Thankful

Everyone has done a thankful post. I feel the time has come for me to do one too! This year has been monumentous. You can read about it here. Although, I think a lot of you already have! (and for that I am so thankful! And without further ado...here is my list... It's filled to the brim with kindness, wonderful thoughts, amazing memories and beautiful people. :)

1. That I have reached my happy place. I'm healthy, i'm loved and I'm happy with who I am. Sure I may want to lost 5...or 15...lbs. I may be a little bit of a dork (haha, wouldn't have it any other way!). In the past there have been many times that I have doubted who I am, or felt that I needed to change myself... but not anymore. I am proud of who I am and I feel like if you are my friend...well, you are pretty darn lucky. :)

2. The ladies. I have an AMAZING family. My mom, my sister, my aunt Barb, my grandma, my cousin Cassie, my aunt Karen, ... I am surrounded by amazing and powerful women. Women who don't take no for an answer and who fight for what they believe in. We open ourselves up to one another without fear, talk freely and love one another un-conditionally. All of them have shaped who I am in more than one way. They are my rocks. They are who I turn to. They are who I strive to be. :)

3. My Spencer. It goes without saying, but I love this guy with all my heart. He made it ok for me to be myself. He supports me in anything I choose to do...even if I get an eyeroll or two in the process (which is always followed by a big smile and a helping hand!) I love him and I can't wait to spend everyday with him for the rest of our lives.


4. Austi. Ever since I was a little girl I remember every thanksgiving with my Aunt Karen. She would walk into the house and utter the same phrase, "I brought the Austi!" She would then pull out bottles of this delicious beverage and add them to the bottles my mother had already bought! This is our holiday drink, and it is the BEST drink there is! When I was little my mom got me and my cousin sparkling grape juice so we could feel special too. My freshman year in college I was able to share in this delicious beverage straight from the bottle. It's one of my favorite traditions at the holidays and it's something that always just feels right. No matter what changes in our family, Austi is here to stay!


5. Amazing women I am talking about ALL OF YOU! I can't believe how wonderful it has been to meet each and every one of you out here in this blogger world. I've learned things about myself, about fashion, about Ryan Reynolds (courtesy of K.Law) and I've been taken on an emotional journey with Summer, Katie, and a few others. You have made me feel alive, special and beautiful. Every comment I get is like a little shining star in my pocket. A new follower is an excuse to break out the bubbly! (Austi of course) I can't believe over 50 ladies find my thoughts and inner ramblings interesting enough to follow, and I am thankful for each and every one of you! Once I hit 100...the giveaway is on!!!! I have a few great ideas cooking in my little head as a little thanks to some dear dear friends. :)
PS- To Kristin at KLaw: Inspired and Tracy at Then I Got To Thinking . Thank you! you two were the first two ladies to follow my blog and always comment with endearing and heart-felt thoughts. You ladies RawK! (it's cooler spelled incorrectly) :)
PPS-Tracy-I think we might be sister squirrels!


6. Lunchtime. AKA: Coffeetime For the past few months I have been having amazing mid-day breaks from the ratrace. I work with two amazing ladies named Cristin and Bridget. Just about everyday we spend our hour of freedom to shop, gossip, grab some delicious coffee and conversation, stare in jealousy at women who get to wear jeans and imagine what a fabulous day they must be having or watch some Grays Anatomy at my house. I look forward to this hour and love how each morning the question is asked "What are you doing for lunch?" Because really?...that questions should be "What are WE doing for lunch?" Thanks ladies. It's the best part of the workday! :)


7. Reese's Big Cup Um...hi.. how can you not love this thing?! It's perfection all wrapped in a familiar orange wrapper... I die.


