Halloween Is Upon Us

Good Evening Y'all!

It is a little over 2 weeks until Halloween!  I just love Halloween, I always have.  I love the decorations, costumes, CANDY, and being scared.  Clint and I are watching AMC's Fear Fest, they are playing Friday the 13th right now.  We started watching scary movies mid-September to make sure we get them all in.  We started it off right with The Exorcist, the original.  Yup, still creepy. 

Tonight after dinner, I decided to do a little decorating.  We have so many Halloween decorations because every year we throw a huge, scary Halloween party.  This will be the first year in many that we are not having one.  It always ends up being so much work and costing way too much money so this year we are taking a break.  I don't have all the decorations up yet because most of them are stored in my parents attic.  One prop that will probably scare me every day until Halloween is the kid in the picture below.  He laughs, demonically, spins his head around with glowing eyes and says "Look what I can do!"...gets me every time.  I took the batteries out but I am sure Clint will put them back in and scare me with it.  He is such a sweetie ;) 

I also made my first wreath for our front door!  I had no idea what I was doing so I think it turned our pretty good for a first try.  I got all the supplies at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and I just finished the wreath last night.  It took me forever to finish it because I kept changing it, adding orange, taking it off, adding a sign, taking it off.  Ha, I have lots of extra supplies due to being so indecisive.

   

 

 

 

Here are a few other decorations I put up tonight.  Hopefully I can get some other spooky things this weekend from the attic.

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time,

Jessica xoxo

 

 

 



     

House of Wallace: The Beginning Part 3

We spent that Christmas meeting each other's family.  Everyone embraced us as a couple with open arms because it was clear how much we cared for one another.  We celebrated the coming of 2008 together; we both knew it was going to be a wonderful year.  The first of many years together.   

So much had changed in such a short amount of time.  All within 6 months time, I had ended a terrible relationship and started what would become a lifetime of happiness with the man I love.

In March, Clint and I were sitting at a friend’s house and Clint was playing with his phone.  He handed the phone to me and he had his calendar pulled up.  I looked at him, confused.  He smiled back at me and told me to pick a date.  I responded with, “For what?”  and he said, “To get married.”  It took me a moment for his comment to sink in.  I asked him if he was proposing to me and he said yes.  I laughed and said I guess if you are asking then I am saying yes!  Such a romantic. 

I was thrilled.  We told our friends and they didn’t believe us because we really hadn’t been together very long and we also liked to joke around, a lot.  They all thought we were just playing a joke on them but we insisted that it wasn't a joke, we were serious. They were all so very happy for us.  They had been routing for us as a couple since we first met; they all knew we were meant to be together. 

What happened to the friendship between John and Clint you may ask.  Well, simply put, they are no longer friends.  All is fair in love and war, right?

Clint was ready to get married as soon as I said yes but I told him I wanted to have a small wedding and I needed time to plan.  We set the date for July 26, 2008.  After researching venues and much deliberation, we decided to have an outdoor wedding at a property my parents owned.  It was an old home from the late 1800s they had purchased and were in the process of renovating.  Now, if you know anything about Arkansas, you know the end of July is miserably hot HOT.  I cannot begin to describe the intensity level of heat that day.  Clint’s groomsmen were close to heat exhaustion in their 3-piece suits.  Everything turned out beautifully, heat and all.  Our wedding was everything I imagined and more.  To keep in line with our love of Jimi Hendrix, I walked down the aisle to the instrumental version of Bold as Love...it was perfect.  The journey to this point was not an easy one but it was worth it. 

We went on a low-key honeymoon to Northwest Arkansas.  We stayed in a yurt in the Boston Mountains, very scenic and peaceful.  We had a great time and were very excited to return home, officially, as Mr. & Mrs. Clint Wallace.  

Since we got married, our lives have been pretty low key.  We bought our first home in August of 2009 and I finished my bachelors degree in finance, two very exciting events for the both of us.

Well, that is pretty much the story of the HOW!  Thanks for stopping by, you are welcome anytime!

   

House of Wallace: The Beginning Part 2

A few weeks after the painful breakup with John, I began to feel like myself again.
I started smiling and laughing and talking to friends again which all felt so foreign but good.  The numbness began to subside and I felt alive again.  I tried to stay friends with John but every time I spoke to him or saw him I felt the darkness returning so I decided it was best to cut him out of my life altogether.  Another couple weeks passed and John contacted me to say he realized the err of his ways and wanted to give our relationship another try.  I declined because I had also come to a realization, I was totally and utterly miserable when I was with him.  We were toxic together.

October and November were great months.  I was back to the old, happy, fun Jessica.  I was casually dating and going out with friends.  My family often commented on the drastic change I took when I got away from John.  They were thrilled to say the least.

