Dear Spring 2011 Jessica

Last week, I got the chance to catch up with some of my friends who are still in college at an alumni/networking event that I attended as a student last year & as an alumni this year. Going to the event reminded me of how stressed I was last year at this time.

This time last year

If you would have told me then that I would have a great job that I love, live in a fun neighborhood in a great apartment with a new friend, and have access to so many enjoyable events throughout the city, I probably would have wanted to believe but in reality would have laughed in your face.

On my cab ride home, I thought about how different life is this spring and a few things I wish I could go back and tell myself. So here it goes...

Dear Spring 2011 Jessica,


Breathe. Just breathe. Yes, this time can be stressful looking for a job while trying to also finish up school, but it’s also really exciting. You are finally going to have that little piece of paper, commonly referred to as a college degree, that you’ve worked hard for four years for and that future employers view as extremely valuable. Soak in this exciting time and take a deep breath. 

Also, I’m so glad you have your dream agencies that you are applying to and want to work at, but remember, there are more than four agencies in the world. Yes, in school, you mainly learned about a few key agencies, but there are so many places with hard working, caring people doing great work. Don’t discount any of them. You don’t have to get a job at your dream agency/company to have your dream job.

That being said, be honest with yourself about what you want to do. It’s good to apply to positions you may not have originally thought of, but don’t apply to positions you would never actually take. You are selling yourself short. Take even just 5 minutes to sit down and really think about what you want to do. Not the job title you want to have or the agency you want to work at but what you want to do. 

Now go tell people about what you want to do. In general, people want to help you. Let them help you, and just as you must be honest with yourself, be honest with them. If one person doesn’t have an opportunity for you, they may know someone else who does. No one can help you, however, if you do not first honestly know what you want to do and then go tell them. This could be your professor, your friends and family, anyone really who could help you get where you want to be. Reach out and don’t forget to help others when you can too.

Last, but certainly not least, take care of yourself. It is so much harder to sell yourself to future employers when you are not at your peak performance. Yes, it’s a stressful time, but this is when you should be taking the best care of yourself. Getting little sleeping & overeating isn’t actually going to help anything other than make you feel sick and unprepared. Take care of yourself. You will thank yourself in the future.

Love always,

Spring 2012 Jessica

I am so thankful to be in a place this year to be able to look back and write this, but I really hope all seniors or anyone looking for a job is able to gain some peace of mind from this post. Take it from someone who was seriously freaking out last year, every word in the letter to myself is true. So much can change in one year if you let it. And yea, I have to pay bills and buy everything for myself, but the “real world” is actually really great. 

Last weekend :)

Peach Iced Tea

Today I wasn't in the best of moods but really wanted a taste of spring, so I treated myself to a Green Tea Ginger Twist with Peach flavoring from Argo Tea. Yum! The perfect piece of sunshine :)

A Beautiful Day at the Dose Market

Anyone in the Chicagoland area this weekend knows we were blessed with a beautiful weekend of 60 degree weather. I enjoyed my Saturday with a windy outdoor run and sunny walk to the grocery store, and Sunday was spent at the Dose Market downtown and my first meal of the season on Vines' outdoor patio.

I have been wanting to go to the Dose Market ever since I moved here, but it's only held once a month & had yet to make it. Thankfully, that changed this weekend, and it was the perfect day to enjoy it for the first time.

An overview of the market

The market overall had an air of joy and adventure as people explored all of the jewelry and clothing stands and sampled jams, dips, and treats. We even received a ticket for a free beer from the Half Acre table with our entrance ticket, which we enjoyed out in the sunshine.

Enjoying our free beers from Half Acre outside

I clearly have had little issue switching to my spring wardrobe already.

My beautiful roommate Kathryn & friend Natalie

Overall, it was a successful Sunday spent outdoors as much as possible. I'm a little nervous to believe it, but I really hope spring is here to stay.

My Toast

Wedding thankfulness day 5: My Toast

I am a planner to my very core, and although I had thought a lot about my toast, I didn't have anything officially written out for it until the night before the wedding. Honestly, I love speaking in front of people but was anxious about the toast because I wanted it to be perfect. Like one of those touching moments in a movie that everyone remembers.

