Photo Dump!

So it's been several months since I've posted. Um, 3 months to be exact. And, I'd say I'm sorry but-ya know....we're just living life. Here is a just a quick photo run-down of what's been happening the last 3 months.

In late Janurary we found out we're having a boy!

Our lemon tree produced several big lemons-and I made Lemon Bars!

The recipe is on my Pinterest page-OHMIGOODNESS! SO GOOD!

Bosley got a cut on his little paw and then had to wear the cone of shame until it healed....since he spent all day licking the cut and making it worse....poor puppy. Except his bumbling around w/the cone was SO funny. I mean, SO funny. hehe




This is some fabric I picked out for baby. How stinkin' cute is that? I haven't actually MADE anything with it but, its going to be something beautiful.
























This photo is from the very end of March. I was only 27 weeks-but guess what? I was measuring more like I was 33 weeks. He's going to be a BIG baby.

My parents bought us a BEAUTIFUL crib that I adore. Bosley has been practicing protectively watching over the crib like a big brother should.
Actually he just wanted to be w/Michael as he was putting it together which meant he was practically in the crib as it was being assembled.

And last but not least the Michael Gill and Friends Band had a show just last week! It was super fun and they are going to start recording!

That's a mini-glimpse into what's been going on w/the Gills.
Have a good Wednesday friends!

That one time

So remember that one time when I told you that my husband was in a band, and that band was going to have a concert?


Well-that totally happened!


Like, two months ago..... :)


But I have PROOF!

It was the best ever having a concert in our backyard. 

We had over 80 friends and family come by and we even got to meet some new neighbors! 

Soon there will be a song clip up of the show.....but Mr. Gill is in charge of making that happen-as it will be showcasing his band. 

One last thing:

I LOVE Fall and all the joys that come with it, like watching my nephews play in the leaves!

Sunday Breakfast

So Mr. Gill and I usually try to take some time to have a nice breakfast on Sundays for a couple of reasons.
1. Usually Saturdays are busy and having a slow morning doesn't work out well
2. Church is in the evenings for us so we are able to chill out in the am.

This morning we had whole wheat biscuits and eggs w/Mr. Gill's fancy sauce.

The biscuits came together SUPER quick and made a bunch so we have plenty for the quick mornings during the week.

The recipe comes from The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook my mom gave me when I moved out, which I have referenced many times in the years I've been cooking for myself!

Biscuits Supreme

2 c flour (we used whole wheat but it calls for all-purpose)
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar (we omitted)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c shortening
2/3 c milk

Pre-heat oven to 450* and stir together all dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and add in milk. Stir until dough just comes together and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently for 10-12 strokes. Roll to a 1/2 inch thickness and cut w/biscuit cutter (or the top of a drinking glass).

Bake on un-greased baking sheet for 10-12 minutes.

Makes 10-12 biscuits.

Top w/homemade jam or a creamy bechamel sauce and fried egg.
Pour yourself some coffee and enjoy w/your favorite person!

*Jenny G

30 before 30

So about a month ago I turned 29.

29.....as in 1 year away from 30.


And, I did not freak out....but in true Jenny fashion I made a list.

a 30 things to do before I turn 30 list.


Some of them are pretty awesome, some are pretty normal....some are easy to cross off and some are kinda hard to quantify....but I want to share them w/you and let you know as I cross them off!

1. Run another 1/2 marathon
2. convert blog into a *mostly* food blog
3. can tomatoes (hopefully from our own garden)
4. try my hand at painting
5. tailgate a BSU game
6. knit something in the round
7. make my own nut butter
8. 30 days of skirts/dresses
9. refashion something from a thrift store
10. try mountain biking
11. attend musical/ballet
12. go to the Shakespeare festival here in Boise
13. 1 whole month on budget (LOL)
14. infuse some liquor
15. make my own vanilla extract
16. sell something I make
17. eat entirely local for one week
18. attend a festival
19. host a backyard concert
20. get to know our neighbors
21. hike in sawtooth mountains
22. make my own marshmallows
23. paint the bedrooms in our house
24. drive through a redwood
25. attend a Powwow
26. take a day-long bike trip
27. be a good aunt/uncle
28. become awesome at making homemade bread
29. get myself a fancy-schmancy camera

30. dress 50s vintage for something special/important


So obviously I have crossed some of these off-

The above photo is a picture of me at the Renaissance fair that happened this weekend in Eagle!
We got to see some pretty interesting things, including the King and Queen. I was asked to "make way" for them...


