Off we go!

We are D.C. bound! Have a great week, the two of you that read this (wait, one of you is coming with me...).

Inspired by Stuck on you...

I'm inspired today by the Stuck on you blog's story to share a memory of my lowest low while planning my wedding. Rule #1: Any time you make something for your wedding instead of buying it, you will have 10 times the work and 100 times the stress. I would do it again... I loved my invitations. They were goregeous and innovative. At the time no one did anything like our invites. But alas, they were the thorn in my side. From driving twice to San Fransisco for paper, to late nights with a giant cutting board at Office Max to the dreaded printers.

My low moment came when I was using our printer to print the addresses (the vellum envelopes we'd bought wouldn't allow you to use any kind of pen... go figure). We finally found a printer that worked on the vellum, and I set out for an evening of working on the addresses.
Steve: Do you want me to help?
Jenny: No, it's a one person job. But I want you close by in case something goes wrong.
Steve: Can Zeke and Eric play Settlers at your apartment?
Jenny: You bet.

Time passes... Settlers play begins... Printing commences... all running smoothly

Jenny: (Bloodcurdling scream... my mind escapes what triggored it)
Steve: Are you okay?
Jenny: No!
Zeke: Can I pray for you?
Jenny: No! I'm not feeling very spiritual right now!

Silence reigned.

We're all still friends, but Zeke never played another game of Settlers at my house again.

My sister and her husband are stopping off briefly at my parents house in between the end of the PhD and starting the new job, and in the mean time they've been helping my folks out with some home improvement. One of the projects deemed necessary was my old room.
Here's the before:


And the after:








Apparently "Princess Emma" is bummed that it was painted "skin" instead of "pink." But hey, what are you going to do?

How I intend to spend Thursday and Friday

Tomorrow our office is being painted. They did some touch-up work and discovered, "Um, we don't even HAVE that paint color anymore!" So we get to pack up the whole office today, then "work from home" tomorrow and Friday.

So aside from checking some email and the phones now and then, and a few small projects, I plan to:
* Sleep in
* Actually MAKE breakfast
* Go for a walk
* Shower at noon. Scratch that. Take a bath.
* Make the kind of dinner that it takes awhile to make, like a roast or something
* Paint my toenails (while I can still reach my toes)

Feel free to make suggestions...

Vacaciones!

THIS is where I'd like to be right now! So I will go there in a few weeks, just because. I'm in the middle of getting the planning done. I hate choosing hotel rooms. However, I think I've found a way to get us there pretty cheap, but still somewhat nice. I'm so excited to go see the places I went when I was in school, and actually experience FALL!

29 for the first time

Well, folks, here's to the big 29. It feels sort of like the closing of an era. I've been reflecting on what wonderful years my 20's have been. I've had the wonderful opportunity more recently to be able to mentor a couple of young women, which has given me a great opportunity to really reflect on how I've grown as a person. I am about to embark on a journey that will likely humble me, knock off my roughest edges, and make me wonder if I was mature at all before this began, but it is a good feeling to reflect on life and see how God has taught me and stretched me and blessed me.

So since I can't have any alcohol to toast to the last birthday of my 20's, how about a picture toast?



This is the day that my father delivered me in a closet. That's the literal truth... My dad was working at Valley Medical Center in Fresno, and because I was a "bargain baby" and there was no room in the inn, they cleaned out a supply closet for me to be born in. My dad writes an email to me almost every year that talks about how he went home late that night while my mom slept and just sat in the dark and thanked God for me. I swear, it makes me cry every time.



Here I'm probably age three or four. Do I look like my dad or what?? It's that square, Danish smile.



Okay, take a look at those HUGE eyes! My sister says they used to scare her, and called them "cow eyes." I think my head grew later and they started to fit a little better.



This was one of the best days of my whole life until my wedding day. I remember feeling like this day belonged to my whole family. None of my grandparents, aunts or uncles or cousins have graduated from college, so I felt that this was something my family sort of owned together.


This was the only day so far that topped my graduation. To finally walk down the aisle on my father's arm and belong to my best friend for the rest of our lives... to put it in Steve's words, "I was overwhelmed with God's goodness to me."

So here's to almost 3 decades of God's faithfulness!

Who cares?

Just posting a pet-peeve. Why do news organizations ask people what they think about world events? Who really cares what Joe on the street thinks about an evacuation of the Washington Monument? He'll say, "Um, bad." I suppose that most athlete interviews fall into roughly the same category. "We went out there and just played football and had a really good game and then we won." Am I right? Coaches are usually more articulate, so I'm alright with that. Maybe an occasional quarterback won't bore me.

Happy weekend!

Love my In-Laws!

Aren't they just the cutest ever? They are here this week helping Steve and I with the house. I go off to work, and then when I come home, things like baseboards appear and dinner is being prepared... it's fantastic! And although the title seems to imply serious sarcasm in our culture, I actually mean it. I get along well with Steve's parents. The only thing I don't care for as much is that Steve works very hard while his dad is here (which is great), so that I don't see a lot of him (which isn't quite as great).

Tonight we choose the carpet we'll have for the NEXT 15 years. Everyone is voting for darker carpet. I love light carpet, but I know better.

I love my job...

This is what I did at work yesterday...
Notice how I snowed my boss. However, another employee got 175,000, so I shouldn't brag. But she has an annual pass, so it doesn't count!

The quick explanation is... we have 3 October birthdays, someone gave us money to go to lunch, so we all went to lunch at Downtown Disney, then ditched the two guys (who don't like Disneyland anyway) and we "girls" all went to the park. We have a student that works for Disney who signed us in.

I sooo love my job.