/  by Jessica Peterson

I know I look like the crazy aunt with all these pics of my nephew but oh well... I love the kid and I am going to enjoy the time I have with him, especially before he turns into a grumpy teenager who is much to cool to love his lame aunt.
Thomas the train. He likes choo-choo trains.
Let's all go back to the days when it was the small, inexpensive things that we loved, where we would rather run around exploring everything around us rather than sitting on our butts eating fast food and working hard to ignore how amazing things really can be. Let's do it! Come on, let's forget about the crap economy (who needs that new car), let's sell our couches and dining tables and have indoor picnics every evening, let's make home-made butter out of cream and spread it on home-made bread and be satisfied even though it is not a big juicy hamburger. Let's find reasons to be happy, still take care of things, but not let the hard times effect us so much. Why waist this time.... I hope I can take my own advice.

"goggie"
I love the way he loves his stuffed animals. He kisses them all the time. We just picked up this doggie and he wouldn't let it out of his sight.

Max and I at the park.

I will admit, Tucson has grown on me. In fact I have a love for it now. Everyday I brough Max and/or Jimmy to the near by park and it felt so nice to be in the sun. I felt better there in that park than I have felt in months. Maybe when I die and go to Heaven it will be one gigantic park with beautiful trees to sit under, my own personal diet coke fountain, a variety of cookies always at my side, a pen and notebook, and loved ones are always visiting my park. Let's hope.

/  by Jessica Peterson

The night before I left Salime and I made a little house for Jimmy's doggies. We played forever knocking on the box until he swung the flap open and we would act surprised , even after the 15th time. When Jim came home we Jimmy jumped out of the box to surprise him and then he wanted Jim to go inside.

I thought this was so cute.
Me and Jimmy.

/  by Jessica Peterson



Bisbee.

A strange place where Jim and I traveled to so he could buy dinosaur tattoo equipment off of a dinosaur hippie.

We went to the man's home to get the equipment and while Jim was outside checking the equipment I was wrangled inside their home by the man's sister. I love being able to take a gander into these stranger's home. The woman keep me prisoner to her never ending stories about the color of her families cabin and the time she lived in Idaho when she lived amongst the strange Mormons. I sat for an hour 1/2 listening to her stories and though I didn't care much for her stories I found myself genuinely smiling because she was so frank and open, it was a breath of fresh air, she her raw self with a perfect stranger.



I highly recommend visiting Bisbee.
Especially if you have a dog or like pot.

Rogue Tattoo is the place to be /  by Jessica Peterson

Jimmy just opened a tattoo shop, so if you are in the Tucson area and want a rad tattoo go to him.


This is Jimmy making eyeballs on some dudes feet.
These are my first tattoos. I did pretty good if I might say so. I like the Oli heart best.

Markus makes Tattoos too.



Oh yeah...
If you are in the area in the next few weeks Hank Williams III will be playing a show at the shop. Go, but don't forget your shot guns, beers and cowboy boots.

Driving /  by Jessica Peterson

Last week I decided to go to Tucson to visit my brother and his family. I brought Max with me, I figured he would enjoy the desert. We left early in the morning and 1 Arby's sanwhich and 5 restroom stops later we were in 65 degree weather. What an amazing thing to be in the middle of a snowstorm when you get into a car and when you get out it sunny and warm.

The drive was long... 14 hours long. I was happy to have Max with me, it was nice to just have another warm body in the car to keep me company.






4 to 25 /  by Jessica Peterson

4 more days until my 25th birthday. Crazy.
This morning on my drive to lunch with Brea and Sarah I sat thinking about my life and where I am and how close I am to the path I thought up for myself at earlier ages...

Here they are

Jessica's Plans at age 5: Grow up, marry Prince Erik (from the Little Mermaid) and have a blond haired daughter names Melissa. Become famous painter, actress, singer and own an entire ranch full of My Little Pony's.

Jessica's Plan at age 15: Marry my college sweetheart at age 20-21. Have first child at 23 and another child every two years from then on until I could fill a suburban to the brim. Be a famous painter and live in a white house with purple flowers in the garden.

