wednesday loves: birthday edition

This Wednesday Loves is going to be a little different...

It was my 30th birthday on Sunday and my family was incredibly generous with gifts...
AJ and my parents gave me the Canon Rebel T3 and I'm already in love with it. My goal is to learn all the different settings so I can get amazing shots of Drew, landscapes and photos of the house for the blog. Right now I'm just experimenting but it's amazing how much more clear the photos are.



April and Kerry (AJ's mom and stepfather) gave me a choice between recovering the chairs I have in the living room (let's just say that making a slipcover isn't my life calling) and purchasing new ones... when I found out that it's cost $500 to have a simple slipper chair reupholstered I went online to http://www.overstock.com/ and started looking around... we settled on a pair of these chairs.  (Do you ever google coupon codes? I do for everything I purchase online. I got free shipping and $15 off my Overstock order just by googling coupon code.) Once they arrive I'll post some photos of them in our living room!



Kim gave me such fun gifts this year. She took me to see Legally Blonde at the North Shore Music Theatre and let me tell you, it was as good as Broadway productions I've seen. It helps that Legally Blonde is my favorite movie and I have basically every word memorized but regardless, it was hysterical and fabulous.



Then, Kim made me the most amazing set of three CDs. I asked her to make me a compilation of some of the greatest songs from the past 30 years and she outdid herself. She chose a song that was released every single year since I was born... I felt like I was running ragged yesterday but once I put on the CDs everything got happier. :) Here is the list...

1981: "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield
1982: "Thriller" by Michael Jackson
1983: "Every Breath You Take" by The Police
1984: "The Boys of Summer" by Don Henley
1985: "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves
1986: "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles
1987: "With or Without You" by U2
1988: "Awesome God" by Rich Mullins
1989: "Hit Me with your Best Shot" by Pat Benatar
1990: "Vogue" by Madonna
1991: "Unbelievable" by EMF
1992: "If I had a Million Dollars" by Barenaked Ladies
1993: "Hero" by Mariah Carey
1994: "Only Wanna Be with You" by Hootie and the Blowfish
1995: "Wonderwall" by Oasis
1996: "Macarena" by Los Del Rio
1997: "Fly" by Sugar Ray
1998: "Meet Virginia" by Train
1999: "All Star" by Smash Mouth
2000: "Yellow" by Coldplay
2001: "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys
2002: "Somebody Like You" by Keith Urban
2003: "The Blower's Daughter" by Damian Rice (he could sing The Macarana and I'd cry... I just love him)
2004: "Over and Over" by Nelly and Tim McGraw
2005: "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter
2006: "And I'm Telling You" by Jennifer Hudson
2007: "1,2,3,4" by Feist
2008: "Mercy" by Duffy
2009: "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train
2010: "Somewhere with You" by Kenny Chesney
2011 (got two songs with my girl Adele because I'm in love with her)
"Rolling in the Deep"
"Someone Like You"

---------------

Didn't she put a ton of work into that? I just love it. The night before my birthday we went to 9 Elm Bistro in Danvers. The food is fantastic, I got the French Onion Soup and then Artichoke Salmon and then on the night of my birthday Danielle and Warren came over for tacos and an amazing chocolate cake.

Tomorrow I'll hopefully be posting about a table I'm redoing... It's going from Savers Thrift Store to Pottery Barn. Anyone looking for a pedestal table?

christmas indoors

We have done some of our decorating for Christmas indoors... but haven't bought the tree yet. We aren't sure what to do about Drew... he is into EVERYTHING and we wonder if it would be better to do a tabletop tree this year... any feedback from parents? I mean, we don't want an experience like what happened in Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation... :)

This first photo is in our living room. See that mirror? $12.99 from Savers, thank you very much. :) It is SO incredibly heavy. I asked AJ if he'd get a board for me to go over a dresser I was using to prop it up behind the couch but he did a step better and built me a console table using scrap wood we had in the basement. It's not beautiful but it doesn't matter because it's completely hidden by the couch and we can just cover up the sides with the nicer wood.

I covered the console table in greens, pinecones and some birch logs. The lamps are two that I got at Christmas Tree Shop for $10 each when we were going to stage and sell the house in Gloucester we were working on.

I should retake this next photo because I didn't realize how blurry it was but I decided to try a wreath over our kitchen sink this year. I've loved the photos I've seen of it in magazines...

We took an arborvitae and planted it in a champagne bucket from Pottery Barn and then I asked AJ to cut me some birch logs about 3-4 inches long to surround the base of the tree.

