She's Getting Inspired

Grrrrr

2012-01-26T11:22:00.000-06:00

If something could go wrong today... it did...

I am so tired I literally have bags under my eyes.

However...

I did just eat some delicious cheese pizza...

so maybe my day is improving!

Well... it happened...

2012-01-10T09:38:00.000-06:00

A full year...

something like 70+ flights....

and it finally happened...

Yeah, I missed my flight...

I woke-up, saw that the sun had risen, and said, "OH SHIT!"

So, i'm now at the airport....enjoying a lovely cup of coffee and blogging.

In a bit, I will go to my gate, sit and wait for them to hopefully call my name for stand-by.

I mean, I guess it had to happen sometime, right?

Luckily, I tend to lead a bit of a Charmed Life, and if I were to miss a flight...this one is the one to miss. Midland, Texas (my destination) is at the moment under a foot of snow...

So I made the call yesterday to cancel today's class and have a longer class on Wednesday once the snow was gone. Today is all about travel, so whether I arrive at 12am or 12pm, it doesn't matter. In other news, I have been on the hunt for the perfect laptop tote in FOREVER! My work gave me a crappy cheap bag that hurts my arm with its roller-coaster seatbelt style strap... but the laptop is of course HUGE (15"...really? for someone who travels all the time?!) sooo I have found 2 bags im debating on, and I need some expert opinions!

Soooo we have bag #1...

The Jericho tote from J Crew!

Ok, so seriously...in LOVE with this bag... but I worry that the arm strap will drive me crazy and end up kind of hurting after a long day of travel... It's large enough for my laptop, phone, cords, Kindle and a small clutch bag... Right now it's in stock, but I swear this bag is constantly sold out!

Bag #2

The Deena and Ozzy Chain Tote from Urban Outfitters

With a substantially smaller price tag (Like $120 cheaper)

This bag has a strap for easy maneuvering and a super cute look. It definitely is not as structured, and will not hold its shape when I set it on the ground... it may fall apart after heavy use....but for $30 its not a bad bag! I'm just so torn!

What do you all think?

Do you know of a gorgeous bag I might be missing out on?

Happy Traveling Tuesday everyone!

♥

Jenni

Monday is for Packing.

2012-01-09T19:44:00.001-06:00

Monday's are always so bittersweet for me. I have one day to get myself ready to go, and then I hit the road again... It's always really difficult. Most of my Monday is spent snuggling with the puppies and spending time in my home...it's really difficult to say good-bye to all of that for me.

This week I will be hitting the road for Midland, Texas....which right now, is getting hit with 7" of snow! Snow in Texas, and OF COURSE I have to fly right into it... I've canceled my class for tomorrow and will instead just be focusing on traveling there. Wednesday will be a longer class, and Thursday i'll be out of town and on my way to Dallas for a quick little overnight. Such a glamorous life, eh?

This weekend Spencer and I spent lots of time at the movies.

Saturday night we started it off watching....

SOOOOO GOOD! I mean, seriously... where was Robert Downey Jr. for so many years?! To come back from being an absolute joke in Hollywood, and become a mega star, is unbelievable! The man can just do no wrong! Iron Man...Sherlock Holmes... than again, maybe he just gets off on playing assholes...

Sunday afternoon we hit up a matinee of....

I have been anticipating this movie for the past year! The books were fabulous, intriguing, mind-bending and exciting... I had fear that the movie just would not live up! But, David Fincher did it yet again! (director of Fight Club, and many other great, dark, films) This movie was an amazing adaptation, and a BEAUTIFUL companion piece to the novel. For those who haven't read the book, the movie isn't confusing. For those who have read the book, the movie doesn't disappoint. The casting, the language, the graphic violence where nothing is left out.... it was truly beautiful... (in a dark and creepy way)

Tonight it's some good tv, laundry and packing...

I wish I didn't have to leave tomorrow....

I'll miss the hubby and puppies far too much...

I hope everyone has a fabulous Tuesday!

If you need me, i'll be on a plane... reading The Throne of Swords. :)

♥

Jenni

2012.... its going to be big!

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-06:00

2011 was a truly amazing year...

I started a new job that I love going to every day, I spent some good quality time with my husband and I learned a lot about myself. I know 2012 is going to be one for the record books, and the goal of this next year is, to me, all about enjoying life and making it better... the things i've put off, those little nagging things in the back of my head... 2012 is the year I want them all to happen....
So where do I begin?

In 2012.....

2011... Where the heck was I!?

2011-12-30T12:44:00.001-06:00

2011!

Its been a whirlwind of a year, and I still feel like it only just began.. and now its ending!

January 2011- I was hired as a National Training Manager for a newborn photography company on Jan. 5th. After 8 months being unemployed it was a fresh start and a new beginning. The job required extensive travel, but Spencer and I decided it was the right job for me, and our time together would have to be quality over quantity. I began my training as a newborn photographer, and was terrified at the prospect of having to calm down newborns to take great photos... I'd never been a "baby person". Ironically I quickly discovered I was a natural, and people often asked me how many children I had at home! At the end of January I traveled to St. Louis where I met the other members of the training team, who have become some of my closest friends. We shot instructional videos at the headquarters, and I got to play mom to Amelia!

Our pose training baby!

I also did some freelance graphic design work, designing this logo for a chocolate company.

February 2011- February started out strong with a visit to Houston, Texas for work. I learned how to train and met a lot of great girls. I knew it was going to be an amazing job and very rewarding.

That same week, "Snowmageddon!" hit the U.S! In Houston there was a dusting of snow that shut down the entire city... and in Joplin back home, my sisters house was hit with piles and piles of snow!

She sent me this photo of my nephew... he apparently didn't like it very much...

Back at home, Spencer was preparing for his very first art show!

Spencer showed some of his work in the El Sea Art Show! I am so proud of him :) We have another Boston Terrier painting like the one above is anyone is interested!

March 2011- March I celebrated my one year anniversary from being laid off... I drove around town with the windows down in Arkansas, thanking my lucky stars for how my life changed for the better. I stopped off to see my sister and sent to her round dancing Mardi Gras dance where I spent the night playing pirate with my nephew...

I spent time in Arkansas, Texas and Miami in the month of March, escaping from the cold a bit and thawing my way into Spring.

April 2011- April was my month in Memphis. I was there for 3 weeks in a row, coming home on the weekends. I traveled via a small airline called "Seaport Airlines". Small commuter planes with no waiting in security lines and not having to arrive early to the airport to park and wait to board. I drove up, walked onto the tarmac and boarded the plane!

They fly a little closer to the ground than a large jetliner, so it was fun to take photographs

out the window! Everything was so green and lush in the month of April!

April was also the beginning of tornado season, and it seemed like I was playing keep away as I flew in and out of the areas hit the hardest each week. One week in particular I was down the street from a touch down in Memphis, and driving back to the hospital the next morning there were downed trees and power lines EVERYWHERE.

On the weekends I savored my time with Spencer and the puppies. We enjoyed quite a few nights with a nice big fire pit, and some adult beverages while we chatted about our lives and the interesting things going on.....Betty of course slept through it all, and Mia was out in the yard stalking birds in the dark.

May 2011- May started out good. My boss told me she would support me in going back to school and work around my schedule without any issues to keep me. That I was far too valuable to the team to lose. It was a truly amazing feeling to be so appreciated....

Sadly, devestation occured later in the month as I got a call from my sister that a tornado had struck in her town, Joplin Missouri. She had been at home when it hit, but had just returned from a baby shower in town only a few hours before. She was fine, but many of her friends she couldn't get hold of and they were driving into town to look for everyone.... What greeted her was this....

Her two best friends both lost their homes, and one only survived because he sheltered in the bathroom holding onto the pipes and a tempurpedic mattress blew up against the side of the wall, blocking multiple objects from breaking through the wall and killing him. I thank god my family was safe and at home a few miles away. Had they still lived in their apartment (pictured above on the left) the outcome may have been entirely different.

June/July 2011- June and July were busy months. I cleaned out my closets and cabinets to donate to my sisters friends, we celebrated my mom and I's birthdays at the lake and I spent quite a bit of time at home as we began to develop a brand new program for the training team called "Train the Trainer". The goal and purpose was so that each of the National Trainers (4 of us) would have field trainers in all of our districts, helping to ensure we were having good training going on at all times. :)

I also got to go to Portland Oregon for the very first time! The whole time I was there all I could think of was how much Spencer would love it, and decided we just had to return for a vacation together. It's such an extremely beautiful place....

August 2011- In August I spent lots of time at home with Spencer, finishing up paperwork and enjoying being together. We went on date nights every weekend and just loved being together. I also took another trip to St. Louis with my favorite co-workers where we took some time to try on some helmuts at Target!

Nuala in her Kitty helmut!

October 2011- Spencers birthday started out October, and we celebrated by going to Portland together!

We had an amazing time, walked 100 miles and spent time exploring the city, looking at artwork and eating a LOT of food. It was a perfect vacation and an amazing week. We ended up buying lots of great things for our house including new curtains, artwork, and frames! We are still in the process of putting everything up, but its going to be beautiful when we are done!

November 2011- November began a very heavy travel schedule. We begin unrolling the Train the Trainer program we had been working on for 6 months and I LOVED it! So far Train the Trainer has been my favorite part of my job yet, and has left me feeling incredibly happy and accomplished. not to mention i've gotten to stay in some pretty sweet hotels, like this one in Dallas...

Or this one in St. Louis....

It was a wonderful month, and got me excited for Christmas season!

December 2011- December has been a fabulous end to a great year. We decorated our home for the holidays and I actually got to be home with my family for a good 3 weeks. I spent time with Spencer, with my friends and I tried to relax and enjoy it all.

The season of tea also started, and I have filled my days with warm freshly brewed herbal, green and oolong teas while the termperature outside was a little bit balmy. We had a wonderful christmas with my parents and with Spencer's, and in a few days we celebrate the end of 2011, and the beginning of a brand new year together. There will be no big parties or loud fireworks at our home this year. Just Spencer and I with some good drinks, good food and time spent together as man and wife.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

♥

Jenni

Waitin' on Santa Claus

2011-12-16T15:54:00.004-06:00

A co-worker of mine's 7-year old niece wrote and recorded this song with her parents... and I have to say, I think it's just about the cutest thing i've heard all season.

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://cohenburnett.bandcamp.com/track/ive-been-waiting-on-santa-claus-2"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;I've Been Waiting On Santa Claus by cohenburnett&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Happy Holidays Everyone!

♥

Jenni

Platform 9.75

2011-11-07T14:54:00.002-06:00

Its the most wonderful time of the year!

I have been one busy little lady lately... traveling, going to school...it wears on you...Luckily my semester is ALMOST done, and after tonight, my individual presentation will be done and I can focus on my group project! Today is a very dreary day here in KC, and as I work from home I find myself longing for some Harry Potter time....Season 1 baby. LOVE all of the excitement and beauty!

Speaking of the ol' HP....Spencer and I went to his co-workers Harry Potter themed Baby Shower last night, and we did a few things to help out. Spencer made butterbeer! Yup, he got it right! The perfect recipe for a fizzy, butter-scotchy delicious drink! And I made a sign for the entrance... Welcome to Platform 9 3/4....

We created a stencil and sprayed it on a 12x12 piece of plywood. Now I need one for myself since we gave this one to the lady having the baby! (Colors are a little off in the photo but its white, gold and hogwarts express red!)

Other exciting things going on lately.....

♥ I was given a full time permanent position with my company! I have been a contract employee for the past year, and after a wonderful training session that the president witnessed...they opened up a new position for me! YAY!

♥ Spencer and I are finally getting some fun things done around the house and putting some of our artwork on the walls. I'll have to post photos soon. :) It's making everything feel so homey!

♥ Its the most wonderful time of year! I love the fall season as it transitions into winter. The hoodies, the warm beverages and the dreary days spent snuggling. I just LOVE the fall!!!!

I hope everyone has a lovely day!

Wish me luck on my presentation tonight!

♥

Jenni

One year later.

2011-10-24T15:04:00.005-05:00

For 365 days I have been Mrs. Schaub, and it's been amazing.