After spending a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to say and reflecting on what a "perfect" toast would look like, I realized that what I meant by "perfect" was really just honesty and speaking from my heart. Two things I knew I could do. Once I came to that realization, I calmed down, knew exactly what I wanted to say, and was really excited to give my toast. 

As I stated in my previous post, my cousin John made sure I had notes and was ready to speak and almost every other member of my family and the bridal party was continuously asking me if I was ready. Yes, I was a little anxious about it, but I think everyone else was more concerned about it than I was. I wouldn't even really say I was anxious so much as just really excited.

I was supposed to speak after the two dads just after dinner but before dessert, but after some issues with dinner being served, I was told I was giving it before dinner even. For some people this rearrangement may have been a big deal, but I just rolled with it. Not a big deal, especially since I only drank half of the glass of wine John had gotten me and was waiting to drink more until after my toast. Let's just say I was really looking forward to the champagne that would come after.

My Uncle Jim's toast was first, and when I teared up during it, the rest of the head table began to grow concerned about my ability to keep it together for my own toast. I knew I had another toast before mine to pull myself together though, and was dry eyed and smiling once again when it was my turn to go.

I was so excited for it finally to be my turn, and as I walked up to the mic, whatever was left of my anxiety melted away. I had already realized that a perfect speech to me meant honesty and speaking from the heart, but in that moment I also realized that this toast wasn't about telling a great story or being funny. It was about showing everyone in attendance how much I love my cousin and how happy I am for Sara and Tim. 

After my newest revelation, it was all smooth sailing. I received a loud cheer from my table of cousins I would usually be seated with, so I gave them a quick shout out which was quite a crowd pleaser and a funny, unplanned way to kick it off. I then told my story about the Sara & Jessica dating curse (we have never had a boyfriend at the same time...crazy but true) which received a few funny "she's single" shout outs from a few aunts and cousins in reference to me and my solo status. After the laughs subsided, I shared how I first started hearing about Tim, how touched I was to see Tim & Sara interact for the first time when they came to a football game, and how after that weekend, I knew their relationship was truly something special. Finally, I ended with a traditional Irish blessing since the Campion side of the family is 100% Irish and a tearful "I love you".

All in all, it was short and sweet but absolutely perfect. I was honest, spoke from my heart, and will never forget seeing Sara smile at me as I gave the toast or hugging her when it was done. It was perfect. 

This is my last post about Sara's wedding, but my thankfulness for that day will never leave me. This spring, I will be making this blog more of a priority in my life again, but until my next post, I would like to leave you with the Irish blessing from my toast:

May your troubles be less,

And your blessing be more.

And nothing but happiness,

Come through your door.

Hanging With the Fam

Wedding thankfulness day 4: Hanging with the fam

I know I often talk about my immediate family of my mom, dad and brother, but I also truly love hanging out with my extended family. I also know a lot of people complain about going to large family events, but I have always loved seeing all of my aunts, uncles and cousins at family events and holidays. Campion family weddings, however, are something truly special.

Sadly, I don't have a picture of the whole extended family from the day yet,
but here's one of my immediate fam.

The excitement surrounding the event builds over the months before, and the actual event never lets us down. We have been blessed by many beautiful family weddings over the years, but for me, this one truly took the cake. No pun intended. Especially since there were cupcakes rather than cake at the wedding anyways...

Not only did I have the honor of being in the wedding, but it also marked the first time I had seen my brother since my birthday in December and the first time my whole extended family was all in one place at the same time in a really long time (we were only missing one of my cousins & her husband).

We take the best photos :)

I have always thrived off the camaraderie and energy when we're all together, and seeing everyone together last Saturday was no different. Family gatherings are always times when I remember how beautiful life is and how blessed I am to have such a large, loving family.

Usually big, exciting events are a blur where a lot of moments seem to run together and you don't even realize what all has happened by the end of the night. In order to have at least a few solid memories from big events, I always try to slow down & soak in the experience as much as possible. I like to think of those moments I slow down & soak in my surroundings as my "snapshot moments." The moments that stay in my mind like a photograph.

Some of my family "snapshot moments" from last Saturday are:

- Watching the hair stylist put Sara's veil on her. My first tears of the day.

- Hearing Sara & Tim say their vows to one another.