Is this bird adorable or what? Danielle and Warren found him at an antique store for my 30th. They said I'm hard to buy for but I figure if you find something that is white you are half way to a good present. :)

I found this frame on the side of the road last week (what else is new?). It doesn't have a back so I just made one out of a scrap piece of cardboard.

Last year for my birthday my parents gave me these great little wreaths from Ballard Designs (they have them again this year if anyone wants to snag them). I tied them with a tan ribbon that I had leftover from another project and then spaced them out every two balusters.

Our table set up is incredibly simple right now. The two amazing little topieries were a gift from AJ last Christmas... can you believe he fit them both in my STOCKING??!?!? They are from Restoration Hardware and are preserved greens. The birch in the center is from Pottery Barn and then the gorgeous lilies are from AJ for my birthday. They make the house smell amazing and last for 2-3 weeks.

More photos coming once we make a little more progress! :)

christmas outdoors

Update: I was able to add more outdoor photos!  I figured out a way to make them load faster... :)

I'm one of those people that starts thinking about Christmas in August. I just love it. It's easily my favorite holiday, probably because it feels like it lasts the longest. The prep for Christmas is just as fun as the day itself. And decorating for Christmas is no exception.

Keep in mind that our front porch will eventually be removed because it is so rotted but we are working with what we have now... you'll see rot and moss that I've tried to disguise but honestly it still looks pretty bad. :)

We got these aborvites for $2.50 last summer and have kept them in these planters since then. We've changed up the plants around the bottom, pansies for the summer, bittersweet for the fall, etc. I went into the woods and clipped these greens and then was completely paranoid I was going to get arrested when a police man started following me so I drove at exactly the speed limit all the way home (that's pretty good for a girl with a lead foot).

Probably about five years ago I got a Bath and Body gift and it had this little sled, I knew I could use it for Christmas decorating and attached it with wire to the wreath.

The birch logs were from a tree my neighbor cut down and the ribbon was left over from a gift from Williams Sonoma (even the ribbon from that store is high quality).

The window boxes were the same greens I almost got arrested for taking, a piece of birch and some fake berries.

This is on an adorable little gate AJ made... but this photo really makes me realize how much it needs a paint touch up...

This final photo is on our back gate. I found this star on the side of the road when people were moving and they were getting rid of a bunch of stuff!

Hope you are having a great Monday! I'm off to a pastoral search comittee meeting now so it's guys night for my boys. :)

a letter to my mom

 

Mom with Drew on the day he was born (12.28.10)

Mims-

I was up this morning at 3:30, I'm pretty sure 30 years ago you weren't totally comfortable at that exact moment. And by "weren't comfortable" I mean "wanted to murder someone you were in so much pain" because they'd turned off your epidural (why would they do something so cruel?!?!).

Val told us that every year on her birthday she writes a letter to her mother because it was her mom who did all of the hard work that day... she should be the one celebrated! So, thank you, Mom, for enduring awful nausea during those early months and then labor for me. I literally wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. Thank you. :)

Oh shoot, I haven't even typed anything yet and I'm crying.

1. Thank you for loving me even on those days when you probably wanted to run the opposite direction from me as soon as Dad got home from work. Thank you for putting up with my crying and teething and non-napping. I obviously don't remember any of that, but I'm pretty sure from watching you after I got a little older that you were loving and patient. Sometimes after a really rough day with Drew I don't know how you did it with two kids. Okay, after even an easy day with Drew I don't know how you did it with two kids. :)
2. Thank you for having Kim and for developing a friendship between us. It is the best thing to have a friend for 28 years who knows nearly everything about you.
3. Thank you for being so creative. I remember all those times you had us making crafts for Dad... how many pencil can holder did he have on his desk decorated with macaroni? Craft time was always so fun and it's given me ideas for all kinds of things to do with Drew when he is old enough to know not to eat the glue and dried macaroni.
4. I loved how you made whatever we gave you seem like it was the best gift ever. I remember one of the first times I was able to pick out your gift by myself and Dad took Kim and I to Wal-Mart or some where and I got you these Christmas towels (now that I remember it, they were sort of appliqued and ugly but I loved it then) and you used them for the kitchen and bathroom. Maybe you hated them too but you never let on to that...
5. Thank you for making birthdays and holidays the most special days... I always felt like the Queen on my birthday with balloons on my locker, a special meal that you brought me for lunch, a present at the end of my bed when I woke up... you outdid yourself. Anything I do with event planning is because of you and because you have such a great way of making someone feel so special and loved on any special day (or even on a normal run-of-the-mill day).
6. Do you know I can't remember one time growing up that you ever made me feel like I was interrupting you, EVEN when I was so annoying and kept passing you notes while you were on the phone? You NEVER made me feel like I was interrupting your dinner prep or your cleaning... there is a lot I need to learn from that... and you aren't even one of those people whose house was chaos and fed her children chicken nuggets every night... I don't know how you did it while making Kim and I feel like the most important thing in your life at that moment.
7. You gave up so much for Kim and I... I'm not sure how expertly raising two kids has anything to do with the math degree you got from Gordon, oh wait, it doesn't... but you never made Kim or I feel like you were missing out on something. You rocked the stay at home mom job. Your occupation under Facebook is "Mother" even though you are working part time now and you have two grown kids and a grandson... You know I loved when you showed up at carpool smelling of cookies ... you'd drive 45 minutes to drop us off and pick us up at school before we moved to Whitinsville... that's commitment.
8. I love that you and Dad made such a strong commitment for us to be a family that you would have dinner ready for all four of us at 9pm during the nights I had volleyball or Kim had drama just so we could eat as a family.
9. Most of all, Mims, I love that 30 years later you still call me all the time and treat me just as specially as you did when we were kids. You read every blog post religiously and gave AJ a present for me to open in bed this morning (even if he did have to tell me to get back in bed for me to open it... I absolutely love it and am wearing it in all of its sparkly goodness right now. :)). You treat Drew as if he was your own son and love on AJ and make birthday plans with him. You still make me hot chocolate when I come over because you know it's my favorite and listen to all my woes and whining.