Yesterday Spencer and I celebrated our one year anniversary.... Where has the time gone?! I feel like just yesterday I was finalizing details and doing final fittings... and now we are a year into our marriage and still as strong as ever. I love my husband more today than I did when we said "I Do", and I know that there are so many more wonderful things coming in the next year.
We spent our day together snuggling with the puppies, buying curtain rods to hang up our new Ikea curtains and relaxing. We ended up going to Hoilihans for dinner, and went to see Real Steel. It was actually a really cute movie! (and the robot animation was truly beautiful)
When the movie was over we came home, and ate our wedding cake. We didn't have high hopes... a year in a freezer typically doesn't end well for cake. Surprisingly, ours was delicious! Lemon vanilla with rich buttercream frosting. It was even still moist! I will be having another piece tonight when I get home from class and i'm excited about it. Once again, my sister-in-law's baking prowess has wowed me! Now I just wish we had some of the pumpkin spice cake and caramel mocha cake!

Now I just wish we were heading off to Mexico like last year!

sigh.... there's always next year!

♥

Jenni

Portland Treasures

2011-10-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

I ♥ Portland!

Two weeks ago Spencer and I spent an amazing week in Portland, Oregon. It rained pretty much the entire time we were there, people filled the streets for Occupy Portland and we walked about 40 miles. It was amazing! The city is just absolutely beautiful. Mountains on one side, and greenery all around. It was perfect hoodie weather (my husbands favorite) and we could see ourselves living there one day.

One corner of the 6000 people who showed up for Occupy Portland.

We spent a lot of our time exploring the city, eating good food and shopping. The Food Carts are AMAZING. We had lamb gyros one day, and I tried Vietnamese Pho for the first time the next! (by the way, Pho is AMAZING! i am in love and was SERIOUSLY missing out!) We went to Deshutes Brew Pub and I fell in love with the Cascadian Ale with its light crisp finish, and then had burgers with Pork Belly on them. We also had seared pork belly, calamari, crap cakes and roasted chickpeas. So much food, but with all the walking we did it didn't really matter to much! Seriously, it was a foodie dream out there!

We of course tried the famous VooDoo Doughnut...and I gotta say...not my favorite... We had the maple bacon doughnut that they are known for and I loved the maple icing, but the bacon should have been chopped finer and incorporated into the icing... having a big strip of fatty bacon that was hard to bite into cleanly was a little difficult. VooDoo doughnuts actual cake however was fabulous! The doughnut base was fluffy and delicious. mmmmm two thumbs up on that one. We tried a few other doughnuts as well...one covered in rice crispies and peanut butter...one in Oreo and peanut butter.... overall, it was just way too much stuff. Definitely more of a novelty than anything. However, We didn't just eat the whole time! ....we also shopped. We hit up local craft shops, Powell's books (AMAZING and so big we got lost!) and we took multiple trips to our favorite place in town... IKEA!

We got two of these large frames from Ikea. They are seriously like 2.5 ft wide

and will be hung in the living room on each side of our television.

I just love this little red Christmas tree!

Spencer and I have a thing for Pasiley.

We bought a dozen of each color to hang on our Christmas tree this year!

We picked up three of these little planters

and in the Spring I plan to fill them with fresh herbs for the kitchen!

On Saturday we went to the famous Saturday Market where we fell in love with these beautiful blown glass vases. The green one we purchased for our home to hang on the wall. The blue one will hang in a window, and we purchased it for my mother-in-law who loved Cobalt Blue....and we even got a Christmas ornament! When the light shines through it its beautiful!

We also found some beautiful new custom artwork for our home!

... and my personal favorite...

Freaking adorable! I just LOVE this print!!!! The Banjo playin fox is my favorite,

but I think all of them are fabulous, and the beaver makes me giggle. :)

and of course no trip to Portland would be complete without a new coffee cup...

We also got new curtains for the living room and bedroom, some containers for the Kitchen and some other odds and ends. Overall, lots of fun things for our home. I'm so excited to add these fun little personal touches that will bring back lots of special memories to the two of us.

In other news... It's our 1 year anniversary on Sunday!!!!

I can't believe its been an entire year of being Mrs. Schaub!

I just love it, and I love my husband more today than ever.

♥ ♥ ♥

Jenni

AKA: Mrs. Schaub

Barbie got inked!

2011-10-18T16:04:00.002-05:00

Toy design Tokidoki has always been my favorite! They make these cute little "Cactus pups" and I just think they are so cute! Well, just recently Tokidoki released the Tokidoki Barbie! She features pink hair, hipster clothes, her very own cactus pup...and tattoos!

Barbie got some ink!

How cute is this?!

Sadly, parents are up in arms and angry about this new doll. They are saying that the tattoos are a bad influence on young impressionable girls...

What do you guys think?

I know I would have LOVED this Barbie when I was little!

♥

Jenni

Thoughts at 3am

2011-09-27T21:44:00.000-05:00

Today I woke up at 3am...

I got ready.

I drove to the airport.

I flew to Las Vegas.

I flew to California.

I got a rental car.

I got lost 3 times.

I ate a salad.

I got lost again.

I made it to the hospital.

I photographed a baby.

18 hours after I woke up....I checked into my hotel.

I am so tired it's hard to see straight right now...

This morning I had a lot of random thoughts.

1. Target Parking lots... How is it that no matter that time it is, there are always about 15 random cars in the parking lot? Target closes at 10 and doesnt open until 9, right? sooo what is with random cars at 4am? Are they filled with love-making teenagers? Are people playing freeze out to see who lasts the longest? Is it a new type of "tent city" for the homeless who have cars?

2. How do people wake up at 4am to run? I mean, I get it that fitness can be fun and all... but really? I have trouble walking in the morning....it takes everything I do to stand up, walk to the coffee maker and turn it on. How on earth do I see more people running than driving at 4am?! Is there some type of early morning running bull? I thought people ran in the morning to run in the daylight, but it is DARK in KC at 4am. No light other than the streetlights... How is that freaking energizing and motivating?!

3. Flying in the morning when its still dark is WEIRD! The flight attendants tell you to kick back and enjoy your nap. The flight is mostly empty so everyone is sacked out across the seats. It's so dark you feel like you are in a big black abyss. No one talks... all you hear is breathing....

4. Flying from Missouri to California, over 2 different time zones and taking a nap is trippy. I took a nap at 6am and woke up to it being 5am! It's like a freaking time machine!!!!!!!!

5. I am NOT a morning person....

6. Coffee at 8am when i've been awake for 5 hours already feels strange.....

It's now 7:30 here in Cali and I am going to pass out until tomorrow...

Good night Neverland!

♥

Jenni

My sister the Artist

2011-09-26T15:08:00.003-05:00

Ever since I was little, I have known my older sister would become an artist.

She just launched her illustration website, after MONTHS of work on her portfolio, and I couldn't be more proud. I hope one of these days to have all of her books lining the walls of my bookshelf.

Amazing isn't she?!!?!

Check our more of her work at www.andiosiek.com

♥

Jenni

One of those mornings....

2011-09-26T13:45:00.004-05:00

I'm having one of those wrong side of the bed mornings...

My legs are so sore I look like an old crippled woman who lost her cane. I think it's from using a different type of machine at the gym....
I went to make my coffee this morning and my bean grinder wouldn't start! I had to use a stick blender thing and so my beans didn't get ground as well as they normally do....
I had lots of emails coming in with requests from the moment I woke up...
I leave for California tomorrow morning SUPER early... which means, I am the the LUCKY recipient of a wake-up call well before the sun even THINKS about rising... . I It's rare that I have such an early flight for work. Usually it's a little closer to 8 or 9 when I head out.

But I don't want to stay all negative this morning...I need some excitement and something to look forward to! Good thing I leave for Portland in a week! It's all I want to think about and I keep finding my mind wandering to what we will do while we are away! I think I want to hit up the famous VooDoo Doughnut, and stop at the Saturday Farmer's Market... I'm IN LOVE with the idea of seeing the International Rose Test Garden and Japanese Garden... but what else should we do while we are there? So far we have a LOT of walking and a LOT of eating on the schedule :) I also found out about this great sounding like bakery/coffeeshop called Random Order Coffee. But it's not the coffee that keeps people coming back.. It's the Pie!

Talk about delicious! This Vanilla Salted Caramel Apple Pie looks like a golden apple among pies and I can't wait to give it a try. I'm not normally a pie person...but for this I think I might have to become one!

Have any of you ever been to Portland?

What was your favorite thing you did while there?

I also got a brand new phone today!!! Spencer was able to upgrade my MyTouch 4g for only $5 to the MyTouch Slide! So now I can type and hopefully not have as many typos... Plus the camera on that baby is fantastic! Now I just need to get it all hooked up and ready to go. :)

My morning has definitely gotten a little bit better as it's gone on. My coffee tastes good, my emails are answered and i'm spending time with my puppies. My phone arrived, and I got some homework done and figured out topics for some upcoming assignments for school! It feels good to be ahead of the same and if all of that weren't enough...Etsy's main page has he CUTEST collection of Halloween goodies this morning that I just fell in love with...

via

I just love Halloween! It's for sure my favorite holiday of them all!

Happy Monday Lovelies!

♥

Jenni

Google Monsters!

2011-09-24T12:46:00.002-05:00

RAWR! I'm going to eat you!!!

It's Jim Henson's Birthday, and that's just what these monsters are going to do!

Google is honoring Mr. Henson with a custom illustration on their main search page Google.com

By clicking on the buttons under each monster you can control where they look and how they interact... But watch out, or the sneaky red monster on the end may just chomp down on the springy little green guy and eat him!

What a fun little discovery to play with while google searching Portland, Oregon this morning!

♥

Jenni

RAWR!!!

2011-09-23T13:10:00.002-05:00

To all of those who are lucky enough to own an iPad....

these are the coolest wallpapers I've seen in awhile!

(I know my nephew would be a huge fan as well!)

Find them here

♥

Jenni

Fall

2011-09-23T10:58:00.005-05:00

Fall has arrived! I love mornings like this. Wake up, have some delicious coffee (Pumpkin creamer is out in stores! YAY!) Be VERY productive and get a lot done quickly, snuggle on the couch and enjoy the crisp air coming in through the open windows. It's still quiet in my neighborhood. The kids haven't run outside to play yet, power tools are silenced and it's nice to just sit still and enjoy it.

Today I plan to go get some vaccinations for my trip next week to California (I swear, I've had to get about 35 vaccines this year to work in hospitals), hit the gym and then come home to cuddle and watch Grays Anatomy! I recorded it, but I knew Spencer would not love the idea of sitting through a 2 hour show so I waited until it was just me and the puppies. :)

A few other things are giving me smiles this morning....

I have lost 5 lbs this week! Drinking lots of water, eating healthy and exercising really does work when you do it right I guess!
Spencer and I leave in a week and a half for our vacation in Portland! I can't wait! I just KNOW he is going to LOVE it there! I think i'm the most excited about taking him to Southpark, a mediteranean style seafood restraunt. When I was there this Spring for work I went and had roasted chickpeas with lemon and mint... it was PHENOMENAL! I just can't wait for him to try them!
Halloween filling the aisles of Target. I simply LOVE Halloween decor! Not the creepy scary stuff, but the cute little ghosts and candy dishes!
My friend Lacey is getting married and having a bridal shower next weekend! I need to go shopping soon and she is registered at a great little local kitchen store. It will be so much fun to look around and find her gift.

So any big plans this weekend? I plan to just relax, clean the house a bit and spend time with the puppies! Maybe we'll even go to the park!

♥

Jenni

Gorgeous

2011-09-22T14:01:00.003-05:00

Today is a beautiful day. The sky is a brilliant blue, I've caught up on the majority of my work and Spencer is home! He's downstairs working on his scooter while I do some organization and cleaning up of stuff for work. Feels nice to have my head above water for a little bit! I just love days like this. Clean house, Relaxed, Organized... it feels fantastic!

In addition there is a big pot of chili simmering in the crock pot, and I might have picked up some pumpkin bread mix from Trader Joes... Chili, warm baked bread and a cool fall night. Sounds like the perfect opening for the Greys Anatomy season premiere!!!! I am so excited! and Project Runway! How much better could it get?

Some other things making me happy today...

My green citronella candlepots from Crate & Barrel came today! I got them on clearance for $4 each!

Express is having it's annual Clearance sale! All of these items were 60% off PLUS an additional 20%!

I have lost 3 lbs this week! I made it back to the gym, have been eating healthy foods and drinking LOTS of water. AND I did it without giving up my coffee! Some things just can't be sacrificed.....

I will be in Sacramento California next week....and then Spencer and I are off to Portland, Oregon!!!