This is a photo of Mr. Gill, Bosley and I preparing to drive-thru a Redwood tree when we went on our camping trip in Northern California (SO FUN!)

Not all of these things will be easy to photograph either....but I'm super excited to work on all of these them!
It makes looking forward to turning the Big 30 a little easier to handle, and hopefully I'll be more awesome for completing these goals.
Are there any fun thing YOU want to accomplish this year?
Throw it up and we'll do them together!



Love

Jenny G

A little tease

Mr. Gill, Lindsay and I made it back from Portland just fine.
I just want to show you a few un-edited pictures I took while I was trying to figure out (still trying) my new camera.

These are of Bosley right before we left for PDX.
It was the first time I used the camera and it was a nice sunny day so Boz and I had a little photo shoot in our backyard :)

This is of Mr. Gill and I posing in front of a shop on Hawthorne in Portland called Vintage Pink.
He has since cut off all his beautiful curls.

The camera I got is a Nikon CoolPix (yea, that's the name-for real) L120. I snagged it at Costco on the cheap....I am that girl....and I still haven't read the manual because it's a CD-ROM or...whatever you call it now-a-days. That's no fun. I want to take pics and look at the manual not sit at my computer....because Mr. Nikon CD-ROM guy-when I'm at the computer I'm either reading blogs and pinning things from them OR searching pinterest for blogs to pin things from.
Thank you.

Anyways.....
I'll post more pictures later.....for real....I took LOTS while in Oregon and I'll put them up, these are just teasers!

Love

Jenny G

Work-cation

Hello Friends!
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. My parents were in town, which was awesome, and our church joined with 4 other area churches to have a big party on easter morning...and that was just incredible, watching all these people work together to put on a huge celebration.

Now Mr. Gill and I are spending this week visiting Portland with our friend Lindsay! she and her mom have been super gracious hosts to us.
She grew up in the area and has been planning lots of fun things for us to do and see.
We've only been here two days and we've already spent 6 (!) hours at Ikea, seen Blue Like Jazz the movie IN Portland, and has drinks at a sassy little wine bar!

Mr. Gill is taking some fancy engineering class......something about modeling.....and probably computers? I don't know you'll have to ask him, but he LOVES it. He actually sent me a text yesterday telling me how awesome his class was while he was in the first session.
And so our trip, at least for Mr. Gill is not a vacation purely.....it's more of a work-cation. Not really fully working, but definitely not just a vacation either.
For me though, I'm trying to take in as much of the Portland experience as I can. Do you have any suggestions on things we should do/see?

So I'm going to sign off this post in the spirit of Lindsay Horst.

Two things
1. I got a new camera and once we're back from oregon I'll post some fun photos.
2. I miss Bosley!




*Jenny G

Meet Bosley!

So Mr. Gill and I adopted a puppy a week ago today!

His name is Bosley and he's just about the cutest puppy we've ever seen.....and yes we're biased. 

He's a black lab mix....we think maybe with Pitbull? We probably will never really know.

He's cuddly and has soft fur and is a little bit of a princess even if he's a boy. 

He won't sit on the hard floor-he prefers rugs or blankets to sit upon.

It's interesting though because I'm not used to really having anything relying on me before....I mean in a...if you don't feed me I can't eat...type of way. 

Bosley is a little firecracker though. This is his photo right after he was caught making a mess in the kitchen. 

It's my fault though....I'll explain.

So, we were outside and he found a stick like 2x his size and didn't want to put it down. I naturally let him bring it inside..

(!)

I couldn't tell him no and then he tore the whole thing apart in my kitchen. 

My puppy is teaching me how to say no to something cute. 

This is why Mr. Gill wanted us to get a dog instead of a baby. 

I mean, what if I let a baby chew on a stick? 

Something could really go wrong....

Mr. Gill is pretty wise.

*Jenny G

A peek!

House Tour Continued!

So first things first.
Well, second since I have already shown you the home decor of much of the house....lol-you can tell what I'm most excited about huh?
Anyway-this is the front of our house....you cannot see is the little landing and a paved path that goes almost out to the street but not quite.
I don't really get that part...why pave up until there is two feet and leave grass?
We have big plans for the front of this place. See that planter area? We're going to rip it out and put up a lovely front porch complete w/a porch swing.
When Mr. Gill and I were dating I lived in a great house w/a screened in porch w/a big wicker swing and a lot of our memories of falling in love happened on that swing....*sigh*.
Yea-we're planning on putting up another gable and making it a nice big porch....maybe even wrap it around to the side entrance....which is the one we use most often anyway.

