If You're Going to San Francisco...

Please be sure to pack a raincoat.

Ha - you thought I was going to say wear flowers in your hair, didn't you? I like to keep you guessing. But you can wear flowers in your hair if you want. You'd fit right in.

Tyler and I took a trip to San Francisco to celebrate our 5th anniversary/my upcoming birthday on which I will celebrate the 9th anniversary of my 21st birthday. We had a great time.


Some highlights:

The Chinese New Year parade (apparently one of the top 10 parades in the world - had no idea). Then, eating at a restaurant in Chinatown. Let me just say, it is fly by the seat of your pants when you're picking a restaurant in Chinatown. It was slightly scary, yet strangely exhilarating. There are some interesting things hanging in the windows. And fried rice in Chinatown is not the same as fried rice at PF Chang's. Or wherever you like to get your Chinese food. Not bad, just different.











































Meeting an old friend for the day and getting a super tour of San Fran and seeing the redwoods. The redwoods are gorgeous! I'm so glad we got to see them. And apparently, Muir Woods is where the Ewoks in Star Wars lived. Well, I mean, not for real - but that's where it was shot. All my Star Wars friends (ahem, Brenda) will appreciate that. :)






































Driving to Sonoma to visit wine country. It is BEAUTIFUL there. I think I could stay there for a week and just sit on a porch in a rocking chair and read. We went to a few wineries, where Tyler, my non-wine loving husband, developed an appreciation for it. Way to go, honey! We ate a delicious lunch in little historic downtown Sonoma. I think Tyler said it was the best burger he ever had. High praise, coming from him.







































We also took a ferry ride under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz. It was flipping cold, but it was still fun and we got a lot of good pics. The Golden Gate Bridge is quite impressive and it made me hum the theme song to Full House whenever I saw it. Which is always fun. I think Tyler and I sang it all the way through while driving across it.



















































And speaking of Full House, on a totally unrelated note, please watch this link and tell me it made you cringe and laugh as much as I did. I could do a whole post about Full House. But I digress.

So, clearly we had a great time in San Francisco. I'm actually headed back out to the left coast for work tomorrow - it's no vacation, but I'll take a trip to LA over sitting at my desk anyday!

Snow!

I'm really doing an excellent job with my New Year's resolution about keeping up my blog. Thanks for pointing that out, Michelle. I need someone to hold me accountable. Oh, Brenda, thank you too. And Tyler. So it's really not being held "accountable". It's just being hounded. And it appears to have finally worked. Well done, guys.

I have other updates coming, but first, in a shocking turn of events - it snowed. In Atlanta. In March. So, while the rest of the city was rushing out to the store to buy up all the bread and milk they could, I took a picture of our house to commemorate the occasion. People, this is rare. It had to be documented. Lily didn't know what to do with herself. I wish I'd gotten a picture of her contemplating the snow with her head cocked to one side.

Snow yesterday, but a high this week of 68. March is off to a brilliant start!

Who me? Not update my blog?

You must have me confused with another, much more irresponsible blogger. I would never do that. If I WERE to do that though, I would blame it on the busy holidays. Not laziness.

So, Happy New Year everyone! And by everyone, I mean the approximately 5 folks who read my blog. My audience is small, but my readers are dedicated. Hope you all had a good one. :)

This entry doesn't so much have a topic so much as to let you know that I'm back and my New Year's resolution is to update my blog more. Hopefully this one will go better than most all of my other New Year's resolutions have gone.

Lily, however, is much better at keeping her resolutions. This year they are to learn to appreciate good art and be cuter. As you can see from the picture below, mission: accomplished.

Looking Around

One of my favorite quotes, sayings, whatever you want to call it goes:

Sorrow looks back
Worry looks around
Faith looks up.

