#12. Dress Up and Go Out to Dinner!

#12. Dress up and go out to dinner.

What's better than getting ALL dressed up and going out to dinner with friends? Nothing! It's the best! A good friend of mine, named Kara, just earned her Girl Scout Gold Award. For those of you that might not know what the Gold Award is, let me explain. The Gold Award is the highest award that you can earn as a Girl Scout, it is equivalent to the Boy Scout Eagle. To earn this award, you have to jump through some hoops of pre-requirements. After that is all said and done, you pick a project that benefits your community and is sustainable for the future. Mentors help you through your project a little bit, but essentially it's all up to you! The Gold Award is great for helping strengthen leadership skills, communication, and confidence. I personally earned my Gold Award 2 years ago, and I am very proud of it. When I found out my friend Kara, who is a year younger than me, was doing her Gold Award, I knew she was going to do great! For her project she made memory scrapbooks for elderly people with dementia. Her project affected many people and really turned out to be super amazing. 

Her mom threw her a surprise party honoring and congratulating her on achieving such a prestige award. I personally LOVE surprise parties. I think they are so fun! We all met at this cute & little bakery/bistro place. They specialized in yummy treats that make your tummy smile. I loved the chance to get dressed up fancy and spend some quality time with some amazing friends! 

Julie, Annie, Kelly & I. Aren't we pretty? :)

Mother-daughter LOVE. <3 

#69. Cook dinner for my parents.

#69. Cook dinner for my parents.

So another item on my bucket list is to cook dinner for those lovely parents of mine. For all my life they have provided for me not only emotionally and such, but also with good food in my tummy. I thought it would be nice to return the favor every so often. 

My family loves to grill things on our grill, and my favorite thing is burgers! Good 'old American Cheeseburgers! Yeah buddy! So one night I went to Jewel and got all the necessary items for a cook out and brought them all home. I set the table and started the grill up! 

Quick side story. Right by the grill on the side of our house is a gutter that lets all the rain water not flood our house. During the summertime a little bird decides that it's a good idea to make her nest there. While it's away from all the elements that may bother her, it does cause her to get mad at us when we grill. She always will fly away in a huff and puff and chirp at us like crazy! One day I told her that I wouldn't snatch up her babies, but she should be careful because she might end up on our grill if she keeps back talking to us. She still chirped at me, but it's alright. Ha! 

So I continued to prepare dinner and went a little overboard on preparing the fruit for the meal. I love watermelon and love to make those fruit kabob things. So I thought I would become a culinary chef for the night and make a masterpiece! It turned out pretty well until it became a little top heavy and fell over... Oh well! It was good while it lasted! 

My Mom, Dad, Riley & I ready to enjoy our dinner! 

Yum yum yum! Yummy in your tummy! 

I may or may not have gone a little over board with the preparation of the fruit... 

What kinds of yummy things have you made or eaten lately? 

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

#10. Make a Pinterest craft (maybe 2 or 3…)

Item #10 on my bucket list = Make a Pinterest craft (maybe 

2 or 3…)

That is quite easy for me! I love crafts. AND. I love Pinterest! I probably love Pinterest a little bit too much... But that's okay. YOLO? Right? It's not a big deal that I have my wedding planned out on there... Or that I have my dream house picked out with the colors and everything! 


The first craft that I did was for my wonderful Mom for Mother's Day. I am in love with how it turned out and I'm really excited to share it!


So I first went to the dollar store and got a semi flat sided, yet round candle holder. I do realize that last sentence didn't make sense, flat but round? Yeah, I guess it has been a long day... Anyways. The glass is medium sized and can hold a candle very nicely. I then went to the scrapbook store and got vellum paper. Vellum paper is the type of paper that you can print pictures or other things on, so that is very exciting. Next I measured out the space where I wanted the picture to be. I then made sure that my picture was that size when I printed it on the vellum paper. The picture printed very nicely on the paper, so the next step is to cut the picture out to fit the size of the glass. To attach the photo to the glass, I used clear double sided tape. It actually worked out better than I thought it would. Plus, my Mom loved! We now light the candle when we have family dinners. :) Yeah buddy! 

My homemade candle holder! 

More Pinterest crafts will probably come in the near future. Until then, what fun Pinterest crafts have you made?? I would love to hear about them! 

{Peace&Love} Jenny

Summer Bucket List!

Summer Bucket List 2012!!!!

