FALL 2008 EDITION

Hello everyone!! So here we are, approaching the Holidays. Wow, seriously why does time fly by like this. I guess because you’re havin’ fun, isn’t that how the saying goes ☺ And so this brings us to the FALL 2008 EDITION of the Newlyweds Blog. Another retrospective look at the previous season, as we look forward to the next one. Justin & I hope you all enjoyed your Fall. And until our next edition – Have a WONDERFUL Winter & Happy Holidays To All!!!

SEPTEMBER: 3 Postings....

WHAT A WAY TO BRING IN THE NEW SEASON!

Wow. So what a way to bring in the Fall....with a bonar that just wouldn’t quit. And NO. I am not talking about Justin! As I am certain at this very moment all you readers of our blog are relieved to know that key point of information. But I am talking about Hank. (yikes, did you just revert back to your cringing given THIS piece of info. now!)

Poor Hank. He must have something to prove. Like he’s still got it in him, and don’t let the 91 human years under his little doggy belt fool you. One Sunday afternoon, end of Sept, I had noticed “something” very “unusual” with Hank when I was taking him for our daily walk. And it wasn’t the normal run of the mill “doggy lipstick” one might happen to come across – oh say like when he’s sitting in the car and I have to tell him “put that away hank!” Fellow dog owners, you know what i'm talking about, unfortunately. Anyway, so my doggy motherly instincts landed hank and I at the Weekend Emergency Vet’s Office. I will spare you the nitty gritty details of it all….as i'm sure you'll wonder have i really spared you, as you read on, but believe me i really have :) Basically, undetermined by both the ER Vet and Hank’s regular vet later in the week, poor Hanky-poo was experiencing what they refer to as a prolapsed penis. And THANK GOD the vitamin supplement he now takes on a daily basis along with a hefty dose of GOOD LUCK – he hasn’t experienced it since! But here's where we get to the funny part of this....the ER Vet seriously looked at me and asked “So do you have any KY Jelly at home Jenny?” I was like "Um. Huh??? Um…yeah, I’m not even going to answer that question either way! You're my dog's Vet!!" I was just thinking to myself how this converations with the Vet was so wrong in so many ways. I was waiting for the hidden cameras to be revealed and the wacky host of some practical jokes show to pop out and scream "you've just been played!" Anyway, so I was able to, in so many words, dodge the question. I basically reciprocated with “what is your point Doc?” And she noted that if this problem "visitor" of Hank’s reappears and does not disappear within a few hours, like it did this one sunny fall day, that I would be instructed in detail of how to take care of the “situation” as they did in the ER. Lets just say it would have involved a homemade sugar paste and some lube. Oh. My. God.

And again, I must say Thank You that his vitamin supplement worked because I was really starting to question how much I loved this precious pooch of mine as I was driving away from the ER with Hank A.K.A “Bonar Bob” and this giant $3 tube of medical lube the vet sent me home with “just in case”.

Summary: It would suffice to say that Hank had one “hard” day back in the Fall. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun)

JEN'S WORKOUT "PROGRAM"

THE DAY: Friday, September 26th. THE TIME: 10:34 pm.

This Fall, Step #3 was Checked off my list & marked COMPLETE!

What was Step #3? To take the workout “briefcase” (composed of Weights & a DVD) called “The Firm” OUT OF THE BOX! And the steps that preceded this monumental one were, well naturally, Step #1 & Step #2. And you may find the time frame of all these steps as interesting as they are pathetic....

STEP #1: JULY 1st (Yup, that is THREE months prior to the above mentioned Step #3, this would be the pathetic part): Move the box that contains my Workout Kit “The Firm”, UNopened mind you, from the front door step where the delivery guy dropped it and put it in the laundry room (to then just get lost on me).

STEP #2: AUGUST 21st, almost 2 months later, finally discover the shipping box in the laundry room & move the box from there into my “workout room” (our tv room), slice through the packaging tape to then simply PEEK inside the box & quickly view the contents inside, but then shut it back up until Sept. where i took it out of the box. I have one more Step to complete. Step#4: which involves actually using this & WORKING OUT! If i could only look like this chick on the cover, ha! I suppose this is what Bob in What About Bob would refer to as the very subtle, yet very important, “Baby Steps.”

Wow. Am I making progress or what? ☺

Oh, and when i mentioned above that Step #1 was the pathetic part - well who am i kidding this entire entry is pathetic.

WHERE'S JEN'S NOOSE

In Sept., we finally re-painted our Front Door – and I Love Love LOVE the new color! It used to be a grape purple but now it’s this yellow/green, chartruse is what they call it - it's the color that we used for our wedding logo (the rolling green hill & tree that was on EVERYthing). And let me tell ya, it's a ton better then the first green we put on it - i explained that color by calling it "Kermit Frog on Crack." It was horrible!!!

