Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue

Last weekend was a very special weekend indeed! I got to stand with one of my best friends, Mel, as she got married. She and David were wed at Royal Lane Baptist Church, which is my favorite chapel in all of Dallas. Their ceremony was beautiful. Their reception followed at the Old Red Courthouse. I had not heard of it before Melissa was engaged but quickly fell in love with it when I saw it. Their colors (mocha and sage) were beautiful in the courthouse. It could not have been prettier (but I am extremely bias).

Mel wore cowboy boots to the reception and had Allison and I do the same. I enjoyed it immensely! Boots are so much more comfortable to dance in than heals and it is not every day you can wear them to a wedding! I also had the privilege of toasting the bride and groom at the reception. With all of my bridesmaid experience, I had yet to give a toast at a reception. I was petrified. I am all about words of affirmation (it is definitely one of my love languages) but something about telling one of my dearest friends how much I adore them in front of hundreds of people made me sweat. I managed to say what I wanted to and I don't think I ruined their wedding (huge plus)! I enjoyed the wedding ever so much! So many of my great friends were there. I saw Houston peeps that I haven't seen in months and all of the wonderful Dallas friends that I met through knowing Mel. It was great!

Mel was absolutely beautiful and the night was perfect! She is on her honeymoon at the moment and I am not used to her being gone. I have tried to call her three times this week only to remember she is out of the country. Oops. Have a blast Mel but come home soon! I miss you.


My full album from the rehearsal and wedding is below if you want to see more pictures.

Mel's Wedding

Progress

Tonight I went to the Porch with a few of my Watermark girl friends. It was a good message and is my first step towards fulfilling New Years Resolution #4. I am committing to attending the entire series that starts next week entitled "The Seven Deadly Sins of Dallas Young Adults." Should be interesting and hopefully after seven weeks I will not feel so awkward in that setting. It is still really daunting for me! So many people in one place. I find it impossible to meet new people. But I did meet one girl this week. Maybe that is the trick. I meet one person each week and eventually I know enough people not to feel awkward? I hope so! We will see.

Wii Fit

My mom has been looking for a Wii Fit since she bought me my Wii for Christmas in November. She looked before Christmas, during Christmas and intensified her search after Christmas. She would go to target and look for it like a child looks for a present on Christmas morning. She would run up to the Wii Fit shelve eagerly and turn back defeated when she read the "Not Currently In Stock" sign. I have not been keeping track of the number of times my mother has gone to a Target, Sears, or WalMart looking, but I don't think it is a gross exaggeration to say somewhere between twenty and thirty times.

Last weekend when my mom went to Target by our house the electronic salesman informed her " We should have some in next week, but come before Sunday because when the sales start, they go fast." My mom informed him that she had been told this before and was skeptical but my mom, dad and I optimistically went on Saturday morning anyway. Now, my mom has missed a Wii fit by five minutes before so she is all business. We had to hit Target BEFORE breakfast so if there was one... It would be hers! But alas, there were none. This salesman said they had no way of knowing when they would get more (which completely contradicted the last persons statement.... they should really have a script... but I think this mans words were more accurate). We left Target and headed to breakfast before hitting Sears on our way home. This effort was equally fruitless as Sears was out of stock too.

Afterwards, we dropped my dad off and pick up a few things I needed to get before running more errands. My mom and I then headed out again to run my errands and search for her Wii Fit. We went to half priced books and to get a dress altered for me and then headed to a different Target and Walmart. On the way to Target my mom saw a gaming store called Game Crazy. They had a sign on the street saying they had Wii's in stock so we were hopeful that they also had Wii Fits. My mom pulled into the parking lot and I ran in and asked. The salesman replied "Nope. We sold our last one TEN minutes ago." I looked at him blankly and then crushed and replied "seriously?!" He said he was afraid so. I walked back to the car hopeful that either Target or WalMart would have one because otherwise I would be apologizing to my mom for a week that we ran my errands BEFORE looking for her Wii Fit. The Target had the same annoying sign that the other one had. No luck.

The WalMart was ridiculously crowded and nothing was where it should have been so I was not very hopeful... But apparently their lack of organization is our reward because in a random corner of their glassed in game area we saw it. "Mom," I yelled, "Wii Fit! There it is!!! Aren't you excited!?!" "Sure" she said and looked for a sales associate. We got it out of the case and I held it for dear life. I didn't want some little kid stealing my mom's Wii Fit! We checked out, made it to the car and then it finally clicked with my mom that she got her WiiFit. Once she stated the car and was pulling out of the parking spot she turned to me and grinned from ear to ear and said "Jenny! We got one!" I replied, "There it is! I was waiting for you to be excited!" She said she must have been in shock when we ACTUALLY found it. Haha!

