December 31, 2012

MD & NYC

Over Christmas, the hubs and I went home to Maryland and managed to squeeze in a trip to NY before heading back down south.

We spent the week eating our weight in Asian food we have missed and walked our legs off exploring NY. Once again, here is the iPhone dump of photos taken from our trip!



(I made it to the top of Rockefeller, but my fear of heights overwhelmed me)
Hong Baos. If you can't recognize your Chinese name, you're screwed (i.e. my brosef stressing out)



Cousins night-out, a la The Strand


 2012, you have been fabulous. I'm ready for you 2013!

December 23, 2012

iPhone dump

Word of the month: busy.

Action of the month: taking iPhone photos.









May your days be merry, bright & filled with Jesus-loving spirit! Merry Christmas y'all!

December 1, 2012

Christmastime is here!

My husband said that I wasn't allowed to celebrate Christmas until December. Well guess what fools - today is December 1st! (24 more sleeps till Christmas!!)...but that really didn't stop me from Christmas celebrations at our house. I've been listening to Christmas music since...July...and I put up decorations the Monday after Thanksgiving.

As with decorating my house, I'm all about decorating within my means (aka not spending a lot of money) and doing a lot of DIY to make my home 'my home'. Christmastime is no different! I already posted about decorating in preparation for the holidays, but this time I have gone all out and put up Christmas-y things to usher in the Advent season!

I'm all about using what you have (or in my case -- using what you've hoarded) around the house...and things that are free. It also helps that I have a mother-in-law who is the craft/DIY queen and a Christmas decorator extraordinaire - I have inherited many of her old decorations and other fun DIY things. When my husband was living on his own, his mom came and Christmas-bombed his house, complete with a fat Santa cookie jar, wreaths and Christmas lights.


I didn't know I was obsessed with Nutcracker statues until I saw a bajillion of them at Marshalls during Black Friday shopping. Luckily for me, I resisted the urge of buying all of them and found this man hanging out in my mother-in-law's Christmas box in our attic. #score


I love this decoration. I've seen tons of DIY/craft ideas using branches to hang things, and decided that if I found the right branch, I would make it into an ornament tree. As you can see, I found said branch and I also found awesome little ornaments in the Christmas box. I made two yarn pom-pom ornaments to complete the look. Oh! Remember that time I channeled my inner squirrel and hoarded little acorns from my backyard as vase fillers? They appear again as an anchor for my branch...collected this time by my loving husband. He sat outside with a flashlight one night and collected every acorn in that vase #truestory #besthusbandever

*Reason #2356763 why I am a crazy lady: I saw this branch lying in my in-laws' backyard while we were over for Thanksgiving and I immediately knew it was the one. I asked my mother-in-law if I could take/keep this branch I found, and she looked at me like I was a crazy fool. (She was all like "Who asks if they can take a branch from someone's yard?")


I have never had a real tree in my life. My family lived overseas for a good part of my childhood and access to a classic Christmas tree was only made possible by loving relatives mailing us a plastic one. I also get headaches when I smell live Christmas trees, so plastic is the way to go! And this year, our 2-foot fake tree is the perfect fit for our little family and our little home.

And finally, my favorite decorated piece...



The breakdown:
Deck board sign made by my mother-in-law.
Pine cones collected from a nearby school yard and hot glue-gunned to twine.
Christmas lights were in the Christmas box.
Window is usually there year-round; came from old church building that got renovated.
Red wire Santa sleigh has been hoarded since high school; was given to me with chocolates in it.
Old Christmas card of two people wrapped up in scarves and hats in the snow #cutenessoverload

So that's what's going on at our house! What have you done to decorate this year? What things have you made? I would love to see what you've done!

November 25, 2012

Full of Thanksgiving

There is something about getting a couple days off to spend time with family, eating good food, and relaxing that makes every Thanksgiving meaningful and enjoyable. Since we started dating, the hubs has been making the thanksgiving trek to Maryland to visit me. Now that we're married and living closer to his parents, we decided to swap holidays this year...and we were so happy we did!

