I love this weather....

This weather is wonderful. the cool crisp days, a nip in the air, and the lovely leaves changing right before your eyes. I was driving just the other day down a road, which was lined with trees on both sides, and it look absolutely gorgeous. there was so much color, i wish i snapped a picture. i'm in chicago this weekend visiting kelli and dan torola. i'm looking forward to a great weekend catching up on lost time. my fall to do list:
1. apple orchard
2. carmel apples
3. that's it.

have a good weekend.
toodles.

living life

Oh how the week just flies right by. I can not believe that tomorrow is Thursday, where did the time go?! It's a good thing though, Friday afternoon I am heading down to Chicago to spend the weekend with my good friend Kelli. I am looking forward to a little vacation and to get some girl time. Dave's staying home since he has to work, so it'll be nice to take a little cruise by myself, but it will probably get boring during the drive.

Last night we had some company over. My cousin Jeff is on leave right now from the Navy, and he made a little detour through detroit to visit the family. My mother hosted a dinner sunday after church, so it was nice to catch up. Then last night, my brother, his girlfriend chandra, and jeff came over for a visit. many laughs.

I was so glad to get out of work early today. I was able to beat dave home by an hour, and I squeezed in a walk around town before i started cleaning and making dinner. Now i need to drag myself back into the kitchen to clean up the dinner mess. We don't have a dishwasher, so it's me. it gets really old. I made chicken alfredo tonight. i got the recipe from jenny, who found it somewhere in cyberspace. it was delicious, and i normally hate alfredo sauce. for some reason, it's always been really hard for me to gut, but this recipe was wonderful.

1/2 c of butter
1/2 c of flour
2 c of milk
1/2 c of chicken broth
1/2 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 c of Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

melt butter in a sauce pan and add flour, mix until smooth. whisk in milk, broth, and seasoning. bring to boil over medium heart and stir for one minute. remove from heat and add Parmesan cheese. serve with chicken and broccoli. enjoy ;)

it was seriously so good. i promise. give it a whirl.

okay, i'm off to do the dishes and start a project. i'll post pictures if all goes well. I found this really neat wall art on stumble upon the other day, and i'm determined to recreate the art in our bedroom.

have a good evening.

toodles

jenna

my monthly posts

well i have internet again so i can try to blog again. i'm going to blame the lack of internet thing on my lack of motivation. dave and i are finally settled into our new place in fowlerville. it feels nice to be in our own place again. we've slowly moved furniture into their proper homes and made it a little more homey in here. we also have internet which is a huge plus.

we also added a new member to our family. her name is layla. she is 14 weeks old, and she's a kitty. yes i know..." cats are gross...why didn't you get a dog instead?" well my response to that common question is simply that dave and i work too much to be able to train a puppy or give the needed attention to a dog. a cat is more self sufficient and can be home alone all day. i don't mind her. either does dave, but he probably wouldn't admit that to anyone.

layla is very playful and cuddly, and she even plays fetch just as a dog would. she just doesn't bring it back every single time. who cares.

aside from the kitty, dave and i have been working and hanging out with our family and friends. luckily, dave has been home for the past few weeks, and when he did have to leave, it was only for two nights. i can handle that.

it's hard to believe that summer is over and the leaves are slowly starting to drift off the trees. i love this time of year. cool brisk evenings, cider mills, and bon fires.

i need to get going, this laundry isn't going to do itself. i figured i would jump on here for a second make my monthly post.

toodles.

