Our FIRST Anniversary!!

We made it! 1 year of marriage down and hopefully 68 more to go. That would put Justin at 101 years old (I figured I’d add that extra year on there for good measure) and it would put me at 102 – that sounds wonderful to me. So we are officially on our way to no longer being considered “The Newlyweds”, however our blog will remain titled that - goal intended: to feel like Newlyweds throughout our entire life together ☺ So far so good on reaching that goal. NOW, I know this sounds all PEACHY and everything….but OF COURSE we do have our moments, let's not kid anyone here. And hence justin’s Indian name for me when he responds to my ever so many requests (dim the lights please, would you please not blow grass into my mulched garden area when mowing, and so on), Justin responds with: “Yes, Oh-Incessantly-Nagging-One.” I suppose my Indian name for him would be “One-Who-Never-Shuts-Kitchen-Cabinet-Doors” and put a fucking exclamation mark on that one please! But we wouldn’t change a thing (well, i do suppose i cannot speak for justin.....hee hee). Thank you to everyone who sent us congratulatory messages!!! We had such a great One Year Anniversary night - dinner at Sofo's in Sylvania.

OK - it's been about 20 min. since i sent out this blog link....and already an update. We opened our anniversary gifts! Contemporary First Anniversary Gift is: Clock. Justin followed it...and he got me the iHome iPod Alarm Clock - it's really cool! Part of my gift to him followed the Traditional First Anniversary Gift: Paper. I wrote him a love letter - and this was when the four eyes in our living room started to well up. Justin also got me something to do with Paper. He had my sister, Amy, get printing plates for his vows and he asked her to letter press his vows onto the same paper that we used for our wedding invites & he also asked her to letter press the rolling green hill & tree at the bottom - these were on our wedding invitations & all other printed materials for the wedding. IT IS BEAUTIFUL. I should say "they" are - he gave me two of them. I'll frame them & keep one here at home & one in Vermont in our room there. It's been a tear-y night needless to say. Oh, I also gave justin an Antique exact miniature replication of the Willys Jeep, it was made in 1945. The tiny frog you see on it in the pic above is the the litte frog with a gold crown that i had his best man give to him just before we walked down our grassy isle on 7.7.7 (because he is my prince). The wrapping paper for his jeep was quite time consuming but well worth the gigantic smile that emerged on his face when he realized what i did :) I wrote I Love You. Happy 1st Anniversary. I Love You. Happy 1st Anniversary over and over again in the form of a border around every single edge of the entire wrapped box (about 80+ times). It was a holiday weekend, i had the time & he's worth it :) AND it looked cool!

And now, for your gagging pleasure....our vows, for any of you who never heard or read them. Justin's are wonderful. He's wonderful.

Justin’s Vows: 07.07.07

A Second Chance for First Loves

Where are we? Are we really here?
How lucky we are, after 17 years.
As I think back to the days of our past,
I dig deep in my heart where the memories last.

Click, click...click, click...Did I catch your eye with that trick?
Bam, Bam...Boom, Bum...Surely you heard the sound of those drums?
What’s that? What did you lose? Of course I’ll help you find your shoes.

That’s where it began, such a long time ago.
Now you’re back in my life, who could have known.

We made such a good team from the start,
I should have realized you’d end up with my heart.

I found you again, this time it’s forever.
Would you believe life could be so clever?

We’ve been through some thick, we’ve been through some thin,
But nothing compares with being together again.

You’ve brightened my life; I’ve calmed all your fears,
Today is our day, we’ve waited for years.

Like the dual bands of the rings we’ve designed,
We’re bound as one - heart, soul, and mind.

My Love,

You are the light that guides me when all else seems dark.
You are the muse that inspires me when my canvas is blank.
You are my wings when I take flight. You are the nest to which I return.
You are my logic when I am in doubt.
You are my Freedom when I am constrained.
You are the rock I cling to in this chaotic sea of life... You are my Everything.

When you are stressed, I will calm you. When you are unsure, I will support you.
When you are weak I will carry you. When you are strong I will follow you.
When you are happy, I will smile for you. When you are sad, I will cry for you.

From this day on, I promise to walk with you, side by side, hand in hand, through the beautiful life we will share.
As time goes on, we will teach each other and we will learn from each other.
We may frustrate or confront each other, but we will motivate and empower each other as well.
I will always cherish you as my companion, my lover, and my best friend.
Neither time nor distance, nor age nor sickness will ever diminish my feelings for you.

I will love you as I have never loved before.

-----------------------------------

Jen’s Vows: 07.07.07

Justin,
From the very first time I saw you, 17 years ago, skateboarding under the neighborhood streetlight,
I couldn’t get you out of my mind. And although just after
I met you, you left for the summer...
every single day that you were gone,
I thought about the curly dark-haired skater boy I just met, named Justin.