I am soooo excited I can hardly stand it! (Now I just need to get the hotel booked!)

So how is everyone else doing on this beautiful Thursday?

♥

Jenni

So happy it's Wednesday!

2011-09-21T11:46:00.000-05:00

Its a nice chilly morning here in Kansas City and i'm cuddled up under my blankets doing some work, watching How I Met your Mother and drinking some delicious coffee. Soon enough it will be lunchtime and I am excited to have a pear and blue cheese salad! So delicious, and when sprinkled with olive oil and balsamic it makes the perfect healthy treat for fall! I think I might just be addicted.... :)

Fall premieres from last night....

New Girl!

Such a cute show!! I think it's only going to get better each week, and I think Zoey was FABULOUS! She did remind me quite a bit of her sister Emily from time to time. Bones is another show i just love and can't wait for the premiere of.

Raising Hope

Was wonderful as always. I love Sabrina's new haircut this season, and I think its wonderful that they are embracing Hope growing up! She's a toddler now, and the show is still just as great! Adorable little girl!

and we finally watched Two Broke Girls.....

Two Broke Girls

So disappointing! I wanted this show to be good... I REALLY like Kat Dennings....

Unfortunately the show felt like it was filled with a bunch of one-liners, the laugh track was annoying and in my husbands words, "they should have paid someone to write more than 2 bars of track.... In other words, the theme music was annoying and was repeated about 6x throughout the show to change between scene....2 bars of cheesy 90's musical filler.... sigh.... I might give this one another try in hopes that Kat will pull the show together, but I dunno....I'm just not amused right now....

Tonight Spencer gets off work and will be home a little earlier than usual. My plan is to work hard this afternoon, run to the gym (and run AT the gym haha) hit up Target, Trader Joe's and then come home to relax with some dinner and Wednesday night tv! It's going to be a good night with...

The Middle

Up All Night

Free Agents

America's Next Top Model

Model Family

Top Chef: Just Deserts

AND Revenge!

So what shows are you all looking forward to tonight?

♥

Jenni

Sometimes there just isn't enough time...but who cares?! It's Fall!!!!!!!!

2011-09-20T15:38:00.002-05:00

I have felt the minutes ticking by for the past few weeks. I started my classes for the semester (4 more to go until my Masters Degree!) and my work has been so crazy I sometimes work from 9am to 9pm with no break in sight... sigh...the life of a working lady... I miss unemployment when I was able to go to the gym, plan my wedding and spend time with my family..... In addition, I have also been working on editing photos of a dance troop I take pictures of a few weeks ago so that has been consuming my hours as well...tick tock tick tock, right?

Today is a a little bit of a warmer day, buts its finally Fall here in KC!!!!! There are so many things to be excited about!!!!! For one...there's this little beauty.....

I know I know...the calories are crazy!...Well, I say I'll eat more salads and drink my calories! Don't you just hate that when you are enjoying one of your favorite treats and all people can do is remind you how many calories are in it and how bad it is for you?! It's not like i'm hooked up to a freaking IV with the stuff! .....and one a week isn't too bad anyways, right? ....or sometimes maybe 2? haha. And I am stoked to say I found this little delicious recipe for homemade pumpkin spice syrup that I think I really NEED to try out sometime soon!!! 1/3 of the sugar? heck yeah! Also, Hello Fall Primetime TV!!!!!!! The shows began their yearly trickle into my primetime lineup last night, and I have to say...It's looking to be a gloriously entertaining season!!!!

First up...

How I met your Mother!!!

Seriously, I wish I could be friends with these people! They are just so fabulous and I LOVE this show! I got hooked on it this past summer so I haven't seen last season yet, just the reruns played on a number of different channels.... I have to say, the first episode starting out with a wedding has me freaked out! Did I miss something guys?! I think it might be a teaser for the season... It definitely got me excited!

Next up....

The Playboy Bunny Club

Freaking wow I love it!!! And talk about motivation to get in shape..holy moly! This show is going to be a hit! And did anyone else notice that the little "chocolate bunny" is none other than the SAME bunny to appear in Mad Men when they went to the Playboy Club!? I wonder if they saw her on Mad Men and said, hmmm we have GOT to have her! I mean, the girl does look fabulous! What a fantastic addition to a Monday night!

and then of course....

Castle!

I haven't seen the premiere yet, but I just LOVE this show and can't wait to watch it with the hubby when he is off of work! hmmmm could it be the season for Beckett and Castle to admit they love each other?! I hope so!!!

and my wildcard...

2 Broke Girls

Another one Spencer and I never made it to last night, I am kind of excited about this one! I love the brunette actress who is in it and I think her sarcastic spirit will be perfect for the role. Can't wait to watch it!!!!

Tonights agenda of fabulous TV includes....

New Girl (I think everyone is dying to see this one!)

Raising Hope (One of my FAVS from last season)

Body of Proof (I'll give it another shot...)

and soon enough we will add...

Last Man Standing

Man Up

I know a lot of people are excited about Glee and Dancing with the Stars for tonight... but I just can't get into those shows....I guess im not a Musicals kinda gal. I tried watching it from the beginning...but not my cup o tea....

Spencer will be home tonight at about 8pm, so my plan is to have a fabulous dinner waiting... I'm thinking some nice baked lemon chicken with a pear and goat cheese salad... and maybe some steamed asparagus with cherry tomatoes... We'll see what the mood strikes :)

I hope everyone has a fabulous Tuesday night!!!!!

♥

Jenni

cutie patooties!

2011-08-31T11:16:00.000-05:00

Today at work while I wait for a mom to arrive with her baby for photographs, I spent my time looking at cute baby photography....which led to a hunt for cute baby accessories... They have so many cute things it almost makes ME want to have a kid! (key word: almost...)


via

via


via

via


via

via

heeheehee...too cute right?! I love my job...

♥

Jenni

Movie Mayhem!

2011-08-21T21:56:00.000-05:00

It's no big secret that Spencer and I LOVE going to the movies. A great night out for us is dinner, good conversation and a movie to end out our night. While we have seen some GREAT ones this summer... Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Captain America, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Green Lantern, Cowboys and Aliens, X-Men: First Class, Thor, Super 8, Transformers... the list could go on!.... I just can't wait for the movies coming out this Fall!

Not to mention all of the movies in production right now for 2012! YIKES!

Happy Monday everyone!!!

♥
Jenni

Wednesday

2011-08-17T17:12:00.000-05:00

I can't believe it is almost September. I feel like just yesterday I was celebrating the new year with close friends and family. I have a feeling this year will be over before I can bat my eyelashes. I will be beginning my 7th class toward my Master's degree (only 5 classes to go), I will be helping to unveil an entirely new program at my work. taking an amazing vacation with my husband to Portland, Oregon and I will be celebrating my one year anniversary to my amazing husband.

Even if I have reason to get frustrated at times, my house is less than clean and I don't know which way to look i'm so busy... I am blessed. I can't wait for fall. To relax, kick back and think about all of the things I am thankful for.

I find Fall to be a time of renewel. Some people feel like Spring is the beginning of fresh ideas. Spring cleaning, new life..Spring seems to be everyone's go to when they think of a fresh start. To me, spring is the beginning of summer...filled with allergies...and it starts to get hot.... Fall is where it's at.

Beautiful scenery, cool breezes, nights spent on the patio just talking to my husband. I simply adore the fall!

I just can't wait to see this!!!

♥

Jenni

wiggle wiggle

2011-08-15T23:13:00.000-05:00

I am officially a bookworm!

I made a goal at the beginning of the year... a resolution of sorts

to finish 50 books by the end of the year 2011.

Well ladies... I am on my 50th book right now!!!

Granted, some of the books i've read were quick reads... but still...50!

(There are a few more, but they didn't fit)

What should I read next?!?

I already read The Hunger Games last year, and LOVED it!

A few books on my list are:

Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

Room, by Emma Donoghue

Matched, by Ally Condie

A Homemade Life, by Molly Wizenberg

The Jack Reacher series, by Lee Child

One Day, by David Nicholls

Smokin' Seventeen, by Janet Evanonvich

Any other suggestions?! Nothing is jumping out to me at the moment and I want a book that I just can't put down! Even old classics would be fun to read. :)

♥

Jenni

Packin' my bags!

2011-08-15T09:21:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Spencer and I got tickets to Portland!
We will be there from October 4-9. Right over Spencer's 28th Birthday!

I am sooo excited! I think Portland is one of the most beautiful cities I have visited in years,

and I can't wait to take Spencer there and see it with me!

Right now there are only a few things on our must see list...

Deschutes Brewery

We are going to the "mecca of beers" so what trip would be complete without a brewery stop?

Southpark Seafood

I went here when I was in town a few weeks ago, and I HAVE to take Spencer back for, among other things, the roasted chickpea appetizer with lemon and mint! AMAZING!

Portland Farmers Market

It's famous! We have to go!

Portland International Rose Test Garden

Such a beautiful place :)

VooDoo Doughnut!

Bacon on a doughnut?! I have GOT to see this place!

Amazing how everything so far pretty much revolves around food... haha!

Where else should we make sure to visit?!

♥

Jenni

I am electrically challenged

2011-08-02T21:36:00.000-05:00

No joke... in the last few weeks I have:

Pulled a camera out of my purse, had my work phone get tangled in the cord and watched it somersault through the air in slow motion landing PERFECTLY in a big cup of vodka lemonade... I mean, if I hadn't ruined the phone, it would have been the coolest thing I have ever seen...
LOST my internet card for work! I have looked high and low and the damn thing can NOT be found! It's driving me absolutely bonkers
Had my work printer get a paper jam, and promptly REFUSE to be repaired! My husband and I have both spent time trying to repair it, but our only success is that it has started printing half of a page before it goes....dead....

It's been ROUGH ladies! I think part of it easily can be attributed to the fact that I am a zombie trekking across the USA. I went from spending a full week in Denver Colorado which was all in all EXHAUSTING. I worked about 13 hour days and didn't stop until around midnight each night, martini in hand. After that, I headed to Portland, Oregon which completely just blew me away! It was an astonishingly beautiful city, so lush and green and gorgeous...I had so much fun, explored the city a bit and took lots of photos! I intended to share those photos...but then I got sent to Omaha Nebraska! Now, Kansas City is only about 3 hours from Omaha, so I decided to drive.... yeah.... I forgot that the entire midwest is FLOODED! I had to drive all the way up to Iowa and over to Omaha! It took me a rousing 6 hours! The week was a disaster, with one dissapoint after another... the only saving grace was that I got to spend it with my good friend Nuala! My boss sent the two of us.. I think she predicted it would be a disaster and didn't want either of us to spend it alone....

So I came back from Omaha, had to write a 15 page paper about the events that happened there...and promptly boarded a plane at 6am monday to head out to Chicago Illinois! The entire team met in Chicago to unveil a new program we are doing, and so I spent a week in classrooms and hospitals, led a full 5 hour classroom for 10 photographers, a regional director, 2 district managers and my entire team! I apparently did a phenomenal job and am ecstatic at how everything ended up :) After that I was sent, yet again, to Chicago.... it was a long week, lots of sad news...but I digress.

This week I am back in Kansas City, preparing lots of paperwork based off of our trial in Chicago. If all goes according to plan I get to be here for 3 full weeks before heading out to St. Louis!!!! I am soooo happy right now. Enjoying time with the hubby, getting a LOT of things accomplished and getting back to the gym...because damn girl... I need it!

Other highlights of the past few weeks:

♥ Being so tired I would laugh and cry at random moments.

♥ Meeting a guy in a hotel bar in a small town outside of Chicago, who recognized me as being the photographer who took pictures of his newborn in a small town in Texas back in March! Who also told me I was ridiculously awesome and an amazing trainer! He even pulled out his phone, which had the photos on it, to show me!

♥ Cocktails poolside reading a good book.

♥ Celebrating my 27th birthday, with my husband enjoying a delicious meal and getting a beautiful brand new bed! (photos to come soon!)

♥ Sweltering in this RIDICULOUS heat wave!!!!

♥ Starting, and finishing, my 7th grad school class! Only 5 to go and I have a Masters degree! The end is in sight

So happy to be home!

♥

Jenni

Mama's got a brand new bed!

2011-07-26T22:11:00.000-05:00

I turned 27 this past weekend, and my husband completely blew me away with a brand new bed!

