taking a break..

Hey Y'all!

I'm blogging today just to 'blog it out' i guess you could say! We're on Christmas break and I am SO happy! It feels so amazing to know that we've completed another semester of school and in 3 semesters i'll have RN(registered nurse) behind my name! We're officially 160 days away from our wedding day and there is so much to be done! At lunch this afternoon my family and I were talking about the wedding and I was saying how much time we don't seem to have and my aunt brought to my attention that we started with a lot of time to plan a wedding.. infact it was something like 530 days or something! Wow I just realized in 2 days it'll be a year since we got engaged!!! So we had 17 months to plan this wedding and we've pushed it to the max! So now it's really time to put my words into actions and get this show on the road! We're going to register next week! I'll be sure to post pictures.. i'm sure that will be interesting! and we are finalizing our guest list which is going to be terribly hard! We've seperated the guest list into 3 catagories.. those that MUST be invited, those that SHOULD be invited, and those that COULD be invited.. it's harder for Jason to cut people than it is for me but I still don't like the feeling of putting people on our COULD BE list.

My wedding dress is in and i'm soooo excited to see it altered even though it fit to a T before I'm hoping to see some extra fabric (aka: meaning i've lost weight! paha.. a girl can dream right?!) The girls BM dresses have been on back order because of fabric so i'm really ready to see them. We're going to get the guys ties and clothes in 2 weeks, we've got to book the food, print invites, get our address book in order so sending out invites isn't utter chaos! we're literally doing wedding stuff every week! We're going to look for fabric to cover my flower girl buckets! I'm feeling so crafty!

I feel like my blog is getting more boring to those that aren't involved in the wedding craziness so i'm going to add a picture of some friends and I from the festival of lights! Enjoy :)

Sorry it's so small!! I'm on the far right !

With Love from the South :)

nursing school has made me into the woman i never wanted to be..

nursing school has made me into
0 someone who enjoys cleaning, simply for the fact that it means i'm not studying
o someone who doesn't know what it feels like to not be stressed
0 someone who begs for anti-stress meds on a 24 hours basis
o somoene who is ALWAYS a grouch and never a giver..
0 someone who thinks everything is about me because there is never any 'ME' time
o someone who LOVES going to work because babies make me happy *not a bad thing*
0 someone who has not been on a date in months
o someone who doesn't recognize the little things in life, though they mean the most!
0 someone who doesn't recognize the difficulties in other lives
o someone who is never and optimist and always a pessimist.
0 someone who has aged more in 3 years than should be possible! (imbalanced nutrition:more than body requirements related to the stress of nursing school as evidenced by increase weight gain)

I couldn't believe i'd let myself get to this point.. and as i thought about it today i realized i don't have to be that person. I want to be the Jen who cares, is a giver to all, is caring, passionate about life, always a positive thinker, loves to participate in things not because it means i'm not studying but because my loved ones deserve my time. I want to quit fighting and start giving others what they deserve so that in a year when I look back I don't have to say look at all the time i've wasted but look at how much i've learned and grown up and managed all the things in life and still cared for others and made a difference!

So, my goal this week.. is to enjoy EVERYTHING. i want to enjoy studying, enjoy the times i'm at home, enjoy the day i can enjoy a date with the most amazing guy who has been neglected for far too long, i'm going to check things off my wedding list and not get stressed over the tiniest things like trying on a rehersal dinner dress or looking at wedding cakes!! After all, only 160-something days left!!

on a side note-i promise i will post pictures soon! the video doens't work for me so ill post pics :) love y'all!

New things to come SOON

196 days away from being a wife, 2 weeks away from my 21st bday, a few weeks away from another semester of school being over, 2+ months away from our 1 year anniversary of engagement, T-minus 5 days away from being home owners (hopefully!)... so many things are going on!!! I'm pretty excited that our house will be finished because we've totally made the house the focus and haven't done a thing for the wedding.. HA! i look back at all the posts and that seems to be a common finding.. no wedding planning done! oh well, it is what it is.

family-the next post will be a tour of our house! but you'll have to wait patiently so that we can get it prettied up first!

Things I'm looking forward to this November

-time off of school AND WORK!!! woohoo :)
- family coming
-visiting our wedding venue with my fam
-my birthday... I LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!
-thanksgiving day parade
-closing on our house
-decorationg OUR way
-learning how to use coupons
-Clemson vs. Carolina game on the 28th
-going garage selling
-booking hair, nail, and make up appointments for the BIG day!!!


In December the girls are getting there BM dresses in and in January my dress is coming! We've booked our cake vendor and our rehersal dinner location! Things are turning around yet there is so much to be done. I've got to figure out flowers soon and get on top of the decorations!! One of my very talented childhood friends will be designing our invitations and i'm SO excited how they are turning out so far!

We'll keep you posted! Have a great week!

Happy 4 year Anniversary Jas!

October 26th marks our 4 year anniversary... some days it seems like the last 4 years have flown by and others it seems like they have dragged on and on.

Here's a look at the past 4 years in our lives

2005- I met Jason during the summer when I came to his church to play in a rec basketball league. Jason and I got to know each other for a few months and then after church we met at Taco Bell and Jason and me if I would be his girlfriend. I said yes and a month later we celebrated my 17th birthday (yes we are young!) and our one month anniversary.. [i laugh because we never could have imagined 4 years later we'd still be together and planning our wedding] We talked on the phone for hours and hours at night and asked each other EVERY single question you could possibly ask one another. We could kick ourselves for not writing a book.