Thank you for never giving up on me and loving me through everything.
Love you, Mims-

Jenny xoxo

I would have put a picture here of us right after Drew was born but I looked like a nightmare and you looked great so forget about that... Here is one right either right after or before the c-section... I forget... :)

30, flirty and thriving

I turn 30 tomorrow. I think a lot of people feel angst and nervousness about turning 30. For some reason I'm not going crazy about it but there have been thoughts running through my head like... oh my gosh, I'm in the grown-up years now... people in their 30s are responsible, they usually have more stable jobs, they have the 2.5 kids and the SUV. Life in the 30s looks a little more boring than life in the 20s... 20s seemed more carefree and fun.

During my senior year of college I made a list of 10 things I wanted to accomplish before I turned 30. I think the only things that were not crossed off where:

• Go to Italy and Ireland. Do a photography vacation. I only made it to Ireland where Kim was studying abroad... which was spectacular... but AJ and I did go to Greece two summers ago where I took about 10,000 photos.

• Open up my own event planning business in the city. I have my own event planning business but it's not something that I'm focusing on on a day to day basis and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't classify Manchester-by-the-Sea as a city... :)

Knowing I accomplished nearly everything I wanted to in my twenties makes me feel ready for thirty. I suppose with everything you get it means you don't get something else... for example... during those years before I met AJ I kept wondering why I hadn't met the right guy yet... I didn't think I was a complete loser who repelled people so I couldn't figure out why someone fabulous wasn't right around the corner. But here's the thing, though I wish I met him years earlier it's okay that I didn't... I had such a great time living with Danielle for a year and then once Kim graduated college we lived together for a few years. I couldn't have had either of those experiences if I had married right out of school.

It helped to narrow down what I wanted to do leading up to my thirties... and now for a list of nine things (that may be ever evolving) to accomplish / work on before 40 (holy smokes, that number is WAY scarier than 30).
1. Make a valid effort at spending time reading the Bible each morning, no matter how busy I am. I want Drew to see how important that is to my daily life.
2. Be very intentional about AJ and not "lose" him in the busy-ness of raising Drew and working on houses. Carve out time for just the two of us on a regular basis.
3. Raise a Godly child who had an interest in learning, health and others around him and in the world as a whole.
4. Finish our house (whoo hoo!). Sell it for a profit and purchase our Forever House (if we find the right one).
5. Travel. Travel. Travel. Make it to Italy and France and take an unbelievable amount of photos. Spend a summer abroad while AJ is still teaching. Mykonos, Greece? Yes, please.
6. Purchase more investment properties. Learn some carpentry from AJ so the burden for these houses don't fall primarily on him. Maybe I'll even learn how to do a complicated miter cut... :)
7. Figure out something I can do to make money from home and do it. (Yes, this is very vague... I don't have a lot of direction in this area yet...)
8. Take my real estate test. This needs to be done by July 2012... Maybe this is my answer to #7.
9. Do foster care or adopt a child (or children).

