::waves::

Oh, Hi! Who am I and why have I taken over some lady named Jenn's blog? Well, who the hell knows. Maybe, just maybe I had a wild hair up my ass today and decided to do something about this thing called a blog that I'm apparently no good at keeping up with lately. My bad. Seriously. I suck. 

No more empty promises of me swearing up and down that I'm going to keep this thing up. I really, really want to though. Every time I say things slow down, they speed back up but I think I've figured out this thing called time management. Who would have ever thought that would be in my vocabulary? Not me! 

Maybe I can finish out this craptastic, but somehow great at the same time year, with like 6 posts. That would be totally awesome of me, I think.  What do you think?

My world? What's going on in my world? The business we started in April is going great! Once we found our rhythm with our normal, day jobs then the business has seriously been great. I couldn't be happier. 

Per the usual, we spent the summer on the lake. But... the difference this year is that we didn't spend it on my in-laws boat. We spent it on our own boat! Best purchase of the year goes to this!

It's a 33' cruiser. Love that we can sleep, cook and entertain on the boat. Not to mention, Josh was pretty awesome and surprised me by naming the boat after me. :) Love him!

What else? Oh, it's Thanksgiving week. Where the hell has this year gone? Can someone please answer that because I'm confused. But...since it's Thanksgiving week that also means it Black Friday week. For the last 3 weeks, I've been stalking the Black Friday websites desperately patiently waiting for the leaked ads. It's bad, ya'll. My mom & I have a bit of an obsession. This year though, oh this year it gets worse. We are actually going out on Thanksgiving Day. What has gotten into us?  I'm going to need energy drinks by 10 a.m. Friday and I'm not even allowed energy drinks because of my heart condition. Maybe I'll borrow my brothers camel back and pump myself a continuous stream of Mountain Dew. That may work!

I'm going to get back to work today but I'll leave you with cuteness overload. This is Josh's cousins little girl, Callie. 

Last month we participated in our first Down Syndrome Association Buddy Walk. Let me tell you, we had the absolute best time! I have never seen so many smiling faces in one place.  I sincerely look forward to many, many more Buddy Walks in our future. It was so very rewarding!

Hope everyone is well and I look forward to seeing ya'll again...soon! 

Hi!

Well, it's definitely been a while since I last wrote. There has been so much going on in my world. From starting a new job to starting a business to ripping floors up on a whim and putting down hardwoods to welcoming my little brother, Matt, home from war.

I have literally been exhausted. At some point 2 weeks ago, I pulled a 20 hour work day while Josh pulled a 24 hour work day, slept 4 hours and then we worked another 8 or so. I have felt like I've had no time for anyone or anything. Finally, things are starting to be ordered chaos where we can still find time to relax and now that I'm finally settled into my job at my father-in-laws business, I find myself with some free time during the day where I can hopefully start catching up with everyone again.

Speaking of my father-in-laws business, I'm the office manager here. I love it. I get to interact with so many different people. The other day, I got to do a walk through of the warehouse with someone. I love doing those. I should probably learn my lesson though, these shoes don't exactly like the walk through the warehouse as much as I do. Next time, a shoe wtih less than a 4" heel will be worn. :)

I'm honestly hoping to get back into the swing of blogging. I have so much that I want to tell ya'll about including doing a post on my brothers homecoming. For now though, I have to get back to work.

I hope everyone has been fabulous! Hope to be back soon! :)



I spent the better part of my life twirling a baton. It has made me the person I am today. 18 years now. For 18 years, I have had a baton(s) in my hand. Whether it be 1, 2, or 3 batons, fire batons or even knives. I've competed individually and as a team. I've been from one part of this country to another and met 1000s of other ladies like myself who had a passion for twirling. I've competed on state, regional, national and international levels and I've had the opportunity to spend the better part of my twirling career on a team that brought home gold at nationals 12 years straight. We were unstoppable. Seriously. 

 

This is, by far,  in my opinion, the best routine that the twirling community has ever seen. It was a tribute to the events that happened on 9/11/01. I haven't seen this routine in years. I sat here with goosebumps and tears in my eyes when I saw this a few minutes ago.  

 

Encore- Team USA 2002

                                

Here's another from the group that I twirled with. We were definitely screwed out of this division win. 

 

I'm sure as we search more on youtube, I'll find more videos to post. :)

March Madness

For those of you that don't know, I recently  (well about 7 weeks ago) took a position working for my father-in-law (here on out- FIL). Today, he comes up to my desk and throws a piece of paper down and says "give me $5". Ummm...what? What the hell is this? He informs me that it's the bracket for March Madness. Apparently, each year the office does a pool to see who can get the most correct answers on the bracket. I politely tell him no after laughing at him for even thinking this is something I would want to do. My luck is horrible and I know nothing about basketball. He says that the girls in the office always win and for me not to be worried. I'm then like "ummm...John, if I do this, I'm just going to look up the team colors and decide who I like better". He walks away. 