A few days before Thanksgiving, I received a call from Clint.  He had moved back to Arkansas in August (I heard he had and I was very happy about it.  Just to clarify, it is 2007) and wanted to catch up.  He told me that he knew John and I had broken up and that he would like to take me on a date if I wanted to.  Of course I accepted, I had a crush on him since we met.  Clint knew John would not be happy about him breaking guy code but he didn’t care because he said he also had a crush on me since day one.

For our first date we went to the movies and saw “The Mist.”  I was so nervous.  I hadn’t felt this feeling about another person, ever.  I had time to waste before our date so I went to Fresh Market to browse.  They had big beautiful sunflowers there and like a dork, I bought one to give to Clint on our date.  I felt like such an idiot when he arrived and I presented him with the sunflower…it seemed like a good idea when I bought it.  They are my favorite and I thought…well I don’t know what I thought.  He was wearing a hoodie and put the sunflower through the front pouch for everyone to see and occasionally used it as a wand.  I secretly think he loved it-we still laugh about it to this day.  He was such a gentleman that evening.  The date was a success. 

Clint and I: December 2007

After Thanksgiving we went on our second date, again to the movies.  I don’t remember what we saw that time because this time he held my hand, it took him forever to finally grab it.  He didn’t let go until the movie was over and we both had a clammy, sweaty hand (gross, I know).  We sat in the parking lot for hours talking and really getting to know one another.  We did this often.  As I was driving myself home from our date, I started thinking that Clint could be “The One.”  I tried to rationalize with myself that I barely knew him but it was clear that I was already falling in love.  He was so easy to be around and I could be myself.  He didn’t try to change me. 

We spent all the time we could together and after a little over a week we told one another how we felt.  We were both in love.  Real love. 

To be continued…

House of Wallace: The Beginning Part 1

Like all good things, I guess we should start at the beginning...sort-of.  More like the beginning of the House of Wallace (HOW).

We were both born and raised in good ole' Arkansas, different cities but within 30 miles of one another.  I won't bore you with the details of our upbringings so we will fast-forward to 2006 when the HOW began.

It was a sweltering, miserably humid beautiful July morning and I had just arrived at my boyfriend’s lake house.  For arguments sake, we will call this boyfriend John.  John and I had been officially dating about a month and a half.  Upon my arrival, he informed me that a few friends would be coming over to hang out, friends I had yet to meet.  I was sitting on the front steps of the house facing the lake when John’s friends arrived.  They walked up behind me to say hello and as I turned around to meet them, my entire world changed even though I didn’t know it at the time.  Standing in front of me was a tall, handsome man…his name was Clint. 

We all had a great time that day hanging out together.  We all had so much in common and I felt as though I had made some new, life-long friends.  Clint told me that he was moving to Seattle in August to “see what they had to offer.”  I also learned that he shared my intense love for Jimi Hendrix.  The day had sadly come to an end and it was time for me to head home.  The friends were staying overnight so as I was about to say goodnight, John pulled me inside and gave me a rose and for the first time, told me he loved me.  I was in heaven because I loved him back.  I left that night on cloud nine, what a day!

Now before you get your panties in a wad, because I know what you are thinking, wait for the rest of the story. J 

When I got home that night, I recounted my day to my mom.  I told her about John’s sweet comments of his love for me.  I also told her about the handsome friend named Clint.  I distinctly remember her saying, “But wait, why are you talking about Clint when you and John just professed your love to one another?” and I told her that I did love John and that it would never work between Clint and I because he was moving to Seattle in a few short weeks.  Oh and did I mention that I LOVED John?!  Geez Mom.  I was 19 years old at this time and I am not saying 19 year olds do not know what love really is but I AM saying my idea of love was so far skewed from reality. 

So August comes around and John and I are still happily together.  Clint and another friend, Marie, came to celebrate my birthday and the following day, they set out on the long drive from Arkansas to Seattle, Washington.  I was sad to say goodbye to them (more sad about Clint leaving) because they were awesome people I had only just met.
Clint and I corresponded a few times through email and MySpace while he was living in Seattle.  It was never anything major, just checking in on one another to see how life was going.  I enjoyed our random but very brief conversations. 

Over the next year, my relationship with John went from wonderful to alright to bad to worse to dark-hole-depressing.  I had completely lost touch with who I was.  John had become controlling, manipulative and mentally abusive.  We had such hateful arguments and I cried EVERY single day.  My family had grown to hate him but somehow I thought it was what I deserved.  Finally in early September 2007 John and I broke up for good.  I was completely devastated.  My world seemed so bleak.  How do you go on when for the last year your every move was determined by someone else?  I dated a couple of guys after we separated but I just could not connect with anyone.  I was completely numb.

To be continued…