Ever since Spencer and I moved in together we have wanted to get a new bed, and on my birthday I opened a card with a photo of this beauty! It arrives this upcoming weekend and I simply CAN NOT wait! I want to snuggle into the new bed with Spencer, forget all about this past week and relish in our beautiful little nest. :)

Time...

2011-07-25T21:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my 27th birthday. It was amazing and wonderful, and I spent it with my husband and my puppies. I couldn't ask for anything better. He is the person I want to spend my every moment with.

Today I flew to Chicago, and I planned to post about the exciting things i've done, places i've been and people i've seen... but, then I got some terrible news.

A good friend of mine from college passed away yesterday. I haven't spoken to him in years, but many of my favorites memories from those 4 years he has a starring role in. He was a truly special guy, with a smile that was simply infectious. He passed away in the early morning as his apartment building caught on fire. He and his girlfriend were the only casualties.

All day long I've been hit with waves of grief...which is difficult to mask when you spend your days photographing babies. Emotions are rampant in rooms, and from time to time I just had to turn my brain off.

Life is just so short. Today I want nothing more than to be home with Spencer. To hug my puppies, to kiss my husband and to just lie there in bed together. I just want to be with him....

A Freaking Small World!

2011-07-07T20:41:00.000-05:00

Tonight is my last night in Portland, so I wanted to make sure I went out and tried some delicious food. I looked up a few restaurants and just started walking. When I made it to Jake's Famous Crawfish restaurant, I decided it was perfect and went on inside.

I was seated at a lovely little table with some fresh sourdough bread, and when the waitress arrived to get my drink order she looked down at my necklace (the one I recently bought that is shaped like the state of Missouri) and said, "Is that Missouri?" I told her it was and she told me she was from Missouri. I told her I was from Kansas City, and she said she was from a small town right next to Kansas City! I asked her what town that was, and she said Independence! Holy freaking cow, I was born and raised in Independence, Missouri! She ended up having graduated from the same high school I attended, and one of the homes she lived in was only about 1 mile from my home I grew up in! We're talking, "go to the Aldi's and it's a few blocks down by the doughtnut shop" close! What a small world! As if I needed more reason as to why Portland is an amazing city! (And she gave me an AMAZING crab cake to try for free because I couldn't choose between that or the Salmon!

What a fabulous city!

I can't wait to bring my husband back here!

♥

Jenni

Portland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-07-05T21:05:00.000-05:00

Today I flew into Portland Oregon for work

and it is the most beautiful place I have ever been!!!!

I Absolutely Love it here!!!

I just wish I didn't have to work....

Where are some must go to spots?

I will only have nights really,

but I would love to get a good meal while i'm here. :)

Spencer and I are also taking a vacation here in the fall!!!

Send those suggestions ladies!

Moments from the past week

2011-06-06T13:06:00.000-05:00

I'm back!

This past week I was working in KC from home all week.

It was magnificent, and I stepped away from the online word almost entirely to spend time with the husband.

♥ We saw some great movies at the theater. Sunday night has kind of become our unofficial date night, and we spend it going to dinner together and catching a flick. It is Officially Summer Movie Season! Last weekend we saw The Hangover II, and this weekend... X-Men First Class! Two VERY different movies, but two really great ones as well!

January Jones as Emma Frost.... Talk about reason to work out!

♥ We watched a lot of movies at home too! The Town (2 stars....not very great at all... The premise was good, the acting and script were AWFUL), Avatar (4 stars...We liked it, but it was kind of a grown-up version of FernGully), No Strings Attached (5 stars and SUPER cute), Salt (5 stars! Great movie!) and The Sorcerer's Apprentice (4 stars. Pretty cute!)

♥ On Friday we went out an bought a new camera. Our old one ended up breaking, and I like to have just a little point and shoot for going out. (Instead of hauling my DSLR around). We had to empty the battery life on it so we could condition it, so we took lots of photos of the dogs to play around with all it has to offer!

My sweet little models :)

♥ I also did a lot of relaxing and reading this past week. I finished up the Dragongirl Tattoo series, and started on the Sookie Stackhouse series. It's the books that True Blood were based off of, and now i'm very curious to watch the tv show! I'm on the second book in the series right now. Most of the time I read outside, and work on my tan while doing it. So it's been nice to get a little bit darker. :)

♥ I ended up purchasing a few more of the items that have been sitting in my Etsy favorites cart for quite some time. Favorites that I know I would HATE if they disappeared and ran out of stock on them! I can't wait for them both to come in the mail soon!

via Nan Lawson

via Anemone Jewelry

This is a big week. Tomorrow morning I head out to St. Louis for 4 days for work, and today is my first day back at Grad School! I am taking an online course about Social Media, and i'm so excited to get done with school! To graduate I have to complete 12 classes, and this is my 7th! So only 5 more to go after this! Social Media should be a fun class, and I hope to find out some great new tools that I can pass along to my company to use! And I LOVE that I can take the class online!!! The rest of today is going to be dedicated to getting laundry done, packing my bags, printing out paperwork and getting ready to leave in the morning. Although, I do think ill take a break in a bit, get some reading done and enjoy some coffee I have placed in the fridge that is getting ice cold! I hope everyone has a great week!!!! It's nice to be back :)

♥
Jenni

Not my best week

2011-05-26T23:48:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow morning I will wake-up, pack my bags, go to work and then head to the airport.

I get to go home!

I have never had a week where I missed my husband more, or just wanted to get a hug from him. Tornadic storms went over my neighborhood where 2 tornadoes dropped down. No damage was reported from what I hear, but I was thousands of miles away when it happened. I hated not being there to give my husband a kiss, and my dogs a snuggle. I am bored this week. It's been raining and freezing cold all week long, and I have had no desire to go out in it to explore the city. I spend my nights watching the news reports and all they talk about is the Joplin tornado, the Oklahoma tornado and the bad weather the country is experiencing.

I told my sister I hated that I was so far from home with everything going on, and she told me she was glad I was so far away from it all..... but, it's driving me absolutely crazy to not be home! To be isolated in an area that thinks tornadoes happen all of the time, and don't understand how rare all of this is. I just want to go home and get a hug. I've been taking naps in the afternoon because I can't sleep at night, which makes it harder to sleep at night, and worse to wake up in the morning. I have only been here since Tuesday, and I feel i've been here for 2 weeks non-stop. It's unrelenting, slow and never-ending.

On the bright side, I had some good chinese food...

and I finally ordered a necklace that i've had bookmarked since last year...

I have wanted it since I began my job so that I could wear it with pride on all of my travels, but now it will always be a reminder to embrace everyday, and tell my family I love them. Thank god it's friday, and I can leave this week behind me. AND I get to be home all week long in KC! A whole week with my hubby and my puppies! I simply can not wait!!!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone is doing well.

♥

Jenni

Light at the end of the Rainbow

2011-05-24T12:43:00.001-05:00

I have just arrived in Detroit, for a second week at the hospitals out here...

I'm so emotional today.
I just want to get back on that plane and go home to Spencer.

To hug him and not let go.

Luckily, I get to spend a whole week in KC next week with my pups and the hubby.

It seems like everytime I look at the news, facebook, my email or even just my phone I am reminded of what happened in Joplin. With bad weather approaching the Joplin area, as well as Kansas City, today I am on pins and needles, nervous for the next bout of Mother Nature's fury. I don't know what I will do...

My sister is distraught. She spends her moments on the edge of her seat trying to find something to do, or hear the newest name in the death toll count. Today she is leaving my nephew with neighbors and heading into town to assist in the recovery efforts. I wish I were there to help.... Below are photos of one of my sister's best friends homes. Her husband rode out the storm in the bathtub, and when he looked up he saw sky....

It's difficult to grasp. Ever since I was little we would have 4-5 tornado warnings a year. Each month the sirens are tested... you learn to tune them out. I remember two years ago I would get angry as the news report interrupted my favorite shows... everyone in Missouri seems to have an indifference to the sirens. We know we live in a dangerous area, we know there is a good chance that a tornado will strike, but we don't imagine that it will ever actually be that bad. We have had a few over the years. One will drop down and destroy an Arby's or a soccer field in town, but that's about it They drop down, destroy a building or two and go away. I never thought I would see the day that I saw the destruction the movies are made of so close to home....

My nephew was born in this hospital... it looks so surreal.. like a movie set....

Before my sister and brother-in-law bought their home they lived on the 3rd floor of these apartments...

They were a really beautiful place to live...

Main Street...

My thoughts are with Joplin, my sister and my family right now... They will be coming into KC this weekend and I can't wait to give them all a big hug and try to help them relax for just a little bit, and leave all the sorrow behind....

Give your loved ones a hug and tell them you love them...

You never know what could happen tomorrow.

♥

Jenni

Geez...

2011-05-23T08:15:00.000-05:00

I wish Mother Nature would give us a break already! I know we haven't exactly treated her with kindess over the years, but it's getting ridiculous....Yesterday a tornado struck my sister's town, Joplin, Missouri. My brother-in-law, newphew and her are all ok with no damage to their home, but others were not as lucky. 20% of the city has been decimated, which includes about 75% of the main portion of town. The death toll is sitting at 89 and rising. The high school, the hospital, dozens of restaurants and the homes of at least 3 of my sister's friends have all been flattened by the tornado that left a 6 mile long path of destruction...

I just hope that this is the last of nature's fury for awhile....

Its here!

2011-05-21T15:30:00.001-05:00

If this is the end of the world... Well I just don't know what all that fire and brimstone business was about... Absolutely BEAUTIFUL day!!!

Wednesday Wonders

2011-05-18T19:23:00.000-05:00

This week is brought to you by intoxication.

I'm not intoxicated...

but a nice glass of wine would really hit the spot right now..

Wether you want a cute bottle for your next party, or just love giving out unique gifts,

Swanson Vineyards has got you covered!

Check out this wine, with a message...

I just love them!
Now, I wonder how they taste....

♥

Jenni

2011-05-17T21:34:00.000-05:00

I am absolutely exhausted...

I had to be up this morning at 4am to make it to the airport in time.

I boarded my plane, and arrived in Detroit, Michigan at noon!

I am actually staying in a little town outside of Michigan called Port Huron. It's a little town about an hour and a half from Detroit, and 1 mile from Canada! I passed "the Bridge to Canada" as I was driving around looking for the hospital this afternoon. So far, my opinion of Michigan is that, A...It's freaking cold! B....it's kind of dreary...It's been a rough day. Problems with installing software, so I basically wasted an entire day...

On the brightside of things though...

♥ I am officially over halfway through this book!

It is mesmorizing. I find myself thinking about it when I have placed it down, and looking forward to the next time I pick it up. It's a very intelligent book, and takes full concentration to fully realize the depth of what is going on. I think I will most likely have it finished this week!

♥ I got to spend my Monday with my favorites!

While Spencer and Mia we're snoozin....

Betty and I were cuddling!

♥ We found a great new show on Netflix!

Sons of Tuscon is fabulous!

Sadly, it only experienced one season... but it's a good one!

♥ I got tacos, AND a nap tonight!

Now, THAT is something to be excited about!

It's raining outside tonight, but I heard on the radio it should go up to the 70's this week. If it does I think I might just have to go for a nice little walk down the boardwalk, or down to the Michigan beaches. I hope everyone is having a great monday and staying warm!!!!!!!

♥

Jenni

Cloud 11

2011-05-16T15:26:00.000-05:00

Things have been so wonderful in my life lately.

It seems like I am finally doing a job that I was meant to do.

Over the past two weeks, I have been flooded with compliments!

♥ First, I contacted my boss about working in grad school around my schedule in the Fall. That I could leave every Tuesday and be home for class on Mondays. She not only said that she thinks it's a brilliant idea...she then responded saying that she would work around ANYTHING to keep me! That I am too valuable to the team to lose!

♥ Then, a new hire that I trained ended up breaking her goal by 140% in her first week after working with me! The Regional Director for the area was elated, and emailed a glowing report to me, my boss AND the president of the company! All of them then responded telling me how great I am doing and thanking me.
♥ Then if that weren't enough, I got another warm-fuzzy email today. I had been planning to work from KC te first week of June, but my boss emailed me and said that I had been requested personally to come back into St. Louis that week and do some work! My boss said that the director was disapointed I was already booked, but she understood that I had things to do, and that she just loves me! I ended up working some things out, so I will be in STL the first week of June, and in KC the following week... It's nice to be loved! :)

The only drawback to this job is that I miss my husband like crazy when I am away. The last few weeks have been amazing though. Spencer and I have lots of quality time when I am home. Watching movies, having lovely dinner together and cuddling with our puppies. I just love coming home to my little family. :)

♥

Jenni

A cure for cancer!?