Danielle, when you asked me a couple days ago about how I felt turning thirty here is your answer...
I feel great. I feel like it's an age where you get taken more seriously (I'll find out if that is true or not). The stability of thirty both feels great and scary at the same time. I'm looking forward to this new season of life mostly because I'm excited to do these things with AJ. I'm excited for our conversations about everything from what he'll show me in France (when we finally get there together) to teaching Drew about how to handle money as a little kid. I'm nervous about these goals because it's going to be hard work and will require sacrifices... but I suppose no one lived their dream life by just sitting on the couch reading magazines about other people living their dream lives. They had to go out and make it happen... so... here's to making it happen!

thanksgiving thanks

The Thanksgiving service at our church is incredibly unique. In lieu of the sermon on Sunday people in the church could share one item they were thankful for and put an object to symbolize it into the cornocopia at the front of the church. This year I brought the ultrasound photo where we saw Drew's face for the first time.



Here is what I shared with the church... anyone who has been keeping up with the blog for a while will know some of this but here is a shortened version... and for anyone from church, maybe here you can understand what I was trying to say since my choked up voice was out of control... :)

I'm thankful for not getting what I thought was best for me. During the entire pregnancy with Drew I was scared about how this would change our lives. Would it be as people told me it would be? Would I never get to sit and read a book again? Was I going to be exhausted for the next 18 years? Would I just be defined as Jen the Mom instead of just Jen?



I didn't know if being a mom was really for me... I thought pretty much everyone else on the planet (except for the stars of Teen Mom) would be better at it than I. I never baby-sat and kids always liked my sister better than they liked me.


But then we had Drew nearly a year ago and I've realized that God knew what was best for me... he knew being a mom would require endless amount of self sacrifice, something that hasn't been easy to learn, but something that has been so GOOD. And He knew that Drew would make our marriage stronger because AJ and I would be forced to communicate about every little detail. When Drew turned six months I began to stay at home full time with him and the Lord is teaching me that I'm not defined by my career or bringing home a regular paycheck (this, friends, is a hard lesson to learn that I struggle with daily).


I'm so thankful for a God who wants the best for us and will put us in hard situations that we don't necessarily want to be in because He knows how life-giving and fulfilling they will be for us in the long run (even if it's hard to see in the beginning). And I'm so thankful for AJ and the sweet, and incredibly energetic, little boy who are teaching me that God knows best ALL THE TIME.
 
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! What are YOU thankful for this day?

oxford charm

My goal for the September themed table was to make something that resembled a back to school theme... and I thought I would make something that would be adorable for snacks when kids got home from their first day of school. The props I had on hand led me in a totally different direction... or maybe it was because I've been reading some of CS Lewis' quotes recently so I've been enamoured by the Oxford charm of him... Regardless, here is a grown-up dinner party with the theme "back to school" (back to PhD? :))

I love the look of a "bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils" as Meg Ryan's character says in You've Got Mail. I piled them on top of some old books I borrowed from my friend Jade that she used for her wedding.

I suppose if you were trying to have conversations with the people across the table it would be a smidge hard to see them so if this was a real life situation you would want to just reduce the number of books.

I broke out the red wine glasses for this post since, after all, it is a September table and things are cooling off. AJ is the red fan in this house... I pretty much won't drink any other wine than Pinot Grigio regardless of the season or what I'm eating (I'm really a connoisseur, what can I say?). This table setting was calling for candles... after all, I'm envisioning a dark library sort of feeling.

Kim and I went through some sketchy parts of Lynn one Saturday, before I even met AJ, and we scored a dresser that she never used but looked fantastic and I got this $5 typewriter. It works with the vintage feel of the table.

Here you go... the entire Oxford Charm (September) tablescape:

I'm linking this to Between Naps on the Porch.

christmas happiness

Is it just me or do people seem to be decorating for Christmas earlier than any other year? I don't remember seeing Christmas trees and houses already decorated before Thanksgiving last year. My first clue Christmas was coming earlier this year was Santa's tacky lit up sleigh out in someone's front lawn on November 10...

I told AJ this morning as we were lying in bed that I wanted to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving and that's all I wanted for my 30th birthday (I only have five days left of my 20s...). I was joking. He told me he would then return all my presents. :) Anyways... here are some great inspiration ideas I've been finding to start on the minute Thanksgiving is over (I have this rule in my head that it's one holiday at a time... even though I'd be happy decorating for Christmas in August).

Here is an adorable welcome nook from Better Homes and Gardens:





I love this way to bring a little bit of Christmas into any room... a wreath in the window with some paperwhites...



The layering of whites in this living room with touches of tans and golds is simply gorgeous.



This next photo came from www.azcentral.com and all I have to say is... Where do I get this adorable little placecard?



Speaking of food... I could eat every one of these candy cane cake pops... Yum.



I love the colors in this living room. It's such a wintery looking Christmas.



I don't love the ribbons on this wreath but I think it's a neat idea. It's from Martha Stewart.



