Sunday, December 12, 2010

Stepping out - Logan Christmas{Style}


This weekend we headed down to Logan for our annual Logan Christmas. A tradition that just began last year. Hosted by Liz and Ashley. I didn't get a very good picture of my outfit like I meant to.
Sweater - Old Navy
Belt- Target
Dress- Forever 21
Necklace- Forever 21
Leggings - Target(you can't see)
Boots- Steve Madden (also are unable to see)
Liz and Ashley made an awesome dinner for everyone, everyone ate and drank and was {merry}. Later on we did a white elephant gift exchange, which I must say was awesome. The array of gifts was amazing- from a bottle of wine to a gigantic elvis head shaped lamp to a snuggie or there was the 1970's exercise bike. It all made for a good time. Later we headed out and danced the night away. I have one picture to sum up the fun we had, and possibly the amount of beer my husband consumed.

Tony in the middle of his {Dance Off}


Ok I lied, 2 pictures.

Tony asked me not to post the pictures on facebook, so I respected his wishes. But I figured only approximately 4 people read this, and Tony is not one of them, so he will never know. So for your viewing pleasure, Tony mid dance off. Let's just say he was hurting Sunday. So we've been watching T.V in bed all day which has been glorious. Hope everyone had a great weekend too!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Big Bones??

I've been hearing this one for quite a while. Unoriginal and hurtful. "Oh honey you're not fat, your just have bigger bones." What the heck does that mean anyways? It's not a "nice" way of saying it, it's mean! That sparetire has nothing to do with my bones, big or not. Although I sound like a broken record, my weight has ALWAYS always always been a sore spot for me. As I get older it's not getting any better. I've slowed down with my desk job, and dinners out have certainly helped with packing on the pounds. For a while I pretended not to notice. My pants were shrinking, it had nothing to do with the 3zillion calories I just inhaled in faster than an asian guy can eat hotdogs. Well Tony and I together finally decided to do something about it and have both been attending weight watchers together. I've technically been doing it since February, all by myself which wasn't going very successfully. Now that Tony has started doing it with me I have successfully lost weight each week. I have lost 16 pounds now and Tony has lost 14. Although I realize I still have a long way to go, I'm feeling pretty good about what I've done so far. I gotta a little more swag in my step hehe. People are finally starting to notice and my clothes are getting a little looser. I have set a goal for my self to be in a single size dress for Liz's wedding. I told someone that, and they informed me with my hips that may not be realistic. Oh well, I'm doing it despite my baby bearing hips and my big bones. I have 7 months which is more than enough time. I know this is going to be a life long struggle, but I will not let my "big bones" get in the way!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Giving Thanks {Part2}

I was lucky enough to have a 4 day weekend. Although now I need a weekend FROM my weekend. We were nonstop every single day. Thursday we drove to Dayton for Thanksgiving with my Dad and family. Unfortunantely I forget to take any pictures. But theyr my family and I'm stuck with them so their will be plenty more pictures. Friday we did the Black Friday thing. I was up BEFORE the butt crack of dawn - 3:30am and ran around until 3:30pm. No crazy black friday stories to tell though. It was pretty tame, and luckily no panic attacks from me. Saturday was the annual OSU vs. Michigan game. Tony and I headed to campus with some friends. It was a good time and Ohio State won just like we knew they would ;-)
All bundled up like Eskimos.

Thankin Jesus for a win!

Sunday was more football. I had gotten Tony Cleveland browns tickets for our anniversary. They were playing the Carolina Panthers ... so it was his 2 favorite teams. Couldn't pass up that chance! So on the last day of our long weekend we woke up early and headed to Cleveland. The drive there was uneventful.
When we first got into the stadium.

Eskimos again!
So thats the end of our weekend. We camehome and baked some cookies. (We cheated it was frozen dough) And spent what was left of our weekend together. A weekend like this makes it SOOO much harder to go back to work. I call Tony probably 30(million) times more on a Monday than any other day. I always miss him after spending all weekend with him. Corny... Hope everyone else had a good Thanksgiving weekend!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Giving Thanks

This is early, but lately I've been thinking about how lucky I am. Sometimes I don't realize it, or I get down on myself because I don't have a stellar job or I don't have the money for a new pair of boots. But I am loved and surrounded by people that I love and for that I am Lucky. Here are a few things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.