Laverne and Shirley

I keep doing this. I get on a roll and will blog for a little bit, and then I fall off the grid. What can i say, I'm not doing so hot on keeping up with my blogging commitments. the funny this is though, that I jump on here once a day and check out other people's blogs...yes i am a creeper. so one would think that while i jump on here to see the "news" i would also take a minute out of my time to update my blog. epic fail.

so lots of changes going on lately. Dave and I moved back to Michigan about three weeks ago! happy news! Dave got a great job at construction helicopters which is located at the Howell airport. He absolutely loves his job. there's a lot of travel entailed... bad for me, but good for him. he was gone for a whole week and traveled to Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Texas, and a few other states which I'm sure i forgot to mention. so he's been able to travel the country and have a blast working. I also started a new job. I'm working at hertz, doing their business management program. the ultimate goal of this job is to own my own branch..which has some pretty sweet perks. running your own branch, company car, gas card, and no insurance. those are some pretty sweet benefits that i could live with. so now that we're back at home, we've enjoyed spending time with our family and friends. it's so nice to be home.

We've been crashing and Paul and Paula's house. we live in the basement. my mom calls us Laverne and Shirley. awesome. so Shirley and i are ready to spread our wings and find a place to live. we've been looking for apartments/houses to rent. we've found a few in the area, so hopefully this week we can settle on a place and start our move. Jenny has been such a doll, and let us take over her bedroom. it's a mess thanks to us. boxes and clothes spread everywhere and throughout the basement. so I'm sure she'll be more than happy to have her bedroom back. she's been crashing in the guest bedroom since we've been home. she's pretty generous, this girl even drove a u-haul trailer to Columbus to help us move. so we're pretty thankful that she was able to help us out.

I can't make any promises, but I'm hoping to keep up with this blogging thing. my goal is at least one a week, worse case scenario, one post a month. lol. hope you're all having a great weekend.

Hoping to put this piece of paper to work

This very expensive piece of paper is supposed to get me a job. I'm still waiting. I'm very impatient considering I have only been out of school for a month. These past few days I've been surfing the web, throwing my resume all over the place. It feels pretty good to get my resume out there. My fingers are crossed. The only discouraging thing I found while job hunting was the fact that most employers require at least two to three years experience, even five years sometimes. that's wonderful, I've got none. So explain this to me, I can't get a job without my piece of paper, but I need experience. Help! I need to keep my head high, there's a job out there for me. We've all got to start somewhere right? Oh and in other "big" news, I'm no longer a Michigan resident (sorry) i surrendered to Ohio today :( I'm now legally an Ohio citizen and if you should know, I'm a legal voter in this state, go me! I'm not planning on keeping this license for long, I'm planning on getting my Michigan License back. I'm dreaming of the day where I can hold that beautiful card in my hands, smiling into and seeing the Mighty Mac. Until then, I guess I'll have to stare at my ugly Ohio one, a distasteful red card, with the awful state line printed on the background. Oh well, at least I can drive, right?

Until then,
Jenna

Company

Jenny drove down last night for the weekend. It's fun playing hostess :) The visit also helped to motivate Dave and I to finish cleaning the apartment. Last night I made dinner, chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, and corn...delicious! We spent the night visiting and we popped in a movie..only after begging Dave to turn off his obnoxious game of Zombies. Today we have been hanging around the apartment and slowly getting ready. The plan for today is to hit up a couple of flea markets, maybe we'll snag some good loot. The sky is blue and it's starting to warm up outside...it's about time! The past few days it's been raining like cat's and dogs, so I'm ready to have some fun outside. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Jenna

Mrs. Lassila

From now on, please refer to my as Mrs. Jenna Lassila. Only joking, but in all seriousness, that is my new last name. Crazy! Dave and I are back in Ohio now, and we're in the process of getting all moved in. I wish I would have taken a picture because our apartment was filled with gifts, luggage, and boxes. Honestly, we could have been on an episode of hoarders..it was that bad. After working hard ( lol, not really) for two days, we are now able to walk around with out getting lost, and i know longer have to follow a trail. it's nice. it feels like home. Yesterday we were overwhelmed though, we went out to dinner since the kitchen was that bad. Tonight I made dinner though. Spaghetti! Now, i'm topping the evening off by making a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies..yum. Married life is good. The past few days we've been running around town, picking up groceries and little odds and ends that we didn't have. Seriously, I was in Meijer's and Target twice yesterday! Tomorrow my goal is to stay far away from those places. I have bigger plans for tomorrow. I think it's necessary to legally change my name on my social security card and drivers license...I don't know about you, but I think it's a good one. Well that's all for now. I'm going to finish my cookies and watch a movie with my hubby. Wedding/honeymoon pictures to follow!
Have a great evening.

