Tunes.

Barefoot.

Cheers to making the most of the weekend!!....Me??-celebrating my absolute favorite-ist man in the world's 71st b-day (Aka my hero. Aka Dad) with my very much loved ones tonight, block party Saturday-hoping to try out this phenomenon that is beer pong. Ending Sunday hopefully with my famous Grant Park suntanning and then- HARRY POTTER IN IMAX!!!! Oh. Man. Is it Sunday 3:30pm yet!!!?!?!?!? NJOY.

Love.

I'm spreading it, lots of it.

First off, Gina!!!! A great friend for over 10 years living far far away in Boston with her husband (just celebrating 2 years-Awwwww...I know.) But they are the cutest people in the world. And so very much in love with life and each other, they are the closest thing I know to perfection. So instead of a first born, a first blog!! WELCOME!!-

Simply Life

Although writing this makes me feel like a jerk because I have yet to plan a trip out to visit :(.. Fail. (Love you guys anyways)


And these gals.... HA HA...more love, I sorta just stalk them, don't know them personally though I can guess we'd be awesome friends, because I am awesome.

Their TMI's are hysterical.

I Hate So Much

Live It Love It

You'll Grow to Love me (love the name)

Go ahead stalk away, throw 'em in your reader. You're very welcome.

Milwaukee/Trifecta

What a fantastic weekend!!!! Though the forecast was set at 77 and isolated thunderstorms I didn't hear one clap of thunder and I think we had MAYBE 40 mins of sprinkles total for the entire weekend.....it's was perfect! And the mark of as Mike called it "The 1st couple's retreat" which of course I thought was super cute!

Couple #1 (yours truly)

Couple #2 (Amanda and Mike)

And Couple #3 (Mary and Brian)

If you haven't been you should, it's a super easy drive, cute little fun getaway. Plus a great park to get catch some baseball at, tons to do inside the park-

(pictured with our 1st born in the background)

And the famous Sausage Race.....

So plan the trip, and if you're looking for a road trip mate, I'd be glad to join!

PS- Last night Mary bought up a good idea for me. I'm naming it "Mascot Trifecta" (because I'm so creative)....I have a fine talent of hunting down various Mascots and nothing short of mauling them before snapping a photo with them, as you can see-I'm 2/3rd there. (if you don't know them, you will now)

MR. SOUTHPAW (with his dream girl)

MR. BERNIE BREWER (with his favorite gal)

Soooooo I think I'd like to end with my secret crush: Skates. Wish me luck, or tell me to go get a life, I'm OK with either or.

Oh and our next couples retreat-Beach house for a week in Michigan-what what!

Early Morning Blog.

And by early morning I mean 1:46 AM early. No I wasn't just getting home-HA! As you all know I'm usually in bed by 10:30...11:30 on the weekends. So yea normal night-settled in around 10:20 and BAM 1:46 I'm up, as wide as can be. Nice city lights peaking in through the blinds, soft noise from the street down below and Jennifer's eyes wide awake. Nothing on my mind really (well maybe, read on). I was 84% tempted to start writing this then but I didn't want to get out of bed (Mark's a light sleeper), plus I'm lazy. So basically I'll start now. PS-this post is the most random ever, do enjoy.


Number one thing on my mind....
My priorities, man have they changed. Now that I've been in this "social media" atmosphere for over 6 months-I feel like I'm in high school, trying to be popular or something pathetic like that. Whether it's my tweets, or my posts, or even my @replies- I NEED THAT FEEDBACK, that response, that acknowledgment. For some reason all of a sudden I need to be liked...I'm mildly obsessed with people following me, commenting on something or mentioning something I've wrote about when in conversation. I sulk when I post something and get no comments, I reread the thing like 14 times for errors and what not and freak out about it. Is this something in the "blogger world" that I have yet to be informed of, is there a pill to take? Yeah I know you're thinking "how about just growing up!??!" Well, thanks but I've tried and it didn't work, :( so now what!?

Second thing running through my mind...
My doctor...ugh. Long story short my thyroid was removed in '97 (WOAH-12 years ago) since I was hyperactive so now I am hypoactive-AKA I have hypothyroidism. It's normally very controllable or so I was told 12 years ago when I opted for the radio-active treatment verse the actual surgery/removal (and scar) of the thyroid. But now it's been known to be more sensitive, yeah Hi "patient testing" where were you 12 years ago?!?! So anyways my TSH (hormones) all are over the board, which I sort of assumed (I know my body pretty well) since I'm gaining weight with no changes to my diet and extra, obscene amounts of exercise. So it was pretty obvious something was up. On top of that I'm dead to the world at like 9pm-used to be able to get up 7 DAYS a week at 5:30 without any effort, now I sleep for about 12-15 hours a night on the weekends.
So yesterday was spent in the docs office with buckets of tears (yeah I'm an emotional wreck too because of it), and tube after tube of blood work. :( Should have results back in a week or so....the worst thing about it is they keep reminding me that if Mark and I ever plan (we ARE NOT AT THE MOMENT) to get pregnant the chances of A) conceiving and B) bringing it full term are at about 35 to 45%. Soo waaa-not that I'm too keen on having children but now the thought of not being ABLE is nothing less than a sucker punch. Whatever,I'll get a small dog.