This picture is pretty sick
But it makes me laugh

*My Husband. Sometimes I get so welled up with love I could pop. After almost 5 years together I am still sooo in love. I know everyon says that but I really am. Yeah sometimes the romance may not be there when I'm brushing my teeth and he tries to pop a pimple on my face for me (gross, but it happens more often than I would like to admit). But when I come home to a clean house or to a hot dinner and he kisses me on my forehead after a LONG day at the not so stellar job, I know the little things count.


*I'm thankful for my Dad and my Mom and my (Step) Mom. Although our family is a bit unconventional I wouldn't have it any other way. As I get older we all get closer. Sometimes I wonder how they dealt with me as a teenager. I fear the day I am the mother to a teenage daughter. Especially if she is anything like me. Although I was well behaved for the most part, it was always an emotional roller coaster. And for that I am also thankful - that they put up with my shit.



A bit unconventional
*The pups. Some people don't understand the love of a dog. They're not technically people. To me sometimes their better than people, little furry cuddly cute people. Our dogs have so much personality and they love us unconditionally.  

 


















 *My close friends. I've never had TONS of friends ... But I have a few BEST friends. Over the years and across the miles we've stayed close.


 

*My job- as much as I complain and maybe I don't love it. I am lucky to be employed. We are able to put food on the table and go see a movie if we want. At work I see so many people that can't pay their mortgage because of losing their jobs or an illness they couldn't have predicted.

*Becoming an Aunt - I had to come back and add this. Tony and I became an Aunt and Uncle yesterday. I love Tiffany and David, Unfortunantely they are so far away, but seeing pictures of their brand new baby boy filled me with love and joy for them! Also it made me excited for Tony and I's furture(someday).

* There are lots of other things I am thankful for ...they may seem trivial,, but to me they mean something. I'm thankful for my black steve madden boots, and my blue blazer I found at the thrift store. I'm thankful for my Jeep that I love driving everyday. I am thankful for living smack dab in the middle of 2 major malls... and so on. I hope everyone has a glorious Thanksgiving! I'm excited for ours. We will be spending it with my dad out in Dayton and going shopping the next day. Wish me luck ... hopefully I don't get trampled!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Steppin' Out *Game Day*

This is my first time "steppin out". I'm not going to lie, I laid in bed thinking of my outfit days in advanced. Which may not say much... because my outfit may not be that great. Point is ... I am E-xcited!
The original plan was to go down to the OSU campus and tailgate, but those plans ended up falling through. A perfectly good outfit wasted on the pups and Tbone. Well for your viewing pleasure ...
Cardigan - Old Navy
T-Shirt - Buckeye Corner
Jeans - Old Navy
Boots - Steve Madden (Macy's)
Necklace - Random vender on Lane Ave.

Ring - Premier Jewelry

I pinky promise to dream up some better outfits for next time.

Ps. Hopefully I did this right? hehe

Thursday, November 11, 2010

I would do anything for love, but I won't do That.

Meatloaf.
I did it. My first attempts at meatloaf were a success I would say. With a little (or alot) of help from the husband. It was a pretty simple first time recipe to start out with. Recipe found here ... http://www.skinnytaste.com/
We had all ingredients on hand already. I was almost positive Tony would laugh at me when I said I wanted to take pictures of the process and blog about it. Kinda nerdy. Surprisingly he didn't, although he had no interest in being in any of the pictures. But we'll work on that. 

 
My OCD list making tendencies at work.






Tony did this part. All ingredients mixed together.
Ground turkey, 1 egg, ketchup, and a few random spices.




One of my favorite things ever! This baby has come in so much use!
A wedding present from my Grandma!
  



We were ready to mix all of the ingredients and I turn around to grab a spoon.
Tony says "what are you doing?"
Me "getting a spoon to mix everything"
Tony with a mischievious look "No you gotta use your hands"
So I did.

