yearning for Myrtle Beach

Two weeks ago was my spring break. I enjoyed it in Myrtle Beach, SC with my husband, my parents, and my brother and sister-in-law. Most of us had never been to Myrtle Beach, and we were looking forward to a week of warmer weather in the south!

To our surprise, the weather was unpredictably cold in the southern states for the entire week. Good thing I had packed a fleece jacket and warm socks, "just in case!" I wore them every morning and night. Waking up to temperatures in the low 30's, we felt like we never left NJ! 

Throughout spring break, my family yearned for the 75 degree sunshine that we experienced here in NJ today. Yet ironically, now that I am home and back into the routine of my seems-to-never-slow-down busy life, oh how I wish to go back to the peace and calm of Myrtle Beach (even if it was chilly!).

Despite the cooler air, it was a week of relaxing, with all of the following:

long walks,

good books,

tasty restaurants,

rounds of golf for the boys,

outlet shopping for the girls,

several stops at ColdStone,

restful nights,

leisurely mornings,

summer drinks by the pool,

soaking up the few hours of warm from 12-2,

dips in the hot tub,

homemade breakfasts,

a night at the movies,

plenty of laughs,

and even a few tears in

family conversations and prayer

Though it may not have been what we hoped for or expected, our week in Myrtle Beach was definitely a treat - to be away from "normal" and enjoy time with people we love - what more could we ask for?

honoring Dr. Seuss

I can't keep track of how many people tell me they could never do my job. Just this past week, it happend twice. Of course, there are definitely days when I wonder myself how I get through each day. Being a teacher definitely has its daily challenges! But then there are days like this past Friday when I am reminded why I love my job. Just imagine little children peeking through the school windows before the first bell to get a glimpse at their teachers, dressed up silly. Then imagine the giggles of students and parents alike when we went outside to bring our class lines inside for a day of celebrations! I couldn't begin to count the number of smiles on students' and teachers' faces -- mine included!

Here are some photos from school on Friday, when we had an all school celebration to honor Dr. Seuss' birthday. Such a blast! For more details about the day, check out this article from a local newspaper telling all about it.

Thanks to my amazing friend at Emily Photography for helping me
with these Cat in the Hat cupcakes, and taking these first 3 photos!

Can't wait to do it all again next year! While we strive to have fun every day at school, these are the kinds of memories that last beyond childhood. Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

much better than a pity party

Often blogs (and Facebook) are places where people put their best foot forward ... sharing their joys and accomplishments, good ideas, or happy family photos. But let's face it, if my blog is supposed to give a glimpse into my life, then I need to be vulnerable and share even those moments when I mess up. Moments that are not perfect or happy. Moments when I'm not the person I want to be.

So, I need to be honest and say that I've been selfish lately. Several times over the past few days, I've wallowed in a personal pity party. Those of you who know me might be thinking - but it's your birthday, why would you be wallowing?

That's just it. It's my birthday. I had many exciting plans to celebrate with friends and family this weekend. But then, this came along and stifled my positive attitude:

Due to this massive snow storm, many of my birthday plans had to change:

1. One of my best friends was planning to visit NJ this weekend so we could celebrate our February birthdays together (it's a tradition!). But her drive from Boston to NJ would have been horrendous, not to mention dangerous, so she opted not to come. (I don't blame her, but this decision left both of us sorely disappointed.)

2. Several weeks ago, Mom bought tickets for 3 of us to celebrate my birthday by going into the city on Friday night to see Cinderella on Broadway. Since blizzard conditions were expected at that time, we decided to exchange our tickets for another date. While I was relieved we didn't have to risk traveling in and out of the city during a snow storm, I was also bummed to postpone something I was looking forward to for a while.

3. When snow comes, my husband often leaves to help my uncle with his snow plowing/shoveling business. Though it's helpful to have the extra income, it meant waking up alone today since he was called out to work in the early morning hours. It also meant having to shovel out the car without his help today (at least if I didn't want to spend another day snowed in). Thank goodness for my gracious sister-in-law who pitched in to help me!