So this new paint job brought me to sprucing up the rest of the front door area before I jumped into decorating our house for Fall. And when we were hanging stuff out by the front door I kept saying to Justin “ok, can you hang this…” and he would do so and then I’d immediately say again “ ok and can you hang this thing too” and this went on for what seemed like forever to Justin, I think. And around my 4th “can you hang this” he very subtly & non-chalantly, with a hint of smile you could just barely catch, chimed in with “…and where’s the noose we’ll hang….FOR YOUR NAGGING ASS.” Aaahhhh, to be so in love, isn’t It grand ☺

NOTE: The pic above of the white flower basket & the 3 pink petunias is from Nov. 2nd! Miracle Grow isn't kidding when they say their Moisture Control soil is all you need.

OCTOBER: 5 Postings...

LOLA VISITS!

Emilee and Lola came to town for a visit & a high school football game in October where we joined Sam & his cute daughter, Kaitlyn. We showed Lola where our old high school stomping grounds were.....it was kind of wierd to be there as 30 Somethings. This is the biggest game of the high school season in Sylvania, Ohio: Northview (our alma mater) VS. Southview (the enemy, sorry Em i know you like SV cuz you worked there but our loyalty really lies with the Wildcats!). Too bad NV got creamed. It was quite dreadful actually – but at least we had the opportunity to peal our eyes away from what one could just barely call a football game and set them on the cuteness that Lola brought to the field that night. She was really into it; it was her first football game and it was really really cute! Lola is 1 ½, and she was thrilled to watch NV get their butts kicked, clapping and yelling in excitement!

SAM & ERIN GET MARRIED! OUR PORTLAND, OREGON VISIT

We went to Portland mid-Oct. to Sam & Erin’s Wedding!! This is a college buddy of Justin’s. During the 5 day visit, I was able to gorge down some of the best pancakes in the world at the 24 hour Hotcake House, of which I would often indulge in when I lived in Portland with my sister 10 years ago (I did my internship for Recreational Therapy at the Spinal Cord & Head Injury Hospital out there). While we were visiting P-town, Justin gave me a tour of what I’m imagining is probably one of the most beautiful college campuses in the country – his alma mater Lewis & Clark. Although it did remind me of Hogwart's School of Magic or something, I think there is something they all are not telling me... Anyway, Portland it is the best! And even better when you can spend time visiting with a bunch of friends.

BTW - did you know apples have many uses?

Click Here for the Entire PHOTO GALLERY of our trip to Portland!

OUR FAMILY COMMUNE

Oct. 19 we had my mom’s side of the family over to visit with my sister Amy who was visiting from Cali and the Miller’s (Aunt Janice & Uncle Mark) who were in town from Georgia & to celebrate Grandma Alice’s 83rd Birthday. Oh, and yeah, we also had them all over for a good ol’ fashioned Family Commune Work Session! Seriously, I need to have these family members over more often. If it wasn’t the shed building weekend my Uncle Mike helped out with then it was the pruning of trees my Aunt Joyce was doing, the sweeping and cleaning up of our cruddy patio by Aunt Snookie, the re-organization of my mess kitchen sink cabinet by my mother, or the buffing out my really dinjy subaru headlights by my Georgia car detailing Uncle Mark (air compressor involved and all!) . They all were working the land like we were the Amish or something. I do think the only thing missing that day at our house were the ugly dresses adorning the female family members and the beards & hats on the guys. Oh and of course the lack of an electrical current ;) And an apology out to the Amish, you know I love ya and that yummy cheese & folky furniture you whip up but them dresses have GOT TO GO!

Click Here for the Entire PHOTO GALLERY of our Family Commune Day!

GIRLS TRIP UP NORTH

Amy and I, along with our mom & our 3 aunts went Up North to my parents lake house in Leland, MI this Fall. First we want thank them for letting us impose on their Annual Sisters Weekend! We all had such a blast together while we went hiking, window shopping, stone searching at Good Harbor Beach & how can we forget....playing Guesstures! The only disappointment was that i didn't lose any weight from my Strick gut given all the laughing we did, i thought for sure something would have shed! When I think back on this trip, the one thing that really sticks out is my Aunt Snookie walking on the beach with us, she looked like a frickin' bag lady with that crazy (but cute!) scarf and hodge podged winter get up she had going on....she may as well just walked off of Madison & Adams street in Downtown Toledo. But she was missing one thing, a shopping cart, if only she would have been pushing a shopping cart in the parking lot at the beach. I bet people at the beach thought the rest of us were soooooooo nice to have picked up a bum and showed her the beauty of Northern Michigan. Hahahaha! Seriously, look at her in the shot above! ok, i can't talk much, with my makeshift turban there (it was cold!)