Not even 5 minutes later he comes back and says, Josh took 2 brackets. Are you freakin' kidding me?! LOL- Thanks Josh, now I have no clue what I'm doing! I don't have a problem paying $5 a week for the race pool. I know exactly who races and I know what I'm getting myself into with that. Basketball? Not so much....

So, who wants to help? I'll take any advice I can get. I'll promise to love you forever and ever!

And... for those of you interested, I now work with Josh, FIL and my mother-in-law. I see FIL everyday, Josh works in another part of the building and MIL only comes in the office a couple of times a week. It really has helped me and FIL's relationship. We are finally starting to communicate.  I'm very pleased with the position and I think we will all be just fine and won't kill each other.

New Couch

Like I stated a couple of posts ago, since we have to stay here for a while longer, we might as well fix the place up a bit. In addition to the new light and table in the kitchen, we bought a new couch for the entertainment room which is the room where we spend most all of our time. We wanted something that looked great and was functionable for our tastes and the room. 

It is so soft and supposedly stain resistant. I guess we'll find that out at some point. I love all the pillows. They are so comfy! 

What do ya think?

Hair Day!

I know I've said this before, but I absolutely love hair day. Nothing makes me feel better than knowing my hair looks fabulous. I really love my hair dark so it was time to go back to it. The red last time was nice but I think with my dark features, the dark hair just looks better on me. 

Here's me and Bryan. The most amazing friend and hair guy ever! :)

It was hair day for mom, too. We always go together. It's a nice way for us to spend the day together. Afterward, we normally go do some shopping. Yesterday, we went to Borders, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and LifeWay Christian Bookstore. Mom is the director of Vacation Bible School so it was time to start buying everything for VBS before it gets sold out. 

Here's mom and I. She's down 90lbs. For the first time in 20 years, she is under 200 lbs. She weighed in Friday at 193. I am so incredibly proud of her. 

There is a ton of stuff going on right now in my life. I am sincerely hoping that later this afternoon, after I hit the grocery store and clean the house, I can sit down and write a couple of posts to catch you wonderful readers up on what's going on in my world. I hate being MIA but there is literally so much going on, it's a bit ridiculous.

Current Kitchen Favorites!

Just want to share a couple of my favorite things with you tonight. 

A couple of months ago, I finally broke down and bought a food steamer. This was one of the best $15 investments that I have ever made. See, I had received a gift card to Kohl's the week before Christmas and I had no idea what I was going to buy. I walked around the store for an hour trying to decide. This thing kept sticking out in my mind as I was touching every article of clothing and trying on all the shoes they had. I called Josh to get an executive decision on what to buy and this was it. The steamer was on sale and with the gift card, I only paid $15 out of pocket! How awesome is that?!

LOVE IT! Thank you Food Network for creating such an amazing kitchen appliance.The best part is that it has 2 different trays so I can steam several things at once.

I cooked steak for dinner tonight and used McCormick's Steak Seasoning for the first time. This seasoning is great. It has just the right amount of kick for Josh and I. I would highly recommend it if you're looking to add some flavor other than an marinade to your meat.

What are some of your current favorites in the kitchen?

Sewing

I'm a little behind on blogging. Oops...Please forgive. :)

Not too much going on in my world. I'm working for my father-in-law for a couple of months to fill in for his office manager who is on maternity leave. Luckily, my "real" job is only 20 hours a week and I was able to take some time away from the law office to help with one of the family businesses. I really haven't had much time to do anything the last 3 weeks. I was so tired. I haven't worked a full time job in about 3 years so going back to work (especially at 8am) kicked my ass...hard. 

Anyway, I'm finally catching up with everything and everyone and hopefully I won't be MIA much more. 

Back on topic, 2 weeks ago was my birthday and even though my birthday sucked, I was able to sew for the first time. It was quite the experience and I was so nervous that I was going to break the machine. Granted, I wasn't actually using fabric and was only using ribbon, paper and string but I was still nervous. This was all part of a Stampin' Up class that I took for Valentine's Day cards. For those that don't know, Stampin' Up is a card-making, scrapbook, and fabric company. They also sell wall decals like those that are mostly seen in nurseries.

Excuse the facial expressions. I was concentrating very hard apparently while laughing and trying to smile. Weird combo, I know.

Back a couple of posts ago (I'm too lazy to link it right now), I mentioned that we had gotten a new light for the kitchen and kitchen table. Here are the pictures of those 2 things. Now, if only I could go ahead and get my new floor for the kitchen, I would be one happy little camper. 