Then you came back at the end of the summer and that’s where this all started.
We fell in love.
I always said that having you as my First Love was the best thing that ever happened to me...
so I thought.
But today, now knowing, that you are not only my First true love
but you are also my Last true love...
I can now tell the world that THAT truly is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

So today, I vow to you, Justin, to never get you out of my mind.
Just like I couldn’t do 17 years ago.
I will love you for the rest of our lives just as pure and simple as I did when
I was that high school girl falling head over heels for you.
I will also love you in a new way -
accepting what and who you will become as we both continue to grow through the years.

The beauty of it all is that you really sure do make this easy on me -
you’re so easy to love with every ounce of my heart.
And so I vow, to you, today, to do my best from this day forward
to make it easy on you to love me with every ounce of your heart.

I will respect you as the person you are today and
I will respect you as the person you continue to grow into...
and, I will respect Us as we continue to grow together.
I will cherish you every day and not take what we have for granted.
I will learn to become more patient and understanding.
I vow to adore you for the rest of our lives as I always have
since the first day I met you (under the neighborhood street light).
In anything that we may encounter, baby I vow to love you “oh’so”.

SPRING 2008 EDITION

Winter was truly starting to feel far far behind us when Spring finally arrived!! Thank goodness – I was beginning to get over the record breaking snowfall we had this year at home! We hope everyone enjoyed their April showers and May flowers. And thus, we welcome you all to the SPRING 2008 EDITION of The Newlyweds Blog.
And until next season's update....enjoy your Summer everyone!
xoxo, jen, justin, and hank
P.S. Feel free to post a comment!

SPRING CLEAN UP: Jen Goes Pyro

Who says I need Justin or others around to have a burn party? One overly ambitious night, in April, when Justin was at work late, I decided to finally get to it. Another year had officially bitten the dust as i cut down & cleared last years ornamental grasses and all the rest of the shit in our yard that I blatanly ignored LAST spring. I was quite proud of myself, however that proud feeling trailed behind my initial feeling of True Fear. As i did this by myself with several massive squeezes of the Lighter Fluid and those gay 12-inch long matches. Now – check out the fairly confident Jen in the first shot. It’s cool – I’m cool, this is fun I'm thinking. As you can see, I’m in the frame of the shot. Now the flames were actually larger just seconds before the click of the auto-timer went off on my camera. Ok, now check out the Thumbs Up i'm giving in the 2nd pic...yeah, keep looking you'll see it, over to the left. HOLY CRAP that went up as quick as the boner of a virgin getting his first lap dance! Yeah, so i had the lighter fluid in my hand and fully thought i was SO close to the flames for that shot, apparently I was not. I was everything but confident that time around. I swear I felt the peach fuzz on my earlobes curl up, frizzle and fry. I was having fun, all by myself. Sorry mom, it doesn’t look like I learned much from you when it comes to your life lesson of “jen, don’t play with fire.” Burn baby burn. that’s what we Michiganders do, here in Bedford County, come Spring, when our husbands are away at the office working late & we have a yard full of work to do. It’s called Productive Boredom. (My husband was proud when he came home to find my massive burn pile of ashes & the house still around & no firemen called to the scene)

SNOWBASH 2008, March

End of March, another framed pic of Snowbash goes up on the walls of Colin’s Vail condo. Justin thoroughly enjoyed his winter get-away this spring – his annual reward after the brunt of florida & the auction. Oh, of course, this reward is right in line with the reward of coming home to his loving wife......and her ever so growing HONEY DO LIST she's managed to almost effortlessly add to during this period of time. Anyway, back to Snowbash. We, as in the wives/girlfriends/fiances of these guys have been pondering a little bash of our own, and OH do we dare call it “Maxi Bash” per Rachelle? or better yet, as Tamara suggested this month “Bush Bash”. I love it. It needs to happen. “Period.” (and yes, pun intended on that last word noted). And boys, don't get your panties in a bunch (as justin often says to me) we wouldn't do Bush Bash anywhere near you guys ;)

MORE COWBELL

When doing spring cleaning throughout our house back in april, I came across a Mix CD that i made my friend Tim years ago titled “More Cowbell”. I immediately jumped on You Tube and executed my search. Enjoy this classic skit from SNL. Hail to the chief, Will Ferrell! Oh how I do love Will. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvqB0uwLj0k

TERRY TURNS 60!

My dad turned 60 this April. And from the looks of this pic on his bday – he doesn’t give a shit. Dad, you look seriously GREAT for 60!! But then again, as 30 is the new 20 (I do feel 24), 40 the new 50, I guess 60 is the new 50 then, huh ☺ One of his gifts was a big box of old style candy from back in the day....like the candy cigarettes you see in this shot.