Here is the living room-see the front door and fireplace!

This is probably one of my favorite paint colors EVER!!!
Oh its just so great. It's the mud room/laundry room....the laundry room was um....being used...by all my dirty laundry so I didn't take a picture.
Next time.

Anyway this is where the door off of the driveway leads-and this room also connects to the kitchen or the hallway.....

This is our old-timey backyard patio-
I couldn't help but put an old filter on it and let me tell you why.
The awning (I had to look up how to spell that) is Soooo old store-front style. I kinda want to print out Life in the Fish Bowl in vinyl letters and stick 'em up there.
Also-notice the steps to the back door...they look like steps for the shallow end of the pool! It patio is totally great though, its nice and big and we'll be able to have lots of dinner parties out there w/out being cramped like we were at our last place. And that tree has the perfect bend of branch for a rope swing! :)

This is the view from the patio-our big backyard. What you can't see is the trash heap of yard clippings the previous renters left for us. We're working on getting rid of it slowly.
I'm planning on having a garden this year-our yard gets lots of nice sun, and I hope to be able to grow something to eat. We'll see how it goes-I've enlisted the help of people who know what they are doing and I've spent some time reading up on it. I'm not quite ready to start composting yet....
Expect updates on that throughout the summer.

The house tour has not yet concluded, but will take some time as we're still finding boxes we shoved into the spare bedroom a couple of months ago :/

*Jenny G

What Jenny Wore

So I have been blog stalking for a little bit and some of the blogs I like to read do a little segment they call 'What I Wore'.
Boise is a little more hipster than Indy-or maybe I have more hipster-inclined friends here than I did in Indiana-either way....I feel like my style has change uh-just a little bit.

I am NOT a fashionista, I do not dress up often....um-and I usually don't wear make-up.

Sorry.

But, I do have some outfits I really like and since they make me feel pretty I'm going to share some with you.

I really really like this outfit. The cardigan is from Target (bought on a whim), the t-shirt from Wal-mart (don't hate) and belt and skirt thrifted from Goodwill, the sweater tights are from Target as well and the boots are from the Free Store which I mentioned here.
I love this! I feel like its nice and fun but casual all at the same time. It doesn't feel like much more work than wearing jeans but I feel cooler for sure :)
The only problem is that the sweater tights and wool skirt make for MAJOR static and every time I walk the skirt keeps on creepin'.
I may need to invest in some static-guard.
Also-please notice how un-organized my bedroom is....like all the shoes on our floor and the rubbermaid containers that are Mr. Gill's dresser! :/

What are some of your favorite outfits?

Other Things

Hello Friends!
I don't have many tidbits for you today except to point out that I also occasionally blog over at our Church website www.northendcollective.org!
The whole website is full of fun information but I am pretty much only involved with the blog.
This week we're talking about Lent!

**Hey Ya Ash Wed**

:)

Jenny G

Finally!

So I finally found my little camera!
This means two things.
#1 I'm not going to get a brand new camera with our tax return. I like my little one enough for now AND Mr. Gill is going to maybe get some new recording software so he can start producing higher quality tunes.
#2 You get to see pictures of our house!!! :)
I'll be doing them as a series-mostly because I don't want one post of a bajillion pictures AND this is my sneaky trick to keep you checking back....muwhahaha (my evil laugh).

This is our front door/entry into the living room. It's more for looks than actual use by us....because there is a door right off of the driveway BUT people who come to visit us use this door often so, I put up some little coat hooks.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE how this looks! I of COURSE love the teal w/the yellow-and surprisingly-this is the most teal-ish thing we have in the house, besides the couch pillows and my bedspread.
The other thing I love about this frame/hook idea is that I didn't steal it off of Pinterest-like I did almost everything else in our house :)

Our mantle! It's taken @ a funny angle (sorry) but you can see everything on it-the Ampersand, a picture of Mr. Gill and I in Chicago, the camera my grandfather gave me, our photo book, the little carving my friend Kestelle gave us for our wedding-our salt covenant from our wedding, and a nice big tin star, along w/a photo of Chicago and a little plant in a Chicago mug.....a theme maybe?
I really value the years I got the opportunity to live in the Windy City-for real! I moved there very naive (maybe I still am a little bit), but I learned how to navigate that city on my own and took that time to figure out, at least in part, who I am and what I want to be about. I got to spend loads of time with my grandparents and be there with them through some difficult times. I made some beautiful friendships there and I still feel like a real city girl when I ride the El! But anyway-that's our mantle! :)

