The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards. -Bear Bryant

I will soon be a resident of Sterling Crimson.

17th Street Tuscaloosa, Al

I love it there. It already feels like home. It's brand new, so no one has been in my apartment until me!

YAY!

I am living with Matthew Beck- and boy is he a brave man.

He's been warned though-I get grouchy when I don't sleep much...I am not a morning person...and I pretty much like things my way. He'll realize all this sooner or later :)

Signing our leases :) :)

Now, as far as "decorating"- this is my favorite part! I can't wait to get everything in there and make it all my own. As far as Matthew's room goes-it's going to be ALL boy! Alabama room, that is. (I mean, we ARE going to be in Tuscaloosa)

Our living room is, well...tiny. But we don't need a huge space anyway, and to me it will feel cozy. We have ordered a couch and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

It's from Rooms-To-Go. My mom and I found it one day when we were out shopping about 2 months ago. We fell in love with it and just ordered it right on the spot. Kinda crazy, considering we had no idea if it was even going to FIT in the living room!! (We've measured since then and it will fit) I've gotta find some houndstooth pillows, and I wish I could find a houndstooth chair to go in the living room too. We do need a chair, and I guess I shouldn't be picky but I LOVE houndstooth!

Also for the living room we still need an area rug and a tall lamp to go beside the couch. Well, we dont "need" either one of those- but they're definitely "wants"!

The apartment comes with a flat screen TV in the living room btw. One less thing we have to buy and haul down there!

Our balcony is parallel to Bryant Denny so we need 2 chairs and maybe a table to go out there. We can see most of Sterling's property and the street too. We're on the top floor so we have a good view of pretty much everything. :)

Our kitchen is cute too! We have hardwood floors, black appliances, and the cabinets are beautiful!

This is the model unit I took pictures of-but see how pretty the wood is??

OHHHH YEAH! Almost forgot!

One of my favorite parts about Sterling.....

The SUNDOME tanning bedddddd :)

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Now, for my room.

I have very little wall space. Literally. My room is on the corner of the top floor, so I have two big windows, one on each wall.

All I wanted on my windows were valences, but being in there and seeing how bright it is, I am definitely going to need floor length window coverings with those black out linings so it won't be so bright. I'm thinking plain black...

I have a bed as of right now, but the more I think about it the more I want just a black bed frame. I want to try and utilize as much of the space as I can, and my bed I have right now is a little larger than I need. So who knows about the bed..BUT I have my comforter and all that good stuff and I loveeee it! I've gotten into zebra print the last year or two..and I found this at Belk and LOVE it!

It's reversible!!

For my bathroom, I'm either going to have a plain black shower curtain or take the zebra striped one from my house right now and use it. Can't decide.

I have a rug to go in my bathroom and it's super cute. Mom and I found it at Ross a long time ago and bought it pretty cheap.

Notice a theme yet?

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We've bought some other odds and ends too, like.....

YARD SALE^

YARD SALE^

This came from Ross too!

I painted this a long time ago, and it'll match everything perfectly!

I already have a 4 foot black Christmas tree to put up, too! I have silver and black ornaments also. Nothing wrong with being ahead, right? :)

That's all I have right now, a few other little things but none worth blogging about.

R O L L T I D E,

katejillian

Sweet Sweet Summertime!

May has already come and gone. It seems like just yesterday it was my 20th birthday and we were halfway through the spring semester.  Sadly, that's probably how fast the summer will go by :(

On the BriGhT side- This summer should be great!

I'll start working at the school the beginning of June, and I honestly can't wait. I hate having to get back in that routine of getting up early, but I love seeing the kids everyday. It's just as much fun for me as it is them. I've worked the summer program for 5 years now and I LOVE it! (Good money, too.) I'll definitely need all that extra money for when I move. Hopefully I'll spend lots of afternoons on the lake with Ty and lounging by the pool.