2011-05-16T12:31:00.001-05:00

Cancer has a cure!

And it has for a full week!


via

Last week, researchers at the University of Alberta in Canada announced that they had found a cure for Cancer. And it's simple! The cure utilizes a basic drug that is already on the market. Dichloroacetate, a drug currently used to treat metabolic disorders, is widely available. It does not have a patent, and is therefore widely available and very affordable. In tests, it was successful in curing lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but not affected the healthy cells at all. In tests on rats, it shrank tumors by being mixed into water! But don't take my word for it! This article says it MUCH better than me! So why doesn't everyone know about this?! Why aren't we celebrating in the streets and shouting it from the rooftops?! Why? Because the drug doesn't have a patent, and so drug companies won't make any money!a RIDICULOUS!

You can read more about the original research materials HERE.

♥

Jenni

Wednesday Wonders

2011-05-11T21:18:00.000-05:00

I've had this stubborn goat bookmarked for quite some time. I just love it!

You can find it here!

The shop that sells it is called Sleek Identity,

What a great eclectic little shop, with such unique find!

Like this Trojan Horse!

hehehehe

Oh deer! It's a coat rack!

Is it a sticker? Is it a lamp?! This is Crazy!

Ok...this is too much. hahaha

A wannabe Table?

Open up wide! Here comes the airplane!

Coo Koo!

Nice Bulb...

...and then there was this....

well... you win some...you lose some...

For $1000 I think I might just have to pass on it. :)

Have a Fabulous day!!!

♥

Jenni

A Weekend with my Hunny

2011-05-10T18:58:00.000-05:00

Oh, The Places I go...

Purchase this beautiful print here!

This week I am coming to you from my lovely room in Crystal Lake, Illinois! About an hour outside of Chicago. It's a pretty little town with lots of beautiful spring blooms everywhere! But more on that later...

This weekend was wonderful. I got to spend lots of time with the husband, and we had a really lovely weekend. On Friday night I came home to a delicious dinner cooking in the kitchen. The most tender piece of chicken I have ever eaten, topped with a slow cooked mixture of thinly sliced asparagus, porcini mushroom and black olive. It was melt in the mouth AMAZING. After that, we had a desert of caramel filled cookies!


If you haven't tried these...DO IT...NOW!

Saturday we spent the morning lying in bed. When we finally rolled around to start our day, we decided to go to our favorite antique shop in town for the day! Our first objective was to find a mothers day gift. But, the second was to replace my favorite milk glass chicken that was passed down from my grandmother. He accidentally broke it a few weeks back, and we knew we had seen a twin to it at the store at one point!
After walking through about 1/3 of the store... we found her!

The little chicken lifts up from the nest. We often use it when we are cooking things as a spoon rest. :)

and then we found a little brass turtle...a "box turtle"! (The shell opens up to hide treasures!)

People in the midwest really do NOT get rid of anything. Everyone has a basement, or an attic, so when relatives pass on the family will sell off all of the special treasures. And they are usually at really great prices! (My turtle was only $8) We shopped for about 3 hours, going up and down each and every aisle... Some of the things we saw were awesome! And some a little bit strange...

A Peacock Tiffany lamp...

A creepy wall of heads!

Lady and Gentleman lamp stands....

An "un-opened" Home Test Kit... I love that is has to specify it's "Non-Invasive"

Freaking adorable little trio of brass owls... and a pony and camel!

It's not the Midwest wthout a "tasteful" tribute to America....

Milk Glass Pineapple anyone?

More chickens! Although, much bigger than my little cutie!

Cookie Jars Galore... Spencer liked the cat hugging a fish :)

A real stuffed Roosted under glass.... yeah.... no words....

Any movie from the 90's that you could ever wish to find.. On VHS!

...And the creme de la creme....

A custom metal chandelier in an ode to wheat!

Fantastic place, isn't it?

When we got done shopping, we decided a movie was in order. So we went back home to let the dogs prance around the backyard for a little while, and then got tickets to a 10:30 showing of Thor!

GREAT MOVIE!!!!!!!!!

The set design was beautiful, the story was engaging...and Thor was UBER sexy.... yowza...those eyes!

I don't know what it is about a little scruff and some bright blue eyes....

Sexy.

It was a WONDERFUL night with my hubby.

Sunday we did some gardening for Mothers Day and spent time with the in-laws. We had a really great night, and got to catch up on things. The puppies came too, and they were SOOOO excited to see Grandma and Grandpa! We had a little photo session in the car as we drove over. They are so funny, and always know when we are getting closer. They can sense it and just start getting so excited about everything!

Monday I had the day off and I spent it with my mom. The morning was filled with paperwork, but at 2:00 I met her at the local outdoor mall by my house. We went to American Eagle where I hit a FABULOUS sale and got lots of great stuff!

All for under $100!!!!

I love shopping :)

After we were done, mom and I headed down to get pedicures.

It felt SOOOO good, especially after all the squats I did pulling weeds the day before.

My legs still hurt today, but she worked out quite a few muscles in my leg yesterday for sure!

I can't wait to go home and do more fun things with the hubby this weekend!

♥

Jenni

Eating.

2011-05-05T22:14:00.000-05:00

I am a lucky lady!

Typically my job doesn't find me near another co-worker for miles!

But last week in Dallas, and this week in St. Louis I got to meet up with some co-workers and my boss!

Tonight, I headed from Alton, IL into downtown STL!

A 30 minute drive,

and a HORRIBLE highway where the speed kept changing from 50 to 60 to 55 to 40 etc.

I arrived at the downtown Lumiere Casino, and The Burger Bar.
A West-Coast based eatery from Hubert Keller,

the burger bar lets you create the burger of your dreams, from only the BEST ingrediants!

I forgot my camera, but this photo is of one of the signature burgers!

I built my burger using "natural-fed" beef from a local farm, on a fresh wheat bun.

I added fresh avocado, provolone cheese, carmelized onions and button mushrooms.

It was FABULOUS!

My boss also got some apps for the table

Green Bean fries! YAY! I have actually been craving them lately!

It was such a great night! We ate, we talked, we laughed, we exchanged stories from our travels... and there might have been a joke or two in the direction of the attractive young male servers whose shirts were emblazoned with the phrase, "Fresh Meat". And the French Kiss cocktails, and Dirty Bloody Marys definitely helped! I also had the opportunity to meet the one trainer who I haven't met yet. I have now officially met all of the other National Trainers, and every single one of them is simply fabulous. I love that I love my job, and I love the people I work with! Everyone I meet is so nice!

Tomorrow I will be doing some training in the morning, and then I might come back to the hotel for a swim before I head home. It's a food 4 hours drive from St. Louis to Kansas City, but I am hoping to arrive home by around 6-7pm. I am crossing my fingers for a fabulous meal there too! My hubby has been working on making his own Immersion Circulator for a few months now, and today he finished it! It's basically a tool you can use in the kitchen to cook very tender meats. The Circulator regulates the temperature of a self-enclosed water bath, and you can take vacumn sealed meats, place them inside and cook them at an even temperature for a long time, to make fall-off-the-bone DELICIOUS chicken, ribs, steak, etc. He tried it out tonight for the first time, cooking a piece of chicken for dinner....

Mmmmm looks delicious! According to him it's "Sweet Jesus" good. Hope he has a fabulous something cookin' up for us to have tomorrow! I can't wait to see him and the girls!!! Spencer put me on speakerphone today so the girls could hear my voice. Betty didn't respond to her own name, but when I said "Mia!" Betty perked up instead! Sometimes I really think she's slightly brain damaged.... but at least she is cute!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Friday, a wonderful weekend and a merry Mothers Day!

♥

Jenni

Wednesday Wonders

2011-05-04T20:25:00.001-05:00

Today, I bring to you an artist who creates unimaginably beautiful art

with just white paper, and everyone's favorite tool, the x-acto knife!

Sara of White Papers Press

Sara, who has lived in the UK, Canada and now the USA creates beautiful art by cutting shapes out of paper. According to her own biography, "She loves how unequivocally non-digital this craft is. It’s the opposite of technology. It’s raw, simple, soft, tangible and breathtaking." A Master of Fine Arts graduate from San Fransisco's Academy of Art College, she has designed for IDEO, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware and Levi's.

All images via White Papers Press

♥

Jenni

Chillin' at the Holiday Inn

2011-05-03T21:59:00.000-05:00

Where am I this Week?

This week I am in Alton, Illinois... which is right outside of St. Louis, Mo!

When I travel for work I always book through Priceline. I name my own price, and shoot for the star rating I want, in the area I want to stay. I stay at a LOT of Holiday Inn's. Sometimes, they are great...Sometimes, they are falling apart. There really is no common thread between them all.

Luckily, this week's Holiday Inn isn't too shabby!

It's a little outdated (tube tv and worn-out dresser), the carpet has lost a little bit of its plushness....

but the bed is comfy, and they have a nice pool, hot tub AND sauna!

A 40 minute swim followed by a 10 minute hot sauna is fabulous!

Makes it a little easier to put up with the out of date look of the place.

Although, not as cool as the Holiday Inn pool from last week!!!

Jets, rock border and a waterfall coming down from the hot tub. It was nice :)

Now, i'm relaxing in my comfy bed, and I have to admit...

I am officially OBSESSED with "The Voice"!

It's so fantastic! I love the judges are blind to who the singer is, until they choose them. I have never been a fan of American Idol... but there is something about the anticipation with this show. The voices are AMAZING, and my heart beats a little faster each time I wait for a judge to hopefully turn around! Such a great feel-good show. I think American Idol is finally going down, and will be replaced by this fantastic new show. Although, I am curious if I will still like it once the teams have been chosen and the suspense is gone....

This weekend I finished a fantastic book.

I hadn't wanted to read it. I actually had already begun reading it once, and I put it down. Second time was a charm. While I found myself irritated throughout many parts of the book, it really kept my attention. A total roller coaster of emotion, and I have to admit that I REALLY want to see the movie now! It does help that Ms. Kate Hudson is in a starring role... I just love her in chick flicks! When she ventures to other genre's i'm not AS big of a fan... but How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Bride Wars, Alex & Emma.... she just does so great in them!

The new book I am reading is....

I started a few weeks ago, and then had some issues with my Kindle. This morning I picked it back up, reading it on my back porch with a warm cup of coffee. I am completely drawn in, and already almost 1/2 of the way done! A real thriller, and it is keeping my attention for sure! I just love books that make it unable for me to put them down!

I hope everyone has a great week!

The weather is supposed to be BEAUTIFUL here in St. Louis!

♥

Jenni

A Momentous Occasion

2011-04-27T22:54:00.000-05:00

It's finally here!

The last movie in a series that moved an entire world to love reading again.

I am so stinking excited!

I think I might even have to dress-up for the show!!!

So excited!

♥

Jenni

Wednesday Wonders

2011-04-27T14:50:00.000-05:00

I am back at my hotel today, and just finished some delicious lunch,

So I decided to share some feel-good pretty with you today on Wednesday Wonders.

This ballet inspired photoshoot by Jessica Claire + Jill La Fleurhas

makes me smile every single time I look at it!

via

So stunning! I have fallen utterly head over heels with the entire photoshoot. I particularly love the contrast of the dark angel to the pure angel. Such a beautiful connection to make in a romantic and beautiful setting!

♥

Jenni

...and then I ate a sandwich

2011-04-25T22:38:00.002-05:00

What a day this has been!

I headed to the airport at 7:00...

Had to go through the naked body scanner machine thingy...

I felt a little bit violated to tell ya the truth. Dang security protocols...

I got on the plane and we had so much turbulence they couldn't serve drinks!

We ended up being unable to land for a while and hovered in the air.

After a rough landing I went to the baggage carousel...

I watched bag...after bag... after bag go by

but not mine!

I had to go to the office where they had to track it down.

Now, i'm late.

I get my rental car and race toward the hospital.

Dallas traffic actually wasn't too bad which was nice!

Halfway there, my GPS battery died and I don't have the cord!
YIKES!
I flip open my phone and try to follow Google Maps...

but i'm not good with my north, south, east, west so I got lost a few times...

I finally made it to the hospital.

We had a classroom session,

the girls did great!

It was time to leave.

I got a sandwich!