So, it's about a 5 hour drive and my sister and i headed up with our 3 dogs - drove through a flipping blizzard towards the end of it. But once we emerged out of the vertigo flurries and entered Traverse City, we put the music back on, since i didn't need to concentrate anymore on getting us there alive. I of course chose my "Love The Lionel" playlist on my iPod. Now i will tell you, there was a time when my sister thought i was quite the tool for wanting to listen to Lionel Richie on our pontoon boat one summer. But she came around, how can you not, it's Lionel, probably the best love ballad songwriter/singers EVER! So this night, while we were driving through T.C. Amy looks at me and says at first in a joking manner but ends her statement with complete dead on seriousness & a shaking of her head in disbelief "Wow. And the hits JUST KEEP ON COMIN'." I replied with "If this isn't Easy Listening, I seriously don't know what is." It was really hilarious, after we exchanged these words with each other we just totally busted out in laughter! And I don't care who you are - there is no denying Lionel's Greatest Hits. You can try to be cool and say you don't like it, but ya'll will come around like Amy did, whether you admit it or not, I do guarantee it. So now get on your iTunes and download some Lionel.

Click Here to see the Entire PHOTO GALLERY of AUNTS/NIECES UP NORTH TRIP 2008!

EUCHRE HALLOWEEN: 1st Place AGAIN!

This year for our Halloween Euchre get together I went as a French Street "Arteeest", named Jean Pierre Marcieux. I had the French accent, the French music playing from my iHome which was hidden at the bottom of my bag which had several bagguetts sticking out of it, a beret (straight from Paris when we went this summer!), and an art easel equipped with a large drawing pad stocked with characteratures sketches i did of each Euchre member. If i don't say so myself, it was hilariously ridiculous. And yup, as my Mrs. Roper, (from Three's Company) costume walked away with First Prize last year, so did my Jean Pierre Marcieux. (You can go to our Archives to the right, click on October 2007, for probably one of the most unflattering photos of me, as Mrs. Roper).

As far as this year's costume goes - All i can say is: "Zees whaz zee, ohhhhh, howz doo yoo say? zee best!"

And once again, after I think i can't reveal much more of the tool side of me....i do.

I can't believe i'm posting this video....you really had to see this in person to appreciate it, and hear it (the background noise is loud). And to see more photos, click on the 2nd link below (sorry Joyce, I don't know what happened to your hippy photo, i can't find it on my computer anywhere!)

Click Here for my Jean Pierre Marcieux VIDEO

Click Here for Entire PHOTO GALLERY of Halloween Euchre 2008!

NOVEMBER: 2 Postings...

FALL VISIT TO VERMONT

Justin had his annual fall auction and so I tagged along this time. We spent a few weeks up in Vermont at the house and it was really nice & we saw our first snow for the year while up there. And it was great hanging out with Peter & JoAnne, visiting with our Vermont friends/the Castros, spending time with the Clark Cousins at Uncle Michael/Aunt Susan’s & visiting with Hadley in Boston. We also did a hefty sum of loungin' which is always our preferred choice. Oh & let’s not forget the hot tubbing it outside. And so how do ya like those matching robes, can we get any gayer? Well maybe, like with the matching jogging suits we have ;) j/k of course.
You know, aside from the one-weekend case of food poisoning that shot out of Justin both ways – it sure was grand!

So back to the hot tubbing: just before we hopped in, we received a word of wisdom from Peter (my most most MOST wonderful Dad-In-Law). As he was in the middle of showing us how to work the hot tub; he looks at justin and seriously says to him, and mind you i am quoting him word for word here, “...and Justin, your balls are gonna get hotter then shit.” He then proceeded to carry on into his next sentence of instructions like nothing at all was going on. I looked all around, as if other people were outside with us listening to this. It seriously was HILARIOUS!!!!

Now Peter, I know you print out our blog and read it (which i love!) but when you get to a computer, Click Here for the Entire PHOTO GALLERY of our FALL TRIP TO VERMONT!