This post is not meant to make you feel bad for me. Quite the opposite: I knew that writing it out would remind me how silly and ridiculous I must sound. Sure, my plans were changed, but it's not as if my birthday was completely without celebration. 

My day made a turn for the better when I met a friend for a lunch date at Starbucks. She always brings a smile to my face! I appreciated that she put the extra effort in to finding a way to see me on my birthday. And while my hubby was busy this morning, he's all mine tonight! We have plans to go out for dinner together and shop for my birthday present. He knew I would appreciate picking it out (a shelving/storage unit for our home). Tomorrow, we have plans to see both of our families to celebrate with them. Also, the calls, texts, and messages I've received today have made me feel special!

So, while my birthday did not necessarily go as planned, and I spent too much time feeling sorry for myself, the bottom line is that I still had a great birthday. I am blessed with great family and friends who make me feel loved not just on my birthday, but every day. 

a creative way to pray

My husband and I do our best to arrange our schedules so that we can eat dinner together most nights ... and when we do, we end our meal by reading a brief Scripture passage and praying together. We found though that we were often saying the same prayer night after night, and forgetting to pray for the people and places that we said we would pray for. So, the teacher in me came up with a way to make sure we remembered to pray for the various praises and requests that were brought to our attention.

I grabbed a handful of popsicle sticks from my overflowing stash at school and wrote down a prayer request or praise on the end of each one with a thin black permanent marker. I then put the popsicle sticks into a coffee mug, and placed the mug within reach of our dinner table. I placed another empty coffee mug in a similar location. 

Each night now, each of us picks at random one popsicle stick out of the first mug, prays for that request or praise, and then puts the stick into the other mug when finished. This way, we will be sure to pray for all of the requests and praises. When we run out of popsicle sticks, we will start over with them again. When a request is answered, we will take it out of the mug or leave it in as a reminder to thank God for answered prayer. We have extra popsicle sticks on hand to add more requests or praises as time goes by. So far, this has been a great way to develop our prayer life together and with our Heavenly Father. It was so easy to set up -- I highly recommend trying it for yourself!

our perfect couch saga

What a blessing it was for my parents to generously offer us their used couches when we first got married and moved into our own place. They fit nicely in our space and served their purpose for 2 and a half years (not to mention the 10-15 years that we sat on them at my parents' place!). But after stuffing the cushions a few too many times, and never wanting to sit in the middle of the couch because the padding had worn down so much, we decided it was time to invest in something new. We'd been saving for a while, and we figured New Years sales was a good time to look!

So on January 1, we stopped into furniture store after furniture store on Route 17, searching for the perfect couch(es). We had a budget in mind and were not about to let any suave sales man talk us into spending more (ha!).  Though we looked around a lot, our hearts were set on one of the first sectionals we laid eyes on that day. It was chocolate brown, microfiber, and perfectly within our budget with delivery and tax included! By the end of our shopping experience, we had paid our fees and set a delivery date for the following Saturday.

In preparation for our new purchase to arrive, we took down the Christmas tree and brought our old couches to the garage (with some help from my brother -- thanks!). I anxiously came home from my errands that Saturday morning, actually looking forward to doing schoolwork since it would be from the comfort of my new couch! 

Unfortunately though, I came home to find 2 delivery men explaining to my husband that there was no way this couch was going to fit up the stair well and make it into our apartment. Of course, he asked them to at least try, but it became obvious very quickly that they were absolutely right. While the couch would've fit in our space once in the living room, it was not going to make it up. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I was crushed. I was embarrassed that we hadn't even thought to measure the stair well, and simply upset because I had already become attached to this couch that was oh-so-comfortable in the store and fit so nicely into our budget.