YUM! All hail the chicken terriyaki gods!!!!!!!

Then I got in the car to go to the hotel...

I turned on google maps...

I got lost.

AGAIN...

and again...

and AGAIN...

On my 6th trip down the same street I went a little further and....

Ta-Da!

I checked in...

I ate my sandiwich... HEAVEN!

I went for an hour long little swim...

I soaked in a hot tub with an old man...

Good Times...

All in a day's work I suppose :)

Hope Tuesday is just as exciting!

♥

Jenni

Wednesday Wonders

2011-04-20T19:50:00.000-05:00

In honor of Easter being just around the corner...

I felt it necessary to share these amazing sculptures, made from everyone's "favorite" iconic candy!

Today's Wednesday Wonder is...

The Peeps Show!

Under the weather

2011-04-19T20:43:00.000-05:00

via

I'm feeling icky.

My throat hurts, and im kind of exhausted...

No fever...

but altogether, not enjoying this.

So, some things that are making me happy today:

♥ I checked into my hotel, which has a nice indoor pool and hot tub. I swam for a good hour, and then let my limbs wave around in the hot tub for a bit. It felt nice...
♥ I went down to the hotel restaurant and had a side salad and piece of salmon for dinner. It was nice to have something that wasn't a sandwich. Bonus: I didn't use all of my weight watchers points today!

♥ Everytime I try to spell the word restaurant I have to spell-check it. For some reason I always want to spell it "restraunt" and spell check thinks i'm trying to say "restraint"....It makes me smile.

♥ Forgetting Sarah Marshall is on FX tonight... I love Russell Brand and his narcissistic singing. It's some nice background noise (Sidenote: I actually have the soundtrack to "Get him to the Greek" and love working out to "The Clap" and "Furry Walls" haha)

♥ This Friday my sister and I are going to grab something to eat, and go watch Water for Elephants! I am so excited! I don't think it will live up to the book... but I think it will be visually beautiful, and a great movie!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

♥

Jenni

I feel a little guilty...Should I?

2011-04-18T17:43:00.000-05:00

For years my mom has gone to the same tax guy.

He's a great guy

Owns his own practice

and this year, with all of the things we've had happen, we decided to go to him.

Everything was great at first.

We had a wonderful appointment...

he was very knowledgable...

and then problems started...

We had a few things to still get him. The amount we paid toward personal property, etc. We went ahead and e-mailed the numbers to the address he asked us to almost a full month ago. I didn't hear anything, so I sent another email to ask if he had recieved the first. I just assumed everything was going well. Then on Friday Spencer called in...I had forgotten we needed to sign stuff, and since they hadn't contacted us..how was I know? They told him that we were on the list and they would get to it soon... and then it was this morning...and taxes, as everyone knows, are due today! Luckily, I was actually in town today and didn't head out this morning to a random city. Spencer woke-up feeling sick, so I called and told them to contact me on my phone number when they knew what time our paperwork would be ready, rather than call spencer's. By noon, I hadn't heard anything so I called again. Still nothing. A new lady told me they would call as soon as it was ready. At 2:00 I went in to talk to Spencer, and he had a missed call on his phone from them saying it was finally ready to go. We got ready and headed out. We just assumed we would pick it up and they would bill us. After all, noone had told us anything different, Right?

....Wrong....

We actually ended up owing money to state, even though we are getting back on federal. So, at this point it's 3pm, and we have to make it back home to get a check and mail it by 5! Then, it ends up we have to pay him at the time of pickup. We didn't know...we didn't have a check book and I didn't have a card to put it on that had an available balance on it... so I complained. My intention was simply to see if they would bill us, since we hadn't known we would need to pay right then. I told them I wasn't happy that there had been zero communication with us, no calls returned and that it wasn't ready until the VERY last second when they knew my job took me out of town regularly. What would have happened had I not been there to sign?

To my shock he simply picked up the bill and ripped it in half, saying if we weren't happy then we shouldn't pay. He still filed everything for us and gave us all of our paperwork. I was flabbergasted...I didn't know what to say. It hadn't been my intention at all to not pay for the services. After all, it wasn't the services we didn't like...it was the communication once it had been completed. He ended up apologizing and not making us pay a dime. We said thank you, and walked away...but I can't get over this horrible feeling of guilt! I know I shouldn't feel guilty. We didn't rip up the bill..he did...and the lack of communication really was awful. We did have to leave the office and race home to mail a check, ensuring we met the tax day deadlines... but I can't help it... I am riddled with guilt!!! Then again...maybe it's a mixture of that, and PMS.....

...I did send him a thank you, and a hope to work together in the future under better circumstances. He really is a great guy, and he really did do a wonderful job....

Am I right to feel guilty? Or am I justified in having complained?

I don't want to look like the lady who brings bugs to restaurants to put them in her food...

Have you ever felt guilty for something you couldn't control?

♥

Jenni

There's no Place like Home...

2011-04-18T10:36:00.000-05:00

I've got to admit...

I'm a little nervous to head out to Memphis tomorrow morning.

Weather is supposed to be rainy and cold here in KC, with heavy winds in Memphis.

It's not just the plane ride that worries me...it's what might happen this week.

Living in tornado alley, i'm used to having tornado warnings...

but I have never actually been close enough to one to be scared.

Sure, they have gone through my hometown from time to time,

but i've never heard those loud screaming noises that announce a tornado's arrival.

In the past 3 days, the southern states have been hit by no less than 200 tornados.Some small and almost insignificant...and others large enough to throw cars, destroy homes and uproot trees. They struck in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississipi, Virgina, Alabama and left devestation in North Carolina....The death toll has officially risen to 45...22 in North Carolina, six in Virginia, seven in Arkansas, seven in Alabama, one in Mississippi, two in Oklahoma. But it's not over...Another storm is getting ready to hit the lower part of Missouri, Alabama and Tennessee over the next few days...starting tomorrow. Kansas City doesn't seem to be in the destructive path, so at least I can relax that my puppies and hubby will be safe...but it's a little nerve wrecking to be heading into the storms path.

Some people would say I am nuts to even go, but anyone who has been in a tornado filled area, knows that warnings are many, and destruction usually hits one place and misses the next. Tornados are not like Tsunamis, destroying everything in sight...they are a little bit more covert, and literally destroy one house and leave the one next door untouched. One in particular hit my hometown a few years ago. The Arbys was destroyed...but the Taco Bell next door was left standing.

There are a few things to remember when Tornado's strike...

1- If the sky turns Green, keep an ear out for warning sirens.

2- stay away from windows and doors. If possible get below ground, and if not go into a windowless room and cover yourself with thick blankets.

3- if you are caught out on the road, get off of the highways. Tornadoes tend to follow the highway systems. On highways, there are less areas where the wind is blocked, so they can continue down the highway without coming across resistence. It may seem like a good idea to stay on them so you can get away, but heading off the highway and onto residential streets is probably your best bet.

4- Don't be a storm chaser. Sure, it sounds like fun to grab a camera and go outside to take photographs...but seriously...just get somewhere safe. Warnings for tornados are only given a few minutes from when danger strikes. Tornados jump and can come down anywhere, with no warning. Don't be stupid.

To all of those who were affected by the tornado's destructive path this past weekend, my thoughts are with you. I hope the next few days don't bring more tales of destruction!

Stay safe everyone!

♥

Jenni

A Fabulous Weekend!

2011-04-17T22:23:00.000-05:00

I have had a very full weekend with friends and family! I love getting the opportunity to catch up with everyone when I am in town on the weekends! I can't believe it's already over...luckily, I don't fly out again until Tuesday morning!

Thursday

I came back into town on Thursday and Spencer and I had a wonderful meal together to welcome me back home. We stopped off at the hardware store and bought some grass seed and weed killer to put down in our front yard, then headed to the grocery store. Best to get all of the errands run straight away. After we got back we relaxed for a little bit and then ended up going outside to do a little bit of yard work before the storm hit. We laid down the grass seed and 20 minutes later it started to storm! We ordered some delicious food for dinner and cuddled in for the night. Falling asleep early at 10pm with the rain pattering down on the house.

Friday

We woke-up to freezing temperatures and dreary skies! Spencer had to go to work and I had work to do. I woke-up, drank some delicious home-brewed coffee and snuggled in to do some work while the puppies snuggled into me. At 6:00 my sister & brother-in-law came by to pick me up and we drove out to Spencer's work. We picked him up and then went out for some Spin Pizza! Soooo good! We had our usual. A delicious spinach salad with fire-roasted tomatoes and candied pecans, and then a chicken & goat cheese pizza with caramelized onion and porcini mushrooms! SOOoooooOOOOoooo delicious! We then all headed out to Home Depot to look at weed whackers and got some yogurt. Such a fun night :)

Saturday

Saturday morning I met up with some good friends for lunch. I hadn't seen them in awhile, and my friend's little girl has gotten so big! She's a total cutie! We had a wonderful little lunch and then I headed home to cuddle inside where it was warm and watch some movies. Love Netflix! First up was...

I really loved this movie. It was truly, an Education! They captured the time period perfectly, as well as the different feminine roles of the time. The hopeless housewife, the shameless other woman and the young girl wishing for more. I am not ashamed to say that I cried a bit from time to time.

Next was, Brokedown Palace. Oh my goodness...I had no idea! I have had this on my Netflix list for almost a full year, and i'm so sad I didn't see it sooner. A truly beautiful story that left me feeling so many different emotions. The ending was heart-wrenching... but in a way, it worked. I highly recommend this movie!

Last, but not least was Sweet November. I love this movie. I have seen this movie so many times, but each time it still leaves me breathless and amazed. Charlize Theron is stunning and perfect. My only qualm is having Keanu Reeves as the lead male... I get it that he's handsome. I just can't place him into a romantic movie. His eyes tell absolutely no story and stay so cold and black, even when his words are saying something completely different. I can't imagine how much better this would be with a different leading man.

Sometime during the day, I also managed to finish up my book!

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield is truly haunting. It took me a little while to grow into this book. I found it easy to put down each night in the beginning. About halfway through however, I was done. The book had put it's spell on me and I was mystified by it. Not until the last 10% of the book did I truly know what was going on and I loved every word. It was like a present I slowly unwrapped ribbon by ribbon. It may not be a book I read over and over again, but it will always hold a special place in my heart, and if Ms. Setterfield releases another book I will definitely be getting a copy!

After a long day of reading and watching movies, my eyes filled with tears...I relaxed with a glass of wine and made some fajitas for the Mr. and I. A wonderful end to a great relaxing day!

Today I spent time with a good friend. We went to lunch, explored Crate and Barrel and cuddled into large chairs at Barnes and Noble for some magazine shopping. I miss her so much, and I'm so glad I got the time to see her! Tonight, I made the delicious Cadbury cookies all over the internet...

which were DELICIOUS, and then watched the Sunday shows with the hubby :) Tomorrow we are meeting our tax guy so we can sign out documents and he can send them on out. I hope everyone has a great week!!!!!!!

♥

Jenni

Roses and Thorns

2011-04-15T11:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday!

via KLaw

Last night it stormed like there was no tomorrow, luckily there is!

This morning I woke-up to a little bit of rain and feeling very refreshed.

I am relaxing with my pups, lying on the couch with my coffee

and watching the DVR'd shows I missed this week.

A great end to a great week...

♥ Roses to my sister and her new Illustration blog! She is an aspiring children's book illustrator, and started a blog to get her work out there in the world. This is her first piece she is sharing. If anyone wants some beautiful custom illustrations for a nursery or kid's room get in touch with her!!!!

♥ Roses to coming home yesterday, before the big storm hit last night. I hope everyone in Memphis is ok today as the storm rolls through!

♥ Roses to the almost private plane ride I took yesterday. Just me, one other guy and the pilots. It was so nice to take a little nap without having a random stranger's face only 12" away...

♥ Roses to the beautiful homecoming I received from my adorable little fluffballs as they pranced, danced, snuggled and loved on me as if I had been gone an entire month!

♥ Roses to my fresh cup of coffee, brewed in my own coffeepot!

♥ Roses to this song... because I simply love it, and sing it in my head every week as I head off to the airport. It almost makes me smile so much!

♥ Roses to my beautiful garden and all of it's flowers! Everything is really coming up beautifully and it makes me smile to see it all! We just put down some grass seed and weed killer in our front yard, and I can't wait to see the results in a few weeks time! Now, I just need some pretty hanging baskets with some beautiful flowers to hang off the front porch. (I will be sure to take some more photos!)

