Wedding Registry - when you have everything

I struggled to make a wedding registry because I'm in my late 20s and have been on my own for a while, so I already had a lot of the traditional things that someone registers for when they are getting married. I looked for a list online and didn't find one that was super helpful, so here I am.

Ideas from my registry

• Air Mattress - No more sleeping on the floor!
• Camping chairs - good for going to watch sports or sitting outside at campfires
• Paper shredder - yay security!
• Ladder/step ladder
• Hand Drill
• Outdoor extension cord
• Doorbell with a camera
• Wet/Dry Vac - good to clean up after pets or in the garage or if you have extra water in your home
• Bleacher seats - Gotta have that back support :D
• Shovel/Rakes
• Home Fire Extinguisher 
• Fire/Waterproof safe

Did you have anything unconventional on your registry? Let me know in the comments :D

What does building a longer table look like - or what does generosity look like... and how do you know if nobody will take advantage of you?

I am tired.

patience

girls,

don't tell your boyfriend if the ring you want is on sale.... he probably feels like you don't trust him to take care of it.

also -- don't project your own thoughts onto your boyfriend lol

republic

welp, my choice for Senate lost -- and that is rough.

I always just worry about safety for loved ones.

legacy

I just want to echo my posts from a few days ago and i don't want people to remember me by whatever my political views are... i want them to see God working when they see me. 

is that selfish? maybe. 

oops

Well, I already missed a couple days lol - hard to form new habits anyway-

yesterday the new small group leader got engaged. and I think it proves that God has a sense of humor. As I've been buzzing around having hope for my own engagement. That kind of slapped me in the face and brought me back to reality.

at first, I was sad because I wanted to be the one to share the excitement with our group. but it made me realize that I was kind of turning this whole getting married thing into an idol, which is pretty lame.

Interesting how easy that stuff can happen without you knowing.

#NaBloPoMo Day One

So I'm going to try my hand at blogging every day of November.

Today I was driving to work and the song Only Jesus by Casting Crowns came on. It's unexpectedly convicting. The words talk about how everyone tells you to make your mark and leave a legacy and then it gets to the chorus...

And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy
I don’t care if they remember me
Only Jesus

So at this point, I'm sitting in my car thinking about all the things I've heard that have told me to think about the legacy that I will leave. And I think of being a good role model and being a leader and then this song slaps me with lyrics about not wanting a name for myself, or not caring if they remember my name. 

and it hurts honestly...

I'm still trying to figure out why these lyrics get under my skin. I'm sure it's mostly pride. Disappointment. But I'll keep exploring and growing. 


Here's a link to the song --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXIBP2BdYR8 

My Week as a Vegan.

A week ago I had this crazy idea to try to be (secret) Vegan for a week. So true to vegan stereotype... I'm now going to tell everyone about it :)

Day 1: Prep work.

If there is one thing I am terrible at it’s grocery shopping. I never make a plan I just go in there and walk around until the anxiety kicks in and then I leave with whatever has made it into the cart so far lol. But I was like naw girl, if you are doing this you are going to do this right. So I’m looking up recipes trying to figure out how I can also improve my cooking willingness at the same time. It’s been interesting. I’m getting ready to go to the store… but at least this time I have a list.

Well. I’m done shopping. It was terrible. Now this is probably because of my lack of knowledge of the produce section… but shit.. people were staring at me and watching me hog up the aisle and being all like “she doesn’t know what she was doing” and then I got to the check out counter and I took the wrong thing – thinking it was something else. Boo. Everything I bought cost me $54. And I don’t really know if that’s good or bad.. because I had like literally no food… I guess we will see how many more times I have to go to the store this week….

Now I have to cook :S

Welp. Dinner was ok I guess lol. It’s good that nobody but me was eating ill just say that. But then I made my lunch for tomorrow and that’s going to be super solid.. so moral of the story is.. follow the recipe and don’t think you are good enough to improvise Jana.