Jenna. Jenna Lassila. :)

butterflies

Four. I can count that on one hand. four.

I seriously can not believe that in a matter of four short days, I'll be getting married. My stomach is turning....in a good way of course! I don't know where they time has gone by. I was telling Dave the other day how fast these past eight months have gone by. We both have a countdown on our phones, and I remember putting in on there after we were engaged, when we first started there were over 200 days. Now, just a short four.

Last Friday was my last day at work. bitter sweet. It's so nice to have this week off before the wedding to get things done. For the most part, I'm done. My mom and I have been running around town, picking up plates, bubbles, guest book, etc.. all the little stuff i overlooked. it's been fun, hanging out with the family and friends, enjoying these next few days.

The countdown is on. family will be flocking in from several states for the wedding. I'm so excited to see everybody! tomorrow night is my last good night of sleep. Thursday that bridesmaids and I are staying in a hotel and doing dinner and pedicures. Friday morning, we'll all be at the church bright and early to decorate and set up. Friday evening will lead us to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, followed by the bach party. Saturday we're all getting ready at my parents house while the boys are golfing. I'm paranoid the guys will look tired in the pictures...let's hope not. Pictures are planned to be taken at the governor's mansion in Farmington, and then back to the church for indoor pictures.

I'm looking forward to the end of the week when all the festivities start, but until then, I'm enjoying my time at home with my family and friends.

xoxo

Jenna

where has the time gone by?

Honestly, this is pathetic. The last time I was on here, I only have forty days until my wedding. Today, I only have eleven days, isn't that just crazy! Well, I've been pretty busy these past few days. I graduated last weekend from Eastern. Dave, my parents, and grandparents came, and afterwards we went out to eat at Carinos. The next day, my parents threw me a nice graduation party. It was a great weekend. So now that i'm done with school, I need to find a big girl job. I keep forgetting sometimes that I am done, it will probably set in a little more next fall. Other than school, I've been getting last minute wedding errands done. I'm pretty sure that i'm all set. This next week will be super busy. I'm done with work on friday, and the week before the wedding I have off. So much family is coming into town, it's going to be crazy. I'm looking forward to it. Until the wedding, I'm enjoying this time with my family and friends!

40 Days...Oh My!

It's fast approaching.
I can't believe it. It seems like just the other day and I was picking out bridesmaids dressing, trying to figure out all my details. now everything is falling into place and I'm ready. Now we're just getting the last minute details down and running the last few errands.

Last weekend Kelli came up for a girls weekend. Lo and behold they threw me a bridal shower. I felt so blessed. I received many gifts and I had lots of friends and family come out. It was wonderful.


The weekend was fun with Kelli, and I was also able to visit with Jeff and Heidi. It was a fast and busy weekend, but tons of fun!

Now I have the next few days off and I'm going to relax and getting some last minute planning done.

53 DAYS!!!!

53 DAYS!!!

Yikes, time is flying by. before i know it May will be here ;)

It's been a stressfull 24 hours. I got a letter yesterday saying I wasn't elligble to graduate because one of my classes didn't count for credit since it wasn't on the approved list of courses....yikes. a month from graduation and that's the letter i get.

after several years, countless emails and about ten phone calls, oh and two meetings, I got that decision reversed. i'm so happy. I guess the auditor who did my undergraduate audit was mistaken. so i get to graduate april 16th..again.

I'm so blessed. I could not be happier.

I hope you all have a great day.

