Appliances (Our 4th Anniversary!)

Four years ago I was here...

with him...

getting married!

I loved that day!

Your 4th wedding anniversary gift traditionally is flowers or fruit. A more modern version is apparently linen or silk. And as an alternative... appliances. If you know me, appliances would be a bad idea for a gift. I do like gadgets though, and for some reason want every kitchen item you could own but not as a gift. I know, I am picky but I feel like that is for the house, not me.

To celebrate our 4 years of marriage, (Wow! How has it possibly been that long already?) we tried some alternatives to an appliance, or a personal appliance. For Jared this would be the mountain bike he has been wanting to get for years. 

I got some fancy new shades from Ray Ban. Lets hope this time I don't go all "Incredible Hulk" and rip them in half like a two of pairs I recently broke.  Oops! There were also flowers, cards, calls and gifts from family. So very nice of them, especially the gift from my sister and her family. Chocolate covered strawberries, which were to die for!

To celebrate we went out to our place for dinner. Where we got engaged, where we have gone for each anniversary, where we love to just be together. Fillet with crab, my favorite summer cocktail - the white cosmo, and cheesecake. Delicious!


































Of course when we got home we watched our wedding video. And even though he complains a little about watching it every year, I know he loves it as much as I do. Happy Anniversary to us! We are the luckiest.

Where did the week go?

This past week just blew by! Jared is working like crazy this month. So much call that is supposed to be at home but keeps him at the hospital... trauma season at the Level 1 Trauma Center = no fun and him working like back in his general surgery residency days. I can't wait until it is done!! In between working we were able to watch both Planet of the Apes and John Carter this past week. Loved them both!

On the weekend we headed over to J's Aunt and Uncle's house for some pool time. Of course, ZERO photos taken by me. I must be in a lazy summer haze... no photos?!? Luckily I got a few from our friends who met us for the afternoon. Stacey came with her daughter and Shannon with her 3 kiddos.

J and I were completely spent after they left. Being fun "Miss Jenny & Mr. Jared" is exhausting sometimes!

We ended the weekend on Sunday with a trip on Dr. Classen's boat. It was such a nice night we drove the Jeep out on the beach.

I love summer!

His Last Year

July 1st begins J's last year of training... his 7th year... and we are excited! I was able to snap a photo of him in his office recently. Just too cute! I am so proud of this man.

We met all the new interns last night at a local bar called the Winking Lizard. It is so surreal to think back... 6 years ago when his training started. Back then, we weren't even engaged yet. Still doing the long distance relationship thing, trying to make it work being so far away from each other. His surgery residency seemed like it would be forever. Then 2 years more for plastics? Yikes! But it has been good. So good. So we celebrated. To the beginning of the end and then a new beginning. We treated some of the newbies and just had a great night.

It really has been a fast 6 years looking back. Not sure what Jared would say about that. I know this has all been a bit more challenging for him. :) Cheers to whatever comes next!

Summer Vacation 2012 - Blacksburg

The drive from Florida all the way back to Cleveland is long... too long! So we listened to a book on CD, "Killing Lincoln" about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln instead of just music. It was great! Can't wait for the "Killing Kennedy" book to come out this year. After a 12 hour drive we broke up our trip with a last night stop over at our favorite place...



We had a lovely Virginia last-day-of-our-vacation day with some shopping, walking around campus, and a lovely lunch outside at The Cellar. Oh, how I love vacation!

Summer Vacation 2012 - Florida

Next stop on our trip was Florida! We took the scenic route, through the middle-of-nowhere roads and little towns. Our arrival was just in time for happy hour with J's parents, dinner, and then out to a country western bar AND dueling piano bar for some music!

Unfortunately the weather wasn't the greatest during our visit but we still loved our stay! We vegged, swam in the pool, went out to the movies, shopped and worked on the family tree. I didn't take many photos... must have been too relaxed! We drove around to Seaside Beach and past the land my family owns. 

Our last full day in town we rented a boat and headed out on the water. And wouldn't you know it, the sun made an appearance! We spent the whole day out in the sunshine and even had our own little island... shell island that is.

