summer resolutions.

So, I didn't really make any new years resolutions. It just wasn't a good time for them, but now that it is officially the first day of summer I think I am ready for some resolutions.

#1 I am giving up drinking soda. I started this at the beginning of June and I have been staying strong. There was some grape soda temptation recently, but I managed to remain true to my goal. Grape and Orange soda are definitely going to be my weakness. I have been feeling surprisingly good about this one. I'm starting out with this as a summer goal, but am actually just thinking about giving it up forever.

#2 I am going to quit picking my nails. This has been a habit since pre-school. So a 20ish year habit shouldn't be difficult to break right? I'm trying to combat this one with super cute nails all the time. I love and have a slight obsession with nail polish already so this is a great motivator. Check out my new teal shade:

You can't tell, but my drink is blue too. I am just so color coordinated!

#3 Perfect iced coffee. I have been working on this for a couple weeks now too and have it down pretty well! I make my coffee at night while I brush my teeth then place it in the fridge over night. In the am right before I leave for work I use around 5 ice cubes, and by around 5 I mean exactly 5, add the coffee, 2 packs of sugar, about 3-4ish seconds of creamer, that's the official scientific measurement, some hershey's caramel syrup & stir! Add a neon straw to my JMU recycle travel mug and I am out the door. I'm going to experiment with some other flavors too.

#4 I am never going to get tragically lost again. Dupont Circle at rush hour taught me a lesson and this girl has been lost for the last time. Meet Greta, my new tour guide:

Greta is the perfect addition for summer time adventures!

There they are, my summer time resolutions. Happy first day of summer!

behind the scenes peak.

If you haven't checked it out yet, here is Big Meadow Sessions's second video featuring Andrew!

My dear SMAD pals, Tyler Conta and Colin Greene, and I started this little live music video project and I am very excited to see how it evolves. We're still in the beginning stages and any feedback you have would be lovely! If you missed our first video of Lights in the Fog you can find it here!

Here are some behind the scenes shots from our sunny day filming adventure:

The fellas reviewing the footage.

Leaving expensive things laying around a playground.

Play time post recording.

Dizzy.

Make sure you follow Big Meadow Sessions on twitter here for updates and so you don't miss our next video! I hope this brings a little sunshine to your Monday!

the little bro is a college graduate!

It seems like just yesterday that little Marc Lonett was moving into Ikenberry Hall as a freshman at JMU. The past 4 years having my little brother in Harrisonburg have been wonderful. I have so many great memories including too many late night Taco Bell trips to count, winning intramural championships, and being an obnoxious older sister driving through campus and yelling out my window at him when he was a freshman.

Everybody wants to be a Lonett and here is some photographic evidence.

warped tour.

those are high school musical dog tags for an army themed party.

road trip to psu.

thanksgiving food coma.

dhall crew.

jmu playoff football.

hannah montana & oliver oken <3

lumberjack slam jam. ps did you know we were born in canada?

let's go pens.

walt disney world!

heading south on 81.

1787.

looking classy.

super sweet 16. plus six or seven.

standard.

wilson steps.

does this count as annoying?

homecoming.

merry christmas from the lonett sibs.

Now he's a big bad college graduate!

The thing I love most about the time I've shared with my little brother in Harrisonburg over the years is getting to see him transform into this amazing person. He is doing such great things and is always an inspiration to me. I'm glad I have at least one more year of living in the same town. Around this time next year look out for a "Marc Lonett Become a Townie" petition. I have the best little brother ever. I love you.

i'm currently obsessed with...

here are a few things i am currently a bit obsessed with.

1) guacamole and/or avocados. anytime i am at a restaurant and they have an item on the menu that involves one of these things it's pretty much a 100% guarantee that i will order it. i made some guac tonight and it is such a wonderful way to enjoy a monday evening. want some? (i'm only offering because you aren't here and actually can't have it.)

2) Pinterest. it's a site that you can use as a virtual cork board/inspiration board/place to find the cutest things ever. i enjoy finding craft projects (that i don't have time to do), interior design stuff (for an apt that i'm not living in yet), and tropical escapes (that i don't have $$ to go on). so basically it's a good place to day dream and find inspiration for stuff you may actually be able to do one day. i also found this matching couple tattoo, gag a little but refer to #1

3)

this wine found here. i know pretty much nothing about wine and make purchases based only on physical appearance of the bottle. i first found this wine at Downtown Wines & Gourmet. i felt a little classy. later i saw that they were selling it at sheetz. i felt two things, sad because i wasn't as classy as i had originally thought, and excited that it was easier to obtain. i don't know who i was fooling, it has a screw off top how classy did i really think i was?

