35 MPG

Many of us have felt "pain at the pumps" lately and we are no exception. We have been doing everything we can to cut down on our gas use and even trying little "tricks" to increase our gas mileage. Steven and I have a nifty little device in our van that tells us what our gas mileage is. This past weekend we traveled over the mountains for a wedding and we were like two kids in a candy store watching our gas mileage increase with every mile. Steven would coast down the hills, use neutral when we were idle, we even turned the AC off and rolled the windows down (anything to save a buck;). Today I was driving around town and my mileage hit 28, then 29, then 30, in a MINIVAN! So you can imagine my excitement was so great that I called Steven to tell him of my AWESOME driving skills!
"Wow, 30 MPG, really?" he said,
"Oh yeah, wait, it just hit 30.4...30.5...30.6..."
I felt I had impressed him enough so we hung up the phone, after a few more errands I hit 35 and felt like celebrating and, of course, this called for yet another phone call about my awesomeness (if that's not a word, it should be:).
"Really, 35 MPG?" he asked,
"Yeah and it's so cool, I've gone 35 miles so I've only used one gallon!"
"Jenny, are you sure you aren't looking at the trip odometer?"...
"Uhhhh...um...OH, haha, I guess you're right!"
Steven: "OH. MY. GOSH, are you kidding me?" (insert LOTS of mocking laughter from Steven)
Steven: "You have GOT to blog about this, if you don't I will!" (insert more mocking laughter)
Yeah, yeah, so I had a blonde moment, ok, a major blonde moment. My philosophy has always been, if you're going to do something, do it well. Clearly, I have the being blonde thing down to an art;) You've got to admit 35 mpg around town in a minivan would be AWESOME!

Have I been out of the game that long?

So I have been a blog slacker, both my photography and personal blog have been greatly neglected because I am seriously lacking some inspiration and I'm so TIRED lately! I have felt so blase' lately, my friend Tanika tagged me forever ago and I was so excited to be tagged (I know, that's silly;) so I am now finally sitting down, determined to kick my creativity rut! Thanks Tanika for giving me a reason to blog without having to use much brain power, I think I can handle that;)

Who Do You Love? Um, it depends on the day;) but almost always my sweetie bugs Sam and Jaden and of course my hard workin' man, Steven.
How Long Have You Been Married? 6 years
Who Said I Love You First? Steven (in sign language:)
How Long Did You Date? 5 years
Where Did He Propose? In a laundry room (I know your jealous) best part was Nilace hearing something in the laundry room so she came to check it out (in her nightgown and curlers:) (I was living in someones basement at the time)
Who Is Taller? Steven (although it wouldn't take much)
Who Is Smarter? Steven has the book smarts but if you want some useless trivia I'm your gal.
Who Does The Laundry? ...laundry? way overrated.
Who Pays The Bills? Me, wait, do you mean am I his sugar mama or do I just sign my name on the checks?
Who Mows The Lawn? the lawnmower man and the lawnmower woman:)
Who Cooks Dinner? Usually me, does toast count?
Who Drives? Steven
Maybe this post would have been more appropriately titled "confessions of a slacker"
Brittany and Jenny you've just been served :)

If love looked in the mirror...

...it would see my mother's face.


I love this saying, because it is so true. I once gave my mother a card with this on it and it still sits on her desk after two years:) My mother means the world to me and it occured to me that she may not even realize just how much. As with most mother/daughter relationships we haven't always seen eye to eye (especially through teenage years;), but my mom has always been so wonderful and always made sure her children had everything they ever needed and then some. I know this post will not come anywhere close to expressing my love and appreciation for all that she has done for me but I thought I would list some of the moments that has shaped my relationship with her.

My mother was a working mom, I remember her staying up very late, cleaning and organizing after an already very long day at the Bank, we always had a clean home.

My mom always made sure we had dental appointments, clean teeth, braces. Some people may look at this and think this is such a silly thing but what you need to know is that we did not always have money for such things, my mom would save up and make sure these things were taken care of. I am sure this has a lot to do with why I LOVE teeth and was a dental assistant for five years (and married someone who is aspiring to be a dentist, imagine that!). Now we can take care of her teeth someday:)

No matter what she always loves me! I can say this with confidence because I can attest that she now has to have regular hair appointments to cover all of the gray hairs I gave her;) One of the defining moments in my relationship with my mother was shortly after my engagement to a guy that she had never even met (long story) it was a pretty painful ordeal for her how I went about things (sorry mom!). I ended up needing surgery while our relationship was still healing from this and she never hesitated when I needed her the most. After the surgery I ended up having some sort of reaction to a medication that had been given to me and the nurses hurried in to give me something to counteract it, I remember looking up at my mom, she was so concerned, so worried, and a tear streamed down her cheek. I always knew she loved me but I can tell you that that was the moment I knew for certainty the depth of her love.