Things are coming together

Less than two months before the wedding! I can not believe how fast everything is coming together. Yesterday we took our dresses to be altered. It was really fun seeing the changes, and my idea is starting to come together. We have yellow tea length dresses for the wedding, and we are altering them and adding some extras to spice it up :)

Aside from the wedding planning, Dave and I have been moving. Dave and I found a new apartment on the west side of columbus, which is basically dublin. It's in a nicer neighborhood, plenty of shopping, and things to do. I also feel a lot safer than Dave's old apartment. Last week, Jenny and I headed down there for a few days, and helped move everything over. I had fun decorating the new place, and can't wait for all my stuff to be down there. Dave later told me that he needed to hang up a hockey picture to make it look like a bach pad...not homey. lol.

that's all for now. I really need to work on more homework and possibly take a nap. ( i'm trying to fight a nasty cold :( )

Typing on a full stomach

Today my mom and I spent the day gallivanting all over town picking up cake samples. We drove down into farmington, stopped by Mrs. Maddox's and left with a delightful box of goodies. We also hit up a bakery in Milford and Novi. We walked in the door this evening with several white boxes, giddy with excitement. We spread out all the different samples on the table, and after some deliberation, I think we found a winner. Now I'm absolutely stuffed...but in a good way. It was really nice to spend the day with my mom, and we shared many laughs!

The picture doesn't look too appetizing, but believe me they were good.



Happy Monday to you all!

Dress Shopping

The other day I met my aunt and cousins and we bought the flower girl dresses! my cousins Sophia (5) and Sadie (9) are my flower girls. They were so excited when they got to try on the dress. Sadie, is a little fashionista, and asked me what kind of shoes they could wear for the wedding. I told them i really didn't care, and she immediately asked if she could wear heels...sparkly heels at that too! Janie quickly jumped in and told her that heels wouldn't be a good idea, since she's going to be on her feet all day long, so they settled for flats. sparkly flats though. I think these girls are more excited than I am for the wedding...only joking. I also told the girls that we'd go shopping for hair pieces for them, so looks like i have a shopping date soon.

aside from wedding planning, it's bitter cold down here! I can not wait for spring to come, the warm weather will also bring good things ( graduation and wedding.)

I'm sitting here snuggled on the couch, watching Regis and Kelly, trying to work up the courage to workout before I have to head to school.

Hope you all have a good day.

Pretty Pearls

This weekend I found a few treasures. Dave's family is in the process of cleaning out Paula's dad's house and they are having an estate sale this coming up weekend. (Thursday though Saturday if you're interested) So anyways, I went over there on saturday to help out and I found these pearls while I was over there. My mom and dad also dropped by to take a sneak peak, and when we were walking around, we found these pearls. I'm pretty sure that they are going to match my dress, i'll have to try them on. So now, I have something new (dress), something old (pearls), something borrowed (hankie), now i need something blue....

Now this coming up week, I need to really get into motion about figuring out my arrangments and what not. I really should get on that, but for now, i'm going to relax and enjoy my coffee before my day starts. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

girls just gotta have shoes

Who doesn't like a new pair of heels? anybody? I love them. I really love them when they're for my wedding dress. I found the perfect pair of heels to go with my gown, it's almost unreal. Yesterday, my mom and I headed over to Macy's to complete my wedding registry. After lunching and registring, we strolled on down the Nordstrom's. Lo and behold, we're coming down the escalators and a shimmering in the corner of my eye caught my attention....my wedding shoes. I know, I sound dramatic, but this is how it really happened, honest. So I found my size, paid the man, and got to take my sparkling beauties home with me. I slept with them last night. Honest, I'm just as happy the day I found my dress...the shoes make up the outfit. I'll even show them off....but not the gown, that'll have to wait until May 7th, 2011!




Aside from my shoe find, I've been busy planning away for the big day. The holidays flew by, and now it's February, and I've got to get cracking. The cake has to be ordered, dresses fitted, flowers ordered...the whole nine yards. My goal, once again, is to get on here more, and make note of what i've done with regards to the wedding planning. So wish me luck.