I totally want to do this on our stairs... although I'm doubting how kid friendly it is... especially with a little guy who loves to pull my plants right out of the dirt...



Okay... and let's talk about some simple decorating in bedrooms for Christmas...


(from www.tumblr.com)

These aren't our colors but I love these ideas for perking up a bedroom for Christmas:



Fill me in... I want to hear some feedback here (via Facebook or commenting on the blog)... what are you doing to decorate for Christmas and / or what are you doing to save money on decorating?

I want to get some wreaths (Market Basket has plain ones for $5.99 each) and a Christmas tree... oh and some paperwhite bulbs... but otherwise I really want to try to do everything else for free by using what I have or by scavenging in the woods for greens. Give me your best ideas! :)

drew is walking!

I was making dinner on Wednesday and was just stunned when Drew walked from a box of diapers we'd purchased that day to some cookie pan he'd just thrown out of our cabinet. AJ and I had been trying to get him to walk for a little bit since he's been standing on his own for probably about three weeks. Of course I didn't have a minute to grab my camera because, well, four baby steps take about two seconds. Here are four of my favorite movies... I don't think any are longer than five seconds. :)

This was the first time I got it on camera... I just love AJ's proud face here.

This next one isn't on Facebook so no one has seen it yet... :)

This is the second movie we took of him walking, just listen to his proud little noises.

My job has just become more difficult now that he is increasingly mobile... I was so exhausted yesterday I went to bed at 8:45... and it felt great.

registry love

Blog reader Brittany asked for some suggestions for her wedding registry and wondered what I couldn't live without... here you go, Brittany! :) Keep in mind a lot of these suggestions are coming from someone who loves to entertain...
The first item is this glass cake stand from Bed, Bath and Beyond (all links go directly to the product). I use it all the time, just the other day I made muffins and they wouldn't fit into Tupperware and the cake stand was perfect. At $30 it's more than reasonable.



You don't know me at all if you don't know that I love white. White anything. It was such a good decision for us to get a set of 12 white plates because they will go with ANYTHING (like when doing tablescapes like this). We put on our registry the Pottery Barn Caterer's set and it's been fabulous. It's been so nice to have more than just a set of six or eight and as a major bonus, it's a LOT more affordable than their other plates.



Big mistake we made here... make sure you register for silverware that is rust proof or 18 / 10 (look on the box for those numbers). Within six months ours had rust marks all over it and it was gorgeous heavy silverware but it was labeled 18 / 8 (I think). This set below is Calvin Klein from Amazon and it's very similar to what we have now but it's 18/10 so it's rust proof. Here is a quick description from Amazon on the numbering: "Stainless steel marked as 18/10 is the highest quality. The number means that the alloy contains 18 percent chromium and 10 percent nickel. The chromium makes the metal rust- and stain-resistant, while the nickel gives it luster and shine. The rest of the metal is composite steel, which makes the flatware strong."





I have these Pottery Barn  drink dispensers and love them. They look like glass but they are an unbreakable plastic. It's perfect for parties, especially summer ones outdoors!



I can't say enough how useful white platters / big bowls are... I have more than my fair share because I'm obsessed. I think AJ will send me to counseling if I come home with one more... A big deep bowl (I have white) and a more shallow wide bowl have been invaluable.

We use this pitcher from Crate and Barrel all the time for water:


See that tiered white stand to the left of the photo? We have that and I use it all the time for parties... in fact, I just did on Saturday evening...



Other things I've found invaluable off our registry
(I use pretty much everything but these are the daily items):

• Bar mop towels from Bed, Bath and Beyond
• Kitchen towels and dish cloths from Williams-Sonoma outlet
• Pyrex bowls with lids
• A good set of knives (both for prep and steak knives)
• A canister vacuum (thanks Mom and Dad!)
• We have a couple of sets of glasses: juice glasses, larger glasses, water glasses and red and white wine glasses... we use them all. Any of our models have incredibly similar designs from TJ Maxx, Home Goods or Marshalls... I think we got the majority of them at one of those stores.
• Towels and Sheets are also steals when they come from Marshalls / HG / TJ Maxx.... I almost wish I didn't register for them and just used wedding money to buy them.

Things that aren't necessities but are fun: :)

• We have the smaller and larger version of these clocks from PB and they add such a classic taste to any room:

• We registered for a flat screen TV that a bunch of people went in on together so it was fun to get that!
• My grandparents gave us a fire pit for the backyard... put marshmallows on your registry too because they are a good combo. :)
• AJ's mom and step dad gave us a stainless steel grill for our patio when we moved into this house and we used it probably every other day during the summer.

I'm sure there are plenty of other items but I'll let you know.