Work all of June, bleh. So that leaves JULY! I think this summer working will go into July, so technically I'll only have like 3 weeks of "summer".

 Y U C K.

I'm the maid of honor in Meghan's wedding, which is July 16. We've gotta start working on invitations and other details so everything will go smoothly. We have both been so busy that we haven't had time to really work on anything but being the MOH I definitely am going to be her go-to-girl! ;) I already have my dress for the wedding, clover green, greek goddess kinda thing-I already have my shoes-Bass wedge heels-and I already know how my hair will be done. That day will be here before we know it!

The day after the wedding my family and I are going on vacation. We think. We hope. Don't know where yet cause we can't decide! Hopefully beach for a week! It isn't set in stone, but I HOPE my mom and I go on a trip to North Carolina. I want to go to Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach so bad I can't stand it! (If you read Nicholas Sparks you know why) So hopefully the last week or so in July we'll head that way.

Then basically July is over! The last week in July I will be cramming in stuff with my family, Ty, and my friends before the big move. My room right now is being taken over by stuff we've bought to take with me. I pretty much have everything already...just waiting on August.

I have so many mixed emotions about moving. I know I'm not moving states or never coming back...it's just weird to think I won't be around ALL the time like I am now. I'm used to knowing my mom and dad are downstairs if I were to need them....I'm used to seeing Ty pretty much whenever we want...I'm used to arguing with Jalon and trying to annoy him in every way possible...It's going to be SO different being on my own.

As far as the apartment goes-it's going to be CUTE! (I'm living with a guy, I hope he doesn't mind "cute".)

I'll update later on things we've bought and how I want everything to look.

Until then,

HaPPy SuMMeR & ROLL TIDE!

katejillian

Never a dull moment 'round here.

Back online! :)

What a CrAzY week!

Maybe things are slowly starting to go back to normal. Luckily for me, "normal" is a possibility. I know there are so many people who have had their homes destroyed and loved ones lost, so I am very grateful and blessed to have my home and my family still here.

First, Easter. What an awesome day. The day Jesus rose from the grave. It blows my mind that something like that is possible, but there is no doubt in my mind that it did. Easter Sunday this year was a little different. I didn't get to go to preaching because it was our turn to stay in the nursery. Also, my dad wasn't at church that morning because my mawmaw is in the hospital. But nonetheless, Easter is Easter, and I got to wear a new dress ;)

Next, the tornado thing. Wow. I guess my family and I are just naive because we had no idea it was storming that badly. After the first round of storms Wednesday morning we went out and about in Douglas and my papa's chicken houses were beat up, and one house was completely flattened. It's amazing how wind can do so much damage. It could have been worse, much worse, so I am thankful for everything we still have.

Back to my mawmaw - Bless her heart. She doesn't know how to function without working in a garden or..well, doing any work. She is 82 years old (her birthday was yesterday) and she's never quit kickin' it. She is in ICU at Brookwood and not doing so well. She's on oxygen and it wears her out to eat or talk, but one day when we were there she proved her coolness. :) She was laying in bed, hooked up to machines and bout whooped, and she asked about the Braves. True fan, yep.

Being out of school for a week has messed my mind up. (Yes, it was probably already messed up, but this made it worse.) I can't seem to get back into school mode. With finals coming up, that isn't a good thing. Every college in Alabama is leaving finals optional. Is Snead? NOPE! :( Maybe they'll change their mind...

Either way- SSCC graduation is May 12 and I will be D O N E. The past 2 years have flown by, and I made some great memories and some even greater friends!

Then there's Ty. This week was crazy enough, not to mention he was on the other side of the country for over a week. Talk about worrier overload. He was in California for NINE days. NINE. N I N E. That doesn't seem like that many I guess. Believe me-longest 9 days ever. The longest we've gone without seeing each other has been 4 days. Or was it 3? Can't remember. Anywho- he's somethin else. He can make me laugh so easily without even trying. I always seem to be in a good mood with him.