Third thing....
Milwaukee....YAY!!! Six of us are road tripping it up to Wisconsin for the weekend. I'm pumped, I've been to Wisconsin only four other times, all to Lake Geneva, three for bachelorette parties and once up to my cousin's in-laws. So yeah WOO HOO...Miller Brewing Company tour and Brewers game planned! Tailgating starts at 4pm tomorrow. So Mother Nature be nice.

And finally.....Friday Tunes....
Written for his wife. Lucky lady I tell ya, and I'm a sap.



I get chills....yep loser here!
Ok thanks for sticking with me on this melting pot of randomness. Later! :)

"Each day you don't go after what you want is another day without it."
-Saw it in some magazine for a financial group but it kinda works for everything..thought I'd share... :D

Productive!

This weekend was not only a great weekend (cousin's bbq, bar crawl and a family reunion) but a very productive one!! It's nice when they blend together, I've hit a wall as far as just enjoying the weekends from pretty much the couch, but not this weekend!!  I was up at 7:30 on Saturday -WHAT?! me?!  Yep, even before Mark, so I took advantage of it.  I cleaned, organized more stuff and did my WALL DECALS!!!  I am ultimately  75% happy with them.  The one is the entryway is better than the bedroom one but the coloring is eh (better in person plus I think Mark has yet to even notice it's up) and the bedroom one isn't as big as I'd like it (TWSS). But I'm still happy I went with it and did them.  And yes they are cheesy, so if you're not a fan of cheese close out now. :)

ENTRYWAY:

MASTER BEDROOM:

So that's it, congrats to me, as far as the application scale I'd give it a 6 out of 10...the actual application is super easy it's just the where do you want?, what height?, centered?, off centered?, level?, etc.   And on that note more people than I thought keep asking about pictures of our place so I thought I'd throw a few in on this post.  I was all about doing a tour via video but eh, I lost steam, fast. If you're not happy with the photo tour I suggest you just get your butt over here. So drum roll please........

Hello from Mark and Jennifer's!

Your hallway view after entering (and seeing the above picture)...

Second bathroom off to the right of the main hallway...

Second bedroom aka Mark's domain, I think I've spent a total of 10 minutes in there since we moved in....and those who know Mark know how much this room fits him perfectly ;)...

Next up my lovely kitchen, I heart the stainless steel appliances, I unheart the keeping them clean :(....

Moving on to the living area, the couch is the best, like I really need help falling asleep anywhere but this one ranks one of the best....

Annnd then the master "suite"... still need more stuff on the walls, the echoing is just not working with me :)  

OK and that took forever, hope you enjoyed your visit. Now time to unwind and settle in for some Entourage and then a early bedtime, someone has his first day of class!!  A good night sleep is needed! 

MBA Avenue

The countdown is on until I pretty much lose my boyfriend. No, not for real (you wish) but for sorta. This amazingly smart and talented kid is going back for more, school that is. A masters just wasn't enough so the long 2 plus years road of MBA Avenue starts Monday. So when he's not working his 50+ (big plus there) hours AT DePaul he will be GOING to DePaul, starting now with just two nights a week..leaving me in our newly acquired place, bored and alone. Bummer.

Mark has however given me suggestions as to what can fill my time.
-clean (ha)
-start and finish "Friday Night Lights" (ehh)
-make and pack his lunches (consider it done)
-clean (ha)
-workout (a given)
So now what??? I think the above list will maybe take up a week or two....guess this is a big old kick in the booty to go out and explore this great city I just moved to. I did successful go out without him last night-did not get lost, did not talk to strangers, and had a fun night (and stayed out past 10:30-a win in of itself)!!
Ugh...so umm I'm looking for a friend... Be one please? I cook!

(side note-I am SUPER proud of him for finally taking the step forward with this (with a little push/motivation from me of course). But if anyone can handle this work load it's Mark. Thats one thing about him I love, he doesn't fail. He puts his heart and soul into just about everything. He is quite the catch.)

Tribute.

Small little tribute to a singer who is pretty awesome and drop dead gorgeous in my book. And talk about a way to reach all spectrum of the love stories of our lives...
Miss. Colbie Caillat.
The lyrics will get you on the first one...we all know we've been there.



And a sweet sort awwww I'm in love song. Again we've allllll been there. :) And personally I did, and I know it! :D (god I am sooo "slightly girly" today)..

Men in Films

Thought this was super cool. I recognize a bunch but can actually name like mmm-5. Enjoy...