That night, we were back at the store for a full refund. (Thank goodness we didn't lose any money on our first attempt.) I was overwhelmed by the idea of starting all over to shop for the perfect couch, but we tried anyway. We now knew more detailed specifications. We needed a sectional that would break down into at least 3 pieces, none of them measuring longer than 82" long. Yikes, this wasn't going to be easy. Not to mention that when you buy sectionals in pieces, you have to spend more money because more fabric is needed to make it. Needless to say, our budget had to expand. I was still upset and unable to commit to anything quickly after the last couch fiasco, so we went home to sit on this instead:

Yes, that is our Aerobed. At least we had one or we would've been sitting on dining room chairs or the floor to watch TV! We could've brought our old couches up from the garage, but it was such a hassle getting them out that we didn't want to ask for help in bringing them back in, only to move them back out again soon when we did finally find the perfect couch. So, we sat on the air mattress for a few weeks in the meantime.

Our busy schedules and frustration kept us out of the furniture stores for a while, but last weekend we decided to give it another go. (The air mattress was getting old!) We went back to the same stores, but this time with even more specifications and (sigh) a higher budget. I figured if we had to spend more money, we should at least get exactly what we want and pray it lasts us a LONG time! 

I am SO glad we were patient in this quest because that night our hard work finally paid off.  We found another sectional to fall in love with -- this time a chocolate brown, leather sectional that could be broken into 4 pieces. AND... it was on sale! (Not quite to the price of our original budget -- that would've been too good to be true -- but at least we didn't pay full price!) Though the measurements made us a little nervous (I can't even tell you how many times my husband took out the tape measure), we decided to go for it. The worst that could happen was that they didn't fit (again) and we get a full refund, right? We knew that from experience, haha! Though I would've been mortified had that happened again.

Thankfully, that wasn't the case! Take a look:

The delivery men were able to get this sectional up the stair well with no problems and it fits PERFECTLY in our space. It was totally worth the wait for this one! We love coming home to sit on our couch, and we are so excited to host others at our place now that we have more seating.

PS: I am feeling a bit guilty even now as I post this because my husband and I have made some very large purchases lately -- the new car, and now this! It is not like us to spend large sums of money! I have to keep reminding myself that we saved carefully for both of these items for a long time now and just happened to buy them around the same time. However, don't expect to see any new, large expenses popping up on this blog again any time soon. (God, please don't throw us for any unexpected loops in the near future!) We need to start SAVING again, instead of spending. :)

5 minute workout and more

Ever since the doctor said "high cholesterol" (I blame my genetics!) and "exercise is your best medicine," I've been trying a bit harder to make exercise a more normal part of my routine. Unfortunately though, I've never been one who loves to exercise. I love taking walks with friends, or getting outside for a leisurely hike or bike ride on a nice day. But intense exercise? Yuck. Don't get me wrong, I feel great when I'm done! But getting myself motivated to start is always difficult. Had God designed me to be an athlete, things might be different, but the reality is that me and sports have never mixed well. Growing up, my feeble attempts at T-ball, soccer, skiing, gymnastics, and basketball were all short-lived. I tried hard to make my dad (and grand-dad) proud in the sports department (Dad spent many nights shooting hoops with me after dinner), but thankfully they both came around to realize that God gifted me in other ways. It may not have been quite as thrilling for them to watch the school play or spring concert, but I know they were/are proud of my musical ability and creativity.

If only I could burn enough calories singing or crafting! I would be set! Instead, I've had to come up with other fun ways to get some exercise. I made it a goal to work out 3 times a week, getting my heart rate up for at least 30 minutes. While simply going for a run was doing the trick for a while in college, I've found that it may not be best for me now. It's difficult to get home from work with enough daylight left to run, not to mention the cold temperatures and snow covered sidewalks! So, here's what has been (mostly) working for me lately. Thank goodness for some new options!

1. My sister-in-law introduced me to Mandy's Underground Fitness. Since a gym membership is out of the question for us financially, Mandy's is a great alternative. Mandy leads several work out classes a week in her parents' basement (though will soon have her own space!) for women of all ages. With prices as low as $8 a class (even cheaper if you commit to many classes), it is a great way to exercise with other people. Mandy brings such positive energy and new ideas to each work out, so it's never dull! We work hard and laugh a lot. I only wish she was located closer to my house so I could go more often. I've been going to one of Mandy's classes per week. What I love most is that I'm more motivated to push myself while there because I'm encouraged by others. Going to Mandy's is by far my most intense, but also most enjoyable, workout of the week. Though often sore the next day, it's totally worth it!

