New Blog Site!!!

I cannot believe it has been over a year since I last posted here.  I miss you all!  Within the past year I graduated and became Dr. Jes finally, and Chris and I were happily married!  I have also taken a break from running and am doing hot vinyasa yoga.  I am completely addicted to yoga!  (In addition, my tinnitus is nearly gone!  Perhaps it is a result of decreased stress as a result of graduating, maybe it is the mouth guard I got after noticing I was clenching my teeth at night, maybe it is the fabulous yoga I've been doing, or a combination of all three.  Either way, the ringing is significantly less!)

Chris and I are exploring new hobbies, including art classes and photography.  We have just started a new blog about our exploration of these our new hobbies and our adventures.  I would love for you to follow.

Here are some pictures to recap the past year:

Engagement photos, April 2012 [Photo by Studio222 Photography]

Engagement photos, April 2012 [Photo by Studio222 Photography]

Happy couple! Engagement photos, April 2012 [Photo by Studio222 Photography]

Graduation, August 2012

Sooo in love! November 2012 [Photo by Studio222 Photography]

With my new husband (o: November 2012 [Photo by Studio222 Photography]

The most wonderful day of our lives! November 2012 [Photo by Studio222 Photography]

Picture of a bee that I took

I am obsessed with our macro lens

Swan

 

Top: My charcoal, Bottom: Chris's

Watercolor

Our New Blog! jesandchris[dot]net

Busy busy bee

Life is crazy busy yet absolutely fantastic at the moment.  Just dropping by to say I am still alive and kicking. (o:  Have a wonderful and blessed week!

I am still alive!

I have not forgotten my blog, and I do miss all the bloggers out there.  I have been super busy with school, which is the main reason for not blogging.  The other reason is that since I joined the running group and have been running consistently with them, I no longer feel the need to blog for motivation.  I am still running.  I have let my goal of running three days a week slide a few times, but has been due to injuries and scheduling.  I have been consistently running, which was the main reason for the goal, so I am not beating myself up about it.  Chris and I have been training for a half marathon that is a week from Saturday, but I just developed a pretty painful injury in my foot, so we will see what happens.  Thursday I am supposed to run my first turkey trot, but again we will see what happens. 

Since I last blogged, I entered my thirties, and to be honest life is pretty great right now!  Life is busy but wonderful!  I hope that you all are doing well!  Happy early Thanksgiving to you all!

"This has gotta be the good life..."

 

 There have been recent events that have reminded me just how wonderful life truly is, how important friends and family are, and how important it is to put your faith in God.  While I do not wish to go into detail here, the week before I was hit with two very nerve-wracking and scary situations.  Both of these events occurred on the same day, and I confided in good friends and prayed for strength and good outcomes.  I kid you not, literally the very next day both issues were resolved with good outcomes for us.  Thank you God!  (It was as though I somehow managed to foreshadow these events with my previous blog post?  Luckily, like my previous post mentioned, we were there for each other and made it through the difficult situations.)  It is moments like that that help put the world and worries into perspective and make you appreciate life.  In addition, I felt like on that very rough day God was reminding me that he is always there... that same day we were blessed with an amazing early wedding gift.  One of Chris's dad's patients decided to donate money to our wedding as well as to his sister's wedding (Amy is getting married this October).  This was completely out of the blue, and honestly could not have occurred on a more appropriate day.  I am so grateful for all the amazing people in my life!

I am currently quite obsessed with the song "Good Life" by OneRepublic.


Life is currently quite fantastic.  Chris and I have been meeting up with the running group every Tuesday and Thursday evening.  It has been great to meet so many wonderful people.  Last weekend we decided to go for our own trail run.  I'll be honest, it turned into more a disaster than a nice run, since the trail I picked turned out to be mostly soft sand in direct sunlight.  Not to mention we also stayed up too late the night before which resulted in a late start and too hot of weather for our run.  In the end, we did have fun and concluded that we would save that particular trail for cooler weather. 

