(Oak Harbor, WA 2005)
(Powell River, BC 2005)
(Minaki, ON 2007)
February 27, 2008
February 22, 2008
The Latest Me
This is what my hair looks like these days:
I got one last haircut by the one and only, the amazing Kyle (who has now moved to Australia. Traitor).
Anyway, when I went to my hair appointment, I brought my veil and tiara headband and a picture of an idea I had and asked him if it would work. He hemmed and hawed, and looked at my hair and looked at the picture, and then told me very excitedly that it would work!
But here's the deal: I can only get one more haircut between now and July 19, and it can't be any later than April. That's right folks. I am GROWING my hair!! AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!! I'm a little scared, because right now, my hair is longer than it's been in...........uh..........well, it's been years. And I like short hair on me! I pretty much don't ever want long hair again as long as I live!
But I only get one wedding, so I'm going to take his advice and grow my hair. I'm pretty excited to see it all styled up. I was convinced that there was nothing fancy I could do with hair as short as mine. And, well, there isn't. Which is why we have to grow it. And no, I'm not going tell you how I'm planning on styling it. You'll just have to wait. ;)
**Update** This picture was taken about month ago. My hair is a bit longer, and even more annoying. I don't like long hair. But I'll endure for wedding's sake!
I got one last haircut by the one and only, the amazing Kyle (who has now moved to Australia. Traitor).
Anyway, when I went to my hair appointment, I brought my veil and tiara headband and a picture of an idea I had and asked him if it would work. He hemmed and hawed, and looked at my hair and looked at the picture, and then told me very excitedly that it would work!
But here's the deal: I can only get one more haircut between now and July 19, and it can't be any later than April. That's right folks. I am GROWING my hair!! AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!! I'm a little scared, because right now, my hair is longer than it's been in...........uh..........well, it's been years. And I like short hair on me! I pretty much don't ever want long hair again as long as I live!
But I only get one wedding, so I'm going to take his advice and grow my hair. I'm pretty excited to see it all styled up. I was convinced that there was nothing fancy I could do with hair as short as mine. And, well, there isn't. Which is why we have to grow it. And no, I'm not going tell you how I'm planning on styling it. You'll just have to wait. ;)
**Update** This picture was taken about month ago. My hair is a bit longer, and even more annoying. I don't like long hair. But I'll endure for wedding's sake!
February 21, 2008
New Blogger In The Neighborhood
My dear older sister, the one who gave me the cutest niece in the whole world, just got herself a blog! So go on over, show her how friendly we bloggers are, and say hi!
February 20, 2008
February 19, 2008
Five More Months
Exactly five months from now (to the minute) I will be walking down the aisle at my wedding. I'm so excited! It used to seem like it would never happen, but now it's not that far away! Everyone told me that time would fly, and I didn't believe them. But now I do!
I'm also excited for it to be 5 months from now, because it is SO fricken, fracken, ding, and also dang COLD outside!!! I looked at theweathernetwork.com just now, and it told me that it feels like -41. Degrees. Celsius. For all you Americans out there, that converts to -41 degrees Fahrenheit. Good land of the living!!
Just one more reason that I'm happy to be moving to the west coast. I know that it can be cloudy and rainy there. But I can handle that. I am more than willing to put up with mountains, and ocean, and temperate winters and summers, and evergreen-ness, and flowers blooming all year round, if it means that I don't freeze my eyelids off every time I step out the door. Dontcha think??
I'm also excited for it to be 5 months from now, because it is SO fricken, fracken, ding, and also dang COLD outside!!! I looked at theweathernetwork.com just now, and it told me that it feels like -41. Degrees. Celsius. For all you Americans out there, that converts to -41 degrees Fahrenheit. Good land of the living!!
Just one more reason that I'm happy to be moving to the west coast. I know that it can be cloudy and rainy there. But I can handle that. I am more than willing to put up with mountains, and ocean, and temperate winters and summers, and evergreen-ness, and flowers blooming all year round, if it means that I don't freeze my eyelids off every time I step out the door. Dontcha think??
