story time – Andrea M Jara

THE SAY “YES” TO THE DRESS MOMENT

Did I feel the special feeling where you cry and say “YES!!!!” to the dress?

YES! But it didn’t happen quickly and easy…

I went to 9 different bridal shops before I said “Yes to the dress!!!”

I went to my first bridal shop and I tried on 3 dresses but at this bridal shop I wasn’t allowed to try on dresses I wanted to try on, only dresses the consultant thought would look good on me and some that she thought I would hate to show that the one she loved was the one I should get. I tried one on and I loved it but I only think I loved it because EVERYONE else loved it and not because I loved it for myself. So I didn’t say yes but I did go back to the shop and try on the dress again to see if my feelings changed… they didn’t I loved it but it just was not the “one” for me. So I began to do a lot more research on bridal shops!

I knew I wanted a more boho wedding dress. I knew I wanted it to be ivory (which is total opposite of what I got haha) and I knew my dress could not be an arm and a leg in price so I looked up wedding bridal shops near me that sell boho dresses for reasonable prices. My parents and I went to 3 Bridal Shops in one day and tried on probably 20 dresses and at this point I just thought maybe I will never feel the spark that other girls do when they find their “Perfect” dress! But then we went to Bacio Bacio in Wellington Florida and we tried on 10 different dresses and I was exhausted. I went in with photos of dresses I loved and wanted to try on but there was one dress I had on my phone and didn’t ask to try on. As I was trying on dresses one of the consultants brought in a dress and it was the dress THAT I HAD SAVED ON MY PHONE AND WAS TOO SCARED TO ASK FOR (scared because it was out of my comfort zone) so I was like okay maybe this is a sign. I try on the other dresses and didn’t love any but then I tried on THE DRESS! And wow I don’t cry over things but I put on the dress and instantly felt beautiful and instantly saw myself getting married in this dress! My eyes watered and my parents loved it but…. it wasn’t a traditional dress, it wasn’t completely conservative and it wasn’t ivory! So my parents had to “think about it” They were gifting my dress so of course I had to respect their opinion. We tried on more dresses at other bridal shops and we all just knew that the dress I loved was the one from Bacio Bacio! So we made another appointment and went back! We made it back to the bridal shop, I put it on and said YES!!!! I love this dress so much and I am so happy I am able to say this was the dress I was able to marry the love of my life on and will be able to show my kids that this is the dress I wore ♥️♥️

I wrote a Blog called My wedding Vendors where I talk about all my amazing vendors and how amazing this bridal shop was during my wedding dress appointment!

If you have any wedding dress questions I would love to answer them!

Why I had surgery and have a cast on my leg…

Why I had ankle surgery and why I’m in a cast and will do it again soon…. I explain my story and the reason behind it

Hi, happy new Year! I celebrated the holidays with a beautiful cast on my left leg and a new Ankle! I’ve literally been asked hundreds of times, “what happened to your leg Andrea” and well it’s simple I was born with no ankle joints.

I have a condition called Tolecoalation Coalition, basically I’m missing my ankle joints and my bones literally squash each other and rub against each other… it’s extremely painful.

How I found out I had this…

I’ve always told people I had weak ankles because I always thought I was just weak as I used to do Judo my whole life and always thought, oh maybe all those years I just tired my ankles out. When I started my first job, at age 16, I started to notice my ankles hurt after work to the point where I couldn’t walk. I would go to the doctor and they told me I had tendinitis and gave me pain medicine. I never took the pain medicine because I hate medicine lol but the pain never went away for years and I would keep going to the same doctors and they would put me in a brace and tell me the same thing. Even though I seemed so happy at Disney when I left the moment I sat down I couldn’t stand up again without literally crying in pain, I would literally fall from how bad my ankles hurt. Ryan, my fiancé has almost taken me to the hospital many times because he thought maybe I broke them from how much I would cry and kinda yell in pain lol I wouldn’t even be able to sleep. So finally I said enough I researched the best doctors and I found one an hour away from my house but I was willing to do anything to help my pain. I go to the first appointment and I went with the mindset of, oh he’s just gonna tell me the same thing the other doctors have told me, physical therapy, a brace and medicine. So come to find out after one X-ray that I have no ankle joints and I have arthritis. I originally went in for pain in my left ankle because I always thought my right ankle hurt because I was putting more weight on it since my left ankle hurt but actually I had no ankle joints in there either haha Which kind of explains why I could never walk or stand and do normal things without crying in pain. I felt like I finally found answers and felt so much comfort with what my doctor was saying. I’m super happy with my choose of researching a doctor and even if I have to travel a little more for treatments and surgery I don’t regret it and love going haha

What did they do in surgery

With the opinion of my doctor, we decided on an ankle fusion. I have a scar on the left side of my ankle and on my heel. He basically took out the part of my bone where my ankle would be and put in a bone growth, mixed with some of my bone marrow he took out of my leg. Then he put two screws through my heel of my foot. Again I’m not a doctor so I’m not sure 100% all the technical terms and stuff haha

So now what?

I was in the white cast for two weeks today and yesterday I got moved into this green cast that I will be in for 4 weeks and a half weeks. The whole recovery process is 3-6 months until I see results. So far I’m excited and ready to improve my overall life and go back to walking around Disney eating all the food and taking photos❤️

So that’s my story of how I was born with no ankle joints and the journey I will be on for a little while❤️

Do not forget to be you and be happy!

OUR LOVE STORY/ WE ARE ENGAGED!!!

Ever wonder how Ryan and I met and when? Here are all the details!!!