I decided that it would be fun to make a bucket list of things to do this summer. I came up with a list of 70 things to do. I am keeping a journal (both on paper and on this blog), taking a picture of each thing and writing about each adventure. Hopefully by the end of the summer I will have a journal filled with pictures, stories and memories to last a lifetime! Sound cheesy? Maybe. But I'm excited. :) 

So here's THE list:

1.             Take a jumping picture on a trampoline.

2.             Watch fireworks at Navy Pier.

3.             Go on a daddy-daughter dog walk. 

4.             Buy lemonade from a lemonade stand.

5.             Make a fort in the living room.

6.             Get a mani/pedi.  

7.             Go swimming!

8.             Have a water balloon fight.

9.             Tie dye something.

10.                  Make a Pinterest craft (maybe 2 or 3…)

11.                  Go to a drive-in movie.

12.                  Dress up and go out to dinner. 

13.                  Write letters to far away friends.

14.                  Go to SONIC!

15.                  Make homemade crayons

16.                  Find true love?

17.                  Fly a kite

18.                  Go on a picnic

19.                  Stargaze

20.                  Go on a road trip

21.                  Go on a vacation

22.                  Go to the farmers market

23.                  Make chocolate chip cookies

24.                  Family movie & game night

25.                  Go mini golfing

26.                  Eat popsicles.

27.                  Go to the beach

28.                  Make homemade pizza

29.                  Have an Un-Birthday party

30.                  See an IMAX/3D movie

31.                  Do sidewalk chalk art

32.                  Roast marshmallows

33.                  Celebrate 4^th of July

34.                  Have a sleepover

35.                  Go garage saleing with Bapa

36.                  Play in the sprinkler

37.                  Hand wash the car

38.                  Visit the Bean in Chicago

39.                  Ride my bike

40.                  Have a costume party

41.                  Go bowling

42.                  Go backyard camping.

43.                  Dance in the rain

44.                  Have a bon fire

45.                  Go to a concert

46.                  Bake something for someone

47.                  Make a new friend

48.                  Test drive a car.

49.                  Visit the zoo!

50.                  Take the train somewhere

51.                  Rearrange my room

52.                  Hike around Waterfall Glen

53.                  Go fishing

54.                  Go to IKEA!

55.                  Eat breakfast for dinner.

56.                  Play with the puppies at the pet store

57.                  VOLUNTEER!

58.                  Take Nana & Bapa on an adventure.

59.                  Grow in my faith.

60.                  Fry an egg outside.

61.                  Go to the county fair

62.                  See the sun set and rise.

63.                  Go to a baseball game.

64.                  Have a BBQ with friends.

65.                  Make ‘Dirt in a Cup’.

66.                  Go on a photo-shoot with friends

67.                  Make chalk paint

68.                  Go to a museum

69.                  Cook dinner for my parents

70.                  Hold an end of summer party

Do you have a summer bucket list? I would love to hear about it! If you don't have one, make one! It doesn't have to have a ton of things, just make a few that you would like to accomplish! 

{Peace&Love} Jenny 

Dear Mother Nature, We are friends off...

Today is Thursday. The temperature was out of this world, and that is totally not cool. Ha! So what do I do in this heat filled day? I GO TO CAMP! It seems like the obvious thing to do. My mom is in charge of the archery program at our local Girl Scout camp. I was privileged to go out to camp today and hang out with her and all the core staff! While I had a ton of fun, it was just so dang hot! It was one of those days where you just don't stop sweating no matter what... Yeah...

One story I would like to share was about a conversation I had with a Brownie, who was going into 2nd grade. She was shy at first, but after I started talking with her and asking her some questions, she didn't stop talking! I guess her extended family was coming in from out of town, so she told me about each of her 40 or 50 something relatives that were coming in. She came in late this morning, so I was helping her to find where her unit was. We went to their campsite, but there were no where to be found. I told the little girl that her counselors and other friends turned invisible and were hiding from us! We then made it our mission to put on "invisible-seeing glasses" and find her friends! It was quite an adventure! Oh to be 7 again! We then started talking about flying cars. How we got on this subject, I'm still not quite sure. She said that her dad told her that when she's older and has kids there will prolly be flying cars. She then said that she will tell her kids that, 'When I was your age, cars had 4 wheels!!' It was so funny to hear this 7 year old talk about the future and what she will tell her future kids!

So Thursday was very adventurous. I am exhausted now from the heat and I'm heading off to bed! Goodnight world! Sleep well and don't let the bed bugs bite!

{Peace&Love} Jenny

I'm back! :)

Summer is just around the corner for some. For me it has already arrived. I realize that it has been quite a while since I have blogged, and I do find myself missing it. So I'm back! I have had a lot of things on my mind lately and have been typing up or scribbling on random sheets of paper around my messy room. I hope you find my posts interesting and possibly insightful because this is the way I see it. :)

Life is Better with Jesus.

I can definitely say that life is better with my good friend, Jesus. About a year ago, an online store/website found it's way into my life. It's called Son Gear. They have wonderful things like shirts, cards, hoodies, and anything else you can imagine. It is a Christian based website, and the creator has such a passion for Christ and it shows in the things they distribute. One cool thing they are doing now is called "Coat for Coat." This project involves buying a coat, and by doing so, Son Gear will donate a coat to someone who needs it. 

Its a great ministry that you should definitely check out in the near future. Visit it at: www.songear.com 

Until next time,

Jenny