After cooking for an hour it came out super delish! Tony loved it and I enjoyed it myself. It made the perfect amount - 4 servings. Since Tony and I are watching what we're eating. I had enough to take with me for lunch the next day. So that is all for our first adventure.

Next week :: Black Bean Turkey enchiladas.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

I Heart Food

I love food.
No really, like love at first bite change my life kind of love.
It may be kind of weird, but if you saw me you could probably tell that I've never met a cheeseburger, cookie, chipotle buritto ... or any other type of edible item I didn't like. It's a life long struggle/love-hate relationship. I love the food, my hips/ass/love handles hate the food though. It's an emotional thing for me. When I think of celebrating good times or hanging out with friends first thought is a restaurant or sharing a meal with my loved ones. I'm not sure exactly where I picked this habit up but I did. Although I know I have this habit, it's hard to change it.
The point is ... Even though my love of food is unquestionable, I'm not known for my cooking abilities. I guess my parents didn't quite teach me how to handle myself in the kitchen, but I feel my skills have improved 100%. Although I can cook a meal to please my husband, I don't have a large range of meals. Spaghetti, Tacos, Chicken ... all the mainstays. So I've made an {Early} New years resolution. Once a week Tony and I are going to try a new recipe, and I am going to blog about it.
On Tonight's menu is Meatloaf. Sounds simple enough. I've never made it before so it shall be a new experience for me. Stay tuned tomorrow, for the turn out ... hopefully minus burnt edges!
Pots & Pans for Christmas? I can take a hint.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Blog is going Craaazy

So I was playing around trying to make my blog more asthetically pleasing. Now I've done gone a f'd it up. It's been bothering me all day. Instead of working i've secretly been trying to fix it to no avail. I found some html backgrounds and instructions on how to apply them. it didn't quite go as planned. Now my blog is all jacked up... :( Any suggestions would be appreciated ... or hopefully I can figure it out once I get out of work. So for now, looks like I'm Under Construction.

Update:: Looks like I got it fixed. I'm so technologically savvy... or something lke that.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

A Battle of Epic Proportion

HeHe Sorry Mom.
Jen Vs. The Cupcake.

1 Point : Jen ---  0 Points : Cupcake









Ps. I'm trying to figure my page setup out, so if it keeps changing randomly... this is why.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

"Insert witty title here"

I originally started this blog to document our wedding planning. Then I fell off the blogsphere when the wedding/wedding planning was over. Then after my multiple month hiatus Glam Bride returned as Beautiful Life. I've tried to keep up with it, but sometimes (most of the time) I find myself boring. Maybe I don't have the blogging talent. I want to be interesting and funny, and tell witty endearing stories about my life. Problem is my life doesn't seem that witty or endearing. Or maybe I just don't know how to write it so it sounds that way. I feel as if I'm just blah blah blahing as the story drags on. Well... here I go again, another attempt at keeping this blog updated. I love reading other peoples blogs, so hopefully someone will love reading mine.

I also love looking at pictures on people blogs ... so for your viewing pleasure...

Flo and The worlds greatest spokesperson in the World.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

"What's the worst that could happen?"

Tony and I have been keeping busy lately ... I haven't been very good about posting on here. The past few weeks involved ::
Gahana Blues and Jazz Festival - We went with Liz and Dave, it was a pretty good time. The weather was nice, being newly summer. So we were all wanting relish the sun and warmth. There wasn't a lot to do down there, but we always make it fun for ourselves. We waited about an hour at the High School to board a school bus that would transport us to the festival. That was amusement in itself, school buses seemed to have shrunk (or we've all grown). We got down there and ended up finding Dave's friend Jack that was bartending at an outdoor bar. So we had some summer shandy's and could hear the music coming from the main stage.
Our partner's in crime.Tony & I
Our usual photo shoot
Liz & Dave.

We got hungry and had dinner at old bag of nails. 3 out of the 4 all you can eat fish (which was a terrible idea ... you end up OVERstuffed). That was pretty much all.