I'm off to go shopping for the day with Josh. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I really couldn't think of a title for this post. I just needed to say that I hate how cruel this world is. I wish I could make everything better for some people and give them all the comfort in the world that they need. I wish I could make all the pain go away and I wish all of their prayers would be answered.  I wish I had the right words to say to make this easier but I don't.

If you have any spare thoughts and prayers for a friend, they would be greatly appreciated. Some of you may know who I'm talking about, others may not. Regardless, this friend is an amazing person and by no means deserved what has happened to her and her family. 


"A family is a circle of love, not broken by a loss, but made stronger by the memories. We remember."

Blog Award!

I got an award! :) I really do feel honored to have this award. 

Thank you to Missie at ...And Baby Makes Three  and Kathy at Hoping for Baby4678 for giving me this award. Head on over to their blogs and see what these absolutely wonderful ladies are up to. On Missie's blog you'll see a beautiful 4 week old baby girl. Carina will melt your heart, I promise! Follow Kathy's journey to parenthood. The journey didn't turn out quite like we hoped it would but I can guarantee you will love her and her blog.

Now that I have been given this award, there are some rules that I am to follow.

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

Some things about yours truly:

1. I am highly addicted to Mountain Dew. I drink about 6 a day, sometimes more.

2. It is the 25th day of January and my Christmas tree is still up. ::insert embarrassed face here:: In my defense, there are no decorations or anything on it. Josh just needs to put it in the box and in the attic. 

3. I weighed 12 pounds when I was born and am very proud of all 12 of those pounds. 

4. Josh takes up more room in our closet than I do. This surprises most people that know us.

5. I have more random, funny, colored socks than I do white socks.

6. Tank tops/camis are my best friends. I wear one almost every single day. 

7. I'm obsessed with anything with a crown on it. From shirts and jackets to keychains and headbands. If it has a crown, I want it. 

Now for 10 well-deserving bloggers. Yes, I'm cheating and doing 10 instead of 15.

1. Jess @ Leaning Not On My Own Understanding

2. Mrs. Baker @ -My Life As Mrs. B-

3. Josefine @ Baby Cays

4. Amber @ Born in a Barn

5. Katy @ dear diary, its me, Katy

6. Bethany Jayne @ Just An Average Jayne
7. Cat @ My Eggs and Ham

8. Nayt's Wifey @ No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

9. Kelly @ Our Silly Rodriguez Family

10. Ashley @ Slow Motion Roller Coaster

Lowe's=Empty Account

Josh and I have a serious problem. We both are addicted to Lowe's. I'm pretty sure that at least 1/4 of our income last year went to that place. I'm probably going to cry when I count up the receipts from last year. :)

 It's pretty sad when it's my idea to go to Lowe's because I'm bored. 

Some of you may remember me making the big announcement that we are wanting to move this past July. Well, apparently it isn't going to happen anytime within the next 1-3 years. The market just isn't going to let it happen as we had hoped. We would end up losing and paying out of pocket almost $40,000 if we sold now. We are still looking at buying some land at some point this year but again, we are running into the same problems as my August post states. Right now, the market sucks and we picked a bad time to go about all this mess. 

I said all of that to say this...we decided that we would make some more changes in the house since, ultimately, we are stuck here for a little while longer. Among the changes, we are going to change the floors in the kitchen and bathrooms, get a new kitchen table and lighting in there. I'm also going to finally put up our wedding pictures and maybe do some more painting in a room that I'm not thrilled with the color that I last chose. We are also going to buy some more furniture (for the 3rd time in a year) for the entertainment room.

 So, while in Lowe's (1 of the 4 times this weekend) I decided it would be a fabulous idea to buy some of the kitchen organizers they sell for the cabinets. That stuff is expensive, to say the least. Most of the stuff is from Rev-A-Shelf. Below are some examples of what we did and want to do. I didn't want to completely break the bank today and we needed some more measurements to make sure that we were getting the correct sizes. So, hopefully in the next couple of months, my kitchen cabinets will be completely organized. It's a nice dream...

While we were at Lowe's for the 2nd time this weekend, we also decided, on a whim, that we should change the knobs and drawer pulls in the kitchen and master bath. The master bath and bedroom is off of the kitchen so when the house was built, it was built with the same cabinets and hardware in both rooms.

Before- These are pewter:

After- The new hardware is an antique bronze/chocolate coloring. LOVE THEM! They also match the new light that we bought. 

I did pick out a new kitchen table. It's very hard to explain but hopefully it will be in next weekend so I can post a picture. 