♦ Thorns to temperatures dipping back into the 40's today. I really want to get outside and do some more yardwork, and the rainy day is keeping me inside.

♦ Thorns to sore muscles from gardening! It hurts to squat down....

♦ Thorns to being away from my hubby... next week is another week in Memphis, then i'll be in Dallas, followed by a week in Chicago and then 2 weeks in, I believe, Michigan. I hope I can spend a week at home sometime soon!

♦ Thorns to freezing a gallon size Ziploc filled with strawberries....and forgetting to chop off the stem/leaves... It's making it way more difficult to make some strawberry smoothies!

♦ Thorns to my hubby ordering a pocket-knife, and then sending him the wrong one!

♦ Thorns to getting back into the mode of exercising! I really need to get on it and start going! Luckily, with all the yardwork i've been doing and healthy eating I have been losing weight, but I need to really get going!

♦ Thorns to my friend getting rid of her 24 hour fitness membership..... Any KC ladies out there want to be my Zumba buddy once a week on mondays or thursdays!? I'll be in town for one, or the other, most weeks!

Hope everyone has a lovely Friday!!

♥

Jenni

Stylish Protection

2011-04-14T16:52:00.000-05:00

In my job, I often find myself working until late. Often my car is parked in underground garages, or deserted parking lots. I spend time wandering cities for food and am out and about very early or very late at night, when it's still dark. Not knowing the area can be a little scary, and I often find myself walking quickly, holding my keyring in my hand with a key poking out between each finger and looking about myself as I walk from hospital to car to hotel to airport. A few months ago I found a pretty little piece of jewelry that I just knew would be the perfect addition to my training wardrobe. (especially since I wear black, black and more black!) Last night I finally purchased it, and can't wait for it to arrive in my mailbox in a pretty little package.

This sweet little whistle necklace by Julie Nolan will help me be fashionable and safe!

The whistle really works and is affixed to a 20" long chain, all in 14k gold. The night I found it on Etsy and bookmarked it I was so excited! I looked over at Spencer and said, "Oh my goodness! I have to get this! It's a necklace AND a whistle!" he gave me a huge mock smile and made fun of me, saying something along the lines of gym-teacher fashion...but when I explained why it would be great for me he totally understood, and thought it was a good idea. :) I can't wait to wear it, even when tucked inside my shirt, just to know it's there if I need it will be wonderful!

What do you do to make yourself feel a little bit safer when you are alone at night?

♥

Jenni

Wednesday Wonders

2011-04-13T20:56:00.001-05:00

Lately, I have been bookmarking some pages that have truly inspired me and made me say, "wow.." This new feature will be a place for me to share some of those amazing things that have left me simply in awe.

For week 1, I simply couldn't resist in sharing some beautiful artwork, based around some of my FAVORITE characters!

Eric Tan is an artist living in San Fransisco, and the mastermind between some truly amazing artwork for Pixar!I have fallen in love with the poster he created for my favorite movie, Sleeping Beauty. I hope one day it will grace my walls...

For $125 it might take some persuading to the hubby, but I have simply fallen in love with it.

Eric's newest work is for the movie, Cars 2!

How cute are these for a litle boys room!? A cars theme going international! LOVE it!

Darlin' it's better, down where it's wetter!

Of course, you've got to have Up!

My favorite is the Baloon one in the bottom corner, but I love em all!

Everyone's favorite culinary creature is tres' bein!

...Wall-E...

He also does a few things non-Disney/Pixar related that are pretty fantastic, like....

The X-Men...

Indiana Jones..

and of course, everyones favorite show...

Lost!

I just love his art. He seems to breathe new life into his subjects and approach them in such a unique way!

Hope you enjoyed!

Tune in next week for another Wednesday Wonder!

♥

Jenni

Weekend Warrier

2011-04-12T21:12:00.000-05:00

The past few weeks I have returned home each weekend,

and spent my time pulling, pushing, weeding, bending and squating.

I have been turning my flowerbeds from overgrown to gorgeous!

This tree is in the front of our yard and over the course of 3 weekends I have pulled weeds, cut twigs, re-laid mulch and planted some beautiful hyacinth, and another pretty little white flower in the bed!

Aren't they pretty!?

I also pulled all of the weeds from the front of the house's landscaping. Everything was overgrown and messy. I put down fresh mulch, pulled weeds and trimmed back dead branches. I now know the importance of cleaning out the beds at the end of season every year so that things don't get so messy and overrun!

Each day when I completed my work I would go to the backyard, lie down on the chaise lounge and relax while staring up at the sky and treetops. Ocassionally there may be some sunbathing and reading involved in there. So relaxing, I just love ending my day outside!

Today I took a lovely tour of Memphis and will tell "ya'll" about it soon...

for now...I am going to sleep!

Have a happy wednesday everyone!
&Hearts;

Jenni

Puppies and Planerides :)

2011-04-11T20:26:00.000-05:00

I made it in one piece!

On my flight into Memphis this morning we hit some turbulence

Some INTENSE turbulence going straight through a storm.

The sky got dark, and the plane was rockin'

But, we made it!

I spent a long day in classroom training,

and checked into my hotel tonight.

I wanted to just fall on the bed, but when I opened the door to my room...

there was someone else's stuff everywhere!

I went down to the front desk, and the girl goes,

"Oops...yeah, sorry about that. It's only ever happened to me 3 times."

Really!?

It's ok to give out room keys to rooms that other people are checked into?

Shouldn't they have re-coded the key since I had JUST checked in?

Wierd...

Anyways, I miss my babies...

Aren't they cute?

These are from a photoshoot we had this past weekend...

Awww, I miss them...

Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

♥
Jenni

Week 1 in Memphis Tennesse...

2011-04-10T21:21:00.000-05:00

Today Spencer and I had a wonderful day

good food, time with the puppies and a movie!

Right now I am preparing to head out for week 2 in Memphis, Tennessee,

but first, I wanted to show you all of the great things from last week!

Monday, April 4th:

Spencer had the day off, and it was REALLY cold out! We spent some time snuggling on the couch, and of course Betty had to put on her sweater so she could stay warm!

Betty ready to play!

Spencer and the ladies being cute.

At the end of the day it was time for me to pack... the girls got a little sad as I started packing up, but we snuggled afterward to make them feel better. :)

Tuesday, April 5th:

On Tuesday morning I woke-up bright and early to head out to Memphis. I tried out a new airline called, "SeaPort" and I am sooo glad I did! A private carrier now operating in Oregan, Washington, Kansas City, Memphis and soon Dallas, my flight was better than any I have ever had before. I went to the private plane hangars instead of Kansas City International Airport. I didn't have to go through security, I had free parking, no baggage fees AND only had to arrive 15 minutes before my flight!!! On the way to Arkansas where we had a refueling layover, I was one of 5 passengers. From Arkansas to Memphis, I was one of 6. And this was my plane!

How cool is that?! The flight was nice. No flight attendant breathing down my neck to turn my Kindle off for takeoff and landing, the little curtain was left open by the pilots so that I could see all the gadgets, and the skies were clear. This photo was taken during our layover in Arkansas. It was so much fun! By noon I was in Memphis, taken to the rental car facility and on my way to the hospital. I grabbed some lunch, drove around a bit to see the sights in the area and pulled into the hospital at 1:30 for the classroom session. It was great! Lots of learning, lots of excitement and we had a lot of fun. The girls are all really great, and I absolutely adore the coordinator for the area, Debbie. She was wonderful and I am very excited to work with her again this week! I checked into my hotel by about 6pm, grabbed a sandwich from Subway and watched Sex in the City 2 on HBO. :) Definite plus of staying in hotels is always having new movies to watch at night! I even ended the night with a long swim in the hotel pool.

Wednesday, April 6th:

Wednesday morning was the first day in the hospital. I woke-up early, got ready to go and started out for a fresh new day. On the way, I noticed the interesting pattern on the carpet in the hallways...

ANything goes in hotel decor, and I found it oddly pretty! We had a great day, with lots of babies to photograph, great sales and wonderful friendly people. I have got to say, having everyone call you honey, sweetie and sugah is kind of fun. Southern hospitality is everything that you have heard of it to be. Everyone is just so nice! After a long day of photographing babies, I was taken to a great BBQ place where I tried southern style BBQ for the first time. I have got to say, I actually liked it. A nice crunch from coleslaw, and a sweet, but not overly, bbq sauce. Great company as well! I went with Debbie and her daughter joined us. She was a very sweet young lady, and holds the title of Miss Memphis! Next up she will be competing for Miss Tennessee and if she wins that, Miss America! She has a pet monkey and is just a darling girl. I hope she wins! After a long day I went back to the hotel, curled up in bed and fell asleep reading my Kindle.

Thursday, April 7th:

Thursday was my last full day in Memphis. I started out the day on a great note. Arrived at the hospital, took beautiful photos, worked with a wonderful new photographer who is so promising and had a productive day. I have finally met a baby who is larger than my nephew was! Little Rose weighed in at 10.10 lbs, and 20" in length! My nephew was 10.2, and I thought i'd never see a bigger baby. She was darling, and her little chubby cheeks were sooo cute! Mom was a trooper, and was sitting up in a chair grinning ear to ear. I couldn't believe how well she was doing! After a long day, I bid adieu to the lovely ladies I worked with all week and wished them a wonderful weekend. Once I got back to my hotel, I went and got a sandwich for dinner, relaxed for a little bit in my room and then headed down to the pool for a nice swim! It was so relaxing and warm in the pool...

and if you see the little slit on the far end, it was access to go outside. Yes, an indoor/outdoor pool in April! After a little while a little girl came down and got in the pool. She was splashing a little too much for my liking, so I sucked it up and swam outside. It was so awesome! The night air was cool on my skin, and the water felt warm like a nice bath. I stared up at the stars as I backstroked from side to side and then swam in a few circles and swung my arms out to the side! Gotta act like a kid sometimes! It was the perfect ending to a great week! I wish I were staying at this hotel again, but instead ill be down the street at the Marriot. Hope it's just as nice!

Friday, April 8th:

Friday morning at 6:30 I caught my flight back into Kansas City. By 9am my flight came in, we de-boarded, I got my bags and was on the road going home by 9:08! Such a fantastic way to fly. :) Spencer didn't have to work until noon, so we went and got some lunch at Panera before coming back home where I had to take care of some paperwork for work. It was a wonderful day, and I ended the day by lying outside on the deck and watching the dogs frolic around the yard while I finished my book.

It was the absolute perfect weekend, and it all started out great with a week like this! But more on my weekend tomorrow! And hopefully some exciting stories from my next week in Memphis!

Have a wonderful Monday Morning!

♥

Jenni

You're the only Ten I see!

2011-04-06T22:33:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Memphis, Tennessee!

I have now been here in Memphis for about 36 hours, and in another 30 I will be home! It's been a fun trip, and I officially like it here. I will be back again next week and I am pretty happy with this place :) Tonight I worked until a 13 hour day of photographing babies, so the coordinator for this district and I went out for some BBQ. It was a lot of fun, and her daughter, "Mrs. Memphis"(seriously, she holds the title) met up with this. We went to a local place called Corky's that is supposedly the creme-de-la-creme in Tennessee BBQ.

Now being from KC when BBQ is a way of life, I have a bit of a hard palette to please. I went ahead and tried it without edits. A pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and BBQ sauce. The sauce was sweet and the coleslaw was tangy. The pork was slow cooked and juicy... overall, pretty darn tasty! It may not beat my father-in-law's but it was pretty tasty. (especially after such a long day at work.)

I am now back at my hotel, where the bed is really comfy, watching the Nanny. Fran Drescher may have an annoying voice but I really love watching this show! (Even if I have seem every episode before) Some other quirky things about Tennessee that I have noticed....

♦ There are Starbucks EVERYWHERE! The hospital i'm working at is only about 10 minutes down the road, and I passed 4 Starbucks this morning! Funny thing is that they were all packed! People here in Memphis must really love their coffee fix!
♦ The roads are pretty! They are all brown asphalt and I simply love it. It makes everything look a bit more natural and beautiful than the black asphalt I have grown accustomed to. Major kudos to the city planners here!
♦ Everyone here is sooo nice! It's "hey ya'll" and "how are you?!" all over this place. Lots of smiles, people having great conversation. Such a friendly place to be. :)
♦ The weather has been BEAUTIFUL, but apparently it is not common to have such great weather all of the time. Everyone keeps telling me I am so lucky to be here while the weather is so great!
♦ I CAN BREATHE!!!! Ragweed and pollen and whatever else I am allergic to does not exist here! It was wonderful to wake up this morning and not blow my nose into a tissue immediately. I hope when I go home I will still be able to!