Every Thanksgiving my father-in-law's side of the family gets together for a huge family reunion (I'm talking extended family huge, like I've-never-met-you-before-but-we're-related-somehow huge). We kick it off with an oyster roast. Then just when you think that's all there is to the meal, you get ushered into the house to feast on several turkeys, sides-galore, and just as many desserts.


Then we go to my mother-in-law's friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner. I think I finally got Thanksgiving right - portion control...and lots of veggies. I think I had two pieces of turkey all day long. The rest of my plate was filled with veggies -- first time having brussels sprouts and beets (Love the brussels sprouts, not so much the beets).

One thing I love most about Bluffton is that there are so many great memories there. Every time we visit, we leave feeling refreshed and renewed (and fat). This time in particular, my friend came into town to spend the holidays with us and that just made this weekend even more special!


Thanksgiving also marked our six-month wedding anniversary! Time really does fly when you're having fun. So thankful for this guy, I love him so!

Happy thanksgiving y'all, hope you found time to be thankful for all the big and little things in your life!

November 14, 2012

Decorating 'n stuff

I love to decorate. And I love crafting. Decorating with crafts? #brbdying

Seriously though, when I find a craft and pin it on my Pinterest board, my mind will not stop thinking about the craft until I do it.

So I went to doing! Here's the stuff I've been up to as of late:


So I love Goodwill. Not just because I can find amazing items for Halloween costumes, but because I can find jars and vases....and felted Christmas tree ornaments for a ridiculous price. I scoured Goodwills for months to collect milk glass vases and jars for my wedding for (at most) 50 cents a piece. These beauties happened to be marked .59 cents, but their blue tag was 50% off that day, so ended up getting 9 ornaments for a grand total of a bank-breaking $0.97. #booyah



These beauties are called acorns, and usually they are the bane of my husband's existence around this time of year. We have two huge trees that 'gift' us these little presents by a consistent drizzle of nuts hitting our grass-less ground. We try to mow the lawn, but these little fellas always manage to get chopped up and shot out...and embedded into the lawn-mower's shins (aka husband). Don't even get me started on the squirrels our yard attracts. Baxter probably has a forlorn blog out there somewhere about how he can never catch those pesky things...except for those three days a couple of a weeks ago where he successfully killed two squirrels. I channeled my inner squirrel and spent an afternoon picking the perfect little acorns for my fall-themed dinner table. I also pulled out our extra/unused 'redneck wine glasses' from our wedding and -- voila! A tablescape. I just need to find some candles to complete the look.


And finally! Look at what a girl can do with a hot glue gun, some twine, and pine cones collected in her neighborhood! Yes, I was that person on the side of the road on Saturday morning pretending to walk her dog. I brought Baxter along to make it look like it was normal for me to be stomping around pine straw to find the perfect pine cones (it kind of looks like I'm picking up his poop, right?...right?!?!).

The most addicting best part about crafting is that most of the time you save a whole lotta money and you can make your house look almost as cute as a Pottery Barn house (ok maybe not really, it's all in the imagination!). I always feel happy when I'm crafting, and the finished product always inspire me to keep crafting. Maybe it'll inspire you to start crafting too!

November 5, 2012

omgsry

omgsry4nvrupdating.

One: Went to a wedding, had fun as always. Danced my feet off to Gangnam Style and repped the Asian community.



Dos: Took the high schoolers on a mystery trip to Six Flags and rode rollercoasters until I felt like puking. Held my husband's hand when we rode Goliath and almost died laughing at his screams of excitement screams for help.


Trois: Did the expected thing this Halloween and dressed up like Psy.


4: Ran my second half marathon and barely survived. Thought I was going to die, but had a friend (and runner extraordinare) run and pace the last 5 miles with me. Best part of the race? The time I danced to Gangnam Style after several bystanders were poorly doing it right before I crossed the finish line. #represent

Seems to be a lot of Psy in my life...
I'm ok with that.

October 16, 2012

That one time, in middle school...