8. My fur babies!!!!!! Come on...you really thought i'd do a list without including them!? They may annoy me from time to time, one of them may or may not have pooped on the floor. My favorite purse may, or may not need some surgery done to the strap before I can use it again. I may never get to lay comfortably again without having a dog snuggling up on top of the blanket between my legs (Betty, i'm looking at you) They may sound like dinosaurs who are about to have a showdown and they MIGHT...just MIGHT have the WORST smelling farts of any dog i've met!...but they are my babies and I love everything about them!!!!!!!!!!! In the famous word of family guy... "Love the farts Meg, LOVE the farts!"
PS- Mia can't get past the #27! Go vote! Help her jump the hurdle! PS-I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo THANKFUL for EVERYONE who keeps voting to get this little lady her 5 minutes of fame!!! thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!!

Have a Happy Thankgiving everyone!!!! Tune in tomorrow for an early edition of Sunny Side Up!

~Hugs~
Jenni

Reflecting

The lovely Morgan at Let Me Help You Help Me did a wonderful post reflecting back on the past year. It made me realize how many huge changes i've made in my life over the last 12 months. I am borrowing her idea (with permission of course) because I think it's never too early to start reflecting and the perfect time to be thankful for all of the amazing gifts I have received.

In 2009, Life is Beautiful.
In January I made big changes in my life. I began the first step toward living the life I want...I began Grad School. I enrolled and was accepted into KU's school of Journalism to pursue a Masters in Marketing Communications. I eagerly attended my first classes and studied my heart out as best as I could.

In February I began to realize I needed a creative outlet. I created this blog and slowly began sharing a little bit of myself with my VERY few followers, and anyone else who felt the need to look. I began to start discovering things about myself and what truly made me happy. My first post was titled Hello World It was very basic. Just a few things about myself. I never imagined what this little adventure in blogging would evolve into, or how much I would learn to rely upon all of the amazing women i've met. :)

In March my nephew Collin Mitchell Osiek was born! He is the first baby we have had in our family in a long time and I loved being there for my sister while she brought him into this world. (all 10.2 lbs and 21" of him! ...mind you, my sister is 5'2") I have never been a baby person, but seeing my new little nephew was special, and it's something I will never forget. Spencer and I also took a trip to Chicago in March. We went with Spencer's sister, brother-in-law, his brother-in-laws brother and his girlfriend. It was a lot of fun! We walked the streets all day long finding cute little shops and riding the train from one end of town to the other. It was Spencer and I's first vacation together and it was really wonderful. :) I love that we match one another and can take a trip without having a fight or getting frustrated with one another. :)

In April I started out the month by taking photographs of my sister's new little family. Aren't they adorable!? We also entered and got accepted into Apartment Therapy's "small is cool" competition! We were contestants for 2 years in a row! Wasn't our apartment adorable? I LOVED it!
This month we also made the decision that we had maybe out-grown our beautiful little apartment and we were ready to move on and grow our family ( to the 4-legged kind) and our apartment didn't allow dogs. We actually got on a waitlist for a beautiful little german spitz puppy! The mommy was pregnant and was expected to deliver in June and have babies ready to go home by July! We signed up, and with deadline in mind began the process of apartment hunting....which then evolved into house hunting! Why rent when you can buy!?

In May we found our home. It was perfect. Exactly what we wanted! So we signed paperwork, put in our bids and waited... and we got accepted!!! We got our home and would be moving in 2 months! We were elated! and so excited to move into our home and grow our furry family...and then the news came. THe mommy of our puppy had had a false pregnancy...there were no puppies! Our little furball we had fallen in love with without ever seeing, was gone. I was deeply depressed. Spencer comforted me and told me that our puppy was still out there and that we would find her... We began researching breeds... we found the papillon and fell in love. We contacted a breeder who sent us puppy photos and it was done. We had found our baby. Our Mia! (PS- Vote for her) haha. I also finished my first semester of grad school with an A!

In June we got excited and did a LOT of waiting. I started my second grad school class. It was a sustainability class and it consumed my every free moment! To pass the time we waited on pins and needles each week for photos of our little baby and packed. At the end of the month we got our keys and signed our lives away! After the paperwork settled we rushed to our new home paintbrushes in hand and began to transform our house into a home.