February 15, 2008
February 14, 2008
Happy God's Love Day!!
Love is in the air. Can you feel it? I can. "Well Jenene, that's because you're engaged." Well, I suppose that's part of it. Keep in mind that my valentine lives 1,728 miles away. Approximately. I haven't gotten flowers from him today (yet) or anything else, and I don't actually know if I will. (He told me my gift would be late. I wonder if he's trying to throw me off? Because he's done that before.)
Anyway. Love is in the air no matter what. Because I'm determined that I'm going to feel loved today. Not because I have a man. Not because I have a ring. Not because he might send me gifts. But simply because I am loved.
The best Valentine's Day I ever had was in 2005. I was at college, and I was single. I hadn't even met Art yet. I prayed to God the night before and asked Him to make Feb.14, 2005 a special day. I asked Him to make me feel loved, even though I was single. Because love is not just for couples. I have friends who love me. I have parents and family who love me. That year I had a roommate who loved me, and teachers who loved me. And I always have a God who loves me.
So sure enough, when I woke up that morning, I felt warm and fuzzy. As the day went on, I felt downright giddy! I was happy that all the girls in the dorm gave valentines to each other, and the dorm leaders gave flowers to everyone. And there was lots of heart-shaped candy going around. And I was also very happy for all the girls who had boyfriends who gave them flowers and cards and candy and dinner dates.
But as for me? I felt like I had the best one of all. I walked around the whole day feeling as though God had hung a BIG banner over my head proclaiming to the whole world "I LOVE JENENE!!!" I felt so loved! And I know in mind that God loves me (most days). But on that day, I could FEEL it.
And it's like no other feeling I have ever experienced since. I mean, I feel so loved by Art pretty much everyday. But this was EVEN BETTER!! (Duh. Cause it's God. It should feel better.)
So here's my encouragement to all of you: ask God to love you especially much today, and every Valentine's Day. You won't know what to do with yourself! It's better than any love you've ever known. Because Valentine's Day isn't just for wives and hubbies. It's for God too! Don't leave Him out!
1 John 4:19 "We love because He first loved us."
Anyway. Love is in the air no matter what. Because I'm determined that I'm going to feel loved today. Not because I have a man. Not because I have a ring. Not because he might send me gifts. But simply because I am loved.
The best Valentine's Day I ever had was in 2005. I was at college, and I was single. I hadn't even met Art yet. I prayed to God the night before and asked Him to make Feb.14, 2005 a special day. I asked Him to make me feel loved, even though I was single. Because love is not just for couples. I have friends who love me. I have parents and family who love me. That year I had a roommate who loved me, and teachers who loved me. And I always have a God who loves me.
So sure enough, when I woke up that morning, I felt warm and fuzzy. As the day went on, I felt downright giddy! I was happy that all the girls in the dorm gave valentines to each other, and the dorm leaders gave flowers to everyone. And there was lots of heart-shaped candy going around. And I was also very happy for all the girls who had boyfriends who gave them flowers and cards and candy and dinner dates.
But as for me? I felt like I had the best one of all. I walked around the whole day feeling as though God had hung a BIG banner over my head proclaiming to the whole world "I LOVE JENENE!!!" I felt so loved! And I know in mind that God loves me (most days). But on that day, I could FEEL it.
And it's like no other feeling I have ever experienced since. I mean, I feel so loved by Art pretty much everyday. But this was EVEN BETTER!! (Duh. Cause it's God. It should feel better.)
So here's my encouragement to all of you: ask God to love you especially much today, and every Valentine's Day. You won't know what to do with yourself! It's better than any love you've ever known. Because Valentine's Day isn't just for wives and hubbies. It's for God too! Don't leave Him out!
1 John 4:19 "We love because He first loved us."
February 13, 2008
February 12, 2008
OH MY GOSH!!!!
