The Wedding Day.

Thanks to every romantic novel and movie that fed me through all of my growing-up years (*cough* Nicholas Sparks *cough cough*)...I became a hopeless romantic. I wasn't ashamed of it either! I'd blast love songs on my radio with my friends (whether they liked it or not), I'd write poetry all about love, when friends would ask what we should watch, I'd always root for the romantic comedy/romantic drama/cheesy romantic movie. I would spend countless hours dreaming up my perfect love story...meeting a Godly man, being married, and having a little place of our very own that we could call home.

But that was it. I dreamed of falling in love with a man and our future life together as a married couple. I never ever dreamed about my actual wedding day. I was never that girl who had her wedding figured out by the time she was in middle school (or worse, elementary school!). The thought of planning a wedding just irked me in the worst way possible. Why? I think it has something to do with my personality type...I dislike being the center of attention; an entire day all about Me Me Me is not something that excites or motivates me.

I also dislike planning. Planning a party or an event is just plain stressful.

And another thing, don't get me wrong, I love Pinterest, I really do...but I just cannot fathom doing DIY projects for weddings. I can think of a billion and one things I'd rather be doing than sitting at home cutting out a thousand snowflakes so that I can . Yes, I'll gladly help out a friend and do it for a their wedding, but not for my own.

I really enjoyed dating Jarryd, we had so much fun just going on little adventures, falling in love, and dreaming about our future together. Being engaged was a whole 'nother story; in the beginning it was awesome...skyping with family and friends to tell them the big news, and then later posting all about it on Facebook was a thrill in itself! It was a wonderful feeling to finally have an enchanting, sparkly ring on your left finger, giving you clear evidence that the last 3 years of dating have paid off and are tying together into fruition. I remember thinking: if we can make it through our engagement, we can make it through anything! (haha!)

So I can admit it, my wedding day was not the "happiest day of my life". It was not the day that all of my dreams suddenly came true. It was not a perfect day...but it was FUN, it was ONE-OF-A-KIND, it was EMOTIONAL, it was NERVE-WRACKING, it was HEARTBEATS, it was BUTTERFLIES, it was I-CANT-STOP-SMILING, it was WOW, I AM SPEECHLESS, it was AMAZING being surrounded by so many of mine and Jarryd's LOVED ONES. But most of all, I remember it so clearly, when Jarryd and I were standing up front at the ceremony, we were all singing the hymn "My Jesus, I Love Thee"...I remember just feeling SO THANKFUL to God, just so incredibly thankful, and blessed. :)

So here are some of my favourite photos from our special day, taken by our amazing photographer, Gina Brandt Photography!!

You know you cannot avoid the classic dress-hanging-in-front-of-a-window shot. (Photo taken by my sister Elena, "photographer extraordinaire!")

The most comfortable dress you could ever wear on your wedding day; having a dress with one strap = a boobless wedding with eternal boobless wedding photos that you're not ashamed to show your grandparents. Hooray!

My Jare-Bear and I. <3

This photo was taken BEFORE the rain came back and frizzed out my hair. Sigh.

I love this photo. It looks like we are just a power-couple, ready to take on the battle of marriage!

Me with my gorgeous little niecies. The cutest flower girls in this world!

Wedding party photos! I love the candidness of this one!

My pastel bridesmaids with their fabulous bouquets.

Taking the time to smell the roses! ;)

Jarryd with his men. Unfortunately due to bad weather, two American groomsmen are missing. And we still never let them forget it. :D

One big happy family! Hahah!

So thankful for all of my wonderful brunette bridesmaids. Apparently I prefer to be the only blonde in the pack. ;)

Ooo hello there! So glad you could join us!

Inside the old tea house.

Our rings that go around and around for ever and ever.

This bouquet just screams: JENNY!!!

Cielo's Garden, our ceremony & reception venue.

The ceremony, before all of the guests arrived. Sighhh it's so beautiful!

The unity table, with salt & pepper instead of sand. (I give full credit to my sister Kristina for this inspiring and unique idea!)

The arbour in which we said our vows, exchanged rings, and smooched under.

The guestbook table!

Our guestbook.

My nieces doing an amazing job while looking irresistibly adorable.

Hugging my Daddy-o in front of our loved ones.

The ceremony.

Jarryd and I doin' our thing at the unity table.

I still remember my exact thoughts during this moment: WE DID IT...my feet are so wet right now...Yes, I definitely chose the perfect song for our ceremony exit...the hard part is over...IT'S STARTING TO RAIN...how many more puddles do I have to walk through?!...I am sooo thirsty right now...my white shoes are now yellow...oh great, another puddle...I am SO HAPPY right now!!

The ceremony is over and now we can celebrate, relax, and just have fun!! This is one of my favourite photos, with my sister Elena!

The awesome reception tent!

 It wouldn't be a JENNY wedding without pink flowers, lacy table runners, and sparkly chandeliers. I'm glad Jarryd appreciates my femininity.

Some fun Pinterest-inspired decor!