I have been spending too much time looking around lately. I'm a worrier by nature, but have been especially so lately. And I find, naturally, that when I spend so much time worrying and "looking around", I don't have nearly enough time to look up. This is not what my Heavenly Father wants for me. He doesn't want me dwelling on things I have no control over. He doesn't want me so caught up in my own mind that I'm not focusing on my relationship with Him. It's so much easier to brood, and dwell and sigh a lot and wonder if this is the plan He has for me than to realize that it is EXACTLY the plan He has for me. Even if I don't get it. And don't like it. I'm not supposed to. My human nature tells me that I should, but I'm not promised roses and sunshine throughout my time on this earth. That's not the deal. Jesus didn't get that. So why on earth would I, sinful, flawed me, expect to? Human nature. The constant struggle to realize that it's NOT all about me. It's all about Him. I pray and pray that His will is MY will - and I don't think it's wrong to pray about/ask for things I want. He wants to know the desires of my heart. I just can't expect that they are always in line with His plans. That is a hard pill to swallow. It's big and tastes gross and needs a lot of water to get it down. Or a lot of faith.

So all that to say, I'm going to start spending more time looking up. And in keeping with the season, being thankful.

I'm so thankful for:

A loving, supportive family
Prayerful friends
My solid-as-a-rock, not to mention, handsome, husband
The coming Advent season
My grandmother's turkey and dressing!
Time with aforementioned family
The armful of love that is my dog
Leaving work early
Faith
Hope
and Love

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I pray it's a blessed one for you all.

Happy Birthday, Peyton!

Today is our nephew, Peyton's, birthday. So of course we have to give him a little blogger birthday love in honor of his big day.

And not only is it his birthday, it's his THIRTEENTH birthday. Big stuff. Peyton, we hope you have a great day and we'll see ya soon!

Love ~ Ty-Ty and Jennifer

PS - Yes, that's a UT hat he's wearing, but we try not to hold that against him. :)


PPS - You might find some more flattering pictures of our handsome nephew over at his family blog, linked on the right, but we're all about posting the most embarrassing pictures we can here at The Dojo.

MckMiracle

You may have noticed the new button "MckMiracle" button on my side bar. Look at me, getting all fancy! I have been following this blog for a while and want to encourage you to jump over there and read all about this family and their little miracle baby. "MckMama's" faith is inspiring and I've been so blessed in reading some of her posts. I'll let you read all about her and her family yourself.

We all have dark days and times in our lives - I know I do. Sometimes it's impossible to understand why things happen. And I constantly have to remind myself that I may never understand, no matter how desperately I want to. My job is to trust completely in my God and His goodness and mercy. And while sometimes, a miracle happens, sometimes, one doesn't. But that doesn't change who He is. This is a struggle for me to understand from an earthly perspective, but I cling to it and know in my heart that He has "plans to prosper and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11). Amen!

Country Road

One of the many blessings in my life is having a wonderful family - both mine and Tyler's. Not only are Tyler and I big fans of each other's families, they also seem to be big fans of each other too. So, it wasn't weird to me that Tyler, myself, my mom & dad, and his mom & dad packed up a van and took a 12 hour road trip to West Virginia to see the Auburn Tigers take on the Mountaineers. It was, however, weird to almost every other person I told about it. I was met with incredulous looks, much questioning, and finally astonishment that I was, actually, telling the truth.

We had a great time, apart from the 34-17 loss and Tyler's losing battle with car sickness. Or, I guess I should say, van sickness. The drive up was lovely - West Virginia in the fall is beautiful.

This is New River Gorge. Isn't it pretty?


















We stayed in a little town called Shinnston on the way - it's about 40 minutes outside Morgantown. Lots of fresh air, beautiful countryside and even a pet cow.















This is Sharlyn. She likes grass, head scratches, and long walks in the pasture.















This is where we stayed in Shinnston. Can't you just taste the fresh air?

And we did actually go to a football game, so I GUESS I should post some pictures from that. As much as I'd like to forget it.















Smiles before the game. Poor saps. We had no idea what was about to happen.















I think this must have been the first half, since everyone is still smiling. Or maybe they're just putting on a brave face. Oh look, Tyler's trying to get in the picture. Ham.















West Virginia has a lovely stadium, though. And some cold weather. And a fast offense.

On the way home, we stopped in Jonesboro, the oldest town in Tennessee. What a great little town. Very Southern Living.