In July we officially moved! We spent 2 days getting settled and ready for our Mia and then set off on a roadtrip to bring her home. We picked her up, swung by my sisters house to spend the night and brought our little Sock Monster into her home for the first time! We both had time off work so we spent a lot of time painting and decorating. I finished my summer class (thankfully! It was AWFUL) and we celebrated my 25th birthday!!! We spent a lot of time at home with our little girl playing with her, taking her to the park and running in the backyard.

August and September blurred together for us. We were painting, refinishing our floors, unpacking, organizing, cleaning, putting in crown molding, doing yard work and planning our housewarming party that was going to happen in october. We really wanted everything to go smoothly and look nice. :) Spencer bought a second scooter and began working on it. Eventually it will be painted sparkle pink and be given to me! We got our stimulus money and bought new Ikea furniture, put in flooring and bought a few things to make our house feel special. :) Mia continued to control our attention and shower us with love...but at the end of the month we got a suprise from Spencer's sister. A little puppy needed a home. When her and Mia met they became instant friends. We couldn't turn her away. We brought her in and lovingly named her, "The Betty Burger."

In October we celebrated Spencer's 26th birthday and got to know our puppies. We took a LOT of trips to the dog park where everyone fell in love with the two of them! We finally had our Housewarming party and it was a HUGE success! Lots of family came by to say hello and we ended up having people at the house until 4am partying and hanging out! It was a LOT of fun, and it was nice to have a beautiful home to show off and get to tell people all of the hardwork we had done in the past few months to make it feel like home. :) Toward the end of the month our girls became magicians and learned to jump over their baby gate!! We then ended October with a fantastic Halloween party where Spencer and I won best costume! Yup, lawn ornaments. We were hot. :) Mia and Betty were the real stars though and stole the show dressed as a turtle and a squirrel.

and in November so far this month has been fantastic! I have my 3rd semester class ending soon (and so far I have an A!), Collin has learned to crawl, our girls have been crazy little puppies and Spencer and I just celebrated a marvelous 3 years together. :) This year has been amazing, and it amazes me to think of how lucky I am. :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!! I will be posting Sunny-Side-Up a day early this week and taking thursday to relax with family and deck the halls with Spencer. :)
~Hugs~
Jenni

An odd feeling...

I have had an off weekend and it all started friday afternoon at around 3:00 when my aunt called. My grandfather, on my dads side, was admitted into the ICU and family was being contacted because they feared he wouldn't make it. For most families when something like this happens they would call family members and everyone would rush to the hospital....my family is a little different.
When I was around 4 years old my grandfather brought gifts for my sister and I on christmas day. I barely remember the day other than my sister and I sitting there shaking the presents and my grandfather standing in the doorway as my parents had a serious conversation with him. He left and I remember my father crying. The reason for all of this was that as he was leaving he was telling my parents that ties were to be severed and we can't see each other again. It was completely out of the blue. My parents fought him about it asking if they could at least bring the girls (my sister and I) over to see them. but he said no, and as far as i'm aware, never gave an answer as to why. His wife is not my grandmother and She has never really liked my family.
After about 10 years they slowly came back into our lives. There was one christmas that they stopped by, they came to my high school graduation, he came to my sisters wedding (she did not) and there were maybe a handful (4-5) visits over the years. A few weeks ago when my aunt (his daughter) visited from florida we (my aunt, cousin, sister, Collin and i) met him for lunch. To say we are estranged would be a gross understatement, because I was only 4 years old so to me he was just not there. I barely know him. In addition my father had a mid-life crisis 10 years ago and left my mom for another woman, He said horrible things to my sister and I and basically lost his entire family. My aunt, his uncles and aunts, his best friends. Pretty much everyone he was close to he no longer has contact with.... so when my aunt called me it became a scramble to figure out how to get hold of people. Trying to figure out who might have been called by the hospital and who doesn't know yet and who would be the best person to tell those people.
I feel a lot of guilt. I feel like I should be worried for my grandfather or want to go see him... but the only way I can describe what i'm feeling is by relating it to is finding out someone I went to high school with, but didn't really know, is sick. A feeling of, "thats too bad". I haven't cried,and I don't feel the need to...but I feel heavy and worried. I'm worried about my aunt, my father and my sister... I'm worried with how they are dealing with it all and i'm hoping that he will pull through for them. If you could please say a prayer for him, I would appreciate it. His name is Newton Brown.


