An Open Letter

Dear Snow,

I can't help but wonder why you have decided to visit southern Pennsylvania so much this winter. You haven't been around in such large amounts for as long as I can remember. Normally you only come for short visits once or twice a year. If I recall correctly, you came in the form of about 47 inches within this past month. We have spent numerous hours (approximately 12 to be exact) moving you from our pathway and our parking spaces into large piles off to the side. I finally thought you were gone for good when I got a glimpse of green grass this past week. Boy was I wrong! Now, as rumor has it, you have decided to come back for another visit in the days to come. I hate to say it, but you're really not welcome. I'm pretty sure that most of us have seen enough of you already and would much rather see sunshine, warm temperatures, and flowers. Please stay away. As a matter of fact, please go into hiding until at least late November or December. Then you will be welcome to make an appearance again. Thank you very much!

Sincerely,
Jenn

P.S. I have enclosed a picture that is proof of your visit earlier this month. As you can see, there was plenty of you around...

Pretty Sad

It's pretty sad that an individual would get laughed at and practically dismissed for suggesting that an immigration rally be started by saying the Pledge of Allegience. Makes me wonder what this country is coming to...

- Jenn

Engaged in Mystery...

So Josh and I recently entered a contest for a local radio station. The contest was to submit a story or video telling how you got engaged. We decided to submit a video. We were in a creative mood so we made the story into a 1950's detective type story. I figured I'd share it on my blog so you all could see. I hope you enjoy it! Let me know what you think.



- Jenn

Back Again

I'm back again after over a week of not posting. Time just flies by sometimes and I can't figure out why. Oh well, I'm back and that's the important part.

This past weekend was definitely a blessing. Josh and I went up to my parents' house and lead the teens from their church on their winter retreat. It was a great time for all! It was such a blessing to spend time with the teens and to be able to get to know them better and have fun with them. The speaker for the weekend was great. He talked about living out our faith outside the walls of the church. His messages were definitely very challenging and made me think a lot about my faith and how I need to be living it out better everywhere that I am. Outside of the services we also had a lot of fun. We got to play different games and sports, hang out at a bonfire, play hide and go seek in our cabin late and night, and just do a lot of random things. It was definitely great!

Here's a picture of the eleven of us who went on the retreat (the guy in the back middle wasn't with us - he just jumped in the picture)....

Over the weekend we also got to spend a little time with my family which was definitely nice. We got to see my sister on her birthday as well. It was just a great weekend all together!

Now I'm back home and back into the normal routine of life. I'm trying to figure out things to do to occupy my time, yet be productive at the same time. It's working somewhat. I still have some more figuring out to do. I guess I'll go now. I just wanted to update this and tell you all about my wekend and let you know I'm alive. I'll try to post better this week.

- Jenn

T.G.I.F.

It's Friday! That makes me very happy - mostly because that means I get the weekend to spend with Josh. I love having him home on weekends and getting to spend quality time with him. It's so much fun! I'm not sure exactly what our plans are for the weekend, but I'm sure we'll figure out something fun to do. It's always fun to be random and do things on the spur of the moment.

I got a lot accomplished today as far as organizing and cleaning the apartment. I washed dishes, finished up laundry, straightened up a little more, folded and put all the clothes away, and even sorted through some of my college things and got rid of some of the stuff I don't need anymore. I feel like I made a little bit of progress, so that's definitely a plus. I still have a lot more to do, but every little step is a great one.

Anyways, just figured I'd write a little on here before Josh got home. I have to go start dinner though. We're having pineapple glazed pork chops and green beans. Should be good, but we shall see how it turns out. Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the break from work!

- Jenn

Organizing

I got in a weird mood today - the mood to organize. That might not seem weird to you, but it is to me. You see, I seldom have things very organized and if you looked at our apartment you would see that. Organization is just not my thing a.k.a. I stink at it! It bothers me when things aren't organized, but I'm just not very good at it so I usually leave things go.

Anyways, I was sitting here looking at the apartment today and realized just how unorganized things are and decided I need to do something about it. I started off by putting some things away that were laying around. It's not much but it's a start.

Now I'm sitting here looking at our closet (which is semi-organized, but not enough for my liking), Josh's desk (which has things stacked on it), our bookshelf (which has books and random things filling it), and the rest of our room (which just isn't cutting it organizationally). Looking at these things is starting to bother me so I want to do something about it. The problem is I don't know where to begin or where to put things so that their organized better. In a little apartment with minimal storage space, it's kind of hard to keep things need and organized.

Anyways, my question is do you have any tips for organizing a small, cramped apartment? If you do they would be greatly appreciated! Being at home in an organizational disaster is driving me crazy so any tips or suggestions on how to improve would be welcome. Just let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks!

I'm off to see what else I can do around here before Josh gets home from work...

- Jenn

A Healthier Us

Josh and I have started a diet and exercise plan. We officially started it on Monday and it's been going pretty well. It's hard to get used to a new way of living, but I know that it's definitely worth it.

Josh started working out with his SSgt last Saturday. He set him up with an exercise routine. It's a really good workout and I'm sure that it'll be good for him and will push him physically. I'm still working on what exactly I want my workout routine to be. If you have any suggestions, let me know. I'm not good with knowing what exactly to do.

As far as eating healthier, that's going to be fun. We have been doing good this week so far though, granted it's only been three days. We're eliminating all carbs after 4pm (so no carbs for dinner or after) and are adjusting our diet before hand. I can already see a difference in how I feel just from these few days of eating differently and working out a little.

So, hopefully this will all go towards making a healthier us. It's going to be a challenge, but it'll be well worth it. We have each other for support, which is definitely good. I also have my friend Emily for support, as she's working on losing weight too. Right now I have a short term goal of losing 24 pounds by my 24th birthday which is on March 24th. I think this is a pretty reasonable goal since you always lose more weight when you first start. So we'll see how that works out.

Anyways, cheers to a healthier us! I pray that we'll have the will power and stamina to keep working at this and to stick with it!

- Jenn