Cedar Point - We got free tickets to Cedar Point and ended up getting 6 of them. We invited Liz & Dave also Ashley & Jesse. So all 6 of us headed up to Sandusky. Turns out Father's day was Pride day ... so that made for an interesting day. The weather was really nice again, really hot though. It was too busy and we got to ride pretty much everything we wanted to with fairly short lines. For lunch we decided to pack instead of spending money inside the park. It was actually pretty fun. Each couple brought a couple of dishes and we tailgated in the parking lot behind the Jeep.
The girlsBoys
This was our "tailgate" lunch.

4th of July weekend - This past weekend was jam packed we all had a 3 day weekend. Saturday morning we headed down to Logan early in the morning to go canoing. There is so much to say about that event, not even sure where to begin. I had never canoed before, so it was a brand new experience for me. Took us a while to get the hang of it. We slowly made out way down the river drinking beer and having a good time. The guys went in one canoe and the girls were in the other. We just floated along while the guys were going a lot faster then us. We found a rope swing close to the end and decided to give it a try. Ashley tips us out of the boat then scrambles up the ladder to the rope swing while Liz and I are trying to recover our belongings. All 3 of us ended up going off the swing and all of us ended up hurting ourselves (not seriously though) I couldn't support my self and instead of swinging off the rope I kind of just ended up falling like a bag of bricks. I ended up with rope burn on my hands. Ashley skinned her knees and liz got a wedgie. The men did not attempt. The boys ended up tipping their boat a few times too. At one point they had the boat out of the water on the edge of the river. They were both sitting in the boat attempting to rock it into the water as we overhear "what's the worst that could happen". We finally made it to the end of the trip a little more wet and a little more drunk. At the beginning of the trip Tony and I had bought this  plastic "water tight" box. Well in the end everything in it ended up ruined which was my camera and Tony's phone. We were upset about it but honestly we had so much fun it didn't even matter. After that we went and got some food and went back to Ashley & Jesse's house and slept for a couple hours.
     Later that night we headed up to Lancaster to a drive in movie. They were playing Toy Story 3 & Eclipse. I really liked both movies a lot. It was just a really fun day!
Sadly these are the last of the pictures I have from the weekend since my camera faced a watery death. Monday we spent all day up at St. Mary's lake with everyone. I got quite burnt and bit up by mosquitos. We were exhausted from the weekend when we went back to work on tuesday. It was so much fun though it was worth it! This weekend we're just hanging out at home so far. I guess that sums everything up!   * Jen *

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Exhausted

I'm kind of exhausted with life. I wish I could figure it out and be on my merry little way to "happily ever after".     The End.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Regenerating Belongings

    So things are getting somewhat back to normal after the purse snatching debacle. I FINALLY have a phone again. That was the weirdest part! Also I got 2 of my credit cards in the mail. So I'm not carrying around a wallet with only my drivers license in it. Still on my list of things to get - Sunglasses. The ones that I lost were ones I bought and wore on our honeymoon. So they have a little bit of a sentiment. As much sentiment as a pair of sunglasses can have. Also I need a new key chain. It's kind of a random thing, and they're surprisingly hard to find. Thats about it though. The people that stole all of our stuff are continuing to steal money though. Just using our id's and writing fake checks and cashing them. So it's kind of a constant state of paranoia. Are they going to steal money out of my account, or are they going to take out credit cards in my name? I'm really hoping these people will get what they deserve eventually.
    Other than that all is well. Tony's friend Joe and his wife Kris had their son on saturday. We went up to the hospital on sunday and I got to hold Aiden their son. He was only 1 day old and I was in love! How can you not love something that tiny? Tony held him too, he's definantely a natural. It makes it hard not to think of things to come in the future. I must admit I have a bit of baby fever. But hopefully I can just be baby sitter for now! Thats all for now. We have another volleyball game on Thursday, so I'm sure we will all be on edge a bit. Wish us luck! Jen