I noticed I haven’t announced on the blog besides in my IceLand Blog that we are OFFICIALLY ENGAGED!!! I feel like I never really talk about how Ryan and I met and our love story… so sit back relax and enjoy the ride down memory lane.

OUR FIRST PHOTO AND DATE — OUR FIRST PHOTO TOGETHER

So May 2011 I was just graduating Middle School and was super interested into Marching Band. I actually really wanted to be a drum major. So at my high school they had this month event called Maydays, where 8th graders would come in and test out marching band for a week to see if they would enjoy it. During Maydays on the last day we were on the courtyard marching with the actual high schoolers when Ryan was behind me and said I bounced a lot when I did my back step. He said “I’m gonna call you bouncy” and I just remember thinking okay… Later Ryan finds me on Facebook and gave me his phone number. At this time, I was 13 and I had recently broken up with a boy in middle school that was super unhealthy. But I just remember telling all my friends I would NEVER go out with Ryan that he was so nerdy and desperate. Everyone knew that we would end up together. So on June 23rd, 2011 Ryan asked me to go out with him.

This was my Freshman and Ryan’s Sophomore Year in Marching Band!!! Can you spot us?

June 23rd, 2011

I began going out with Ryan but it only lasted three days. My parents found out that I was going out with Ryan and did not want me to be with him so I broke up with him on June 26th, 2011. Ryan and I remained friends and I started talking to other people but kept finding my way back to Ryan. There was even a moment where I was telling people I didn’t like Ryan but then I saw him hanging out with this girl at the beach and I got super jealous and knew I just had to stop being a baby and go out with him so he would only be mine.

August 1st, 2011

On August 1st, after months of talking and hanging out, Ryan asked me to be his Eight One Eleven. I remember it was like 11 something at night when he asked but I of course said YES! now at this time my parents still did not know I was going out with this boy but after two months of knowing we were talking and hanging out they finally said “Ryan seems like a nice boy it is okay for you guys to go out and little did they know we already were lol.

OUR FIRST DATE AND MEETING MY MOM

The first photo on this blog is the first time we went out on a date which was a bowling alley right by my house that everyone in my high school went to. We went with my three friends at the time and when my mom came to pick me up Ryan introduced himself to my mom. It was so awkward haha Ryan was barely 15 so he still had a little boys voice that was super squeaky. If you do not know Ryan is also very tall but at the time he was still smaller haha

His First Time he came to my house

The photos in the background of this photo are the photos we took from the first time Ryan came over to my house. We were so young his mom even came over to introduce herself to my family and I. Back to the good ole days when we were so young that we were only allowed to be in the living room haha Ryan and I seriously became inseparable.

OUR FIRST KISS

OMG our first kiss was after a marching band practice, late at night in the courtyard and we both kinda went for it but after we kissed Ryan got so nervous and happy that HE LITERALLY RAN AWAY!!!! Like it was cute but was like uhhhh okay then….

But anyways this is the story on how we met and how we started to go out. Almost seven years later and we are less than a year away from being college graduates and engaged!!! We will be documenting everything from now on to the wedding on the blog and on my youtube channel ANDREA M JARA. SO GET EXCITED BECAUSE I AMMMMMM!!!!!

ENJOY MEMORY LANE OF OLD PHOTOS

MY TATTOO STORIES

READ MORE ABOUT MY TATTOO STORIES

Hey everyone, it is Thursday!!! We are almost done with the work week!!! You can do it! So I know a lot of people do not know I have 3 small tattoos and I got my first tattoo when I was 18 years old! They each have their own stories and I can not wait to tell you them, so here it goes! Also I know a lot of people are against tattoos but I think about them as motivation and stories that live forever.

This was my first tattoo I got when I was 18 years old and my most treasured tattoo. This tattoo is for 3 of the greatest women in my life. It is made up of three ribbons that make a triple infinity ring. The purple ribbon is for my Aunt who passed away from Lupus. I always knew I would get a tattoo for her. The blue ribbon is for my mom who has NF2 and the pink ribbon is for Ryan’s mom who is now a Breast Cancer survivor for 2 years now! They are three of the strongest women ever and I truly wanted to honor them and remind my self to stay strong like them. This tattoo is located on my right back shoulder. This is my second tattoo! You can watch me get it HERE I love this tattoo and the location so much!!! If you do not know I used to struggle with anxiety and panic attacks really bad since I was 9 years old I now know more on how to control it but It got really bad to the point where I would not want to leave my house in fear that I would die. I just had the mentality that I was just scared of everything because it might kill me. I had a break where my anxiety got better but in 2013 I had a panic attack on airplane on my way to NYC and told my self and my family that I would never get on another airplane ever again. However, I got help and I realized that I can not stop doing something because of my “What ifs” and “fears” and got on another airplane and flew across the pond and has not stopped traveling and flying since my panic attack. I even jumped out of airplane!!!! (Skydiving vlog HERE) So a few months after a summer of travel I decided I wanted to get this tattoo for myself and did not tell anyone and surprised everyone!!!

I also love my third tattoo with my favorite person my mommy!!! I always knew I wanted to get a matching tattoo of with my mom or get her handwriting and the word “breath” tattoo on me. My mom then saw someone do something like this on Instagram and wanted to get it asap but we add a twist on this and got it done. I drew my mom’s heart and she drew my heart and we both have each others hand written hearts on each other! I love my mom and love my heart! Even though I made her redraw her first heart she drew because it looked like a butt LOL

Hope you enjoyed the read and let me know if you have any tattoo stories!!!

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: