The biggest Christmas tree ever!

Ok well maybe not EVER, but for our family it's the biggest.  When I was a kid my dad took me to go cut down our Christmas tree every year.  Picture "Christmas Vacation" and that was us.  As my nephews got older they would join in the fun so they know all about my dads competative nature to keep topping the tree from the previous year.  My nephews grew up and I moved out of the house.  My dad still faithyfully went to cut down his tree and every year it got bigger and bigger.  A few years ago my parents built a house and I think my dad purposely made it a "loft" style living room to continue getting bigger and bigger trees.  My oldest nephew Mark and his wife Michelle have an almost 2 year old Cole and this year they joined my dad on the adventure now bringing Cole into the family tradition.  Just like "Christmas Vacation" my nephew said it was like the light was shining on this tree.  9ft high, 22ft around and it has to be tied to the stair case to stay up.  I don't know how my dad had enough lights for it, but it was definately a proud moment for him to have us all there Saturday to see his tree.  I took another photo with flash to really see the size.



 I love having all the family together and as all the kids grow up now are getting married the family gets bigger and bigger!

Our little family gem, Cole, my "great" nephew which makes me sound alot older than I really am, I prefer just good old Aunt Jen with him.  It was great to have a little one around the house at Christmas. 

 Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  



Snow Day

When you are a kid you can't wait for snow days!  Cartoons, making snow men and no school.  As an adult I don't find the snow days as much fun.  I can't get to work, the gym or anywhere in town and I feel trapped.  I don't like getting behind at work, luckily I have my laptop and my kitchen table becomes my office but you still feel out of the loop!  Yesterday was a snow day for me in Wasaga Beach.  The issue was the amount of snow, lack of plows helping everyone get out and the fact that both highways 26 a nd 92 were closed so no way out!  I took a few pictures to remember the beautiful snow (sarcasm)

i walked about halfway down the driveway to take this one - we have a long driveway which makes it a bit harder to get out in weather like this

So much for our Christmas decoration.  Our poor inflatable Santa Clause has been buried and he's too far down to find him now.  May he rest in peace until spring when we find him again.

We cleaned our cars off early in the morning, a few hours later they were covered again already.

Outside our back door which we can't open obviously.

Thankfully I slowly made it in to Barrie today, it's nice to be out!

 

Warms my heart

I'm a big fan of Daughtry and this pic from his twitter so warmed my heart.  Chris and his wife welcome twins last month Noah and Adalynn.  Nothing sweeter than seeing a dad in love with his little ones.

I love Christmas!

Christmas has hit our home in full force and i love it!  The house is decorated and i love to sit and look at the lights, I wish I could leave it up all year but then I probably wouldn't love it as much. 

animal videos

When I watch America's Funniest Home Videos it's the animal ones that are my favorite.  On Animal Planet they have full shows of funny videos.  Every Friday MSN posts funniest videos the week and this one was too cute to resist!  This poor cat just wants to rest but it has the patience of Job with it's Parakeet friend. 

Hysteria

Hysteria is the only word to describe the audience on the Oprah show during her "Favorite Things" episode.  It's the hardest ticket to get and people dream of being a guest on the show and taking home all the loot!  This year was no exception, being Oprah's last season she went crazy.  Part 1 was Friday and the audience got $3000 watches and a 7 day cruise to just name a couple.  Now let's be real, how many people are going to sell that watch?  I know I would.  I would be too scared to wear a $3000 watch, I would probably break it or lose it so why not get some cash for it.  Maybe that sounds bad but it's my watch now can't I do what I want with it?

Oprah tapes 2 shows a day so as this hysterical audience was leaving the building the audience for the next show were waiting in line only to find out that they just missed the Favorite Things and with their luck were probably going to be in the audience for Oprah and Gayle talking about their camping trip.  Once inside the studio they find out that there is a part 2 and they are it.  Cue the mass hysteria, tears, hugs and they don't even know what they are getting yet. 

As I predicted after part 1, the audience in part 2 all got new cars!  2012 VW Beetles that don't even come out until May.  The power of O - she can get presidents elected and get you a car that isn't even out yet. 

Why I like Taylor Swift

I have avoided getting Taylor Swift CD's in the past because I figured you had to be 16 or under to buy them.  I caved though and just got "Speak Now".  I like Taylor Swift.  Her songs are catchy and somehow she has managed to not be corrupted by the business yet and is still hanging on to her "clean" image.  It seems like mainstream teen artits now hit 16 or 17 and all of a sudden it's time to wear next to nothing on CD covers and sing trashy music.  She's on her third CD and hasn't broken yet, and she's 20 now so let's hope she's passed that stage and just keeps going the way she is.  I'm really enjoying the CD, her writing style is so catchy and from what I hear she wrote all the songs by herself.  Although this CD isn't going to help her get any dates.  It seems that anyone she has dated gets a song written about them so I don't think the guys are going to be lining up. 

Justin Bieber's Girlfriend

I saw this on youtube - this girl will get famous now.  Somewhere Taylor Swift is pretty mad that this girl totally stole her song style! 

If only they had youtube - or internet - when I loved New Kids on the Block...yeah i'm that old!

1 year

This Sunday Phil and I will celebrate our 1 year anniversary.  I can't believe it's been a year already!  When we first got married I would say "oh we've been married 3 weeks or 3 months" then time flew and here we are at our first anniversary.  We decided on no gifts this year because just went on vacation and we want to do another trip this winter so we opted out of stressing ourselves out over gifts.  I think Phil lucked out because i'm not really into jewelry (other than my engagement and wedding ring of course) so he doesn't have to worry about spending a bunch of money on that.

We started talking the other night about how much has happened in this first year.  I moved out to Wasaga Beach which was a big change for me.  I slowly but surely started to make the house more family than bachelor so we got new furniture and renovated the kitchen.  We visited Israel and Italy on our honeymoon and then just did a tour through the states to Philly, NYC, Washington and Atlantic City.  We each lost a grandparent just a few months apart.  We have learned alot about each other and alot about ourselves.  When you see yourself through someone else's eyes sometimes you see things you never saw before, or things no one else had the guts to tell you.  So I have learned alot about myself and a few things I need to work on :)

Most of all I'm married to my best friend.  I couldn't imagine life without him and I'm so blessed and thankful that God brought us together. 

NYC

My favorite city to visit has been New York.  I like the busyness and excitement - but just to visit, I couldn't imagine living there.  I had so much fun taking Phil around the city and I did pretty good at navigating us on the Subway.  I did alot of advertising for LIFE 100.3 with my hoodie in every state!

Nothing could beat the amazing view from our hotel in Atlantic City - how great to wake up to that everyday!

The Cake Boss

One of my favorite days on vacation was going to see the Cake Boss.  Let me back up first.  On one episode of the Cake Boss Buddy and the gang made a big hoggie cake for a local deli in their neighbourhood.  So we paid a visit to that deli first - Fiore's and met Mr. Fiore himself who was quite happy to have his picture taken and we got an extra piece of homemade mozarella for coming from Ontario to see him. 

Then we headed to the Cake Boss for the most amazing canolli I have ever had and I saved my red velvet cupcake for the next day - even a day old it was still awesome.  We didn't get to see Buddy, they were filming upstairs but it was still fun to be there! 

We also spent a day in DC - unfortunately Obama didn't have time to see us but we stopped by his house for a visit.  We managed to go through 5 states in one day.  We started in New Jersey, took a Ferry to Delaware for kicks and then drove through Maryland, Virginia for 5 min. and DC.  The Pentagon is apparantly technically in Virginia.



The Choppers

One of our sight seeing adventures on our trip last week was to visit the OCC Choppers in Newburgh New York.  If you have watched American Choppers on TV you know what i'm talking about.  Over the years they have moved shops a few times and went from a small shop to this!

Definately alot bigger than the old shops.  My husband of course loves the motorcyles and i just love the reality show of course.  

But the bikes are truly amazing designs.  This is the Lance Armstrong bike they made for him.

The sleigh bike apparantly shoots fire!

They probably make 70% of their income off merchandise alone these days.  Everything from mugs, t-shirts, hats, bobble head dolls etc.  You could easily drop alot of money in there if you love the show.  There is a viewing area to watch the guys building bikes - couldn't really take pictures because the glare off the windows were too much.  We didn't get to meet Paul Sr., it was a beautiful day out so he was probably fishing.

Tomorrow the Cake Boss!

It's not weird it's a God

I just got back from my vacation and many adventures to blog about this week and some fun pictures but first I have to start out with a story just as my holiday started.  A couple weeks ago I heard a woman on Focus on the Family sharing her story and promoting her book as well.  Her story grabbed my attention right away for personal reasons so I made a mental note to pick up her book next time I was at the Treasure House.  I was packing for my holiday and I packed the book I was reading "Always Looking Up" by Michael J. Fox.  I was almost done so I thought i better have another book packed, we did have a 10 hour car ride to get through.  I went down to my book shelf and as I skimmed the books there was the book by the woman I heard on Focus on the Family.  I saw the title and I took a couple steps back.  I have no explanation as to how that book got on my bookshelf.  I know I hadn't bought it yet and I hadn't asked anyone to borrow it but there it was.  I grabbed it immediately and ran upstairs to tell the story to Phil.  As I was telling him I said "isn't that weird" - he gently reminded me that it's not weird Jen it's God.  I'm not saying it magically appeared.  We get a lot of pre-release books sent to work to read and the publisher's are hoping they can send us more copies and we will give them away on the radio.  I'm sure that's how I got it but the God part is that when I would have brought it home, I didn't really know her story and at the time it didn't really apply to me.  So I probably just added it to my list of books to read.  But at that time when I went down to the bookshelf God knew I needed it right then.  I finished the book by the end of my trip and it was exactly what I needed.  Someday maybe I will share why but for now I just want to leave encouragement that God will meet you where you are.  He met me by the bookshelf and showed me that He was listening and He knows everything I have been feeling and thinking and used this book and this woman's words to bring me closer to him.

Life as I know it

I'm a reality TV junkie and I stumbled across Bret Michaels new reality show "Life as I know it".  Bret was the lead singer of Poison - total 80's hair band.  He tried to regain some fame by doing a reality show called "Rock of Love" which was total debauchery on TV.  So with his new show he is trying to "rebrand" himself as a family man.  It focuses on his life at home with his kids which is nice to see but hard to get past the rock star image he has made for himself.  He seems to be taking a cue from Gene Simmons to try and be known now as the family guy.  But it's a good example of forgetting and letting go of the past and trying to start a fresh new future.  In the show that seems to be what he's trying to do.  He still tours with his band but you can see that he wants to make his family #1.  It would be easy to judge Bret Michaels, toss fire and brimstones at him for his past but I think everyone deserves a second change, a start over or re-do however you want to put and for the sake of his little girls I hope this is his. 

Gianna Jessen

I had never heard Gianna's name until I was asked to come and host the Peterborough Pregnancy Resource Centre's fundraising dinner.  Gianna was coming as their guest speaker and as I read their commercial for the event it said that Gianna was an "abortion survivor".  I had never heard that there could be such a thing.  I also didn't really know how late in a pregnancy women could have abortion's many years ago.  So at 7 1/2 months pregnant as Gianna's mother was she could still have an abortion in 1977.  I spent the dinner hour getting to know Gianna and finding out what a remarkable woman she was.  She is someone who has taken her suffering and turned into something good, something that will change lives.  I wouldn't do her story justice so this is the link on youtube to her testimony as she spoke in Australia.
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPF1FhCMPuQ

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8B1nKGIAeg&feature=related

The Ducks

I love ducks, I don't know why but they make me happy.  When i was growing up we had a creek behind our house and i would go out to feed them and always wanted one as a pet.  After watching 10 years of FRIENDS I figured if Chandler and Joey have a duck why can't I?  But I got a cat instead.  Now i'm living on the water again and I love going out to feed the ducks. 

We've seen several batches of babies grow up over the summer and regular visits from our swan who pertches by our dock.  Only a couple times she has come over to get fed and got so close that my husband fed her by hand, it was too fast for photos but we do have video!

It's amazing how quickly word gets out with the ducks.  I start with a few and then you can see them swimming down the river, some come flying in for a landing to be part of the bread toss.  This is part of the group I had last night.

We have 3 ducks that love us and don't wait for us to come down to the water, they come right up our property to the back porch for their feeding.  Phil even got them to follow him and do a lap around the house.  With the cold weather approaching i'm sure I won't be seeing them for much longer, but then the deer start coming around.  Who knew I would be such a nature girl?

The Good Wife

What does it really mean to be a good wife.  It means different things to different people.  I'm trying to find that happy balance.  I am realizing that the single life is also the selfish life.  And I don't mean that in a bad way but when you are single it's only yourself you have to worry about or take care of.  You can do what you want, go where you want, spend your money on what you want and there is no one to discuss it with.  I catch the single selfish Jen creeping in every once and awhile.  I think it comes with the territory of getting married a little bit older as well.  You get quite used to your routine so it becomes quite interesting incorporating another person into things. 

So as I am trying to leave the single selfish Jen behind I am on the path of trying to discover what it is to be a good wife.  Proverbs 31 is always a good reference point so i'm working my way through it, so let's break it down for a few verses.

10 [a] A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.

11 Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value.

12 She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.

13 She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands.

14 She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.

15 She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls.

As a wife it's nice to think we are worth far more than rubies.  She brings him good not harm all the days of her life.  I take this "harm" as not physical harm but emotional harm, the words we exchange.  She works with eager hands and gets up while it's still dark to provide food for her family.  Really?  No sleeping in ever?  No - "let's go out for breakfast today".  I'm up early weekdays for work which in a sense is providing food for my family but everyday?  I need a little sleeping in on Saturday's, my husband can pour his cereal.  So if we are taking this passage literally I think I have alot of work ahead. 

Sample Saturday

I love Costco, i love roaming the isles and checking out all the deals, even if I don't buy anything.  Phil has never experienced Saturday at Costco or as I like to call it "sample Saturday".  Every corner has a food sample and you could basically have your lunch by cruising the samples.  I always wondered how many people actually bought the food they sampled but it worked for us.  We found some great organic cereal and pasta so they made some money off us. 

The best part of the day was the drive around town and all the beautiful leaves.  It was like God had snapped His fingers overnight and all of a sudden there was bright yellow and orange everywhere.  It was one of those WOW moments where you can't help but marvel at what God created and how blessed we are.  I love this time of year, fall colours, getting ready for Thanksgiving and hard to believe but Christmas just around the corner!

Working down the list of fears

I'm afraid of a lot of things.  The usuals like snakes and bats, not a fan of heights, roller coasters or anything relating to speed and height combined.  I had a big fear of flying which i've worked on to now just say i don't enjoy flying but i'll do it.  My dad has flown once in his life and refuses to do it again.  I see how it can limit your life if you're not open to it.  When I had the opportunity to go to South Africa last year I knew it was time to get over it.  I had flown before, just small 3 hour max flights here and there.  South Africa was a different story.  19 hours of flying with one stop that we didn't even get to leave the plane for is pretty much facing the fear head on.  Having dealt with that one it allowed me to be at ease with flying to Italy and Israel for my honeymoon and be the strong one for my husband who hasn't really gotten over that fear yet. 

Motorcyles weren't really a big fear of mine except for the one my husband owns.  It's a nice Harley however it's not really a two seater.  In order for me to ride on it he suction cups a seat to the back.  Doesn't exactly sound safe to me although he assures me it's fine.  I have avoided riding on the Harley since we met but I knew it was time to deal with it.  I know how much Phil has wanted me to go and he think he was quite shocked when I actually said yes!  We made it down the street and back and that was enough for me.  I'm not afraid anymore, a stirdier seat of my own would make things a bit better but it's one more thing off the list!

Patience in Pancakes

I have been married 10 months now and I'm still learning and doing my best at being the domesticated wife - women libbers better stop reading now.  I enjoy coming home and cooking dinner, taking care of my husband.  I'm a pretty good cook but there is one thing i have not conquered- pancakes.  I never cook them right, I can't get them round, it stresses me out so I avoid them.  My husband had been wanting pancakes and I just couldn't avoid it anymore so I had to try again.  The batter was ready, the pan was heated so I went for it.  I "thought" it was time to flip and here I go again - totally ruined.  Undercooked broken disaster!  I tried to keep my cool and went for another one and it all became clear.  I had NO patience for this process and that's why I was ruining them.  I was using too much batter and flipped too quickly.  As with most things in my life when I want results I want them now as fast as possible and I do too much at once, and it reflected in my cooking.  So I took a deep breath, poured another pancake, less batter this time and just sat back and waited.  When the bubbles had survaced it was time to flip and ta-da a perfect pancake - and a few more after that.  I finally conquered the pancakes and had a little life lesson as well.

America's Got Talent....or do they?

I've never gotten into America's Got Talent before but it's a been a slow summer for TV.  So Phil and I got into the show and started to have our favorites.  Last night was the finale and like every competition show they drag out the winning announcement for 2 hours until the last 30 seconds.  Now there were 4 finalists going into the last night so at a couple different points in the evening they did narrow it down to the final 2 so that kept the momentum going.  They had the homage to some of the worst performers and actually let them come back and do group number.

So America's Got Talent is about a variety of talents and the winner gets the million bucks and a vegas show.  So as I was watching this season and judging, like i'm actually someone on the panel, I would rank them based on whether they would be able to create a vegas worthy show around this act.  Having never been to Vegas I don't know exactly what is Vegas worthy but i used my imagination.

The final 4 were Michael Grimm, a blues type singer.  Jackie Evancho, a 10 year old opera singer.  Fighting Gravity which were a really cool glow in the dark blue man group type deal and "The prince" as I called him, I won't write his full name because i'm sure someone will be offended, but he chose his name not me.

So out of these four The Prince and Fighting Gravity I thought were the most Vegas worthy.  Michael Grimm should go on American Idol or something and going to Vegas to see a 10 year old opera singer just sounds weird.  Now talent wise Jackie the opera singer was hands down the most talented but Michael Grimm was chosen by America as the winner. 

He was a down on his luck kind of guy, always talking about his grandparents and how broke they were so I think he got a lot of sympathy votes on this one.  I know that may sound heartless but this is talent show not who has the sadest story.  The upside is you know the money will be put to good use and now he has a way to continue to support his grandparents financially.  For Jackie - she just 10 years old she has a big career ahead of her. 

So America's Got Talent is over....what's next.....oh the Apprentice starts tonight! 

Choose Joy....not as easy as it sounds

A few years ago for Christmas I bought my mom a sign for her house that says "Choose Joy".  I thought it was a nice sign for her house and frankly it gets harder and harder each year to buy my mom Christmas presents.  I didn't really buy it with deep meaningful sentiments behind it (sorry mom).  However this sign has turned out to be a reference point in both of our lives over the past couple years.  I probably should have bought myself one.

Think about it - "choose joy" sounds easy but it's not.  Let's be real, when things suck you just want to be mad about it, yell, sit and sulk, eat a bag of chips - whatever works for you - and deal with it your own special way.  Then the words "choose joy".  For me that means rise above it, don't let your circumstances bring you down, choose to move on and pull yourself out of it.  Find the joy in your life, your spouse, your kids, a forgiving and full of grace God and keep smiling.

Eat Pray Love...and eat some more

So I finally saw the movie "Eat Pray Love" on the weekend.  I read the book this summer and really enjoyed it so that made me a bit skeptical about the movie.  Alot of times a good book doesn't transfer into the movie we had created in our minds or they leave out parts of the book that you think should have made the movie.  The movie was 2 1/2 hours and I think they managed to get do a good translation of the book. 

I loved the visuals from her time in Italy after just being there myself this year.  I related to her enjoyment of the pasta and the gelato - I think I ate gelato twice a day while we were there.  Because I often got strawberry and banana I convinced myself it wasn't bad for me. 

Seeing the movie reminded me about a part in the book that stood out to me.  Liz, played by Julia Roberts, is speaking with her friend Luca Spaghetti - yes that was his real name.  He was saying that Americans (I will clump Canadians into that category for this example) don't know how to enjoy life.  We overwork ourselves all week only to be exhausted by the time the weekend arrives and we just want to lay around in sweat pants and watch TV.  I wondered if this guy had a camera in my house! 

Italians live "la dolce vita" meaning the sweet life or the good life.  They enjoy every minute.  After visiting Italy I really did notice that.  I kept wondering if anyone had jobs because the cafe's and restaurants were always full in the middle of the day.  His view of North Americans was we work so hard to enjoy life but then don't really enjoy it which I think is pretty true.  How many weekends have I wasted catching up on episodes of The Real Housewives (don't judge me) instead of getting out there and enjoying life?  But to be fair occassionally a day in sweat pants, Ben & Jerry's and a few good movies do count as enjoying life for me! 

Living "la dolce vita" just means different things to different people.   

Falling in love

In our couple's devotions this week the writer was talking about going back to a place of love.  Reminding yourself of the time you fell in love with your spouse or a particularly loving time in your relationship that sticks out.  Most people i'm sure think back to their wedding day because love was just oozing that day!  It was the first thing that came to my mind but one moment in particular which was my first dance with my husband.

We had tossed around many ideas for what song to dance to and I didn't want to pick something that everyone dances to at their wedding, I wanted something unique.  So my husband asked if he could pick the song and surprise me.  For a control freak like me it was a hard thing to do but I trusted he would pick us a great song.  Some friends had played this song called "Cause I Get to Love You" by a singer from Toronto named Bryan Weirmier.  I LOVED the song, it had to be our song.  My husband said he didn't like it he wanted something else.  I was clearly upset but I was trying to learn about compromise here.  So I let it go, little did I know what my husband was planning.

Our wedding day arrives and time for the big dance.  The music starts and right away I recognized the song "Cause I Get to Love You".  I thought, "how sweet he caved and played the song".  Then the song started to skip, my worst nightmare come true and our big moment ruined.  I was starting to get mad and shooting death glares over at our sound guy.  Phil and I stopped dancing for a moment as we tried to figure things out and then all of a sudden there is a guy at the keyboard who starts playing and it's the same song "Cause I Get to Love You" and it's the singer/songwriter Bryan Weirmier.  For me it was instant tears - tears of joy of course.  That was a moment of love for me.  I couldn't believe this man loved me as much as he did.  He went to all that work to surpise me and actually bring the singer to perform at our wedding - how often does that happen?  It wasn't just a first dance or a song, it was a moment for us. 

I gave a speech at another wedding recently and told the couple that on this day you think you could never love this person more than you do right now, but it only gets better and it's true what i've heard throughout the years, you love them more and more each day. 

I couldn't write this blog without sharing Bryan's song with you too.  "Cause I Get to Love You"

http://www.myspace.com/bryanweirmier

I'm learning alot lately about control.  It's something that God is constantly teaching me about and I'm learning to let go of it.  This past long weekend was a good example of it.  My husband and I planned this great weekend with our families.  We had both our parents and my husbands sister and her husband up for the weekend.  We were going to have a big BBQ, go boating have a bonfire and enjoy our time together.  Of course after all the beautiful weather we had last week it all went downhill before the weekend.  Between wind and rain it didn't look like we would be able to do anything we had planned.  Our family arrived on Sunday and thankfully there was some sun and we managed to BBQ but had to eat inside.  We got a couple boat rides in but short ones because of the weather.  However, despite that fact that things didn't go the way we had planned, everyone still had a great time.  Our parents spent lots of time together continuing to get to know each other and we had the joy of having everyone under one roof and we don't get that too often.  So God is saying to me "I have other plans and don't worry it will all work out" which of course it did.  How often do we find ourselves freaking out because we are not getting our way or things are not working out the way we had planned.  God has a bigger plan and it's always a better one. 

Are you that important?

Remember what life was like before everyone had cell phones?  It was quiet and peaceful.  People actually looked you in the eye when you were talking to them rather than checking their phone for the latest text or tweet.  Now we have become so accessible there is never a moment of peace.  Not even in the bathroom!  I use a public bathroom in our building at work and twice today when i was visiting the ladies room there were women, in the stalls, talking on their cell phones.  Now at first I was wondering if they were talking to me or to themselves but then i could hear the muffled voice on the other end of the cell phone.  Are they that important that they can't even have these couple mintues of peace and privacy?  And does the person on the other end of the call know what's going on right now?  I guess this is life in a multi-tasking world.

Wavy weekend

So I took my own advice and my husband and I attempted a nice day out on the boat on Saturday.  We got up early with the plan to boat to Midland for lunch and head back in time to leave for the Casting Crowns concert.  There was not a cloud in the sky, no wind, nice calm waters on the river as we headed to Georgian Bay.  As we hit Georgian Bay it was another story.  Not choppy or wavy but "swales" were the forecast for the day on Georgian Bay.  My husband found it fun and adventurous as I white knuckled my life jacket (safety first) and kept convincing myself not to get sick.  We decided to press on to see if it got better the further we went - guess what - it got worse.  It wasn't dangerous (it may have been for a smaller boat) just nauseating! We gave up on our little mission and headed back to the river.  As we got back we passed many boat with their tubes attached probably hoping for a nice day of boating like we did, and I assume they didn't last too long out there either.  I've head many people say that Georgian Bay is unpredictable conditions as we found out.  It seemd like a perfect day for the boat, quite disappointing with the beautiful weather.  I'm sure alot of cottagers were upset too.

We headed to Queensway Cathedral to see Casting Crowns that night.  This is only my second time seeing them live but there are a few things I really enjoy about their shows.  They put all the words to their songs up on the screens so you can sing along to everything.  They are very humble and non rock-starish (clearly not a word)  They come out casually on stage to start the show, no big intro, no fancy outfits just jeans and t-shirts.  They are just a bunch of youth pastors who put a band together and probably didn't expect to be come one of the biggest bands in Christian music.  They are embassador's for World Vision and Mark Hall has taken it one step further and he and his wife adopted a little girl from China.  It's great to hear that they are living what they preach as well.

Is summer almost over?

We always look so forward to summer and the end of the snow.  Then it gets here and it's almost over and we're panicking to get in the last minute activities we haven't done yet.  We had great weather this summer, much better than last year.  It's been very rare to have such a heat wave like we did in June.  The CNE and Barrie Fair are on this weekend which means summer is coming to a close.

It's supposed to be 30 degrees this weekend so it's time to cross some things off the list you haven't been able to do yet this summer.  Go sit at the beach and read a book, go camping, have your friends over for a BBQ that you've been talking about doing all summer, go for a bike ride, play some tennis or whatever sport you enjoy!  Before we know it we'll be pulling out the boots and complaining about how cold it is and how we can't wait for summer.

Oh how marriage changes things!

I am technically still considered a newlywed I guess, Phil and I have been married 9 months now.  One of the many changes that have happened since being married is the type of television shows I watch.  I am a TV junkie and in my single days had a nice weekly schedule with all my favorite shows.  Friends and family knew certain nights and times not to call because Grey's Anatomy was on.  Although they were hooked too so they probably weren't planning to call anyway.

Now in this new partnership I actually have to share the remote and I'm not the best at sharing.  We do have another TV that I can venture off to but when we first got married I felt guilty about going off by myself, I thought we should be spending this time together.  So I started to find some new TV interests (but thankfully with Rogers on Demand I can still catch up on some of my shows when my husband is out).  So now my evenings consist of Dog the Bounty Hunter, Operation Repo, anything on the Speed channel.  I must admit i'm starting to enjoy some of them but we have found some happy mediums in cooking shows like Master Chef and The Cake Boss, although that just makes us hungry and 9 at night. 

Just one of the man changes that come with marriage, but I make the change happily!

A summer of reading

As the summer comes to a close I was thinking about the books I have read over the past couple months.  I tend to read alot more during the summer.  The weather is nicer so you're outdoors more and, as a self proclaimed TV junkie, my shows are all on hiatus for the summer so I have some extra time on my hands.  I started the summer with "Eat Pray Love", after spending my honeymoon in Italy I wanted to read about the authors journey there as well.  It sounds like she enjoyed the eating as much as I did!

I'm becoming a fan of Jodi Picoult who wrote "My Sisters' Keeper".  I didn't read that book but saw the movie.  I did read her book "19 Minutes" which had me on the edge of my seat, and I'm reading "Keeping Faith" right now.  I just finished "The Memory Keeper's Daughter".  It was sitting on my shelf for years and I finally got to it and what a story it was! 

I love reading biographies and my favorite book of the summer was "Choosing to See" by Mary Beth Chapman.  She is the wife of Steven Curtis Chapman and the book was the journey through her life and so honest which I loved.  Steven Curtis Chapman "is" Christian music and we have a perception of his life and his family life and this book shows us that like everyone else they are just a real family.

She talks about getting married young, having kids, the struggles of having a husband who is on the road most of the time, her wresting match with God, depression and the horrible loss of their daughter a couple years ago.  She was a "control freak" and definately had plan for her life, liked everything organized and then her life turned out the opposite.  I can definately relate to that one.  I like to control everything in my life and God always has a different plan for us and some handle it better than others.  Steven and Mary Beth have become advocates for adoption and it was amazing to hear about that part of their life and how they resisted the idea of adoption in the beginning and ended up adopting 3 girls from China.   There is one incredible story of Mary Beth and Jan Moore (Geoff Moore's wife) going to China to pick up their girls before the province was shut down from the SARS virus.  Their adoptions had gone through but they had about a month before it was time to go pick up the girls.  They heard the province was shutting down and it would be a few months before they could get in.  They set out on a mission to get their girls and literally threw clothes in a suitcase headed for China and hoped for the best.  It was so incredible I had to read that chapter out loud to my husband.

I really enjoyed how she incorporated Steven's song lyrics into the book - almost every chapter starts with one of his songs and you get to read about that part of the journey in their lives and where that song came from.  The last 1/4 of the book is about the loss of their daughter Maria

It's very relatable for anyone and I just loved reading it and seeing the other side of their story.  I highly recommend it and it's in stores in Canada next week.  http://marybethchapman.com/

If you have any book recommendations let me know so I can start my reading list for the fall!

What's in a name?

Well this is my first entry in the blogosphere - is that even a word?  I stressed for days on what to name this blog - Jen Melanson's Blog just sounded a bit boring.  It's a well known fact that I have a thing for purses and this is a blog about my life so it seemed like a good fit, although i have definately type casted myself now. 

I had a gross out moment this morning - one of those "what are they thinking" times.  As I'm standing in line at Wal-Mart (my favorite place) the woman behind me was literally clipping her finger nails in line.  In the same area where you reach for gum, candy bars or any other fun things they have and now her finger nails are a part of it.  It was one of those moments where I just didn't know what to do.  Do I say something, give her a look to send the message?  I don't like conflict or confrontation so I avoid that at all costs.  Luckily the person in front of me doesn't mind so she gave the look for me.  I know the line ups can be long and boring but that's what the magazines are for.  I sure hope she bought those nail clippers and just wasn't testing them out!