CHRISTMAS TREE FARM 2008

Thanksgiving weekend we headed to a Christmas Tree Farm up in Michigan here near our house. It was great because we were the ONLY people there! Unlike the CHAOTIC Carnival Disneyland Feel To It tree farm that drove by first, the one that resides about 5 miles from this farm where they had everything from our local Lambertville Fire Truck to a Helicopter (hello, can you say 100% kid friendly! all we wanted to do was just get a tree!) It was peaceful and quite at this one and we had our choice of any tree. Don't get me wrong, i'll be the first one in line at the Fire Truck when we have kids ;)

So now let me back up just a few minutes. So here we are, at home just before we head out, I’m totally geeked about this and justin starts telling me how he’s just gonna go out to the pole barn & get his saw-zaw. For any of you that are not familiar with this fine tool - it is a gas powered saw. My hands went up like a cop directing traffic - I’m like “STOP!, Nooooo" Come on, don't you all agree with me here that that so defeats the purpose of a nice day hunting for our xmas tree and cutting it down! It has to be by hand with a regular manual saw. And I insisted. Wow, can i be a pain in the butt or what :) End Result: I got my way. We got our tree. I got a sore arm muscle. no not really.

Click Here for MORE PICS!

DECEMBER: 2 Postings....

TRIP TO D.C., VISIT WITH FANTLE'S

We went to D.C. with Peter & JoAnne. As my dad puts it "going on Tour" since we've been traveling so much this year. It was great visiting with the Fantle's & the Kuser's. And we got to meet baby Mikala - she's so cute!!! P.S. Betsy, Thank You so much for the Truffles - did i really need 3 bags, ha! They are so good though i couldn't help it, sadly I will be through these things before Santa shows up at our house, yikes!

JEN'S 35th

12/12 - the best bday ever (12th day of the 12th month does it get any cooler than that!) This was a special one, it was my 35th! omg - in my eyes i am half-way to 40!!! Half-way when you look at Point A as Year 30 and Point B as year 40. No wonder i did horrible in math.

We celebrated that night with dinner & friends then headed out to meet up with more friends & listen to a Blues band. It was SO MUCH FUN! Thank you to everyone who lined up the sitters for your kiddies or just planned to hang out with us - it made my 35th GREAT! (See link below for all the photos of us.) And what a bonus - my friend Missy totally surprised me by showing up (i didn't think that would happen Missy! you are awesome!) And Chad....this shout out is for you - since we met just for the first time that night & you told me you read my blog! i love it. But next time, no goofy face during pictures! And the BIG BONUS: my friend Lindsay hung out with us! She is the one we visited in England, she is back home & unexpectedly here till now March due to a Work Visa delay. GREAT for me, Not So Great for her (as her hubby is back at home in England waiting for her to return). Damien, as i know you are a kind friend who reads this kooky blog of ours - you were missed, too bad for that ice storm in Cleveland. You would have fit right in with all the others....as we didn't get home until 5 am :)

Also, Thank You for all my gifts! And Amy, the cards you letter pressed form me of Hank are the best ever, I love them so much!

If anyone is interested in beautiful stock or custom stationery, invites, biz cards, check out what my sister does, Alice-Louise.com

Justin's bday is one week after mine, on 12/19. We are exactly one year & one week apart. Justin is not 35 yet, not until next year. He will be in Florida working for the week so unfortunately his late nights will not be due to celebrating his bday but instead due to work. I love my necklace baby. Thank you thank you so much it is so beautiful and you are sooooo sneaky aren't you.

Click Here for Entire PHOTO GALLERY of JEN's 35th!

BLAST FROM THE PAST Feature

Sugarloaf, Michigan. 1990.

Here we are - young and in love. i was 17, justin 16. He was the cool skater boy snowboarding while i was on my trusty skiis. And to think we just celebrated my 35th!!! In fact, that night i wore the bracelet justin had made for me back then for my bday, 18 yrs. ago. yeah, i'll wait right here and hold up on writing anymore, give you all a chance to go grab your puke bags.

RTB SUPPORTER Feature

This Edition's supporter of RealtimeBid.com is m'wa! Best Friend & Loving Wife of Justin, the founder of RTB. I am very proud of my hubby. He's been working a year now full force & working his butt off to get this up and running. I'm wishing him all the luck in the world (you see, I know he has the brains so all he needs now is the good luck). One year down....hopefully a ka-trillion more to come.

Click Here to visit RealtimeBid.com

SHOUT OUTS

October 2008
• Sam & Erin: Congratulations on Getting Married! Oct. 9
• Grandma: Happy 83rd Birthday! Oct. 16

November 2008
• Uncle Michael, Vermont: Received Lifetime Achievment Award for Firefighting. Nov. 6
• Damien: Kudos to you, your book was excellent! Good Luck on publishing! Don't forget the small people like Lindsay and Me when you make it big.
• Grandpa Shorty: Happy 91st Birthday! Nov. 25
• Ryan & Lindsey: Congratulations on Getting Married! Nov. 28

December 2008
• Justin: Happy 34th Baby!