DAY TWO

Well.. I didn’t take photos of my food today oops. But day two was fine for the most part. My only weak moment was went I was super hungry at supper time.. and don’t get me wrong it wasn’t because of the diet… it was because I had to help her friend with her car and I didn’t get to eat until 8 pm. I will say I’ve been pleasantly surprised that I haven’t felt hungrier.. This could also be attributed to the fact that I’ve been super intentional about eating proteins lol.

I also realized today that like 80% of this diet is mental. Like I’m finding myself being like.. woah people that do this have a lot of self control. They are disciplined, but then I guess the other piece of that is that they really really want to do it, and have reasons other than a sick blog post.

DAY THREE

Driving home I feel realized that I’m like feeling really good. Now I don’t know if that’s because I’m proud because I’ve been eating like super well.. or if it’s actually because of this diet lol.

Something else that I noticed is that this sucks when you are hungry. It’s like super intense. This probably isn’t different than any other type of being hungry; I guess this goes with my thoughts about how a lot of this diet is a mental thing. I also have been eating at really weird times this week. Like different than my normal schedule.

Day Four

Well today was fine. Actually, I hated my lunch, but that’s because I’m choking down the leftovers from that meal that wasn’t really a meal just a bunch of stuff thrown together lol.

I had to get creative today to keep my project a secret… so I went late to thursday night friend group thing (there is usually a meal).. mwhahaha! Basically the hardest part about this for me is the fact that I have to be intentional about preparing food and thinking about snacks, because I know that at work I’m going to get hungry but I need to make sure there is something that I can eat.  Well… and the fact that I’m trying to keep this a secret until my unveiling of a blog post.

For the most part though it’s been easy to keep quiet, like nobody has noticed anything lol. So I’m proud that I haven’t fallen into that stereotype that vegans always tell everyone that they are vegan… like even if they never eat with you lol.

I committed to going to the lake on Sunday and then when I was driving home I realized that I don’t know how I’m going to keep this a secret lol Sunday is my last day so I gotta hold strong.. I’ll think up something.

Day Five

Today was whatever. I don’t really remember anything crazy strange that happened or anything.

Day Six

This morning I was so hungry that I like couldn’t eat. It was very very strange.  That’s happened to me once before like when I wasn’t doing this experiment so I guess my body just likes to eat at the same times everyday or something lol. Basically my conclusion is that… this diet isn’t hard to do, it’s just a pain in the ass lol. I am lazy and I don’t like planning out my food lol. I’m heading to C-ton now.. so lets see how it goes with my parents.

Welp.. mom had like every food that I would want, Brownies, twizzlers. Everything. It was really rough lol.

Day seven.

THE LAKE DAY. This is the day I have been preparing for, how am I going to maneuver this day without blowing my cover. Lol well I managed ok. I thought I was gonna cave cuz it was like grilling and I was like.. man I really want a grilled brat but I was strong. So here’s what I did. I sneakily went to my car while everyone was dishing up and shoved my face full of the food that I brought along… and then I went back and had some of the fixings that everyone else was eating… it was pretty brilliant I’m not going to lie.  Didn’t think I was going to do it BUT I DID and BOOM.

Lessons Learned:

I feel that this experiment has been successful and I have a better knowledge of how the other side lives and eats. I also have a new layer of respect for people that do this, because these people spend a lot of time thinking about what they are going to eat and preparing it. Maybe this is something that “normal” adults do, but I’ve never spent so much time worrying about what I ate.

Would I do this forever? I’m not saying no, I’m not saying yes lol -- the biggest burden of everything is when you are hanging out with friends/going home. If you just chill by yourself all the time and always eat at your house it wouldn’t be too bad. But when you are part of a friend group that loves to share meals together it’s tough.

Were you hungry all the time? Surprisingly no. I never felt like I was hungrier than I normally would be.

