30x30 fashion challenge {week 3}

So the blog everyday challenge and the 30x30 challenge on overlapping days was driving me nuts!  Instead of double posting, I'm going to use my 30x30 update in place of the prompt given by Jenni.  I think this will be a win-win for everyone.

So for week 3 I decided that I needed to swap out a pair of shorts for the teal jeans in my original list of 30 and also I received a dress in the mail that I'd been waiting on for some time (one of the joys of living on the other side of the world) so I swapped that out for the teal polka dot dress.  Since I hadn't yet worn either of those items, I felt less guilty about it.  With the temps rising quickly here (and more importantly, the humidity) I just needed cooler options!

You'll see in the photos that I stole some tips from Kelly and her adorable toddler for this week!

Day 14

These are the shorts I swapped out for the teal jeans.  This was the perfect outfit for chasing a 5 year old around half the day.

Day 15

The dress I swapped made an appearance the next day.

                       

With the sweater, it became one of my favorites of the week!


Day 16
I struggled with day 16 for no reason other than I wanted to wear something that isn't a part of my 30 so therefore I hated everything I put on that morning.   I'm happy with the final product but it was a challenge for sure.

Day 17
I have a slight obsession with this blue/teal & pink/coral color combination in case you can't tell!

 Day 18
I attended a roller derby event and the team's colors are purple and yellow so I cheated and wore a yellow sweater but only for the 1st half of the day!

I also learned another VERY USEFUL trick from the fabulous Kelly.  Once she pointed it out, I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner, like while I was taking a word processing/power point class last semester.  Wanna know what I'm talking about, I'll give you a hint but you should check out her page.  She explained everything flawlessly!

Blog everyday in May {Day 19}

Day 19, Sunday: Five of your favorite blogs and what you love about them

1.Rebecca - not only is she one of my dearest friends, she also writes beautifuly and inspires me constantly
2.Kelly - very few people could get me to step outside my comfort bubble and participate in a month long fashion challenge but I feel so comfortable with Kelly, like I've known her forever (even though we've never met IRL) that I didn't have to think twice about joining her
3.Jordan - her blog is so fun and inviting, I'm constantly wondering what interesting new thing she's going to share with the world next.  I'll be moving shortly to the town where she lives and I hope and pray she's as fun and as inviting IRL as I imagine her to be!
4.Jessica - Jessica writes one of the first blogs I ever read and I'm loving living vicariously through her adventures in Italy
5.Ree - is there anyone who doesn't love the Pioneer Woman?!?

Blog everyday in May {Day 18}

Day 18, Saturday: Tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.

One of my earliest memories from my childhood is one that tells a lot about who I am as an adult. Y'all, I cannot keep a secret to save my life!  I have successfully only kept 2 in my whole life.  If you ever have ANYTHING that you want kept quiet, I suggest you don't tell me.  When I was probably 6 or 7 I was at a birthday party for my younger cousin and I definitely spilled the beans on her gift (hehe, the gift was actually the game Don't Spill the Beans...anyone remember that game?  80's children?  Anyone?)  I don't remember if we ever told anyone about that.  We may be the only two people (until now) that ever knew...and she probably doesn't remember.  It's so insignificant, I'm not sure why I actually still remember it!

Blog everyday in May {Day 17}

Day 17, Friday: A favorite photo of yourself and why

This is one of my all time favorite photos of myself.  I'm with my best friend at a dance our freshman year of high school.  We had only known each other a few months at this point but we were already super tight.  I was insanely uncomfortable in my own skin at that time (what 14 year old isn't though, right?!?) but I look back on this photo and realize that I was more beautiful than I ever gave myself credit for!

Blog everyday in May {Day 16}

Day 16, Thursday: Something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it

Remember day 2 of this blog challenge?  No?  Let me remind you, I'm awesome at procrastinating!  I have done everything imaginable to postpone writing this post.  I can't put it off any longer.  I chose the topic hoping it might actually be therapeutic to talk about it.  It's definitely something I've never talked about on here before and it may come as a shock to some of you, when I first learned, it shocked me kind of.

My father is a homeless alcoholic.

Growing up, he was a loving (in his own way), attentive, and supportive father; I was definitely a daddy's girl.  He's always been a drinker but was mostly smart/responsible about it (he's never had a drivers license so drinking and driving was a non issue).  After him and my mother divorced, he had fewer responsibilities and over the years the drinking progressively got worse.  When I did live with him, sporadically throughout the years, I always felt like the parent, not the child.  It definitely shaped who I am today.  I grew up fast and became fiercely independent and responsible.

About 6 years ago, he lost his job (I presume due to his drinking but he'll never admit to that) and never found another.  He didn't loose his apartment until after we had moved to Japan but by that point I had already started to distance myself from him.  He was a grown mad who made his own decisions and I couldn't live my life based on his poor choices.  I struggled daily (and sometimes still do) with guilt over living a very comfortable (some might even say better than comfortable) life based on the decisions I had made.  Distance was/is the way I chose to deal with it.

The only reason we even knew that he was living on the streets is because I had added his cell phone line to my mom's plan when we moved to Japan and told her to monitor his activity.  One month there was none so we started investigating and found out he had been locked out of his apartment for non payment of many months of rent and didn't have a charger to charge the phone any longer so he wasn't using it.  Some arrangements were made with his brother and they tolerated him living with them for as long as possible but he never made any effort to find a job or clean up his act so they asked him to leave.  Being literally on the other side of the world has made it difficult to keep up with his whereabouts but my mom tries to keep in contact with him so we know where he is.  I fight an internal battle constantly because I know I should make more of an effort but it's mentally and emotionally draining so I usually just put it off (more procrastination...you see the trend?).  I hope once we're back in the states it will be a little easier but who knows.

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Blog everyday in May {Day 15}

Day 15, Wednesday: A Day in the life (include photos from throughout your typical day - this could be "a photo an hour" if you'd like)

Today was not a typical day for me but it wasn't too far off.  Normally, on Wednesday mornings, I teach English to two awesome groups of women.  We didn't have class today but I still spent my morning with them.  The two classes combine to form Friendship Sagamihara.  FS is one of the many groups that host events for the American spouses association (ZaCSA) through out the year.  To show our appreciation to FS and the other Japanese groups, we hosted a State Fair themed thank you luncheon today.  Like normal, my alarm went off at 0800 (I'm NOT a morning person, going back to work is going to be rough on me!), I got ready for the day and headed off to meet the ladies.

I love my 30x30 pieces today!

We had about 75 Japanese friends attend the event and they were divided into 6 groups, each representing a state.  Of course my group was Ohio!

How awesome are these ladies?!?!?
O-H-I-O

The rest of the FS ladies were in the Indiana group with Christine who is one of my subs.

We played some state fair-esque games

Did some pie tasting

Dressed up at the photo booth

Snacked on some cotton candy

And finally ate a delicious lunch

After the luncheon, the day continued on like many others; errands, blogging, volleyball, dinner.

That concludes a somewhat typical day in the life of Jessica!