If I had to describe 2011 in one word I would choose... settling. Not the bad kind of settling where you compromise for something mediocre or sub-par. The kind of settling where you get comfortable. Settled in. This year has been all about settling into marriage, settling into grad school, settling into life in Arizona. 2010 was the year of a zillion changes. 2011 has been the year of settling in and watching the new become familiar. It's been good. Friends flew in to run the Rock N' Roll Marathon with Micah and me // TCU won the Rose Bowl {believe it!} // Micah and I celebrated six months of marriage Sister came to visit for her winter break... Allison came to visit for her spring break. She was our 8th visitor in five months. We started to realize this was more than a passing trend. We love our visitors! Girls night out with some ladies from church. Settling into community. Bowling with our Community Group // That one time we had 17 people over for dinner in our 900 square foot apartment and set off the smoke alarm Trips to the Grand Canyon and California Trip home to Washington: Celebrated our one year anniversary // Annual camping trip with friends // Time with the fam Dad flew down and made an offer on the house we now live in {after I finished real estate school} // Micah and I established our new date night plan to strengthen our marriage Floated the Salt River // More fun visitors // Celebrated my 29th birthday Camping trip with friends // Trip to Seattle // Presented at my first academic conference // Got to meet blog friends in person! Desert photo shoot // Moved into our new house // Experienced NASCAR // Thanksgiving trip to North Dakota Decorating our new place for Christmas // Our first Christmas tree // Big family Christmas gathering in AZ // Lovin' our new roommate Kayla {Micah's sis!} 2011 has been great. We've been blessed in so many ways... a new home to live in, new employment opportunities, and deepening friendships in our new city, just to name a few. Now that we are feeling settled in Arizona, I am excited to see what adventures are in store in 2012! xoxo,Jen ... Read more
Christmas 2011
Friends, this week {plus a few days} has been a whirlwind. We have had 5-8 people sleeping in our house since Monday the 19th. This means: Air mattresses on the floor... Luggage in every room... Way too many calories in our bellies... Running the dishwasher at least once a day {if not twice}... It's been sheer craziness. I loved having my family here for Christmas, but I am ready for some calm. I ran off to the coffee shop for a little while simply to write this post. It also doesn't help that I lost my phone two days before Christmas and I haven't seen it since. I'm really praying it's under the air mattresses and such. The plan is to clean the house today and hopefully find it... Sorry this post is a little frazzled, but that's kind of how my brain feels right now. Here are some pics of our crazy and fun Christmas week... Homemade gingerbread success! Peanut Butter Ball FAIL! The chocolate kept overheating on me.I quit halfway through! Keepin' it real... New moccasins! Pretty new necklaces!*Dahlia necklace {middle} c/o Sunshine Blossoms {from Stacey!}* Sister and brother love air mattresses. Scarves galore. My first sewing machine! Babies galore. My new, adorable camera strap {c/o Shey B} Christmas Eve with hubs. The first time all the cousins/grandkids on my dad's side have all been together in over ten years!!! Lunch date with Erin! LOVE HER! Sister borrowed my Whippy Cake. Then I ordered her one for Christmas. She is going to love her life just a little more in 5-7 business days! Oh, and did I mention TCU won their bowl game? Go Frogs!{I look a little scary here. College football makes me a little intense!} That's all for now. Pray I find my phone, finish my grad school application and regain my sanity soon. Going to see STOMP tonight. Not mad about it! xoxo,Jen *Linking up with Captivated by Grace and Lollipops!* ... Read more
Keyword Analysis {#2}
It's time for another keyword analysis. Do you ever look at the "search keywords" for your blog? Basically, it's the words people are typing into a search engine that end up leading them to your page. Most of them are pretty standard "Jen Russum," "The Arizona Russums," "gray and yellow wedding," "good recipes" and stuff like that. But sometimes the things people enter are hilarious! Here a few of my favorites lately... {To see my last keyword analysis, go here...} "man in Jeff Gordon shirt..." How about WOMAN in Jeff Gordon shirt? I am passionate about Jeff Gordon... just kidding. Micah and I went to NASCAR last month when his cousin was in town. You should know that I hate NASCAR, so I only bought a Jeff Gordon shirt as part of my costume. It happened to be the only racing shirt available at the thrift store on that particular day. I heard he'a Christian though, so I can support that... "messy bun morning hair"Ummm... I rarely sleep with my hair up so I'm probably not the best girl for this. In fact, I am still quite uncomfortable with the bun thing altogether... "Why to love arizona at night" I'll tell you why... warm air, summer dresses, dinner on the patio, late nights talking outside, midnight swims. "Shepherd's Pie Pockets" Are you looking for the best husband-approved dinner recipe ever? Because here it is! What does having a yellow wedding say about you? Uh... I don't know. I thought it said "I think gray and yellow are pretty together and will look lovely at my wedding in a barn..." Was I wrong??? Where can I get baked potato soup in Arizona? My house. LGO Havana Latte. Yes, please. Wanna meet up? "Sexy woman in hospital bed" I'm sure this is exactly what they had in mind :) "Why do my no bakes never get hard?" Because you haven't used THIS recipe. "West Elm David Stark paper mache bird" Why pay for it, when you can make it? That's all for now friends! Hope you enjoyed these as much as I do. Sexy woman in hospital bed... ha! MysteriousAsthma-like symptoms are soooo sexy. Have you seen any funny search terms on your blog lately??? xoxo,Jen ... Read more
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