And well that's a wrap :P - Obviously I'd love to talk about this with any of you so hit me up! Thanks for reading :)

tundra

I rise from my comfortable log...

side step into the small path and rush along to the wider trek...

i dodge the glares of the elder chiefs,

hoping they don't spot me again walking back and forth on the path.

a sharp turn dashing forward and around the jet out boulder i finally reach the cave....

i push through the brush and now comes the scariest part...

discovering what is behind the branches...

Sometimes i discover hair,

sometimes i discover blood,

other times i find shit..

and once in a nice while...

i find nothing...and then am able to take a nice break.

proud of your boy.

tonight we watched game of thrones... we haven't watched that in like a year haha. Still have a long way to go to catch up. I'm really glad that our families don't force us to marry for power and land and stuff anymore.

Now most people can be like Jasmine "If I do marry, I want it to be for love..."

Jaming out.

I had my launch party today... I had two parties.... with a total of 5 people.... cool.

It was fun. I forgot the food both times.. lol whoops  I guess now i have a veggie tray to finish haha.

James is playing my assassins creed game. pre gaming for when he gets his xboxone this weekend. lol he's got money to burn now i guess :P

It was hard for him to tell his friend Jake hahaha...

This Jamberry thing is HARD. bleh. I have one sale.

HOW DO I FORCE PEOPLE TO BUY :P lol not force but what to get it. It's really fun...

something to figure out for another day i guess ha.

Stay fresh.
-Hot Donna

More than a pretty face.

So maybe I'll try this blog everyday the month of november thing. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Dude. you know what bothers me... well a lot of things but recently it's all this Measure One Bullshit.
I literally saw someone say this when talking about abortions.

"I agree with the exception of the pregnancy risking the mother's life who may already be a mommy to other children."

I read this and then my feminist rage kicked in and I would like...  How could you say that! You are flatly saying that women are only meant to have children... like that's all they are good for. You only can have an abortion if you might die, AND if you have other kids...  WHAT THE FUCK!?!

The worst part of the whole thing is the fact that a woman said this... oh my god.

How can we except these things?! Why are women saying these things?! 

Bleh. hopefully this doesn't turn into a month of feminist rage.

TO THE FIELDS....

An interesting week at the workplace... a ton of online orders have been getting delayed or even messed up, sent to the wrong place...yadda yadda..

what comes with that is a lot of people coming in to complain/calling... everything.

I was reading a lot of the complaints just not and i'm really dissappointed in people right now.

Why are we celebrating christmas? for the gifts? Because we are greedy?  Is it worth crying to your husband on the phone? or telling me that we are ruining christmas because she isn't getting the exact outfit you wanted?

People threatening to never shop there again. People complaining that what we do isn't good enough.

WHY ARE WE LIKE THIS. WHY ARE PEOPLE HEARTLESS WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR MONEY.

WHY CAN'T WE ALL APPRECIATE EACH OTHER AND BUILD EACH OTHER UP..

WHY DO I HAVE TO GO HOME AND BE SAD BECAUSE YOU ARE A MEANY.

....Why does retail suck.

Life

Well life in apartment 126 has been interesting to say the least.

It maybe wasn't a wonderful idea to live with people that we don't know.  Not that they are mean or anything. We obviously aren't friends. They are a few years older than me and have shit tons of furnature and...... no room for roommates.

I talk with my mom alot about it and she said that they want roommates to help pay the rent, but not to actually live there and have space for them...

I guess I'm ready to move out.

Long time blogger.

Hey Blogger,

it's been a really long time. They said my last post was FEB 2013. Man. it's the middle of November....Time really does fly.

A lots happened since feb. I mean I graduated college and took the plunge into adulthood.

it sucks

I mean it's not so terrible that I want to move home and work at SuperValu again, but it's a different kind of stress then school is.

I literally go to work and that's it. Don't get me wrong I love not having any homework, but I miss having something to care about besides work. I at least had LCM. Something to be passionate about... now all I do is avoiding Canadians and telling them that their J-bucks can't be combined with the sale..  

