I tend to get drawn into the teen scene, Kristina’s domestic abuse storyline sucked me right in. I’m mostly “off” again with GH these days, but I do try to keep up with these girls’ goings-on (…which is easy because they’re hardly ever on 😩).

I had never been to an event like this before and was so far out of my comfort zone, I was in another zip code. But I had a great time geeking out over old soap storylines, and I was even brave enough to ask a question during the Q&A! And they were so sweet when I got to meet them. (I got called up first—which would not have been my choice—and was like, “hi, I’m so sorry, I’ve never done this before! You’re both adorable! I feel like we’ve grown up together!” 😂)

Now that I’m removed from the anxiety and anticipation of it all, I’m so glad I was brave enough to go! ☺️

(I got tickets for the Meet and Greet right after this road trip, so one brave, out-of-my-comfort-zone decision begets another, I guess! 😁)

What put the sparkle in your week? ✨ 

Happy Friday! xoxo

Linking up with Andrea and Erika over at Friday Favorites!

High Five for Friday: November 18

JessComment

Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by—I’m so glad you’re here! 😁

Since last week was all about my latest trip to the botanical garden (which now has its own “delight reel” 😁)

let’s see some of the little things that have brought the sparkle over the past few weeks! Like…


  • This gal getting ready to go on tour! 🎸🤘

We have now graduated from “holiday photos with my cat” to “making my cat look like a rock star.” 😂 

  • Beautiful warm weather last Saturday (that promptly vanished, WAH 😩)!

  • Pudge doing things like this while she’s sleeping 😭💖😭💖

She’s not a lap cat, but she does sometimes want to be sure I’m still there, which is just 🥹🥹🥹.

  • Finally finding a shacket in the color of my dreams at Marshall’s!

  • And some bonus funnies:

When my therapist was preparing to go on leave a few weeks ago, this was literally me, just crying through every session, having A Time. 🙃

PLEASE GOD. 🙏


What put the sparkle in your week? ✨ 

Happy Friday! Xoxo

Linking up with Andrea and Erika over at Friday Favorites!

High Five for Friday: November 11

JessComment

Love the friends you make bartering for photography help! People (struggling with tripods) helping people!

Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by—I’m so glad you’re here! 😁 And, my goodness, I hope to catch up on comments soon. I love hearing from you guys; the days have just been flying by lately!


Indeed, this week has gotten away from me, so I’m just focusing on one big source of sparkle—last Sunday’s trip to the Conservatory! (This fall, I’m clearly putting my botanical garden membership to good use! 😂)

As always, the beautiful, natural setting was its own source of restorative joy. But I also realized shortly after I arrived and was trying to set up a shot in front of this wall of plants:

that the whole thing felt like play.

You know, pure creative fun. What a joy it is to get into this flow state where I just look at beautiful things and literally play around taking pictures! Checking out angles and lighting, toying around with settings on my camera, seeking out random secluded spots… the whole endeavor just feels good in my soul. It’s been such a positive distraction from my anxiety this fall!

And, I don’t know, to me, the fall vibes are just immaculate in pics like this:

I also finally remembered to bring a tarot deck to the gardens with me. I’d been wanting to pull a card to see what messages my Higher Self had for me. Apparently, she had three! 

Why yes, I do have a Zelda tarot deck! 😂

I’ve never pulled The Fool before, and the write-up was absolutely spot-on for my day of play:

“The energy of the Fool is one of pure openness and wonder. This card calls to the childlike nature of your spirit.”

🔮🔮🔮

In the immortal words of Queen, 🎶It’s a Kind of Magic🎶.

What put the sparkle in your week? ✨ 

Happy Friday! I hope you get to “play” this weekend! xoxo


Linking up with Andrea and Erika over at Friday Favorites!

High Five for Friday: November 4

JessComment

Hi friends! Thanks for stopping by—I’m so glad you’re here! 😁

Let’s see what brought the sparkle this week!

  • Honestly? Reaching out for help when I needed it. God love my pysch nurse practitioner—she is truly the best. Last weekend was rocky, but with her help, this week has been much much better. 💖💖

This means that the week included actual “fun” sparkly things, such as:

  • Fall foliage! As always. 

My phone went in a real disco-dancey direction on this walk, so highly recommend leaf peeping while listening to “Ain’t Nobody” by Chaka Khan (and Rufus??). 😂

  • Halloween family portraits! 

  • Halloween in general! Not because I love it as a holiday—I really don’t—but I do enjoy hanging out with our wonderful neighbors and just having a festive occasion to break up the work week! 🧡

…Though I’m also stepping right into Christmas now too! 😂🎄

What put the sparkle in your week? ✨

Happy Friday! xoxo


Linking up with Andrea and Erika over at Friday Favorites!