Happy Wednesday. :)

Hi, my name is Jenni and right now I would like to sleep for 100 years…
or maybe just 4 more hours.
I forgot my cup of coffee this morning and can’t concentrate on anything…
Other than running to Starbucks and getting a big foamy latte.
My mood and preferences change based on the season…
Right now I’m all about apples, warm colors, and candy.
I look forward to the winter all year long…
Not because I want to go outside, but because I want to stay inside, under a blanket, watching the snow fall.
On those cold days there is nothing better than a good Disney movie and cup of hot chocolate….
Except maybe a steamy romance!
It’s 48 degrees outside right now…
Yeah… I almost squealed when my feet touched the cold floor this morning…
It made me miss college when I used to stay in bed rather than walk across campus in the cold…..
Somehow I still had a 3.5 GPA…weird.
I have the sniffles this morning…
I also forgot my allergy pill.
Mia was ready to play while I got ready this morning…
She kept jumping up on my arm and looking at me with her cute little begging face.
Betty slept… Betty sleeps a lot…..
She’s funny when she sleeps. She has a bit of a snort and she dreams all the time….
Last night she fell asleep while we were watching tv and looked like she was running in her dreams….
Sometimes her eyes will open halfway while she’s sleeping and all I see is white…
Its creepy. I close her eyes….
I’m excited for Halloween.
I think Spencer and I are going to be lawn ornaments…. Haha, gnome…flamingo…should be fun!
I can't wait for thursday night tv...
Fringe....Grays Anatomy... Flash Forward... The Office... Project Runway...
Why does it all have to be on thursday nights!?
I need a show for Tuesdays....

Now... tell me something about your day!
~Hugs~
Jenni

Days like this....

when the sun in shining, there is a light breeze on the air and colors are becoming more vivid and bright as the seasons change it makes me realize just how lucky I am. :)
When I was watching Bride Wars this weekend, there was a scene that Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson were running. Kate was exhausted and said, "Why can't we run with ipods!?" and Anne responded, "Because people who listen to ipods only do so because they can't deal with their own thoughts."
....I paused and I realized that I was like that for the last few years. If I was alone, my thoughts would begin to poison my well-being. I worried about every little thing and cried about the mistakes I have made... and then I realized...I don't do that anymore. I can have my quiet moments and enjoy the thoughts in my head, laughing at memories and smiling as I remember wonderful moments and people. I'm truly happy, and it's been awhile since I could say that and truly mean it. :) (and P.S.- I owe a lot of it to that guy right there.)

"There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous."
-Carrie Bradshaw

A Fabulous Weekend :)

This weekend was a busy, wonderful weekend packed with excitement and activity…but before I get to that….I would like to tell you all about my new favorite thing… Shatto Milk


Shatto Milk is a small dairy farm located right outside of Kansas City. They offer milk that is free of bovine growth hormones and goes from cow to store shelves in as little as 12 hours! All milk comes in glass bottles. You pay a little extra for the bottle and are reimbursed when you return it to the store. Shatto washes and sanitizes each bottle and then reuses it for the next customer!
I took a class on sustainability this summer. The first class we were told to introduce ourselves and give a reason that we took the class. One gentleman stood up and said he was inspired to learn more about what he can do to take care of our planet when his 4 year old girl started growing breasts! She was getting too many hormones in her milk and it caused her to develop ahead of schedule They switched to Shatto and the breast buds are completely gone now! Spencer and I began drinking Shatto ourselves about a month ago. There is nothing better than a big glass with brownies or cereal, And the taste is PHENOMENAL! Skim tastes like 2% and doesn’t have that sour aftertaste that sometimes accompanies milk. Spencer even drinks it and he was never a milk fan! He likes to mix it with orange soda (which sounds disgusting to me) but he says it tastes like drinking a cream-cicle. ☺ So that is my rant for today. We here in KC are lucky to have such a wonderful company around us who deliver to all the local grocery stores. You should check it out in your own hometown and see if you have one too!
And now… here is what I did this weekend!