On a brighter note I bought our christmas tree on friday night! It's a beautiful pre-lit 7.5' tall tree and only 3' wide!! It's sooo tall and skinny! I love it! It even has a few little pinecones sporadically placed on it. I can't wait to go buy a tree skirt and new tree topper for it!!! We have a little 4" tree too that I may end up putting in the back room as well. :)

...and today is Spencer and I's 3-year anniversary!!! This photo was taken of us last year after an amazing dinner at the American Restraunt. I think we're going to go celebrate later this week but tonight we are having dinner with our parents. My mom felt bad because she didn't get to spend much time with them at our housewarming party so we're having dinner together at the Hereford House at 6:00 tonight so they can get to know one another. :) I think I may get some greenery to put outside too. :) I love greenery and red berries and twinklie whtie lights at christmastime!

...and Mia is now ranked 29 out of 861! Go Mia!!!!!!


I saw New Moon. Some of Spencer's co-workers were going to the 10:00 showing last night so we went along with them. He said I needed to get my mind off of things...and he was right. Now, I know I may get some angry comments from this but I absolutely HATED the first movie. I thought it was downright awful and they didn't explain things well enough. I went with someone who had read the book and 2 people who hadn't. The two people who hadn't had no clue what was going on. particularly with Jasper's charactor. They had no idea why he acted so weird and guessed that maybe he was "special" or "rode the short bus" hahe. The added-in line of "come with me my spider monkey" and the row of 13 year olds behind us saying in explicit detail what they would do to him....well, it left a bit to be desired. But I was curious to see this movie because of the change in director and it was actually suprisingly good. I won't say its in my top 25 movie list or anything, but it was entertaining. (although I think its funny everyone is going nuts over Edwards abs....and hate to break it to you...but they are painted on.) Overall I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Liked it, but not loved it.

I hope everyone has a fabulous sunday and a great start to the week!!!!!

I was wrong!!!

You can vote once a day!!!
I thought you could only vote once, but apparantly you can vote once every single day!!! (I know a few of you totally wanted to vote more than once!) So get clicking ladies because this little mug DESERVES to represent Limited.com!!!

Fabulous Pet Names Sponsored by The Limited

Burritos are bueno!

Tonight I had a burrito that rocked my world.

It was at a little place close to Spencer and I's home. Not too authentic, but ridiculously tasty when I get a hankering for a good margarita, a burrito and some tasty chips and salsa. :) The burrito excursion was my reward for being a good patient at the doctor! The eye doctor that is! I am getting new glasses!!! I haven't gotten a new pair of glasses since my freshman year of high school! That was 10 years ago!!!! Needless to say, they aren't exactly "accurate" anymore...and I mean see a giant teddy bear standing in my back yard, and it turns out to be a tree kind of not accurate. I am seriously blind as a bat! I ended up picking a cute little pair that is chocolate brown and aqua from the Coach eyewear line! They aren't pictured, but I promise they are super cute!

I can't wait to get them and look like a sexy little librarian!

I can totally pull this off, right?
In other news I absolutely HATE the Victoria's Secret "bombshell" commercial.

I think its because I don't understand how a woman can be a bombshell. I get it that it's an old "sexy" name for women, but really? a bomb shell? Do they explode from the utter sexiness of being a woman? Is it because boobs are round like a bomb? and as far as that goes, what exactly did the phrase, "da bomb" come from?! I believe I have even heard the phrase, "that shit is da'bomb!" and to me.. shit and bomb only leads to explosive bathroom behaviors.
Ok, i'll get off my soap box now. Thanks for listening!

PS-Watching Project Runway and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Carol Hannah! I hope she wins!!!

