Mrs. Kennedy and Me

I am a reader. I always have been. My parents instilled that in me as a child, taking me to the library once a week. I love libraries. Michael has a Kindle and while I’ve read on it, I love the physicality of books. I usually have somewhere between 4-10 books checked out from the local library simultaneously. When I get into a book, I can’t put it down. I’m one of those people who will say in my head “One more chapter” and five hours later, at 3am, I’ve finished the book. Lucky for me, my husband is the same way. In 2006, I made a new year’s resolution to read every night before I went to sleep. I missed three nights the entire year and read 68 books. That is the one and only year I made a new year’s resolution. I will read pretty much anything, though my favorite types of books are usually memoirs and nonfiction.

I just finished Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill. If you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend it. Clint Hill was the Secret Service agent assigned to Jackie Kennedy during JFK’s presidency. I loved this book!

I knew very little about Jackie Kennedy before reading this book. Like the fact that she was 31 when she became first lady. Um, hello? I will be 31 next year and I cannot imagine being the first lady. CRAZY! He brings to life the fun, mischievous personality of Jackie Kennedy, but also how she yearned for the one thing she could not have: privacy. His accounts of what happened the day their son Patrick died and of JFK’s assassination are heartbreaking and raw. And the pictures that are in the book fascinated me.

If you're looking for any mentions of JFK's alleged infidelities, you won't get much in this book. There is a brief mention of the famous "Happy birthday Mr. President" incident, and that's about it. It's really more of a look into the relationship that "Mr. Hill" and "Mrs. Kennedy" had with one another, and Hill's impressions, assumptions, and memories.

Oh, did I mention that the author is from North Dakota? That made me like him so much more!

If you need a good book, I recommend checking this one out. Opt for the hardcover version so you can see the pictures and refer back to them, as I often did.

One of my least favorite things about reading a good book is when I finish it, and then my book (or two or ten) does not measure up to how good my last book was. That’s what I’m feeling right now. My current book is The End of Your Life Book Club and it’s good and has great reviews by critics, but I just keep thinking about Mrs. Kennedy and Me. Something about that book pulled me in, and I hope that it does the same for you.

30 before 30

First off, happy birthday to my mom, who is celebrating a milestone birthday today and is home sick with the flu. What a bummer birthday! Love you Mom!!!

Since Michael and I got married nearly 5 months ago, I keep getting emails from “The Nest,” which is basically the married version of The Knot (there is also “The Bump” for when you are preggo). The emails are often newsletter-style, with six or so article titles and accompanying pictures on things like “How to keep your marriage sexy,” “How to decorate your dining room,” “Easy entertaining recipes” and crap like that (can you tell how I really feel about them?). Very rarely do I ever even click on them but there are some occasional headlines that grab my attention (or make me laugh) and I take a look.

Last week, there was one article titled “10 things you should know how to do before you turn 30.” Since I turn 30 in soon, I thought "Hey, this list could be interesting." Below is their list and how I did:

Make and keep a budget
I have been keeping a budget since I finished graduate school. And now that we are planning housing renovations, M and I are being extra vigilant about our budget.

Cook a signature dish
I feel like I am the most on top of this one. I have about 20 signature dishes, and my friends who know me well know that I am a good cook and baker. I love being in the kitchen and my signature dishes are usually not too hard (though they are often time consuming) so if you’re ever looking for some good recipes, let me know.

Write professionally
Like cooking, I feel good about this one. I am a good writer and I write professionally all the time - for my school magazine, in our solicitations, etc. Writing just comes naturally to me.

Not part with hard-earned cash
In my early 20s, I was a spender. Now that I am older, I really do have a much harder time spending my hard-earned money. I have been eyeing a purse for almost two years and while we have the money, I just can’t bring myself to pull the trigger. I'd rather have a cool vase for my house. Or save for new flooring in my bathroom.

Change a flat tire
I can absolutely not do this, nor do I ever really intend to learn how to do this. My independent brain is saying “You’re a fake” but my practical self is saying “Yeah right, Jenni…” I believe when I was in drivers ed in HS, my dad just signed the piece of paper saying he taught me how to fix a tire and that was it. He knew just as well as I did that that would probably never happen.

Look up your credit report
I do know how to do this and I have analyzed mine recently (since the house purchase). Not only was mine accurate but my score was good too!

Manage your money
This is something we are really working on right now and have spent a bunch of time on since we got married. Between our mortgage, insurances of all sorts, retirements, ROTHs, etc. there is just a lot to manage. Such is life! I am happy to say that, other than our mortgage and Michael’s car loan, we are completely debt free! We paid off our wedding expenses as they came, we have no student debt, and my car is paid off. We feel pretty lucky to be able to say that.