RTB SUPPORTERS Feature

Justin is still building on RealtimeBid.Com's success from the Februrary Florida auction rolling it over into the Spring auctions for the first time. http://realtimebid.com Currently he is fine-tuning his business plan, fielding interested client prospects & excited about what the future has to bring in terms of Live Video Bidding Online. I think Justin could be real successful if he would just offer Live Video Bidding of Overseas Brides. Now THAT is a niche to fill – screw the construction equipment! This edition’s Supporter of RTB: Dougy, salesman for the NorthEast region, Yoder & Frey, and one fantastic guy.

HANK'S FRIENDS Feature

This edition of Hank’s Friends features Tralee, Emerson & Kaya. Tralee was my Uncle Rick & Aunt Linda’s 9 year old black lab. Unfortunately Tralee had to leave them & this world this Spring. I really hope she’s having fun romping around up there with Emerson & Kaya (my very very VERY precious golden retrievers who left me years ago). Emerson was my first love (shhhh, don't tell Hank!) and that was in my early 20's when i didn't have a digital camera - i'll soon scan a photo of Emerson for this feature & post it. God knows i have enough of them.

BLAST FROM THE PAST Feature

Sylvania, Ohio. My Junior Year, Justin's Sophmore, 1990/1991. It was the year of love, oh yeaaaaa. Me, at my highschool sweeheart’s house (that would be justin) with Peter, his dad. Let’s hear it for Peter and his big fat cigar & me and my big fat curly hair and my what-the-hell-kind-of-shoes-are- those-shoes! They’re kind of sick. Oh and the total gay crossing of my arms, why am I sitting like that!?

“YET ONE MORE THING JUSTIN DID NOT SIGN UP FOR”

So one night in December 2 yrs. ago, in front of Justin lounging on the couch enjoying a movie, I obsessively yet VERY JOYFULLY decorated our xmas trees & put up all our xmas decorations around the house. I started at 8pm and went continuously through the evening breaking through into what we all know as those wee hours, 5 am. That was around the time when Justin, after falling asleep on the couch for several hours awoke, gazed up at me, and said (or more like sleepy-ly mumbled) “What’s up Christmas Crack”. And then went right back to sleep on the couch. It was friggin’ hilarious!! And it could not had been a more appropriate-dead-on evaluation of the situation. I was clearly flying high on my christmas cheer, flying high on it straight through the night till the winter sun peeked into our windows again for another winter day.

WELL. Two years later, this Spring, in May, while I was digging incessantly with a shovel into our backyard for several hours straight, denying myself of even the tiniest break, like a flipping marter or something, Justin walked on by me, never stopping & with a smirk on that cute face of his he looked at me and said once again ever so appropriately but this time replacing the word "christmas" with "garden": ”What’s Up Garden Crack” as he continued to just walk on by to do whatever it was he was doing that day outside. And again, the statement was hilarious! So there it was, I did it again. Obessively…YET Joyfully, i jumped deep into another seasonal “task” for hours on end. Which brings me to the actual title of this posting: Yet One More Thing Justin Did Not Sign Up For.

Sure Justin signed on that dotted line on the Marriage Certificate that one beautiful Vermont sunny day back in July last year. But throughout our PRE-married and now BLISSFULLY married life (wink), justin often finds himself involved in, what I now refer to as, “things he did not sign up for”. Always with bells on, he jumps right into these often over planned “projects” of mine, and usually at a fairly last minute’s notice, again all with never having signed up for any of them ☺ And THANK GOD I have a husband like that because more than not I’m discovering I could never complete these goals of mine and put that big-ass check mark next to it that signifies “DONE”, if it were not for all his help! Justin, once again, props to you. So this time around - it was my vegetable garden. We now have our very own vegetable garden! well it’s mine, he doesn’t even like tomatoes and if things go as successful as planned we’ll be eating, drinking, canning & sleeping friggin’ tomatoes (YUM! 6 varieties of tomato plants). Oh, and we'll just be eating cucumbers, hungarian hot peppers and gypsy peppers. but I just don’t feel right saying it’s all mine when during all of my digging out of this garden he wheeled away over THIRTY VERY HEAVY wheelbarrows of sod & dirt (“very heavy” being the instigator of why Justin was putting time into something, once again, “he did not sign up for” ☺). And this was just the beginning of this little project of “mine.” There were SEVERAL other stages of the garden that my hubby helped me out with or flat out just did himself.

Now, I speak casually about all of my husband's help but I want everyone to know this: I did acknowledge to Justin, after one of his final stages of helping me (he resourcefully bent, wiggled & broke old wire hangers in half and made these handmade loop things that I would shove into the ground over the soaker hose to keep it from popping up in certain areas) and i looked up & said to him: “my love, thank you for all of your help over the last month, I know you didn’t necessarily sign up for this”. He giggled in a tone that conveyed no problem it was my pleasure & cutely said: “well baby, I would venture to say there are a lot of things with me you didn’t sign up for either.” And we both smiled. It was actually really sweet. Awwww us newlyweds, are you puking yet?