Saturday I woke up and played with the puppies outside while enjoying a nice bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats (and shatto milk of course). After awhile I went inside and started my day of cooking and cleaning. Spencer’s mom and dad were coming over for his moms birthday at 7:00 so I spent my day marinating steaks and cooking slow-cook green beans, cheesy potatoes, stuffed mushroom caps, prepping grilled veggies and baking a delicious mixed-berry almond gratin. (It was made with tofu to eliminate butter and had 1 tb. Sugar. I expected it wouldn’t be too flavorful but it actually might be my new favorite desert!!! I also cleaned, organized and found homes for a lot of items that have still been sitting in boxes at our house. I was a superstar and moved a HUGE solid oak dresser down to the basement BY MYSELF! I was scared I might just drop it down the stairs and was praying for my life about halfway down but I did it! (and immensely impressed Spencer). At 7:00 they showed up and we had fun chatting, watching the pups wrestle and having a few glasses of wine. They didn’t end up leaving until almost 11:00 at night! It was really wonderful and I think his mom really loved it . ☺

Sunday I did nothing. Absolutely I laid on the couch and watched movies. I finally saw Bride Was. I had heard it wasn’t too fantastic so I didn’t get my hopes up, but it was actually pretty good. Not anything to write home about, but it was very sweet and I did tear up from time to time. The puppies napped on me all day long until Spencer came home and then they were ready to go! So we packed them up in the car and headed off to the dogpark for some good quality romping time. They were exhausted by the end of the night and relaxed as we watched the premieres of The Simpsons, Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters (DVR is awesome!) All of the shows were wonderful! Except the Cleveland Show….it was awful. Not funny. Blatently racist. I’m not a fan.

I hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend as well! Did anyone do anything fun!?
~Hugs~
Jenni

Fabulous Friday!

I'm a little late this week due to the sickness that consumed my body, but here is the weekly Sunny-Side list!



1. Fall premieres! I am sooo excited that fall tv is back big! So far I have not been disappointed with Fringe, Heroes, Grays Anatomy, Bones, Top Chef, the new show Eastwick and my new favorite this season Flash Forward! I just hope Ugly Betty, Medium, Desperate Housewives, Family Guy, Simpsons, the Cleveland Show and Brothers & Sisters continue the streak! (PS-I'd like to give a little shout out to my hero, the DVR, you make multiple television show viewing possible. :)

2. All of you! Thank you so much for everyone's kind words and thoughts. Being sick stinks...but its not as bad when you have something to make you smile!


3. Chick-Fil-A fries Soooo good.... How is that a fry is soooo much better when its in waffle form?


4. The dog park The Penn Valley dog park here in town is AWESOME! Our girls love going and meeting the other dogs, sniffing butts, shaking paws. Its an awesome park with a lot of adorable dogs who have responsible pet-parents in tow. The bonus is that our girls wear themselves out and we get to enjoy our shows later that night!


4. Apples! apple cider, candied applies, apple slices, apple pie....I don't know what it is but my mouth is watering for these juicy little guys lately!

This weekend will be filled with cleaning, organizing, painting, baking, cooking and grilling....oh and editing about 200 photographs! I hope you all have a lovely weekend!!!!!! See you monday!
~Hugs~
Jenni

Ick

I do not feel well today.

I received a flu shot yesterday afternoon.... last night I started feeling a little odd.....I woke-up today still not feeling well but I didn't have a fever.... now i'm getting hot/cold flashes and my forehead feels a little toasty...

I would really like to just go home, curl into bed and watch trashy daytime tv until I fall asleep.....

Happy Fall!

Happy First day of Autumn!

Well, Autumn has officially arrived and it's a beautiful crisp day here in KC with temperatures in the low 70's!
Soon the air will be filled with the smell of smoke coming from people's fireplaces, crisp autumn leaves and weather that makes it ok to wear a hoodie and shorts at the same time!
I Heart Autumn
The smells.... fresh pumpkin bread cooking in the oven, cinnamon, crisp air, bonfires, roasted marshmallows...
The sights... scarlet red, burnt orange, goldenrod, chocolate brown cascading leaves, fresh butternut squash and chubby pumpkins ripe for carving, golden sunlight...
The sounds... the crunching chorus of leaves crushed beneath my feet, the screams of children jumping into piles of leaves, the whistle of the winds blowing the leaves from their branches...
The feeling... that amazing feeling of beauty and color surrounding you, ready to take off on the wind at a moments notice, an icy cold breeze brushing your cheek while the sun is still there to warm you up, the warmth of a blanket after a nice hot bath....fall is all around us!