Swim
Can I swim? Yes. Am I a good swimmer? Eh. But being married to a former high school swim captain will help me become a better swimmer.

Move on
Oh, how I wish I could back to my early and mid-20s and tell myself this! I had the hardest time moving on from things sometimes – breakups, lost friendships, hurt feelings, etc. It’s so not worth it. I feel like I am better at moving on now that I am nearly 30.

Work/Life Balance
I would pretty much echo my last statement for this one – I am much better about this now. My first salaried job left me little work/life balance and it led me to a completely different career. I am so glad it happened because my work/life balance is really good now, and I work at a place that not just believes in it but lives it.

Total = 9/10

I still have 2 months until I turn 30. Any other recommendations of things I need to know how to do before I turn 30?

Sunshines and Creeps

Creep to sucking at blogging this week. To be honest, I had time; I just had nothing to blog about. I guess I had a boring week.

Sunshine to seeing Steph and Kristen tomorrow at Steph’s baby shower.

Sunshine to finally catching up with Kristen this week.

Sunshine to my first UND hockey game in Grand Forks in 7 years and Michael’s first tonight. I am excited to show him what college hockey is like at “The Ralph.”

Creep to how cold it was this week. It was really, freaking cold in MN and I did not enjoy that.

Creep to being lazy about working out. I am blaming the cold weather (even though it’s really my fault).

Sunshine to our newly painted bathroom. Loving our color choice and excited to keep working on this project. Next up – finding floor tile.

Court-side tickets

Last night, Michael and his dad went to the Timberwolves game. Michael’s dad he received the tickets from a patient and said they were “good seats.” I don’t think Michael knew that they were court-side seats right next to the T-Wolves bench. Michael does not love basketball, and really does not love the NBA, but when you’re sitting court-side, I guess it’s pretty fun because he could not stop talking about it when he got home.

I watched the game (I think that’s the first NBA game I have watched since Michael Jordan played) because I could see him on TV the whole time. And at the end of the third quarter, one of the opposing team’s players threw the ball right to him. I grabbed a picture of it because it was such a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Sunshines and Creeps

Creep to the worst work day I've had in a year.

Creep to feeling like crap and hoping to work from home today, only to spend the entire day in the office.

Creep to not feeling like cooking lately.

Creep to sleeping poorly all week.

Creep to playing phone tag with Kristen - we're hoping to connect on Monday.

Sunshine to seeing Chad and Michelle tomorrow. It's been way too long!

Sunshine to painting our bathroom this weekend (I won't be helpful if I'm not feeling better).

Wedding Wednesday: Reception Dance Part III

Last round of reception photos! This is it for professional wedding pictures. Hope you enjoyed looking at them over the past few months!

Our awesome photographer - thanks Katie!

My dad is cracking up in the background.

My mom doing "Call Me Maybe." She had never heard the song before then but she caught on and invented a dance move. So cute!

Love this picture of JB.

Sparkler exit time!

Being a homeowner

At the end of December, Michael and I became official homeowners. Actually, Michael's been a homeowner for 3 years and I've been one since we got married, but that's semantics. We have lived in our house since we moved to MN, but Michael and his dad purchased it together in December 2009. So last month, we purchased it from his parents.

We've pretty much acted like the owners since we moved in, but now it's officially ours. This is exciting but overwhelming at the same time. And apparently I'm freaked out by it since I have already had a few nightmares already - indoor sprinkler system accidentally going off (we don't even have one), a forest fire destroying our house (we don't live near a forest). That said, I am thrilled that the house is ours!

When we were in the process of buying our house, we had a real estate friend of ours give us listings for similarly-styled homes in our city. I wanted to see what else was our there (i.e., if there was anything better). What I found was how lucky we are to have our house. All of the houses in our price range were not up to my standards: small lots, no master bath room, detached and sometimes one-stall garages. We have the biggest lot on our street, a master bath, and a 2-stall, attached garage. I love our house and am happy where were are.

And now that the wedding is over and we have time on the weekends, we can get back to some of the house projects that we've wanted to tackle (obviously, the timeline was a bit of a dream in August 2011). This month, we're doing some painting. We're painting the master bath, guest bath, and the kitchen. We're also trying to find a tile we like so we can put heated floors in our master bathroom too.

Other upcoming projects include building a screened-in porch off of our bedroom and doing some landscape/garden work.There are lots of other things we'd love to do, but we need to save before we can go there (i.e. remodel the kitchen). Down the road, we'll have to decide if this is our "for now" house or our forever house, as we really cannot have more than one child in it the way it is now. We have dream plans: build up and add bedrooms upstairs, build a family room and new kitchen/dining area in the back of the house, etc. Now it's just a matter of saving up for those things so we can do it when we need it!