Oh. ONE MORE THING. After all of our hard work, justin did something …..you got it……one more thing "he did not sign up for." He willingly, and with a smile, escorted me with a flashlight over to my plants around 11pm at night, the first day I had planted them, so I could “talk” to them before I called it a night, as was adviced by my inspirational “Garden Mentor” & cultivator of my greenhouse’d veggie plants, my 2nd cousin, Raymond. Yeah – I just couldn’t go to bed without giving my fragile baby plants a little initiation pep talk (grow for me and don’t let me down now dammit!!!) No, it was more like “my sweet sweet veggie baby plants, so fragile looking, I’m wishing you well - now you grow good for me, ok? Because i have never done this before. And this was ALOT of work to get you here.” I spoke those words in my soft high pitched hank-tone voice, so if they’re anything like my dog then they’ll gaze up at me every time I near them, always with so much love in their little baby plant eyes, and they’ll live on this earth with the main goal of wanting to make me happy. If only I could win their love (& ensurance of heavy veggie production) with treats, like I do with Hank – I suppose that would be called WATER, huh ☺

You can check out the link below for an Updated Slideshow of our Garden.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=cce4pp5d.3fwbs5sd&x=0&y=-whwake&localeid=en_US

DO YOURSELVES A FAVOR, You Thirty Somethings

So this post is for all those friends of ours that are those "Thirty Somethings". Do all yourselves a favor - and bust out the Rage. Rage Against The Machine, what a way to bring in the morning sun at 5 am when driving through the Green Mountains. This spring Justin and i headed to Vermont & NYC. We didn't set out to drive straight through, because like the morning slackies we both are we got on the road at 5 PM, duh! But we found oursevles in a pickle, no where really to stay so towards the 10th (of the the 12th) hour of this drive we found ourselves a replacement for Justin's Mountain Dew Code Red and my, well i don't drink coffee so my quick-wake-me-upper. What a great 50 minutes & not to mention very effective way of waking one's ass up during a long drive! It had been way too long since that angry, dreddy, venting, u.s. government despising kick ass band played through our stereo. so bust it out!! i do think ya'll just might thank me for the suggestion. Complimentary Preview link, Bullet In The Head, Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkuOAY-S6OY&feature=related

HOLY SCHNEETOES: David Cook

So i am one of those. One of those people that watched American Idol through the winter into the spring. And Justin would oblige me towards the last few weeks of the show and watch it with me too. Often times he would find me raising my voice in either complete joy or utter disgust after a performance of one of the finalists. The disgust i can tell you ALWAYS followed that idiot dreddy white boy Jason Castro (thank god america didn't crown him the winner otherwise i would have had to boycott the show next year, 4th place for that dipshit was enough to give me the dry heaves more then the Dragster coaster at Cedar Point). Anyway....David Cook - Holy Schneetoes! He could not have been more deserving of the May victory. On the April 15 show he was forced to choose and perform one of Mariah Carey’s songs. Now, you wouldn't have to force me i am a BIG fan of hers & have no problem admitting it, as you see i have a very wide range of music taste, Rage & Mariah, does it get anymore polar opposite then this? however, i thought to myself, how the hell is this rocker dude going to pull this off, doing a song that usually involves a five-octave vocal range, without sounding ridiculous. Well, he managed to pull his style into it and it was awesome! He chose to perform Carey's “Always Be My Baby” & not only got a standing ovation from yours truly in her living room with Hank next to her side wondering what the hell his mom was clapping so hard for but he received the first standing ovation from one of the judges, Randy. Check it out....and if you don't like this please keep it to yourself rather then posting a comment on our blog that will only upset me tremendously ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM4Ct-64PGk

SHOUT OUTS

• April. Lola’s 1st bday! Lola, you are so sweet. And i do believe, with your very first year behind you, that you have successfully bumped Marylin Monroe out of the "most photographed female" slot - this of course could have never happend without the help of your mom & her non-stop snapping of her digital camera! I know, I will be the exact same way don't any of you worry!

• May. Amy’s NYC National Stationery Show! Congrats to my sister, it was as TRUE Success!

• May. Raymond – you are awesome! Thank you for answering my countless emails of questions & for all your advice & guidance during this whole gardening venture! And let's not forget one of the most important things....the plants you greenhoused during the winter.

• May. Sam & Erin ENGAGED! Congratulations! We can't wait! Wedding Date: October 11, 2008 in Portland, OR

• May. JP & Boot welcomed their second son! Congratulations you guys!

• May. Justin's cousin, Erin, Graduated College with Honors! Congratulations Erin!