Oh my gosh. Goodness gracious, me oh my. How on EARTH could I have forgotten to tell you all this??!!!
So remember how I took my sister to see Josh Groban last August as a reeeeally early birthday present? Well, she's returning the favor. No, Josh Groban isn't coming back to Winnipeg (at least not anytime soon). My sister is taking me (and my mom) to see Riverdance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And by "taking me" I mean that she purchased the tickets and I paid her back. But it was at her invitation; I didn't even know that they were coming to Winnipeg until she asked if I wanted to go. So of course I said yes!! And I think the seats are pretty darn good, about as good as the seats we had for Mr. Groban.
So anyway, the show is on Feb.26, which is just less than 2 weeks from now. Oh but that's going to be an AMAZING evening! This time Kiera won't be along for the ride, as it would probably be too loud now that she is outside the womb.
So remember how I took my sister to see Josh Groban last August as a reeeeally early birthday present? Well, she's returning the favor. No, Josh Groban isn't coming back to Winnipeg (at least not anytime soon). My sister is taking me (and my mom) to see Riverdance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And by "taking me" I mean that she purchased the tickets and I paid her back. But it was at her invitation; I didn't even know that they were coming to Winnipeg until she asked if I wanted to go. So of course I said yes!! And I think the seats are pretty darn good, about as good as the seats we had for Mr. Groban.
So anyway, the show is on Feb.26, which is just less than 2 weeks from now. Oh but that's going to be an AMAZING evening! This time Kiera won't be along for the ride, as it would probably be too loud now that she is outside the womb.
February 11, 2008
You Know What Ma'am, No Matter How Many Times You Explain Your Problem To Me, I'm Not Going To Be Able To Help You, b/c You Have The WRONG NUMBER!!
*ahem*
I love being a receptionsist.
Really.
February 8, 2008
Lent
So. I decided I would participate in Lent. For anybody who doesn't really know what it is, apparently the Christians in the 4th century started it. They decided they would take an allotted amount of time, and they would fast for that time, for the specific purpose of drawing nearer to God.
But it wasn't just a small group thing where a couple of monks decided that this would be a good direction for their lives. I don't know which people specifically instituted this, but in those days, people didn't really develop personal religious habits. The church set the rules, and you followed them.
So the church instituted Lent as a religious practice, and it's been going on ever since. Of course, in those days they typically fasted from food. These days people fast from all sorts of things.
I have never participated in Lent before, because a) it isn't required, b) because I'm not particularly religious, and c) I've never felt that I should. In fact, until Wednesday, I wasn't even aware of Lent. But now I know that it is practiced for 40 days before Easter (as in, ending on Easter).
Wednesday was the first day of Lent: Ash Wednesday. I found out that it is called so because it represents a day of mourning. Mourning for those areas where you haven't been obedient. Admitting that you have fallen away from God in some way, owning up to your sin, and then letting it go. It's a sort of death. A death to sin, but a death nonetheless. And when you've been holding onto that sin for so long, it hurts to put it to death, even though you know it's a good thing.
So way back in the days of the Bible (and probably in parts of the world today) people would put ashes on themselves as a sign of mourning. So that's why we have Ash Wednesday: the first day of letting go of whatever is holding you back from drawing closer to God.
At youth group on Wednesday, one of the mentors (Joy) taught on this, and then challenged every person to take this seriously. She asked all of us to think of some things in our own lives that we know are keeping us from being closer to God, and the kids didn't even have to think about it: they knew!
So they named a whole bunch of things, and then Joy made a list of everyone's names, and asked them what they felt God was telling them to give up. It was pretty incredible. A few girls said that they are going to give up TV entirely! I mean, I would say that even cutting back is sufficient, but they went big and said all TV.
We'll see if they make it, but I'm proud of them for taking that step, and at least saying that they will try, and that they are aware of how unnecessary TV is. Plus, making a list helps us to keep them accountable, so they are more likely to stick with it when they know they have our support.