Tell me a story... What does fall mean to you!?

A 12 hour makeover.....

Talk about a day to stay home and lounge in bed! It's raining cats & dogs here in KC. Literally, I can hear them yowling right now!
It was a ridiculously busy weekend!
Saturday morning Spencer and I went shopping to our favorite place, Lowes! And spent an obscene amount of money so that we could do some more repairs around the house. We got shelving hung in our closet for shoes and Spencer cleared out our dining room so that he could lay down our new Pergo floors on sunday.

Spencer in action.
Sunday morning I photographed the Chiefs game. By the time I got home (1:30ish) he had torn out the carpet!
I had always felt like the carpet smelled and I was right! Spencer said that basically...I probally didn't even want to see it. There wasn't a single place he DIDN'T see a stain in (and it was BIG stains so it was definitly the large dog who lived there before us) In one day we laid down the pergo, put down quarter round on the trim and re-painted it all.

Here's the before...


The back room the day we got the keys.


...after we covered up the red with a relaxing green....

....AFTER!




While all the work was going on the girls got to play and romp outside...all day long...




... needless to say, when they came in they were a LITTLE worked up!




I hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend as well!
Hugs
Jenni

A Whirlwind Week!

This week has been crazy busy! We spent 3 nights this week getting invitations for our housewarming party created, printed and mailed out. I think they turned out pretty cute!


and now, here's this weeks....



1. Mums! I went out and got some pretty pots of mums from Lowe's to bring some color to our deck! I love the yellow and orange ones. :) Now I just need to decide wether to plant them, or leave them in pots!


2. Fall Weather I posted this on Naturally Nina when she asked begged the question, "Tell me a story."
Here's a story about a girl who works in an office and wishes she could be surrounded by beauty. A girl who gets one hour of freedom a day to go outside and breathe fresh air. A girl who went home today and took a step into her backyard oasis in the city with 2 little puppies who romped around her ankles and wiggled in excitement at being outside in the beautiful sunshine. A girl who breathed a deep sigh of relief and sipped her coffee as a soft breeze floated across the yard and the fur-babies flipped, tossed, barked and romped. A girl who couldn't stop staring in amazement as the breeze shook the trees and slowly dropped a cascade of never-ending yellow leaves across the green grass and filled the air with dancing autumn views. A girl named Jenni. I'm that girl. :) Fall weather just really makes me feel good!


3. Snow Boots It's a little early, but I am loving shopping for snowboots. I really need to find some nice new ones that will keep my feet warm and dry while we romp with the puppies and shovel the sidewalks! Does anyone know of any cute ones? (that don't cost $200)


4.THIS! haha if I wasn't at work I would be laughing my butt off!!!!!


5. Etsy I have decided that in my office nook I am going to cover the walls in random art that makes me smile. This piece by Lauren Gregg Is DEFINITLY on my list. :) Anyone know of anymore great artists out there?


Tonight I will be at work until around 10:00pm for our annual Client BBQ. It's going to be a LONG night but at least my job is photography so I get to mingle... When I get home i'm going to have to shower though because i'm sure I will be smelling like smoked meat and the dogs might enjoy the smell a LITTLE too much.
Saturday Spencer and I are doing some more work to the house. :) I can't wait to dig in and finish up our bedroom!
Sunday I am photographing the KC Chiefs football game. My company is project managing the stadium re-build and we need some photos for an article. (Yay for time and a half!)

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!!!
Hugs, Jenni

The Betty Burger

This is Betty Buger.
My original thought was for us to name her Burger... I think I might have been hungry at the time... But then, she didn't look like a burger... so then I though about Top chef (because they sometimes make some really fantastic looking burgers) and then I remembered that the winner of the Top Chef burger challenge was Betty! She kind of looked like a Betty, and we decided her name should be "The Betty Burger" nickname: Betty. She seems to like the name and is already learning it. So now we have our little Mia "AKA: Pants" and Betty Burger!