• June. Kelsey is an official Northview High School Graduate (with Honors)! Talk about feeling kind of old, i went to Northview and to think i was up on that stage 16 years ago being handed MY dimploma - it is really weird to me.

• June. Rhonda adopts her 3rd doggie! Hank can't wait to meet her some day :)

• Julie & Brian are expecting their second baby soon! Congratulations you guys! And this time it's a girl, one of each how perfect :)

• Tracy & Brian expecting their first baby soon! Congratulations you guys!

Until Next Season......Enjoy Your Summer!

JEN, STEP AWAY FROM YOUR SHEARS: Weapon of Destruction

Uh, yeah – so how hard can it be to trim your own bangs? And why spend the $12 to have it done by your stylist in order to get that perfect slanting angle effect you have going on? Well I can now tell you why. I suppose because in the process of utilizing the “vertical cutting technique” with your professional haircutting shears you so happily purchased at Sally’s Beauty Salon you may just slide up INTO your right eyebrow each & EVERY time when you THINK you are only sliding up in under your bangs.....AND....... proceed to cut away half of your right eyebrow down to virtually nothing. All unbeknownst to you. Then, leaving you with the daily morning task of metamorphosing yourself into some kind of Hollywood Professional Makeup Artist in order to apply just the perfect amount of eyebrow pencil to the area where bare flesh now reveals itself, where just days ago there were brook shield-like eyebrows. Let’s just say I have an appt. next week with my girl at the D.Broadway Salon. And I was SO into the bang trimming process, let me tell you. I was just going to town…..snip snip snip snip. Snip. Snip. Didn’t even notice until I was all finished, stepped back from the bathroom mirror, made my Zooolander-model-face-look feeling all proud of what I had just accomplished free of charge – and then it came out “WHAT THE #*!#*!!?”

Justin's Exciting News!

For any of you that actually read through our blog when I launched it back in February, Pre-Florida Auction, I had mentioned to “stay tuned for some very exciting news about Justin in our next update”. Well here it is – Justin launched RealtimeBid.com – and it was a success! I’m extremely proud of him and I’d be lying if I didn’t say also very “over it”. Let me clarify: I’m over his strenuous winter work schedule because this little iddy biddy tiny addition to his already normally INSANE winter workload with Yoder & Frey (do you sense the sarcasm?) was CRAZY this time around!!! BUT lets bring this back around to the positive, right!? RealtimeBid.com was a success and HE DONE GOOD, REAL GOOD! And he looked even better in his custom RealtimeBid.com sweatshirts that i got for him & his crew. Oh and yeah – a special thanks to my dad’s design firm (also my employer), Lesniewicz Associates, who had a little something to do with the logo, branding and identity of this whole thing (wink). For more details click on justin’s website http://www.realtimebid.com/

“JLo MOMENT” #1: February

So I am lucky enough to occasionally experience in life what I refer to as a “JLo Moment”. Something someone more like Jennifer Lopez or Katie Holmes would get to do – NOT ME. And I do not mean to come off as presumptuous or bragging when (on the rare occasion) I have an opportunity to share these on our blog (I would like to hope you all know me better than that). And I think we all have had our JLo Moments here and there at SOME point during our lives. This time, I was especially fortunate enough to have two JLo Moments, one in Feb. and one in March. This February it presented itself when I slid on my new designer shades at the sunglass counter at Neiman Marcus in Orlando, Florida while in the middle of Britny and I’s 2nd annual florida shopping spree (I do believe the two of us do bring a new meaning to the phrase “shop till you drop” – holy schineetos it’s fun!). And Yes, I went on a serious mission this year – TO GET MYSELF SOME DESIGNER SHADES. Period. No messing around. I’m sick of the cheap ones I’ve settled for over the last 25 years. And I wanted something beautiful! While some people might choose to get an ipod or perhaps laser hair removal in their I’m-very-hungarian-bikini area– well I chose shades with this one. And here they are in the pic above and I frickin’ LOVE them. I didn’t want a lot of bling on the sides, my requirements were NO large letters or obnoxious branding anywhere on them. It wasn’t about what brand they were – I could really give a shit. but it WAS about having some kick-ass stylish shades! Well, thanks to Britny for telling me that I would not be walking away that day without those shades on my face as my own – so, Mission Accomplished. And as brand new moms for the first time often say “I didn’t think I could love something so much” – I sure do love these babies! And I am also aware of the fact that I may just now resemble Mary J. Blige with these things, well if it weren’t for my white skin, true lack of a singing voice & ZERO dance moves. My best purchase over the last 5 years by far!