...yes, I have been MIA for quite a while. I do have to admit, though, that I've been busy enjoying life and balancing the many hats I have found myself wearing lately - wife, friend, employee, volunteer, cook, cleaner, dog-walker, runner...

The one thing that I have really enjoyed as of late has been spending time with the young people at our church. I would encourage all people to give youth ministry a try - you don't have to be good at it, you just have to want to have fun, laugh a lot, and brush up on your herding-cats skills...


Two weeks ago the hubs and I went to Orlando for the weekend with the middle school ministry at church. I had so much fun with the students, and got embarrassingly dizzy/nauseous after riding a couple rides, but I put my big girl panties on and trucked through the rest of the day rode water rides and watched bags the rest of the day.


This past Sunday, we unveiled an awesomely disgusting hilarious game we have affectionately named "Honey Boo Boo Breath Challenge", taken from Honey Boo Boo's family game of "guess who's breath". Word on the street is our video has made it on a youth ministry website #youknowyouvemadeitwhen

I've found myself surrounded by middle schoolers in this stage of life, and I'm finding that I'm really ok with that. In fact, I'm kind of enjoying it! I don't remember much about being in middle school, but what I do remember is that my middle school years were filled with insecurities and questions about who I was and what I was made to do. I needed a lot of guidance then (and I still do), and I found comfort and happiness at church at youth group that lived life with me to figure it all out. Maybe that's why I got pulled to middle school ministry...who knows. But if there's anything I've learned lately, it's that I've been learning how to love innocently, how to pursue God earnestly, even when there is uncertainty. There's plenty to learn from middle schoolers, and I think that's pretty cool.

October 1, 2012

O-HI-O!

This past weekend the hubs and I went on a trip to Ohio to see his cousin get married. I slept through most of Ohio, but the parts I was awake for I loved!

We had lunch at Blue Ash, featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-In, and Dives

Goofy picture at the rehearsal dinner
On the wedding day, we attended the 30th annual County Applefest in Lebanon, Ohio. Never have I ever had better tasting apple-products. Those apple 'chips' up top? Best. Thing. Ever.



The wedding day came and we watched as cousin Josh married Courtney! The hubs had a hard time good time sharing his iPad to kill time before the wedding with one of the junior ushers and the ring bearer. They played a very intense game of virtual ping-pong.

Even though it was a rushed weekend, it was a lot of fun catching up with family and goofing off with the hubs, his family, and his brother. All this family time makes me super excited about Thanksgiving!

September 27, 2012

Wait, what?

When we moved into our house in March, we kept hearing a sound that was reminiscent of Kevin from Pixar's "Up" calling from the depths of the beautiful oak trees overhead. Then a couple weeks later, I saw this video of a man interrupting Webb Simpson's interview from the US Open and I was like "How is Kevin at the US Open?!"

Our dog Baxter was driving us crazy running back and forth in the backyard barking at an invisible animal living up in the trees. Every time I went out to look, I saw nothing.

...until I saw it.

Standing in all it's colorful glory, was a peacock.

A PEACOCK.

It was perched on the roof/chimney of my neighbor's house that we share a backyard with. And there was Baxter, barking until he had no bark left in him, at this strange animal living in our neighborhood.

Our neighbor informed us recently that there used to be a farm near our house with peacocks that went 'out of business' (explain that one) and let all the animals lose.

So now, every once in a while, as I leave for work in the early AM, I get escorted out of my neighborhood by a beautiful bird whose calls lull me to sleep at night.


The end.

September 17, 2012

#notfrumpy

frump // frum-p//
1. A girl or a woman regarded as dull, plain, or unfashionable
2. A person regarded as colorless and primly sedate

frump'y adj

While I was in graduate school, my friend and I made the unfortunate realization that some people dressed frumpily. Even more unfortunate - the realization that I too, have been guilty of dressing in frump-fashion (ie all through high school when I thought baggy tshirts and gym shorts were a-ok for daily public appearances).