Cool

The hardest part is seeing all of my classmates get these awesome jobs at Advertising agencies or design gigs, and I'm still at Justice....

Can I start with your home phone number?

I feel really bad because I work with all of these girls that are thinking about going to college and how they are going to get a good job because they'll have a degree...

Ya right, I thought that too

Some cool stuff has happened since then too.... I did get promoted to assistant manager at work, which is full time so I guess i don't need to feel so bad about it.

I have the best boyfriend in the world... 

I know that everyone says that, but it's true. Really.

My sister goes to school in town now, so we get to hang out more.

I guess it's times like this when I get a reminder that all I really want in life is to be happy. Not a fast-paced - high- paying job. 

My mom says that it will work out. I have to believe her.
-HD

I think i'm a bit stressed.

The end of my college career is quickly approaching. And whenever I think about all the things that need to be figured out I get sick.. (not really..)

Where am I going  to live? Where can i make enough money so that I can pay for things?
Will I scrape for money for the rest of my life?

Was this all a waste, and i could have gotten the same job without a degree?

I'll love you forever...

So one saying that really bothers me is "I'll love you forever if (fill in here)"

Like when you are trying to get someone to do something for you and you say that in order to motivate the person to do what you want.

I might have already blogged about this but i feel really strong about that.

I just think that if you love someone.... it wouldn't be conditional.

I know that a lot of people will argue that they don't mean it to sound like it's conditional.

But words are very impactful, and even if you don't mean it to sound like that...It could mean that to someone else.

Be careful what you say.

-Jana

Google.

Google makes me laugh.

They are obvious about how they have integrated all of their products.

For example, when I began this post they had a little pop up telling me about how I can now tag people from Google+ in my blog....

I use Firefox. Once I was on my blogger page and Google told me that I was using an "unsecured browser"  and then had this link  Use Chrome Now  lol.

I just love how they are very forward with getting you to use their product, and they have no shame about it.
------------------
Another thing I wanted to share with you guy is this.

http://www.youtube.com/user/lacigreen

Laci Green, she is fantastic.  She talks about all those awkward questions that you would be to embarrassed to ask your parents about or Google.

Yes her channel is called Sex+, but it's more than that. She is about empowering yourself and loving your body. Everyone can relate to that. 

Anyway, I just wanted to share that because I just think she is great and thought maybe you would too?

-Jana

That thing called dating.

So I have been active in the dating world for a while now and it has made me realize something.

I have no friends now.

Is it necessarily bad? No. I would never give up the time with boyf, but I do feel bad sometimes. Like when talking with old survivor buddies. Who I don't see anymore because they don't think LCM is cool anymore.

It's only going to get worse. I am graduating college, and everyone will be traveling around. It's kinda sad. It's so hard to keep up with everyone's lives when you don't see each other regularly.

Does anybody else feel like when we all graduate and leave we won't make time to keep in touch?

Something I don't understand

Why is it that negativity spreads like a wildfire?    It's like once you are lost in it for so long...you don't realize how much better your life would be if you just thought it was better.

Everyone always has those sayings like "if you wanna be happy. Be."  Apparently it's a lot harder than that.

I've just been noticing a lot of that negative-ness around me lately...myself included in that. I try to be the positive light, but it's hard. 

I don't know if it's a culture thing, or a brain thing...but it's like once someone brings up something sad.... we are all trying to "out sad" or "my life is more terrible because of this"  

What would it take... to change that.... I don't know.

----------------------------

I think I have also discovered the reason why I want school to be done now. 

Religion.

I know I know, Jana you crazy... but just stick with me on this.

I am just really tired of it being such a barrier. I hate that people look down on you if you say you believe in God. I hate that people are always judging others. I hate that people feel like they need to live up to something.

I hate that there are people that say I'm not "into" worship anymore. That really made me upset.  I just wish we could go back to how it used to be. We were there because we loved God...and people recognized that.  

-Jana