“JLo MOMENT” #2: March

Flying First Class for the first & very more than likely the LAST time ever, to Las Vegas was a true JLo Moment! Thanks to my mom & dad-in-law. But sadly & to my ONLY disappointment during that flight, as once seen in a classic episode of Seinfeld, I did not enjoy a hot towel on my face NOR were we served hot fudge sundaes. However, I was served water in this fancy glass – you do not get that in coach now do you. It was luxurious I must say, any of you who have flown 1st class before know what I’m talking about; the extra room on a 4-5 hour flight was wonderful! I truly appreciated the experience. BUT. I shall not get used to that kind of treatment I know (Justin, you can relax now). so NWA coach look for the return of Jennifer Clark cuz I’m heading back to my reality next time! BTW – if any of you go to Vegas you should do yourself a favor and go see LOVE (The Beatles Cirque). It was fabulous & you may just find yourself like me – fighting the urge to cry on two separate occasions while taking in the mind-blowing music of The Beatles as it playfully coordinates with the theatrical skits being performed on the stage just a few feet in front of you. As much as I wish I was joking (or more like as much as YOU probably wish I was joking here) I am dead serious ☺ it was awesome. The Beatles are truly the best band to have ever existed and will be the best band in history to ever exist. I don’t even know who could argue that one – an idiot I suppose. ☺

Night out on the Town: Florida

1st pic: Hadley, Jen, Rory. The night out was great other then the fact that my feet felt like they were giving birth to my shoes. It really sucked my ass (that S.M.A reference is for you Brian M. & John Jr.). Yea, this time the "fashion over function" philosophy that i often find myself living by was NO GOOD that night. Dancing was the function part of that evening & the shoes weren't cuttin' it. 2nd pic: If Justin doesn’t look HOT in this shirt that I picked out for him in Winter Park, FL then slap my face hard.

“The Reunion”

After being gone for almost 3 weeks in florida back in Feb.….Hank & I Reunited. I love him so much and I’m still waiting around for that shot you can give your dog that will let them live on forever with you. Come on research team in somewhereville, get on that please.

Anti-Pessimistic Training 101

Anti-Pessimistic Training 101. Instructor: Justin. Pupil: Jen.

So Justin thought it was a good time to condition his wife to not think so pessimistically (i like to refer to myself as a “realist” not a pessimist” thank you very much!) and he did so by placing his ever so full glass of apple juice on the tiny small barely there edge of our couch right next to us. Lets just say I felt continually tense through our “you are FINALLY home” cuddling session while catching him up on the season finale of October Road. For real though, it only took a few minutes for me to forget completely about the “reality” of that glass spilling all over us and instead enjoy having my adorable husband HOME - FINALLY. Special Note: in addition to seeing LOVE, The Beatles Cirque show in Vegas, do yourselves another favor and get Simply Apple – it is so good and good for you, pure unconcentrated real apple juice. Try it it’s super yummy.

“BLAST FROM THE PAST” FEATURE

We are so “money” in this shot. 1988. Toledo, Ohio. Me, my sister Amy, one of my very best friends, Britny and her sister Ashley, Paige…and lets not forget a special mention to…..OUR PERMS. oh yeah, and Eddie Money. Need I say more?

Kelly, the Barn…..and THE BOOTS.

Contrary to this photo, there actually was a ton of snow on the ground. But this was inside the arena of the barn where my aunt joyce works. My sister and I went to go visit the 4 baby horses (sorry to the horse lovers out there for my apparent lack of horse terminology). During our little field trip I found myself in somewhat of a dilemma. Well two actually. ONE – that the blonde hair you see on my vintage ski boots is…..well…..horse hair. Yikes. I was kind of feeling bad as I would pet the horsies in the stable while at the same time rationalizing my xmas gift from my sister 5 years ago with the assumption that they don’t hurt any horses to make these boots. Right!? It’s just their hair??? And my 2nd dilemma – I didn’t want to get them dirty having to go across all that dirt in the barrel arena of the stables. so Kelly, Joyce’s co-worker, was nice enough to carry me across after he had met me for the first time just seconds earlier. Thank you Kelly, next time I’ll be sure to show up in my shit-kickers and maybe I’ll even throw a pinch of chew in my side cheek. Not only so I don’t have to be Paris Hilton worrying about my damn boots getting dirty but also due to the fact that with that getup of mine that day at the stables & barrel arena – the only thing missing was the trailing sound of that song from Sesame Street “One of these is not like the others” as I would walk on by passing everyone else in that barn that day. FOR SURE I’ll have some shit-kickers on next time. so perhaps I have the chance of blending in at least a tad bit.

Hank’s "Friend of the Month Club” Feature

Figured for this feature, Hank's Friend of the Month Club, I could "kill four pets with one stone” using these photos – oooo, that doesn’t sound good. Anyway – this is around xmas time at my parents house. Hank's Friends are: my parents dog Max, my sister’s dogs Ben & Maizey….and then there’s the “black sheep” of the family, or shall I say Black Dog…Hanky-poo.

Jodi & John Are Engaged!

Congratulations to my cousin in Denver, Jodi and her now fiance, John!