Jessica's Plan at age 25: Have successful career as a photographer, marry when the time is right and one day have a kid or two. Be happy even if non of the above happens.

It's funny how things end up, I am happy that I am nowhere near where I wanted to be as a 5 or 15 year old. If I got what I wanted I would now be an awful actress, a very unsuccessful singer with a ranch of imaginary ponies, married to some cartoon man and raising a bunch of kids I am not ready for...

I am content here and now.

All I want for my birthday is a really really yummy cupcake... and maybe a dollar for a diet coke.

Oliver... /  by Jessica Peterson

A Wonderful Distraction: My nephew Oliver was here for the past four days and I was able to play mommy with him during the daytime. We had some serious adventures, we went to "Fat Kitty-Cats" to bowl, there were 7 balls stuck in the gutter by the end of the game but he won. We stared at rotten animal carcases at the Bean Museum, we ate chicken nuggets, golfed at a run down mini-golf course while melting snow dripped on our heads through the roof, bought guns and shot suctioned-darts at the window until we tired of it. We drank apple juice from the box and munched on cookies while watching Disney movies, Oliver would laugh and then I would laugh because he was. Each evening I would start to count down the minutes when I could drop him off at my moms so I could have some time to myself but the second I did I began to miss him so bad it hurt.
Nick and Oliver drove home today. I will ignore that piece of reality for a bit longer.

So... I am getting closer to the edge of insanity. I hoped to have found my purpose by now but I feel more lost than I was a month and a half ago. Like today I had an epiphany I wanted to start my own business selling cutesy cupcakes and then remembered that yesterday I had an epiphany about becoming a children's book writer and the day before yesterday I wanted to open a dog shelter for unwanted puppies who would otherwise be put to sleep. I feel like because there are a million and one options and paths I could do anything, but because of that mindset I find myself at a stand still. Still wondering what to do... where to go and how to get there.

I am going to take a step soon. I promise. It will be scary and once I do I will need to put all of my energy into it until it becomes the "right" thing for me to be doing.

/  by Jessica Peterson

All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl. All Play And No Work Make Jess A Dull Girl.

Check this guy out! /  by Jessica Peterson

I was just looking through old photographs when I fell upon this gem...

It's a photo of D, Mel, Matt, Chris....

and some dude who decided to make a cameo in my photo.


Are his pants on backwards?




I hope your mommy somehow randomly stumbles across this blog and sees you with your hand down your pants... Classy.

/  by Jessica Peterson

So if anyone knows me they know I don't go anywhere without a little notebook in my purse. I have this obsession with writing down everything and nothing. I was feeling a bit dry for ideas and decided to flip through old books to steal ideas from my past-self.
I found this quote I jotted down and wanted to share it.
I copied it from the book, ''Writing Down the Bones''.

"Our lives are at once ordinary and mythical. We live and die, age beautifully or full of wrinkles. We wake in the morning, buy yellow cheese, and hope we have enough money to pay for it. At the same instant we have these magnificent hearts that pump through all sorrow and all winters we are alive on this earth. We are important and our lives are important, magnificent really, and their details are worthy to be recorded... We were here; we are human beings; this is how we lived. Let it be known, the earth passed before us. Our details are important. Otherwise, if they are not, we cab drop a bomb and it doesn't matter."

I liked this when I read it 3 years ago and I like it even more today.

I am a crap writer and even worse at spelling but I love that I am able to record the little bits and experience I pass through with a camera. I hope that this woman's words inspire you to make your presence known, and the small and simple things are just as important as the big, loud experiences.

I wrote this list about this time last year.

I absolutely adore:

Poster's face. A song I never tire of. Toast with warm butter. Being able to just fall asleep. Indian food. Oliver's interpretation of my name. Little Jimmy's kisses. My back being scratched for long periods of time. New love for hot wings. New sketch books. Being understood. Hidden gem friendships. Finding those who poses the lost art of sincerity. Floral patterns. The flood of new ideas and my pen there to help me with them. The color of my room.