And for now, we are happy in our house. Our home. Yes, being a homeowner is a pretty great thing.

Sunshines and Creeps

Creep to a slow work week. Obviously my personal life week was good since it was Michael's birthday but work was slow and boring.

Sunshine to Miss North Dakota winning the prelim talent award at the Miss America pageant last night. In my recollection, this is the first time that Miss ND has ever won a prelim award in talent. I cannot wait for the pageant tomorrow night. My early favorites are North Dakota, Illinois, Texas, Maryland, Louisiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, NY, Michigan, Missouri and New Mexico.

Creep to not having a regular weekend since I have to go to DC for a conference.

Creep to putting off cleaning my house. I have a fun night ahead of me.

Sunshine to talking about some house plans last weekend. It will be a busy winter at our house!

Sunshine to getting a framed print from the wedding this week and loving the way it turned out. Now I (and by I, I mean Michael) just need to get up on the wall, instead of sitting on a chair in my living room.

Sunshine to celebrating four months of marriage this week. I can't believe how fast it's going by!

Goals: January 2013

Wow – it’s January 10 and I am finally back into blogging. So I should probably post my goals since we’re already 1/3 of the way through the month!

Purple Bold = complete
Black Bold = incomplete

Professional Goals – December 2012

Figure out the plan for the Distinguished Alumni/ae Award. We have a tentative plan with a date in two months. The problem is that the winners are 90 and 95 years old and they don’t have a sense of urgency when it comes to getting me their bio, invitation list, etc.

Finish planning regional events. I wish I was done with this!

Update my strategic plan. Done.

Finalize date for Reunion Weekend 2013. Done (and it’s my anniversary weekend – boo!)

Change my stupid calendar. I don’t even know why I bother writing this on here anymore. If I wait two more months, it will be accurate…

Personal Goals – December 2012

Run three days a week. Minus my time in ND, I achieved this so I'm giving it purple status.

Yoga once per week. Nope :-(

Make Michael’s parents an anniversary dinner. Did it and it was fun. Wow, that seems like a LONG time ago!

Try a new recipe. Nope – I just made a bunch of my usual Christmas cookies :-)

Figure out wedding stuff to sell and get on Craig's List. Nope (that seems to be my word of the month). I’ll tackle that some weekend this month.

Get my wedding dress preserved. Should have done that this month too but I did not.

Change my name with all my credit cards, subscriptions, etc. I have one more magazine to go.

Post about our Advent Calendar 2012 activities. I have one more post to write.

Phone dates with my friends. Ah –I am the worst friend ever.

Bake more Christmas cookies. I made a lot! I should bake less and talk on the phone more.

Work on my costume and character for my family’s murder mystery party (more on that later). Yes and it was fun.

Read like a crazy person so I can finish all my books before they are due. More like watched Parenthood like a crazy person. I did finish one book and I’m almost done with another. In full disclosure, I currently have 12 books checked out from the library.

Finish Christmas shopping. Done (obviously).

Professional Goals - January 2013

Learn as much as I can at my conference this month.

Invitations out the door to NYC event.

Invitations out the door to DAA event.

Send save the dates for Reunion Weekend.

Begin transition prep.

Read one of the books I ordered.

Watch one of the webinars I ordered.

Change that freaking calendar.

Interview people for my job.

Personal Goals – January 2013

Run three days a week.

Yoga once a week.

Celebrate Michael’s birthday with special, fun surprises for him.

Try at least two new recipes.

Phone dates with Kristen, Steph, Jen, and Caitlin.

Hang out with Chad and Michelle.

Watch Miss America and talk with Kristie about it :-)

Figure out wedding stuff to sell and get on Craig's List.

Get my wedding dress preserved.

Paint the kitchen and guest bathroom.

Start planning our bathroom project.

Take down outside Christmas lights.

Start thinking about spring planting (yeah, I’m a nerd).

Order wedding photos.

Read at least three books (I have a plane ride this month so I should be able to knock out one book on that).

Wedding Wednesday - Reception Dance Part II

More pics from our awesome dance!

My aunt Maria

Cousin Jacy

Brittany and JB

Peter dancing in the middle of Laura and Ryan

Heidi and Don

Molly and Jill

McCall

Ryan

Srini, Patrick, and Ryan

Riz and my aunt Melanie

Oh JB

LOVE this pic of Raga and Patrick

JB and Allie

Our photog enjoyed JB's antics that night

Kristie

My three favorite NU ladies :-)

Love Michael's face in this one

G

Ryan playing air guitar

I swear I was totally sober here.