Meet My True Love For The First Time - Or Again

WARNING: May Need Your Vomit Bag for the following two introductions. Justin, 33 years old, recently married – to me! IT Dude, Sales Guy, and other things i know i'm forgetting for Yoder & Frey Auctioneers, Inc. http://www.yoderandfrey.com Currently he is working very hard in preparation for their 34th annual florida auction. I am missing him so much but will see him soon in the sunny state & i cannot wait!! If i had to choose one word that describes my husband, in my eyes at least (and in many others i would imagine) it would be this one simple word: WONDERFUL. You can look for some very exciting news about justin's current project in our next blog update!

Meet My 2nd "true love"

LAST WARNING for vomit bag, after this one you can put it away. This is Hank....he's my 2nd true love. He is the most precious dog you could ever know (even if you have your own. - hehe). Hank is a very busy dog - he currently holds a position at Lesniewicz Associates as the company mascot http://www.designtoinfluence.com where he has enjoyed this job going on 2 yrs. now. His duties are to sit down, sleep, beg for food from all the employees come lunch time, greet our clients and visitors when they come through the door.... but his most important job responsibility is to look cute while doing all of this - let's just say he has "job security" because he never fails at his job tasks!

People might think i'm nuts about this dog but you must know a little history. I rescued him back in 1998 from some farmers when he was 4 years old; they were giving him away because he "....is lazy and doesn't do anything around here." ok - i'm thinking isn't always looking cute alot of work, geez, "doesn't do anything"! Hank was terrified, never had been in a car, wanted to go back home....but eventually he turned around and now he makes such a great friend. He's been by my side through great and tough times and he's great company while my husband travels. And any dog lover would understand that i am NOT nuts. I just love my dog. How couldn't you love Hank....just look at this photo of him!

2007 Recap #1: Our Rehearsal Dinner Night

Yes, i plead guilty to public intoxication. This was 19 hours before i said "I Do" and approximately 4 hours before i unexpectedly passed out in my hotel bed and locked my VERY SOON to be husband out of our room for the rest of the night – or what was left of it at least! Now remember this was all by accident - i'm not sure what i was thinking when i did that shot with Justin (he really should lay off of the booze). Yep, you read it, Justin did a shot– the first and ONLY time i have ever seen my husband drink. As you can see by this photo it is probably best only one of us dabbles in the cocktails once in awhile. In my defense, this is a rarity. Luckily Justin, after trying unsuccessfully for 45 min. to find somebody at the hotel to let him in our room, bumped into the janitor who had the keys to any and all rooms. Good thing that janitor trusted the RIGHT guy, my fiance, and NOT some lunatic! I love you Justin and i apologize again for the mishap there. Phew – i'm glad you showed up to meet me at the ceremony, i think i almost blew it huh!

2007 Recap #2: Shorty Turns 90!

My grandpa, Sylvester Lesniewicz A.K.A. "Shorty", turned 90 this past November. He hammed it up at his big party - playing air guitar with his cane! Uh yeah, makes you wonder if he REALLY needs that cane if he can play it as a friggin' guitar for 3 minutes straight to a polka song. It should be know that his cane actually functions as an air guitar as well as the stick that he uses to beat away all the chickies that are after him (he is a very popular bachelor on his street in west Toledo!). Grandpa you are the best & we love you so much. And soooooo do the ladies (as evidenced by the dame in this video trying to dance with him but watch as he completely ignores her - he has no time for that, he has an air guitar to play! Click on video above.

2007 Recap #3: The Honeymoon....Are You Still Smelling Horse Poop?

We drove from VT to Montreal then made our way across Canada to the Upper Penninula of Michigan then back home. Montreal was wonderful. The drive across Canada was beautiful. The U.P./Mackinac Island - well, we bolted after just 12 hours from Mackinac Island because one can only smell so much horsesh*t and fudge - or should i say two can only......thanks but no thanks! So we headed down to my parents place on Lake Leelanau.....aaaaahhhh no horse poopy (Hank of course missed it).

2007 Recap #4: If You Got It Flaunt It.

If you got it flaunt it. Or if you don't got it, pick some oranges in florida, stuff them in your shirt AND THEN flaunt it. Britny came down to play in florida last year when i was there with Justin. This is the backyard of Justin & Hadley's house in Zepherhills (their grandmother left them her house) - we picked key limes, grapefruits and oranges. Oh yeah, and i got to know what it felt like to have big boobs for a change. Brit, i can't wait for Florida round #2 see you soon!

2007 Recap #5: Jen Gets Prodded By Hadley

Hadley, Justin's sister and my favorite and only sister-in-law (Hads, if i had more then one you'd still be my favorite!) decided to go back for another 3 years of school in Aug. 2007. She is attending The New England School of Acupuncture in Watertown, MA. where she is working on her Masters Degree in Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine http://www.nesa.edu/ How cool is that :) I had the honor of being prodded by one of her needles on xmas day where i have to admit if i hadn't had the one strong margarita in me i would have been way more wimpy about doing that!