4) this:

ok so maybe i'm a little biased, but i love, love, love this song. i don't mind being serenaded by andrew with it every now and then.

OH! also andrew just released his debut ep, a little less rough last week. you can listen and download for free here! his little sis and i designed the cover art:

5) i am obsessed with spring and it cannot get here and stay here fast enough. i painted my nails "mellow yellow" today in the spring spirit. see photo from #1.

what are your current obsessions?

merch table masterpiece...

Here's a little peak at the super-cool-DIY-merch-table-light-up-sign that I made for Andrew's show at Jammin' Java yesterday!

Here is the before, it was the box my roller derby skates came in!

The next thing I did was print out his name in the same fonts I had used for andrewrohlk.com and his stickers. I'm such a font whore this was a crucial step for me.

Then I cut out and traced his name onto the box using the print outs as stencils and carefully cut the lettering with a box cutter.

Almost done:

Add some white lights and you've got a finished product:

Check out the set up the day of the show:

We thought about painting the outside of the box black. it looks so cool in low lighting with out it, but as you can see here in a venue that isn't as dimly lit it looks a little silly with the skate logo on it. We're probably going to tweak the design a bit for the next show.

If you'd like to see a little day before the show performance check out this adorable sing-a-long!

Part of this idea was inspired by this project:

Let me know if you have any suggestions for improving the super-cool-DIY-merch-table-light-up-sign.

rad things i've been doing...

So I've been pretty busy lately! Yikes! Here's a little peek at some of the exciting things that have been keeping me occupied!

I now have all of my very own roller derby gear!! Which i've been using three nights a week at practice! If you missed my post on joining the Rocktown Rollers check it out here. Speaking of the Rocktown Rollers, our first home bout is coming up on March 27th! Let me know if you want tickets because I have some. If you're in Harrisonburg you definitely don't want to miss this!

I saw Hellogoodbye in concert. Before you [completely] judge me check out one of their new songs here. Their sound has changed and matured so much since "Here in Your Arms"... in a very, very good way. Forrest (lead singer) is super adorable. How can you not love them?

I got locked in my apartment. Yes you read that right. LOCKED IN. The roomies and I were late to work and had to exit through the secret upstairs of Jack Browns! Kinda cool, plus all my co-workers found it extremely entertaining.

I bought new heels and have been working on being a better girl by wearing them at least once a week to work! Ohh look at me go! It's on my 24 Things to do while I'm 24 list! Thanks to McKinzie for walking a bit slower with me on my first day out in them ;)

I went to my first Pens game in the new Consol Energy Center! It was also Andrew's first professional sporting event ever! So what the Pens lost, we got to see a couple awesome fights at our end of the rink. Plus here we are hanging out with Geno & Sid!

So there it is. Some exciting updates in the life of Jess Lonett. Expect more excitement soon!

miss america 2011!!!!

Saturday (1/15) was the Miss America Pageant. One of my favorite days of the year! My love for Miss America goes back to an old family tradition where my extended family would hold their own Miss America Pageant each year and the winner had to wear her crown to every family event after, or she would lose the crown to the runner up. It was pretty intense. There have been jokes made at funerals when the family's Miss America shows up not wearing the crown. I was never old enough to compete while this family tradition existed, so now I've started my own.

This year decorations included a patriotic back drop for head shots and posters with all the contestants' official head shots and the state they represented. We all picked random states from a bowl and competed along with the pageant.

Some of the talents were a little more than tragic. I'm looking at you Miss Delaware! We had our own talent portion during commercial breaks involving pageant talents in the form of charades. Some real gems were ballet in a fat suit and naked guitar playing.

The entire room was rooting for Miss Virginia since she's from JMU. She made it to the top ten, but didn't make it into the final five. The 2011 Miss America is Miss Nebraska, Teresa Scanlan. We all thought she had a major stink eye, but I learned from the What the Buck Show, that it was just a false eye lash gone wrong.

(source)

In our own version of Miss America we awarded the top 5 with gold medals and Diane was the lucky one to have Miss Nebraska and she, too, got to be Miss America for the night.

"I think my reign is off to a great start." - Text from Diane the day after she was crowned Miss America. I agree completely. I can also check off number 9 from this list! I will leave you with our fantastic head shots. Tootles!