We lucked up while at Lowe's today and found the perfect light for half off! YAY for great deals. When the new light and table gets put up next weekend, I'll post pictures. I know ya'll can't wait. :)

So, in a nutshell, Lowe's has been taking my money and will continue to take it because on top of everything that I mentioned, Josh has also decided that he wants to build a privacy fence when my brother gets back from Afghanistan this Spring. In addition to the fence, Josh also is planning on turning our office into my craft room since, for the most part, we just use our laptops on the couch. I'm super stoked! Wow, did I just say that? lol

I guess I'm going to make the best of the situation that I'm in with this house. If I'm going to be stuck here, I might as well make some of the changes that will make me feel more comfortable here. 

*SNOW*

We have gotten more snow in the last month then I think I've seen in my entire life. I love it! Not only is it so pretty, but it gets me out of work. 

This was the view to the left of my house Monday morning.

 Looking straight out of my house.

 The backyard

Our house

My in-laws house Monday night. I really wish I had gotten a better picture though. :(

Finally- Josh, Cody (brother-in-law), and I going sledding. You know you love the camo cover-alls on us. It's illegal or something not to own at least a pair in the South. :)

I heard on the news tonight that something like 48 out of 50 states have snow on the ground right now. That's total craziness!

Our First Anniversary

Josh and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary on Sunday, January 2nd while we were in Texas. We had decided that due to schedules for the cruise the next Monday that we would go ahead and drive from San Antonio to Houston on Sunday and just spend our Anniversary in Houston. I am so glad that we did. Houston is a wonderful place. I loved everything about downtown that we saw. We are actually considering going back and staying for a weekend to do some of the touristy stuff there. 

We ate at an amazing steakhouse called Vic & Anthony's. I could not believe the amazing food, service, and decor. I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling to Houston (or Vegas) who wants to spend a nice lot of money on  food. It was definitely worth it though. :) It was exactly how I imagined spending our Anniversary.

And...some pictures! 

The above picture was taken in the lobby of the restaurant. 

 This was the dessert that they gave us. 

After we finished at Vic & Anthony's, we spent some time at the hotel bar. 

For shits and giggles, I have to share with you this bottle of Scotch. I found the bottle to be so gorgeous. The bartender noticed that I kept looking at it. He then shared with me that this is a $5,000.00 bottle of Scotch made completely out of crystal. A single shot of this is $195. He said the same bottle has been sitting there since the bar opened 2 years ago.

I can't believe that a year has already gone by. It really does seem like a couple months ago we were still planning the wedding. I guess time really does fly.

New Years

It's time for the (what seems like) never-ending posts with tons of pictures. :) I'll probably do a couple today and some tomorrow or later in the week. We'll see.

Josh and I celebrated New Years in San Antonio for a good friends wedding. The wedding was absolutely beautiful, small and intimate. It took place in the evening at the Plaza on the Riverwalk. Absolutely gorgeous! 

The first picture is of a person that I am extremely fond of. Let me introduce you to Bryan. 

This was taken on New Years Eve at the hotel bar that we all brought in the New Year at. 

Bryan has been my saving grace for the last few years. He and I met in the pageant world. He was one of the pageant directors that I was very close with. He took me and he has helped make me the person that I am today. Not only was he a mentor for me, he has been an amazing friend and is just downright hilarious. He was with me at my wedding, doing anything and everything that I needed him to. He did my hair and make-up, along with my bridesmaids and mother. Not only that but he has an amazing voice. He also sang at my wedding. As if that wasn't enough, he keeps my hair looking fabulous! :) He's the type of stylist that I go sit in his chair and don't tell him what I want or what to do. I just let him do whatever he wants and I have never regretted that. 

 

Back to the original topic...Kelly's wedding. New Years Day was the actual wedding. 

Josh and I

Jessica, Bryan and I

The beautiful bride and I

Finally, the best picture of the evening...the lucky guy, Charlie. He literally picked her up and threw her over his shoulder as they left the Plaza to catch their horse and carriage. 

::waves::

Hi!!! I swear I'm still alive and kicking. Things have been crazy busy and I really needed a break from everything over the holidays. Josh and I also had our big vacation over New Years and the first week of January so I literally have had no time to even think about blogging. Well...I take that back. I've thought about it but like I said, I needed a break and was being lazy extremely lazy.

I have sooooo much to share with everyone. I've got pictures out the wazoo. Ya'll know I love me some pictures! Hopefully by the weekend ya'll will be Jenn pictured out! I know ya'll are super duper freakin' excited! :)

I've also gotten some new readers. Thank you everyone for following. I will try to keep you entertained to the best of my ability. Promise. Also with the new followers, I now have over 50. YAY! I never thought that would be possible. I said way back when (too lazy to find the post) that I was going to do a giveaway when I hit 50. I'm definitely going to stick to my promise but now I just have to figure out how and what to do. In a couple of weeks, hopefully, I will do my first giveaway.

I've got to get back to work now. I haven't seen this place since December 28th so work is definitely calling my name right now. Have a fabulous day everyone!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!