- My cousin John getting me a glass of wine then making sure I had notes and was ready for my toast. I remember him being nervous before giving the toast at his brother's wedding, so it was really nice of him to make sure I was feeling good about mine.

- Watching my cousin Dan take care of his beautiful baby girl, Ella.

- Tearing up while listening to my Uncle Jim give one of the most touching toasts I've ever heard.

- Giving a shout out to all of my cousins & seeing Sara smile during my toast. More on that to come soon...

- Stuffing in to the photo booth with 5 of my cousins.

- Singing at the top of my lungs with my brother to every song.

I don't remember what song this was, but we obviously enjoyed it.

I hope everyone reading this is blessed with at least one family member that brings them as much joy as my family brings me.

Getting My Hair Done

Wedding thankfulness day 3: Getting my hair done

I'm not going to lie, I have issues with letting other people do my hair. Even as a child, I didn't trust my mom to do my hair and would just do it myself. I can braid, curl and straighten my own hair which is nice, but I also have some control issues when it comes to my hair.

Choosing a hairstyle for the wedding was quite a task, and I would make my roommate look at different images I pinned on Pinterest almost every night for 2 weeks. I'm sure she got annoyed with me, but in the end, I did find my ideal style.

My final selection for the front

And for the back

I printed my pictures at work the week before and obsessively kept checking to make sure I had thrown them in my bag for the weekend. Even with all of my freaking out and preparing though, I was strangely calm when actually getting my hair done.

The brooch for my hair

I went to the same woman who did Sara's hair and after seeing how great of a job she did with Sara's, I knew she would do a fabulous job. I took out my photos, got the brooch I was supposed to wear, took a deep breath, and let the stylist work her magic.

It ended up looking exactly how I hoped it would, and I'm so thankful I was able to relax and let her take control. It may sound silly, but it was a really great lesson in learning to let go.

Flower Bouquets

Day 2 of wedding thankfulness: Flower bouquets

What is it about flowers that just makes you feel special? 

Normally when I receive flowers from someone, I think I feel special because someone thought of me and took the time to pick out something pretty for me. And flowers are even better when they're a surprise :)

I remember the first time I received flowers was my freshman year of high school. My boyfriend at the time had them delivered to my house for my birthday, and it made me feel so special. In a random turn of events, he also took my to my formal my senior year of college and showed up at my door with a single yellow rose since he remembered they were my favorite. He is such a thoughtful friend, and both of the flower instances were such great surprises and made me feel so girly and special.

Even though my bridesmaid bouquet wasn't really a surprise, I still felt so special carrying it around. Sara & I had shared tons of ideas over Pinterest the past few months, but to see the final result in person and get to carry one around all day myself was so fun.

At one point, I even got to carry both my own bouquet and Sara's. Her bouquet was huge and made my hand cramp from holding it with one hand, so I had to enlist my Aunt Mary's help. 

I couldn't stand the thought of leaving my bouquet in Peoria, so it even made the trek back to Chicago with me, and is currently the centerpiece on our dining room table. It's losing its original glory, but is still a happy reminder of the great weekend.

Photo Booths

I know I have said it before, but I have been super-crazy-out-of-mind busy at work lately, and sadly, the blog went to the way side. Life has been really beautiful lately though, and I'd like to share some of it here (and Natalie has been on my case to post...).

Last Saturday was my cousin Sara's wedding. It was a truly beautiful event, and I was fortunate enough to be the Maid of Honor and stand up next to her when she married her best friend. I am so happy for the newly weds, and so thankful I was able to be a part of their big day. There are too many things I am thankful for from the weekend for one post though, so I'm going to break it up in to a few short posts.

First up: Photo Booths.

I know photo booths have become extremely popular at weddings lately and I have been to weddings with them before, but last weekend was the first time I used one of them.

All I have to say is Wow. Seriously. I'm sure most people have already experienced the joy of the wedding reception photo booth, but Wow! So simple yet so much fun.

I made sure to put on a different outfit for each of my 5 times in the booth. Yes, 5 times was completely necessary. Once with the beautiful bride, my mom, the other bridesmaids, my brother, and once with my guy cousins in a successful attempt to fit 6 people in the booth.

Each experience in the booth was fun, but I'd have to say my favorite was the double Batman series with my brother. Batman masks, my bro & my glass of wine. Doesn't get too much better than that.