So this is the wall directly opposite the front door.
I am realizing that I didn't actually take any pictures of the layout of the room-just the decorating tidbits that I'm super excited about.
Expect a layout photo in the next post :)

Anyway-this is a engagement photo, a pic of us taking communion @ our wedding, the lyrics to our first dance (partially) and our wedding feet!
For all but the feet photo I did a little bit of editing on PS and then had them printed @ Wal-mart. I know, I'm so a cheater but my photographer/best friend lives in Indiana AND I didn't decide which photos I wanted until like 5 days before our housewarming party.
So anyway I had them printed there and I picked up some canvases @ HobbyLobby on the cheap. Using a technique I've pinned on my favorite website Pinterest I ModPodged the photos onto the canvas, using acrylics to paint in the edges to give it a finished look and then ModPodged over it all after it was dry to give the brush-stroke look of a canvas photo print. Way cheaper and I feel good about doing it myself! I did the same thing for the lyrics except I just typed them up, printed it out on my home printer and did it. It was a little hard keeping air bubbles out of regular paper-I think next time I'd use the aersol spray adhesive and then ModPodge.

So this is the wall to the left of the wedding photo wall, and is directly across from the fireplace....does that make any sense? Don't worry-I'll take a picture to
show how this all goes together and isn't just random walls.
Anyway-these are super cheap floating shelves I've had from my Chicago days from Ikea (I miss Ikea). I spray painted them black and then we just have some fun stuff up there. Mostly photos of family or things I've taken, a little russian doll, our guest book, vases and gifts and in the branches I have prayer cards and cards of saints.
I really like the layered look-I totally stole the idea from Pottery Barn....although it was Mr. Gill's idea to off-set the shelves, and I really like that a lot. Especially when his guitar is up against the wall in the corner filling in that empty space.

This is the incredibly awesome COUCH I found on Craigslist!! I stalked it for a couple of days....and it took me a while to convince Mr. Gill that we'd actually love it....but-we got it!!!
Isn't it so beautifully old lady?
Oh man. It really was the wood framing around the edges that stole my heart.
Anyway....I also thrifted some suitcases from a side table and I already had a book that was falling apart of I just tied some twine around it to be all vintagey and that photo is of the head of Mr. Gill's guitar....taken though back when it belonged to my baby sister.

A photo is just of the transition between the living room (yellow) and the dining room (gray).
Nothing too wonderful here except that I LOVE this color combo.
And yes-I did pin lots of pictures of yellow and gray rooms before we painted so I would know what I wanted.

I just love Pinterest!

Stay tuned for a tour of the rest of our new little nest!

*Jenny G

Brown and gross

So it's Jan 12 and there is no snow in Boise. I know I had a little fit about that last time, but for reals people there is NO SNOW!!!!!
When Mr. Gill and I moved out west I told myself that I want to try to be a more adventurous girl.....try to do some camping....I did a little snowboarding (I cried the whole drive up the mountain though, knowing it was the last time I'd be able to walk without a limp) and was looking forward to doing it again this year. I thought maybe we'd even do a little snow-shoeing.....I don't want to waste the opportunity of being in such a Beautiful and extreme sports climate.
But, for the winter it seems......there will be no snow.
And it doesn't just hinder our exploration of winter sports.....it's ruining people's lives!

Kind of.

People who work at the slopes have had to figure out how to be paid cause.....no one is skiing.
More dramatically though, people here in Boise keep talking about how if there isn't a snow pack on the mountains, there will be no snow melt in the spring.....less water in the rivers....no water through the canals that bring water to the cities and farms because really......boise is a DESERT!

Snow apparently is vital to the workings of this valley.
And last but not least, no snow leaves us brown and ugly winters....:/
I heard a rumor that the reason lots of places are having such strange weather is because of the earthquake and tsunami over in Japan....truth? It seems shady at best but, at least it gives us something to blame.
I don't necessarily have a point to this ramble except that um, pray for snow.....and Can I just tell you that today when I was driving in the middle of the city there were two kamikaze deer? Seriously one ran right in front of my car and the other was waiting in the wings! Antlers bigger than my car! (ok....maybe not bigger than my car)

Some things never change.


Jenny G

in the year 2000.........and 12

Ohmigoodness!


So....we bought a house

and we moved in


and I lost my CAMERA!?!?!

I know-it's terrible.

How can I be a blogger w/out a camera?