Sunny Side and a little favor. :)

Good morning all of you amazing friends!!!! Before I begin my weekly sunny-side-up list, I would like to send a HUGE shout-out of THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!!!!! I can't thank everyone enough for voting for my Mia and getting her little mug out into the big bad world to demand the attention she deserves! You are all sooo amazing!!!!!! Mia shot from #366 all the way to #39 yesterday!!! And it was all thanks to the amazing friends I have made in this little blogworld. Sadly, she has now gone back down by 3 ranking points. So i'm curious, how far can the power of blogging go? I know I have made some absolutely amazing friends and been privy to personal info from amazing women who I now look up to.... Its almost like we are all connected in this little world on the internet! So, my challenge? if you would be so obliged, blog about Mia!!! Lets show the world what bloggie friends can really do and make her the number 1 dog!!!!!!!!!!!

Woof! AKA "Thank you!!!!"

and now here is my LOVELY list!

1. The Middle - This show is freaking HILARIOUS! I watch this when I get home from class on Wednesday night and end up laughing out loud the entire time!! If you haven't seen it yet, make sure to tune in!


2. Summer's Make Believe post - Summer at B is for Brown posted this on Tuesday asking the question, "if you were a fairy what would your wings look like?" The answers to this post were AMAZING! I loved reading each and every one and I even got goosebumps a few times by all of the beautiful descriptions! My answer was.... "White and ethereal. White shimmer with gold pixie dust, flowing and light with pink cheeks. My wings would be slender but strong and I would blend in amongst the clouds and shine like a star."


3. Christmas!!! -Poor thanksgiving always gets the short end of the stick. It's not as exciting and by the time it rolls around people are ready for it to be over in anticipation of the glorious holiday of Christmas!! This year Spencer and I are going to his family celebration for food and conversation. After that however we will be going home to our girls and putting up our Christmas tree!!!!!!! I think the girls are going to go nuts, but I am sooo excited to see it all! Sigh...our first christmas in our new home... How exciting is that!? PS-wouldn't it be A-mazing to live in this house with this beautiful fireplace at Christmas time?!


4. The girls first ornaments -In spencer's family the tradition is to buy a new ornament each year. We have had so much fun shopping for ornaments together over the last 2 years and since this is our babies first christmas we had to get them each an ornament! Most of our tree is silver, gold and light aqua blue so we didnt want to get ornaments for the girls that wouldn't match. We found these little silver frames at Crate and Barrel and will be putting their little puppy pictures in them! Maybe we'll even engrave their names....hmmmmmm.....


5. This flower cluster - I saw this necklace on Free People.com. At first I wasn't too sure about it but the more I look at it the more I kind of love it! FreePeople is also holding a holiday contest! Go there and make a wish list. You may be the lucky lady to win your entire list!!! Ho Ho Ho!


6. Beautiful knitwear! I have found an obsession with fingerless gloves! Being a photographer, I find it difficult to use my camera when I have on gloves. Its nearly impossible to turn the knobs and push the buttons when your finger is covered in 1/2" of yarn! Fingerless gloves came into popularity big time last year and I am absolutely in love with them! When I found JayKayKnits on Etsy I absolutely fell head over heels! Her gloves are gorgeous and I am definitly purchasing those beautiful blue ones!!!!


7. Pin-dot lampshades - Warpe Design on Etsy makes these absolutely BEAUTIFUL shades. I love how the light dances off the wall behind them. They would be beautiful in a bedroom when you just want a pretty soft light. :)


8. Christmas movie marathon!!!- I can't wait to pull out all of the Christmas favorites! Elf, the Santa Claus, The Polar Express, Miracle on 35th Street, Prancer, and the Grinch! I think a christmas movie marathon might just be in my immediate future!!!!

I hope everyone has an amazing day!!! Thank you so much to everyone, you are all sooo amazing!!!!!
~Hugs~
Jenni

I need your help!

Mia went from being ranked 326 last night to #66 this morning!!! Please go put your vote in! (and pass along the word to anyone and everyone!) Voting is open through Dec. 28th but I want to get her a good headstart! :)
Woof! That means vote now!

How can you say no to this little face?!

Thanks everyone!!!!!!!
UPDATE: Mia has moved up to #39!!!! Thanks for all the voting guys! It's amazing what bloggie friends can help do!!!