Portraits ~ Jessica Marie

I took these pictures of my beautiful cousin/ Godsister when my mom and I stayed with her for a week back in October. I'm not sure what took me so long to post them, but I do like how I edited them last night. Although she is five months younger than me, I have always looked up to her. She was cooler than me when we were teenagers and had a much stronger fashion sense. I guess I felt more comfortable in cotton shorts and over sized kitty T-shirts (which have ironically come back in style, according to Forever 21). I love her so much and have always admired her bubbly personality and the way she is able to laugh at herself.

When I was 17, Jessica helped me experience what it is was like to have my first "boyfriend", by introducing me to her then-boyfriend's best friend. Now that Jessica and I are both in our mid 20's and she has been a wife and mom for a handful of years, I look up to her in different ways. I'm not as envious at this point in my own life because I have been told to enjoy all the sleep I am able to get now and remember the time I have alone with Michael because it's a whole different ball game once kids come in to play. But Jessica has remained a magnificent role model for me and I take mental notes of how she raises her kids and how I handle situations when we visit. I like to help give 2-year-old James a bath or make sure Jordyn (now 5 years old) washes her hands and brushes her teeth before bed. I like seeing how involved she is with activities and how she bakes muffins at night for breakfast the next morning, she is starting a new Girl Scout troop, but still has time to get chores done, run errands, do fun crafts, send me cards in the mail and stay in shape. And she's growing her hair out for Pantene's Beautiful Lengths!! From recent pictures, I'm estimating that it's grown another five inches in the past ten months.

I actually started doing the 30 Day Shred workout video this past Thursday morning because of how healthy and toned Jessica looked at the lake house in Indiana during the fourth of July. As of this morning, I'm five days in and I'm proud of how I have pushed myself so far. Michael agreed that if I get through the whole program, we can go to Venice Beach and take modely pictures. I may have to bring in a change of bathing suits, gold necklaces, and a leather jacket.

I enjoyed all the trips we took to see Jessica and Lindsey (her younger sister by two years) while we were growing up.  A lot of times that was our main vacation in the summer and winters at their house, and not unusual for us to be there at least a full week. When Michael put together our wedding slideshow, I liked that Jessica was in almost half of my pictures. The whole side of my mom's family is really close and I miss them so much being all the way in California right now. My brother and I already talk about how his future wife and I need to "plan" to have kids around the same time, to ensure they remain close cousins who see each other often enough that they feel like siblings and we will take beach trips every year like we used to. By that time Jordyn may be old enough to babysit our kids!