2. Since I am more likely to actually exercise if I plan to do so with someone else, I try to schedule a work out with a friend each week as well. Sometimes this is a walk with mom on the weekends (don't worry, walking with mom is no leisurely deal -- I am always trying to keep up with her long legs!). But for week day workouts, I am very grateful for a new friend who lives just a few blocks away! We can quickly meet up for a walk/run around our neighborhood, or on rainy and cold days, we've opted for going to one place or another to do a work out video together. I love that I am distracted by our conversation so the work out seems to go faster! And when all else fails, sometimes I even convince my ultra-athletic husband to go for a slow jog with me. This is always a last resort because he usually tries to get me to run farther than I do on my own!

3. The previous options take care of 2 work outs in a week, but then there's that third one that I try so hard to squeeze in, but doesn't always happen. Why not? Well, because I end up doing it on my own. Normally, I enjoy "Jenna time" but not when it means working out alone. I am always waiting for this one to be over. When I do muster up enough energy to make it happen, it usually means a quick run/walk on the streets around my house or a work out video in my living room. (Sorry to my downstairs neighbors for my jumping around!). But like I said, this is the first workout to go during a busy week. 

4. I know I shouldn't make excuses for my lack of exercise, but in the hurried pace of life that defines North Jersey, it's so hard not to. For days when my busyness gets the best of me, there's always the 5 minute workout. A group of teachers at school got to talking about exercise during lunch one day, and many of them shared similar feelings about wanting to work out but not being able to find the time. My co-2nd grade-teacher (famous for her brilliant ideas) then shared what she heard on the Dr. Oz show not too long ago -- and the 5 minute workout club began. Since then, a few of us have been bringing our sneakers to school, and spending 5 minutes together after 3:00 dismissal. In our dress clothes and sneakers, we complete 5 moves, each for one minute. You wouldn't guess it, but we can totally break a sweat in just 5 minutes. Of course there are days when we need to rush out to meetings or appointments, so we are not as consistent as we set out to be. But, there are often at least 3 of us who motivate each other to squeeze in a short work out before heading home for the day. We figure 5 minutes of exercise is better than none at all! Thank goodness for our PE teacher who faithfully asks every day who is up for a few minutes of exercise! It's hard to say no to her!

I may not stick to my exercise plan as strictly as I should, but I am happy to report that the addition of these work out options has helped lower my cholesterol and made me enjoy exercising at least a little bit more. I guess the key to exercise for me is having others to hold me accountable!

a look back on 2012

Well I didn't expect to ring in the new year with the flu. Was hoping for a healthy 2013! Not off to a good start. But since I'm confined to the couch, I thought now was as good a time as any to look back at the past year and give thanks for God's goodness! So with a little help from my iPhoto library, here are the highlights of the last year. 12 images from 2012!

 

Celebrating Mom & Dad's 50th birthdays,

surprising them with a party and 50 reasons why we love them

 

This little girl's 1st birthday!

All of us gathering in VA to celebrate ...

what joy she brings to our family!

 

Being together for our 2nd anniversary,

celebrating with an overnight getaway down the shore

 

Welcoming Isabella!

My cousin's first baby and the first great grandchild

 

Our yearly reunion, always good to see these great college

friends and pick up where we left off!

His first job! Both of us now employed in jobs we love,

celebrating in New York City

Two family weddings in 2012,

one on each side of the family,

so great to get everyone together for celebrations!

My first student teacher,

having an extra set of hands to help out in 2JB!

Next steps for a.j.e.less designs,

a new website, our most successful open house,

and more orders than ever before!

A successful knee surgery for my youngest brother,

looking forward to his complete recovery in 2013!

A healthy and happy baby for our

best friends. What a blessing he is already!

 

And of course, our new car! We love it and hope it

will see us through many years to come!

Happy New Year! Now to see what 2013 has in store.