It's been really great, but I am so excited to go home to my hubby! I Miss him so much, and I am excited to have a date night with a movie and dinner. Any suggestions on great movies to go see? I am open to any suggestions!!! I also miss my little furballs... I may complain when they crowd me each night in bed and Betty lies between Spencer and I.... but I miss them when they aren't here. I have been snapping photos this week, so get ready for a photo tour at the end of the week!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Thursday!!!

♥

Jenni

Brrrrrrr it's cold out there!! Memphis, here I come!

2011-04-04T11:14:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day!

I laid outside in my bikini, got some sun

and it was so warm I broke a sweat!

Storms came into town last night,

and this morning...ITS COLD!

The wind chill is the worst.

I went to the bank, and sticking my arm out of the car was excruciating!

So far, my morning has not been fabulous.

I found out that for some reason it took 4 days for an expense report to travel

from my house, to St. Louis...It's only 4 hours from here!

So, the rather large amount of $$ my company owes me is going to be delayed by a week...

and to add insult to injury...i'm out of coffee beans..

I'm not happy...

To make myself feel better I went to Starbucks.

I haven't been there in a long time

I got a delicious piping hot mocha

and decided to try a cake pop.

I got the tirimisu, and the rocky road, for Spencer and I

Not too bad!

Definitly not a snack i'll want all the time,

but it was a nice little indulgence.

Today I will be doing some work from home.

I'm cuddled up under my blankie

and I feel pretty great.

Tomorrow I head out for Memphis,

sooo there will for sure be LOTS of puppy cuddling today!

I'll actually be in Memphis for 2 weeks in a row,

but i'm coming home for the weekend.

Speaking of the week...

I haven't been keeping up with posting me resolutions!!!

We are officially heading into Week 14 of 2011!

Follow along with Mara

Week 14

1. Get back into tracking for Weight Watchers. I fell off the wagon a bit with being home and not wanting to be online as much. I will start right back up this week and my hotel has a pool! Sooo I think some lap swimming is in order this week :) I also looked and a 24 hour fitness is only about 8 miles from my hotel...sooo maybe i'll go over there a bit!

2. Finish my book! I'm rereading the Twilight Series... and then starting on my book for Book Club!!! My friends and I started a book club and our first book is, The Thirteenth Tale! I'm really excited to dig in and start reading!

Well, I'm out. I am going to get some things done, Watch some Reaper with Spencer and then for dinner tonight we are going to make some delicious ravioli and homemade marinara. I love family time :)

I hope everyone has a great monday!

♥

Jenni

Roses and Thorns

2011-04-01T11:25:00.001-05:00

My favorite part of weekly meetings when I was a collegiate Alpha Gam was at the end of the meeting when we did Roses and Thorns. I just loved the tradition of it, so I have decided I simply have to follow along with K. Law in her weekly Roses and Thorns! We may not have been part of the same sorority, but I know if we had been we would have been fabulous sisters!

This week couldn't be better. I love waking up this beautiful Friday morning with the sun shining, and not have to head off to an airport to get on a plane!

♥ Roses to getting to brew my own coffee here at home, and drink out of my favorite mug! I can't tell you how nice it is to NOT drink out of paper and Styrofoam...

♥ Roses to my furbabies! They are so sweet and uber-cuddly this week. I have loved it every second, even if I was occasionally annoyed....

♥ Roses to watching the Price is Right this morning and seeing the stage blackout with no lights, and then catch on fire!!! It may have been Thorns for them... but it was entertaining.... and then... APRIL FOOLS!!!!...hahaha, I guess Drew Carrey did bring a bit to the shot...

♥ Roses to new artwork hanging in my office! Spencer bought me the top 2 prints for Valentines Day 2010 and I JUST got them hung. I absolutely adore them and they are in cool shiny hematite-style frames! The bottom piece is painted by Spencer! He made it for an art show, and I have stolen it to hang in my office. It's about 2 ft by 3 ft and I simply love it! Betty is such a great model, huh?

♥ Roses to warm-fuzzy emails from my boss telling the team how much she appreciates us. What a fabulous way to start my friday!

♥ Roses to the warm-er weather today. Our flowers started blooming last week, and I am excited to get out there and clean out the flowerbeds. I believe I will need to get some new pretty mulch too so we have that pretty fresh spring color!

♥ Roses to dinner out with friends tonight! I don't know where we will go, but I know it will be fun! Can't wait to see them!!!!

♦ Thorns to allergies! I have gone through so many of these little tissues this week it's ridiculous! I am so full of sniffles it's ridiculous

♦ Thorns to not having motivation.... I am in a rut, and need a workout buddy to push me back to the doors of 24 hour fitness..... hmmmmm maybe i'll force myself tomorrow....today my workout should be gardening....

♦ Thorns to getting the wrong Chinese last night and having to wait for them to deliver the right meal. Shrimp with veggies from out local place...not so good.... chicken with vegetables...DELICIOUS! (But Roses that they did bring it to me!)

♦ Thorns to our overly energetic Mia waking us up sooo many times last night... well, waking-up Spencer... I'm a deep sleeper....

I hope everyone has a fabulous Friday!!!

♥

Jenni

mmm lunchtime

2011-03-29T13:31:00.000-05:00

The hospital I am working at this week is only 5 minutes from home!

I went up and did a software install this morning

and now i'm at home for lunch before I go back for a classroom session.

It's so nice to be able to come home for a bit.

Now it's going to be difficult to head back out!
It's chilly outside...

and Betty is snuggling up so sweetly to me!

And I would love nothing more than to curl up and take a nap.

After classroom today....

I think some Taco Tuesday is in order!!!!!!!!

mmmmmmmmm with lots of fresh guacamole...

maybe i'll even do fajita chicken.....

YUM!

I'm also excited to see Body of Proof tonight...

I hope it's good!

It seems like ABC has been advertising it non-stop for months!

Have a great Tuesday!!!

♥

Jenni

WOOSH!

2011-03-28T16:38:00.000-05:00

2011 has been one big WOOSH!

I can't believe it is almost April!!!!

I am home this week with my family and so happy

Right now the puppies are snuggling with me as we watch Moulin Rouge.

Such a beautiful movie :)

This weekend was fabulous!
Spencer and I relaxed and spent some time together,

we went and saw this movie...

I finished this book...

and I ate some delicious chicken parm...

via Houlihans

mmmmmmm yummy!!!!!!

We also did some shopping...

and I got a new shower curtain!

via Crate and Barrel

I accidentally got paint drips on our old one and i've been dying to replace it!

This morning Spencer and I went to get our taxes done. I have been TERRIFIED to get them done since I didn't have taxes taken out the entire time I was claiming unemployment. Suprisingly we will still get money back! We still have a few more deductions to get figured out and send our accountant the paperwork on, but we are looking to do pretty well. Yay for being able to pay off some bills! Tax time sucks, but at least we always get rewarded for the hard work.

This week I plan to get my flowerbed weeded out, and get our shutters replaced. Apparently you can only paint one type of plastic shutter. We painted the black ones that were on our home a pretty blue color and they have completely peeled off almost! I have been dying to replace them, but they aren't exactly cheap. I will be sooo happy to get it all done though!

My flowers started blooming in our flowerbed, but then we got hit by a snowstorm! Stupid missouri... It's a little bit cold out right now, but i'm hoping in the next couple of days i'll be able to get out there and clean them out a little. Our house has been a bit of a mess the past few months and i'm excited to freshen everything up and make it cute again :)

♥

Jenni

Miami= FAIL

2011-03-26T16:53:00.000-05:00

This past week I was in Miami for work...I thought it would be awesome... sadly, it was HORRIBLE! Everything just seemed to go from bad to worse, and I hope I do not have to go back there for a long long time.... Fort Lauderdale, Tampa...those are great! But no more Miami, Please!!!

Miami Beach? Yeah, I don't think this actually exists...

I left KC at 6am on monday and once I arrived I went to a hospital for a classroom session. It was a good session. The girls were great and it was productive, but it was a very long day. We finished up and I drove to my hotel, not checking in until 8:30pm.

My hotel room was AWFUL... I stayed at the Holiday Inn by the airport because it was the most affordable I could find since it was Spring Break... at $90 a night through Priceline, I was truly dissapointed. The second I opened the door to my room I was greeted by a horrible smell. It was musty and odorous... and the bed felt slightly cold and damp. The hotel was an older one that they updated a few years ago. They placed air conditioners in each room, but without proper ventilation, the Miami humidity was leaving a horrible affect behind. The bed was stiff, but I fell asleep pretty quickly since I was so tired.

Tuesday I woke up to head out for another classroom session. The hospital was 8 miles from the hotel, but I left an hour early to make sure I was on time... Traffic was awful, and people didn't know how to drive in it. Every other car had a scrape or dent in it, and I got cut off about 25 times. An hour and a half later I pulled into the hospital parking lot, and began searching for a spot... yes... 8 miles took me an hour and a half!!!!

The day was ok, but it was long. I got back to the hotel around 7, and got some paperwork done. The major obstacle I faced this week was that 60% of the hospital spoke Creole, and 25% were Spanish speaking only... trying to train when I have no clue what people are saying around me was a new experience, and the least I can say is that I had to have done something right because they had some great sales while I was there.

One night I tried to travel out and go to a little restraunt where I could sit, look at the ocean and eat some crablegs... but I couldn't find anywhere... Everyone I asked told me to go down to Ocean Avenue or South Beach, which wasn't really going to be all that fun without anyone to enjoy it with. Usually my favorite places are the little local joints, where you can enjoy a cocktail and unwind. Not somewhere that I have to fight traffic, fight people to find parking and sit in a loud place by myself with noone to talk to. I checked reviews and found a little place that was right on the bay where the food was supposed to be great. I drove the 15 miles in an hour and 45 minutes... and when I arrived I found out it was only accessible by boat! Why the reviews didn't mention that, I have NO idea... I turned around, drove back and picked up a bean burrito at taco bell which I ate in my room before promptly passing out.

The girls at the hospital told me that if you like Tampa, you will hate Miami... they were right. I ADORE Tampa...the small town feel, the hole-in-the-wall local haunts and the cottage on the beach feel... Miami was over-developed, over-priced, overly-trendy and even the radio DJ's were talking about their breast augmentations!

On Friday morning I woke up completely ready to head home... and I ran into even MORE problems. I left for the airport with 4 hours before my flight took off. I went down a one-way road the wrong way in the rental car return area and got honked at by 4 people in a row! (I mean, really? The 3 people in front of me just honked at me, yelled at me and flipped me off... did you really think you had to at the same time?) I tried to check-in to my flight and the computers were broken (they had been done for the previous 48 hours online) I got a ticket without a seat assignment, and was told they would give me one at the gate. Yeah...basically, they overbooked this flight by 30 seats!!!! 30 freaking seats?! Seriously?! They kept trying to get people to take $300 vouchers and give up their seat to leave tomorrow so others could leave today. American Airlines, I am DONE with you! You overbook every single flight ON PURPOSE and almost kept me from getting home. I was the TWENTY-SEVENTH overbooked person to actually get on the plane... yikes. Never have I been more happy to be home!

I was greeted in KC by freezing temperatures, it's now snowing... and I could not be happier. I didn't want to let go as I gave my husband a hug, and the puppies and I have not stopped snuggling since I got home.

Sorry I checked out this past week, but after all of this stuff, the last thing I wanted to do was log online when I got back to the hotel. Here's to this week being much much better!! AND I get to stay in KC! How fantastic is that?! I'm thinking I will go replace the shutters on our house this week....they are peeling like whoa, and I JUST re-painted them this past fall.... I can't wait to get new ones!!!

Hugs and Love from home in KC!!!

♥

Jenni

Spring is in the air!

2011-03-17T20:56:00.000-05:00

Spring is in the air, and it makes me want to get outside...

and shake some things up!

It's time to feel the breeze in my hair,

throw open the windows

and sit outside feeling the warmth of the sun.

I love the springtime!

Spring just has a way of making me want to feel beautiful,

and try new things!

What do you want to do this Spring?

♥

Jenni