Ironically we saw this the same week The Pioneer Woman posted about one.

I nearly stepped on this guy.

This past week we also celebrate his friend's birthday at Dave and Busters, which was a lot of fun (except when the stall door lock broke in the bathroom, and I had to crawl out...it was pretty funny though.)!  This weekend we celebrated Chris's mom's b-day and met up with some of friends we have not seen in over a year. 

25th... hehe

Chris's dad makes The Best food!

Chris's mom and sister Jessica

I am currently writing this blog in Sarasota, sitting outside on the lanai at his parents' home.  I must say that I absolutely could not ask for better future in-laws!  Chris's mom also surprised me and gave me the most beautiful watch that belonged to her grandmother.  It will be my "something old" for our wedding.  I am a very lucky girl. (o:

Speaking of being a lucky girl, I seem to have lost a previous blog post that I had written.  I don't know how I managed to do that.  A few weeks ago one of my very dearest friends, Alisha, came to visit from Austin with my godson, Nick Danger.  (Unfortunately, Nick's dad, Bryan, was unable to make it.)  I have not had quality girly time with Alisha in AGES.  We had a terrific time!  She is by far one of the most brilliant, generous, and kind individuals I have ever met.  She and her husband have had such a positive impact on my life and have been there for me through the most difficult moments in my life.  While Alisha and Nick were in town, we did lots of wedding planning.  I was able to show her our wedding venue, and she tried on dresses since she is going to be my matron of honor.  We had a great time!  My godson is getting so big, and he is such a little gentleman!  (He does have the best parents!)  I just cannot say it enough... I am so blessed for all the wonderful people in my life!

Nick at our wedding venue

Well it is quite warm outside, so I think I'll go for a dip in the pool.  I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and will have an even better week!

P.S.  Did anyone else absolutely love the I Love Lucy tribute on Google yesterday?!

{blank} is a special occasion.

As I have mentioned previously, I absolutely love the blog Enjoying The Small Things.  Today Kelle posted about the "Life is a Special Occasion" Hallmark Challenge in which she is participating.  I decided that I want to participate as well.  So I quickly scribbled out a few cards, put stamps on them, and dropped them in the mailbox.  When was the last time you received a hand-written note in the mail?  I know that when my grandparents send me cards, it completely makes my day. 

I also entered the online contest(through Facebook).  I thought I would share my entry:

Running with my fiance    ...is my any-day special occasion.

As anyone who has ever gone for a run knows, running is not always easy.  Running is a lot like life.  Some days you are on top of the world, and you know you can accomplish anything.  Other days you are struggling to put one foot in front of the other and contemplate just giving up and going back to bed.  The great joy about running with my fiance is that I know he is there to cheer me on during my "I feel like an Olympic athlete" days and to gently push me over the hurdles of the "this is too hard; I am not strong enough" days.  I love running with my fiance because I know that I am there for him during his ups and downs too.  I imagine our marriage to be like one giant ultra marathon race that we run side-by-side.  It will be full of "runner's highs" and sometimes lows, but together we will enjoy the journey.  Running with my fiance is my any-day special occasion, because it reminds me that together we can do anything.

~*~*~

I hope that you all have a wonderful day and rest of the week!  I'm off to work!

Trail run

Chris and I met up with the running group today for a really fun trail run at Weikiwa State Park.  The running path was 5.6 miles, but after doing a little back tracking we ended up running about 6 miles.  It was very hot, and we ended up doing a walk/run.  We were both glad that I bought my hydration pack filled with ice water.  Although running on trails seemed more difficult, I loved it so much more than running on the road.  After meeting up with the rest of the group, we all went in the spring which was like an ice bath.  At first it was extremely cold, but after you were very glad you got in the water.  After the spring, most of us headed out to breakfast.  We had a really wonderful time.  After returning home, I took a nap which was splendid.  I love afternoon naps. 

I have a few pictures to share.  I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend!

wild turkey

 

 

 

We counted 9 turkeys

 

 

Heading to the trail head