6.28.2006

Clutch!

You Are Ernie
Playful and childlike, you are everyone's favorite friend - even if your goofy antics get annoying at times.

You are usually feeling: Amused - you are very easily entertained

You are famous for: Always making people smile. From your silly songs to your wild pranks, you keep things fun.

How you life your life: With ease. Life is only difficult when your friends won't play with you!

6.25.2006

Decorating!

So I've been decorating the past two weekends... and I'm pretty sure I'll be keeping it up too.
Here's our yard a few months ago... it looks completely different now, but Justin needs to mow, so I'm not taking a picture yet... that and we have a horrible problem with poison ivy and oak! OMG! Horrible! We need to hire a professional, but the better half thinks he can do it himself...

It's been over a month. It's still there.

Anyways, here are a few more pictures of the progress on the house.

This is our breakfast room, in between the living room and the kitchen. There is this rug I bought before we moved in that has my official color purple in it, along with different shades of brown and beige, and my new fav color, turquoise. West Elm, a cheaper, and might I say cooler, subsidiary of Pottery Barn (they own everything!) had these adorable linen curtains on serious clearance. 96' length too, so it really adds to the high ceilings in the house. Clutch.



Here's the study! It's at the front of the house, so it has a nice view of some trees, and other people's houses.

The other wall of the study sucks right now, because in Phase 4 of the house, we are going to get built in cabinets and bookshelves, with a desk, but until then, it is just my old bookshelf from when I was little.

Until then, I show you this gorgeous wall. Also from West Elm, are these kickin' 108' length silk dupioni curtains. That is a matching pillow, and then a little shelf that I can't get to stand straight. Also, that is the most comfortable leather recliner ever. Seriously, it is the softest leather, and goes so far back that you could easily fall asleep. I call it the "Gramps Recliner" because my grandfather would have loved this thing. Hopefully, he's got one even better upstairs ;)

Here is the dining room! An excellent architectural feature of this room is the cross-support beams in the middle of the ceiling that lead up to the skylight, and that's what the chandelier hangs from.

Um, I think this room still needs some more color, in the form of a table runner or something, but for now, I just have some flowers hanging on the wall vase.

Okay, actually, in describing this room, I just fell asleep, so it needs some more work ;)

Next up on the decorating block -- main guest bedroom (I need to finish re-staining some furniture, but that's it!), find a twin bed for the middle bedroom, (I want a day bed in there that will eventually match a crib because it will become the nursery... and before anyone freaks out, I used the term eventually, which means not for another year-and-a-half or two years), and my bedroom/bathroom (I just got some of my sister's prints framed, so I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate it... in fact, here's a picture of that... just ignore the hideous flash in the middle.)


6.24.2006

Saved?

I'm feeling a little contriversal this morning watching the movie Saved!, a great favorite of mine.

Back in middle school/high school, I grew up in the bible belt capital of the world -- Dallas, Texas. Ironically, it is also the most populated city of homosexuals and home to the largest homosexual/transgender Christian church. Tells you a little something about the Dallas area. ;)

I'm Catholic, so it made for an interesting time, I suppose. Any given year I had about four or five people try and "save" me. I never really understood that because, um, I believed in Jesus and went to church every Sunday. Of course there is more to being a Christian then that, but you get my drift.

The point is, everyone is a little different in how they worship, pray, follow, etc. There is no one set way, there never will be. But so many people/Christians try to fit that into one category, the right category. It's more than one can handle sometimes.

And to make it worse, the establishment of church itself sucks. Take a trip up my work elevator and you'll get the drift... This large church in Austin has a commercial on during a news station break. Apparently, if you have digital cable, you can go to their own channel!

Okay, maybe I'm not the prime example of how to run a church, considering I don't have a church. But still -- I feel like the most important thing for churches right now is not to spread the word of God, but to get new members, becuase that means more $$$.

It's like a friend of mine's church in Houston. She found out they spent more than $700k on advertising in a given year. Missionary work? A measely $5k.

Churches have become a business/money making opportunity, a chance to "get new members" isn't necessarily to save -- but almost to steal others from other churches so more cash can be received. Argh! It makes no sense!

Everyday, people still accept the Lord into their hearts, and I'm happy for them. These churches help them, and that's great. But I still feel like there is this shift, to get as many people going to church, instead of focusing on something more important than a building. It's weird. And frustrating. I guess because it is hard to find people that feel this way, and the fact that I'm still struggling to find a church that isn't focused on just these things.

Take for example this church Justin and I frequented on ocassion. Our last visit, they sang a Cher song -- or rather one person sang the Cher song while we all watched with our mouths open. Say wha? The song was in no way related to Jesus, and I'm pretty sure that Cher isn't religious, or not outwardly so. The sole point was to put on a "concert" and entertain, not to spread the word. That was the last time we went to that church.

Anyways, don't take this e-mail as knocking you, your church, more me saying I'm not into Jesus anymore. I'm just trying to get this off my chest :)




6.21.2006

Golfing

I've been working on my golf swing/game/hitting the ball during the last few weeks, and I feel like I'm making solid progress.

So in true Jenni fashion, I decided to reward myself with the following:
  • Pink golf glove by Nicole Miller. Well, at least I didn't get the $8,000 Louis Vuitton golf bag I saw. Although, I will say, if Coach made one, I'd start saving my money. Plus, think of all the purses and shoes I could buy with that much money.
  • 15 pink golf balls. I would have gone with the purple (my official color); however, I've found that the majority of my golf outfits are pink, and I didn't want to clash.