It wouldn't be an American-Canadian wedding without our representative flags!

Our DELICIOUS wedding cake.

The cutting of the cake! I just love this photo because of the twinkly ceiling.

My wonderful, wonderful parents, I love and appreciate them so much!

My new family and I, whom I love so much. I never thought I could ever feel so comfortable around another family but my own!!

And a little smooch for good luck! ;)

XoXo Jenny

The Life List.

The other day I did the stereotypical "girl-in-her-early-twenties" thing to do; I went to Barnes & Noble, skimmed the Fiction shelves for a book I've never heard of written by an author I've never heard of. Underneath the "Sparks, Nicholas" section (are we surprised I was even in that area?), I found a book by Lori Nelson Spielman.

I pick it up and look over the summary on the back page.

Hmmm... The Life List...

sounds deep...

sounds intriguing...

sounds motivational, just what I need!

I open it to the "About the Author" page.

Hmm..."a native of Michigan, Lori lives with her husband and a very spoiled cat."

YES. I want her life! I have a husband, now all I need is a cat. A spoiled cat...preferably a black and white cat...one that looks like he's wearing an eternal tuxedo.

"'The Life List' is her first novel."

OOoo! Her very first published novel? I'd love to support that.

Now to further prove my stereotypical "girl-in-her-early-twenties" activity, I picked the book off of the shelf, determined to indulge in it, and waiting in line at the Starbucks for my Pumpkin Spiced Latte. Yes, I am one of those, and yes, I am unashamed.

I sat down and ended up reading to chapter 7! This isn't very much (the chapters are quite short). See, I have a horrible habit of impatiently skimming through books just so I can feel productive with my time. I regrettably do not actually take the time to sound out every word and grasp at their true meanings. So this time around, I wanted to feel what the protagonist is feeling. So that's what I did; I read at a relaxed pace, and I enjoyed the book even more than I expected to!

I absolutely adore Lori's writing style. It's such witty english, and the main character is so overdramatic with her thoughts that I feel like I relate to her.

I even wrote down some of my favourite lines from the book:

"I'd wake the next morning to find ribbons of amber streaming through my lace curtains." Ribbons, amber, and lace! What a gorgeous picture this paints!

"She's left me her champagne for today, and a sliver of her life, her inner thoughts and musings, for tomorrow." It sounds metaphorical, but her mother really did leave her ridiculously expensive bottle of champagne and her journal to her daughter.

"Soothing lucidity..." I am in love with this phrase. There really is comfort in seeing things clearly.

"A dull ache kicks at my temples." This occurs to me at least once a day. Ohh the stress.

"Teetering on the edge of composure." This is also me. I was even tempted to change the subtitle of my blog to this, but I decided I'd better leave the Bible verse there. Rarely I feel like I'm in control of myself...in the lovely state of "composure".

"A lump rises in my throat and I swallow it down with a gulp of coffee." Yup. Don't need to say any more here.

"The proverbial bed they've chosen to lie in is sumptuous and cozy, while mine is lumpy and teeming with bedbugs." I frequently feel this way when I'm comparing my friends lives' with mine; everyone else's life looks comfortable and extravagant, and mine looks "lumpy and teeming with bed bugs", as one might say. Granted, I see others' lives safely from the outside, and I see mine, well, from the inside (gruesome details and all!).

"Why is it that you feel unworthy of your own dreams?" This saddens me, because everyone has felt this way at least one time in their life. We were made in the image of Christ...He has given us these amazing skills and desires...why do we feel so unworthy that we bury our gifts in the ground?

"Where did she go, that fearless, self-assured girl who loved to entertain?...Where did she go? She went where every little girl with big dreams goes. She grew up. She got real." Sometimes I wonder these same things about myself. What is it about life that decides to just put a halt on our dreams? I remember in my first year of University I wanted to be a journalist, but somehow I couldn't make it past the first class. I had that weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, telling me that something just wasn't right. So I got a 2-year Social Sciences degree. Then I quickly realized I had bills to pay, and couldn't easily get a job with that, so I pursued Culinary. I'm super excited to put this education to use (once my Work-Visa comes though, that is), because it's a total blessing to have a job that you love, which also pays the bills. I'm not sure where I was going on this "rabbit trail" of a ramble, but I do know that I do not regret giving up the journalist dream. Even though life is hard and incredibly uncertain right now, I like where I am at. I cherish my education and all the things I have learned, and I love being married and basking in this not-being-able-to-work-right-now stage of my life. My sister put it in such a different light: you have the rest of your life to work, why not enjoy this while you can?

Anyways, I'm not even half-way done "The Life List" yet, but I can't wait to continue reading it.

XoXo Jenny

This Day in September!