2007 Recap #6: Amy Launches Her Letter Press Business

My sister, Amy, launched her Letter Press business in 2007 calling it Alice Louise Press. She named it after our grandmother, Alice Louise Strick, who worked a press for years back in the day. This photo was taken in Sept. 2007 where Amy attended her first wedding show & Alice stopped by for a visit. For more details visit “Who is Alice” on the company's website http://www.alice-louise.com/about/alice.html. Now if you want some kick a** letter pressed stationery, invitations, business cards, etc. this is the place! Even if she wasn't my sister i'd be pimping this! Amy custom designed & letter pressed ALL printed materials for our wedding from the invitations & ceremony program, to the welcome bag notes, to the menus on the reception tables. THANK YOU Amy everything was so beautiful! And for xmas she custom designed two sets of "hank" note cards for me – you know i am loving that. Now as for the rest of you....place a order with her! You won't find a cooler set of note cards then what she has designed & printed herself! To see her line visit http://www.alice-louise.com

2007 Recap #7: Our Wedding...of course!

You didn't think i'd let this blog go out without yet ANOTHER pic or mention of our wedding did ya? Our wedding is now being featured on The Knot.com for destination weddings! Check out the link below! www.weddings.theknot.com/ODB/THEMES/REALWEDDINGS/View.aspx?ID=22856 The date, as most of you know, was 07.07.07 and it was the best day of the year! Actually let me rephrase that – the best day of the century! Vermont was the place (Clark's residence to be specific) and it was AWESOME. Thank you again to everyone that made the trek to VT. And thank you moms & dads for everything! We love all of you so much! xoxo, mr. & mrs. justin peter clark :) you can view more 2007 Recaps in the monthly archives to the right & you may just find "Lola" in April archive interesting (it will answer the never ending question "are The Newlyweds going to have kids?"!)

Mrs. R

yes i'm bringing mrs. roper back again. happy halloween 2007! oh god - justin really will hate that i've posted this in our blog, it's just about the sickest picture of me EVER!

Meet Jeanne "Stewart"

No my mom is not Martha Stewart but she may as well change her name from Jeanne Lesniewicz to Jeanne Stewart. Check out these baby winter hats and mittens that she hand makes! She recycles wool sweaters, boils the wool, and mix matches all the sweater types choosing just the perfect color palette of fabric swatches and sews them into these adorable hats & mittens. She makes adult sizes too. The first year she did these i snagged a baby set for myself.....just innnnnnnnn case! Vincent Gutman (Jenny's (Tomsich) son) above sported Jeanne's first line of baby hats in 2006!

Clark's 40th Wedding Anniversary!

JoAnne & Peter Clark, Justin's parents, celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary on October 13, 2007. Hadley, Justin's sister, was able to pull off an anniversary surprise party for JoAnne in Vermont (we had to inform Peter of it due to his crazy work schedule) . Let's just say JoAnne was pleasantly surprised by the 40-some guests who traveled near and far to spend the evening celebrating in Strafford, Vermont!

Jack Anthony LaRe Is Here!

Meet baby Jack. He is the new baby boy of Amy & Jeff LaRe. A little history for you here...Amy was Justin's babysitter & is still very close with the Clark family :) Jack was born on October 13, 2007 (that date may ring a bell....it was the Clark's 40th wedding anniversary as noted above!). Now this shot was picture worthy for two very important reasons: 1. baby jack is in it and 2. Justin is actually holding a baby!!! yeah, that doesn't happen much – actually HARDLY EVER. Amy and I are perhaps a little guilty for this –we co-conspired on this shot. Amy very quickly and of course very carefully dropped Jack into justin's arms and walked away giving him no choice while i stood by ready with camera in hand. SNAP! Our plan worked brilliantly as you can tell by this photo.

Jack is very lucky to have such cool parents and an even cooler sister (props to you Kailee!)

Congrats to the Amy & Jeff for a fine addition to their entire family!

Congrats Kami & Rob!

Kami & Rob welcomed little Sam into the world on September 26, 2007. This is Sam in his "Sam I Am" onesie that Emilee and I bought him.....how flipping cute is that! And let's not forget to mention his baby room has the Dr. Seuss theme - so you know my geek-butt was all about getting this onesie for him!

Marc & Rebecca Get Married!

Congratulations to Marc & Rebecca! They were married on August 10, 2007 in Napa Valley, CA

Leon Passes His State Bar Exam!

This is a pic from our wedding of Lindsay & Leon Samuelson. Our dear friends. Leon CONGRATS on passing your Bar exam this past year!!! And we cannot wait to see you guys in England June 2008!