Another girl said she was going to give up swearing. Some of them decided to give up such addictive websites as Myspace or Facebook. Which is where my choice comes in. As Joy was teaching, I felt convicted right away that there was something that wasn't pleasing God, and that I should cut it out. So I decided right then and there that I'm going to do Lent!
I am also going to fast from a couple of websites. Not blogger or Facebook. Other stupid websites that I waste a lot of time on, and they are really quite....well, stupid. I don't even want to name them because I'm so embarrassed that I got addicted to these websites in the first place. They're incredibly pathetic. So I'm giving them up.
And probably not just for Lent either. I have a feeling that once Lent is over, God is still going to want me to stay away from those websites. Now, since I'm getting rid of those, what am I going to replace them with? Well, reading the Bible online instead. If I'm going to be on the internet, I might as well get some Word in me. And it's easily done, thanks to this website.
Since I only decided this Wednesday night, then yesterday ended up being the day of implementation. So how did it go? Pretty good. I didn't realize how often I was on those websites until I started counting all the times that I wondered if there were any updates and that I should go and check. And then, of course, as soon as I thought that, I remembered that I was giving that up. It's quite an eye opener.
I have a feeling that I will quickly get used to it, and then I won't even miss them. I miss them right now though. What can I say: they were fun and I was addicted! But such a waste of time (and brain cells).
Well, this blog ended up being a lot longer than I thought. Congrats to anyone who actually made it to the end of all this babble. So now I'm going to get off the computer so that I don't keep tempting myself.
But it wasn't just a small group thing where a couple of monks decided that this would be a good direction for their lives. I don't know which people specifically instituted this, but in those days, people didn't really develop personal religious habits. The church set the rules, and you followed them.
So the church instituted Lent as a religious practice, and it's been going on ever since. Of course, in those days they typically fasted from food. These days people fast from all sorts of things.
I have never participated in Lent before, because a) it isn't required, b) because I'm not particularly religious, and c) I've never felt that I should. In fact, until Wednesday, I wasn't even aware of Lent. But now I know that it is practiced for 40 days before Easter (as in, ending on Easter).
Wednesday was the first day of Lent: Ash Wednesday. I found out that it is called so because it represents a day of mourning. Mourning for those areas where you haven't been obedient. Admitting that you have fallen away from God in some way, owning up to your sin, and then letting it go. It's a sort of death. A death to sin, but a death nonetheless. And when you've been holding onto that sin for so long, it hurts to put it to death, even though you know it's a good thing.
So way back in the days of the Bible (and probably in parts of the world today) people would put ashes on themselves as a sign of mourning. So that's why we have Ash Wednesday: the first day of letting go of whatever is holding you back from drawing closer to God.
At youth group on Wednesday, one of the mentors (Joy) taught on this, and then challenged every person to take this seriously. She asked all of us to think of some things in our own lives that we know are keeping us from being closer to God, and the kids didn't even have to think about it: they knew!
So they named a whole bunch of things, and then Joy made a list of everyone's names, and asked them what they felt God was telling them to give up. It was pretty incredible. A few girls said that they are going to give up TV entirely! I mean, I would say that even cutting back is sufficient, but they went big and said all TV.
We'll see if they make it, but I'm proud of them for taking that step, and at least saying that they will try, and that they are aware of how unnecessary TV is. Plus, making a list helps us to keep them accountable, so they are more likely to stick with it when they know they have our support.
Another girl said she was going to give up swearing. Some of them decided to give up such addictive websites as Myspace or Facebook. Which is where my choice comes in. As Joy was teaching, I felt convicted right away that there was something that wasn't pleasing God, and that I should cut it out. So I decided right then and there that I'm going to do Lent!
I am also going to fast from a couple of websites. Not blogger or Facebook. Other stupid websites that I waste a lot of time on, and they are really quite....well, stupid. I don't even want to name them because I'm so embarrassed that I got addicted to these websites in the first place. They're incredibly pathetic. So I'm giving them up.
