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missing113
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Name: Jess
Gender: Female
Interests: paper stores. children's books.crime dramas. baking goodies.cooking for others.working w/kids.seeing ppl grow.design shows.wedding flowers.bread&water
Expertise: being overly dramatic
Message: message me
Member Since:
1/21/2004
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| This weekend marks a year of writing on this site. Since then I have had a million and one invites to create a Facebook page, update my Friendster site, and countless other such "keep in touch" with your friends via the internet as opposed to my methods of choice: written letters, phone calls, and over a cup of coffee (or tea or hot chocolate or dessert - you can pick). 
On Saturday, I turned 30 and I can't imagine life being so completely unique than it has been these last two weeks of my 20's. I suppose most people would talk about the physical aging or the lack of ability/agility to do what we used to. We might even talk about our changes toward being real adults: buying property, moving into the responsible phase of life, viewing "fellowship" from a different place, or valuing the relationships that have brought us to this moment in time.
So with that said - here are the things that drastically impacted my transition into my 30's:
* Two weeks before my birthday we went on a long awaited fishing trip with Alex & Mandy. I think Dan has been waiting 3 years to be able to go fishing with Alex. My pride and joy came from catching the biggest fish of the day - it was an 18 inch seabass! In the end we caught a ton of fish (that we could keep) probably 25 between Dan and me. Though I think Dan caught 20 of those 25. Gee they were yummy!
* A week before my birthday I found out that I was nearly 24 weeks pregnant. It was both an answer to many prayers and a shock to "how could I not know"! Nevertheless God always has a funny way of working in your life and I couldn't ask for a better way of things turning out...btw I'm due in mid-Feb.
* The weekend of my birthday Dan took me to Paris. It was my first time in France...and Europe for that matter. Stacey & Wilson joined us for the weekend full of crepes, pain au chocolat, walking through the sites, crepes, late night overstuffed dinners, figuring out the metro, crepes, onion soup, and countless ham & cheese on a baguette. Both the company and the food were great! The city was amazing too!
I'm not sure if I'll keep up with writing here...but this year has been fun...here's to more ways of enjoying God's provision in my life, the blessing of family and friends and community, and all the unexpected twists and turns of life!
I can't wait to experience what's next...
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| ** disclaimer: reading the following will not ruin the book for you if you haven't yet read or finished yet **
Yesterday, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I started on Sunday and took my time. In the name of normal sleep and doing things that I had already scheduled, I was rather diligent in my ability to close the book at the end of a chapter when necessary. I have to say it was not exactly what I expected but then again there were some things that I knew had to be in there cause it is the last book. I mean Rowling had to tie up the possible ends to ensure no one would try to continue the series.
I was talking with Jessica about our hopes for the ending (we were both about 2/3 through). Needless to say we had very different thoughts about how the book would/should end. Let's just say it ended in a way that I was much more happy about than she! But we both enjoyed it.
I noticed a few things about myself while reading this book...I find them amusing, Dan on the other hand thinks it makes me too strict (Harry Potter-Nazi to use his terms). I'm sure some of you will agree with me because it is simply a matter of principle! So Dan started the book before I did, because I am on summer break I let him start reading even though (1) he has only seen the movies and not read the previous books and (2) I have been waiting for its arrival since I pre-ordered back in April! In the past week I have obviously had more time to read and therefore passed his place in the story...because he is less of a reader than I am he has now been trying to read the last few chapters just to know what happens! Let's just say I am keeping a very close eye on him while reading. haha
Last week we saw the latest movie, Order of the Phoenix. I really liked it. In fact I have liked most of the movies. For all you purest out there, I've decided that you have to evaluate the movies and books separately. However I do believe you should read the books first. Yes, the movies miss a lot of the cleverness of the written story, but they are entertaining and its great to see how they create the "magical world" of the books. Can't wait for the last 2 movies!
Definitely would recommend both if you haven't read or seen them already. What to read now?
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| This past week Dan and spent a few days in Manchester, Vermont. Vermont you ask? I though Manchester was in New Hampshire! We stayed in this little quaint town at a really nice resort called The Equinox. Having never been to Vermont there were quite a few things for us to learn...
- There are very few major highways in the state of VT. Most of what we traveled on were small town windy, routes passing by a million bed & breakfasts and dairy farms (see the cows in the picture?).
- Vermont is home to many famous things: Cabot Cheese, Ben&Jerry's Ice Cream, Green Mountain coffee, and yummy fudge and maple syrup. Let's just say we had a lot of cheese, ice cream, and pancakes. It would be very sad if we lived in VT couldn't eat dairy.
- Did you know that Vermont is home to the Covered Bridge Museum and has some of the most historic covered bridges in New England?
- Though Vermont is pretty famous for its wintery weather and sports to go along with it, it is quite pretty in the summer. Along with its very green scenery, there are the antique shops, golf ranges, and New England Horse Shows. I think we'll have to take a day trip up in the fall for the foliage.
  
So what do you do in Vermont? We spent day one exploring "town", the small shops, and local outlet (Dan is quite the bargain finder). On our second day, we decided to venture in to the great unknown of northern Vermont (Manchester is in southern VT). We went up to Burlington, which is a typical college town then we head over for a Ben&Jerry's factory tour...btw the sample of strawberry cheesecake ice cream was very yummy. On our last full day we were going to do resort things...hike some trails, go swimming, etc...but it rained okay, it poured! We now know why VT is so lush. So we explored southern VT and found the Bennington Monument from the Revolutionary War, the Bennington Center for the Arts, and a few of those covered bridges.
  
So let's see, I've been to (not including states I've passed through) New York, California, Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming, Washington, Hawaii, Florida, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, and now Vermont. 29 more states to go...
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| Today marks my first full week of summer break. I can't say its been all that exciting. Here's what I did this week: monday - dentist, tuesday - stayed inside, wednesday - doctor, thursday - day trip to MD, friday - sleep in. You probably don't like me very much after that...but let me assure you that I am keeping very busy.
So far this week, my "free" time has been filled with cleaning our apartment, laundry, and doing admin stuff for bread&water and our church retreat coming this fall. I have to admit that I have had my share of tv and movies over the course of this week...but I do force myself to do "work" while watching, well, 50% of the time. It's been hot out, otherwise I would go outside and read/journal in the park. Does watching tv while at the gym count?
I had great plans for this summer...thought about getting a job for the next 2 months, but after looking twice, I wasn't really all that motivated to find one. So I'll settle for catching up with friends during their lunch hour (let me know if you want to hang out!), doing my admin bits for various things, and taking in the calm of living in Battery Park City.
And don't worry I try not to sleep past 8:30am and try to avoid sitting in front of my tv the entire day...though I must admit I've had a few days where I wore my pjs all day.
My plans for the next couple months: celebrate milestones with friends and family (birthdays, weddings, church anniversary, etc.), vacation in Vermont with Dan, attend a few baseball games, a few Central Park free concerts, and catch up on some reading (I pre-ordered Harry Potter!). And of course...I'll hang out with you if you're free!
Stay tuned for more exciting summer updates...
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