But- I think we could be bad for each other. He's slowly losing his mind. Bless him. He is starting to forget things... He seems to act and think differently than he used to and I'm not sure if he can figure out why. Just in the past few weeks he has said "yes ma'am" at least 400 times(which I like). He lost his wallet one night and I bet he hunted that thing for hours.... (It was under his couch) :)

He lives close to Huntsville and his parents live close to High Point. He left his parents one night real late and when he got to his house, he realized he had left his garage door opener at home. Sooooo he had to go allllllllll the way back.

I'd like to point out that I think his problem is that he has a girl on his mind and not what he needs to be doing. Just sayin'.

But- I should tell that he's not the only crazy one. Being the sweet sweet girl I am, I made fun of him for losing his mind. "You're gonna lock your car keys up one of these days". "Can't believe you keep doin stupid stuff like this".

And blah blah blah.

A few days after making fun- who locked her keys in her car? Jill did.

Who made fun of Jill? Ty did.

Lesson learned: don't make fun of your boyfriend. It'll bite you in the butt.

Lastly, Tuscaloosa. Ahhhh TTOWN! Future home of Kate Jillian Jimmerson.

I haven't been down there but I hear it's a mess. That breaks my heart because I absolutely love Tuscaloosa. Thankfully, my apartment complex wasn't touched during all the storms. YAY! I'm going down in a week or two to FINALLY go into my apartment and look around and measure and such. Later on I will share the way everything is going to look. We already have so much stuff bought and I can't wait to decorate and fix it up.

Top window is my bedroom window:)

Maybe the weeks ahead won't be so crazy and we can hit the beach and just RELAX.

Until then,

katejillian

Grow up!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

We've all heard that same question millions of times, starting when we were no more than 4 or 5 years old. Seemed like such a simple question then. My mom says that when I was asked that question when I was younger, I replied "babysitter." If only that were still the case.

I was asked to write a paper on where I hoped to be in 5 years, and it got me thinking back to that question. What do I want to be when I grow up? And then, it got me thinking of another thing. What exactly is "grown up"? When does that stage actually hit you, and how do you know you have finally grown up?

 When I was in middle school, I thought 16 was grown up. You could drive and go anywhere you wanted. Seemed so free. Then 16 came along..and went by way too fast...and it didn't seem so grown up anymore. At that point, I thought 18 was grown up. I would be out of high school and make my own rules. Psh. That never happened. And now at 20, I have come to the realization that I do not have a clue what "grown up" is. It's one of those phrases that I think everyone has to define for themselves. Maybe it'll be once I move out and learn to do things on my own. Or maybe it'll be after i'm engaged, or married, or when I have kids. But, does everyone really "grow up"?

Webster's defines "grown up" as: not childish or immature, having characteristics of adults, mature.

So, what do I want to be when I grow up? I can't honestly answer that right now. I do know that I want to be a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a granddaughter, etc. I don't know when I will officially be "grown up", but when I do, I hope my life is everything i've ever wanted it to be.

katejillian

Blog? What's a blog?

So, I am now officially a hypocrite. I've heard of "blogging" and have always thought that was the dumbest thing i've ever heard. Who in the world has time to blog and who cares what someone really has to say? But I noticed several people started doing them, so being the curious girl I am, I checked it out. It's actually really neat. Designing your own page alone is fun, and sometimes it's nice just to get things out of your mind and let your thoughts become real. This is exactly what I intend to do. Just let my thoughts become reality. I have no idea how often or how little I will do this, but if something comes into my mind, you're probably going to read about it.

Oh, almost forgot.
I'm Jill.
Actually, it's kate jillian. (hence the blog name)
But i go by Jill, so we'll stick with that.
I'm about to graduate from Snead State and I'm moving to Tuscaloosa August 1. Just a guess, but I figure most of this blogging stuff will have to do with the big move. I am SUPER excited but nervous at the same time. But we'll discuss that more later:)