That's What Jenni Said

Life is good. I am healthy and happy. I have a fantastic husband, wonderful friends, a great job and I'm enjoying the other gifts in life God has blessed me with. I'm turning 32 on Saturday. The outlook is great! So far no wrinkles. Just a lot of joy, peace, and gratitude for life and everything God has provided. You are all in my thoughts and prayers. ~Jenni

I'm looking for the words to describe a situation that is sad and happy at all once, depending on which party to the situation you interview. Not the good kind of sad either such as weddings sad or sending kids off to college sad, but plain old-fashioned rip your heart out sadness. Today the remaining four sets of bone china that we needed to complete our service for twelve arrived in the mail. As we've continue to build and strengthen our marriage over the course of almost twelve years we've also taken steps to build our china collection. It came to us by way of a divorcing couple who chose to sell their place settings on Ebay for next to nothing. The place settings arrived, new in their elegantly themed gift boxes, the delicate wedding ribbons still fashioned around the boxes a luxurious bows.  So incredibly sad. Log onto Ebay.com at any time and you can peruse the remains of divorcing couples whose hopes and dreams were once focused on the joy that they were sure the fut

This week I had my annual performance assessment with the federal contractor I do most of my work for. It went well and I received a small increase in my compensation. I finally caved and went shopping at Dress Barn. I have avoided the place for eons, despite the fact that the answer to the question I've posed many of my well dressed friends ("Where did you find that beautiful dress?") is often "Dress Barn". It's all about the name. Why would I shop in a venue that infers all of its clients are barnyard animals? Regardless, I saw yet another stranger beautifully attired in Dress Barn apparel so I felt I owed it to myself to take a look at what they have to offer. I fell in love instantly. Dresses - beautiful dresses- as far as the eye can see. I picked up 6 on sale for 60% off. A parade of dresses. My dream is to have so many dresses that I never have to wear pants ever again and this store may actually make that possible. My purchase was limited only by m

A most productive weekend. Saturday morning led my walking group on a path from a nearby landmark to my home and back again and then we enjoyed a shared lunch. 5.2 miles round trip. Sunday after church Jon proved his claim to awesome husband of the year by spending the entire day shopping for kitchen items and small appliances with me. We went to two different towns and 6 stores in all. What a trooper! We have now replaced all of our kitchen items that were destroyed in the fire with the exception of the 3 fondue pots and all of our tupperware. And I may pick those up today after work. Sunday night we enjoyed cooking dinner for our friends Doug and Katy. I made roasted tilapia with a citrus spice rub, coconut infused jasmine rice, green beans and creme brulee for the finish. It was pretty good. The only downer to our weekend- we saw what is quite possibly the worst movie EVER - on Sunday evening. "Good Luck Chuck" - and it was the unrated version to make matters worse. Gra