Yes! This is me. This photo was taken yesterday, for no reason at all. Sometimes, when I have time, I like to curl my hair, put on a nice shirt (my husband likes polka-dots and my Mom always told me..."Jennifer, I think red is definitely your colour"), and take photographic evidence of all my hard labour. (I hope and pray you sense the sarcasm in that last sentence)

Grey's Anatomy. This show has been around since 2005, since I was 14 years old. Since it's existence, throughout my entire middle school, high school, and college years I have refused to watch it. I was never into the whole medical drama thing. I mean, an entire show that takes place inside of a hospital? I'm sure one can only watch so many heart transplants, blood transfusions, and scenes of body excrements spewing out EVERYWHERE...right? WRONG. This show is fascinating!!! The minds of surgeons and their surgical interns are ones that I will never understand. They are absolutely insane, completely and totally nuts...but we need them. What would the world do without these people who get an adrenaline rush from operating inside of a human body? I love this show because it's the perfect balance of suspenseful, serious drama, romance, and comedy. It makes me laugh (OUT LOUD, mind you), makes me cry, and makes me thankful for the absolute insanity called life that doctors/nurses endure every. single. day. Thank you for doing the job that I could NEVER be able to handle. A big shoutout goes to:

Thank you Netflix for allowing me to watch unearthly long hours of Grey's Anatomy episodes back to back with no commercials. And then there's that love-hate thing of automatically continuing on to the next episode without my permission. Tsk tsk.

Lecrae's newest album, Anomaly, is amazing. It's so awesome to see a Christian artist earn #1 on the Billboard 200. His lyrics are incredible, so honest, and raw. One of my favourite songs from the album, called "The Good, Bad, Ugly", is where he shares some pretty heavy things about his past; in verse one he shares how in high school he and his girlfriend had an abortion ("So I dropped her off at that clinic

That day, a part of us died"), and then in verse two he admits that his babysitter molested him when he was just 8 years old ("Told me to keep that secret safe

How a young boy supposed to deal
I'm tryna act like it ain't real
Had my innocence just stripped from me")

Those two things are the things that breaks my heart the most...and I know way too many people who have experienced such things. It just shouldn't be this way. What an ugly world we live in...but there is hope! Satan likes to make us believe that we are alone in our sins, that if people found out, our lives would be ruined. But God encourages us to confess our sins to each other, to pray for each other, because truly there is strength in numbers...and chances are high that we are all going through the same "crap".  Lecrae ends that song with: "And only God can help me get free

But I've been forgiven, my Savior risen
I'm out the prison, I know that
I got the power to say to no to all of my struggles
God will control that
Every time we slip and we fall
Gotta get back up and fight on
We are not defined by our past
The future look bright, I see the light on."

This early afternoon it was pouring rain outside. I only love the rain when I have no place to be but inside my apartment, warm and dry, smelling like sweet cinnamon pumpkins. :)

Flaws & Strengths.

The Greatest of Flaws Within Me:

I find it so hard to trust people. We all have our hidden agendas. You are only inviting me because you'll then conveniently have a ride--You are only talking to me so you can meet your social goals, ect.

If I feel a heartbreak coming on, I'm going to make sure it's your heart breaking before you have a chance to break mine. I am a fighter. Not physically or verbally, but mentally. I build up my iron walls and then fire out my passive aggressive shots. I will ignore you and avoid you until you cave. 

I am a jealous person. It is a conscious and continuous effort for me to get to the point of being genuinely happy for someone.

I am uncomfortable with myself and the personality that I own. There is always a quality or a trait in somebody I meet, that I wish I had in me. This goes back to the jealousy issue.

I am a ball of worries. A giant ball of stress. I am a bomb of anxiety ready to explode. Yes I cast all of my cares upon Jesus, but I still worry.

The Greatest of Strengths Within Me:

I am never too prideful or too afraid to write out a long, detailed text to a friend asking them for prayer. Every girl needs prayer warriors in her life who can pray specific things for them.

When I think of past memories, my "socio-emotional selectivity" kicks into full force, and I only remember the good things. It takes effort for me to remember the bad. (This can also act as a flaw, in that if my present life isn't going the way I wish it were, I can spend hours dwelling in memories of the past)

I would rather talk about you and what is going on in your life, than talk about me.

I love to live out my gift of hospitality. I love having people over, feeding them, providing them with drinks to quench their thirst, giving them a blanket if they're cold, and just making them feel comfortable.

I trust God. I fear, I worry, I complain, I cry, I get anxious, I get stressed, I get overwhelmed, I get scared, I say that I don't feel like God is here...but deep down, I do trust that God is the saviour of this world. It is the one thing I am sure of. He is the one CERTAIN thing in this UNCERTAIN world.

How I Feel...

It is well with my soul.

I love those words. I can see them, I can say them, and I can even think them...but do I really believe them?

Our Engagement Photos.

My fiancé and I got our engagement photos done at the end of February, and our photographer posted a blog entry featuring us! Her name is Leah and she honestly is extremely talented at what she does. Unfortunately--for me--she and her business moved down to South Carolina, so if any of you down south need a GREAT photographer, check out "Photography By Leah". Anyway, you can CLICK HERE to see the photographer's official blog entry of our engagement shoot. :)

Here are some of my favourite shots from the shoot:

Hope you like them! :)
XoXo Jenny