I kind of feel like I'm going to be disappointing you all w/all my ramblings with out some sort of fun photo.
I'm sorry. You will leave this blog wishing for lovely images so you'd know what I was talking about but-oh well.

We LOVE our house. It's old, and the floors creak and its just great.

Here are some photos I took before we moved and I lost my camera....got to love the paneling :)
but also notice my coat in the mirror-it's like a dress....i LOVE it!

Some fun cubbies in the bedroom!

We took care of the paneling by painting it a lovely sunshine yellow! Its so great.

We also painted the dining room and kitchen a nice light blue/gray that looks awesome.
Yes-I've bought into the yellow and gray fad but-whateva->it looks great!











So-we've done some other fun things like-move all our stuff in and paint one room emerald green(!)
In other news-WELCOME TO 2012!
Who's ready to make it a great year?!?!

That would be me.

I'm ready to make it a great year.

Mr. Gill and I have been in Boise over a year now, and we're really excited to establish some rhythms in our life....besides eating and sleeping....we have those rhythms down!
We have high hopes for snow* in Boise, for getting to know our neighbors, to start you know-saving the world one little chicken at a time.
Did I mention I might want to start raising chickens now that we have a real yard?
OH MAN! I think it would be great!! Fresh eggs-all these little hens for me to run around the yard with? Doesn't the idea just make you want to jump up and down and yell YAY!?!?!


Ok-maybe that's just me.


So-one of my rhythms will be trying to talk Mr. Gill into letting me raise chickens so I can slowly turn into a homesteader.

I am actively planning our garden. What do you want me to grow? I'm thinking rutabagas. Corn because we miss Indiana...

Mr. Gill got us Lindy Hop lessons here in Boise for Christmas-We're hoping this turns into a regular thing for us-to be out dancing. It is part of how we met and our story in Indy and we loved it....and we think we'll get to meet awesome people here in the city not to mention a good workout and it's way fun.

What are some of the things you want to make a habit out of in 2012?
Taking out the trash regularly? That's a good one, I'd suggest that to anyone really.
Making your own yogurt? That's kinda fun-use a crockpot.


*Jenny G
















*Boise has NO SNOW/No SNOW on the mountain either and Mr. Gill went and bought a snowboard he can't use.....because there is NO SNOW*

That Happened

Two years ago today, this happened:


My Dad cried.

Mr. Gill "almost" cried.

We exchanged vows.

We took communion.

We danced.

And we partied!

!

Traditions

Tomorrow is Dec. 1st.

Which means.....Christmas is just around the corner!

I feel like is was just labor day-I mean, for real.

But as a *relatively* newlywed, Mr. Gill and I have been trying to formulate what our Holiday Traditions will be.
Growing up my (Jenny) family would always do the tree and on christmas eve we'd come home from church and have a little buffet and watch silly christmas movies. We'd also get to open one present before we went to bed to hold us over until the next morning.
For Mr. Gill and I though we haven't had much time to start traditions. Our first year of being married we had a christmas tree that was filled w/teal and silver ornaments from our wedding only weeks earlier.

Our second christmas together we didn't have a tree because we packed up our little apartment to move across the country the morning after the holiday and decided that dealing w/a tree would be just too much work.

This year, we will probably put up a tree, but as we are in the process of purchasing our first home (!) we'll wait until we're all moved in. While waiting for that fun event, we have something that we've been participating in for a couple of days now that we think we'll keep as a tradition for our family-an Advent Wreath!

The wreath has been great because we get to take time right before dinner and light a candle, read the scripture for that day and remember the waiting of people for thousands of years and then we get to eat by candlelight! It's fun for us as a couple, and we've been inviting friends to join us! It makes for great conversation and who doesn't love eating around a tiny little table by candlelight with their friends!
It also kind of forces us to eat at the table together (which we don't normally do) and we really like it. We might even keep the candlelit dinners as a norm!

What are your Christmas Traditions? Are they new or have they been passed down in your family for a long time?

Happy start o' the holidays!!

*Jenny G

This time

Two weeks from yesterday Mr. Gill and I will be married for 2 years!

Crazy.

Two years ago this past weekend I was attending a sweet party put on by the beautiful ladies in my house church....which now one has a baby, one is pregnant and one is moving to Morocco in just a couple of months!

One year ago from last weekend Mr. Gill and I decided to have a little date.

Look at that HAIR! Oh man, if he wasn't all professional-I'd beg him to grow it out again :)

How fun to look at what was going on in our lives this time last year.
What about you? What were you spending your time doing last year, or the year before?