Jenna Lou Loves You

Grateful for her

The house was too quite while Zoey was gone so we were beyond happy to get the call that Zoey's surgery had gone well and that we could come pick her up the following day. She is now happily at home recovering. Dogs are so good at dealing with pain, I really can't even imagine how much it must hurt, yet she waddels around and her tail still wags when we talk to her. So far things have been like I expected. She is much more still and quiet, but I'm sure that won't last long. In about two weeks we get to go back to remove the big bandage covering her body and remove stitches. I think she will be so happy to have it off and I'm sure will be almost back to feeling like normal again by then.

Thank you God for giving us more time with her!!

 

 

This morning I dropped Zoey off for surgery. We found a very well known and highly respected Veternarian in Southern MN who recommended doing both opperations at once. Really that made more sense to me so I'm really thankful for the second opinion. Things sound optimistic for the surgery, and only time will tell. I think the recovery will be the hard part.... at least for me to watch. It's amazing how strong love can grow for an animal.Thank you all for the wishes.

I then returned home just long enough to grab my mail and leave again. My Grandpa has been sick for months with heart failure and he was back in the hospital today. After managing to leave Zoey without a tear shed I was already emotionaly charged to the brim and wasn't able to hold back a thing in the hospital holding Grandpas hand. There is something especially hard after spending years appart to come back finding he has aged so much. It's like waking up too fast from a dream. Or maybe more like running head on into a wall. Everything seemed so fine, but then reality is just right there in front of you. It's sudden and scary. We know that Grandpas days are limited, but only God knows the number. 

For now I just want to try to be present in life as much as possible. It's too easy at these times to slip under the covers and tune life out.

Love you Zoey, Love you Grandpa!!!

 

Decking the Halls

I'm so thrilled for Christmas this year. Mostly because last year I was on that amazing road trip with my mom and Maria, so I missed all the decorating, and baking, and family stuff. So this year as soon as Thanksgiving day was over our tree went up.

I've never been a big Black Friday shopper (only managed to really go once and it wasn't my thing). So I was extremely happy to just sit at home decorating the house with Christmas tunes in the background. And I still managed to get some great deals for gifts because I did a lot of my shopping this year online.

CSN has been great to me all year sponsering lots of giveaways for those who follow along and products for me to sample from time to time and so when it came time to fill stockings and put gifts under my tree I shopped in my pj's on CSN.

I'm not about to spoil any surprises, but I did have a good time looking at kitchen gatgets, linens, and Christmas wouldn't feel complete without toy shopping like your a kid again! And there may have been a little shopping for myself too.... I spied this cool kitchen stool which would be perfect for my ironing station! I always get tired legs when I'm ironing purse parts for hours at a time. Hint hint to my hubby.

And now it's back to my little elf work shop. The orders are still rolling in at Jenna Lou Designs and I'm working very hard to be sure that they all make it out in time for Christmas.

Stay warm everyone!

 

Happy Halloween

Hope you all had a great Halloween.

We carved pumpkins.

We wore our homemade costumes. John's took me 12+ hours to sew, but it sure was worth it to see how well it came together. He made the perfect Sherlock. Mine was much less involved. I bought the goggles, and sewed the cap.... the rest was just pulled together from my closet.

And I made a huge batch of monster cookies... the perfect treat for Halloween.

Our Wedding in Photos : The Reception

The reception was a blast. We had delicious food. Amazing cake. And fun with our family and friends. The decorating was all done by me and a couple helpers (thanks family!) and we kept it minimal because the place was pretty great already.

 

   

   

 

 

 

And that finishes my "show and tell" of the wedding. I feel amazingly blessed.

Our Wedding in Photos : The Ceremony

The Ceremony was held in the town we have called home for many years now. In the church that has made us feel loved, welcomed, and whole. We were surrounded by a guest list of our dearest family. It was small and perfect. I can't recall a moment in my entire life that made me happier than this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Day For Love

photo credit Daniel Greene

How was your valentines day?? Mine was nice. We don't like to make a big fuss on Valentines Day with flowers or expensive meals or even cards really. Our usual tradition consists of ordering pizza, and talking excitedly about the big box of chocolates we will go pick out once they are on clearance the next day. Too cheap?? Maybe, but we love it.

This year we each spent some time filling out a questionnaire that is required for our premarital counseling. After both doing so separately we took some time to talk about our answers. It was sort of a romantic thing to do in my opinion. The assessment brought up a lot of things that we had lightly discussed in the past, but never really got to the bottom of or discussed in true detail. To me it was a great bonding experience. And really just confirmed even deeper that John and I are perfect compliments to each other. 

I'm really looking forward to this coming year and truly the years following. So many things await us and I just feel that with God in our hearts there is nothing stopping us.

Weekending in Minneapolis - Part 2 - Holidazzle Parade

After visiting the elf wonderland at Macy's we exited onto streets crowded with hundreds of people waiting for the Holidazzle Parade to begin. It was quite a sight considering it was definitely less that 30 degrees probably less than 20 outside. But luckily for us we had timed it just right so we only had to wait about 5 minutes before the parade started. 

{Window Shopping}

When the parade starts they turn off all the big lights on the streets so the floats really glow. I had a great time just watching the crowds, trying to squeeze to the front if only for a moment and playing with my camera to try to capture the moving floats. I've got to say that this is probably one of the hardest subjects I've ever tried to capture. It's dark, and it's cold. And the floats moved by pretty darn fast.... and I did it all with no flash to try to capture the best image without the overly bright spots a flash would have made.

{Scary Hansel and Gretel float}

{ marching drummers }

{Santa of course!!}

I don't know that I made any progress on my camera skills (I know there is a LOT of noise in these photos), but it sure was fun to try.

Following the parade we went out to a cool restaurant right in the heart of the city and enjoyed some great food and drinks that made all of our wallets scream. Sometimes though it's just nice to splurge and pretend like it's nothing. And so that is what we did and it was fabulous.

Weekending in Minneapolis - Part 1 - Macy's

Last weekend we visited with John's brother and his wife and spent the weekend dinning out and playing like big kids do.

Our first stop was Macy's. This years Macy's Show in Minneapolis was themed "A Day in the Life of an Elf". The lines were long, but these two made it manageable... and so did the giant gingerbread cookie I knew was waiting for me at the end.

There was much to see.....

And who knew fake food could be so appetizing. 

 

It was magical to pretend for a few minutes and remember the awe and wonder that Christmas brought as a kid.  

Thanksgiving Celebrations

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving (and a wonderful weekend to those non-US readers too). We spent the day with family and of course eating too much food. It was a classic turkey day celebration: conversation, food, tv and games, more food, then home to bed.

I wanted to do a Thankful Thursday post, I'm having a hard time putting my thoughts to words. I've thought of so many things I am thankful for, but I guess the feelings outweigh any words that I can assign to them. I'm just so happy to be where I am right now. It is a place where there is still self-consciousness and doubt but it can be eradicated with simple reminders that the big guy is always in charge and the past is what's done. It's a good place to be if you are me.

P.S. Don't miss your last chance to win the Knit Lite set valued at $120!! Giveaway closes Sunday around noon central time.