And probably not just for Lent either. I have a feeling that once Lent is over, God is still going to want me to stay away from those websites. Now, since I'm getting rid of those, what am I going to replace them with? Well, reading the Bible online instead. If I'm going to be on the internet, I might as well get some Word in me. And it's easily done, thanks to this website.
Since I only decided this Wednesday night, then yesterday ended up being the day of implementation. So how did it go? Pretty good. I didn't realize how often I was on those websites until I started counting all the times that I wondered if there were any updates and that I should go and check. And then, of course, as soon as I thought that, I remembered that I was giving that up. It's quite an eye opener.
I have a feeling that I will quickly get used to it, and then I won't even miss them. I miss them right now though. What can I say: they were fun and I was addicted! But such a waste of time (and brain cells).
Well, this blog ended up being a lot longer than I thought. Congrats to anyone who actually made it to the end of all this babble. So now I'm going to get off the computer so that I don't keep tempting myself.
February 6, 2008
February 5, 2008
Christmas (a little late)
I vaguely recall saying that I would post some pictures from Christmas. So, here they are.
I got a lot of great things for Christmas this year. Some practical stuff, like measuring spoons and cups, an umbrella, some lotion. But then I got these lovely prizes:
Yes, this long, lovely coat is from Urban Behavior. It's warm AND stylish! And so far, it's been doing the job of keeping me warm when I walk to work. I love it love it love it love it love it! It looks really bulky in the picture, but when it's on me, it looks more fitted, like it's supposed to.
One complete surprise is my shiny new Kodak EasyShare M853 8.2 mega pixels camera!!!! I had absolutely no idea that I was getting this for Christmas. I definitely didn't ask for it (not that I'm complaining).
And looking at all the settings, this baby does everything but make breakfast for you! So here it is, displayed in all its...*ahem*...."glory."
I say "glory", because my shiny new amazing camera doesn't work right now. It came with a battery, but no way to charge that battery (which I think is pretty retarded). So my very nice brother-in-law bought me a battery charger on eBay for very cheap. So I'm just waiting for that to show up. And then I can actually use it!
And finally, my favorite gift from this Christmas came all the way from Washington. Yes, Art did very well. He scoured the internet for weeks, trying to find the perfect gift, and finally came upon these beauties.
Are you hearing me? Art (a male-type person) picked these out all by himself. Oh my, but I am BLESSED! I have got me the most wonderful man on earth, yes I have. And they match very nicely with my new jacket.
So now when I walk to work in this cold winter weather, I am warm (and stylish!) from head to toe!
I got a lot of great things for Christmas this year. Some practical stuff, like measuring spoons and cups, an umbrella, some lotion. But then I got these lovely prizes:
Yes, this long, lovely coat is from Urban Behavior. It's warm AND stylish! And so far, it's been doing the job of keeping me warm when I walk to work. I love it love it love it love it love it! It looks really bulky in the picture, but when it's on me, it looks more fitted, like it's supposed to.
One complete surprise is my shiny new Kodak EasyShare M853 8.2 mega pixels camera!!!! I had absolutely no idea that I was getting this for Christmas. I definitely didn't ask for it (not that I'm complaining).
And looking at all the settings, this baby does everything but make breakfast for you! So here it is, displayed in all its...*ahem*...."glory."
I say "glory", because my shiny new amazing camera doesn't work right now. It came with a battery, but no way to charge that battery (which I think is pretty retarded). So my very nice brother-in-law bought me a battery charger on eBay for very cheap. So I'm just waiting for that to show up. And then I can actually use it!
And finally, my favorite gift from this Christmas came all the way from Washington. Yes, Art did very well. He scoured the internet for weeks, trying to find the perfect gift, and finally came upon these beauties.
Are you hearing me? Art (a male-type person) picked these out all by himself. Oh my, but I am BLESSED! I have got me the most wonderful man on earth, yes I have. And they match very nicely with my new jacket.
So now when I walk to work in this cold winter weather, I am warm (and stylish!) from head to toe!
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