Holidays have always been so special in our home. I love to think about all of the wonderful traditions we have enjoyed throughout the years. My mother has a knack for heartfelt gifts, she gives a lot of thought into what she gives, I really love that about her.

Tearing the dryer sheets in half. Ok this is just funny, for years I tore my dryer sheets in half because that is what my mom always did. After years of not seeing the reasoning behind it I finally asked my mom why she tore them in half to which she replied "I don't know, my mom always did it".


My mother has been with me for the birth of both of my children, and I am forever grateful to have had her there (not to mention the week or so she stays afterwards to help me out). She is such an amazing nana, I really couldn't ask for anything more. She loves her grandbabies and spoils them rotten, and oh how they love her so!

Something my mother may not even know about herself is that she is hilarious. I can't even describe what makes her so funny, I really think she just says things so innocently and she doesn't even realize how funny it is until we are all laughing, which makes her laugh, I love it:)
(my mom, me, my sister, and Jaden)
I can't really say "lastly" because there is so much more but I've got to end it at some point;) Ever since I was very young my mother has taught me some of the most important virtues in life and I must say it was mostly by example. She has taught me to be respectful of others and their property (I feel this is so important and is ever becoming a lost virtue in our society), she has taught me to be giving, to be honest, to not care what others think (this is a work in progress;) but most importantly she has taught me what it means to be a good mother. I may not have it all down yet but I just wanted her to know I was paying attention and I will always be grateful to call her "mom".

Happy Mother's Day

Smitten...

I recently discovered Belle and Boo etsy shop and I am smitten. Belle and Boo is based out of London, they create beautiful, original artwork, looove it! I know I have been missing from the blogging world for awhile and I have quite a bit to catch up on but for now I just wanted you to know that I still exist and leave you with something pretty:)

"Happy" Meal

My Jaderbug hasn't been feeling well lately, yesterday he said he felt like he was going to throw up (as a Mcdonalds commercial plays in the background). I am not sure which part of the commercial he was referring to but he says "See, that's why I need a happy meal!", now I'm slightly confused "You need a happy meal so you won't throw up?"

Jaden: "Yeah, that's why the "word's" right."

me: "What word? You mean that's why they call it a happy meal?"

Jaden: "Yeah!! That's why when kids are gonna throw up they ask their moms and dads for a happy meal and they say "yes"." (this is a clever tactic;)

Well who am I to argue with such logic? Unfortunately a happy meal did not seem like the best approach to his problem, but when I informed him that we would sadly not be getting the coveted "happy" meal, I got the shocked "are you kidding me?" look followed by "Do you want me to throw up?!!". So, today since he was feeling better we got a happy meal, I mean after a performance like that, what's a girl to do? ;)

Umm...yeah...

Apparently I haven't updated my blog for awhile (so I've been told) so here I am way past my bedtime, this is likely going to be nothing more than a middle of the night rambling, so sit back and enjoy! Hmm, lets see, anything special in my life right now? Well, I shot my first wedding this weekend and well, aside from the 25 mile an hour winds, one of the bridal parties parents getting food poisoning and my flash not working, I'd say it went pretty well (I'm thinking I should stick with child photography). Although the (few) pictures we were able to get due to the weather, turned out very nicely, the stress of a wedding is just not my thing (we're talking emotional breakdown, of course it was family so that may have contributed). I may have a wedding in May (thanks Trish;) but they will not be having a reception and only a small family gathering so I'm thinking the stress will not be so much:) I went to a marketing seminar this Monday, there was some great infomation, it gave me a sense of renewal and I can't wait to start using the ideas!

This week is spring break here so Jaden is staying with "nana" for the week, it has been quiet with only one child, I see his little toy cars scattered about the house, it makes me miss him. I guess he went to his cousins soccer game on Tuesday, they were playing, kicking the ball back and forth, well the ball hit him "where it hurts" and he was crying for mommy and daddy, poor guy! Jaden is my lovebug, he randomly says "mommy," "yes," I say, "I love you." melt my heart. Can you tell I'm missing him? Before we left for the weekend he let me take some pictures of him, he really wanted me to get a good picture. He would try a pose and say "how about this mom?" it was so cute. I will leave you with one of my favorites from his "session".

Advice for the day...

"If you have a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: Take two, and KEEP AWAY FROM CHILDREN." (hehe, I really do love my kids:)