Now, to clarify, I had actually bought Justin something for our anniverary (we celebrate two... when we started dating and our wedding dates... JB is trying to get out of the first one, because he doesn't want to spend the money, which is a fair argument, but I got an iHome out of the deal, so woot), and I needed to get the order above a certain point for free shipping. So I wasn't as much rewarding myself as trying to save money.

Yes, Jenni... keep telling yourself that.

I'm going to try out a new church this weekend... the Catholic church out in Lakeway, and then maybe go watch Justin play in the Lakeway Cup. He's such a talented golfer, and it is a lot of fun to watch him dominate.

Alright, I'm pretty sure this is the crappiest blog I've ever wrote. I'm debating erasing this whole thing, but to be honest, it isn't worth the effort.

6.19.2006

We’re expecting? Um, what?

Father’s Day is that time of year when families get together, profess their love of good ‘ol dad, and then go about their daily business.

Justin and I had his entire family over (around 20 people) to the house for some golf, fellowship, and food. His family has a tradition of passing out an enormous amount of cards (Hallmark must make enough money off of them in one year to supply ten full-time artists/writers) and this “holiday” was no different.

What was different this year is Justin getting a Father’s Day card. I was minding my own business cleaning the kitchen while others were opening gifts (it was also Justin’s sister’s birthday and his uncle’s), when I hear, “Jenni, you got Justin a father’s day card? OOOOH, are you pregnant?”

Um, hell no I’m not. But let’s back this boat up.

I don’t do cards first of all. I find them to be an enormous waste of money and they get thrown away that same day. I mean, buy some chocolate for that $2.50 instead of a card that approximately 15,000 other people get in a given year.

Second, if Justin were to receive a card from me proclaiming I’m pregnant, it definitely wouldn’t be in front of 20 other people, all finding out at the same time. That announcement is a private moment meant to be shared between me and him… and then shortly thereafter, as many people as I can call in one day.

So it turns out it was just a bad joke by some family member on Justin, or me… I don’t quite know.

But seriously folks, let’s try and keep the witful humor related to things like poop, pee, someone farting, not on my uterus. It just isn’t as funny.

6.14.2006

Barf… literally

Some people are light sleepers, others sleep really hard, and carry conversations with people while sleeping and don’t remember. Others become apathetic during their sleep and only recall their idiocy when they wake up… or are reminded of it.

In high school, I carried on a conversation with a friend at about 10 p.m. – however, I was asleep. The following morning my dad wakes me up to listen to the answering machine. Apparently the conversation was recorded on the answering machine, which was hilarious, because I had no idea I was even on the phone. Much like when I’m awake, my discussions make no sense when I’m asleep.

Fast forward to 10 years later. I’m asleep by 10 p.m. (not much has changed since high school apparently…) and I vaguely remember Walter trying to wake me up between 10-11:15 p.m., but I didn’t care.

Then Justin comes in around 11:15, and wakes me up with this proclamation: “Oh my God! It smells like shit in here.” Then my memory of Walter trying to wake me up flashes through my mind, followed by an, “Aw, crud.”

Walter pooped, peed, barfed, and then left puddles of poop (I know gross… sorry). Justin ran off to the bathroom at one point while we were cleaning because he felt sick, and then I was jumpy the rest of the night thinking it was going to happen again… plus the smell was HORRIBLE all night long.

So, glad I was paranoid because he barfed and peed again at 4:45… I rushed him outside and he did his DIRRRRRTY business again out there. WOOO. Thank goodness. I don’t know how much more my carpet can take.

I went to check on him during the midday, and he seems a lot better, and he ate some food. So, he’s in the clear for now! I will talk to the vet on Friday about what causes this and how I can prevent it from happening twice in one night!

YUCK!

6.13.2006

Waxing

Don't you hate it when you are getting your eyebrows waxed, and you are waiting, just like, trying to be cool without jumping or something when the stylist "lets it rip?"

Yeah, and then I hate it when I stop anticipating after several false starts and then she rips and it's like, CRAP! PREPARE ME FOR THAT!

Okay, that's all. I just needed someone to share in my pain.

6.05.2006

My weekend.

This past weekend, my parents came in (I'm still not ready to discuss why my parents drive me crazy) and they dropped off all of my memories from childhood and high school.

Fun stuffed animals, a fisher price record player (still in pristine functioning order... that's totally worth some money), some photos (dang, I need to get back down to my anorexic size... haha... kidding). and the best part was getting my grandmother's china.


It's really cute -- nothing too expensive -- Gran was cool enough to keep the original documentation of the set (Style House "Duchess" is the exact name), and nothing says class like Montgomery Ward :) Regardless, I adore it. It's a simple white plate, lined with silver pine on the outer rim.


So I had almost gotten the house the way I wanted it, and now our study is once again the crap room. BOOO.
Anyways, so yesterday, Justin and I spent a relaxing afternoon playing golf at the country club and then had a nice dinner at the clubhouse. I'm actually getting pretty decent at golf, and Justin and I figured out that if I were to play every whole and start at the spot I should, I would only have a handicap of 70. HA! But seriously, huge strides in my game. I can actually make contact with the ball now ;) Plus, let's just cut to the chase, I like wearing the cute short skirts.