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Unlucky Me

I haven't posted in a while. Nothing much going on, still trying to lose weight. It's going ok ... not great but it's a slow process. But I'm feeling pretty good about myself. I've been doing zumba (a dance class). It's so much fun and makes me look forward to working out. I'm obssesed.  Also I'm in a volleyball league on thursdays night at a local bar. I'm not very good, but it's a lot of fun. Which brings me to my unluckiness. We had a game this past thursday. We show up a little early to hang out and drink a beer. We were getting ready to go out on the vball court and everyone shoved all of their personal items in my purse. Then I put the purse under the table. There were a couple of guys that weren't on the team that were suppose to sit at the table and "guard". We play our game and come back I ask for my purse, and all I get is "it was stolen". Haha very funny. Nope no joke, it was freakin stolen! Along with everyones personal belonging. Cellphones/wallets/keys. Very upsetting considering there were two people that were suppose to be watching the purse and our table. For some reason 2 girls were sitting at the table and noone thought to keep their eye on my belongings. After everything calmed down and I finally made it home Tony and I started calling credit card companies. Luckily they didn't touch our checking account. But once we called the credit card companies we started to find out the damage these girls had done. Multiple $200 charges at krogers. And then some other charges at other places. That was just my cards, they also did the same thing to other peoples cards. So that was sucky but luckily we wont be help liable for the charges. But I had to buy a new cellphone, a new drivers license, pretty much everything you keep in your purse. Random stupid stuff like a wallet, a key chain and sunglasses. It was just plain inconvienent. It made me so mad to think that someone could do this to me and my friends. Hopefully in the end they get what they deserve. Things are finally getting back to normal and I'm finally starting to feel better. From now on I'm going to be less trusting and more aware and cautious. Thats pretty much the whole story, this could have been prevented but oh well there is no way to go back. Everyone is safe (althought we did change the locks at our house) and everything is replaceable.
     Tony and I ended up having a great weekend together though.  We ate lunch at Bel Lago today, they have an outdoor seating area that overlooks hoover resovoir. We had lunch with my dad and stepmom kat. Then we walked around in downtown westerville and looked around in all of the little antique shops. Now were just unwinding at home before another week of work! Until next time.... Jen

Sunday, March 21, 2010

much needed time off

Nothing much going on here. Just lounging at home. I have to work 4 days next week and then we are leaving to go on vacation with my dad, stepmom and sisters. We're going to gatlinburg. Nothing exotic, but it will be nice to have some time off of work. That place has been driving me nuts lately! Today we're going to go get a new camera (my birthday present) to take down with us. I'm excited, I like road trips! My parents got a big nice cabin with a hot tub. Not sure what activities we will be doing, but it should be fun! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

The weekend

I finally had a full weekend off. These seem to be few and far imbetween. Friday I walked around the mall with my friend Ann after work for a bit. I didn't buy anything. Tony and I have put ourselves on a specific budget. We each get $25 a week, for eating out lunch or if we want to buy something. Then we share
$50 for the weekend. Definantely not much, but if we are serious about saving and buying a house it's a must. The first week went pretty well. Friday I didn't spend any money.
 Saturday we went and looked at houses for the first time. It was very exciting and fun. Rae's mom Brenda was nice enough to set all of it up. We found one we really fell in love with. So we will see where that goes. It is in Hilliard, so I would be going back to my old hometown. Kind of sweet :) Then we had lunch with liz up at Bdubs while Dave was working. Saturday night I went out with some friends from work. We work so much, so we don't get to do hardly anything fun together outside of work. We went downtown and had some drinks and dinner at a bar. A place called LeveL in the Short North. We drank and ate, and danced around in our seats. Today we woke up and I made breakfast sandwiches for Tony and I. We just kind of vegged around. And Tony picked up around the house. It's so NICE to have a husband that cleans. Especially since I'm not the best or fondest of it! I am very appreciative of that!
The weather was nice today. Compared to the past few months. We took the dogs for a walk and then stopped for some ice cream. The trick is finding cheap/free activities we can do. Or just picking one day to do something. Unfortunantely it is back to work tomorrow. We go on vacation in a couple of weeks. It can't get here soon enough! And it'll be my birthday while we're gone. Kind of looking forward to that. We'll see!