My family has been playing with the Fit ever since and we are all hooked! I find it hysterical to watch my 60 year old parents hula-hoop or slalom down a mountain. I have been doing the yoga and strength training exercises and man alive, I am sore! Mostly because I did not stretch before my workout. I thought, it is a game... But No. It is a workout. I was doing push-ups, side planks, lunges, and jack knifes... A genuine workout.

I am beginning to see why they have been out of stock for a while. It is quite fun! Feel free to come over anytime! My dad slaloming is my favorite! I am laughing just thinking about it!

Bowling

Yesterday I bowled my best game ever! A whopping 120 points. I am a horrible bowler so I was quite impressed as I am sure you are. I will be signing autographs next weekend.

I went to 300 Dallas and it was like no bowling alley I have ever seen. I was expecting bad lighting and old men with pot bellies, but there was not a potbelly in sight. Everyone was about my age and the ambiance was fresh and young. The lanes were black-lit and they were playing music videos of contemporary artists the whole time (some of which were very hard to watch... apparently sex does sell because some of the videos were quite risque). There was even a frat party going on beside us. I was shocked. That is what I get for pre-judging an activity. Though in Addison I should have known... people were going to be young and it was going to be overpriced.

Small Group Sleep Over

Last night our small group had its first sleep over. We rented out the fourth floor of Watermark and let our girls roam around and be 12 year olds. We watched High School Musical 3, played hide and seek, American idol (which consisted of them singing to us as a group), mad-gab, ate snacks, watched another movie, and built an obstacle course. Not bad for one evening.

At 2am, Melissa and I went to bed. We told the girls the ground rules one more time and told them they could stay up as long as they wanted to. And they did. Some of our girls did not go to bed until 5:30am! They woke up at 8am without much fuss too. Oh to be 12 again!

It was a blast to get to see them outside of bible study. Such personalities our girls have!

Looks Like Someone's Got a Case of the Mondays

Way to not take your umbrella out of your car this morning Jennifer. Did I not notice the rain when I got out of your car?! Or maybe I thought it would stop before I got down town? No such luck. Instead, it was raining harder downtown and I was left to walk two blocks umbrella-less this morning from my DART stop to my building. I did my hair today too.

Yeah... It's Monday!

2009 Here We Come

A lot happened in 2008. It was probably my biggest year to date regarding life change. I turned 25, graduated, moved to Dallas, took the Bar, took a trip to Hawaii, started leading youth at Watermark, joined Watermark, found an amazing and challenging community group, PASSED the bar, suffered through the highs and lows of a few months of unemployment and gratefully found a job (even if it is a temporary one). Honestly, I am a little tired just thinking through my last year. I am excited to ring in 2009 though and am looking forward to less life change this year!

I have never been one to come up with new years resolutions. But in my opinion they get a bad wrap. People come up with lofty, far-fetched impossible goals and get frustrated when they can't achieve them. Then they vow never to come up with new years resolutions again. I have decided to give this whole resolution thing a shot, but to aim low so I can hopefully achieve a few of my resolutions. I plan to be chipper and positive about my resolutions and to actually call them resolutions and maybe, just maybe, resolutions will come back in style!

So, with no further ado, I give you my 2009 New Years Resolutions:
1. Complete at least 3 things on my life list. Any three. I can even add more and complete those... so there is no way NOT to complete this resolution, but it is a resolution none-the-less.
2. Find a job that is challenging and enjoyable (which is number one on my life list, but it is a BIG one... so it gets its own spot on my resolution list too) or at the very least find a permanent job.
3. Slow down. I am a type A, list making, always going girl and I really need to learn how to rest sometimes. I got a glimpse of this illusive rest over the last few months and I realized while resting is not something I do willingly, it is something I need. My goal is to learn to take a break every once in a while and not be so rigid with my time. I hope to yield to the Lord when needed instead of protesting and pointing to my very long "to do list".
Note: This goes against my personality but I am going to try. I don't ALWAYS have to slow down... just sometimes. ;)
4. Get more involved in Watermark's singles ministry, which might seem to conflict with number 3, but it doesn't. I have had a bad attitude about Watermark's singles ministry from day one and I am resolved to get over it. Watermark is not First Baptist. There are no Sunday School Classes. There are not going to be Sunday School Classes. I need to suck it up and get out there anyway.
5. Train for something. Anything. I miss working towards a physical goal. I have mentioned this before but I work out much better when I have an end goal in mind. Thus, at some point in 2009 I hope to train for and complete another race of some sort: a triathlon, a 5k, a 10k, a half-marathon... something.