We spent the weekend getting to know each other and ever since she came to our home we have had mega-puppy-rompus in every single nook! The girls love each other and we love them. Betty LOVES to cuddle and follows me around absolutely everywhere I go. Mia is way less of a crazy-pants and has been getting more cuddly herself since Betty is helping burn off her energy. The favorite game is for Mia to run in circles around Betty, and then Betty to randomly jump out and try to catch her! It's great fun for all!

Theme of last weekend: Play hard, sleep frequently!


Hi! My name is Betty Burger

Playtime!

Grrrrrr

Tag! You're it!

taking a break

Breaktime over!

evil scheming going on here...

...starting to get sleepy...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

I.am.done.

"uh mom...Betty is in my personal space..."

sooo sleepy...

and repeat!
That was how the weekend played out...and I loved every single moment of it!

what a day!!!

Grrrr this has been the most frustrating day....and it's only noon!!!!!

....good thing I got to go home for a quick minute and see this little one. :)

Weekend Preview!

This weekend consisted of lots of playing, followed by lots of napping. Check back later for the play-by-play (and the new puppies name!!)

I would like to introduce.......

Our little Mia is getting a sister!


3 nights ago Spencer's sister and brother-in-law had a meet-and-greet of the canine kind with a woman on Craigslist. This women had a 15 week old Boston Terror who she couldn't give a home to anymore. She was away from the home too much and didn't feel the dog was being treated right. They brought their Boston, Wilbur, over and the two played sniffed and got to know one another. The lady loved that this little girl would be going to a good home with 2 other dogs and very responsible pet parents and on wednesday called Zach and Sarah to find out if they would like herto come to their home that night. Everything was fantastic, until thursday morning when the little one started licking Wilbur's face and he went into a seizure. It turns out he can't handle having the puppy around him and Zach and Sarah found themselves in a predicament. They had fallen in love with this little girl already!


Her name at the moment is Bella...(however that may be changing since there are about 5 Bella's at the dog park at any given time) She is full blood, AKC registered and has a standing contract with Hallmark cards. She is absolutely adorable! Last night they brought her to our house so she could meet Mia. They became the best of friends, rolling, licking and being feisty together. Zach and Sarah have decided to give us this little girl as Spencer's birthday present! She will be coming back to our house tonight with her food, toys, bed and accesories. Last night when she left Mia was crying out for her...that is until she passed out from exhaustion due to all of the puppy romping!

This should be an interesting weekend full of organizing furniture and meet-and-greeting our new little family member! Now we just need a name? It has to sound good with the name Mia since we'll be calling to the two of them a lot. What do you guys think? What should her name be?!

Sunny Side Up!

Thursday has arrived again and you know what that means! Here are the things making me smile this week!


1. Figs & Ginger. They make some of the prettiest jewelry i've seen. I am drooling over this lovebirds necklace and view it at least once a day!


2. 2010 Calendars. This one by Night Owl Paper Goods has me reeling! I would love to have one critter calendar and one pattern calendar. One for the office, one for the bedroom. They are just so cute!!!!


3. The Pumpkin Spice Latte! It made its return and I had my first one yesterday. YUM! I'll take mine venti one pump caramel please! :)


4. This lamp from Crate & Barrel!


5. Halloween! Is coming soon and Spencer and I have been brain-storming costume ideas. I'm thinking Quailman from the cartoon Doug.... :)


6. Puppy-palooza! Zach and Sarah got a new puppy last night and we're having a mega puppy-rompus in the backyard!


7. Fun jobs I got to create this poster for an event at my company. All the faces are main people in one of our divisions here. It was a lot of fun...and a LOT of work. :) I guess i'm pretty good at photoshop. :)


This weekend we will be going mirror shopping for my new vanity, and perhaps some lighting and accessory shopping as well! I hope you all have fabulous weekends!
-Hugs-
Jenni