2006- This year is a blur to me, unfortunately. I remember in February we told each other we loved each other. ( I think back and wonder how in 4 months, at such a young age we knew there was something so much different about our relationship... and we knew we loved each other but we didn't know that it was an inckling of what it is today) I remember texting WAY too much in class because we went to two different schools.

2007- We graduated HS and started college. I think 2007 was when our families realized we were more serious and not just young kids crazy about each other. We started talking about how much we wanted to be together FOREVER and EVER :) (jas is going to kill me for putting our mushy gushy stuff on here for everyone to read but.. life goes on) We went on a mission trip to NY and it was AMAZING!! Jason and I grew so very much closer and it was an amazing experience to use one of my favorite things, basketball to teach people about Jesus. I desire to that again.. more than that I desire to do medical missions when I'm out of school. We both have so much passion for helping people... those are things we can accomplish in our next 4 years :)

2008- I got accepted into nursing school..(later I was to find out how much of my life that would consume) and we celebrated that HUGE blessing. We visited our families and went on a lot of vacations. We went to Virginia, Iowa, the mountains, and the beach.. A LOT. We talked alot about the 'perfect' ring.. and how jason would ask me to marry him. (I thought he was going to ask me in July 2010.. well actually I told him he had to because I couldn't wait any longer.. yes I just admitted that to the WHOLE world..) He asked me on December 21, 2008 at Edisto Beach. It was a HUGE surprise.

2009- We started to plan our wedding... and we still continue to do so! In June we started building our first home which is set to close next week. We got more wedding planning done. We're eager for school to get over with. Only 3 semesters of nursing school left and a few more until Jason graduates with his degree in youth ministry and minor in religion. We're super excited about the next 6 months until our wedding day. We've got tons more to finish planning but it is getting so close!

That has been our last 4 years in a nut shell with many memories that I could never forget.
-Halloween Extravaganza (the first year): I really started to like Jason.. I mean I really started to get an eye for him. We laughed and laughed and it was sooo much fun! The car ride home was CRAZY.. Jason rode curled up on my lap all the way home..
-Our first trip to the fair was interesting. That's all I can say about that.
- All the times we've played basketball and hurt each other. Just for the record I've punched Jason in his nose, he's busted lip, pushed each other down... and none of it was intentional.
-Pahaaa, how could I forget the first time we met. Jason popped his shoulder out and needed ice and he came to the concession stand and said, 'get me ice.' my response: 'get it yourself.' (we thought the other was a jerk)
- all those times we walked on the beach and the many car rides home, those were the days!
- the many toodles we gave each other.
-the times i didn't want you to leave so i cried every time you left me. (i'm a super huge baby when it comes to him! sad i know)


Jas, I loved you so much then but I love you so much more now. Thank you for spending the last 4 years with me and thank you for asking me to be your wife. I cannot wait to spend many more years with you, growing old with you, and experiencing all that life has to offer. You are my rock and I could not imagine life without you. I am so looking forward to being your wifey. I love you with all my heart.

CLEMSON!!

C L E M S O--N T I G E RRRRRRRR S fight tigers, fight tigers, fight fight fight!!

So I went to the Clemson game on saturday and it was so much fun!! I really enjoy football and it was a much needed break for me. AND Jason doesn't like Clemson so it was great that I just so happend to be going to my friends house, up state, who does!! As soon as we left I was begging Jason to take me back...AND he said YES!!

The weather was FREEEZING!! Like very crisp.. it was wet and rainy and oh, so cold.. but that didn't stop the Clemson fans!! And even better.. WE WON (38 to 3) and played a really good game! Go Tigers!

Here are some pics from Death Valley!!

I just have to explain this picture, so everyone can get the full effect. I had on a tank top, long john shirt, t-shirt, rain jacket, and a north face jacket, jeans.. and of course.. FLIP FLOPS! Just looking at this picture make me cold! (secretly, i'm shreeking that i'm putting this picture up.. all my make-up is off... yikes!)

Praise the Lord I got to take this trip! It was a long drive but very much needed! Can't wait to go back to see another game.. way better than watching it on TV!

Nov. 28th Clemson plays the Gamecocks ... yippy!!!

updates..

Here are some pictures of the house.. it's been VERY busy around here so this has been about all we've kept up with.... Enjoy! Ps.. got any decorating ideas??

e-pics!

Hey Hey Hey
So yesterday we got our engagement pictures taken. Can I just tell you how much fun it was and how our photographer truly did capture so much of who we are..

We got to see about 20 of our pics from yesterday and most of them I LOVE! some not so much but that's why he took a couple hundred :)

Here is the link to look at the ones he posted and tonight he's going to post the rest of them on his webpage... http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=113498&id=145399012898

Also, I just can't help but say I'm crazy in love with my gorgeous fiance! He is so amazing. Lately, I've been so hard to handle and he still loves me.. it really suprises me that I have someone who loves me this much.. he the greatest and the best.

Anyways... Enjoy!

** I think next I'll post some new pics of the house.. we'll see** Also I need some wedding ideas to make our wedding personal.. but I need DIY ideas.. got any?