We got out of the water just in time to miss the purple tide... jellyfish. All of the sudden they were EVERYWHERE, millions of them!! Thank goodness we survived with no stings! That night we had a delicious seafood dinner with J's parents right on the beach.

And just like that, it was time to go. Off to our next stop before our trip was over.

Summer Vacation 2012 - South Carolina

Thursday morning we hit the road early to make it down to South Carolina in time for dinner with some of our best friends, Dr. C and Mrs. S!  We ate at our first Mellow Mushroom and it was delicious! We stayed up late catching up just like we had seen each other the day before. They are such great friends.

On Friday morning we took a day trip to Charleston. What a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L city! We will definitely be going back there for a longer trip next time.


We walked all around the city and down by the harbor. Lunch was at an amazing little restaurant called Jestine's Kitchen. Fried green tomatoes, fried okra, corn bread, fried chicken, oyster po'boys, and coca cola cake were had by all! And don't forget the sweat ice tea... which I still don't like.

Market street had a bunch of little shops and I purchased my obligatory traveling angel ornament for my angel Christmas tree. We window shopped on the long walk back to the car and looked at multi-million dollar houses we imagined owning one day... yeah, right!

Every time we are with this couple, it is so easy to imagine living nearby. Where is that perfect world where you can have your dream job, a great house, your family down the street, and all your friends living nearby? I wonder if that will ever happen for us.

After dinner at a Mexican restaurant we headed back to their place and watched Disney's "Puss In Boots"... without little Miss C. Yep, 4 grown adults watching the silliest little kitty movie. We had been watching snippets on the drive to keep Miss C occupied so after some margaritas it seemed like a good idea. Too funny! It was a great visit and we can't wait to see them again soon.

Summer Vacation 2012 - VA

This year Jared had 15 days off. The longest vacation he has ever had! So after picking up a few moonlighting shifts for some spending money, we headed out on our road trip vacation! Or the Tour de East Coast! Our first stop was Virginia, obviously. An as always too quick of a visit.

Tuesday night I stayed up late talking to my parents. Dad unfortunately was going to be flying the rest of my short visit. Wednesday was filled to the brim, being the only full day we were in town. We ran errands with Mom to Toy stores of course and had lunch at Coastal Flats.

After a hair appointment, where I finally felt like myself again, we visited the Grandparents, played Red Light, Green light, soccer and airplanes with Jacob while Jared talked mountain bikes with Joey while he was grilling chicken and Jeni was making Red, Hot & Blue potato salad.

I was also excited to see Natalie who had moved back to the USA from far far away! We drove in her new car to see her new house! I can't wait to see the inside, so happy for her and Bri. She stayed for dinner and talked away with me, Mom, and Jeni for hours and hours.

Later that night I snapped this photo of Jeff with both Buddy and Jack sneakily snuggling with him. Dad was not happy to get this text! And just like that, it was time to go. Driving away to another stop on our trip. Oh, Virginia how I always miss you.

Family

On Friday night Jared was on call at the hospital. Far away in NYC Jason was out of town as well. So us sisters had a FaceTime date. Coincidentally we had been watching the same show all those miles apart. We talked, surfed the Internet, watched movies, folded clothes and just hung out... all over our iPads!

And even though it isn't the same as seeing her... I just love it and am so happy we can do this. Makes me feel like family isn't really as far away.

Saturday was spent family tree hunting. Over the last year we have been watching the show "Who Do You Think You Are?" and both sides of the family have been working on family trees. We have been working with J's family to trace back to the Revolutionary War. We drove to a not-so-great area now to see where his grandmother grew up... unfortunately the building is now gone. 

We saw the private academy she attended and as odd as it is, we went to one of the cemeteries here to find some of his ancestors plots. The hard part was seeing J's face when after walking all over the place, figure out where they are buried and there is no headstone.

On Sunday Jared's cousin graduated from High School.  Troy has been like a cousin to me too, since meeting him way back in 2001 when I visited with Jared when he was applying to medical school. And I think kinda like a little brother to Jared. I mean, goodness don't they look alike?

We spent the afternoon celebrating Troy and the adventures at the University of Kentucky that lie ahead for him. His graduation present was pretty cool too… a Roush Mustang. We told him we would take care of the car while he was away at school. J