I didn't understand what it meant to be comfortable in my own skin until college, and I definitely didn't understand how to dress in a way that represented who I was until then either. It was as if one day things magically clicked, and I suddenly realized that I actually had a little princess in me that really liked fun colors and geometric shapes and dresses. The idea that I could wear a cute top with my favorite jeans - and that that could be cool/fashionable/in style - blew my mind.

I had a minor glitch in my sudden realization of fashion when I found out that keeping up with the Jones could be was expensive. That's when I discovered the wonderful world of TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Ross. I would go to the mall to see what was in style, then I would head to these stores and see if I could find anything (I found something every time #bestdayever). I really could spend an entire day there, going through every aisle and trying on the worlds largest collection of dresses just to find the one I really liked. Saving money and expressing myself through clothes - best. thing. ever.

My second minor glitch was when I entered the working world and realized I could no longer sport 'dressy' jeans and sandals everyday. Enter in: pencil skirts, work pants (why are they always made out of the worst material ever?), button-up shirts, blouses, cardigans and flats that make my feet sweaty. I struggled for a long time to find the right dress shirts, pants, and shoes. I found these really obnoxious probably-made-out-of-polyester bell-bottom-esque dress pants...they were hand-me-downs from J.Crew so I thought the brand name alone would save me.

Not so much. Zipper on the side of my pants -- what?

So I started a mission - to get inspired by other working individuals to see how they were dressing up for work and hopefully finding a happy medium for my own working style. Enter my saving grace Kendi Everyday. Her use of polka-dotted pencil skirts with stripped tshirts, or her lace skirt with a button-up struck a chord with me. I wanted to be just.like.her. I even did her 30 for 30 challenge a while back.

Years later, I think I've done my best Jocelyn version of Kendi's style. And to encourage myself to keep trying, I've started instagramming my outfits, a la #notfrumpy.

Top: shirt from Forever21, skinny braided belt from Marshalls
Middle Left: TOMs flats (bridal shower present), black pencil skirt from and top from TJ Maxx
Middle Right: sandals from Ross, black jeans from Marshalls, top from TJ Maxx
Bottom Left: cardigan from JCrew warehouse (!) out in VA, top from Marshalls, blue & green polka-dotted pencil skirt from Gap outlet
Bottom Right: cardigan from...(it's that old), flower silk-esque dress from Forever21

I've really enjoyed learning how to dress fun, while still staying professional. I just hope that I can keep this up!...or else I might go overboard and start looking like PSY #dressclassydancecheesy

September 8, 2012

Savannah, you hold my hand like its the first time

Have I told you how much I love this town?
Have I?

It is seriously so much fun to live here. Relient K hit the nail on the head when they wrote their song about this place. Little known fact: every time I drive back to Savannah after having been far away for awhile, I play this song as I'm driving over the bridge.

This weekend was just another reminder of how crazy blessed I am (we are) to be living here. My commute to work is a little over 10 minutes. Ten minutes! Back in Maryland it took me 10 minutes just to get out of my neighborhood (sarcasm, but sort of true). The beach is only 30 minutes away, and so is downtown.

First, I went out with two friends to a restaurant called Sage. One of us read a review of it in a magazine so we made reservations. Our respective husbands/fiance are off at said-fiance's bachelor party so it was ladies night -- and I had so much fun. The food was delicious, and so were the cupcakes we ate after!


Then today, two of us made an early morning trek to Forsyth Park to take part in a free Zumba session. Yeah, you read that right -- f-r-e-e free! Every other Saturday morning around 8:30AM a bunch of women in work-out clothes congregate and Zumba for an hour. Today I learned the wobble and how to dougie (aka I am now cooler than you...)

We were about to do wobble

After our awesome sweat-fest, we went to the Forsyth Farmers market...and we signed up as 'first-timers', and got $5 worth of tokens to shop for produce. We got a packet with information, like what vegetables are in season during which months, and recipes too! I picked up two green tomatoes and an eggplant for this week - yum!


The more I explore, the more I fall in love with this place. I'm glad I found a place to live that excites me so!