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

Money Money

psssssssst.


I'm still here.


I'm still looking for my camera.

But in the mean time I've been trying to convince Mr. Gill that we should use some of our tax return to purchase a DSLR!!!

Like, perhaps one like this-

photo credit

Its a Canon Rebel. Could you imagine how many ridiculously awesome photos I'd put up on this blog after I had actually figured out how to USE this camera???

Oh man!!!! Yay!

or we could save our money....

Or um....pay on our student loans.

What do YOU think we should spend it on???

You already know my vote :)


*Jenny G

B is for Baby

This past Saturday Mr. Gill and I went to a baby shower.
It was for a couple that attends The Collective with us, who recently moved here from Michigan.
They are just the sweetest couple and we were super excited to share in the anticipation of the arrival of their baby.
I was asked to make cupcakes for the party, and I was really pumped to do so because I had to make a bunch AND I haven't really been baking much since I stopped baking for The District.
They have decided to not know the gender of their child before they deliver, so I went with a yellow and green color pallet.
I was googling for recipe ideas and came across this blog where I didn't really find a recipe BUT I found a great idea for the look of the cupcakes!

Instagram by Mr. Biggerstaff

Although this looks like I was going for Packers colors....I was not. I just purchased the food coloring paste and apparently it is MUCH more powerful than those traditional drops.
They were lemon cupcakes with a lovely light frosting, although the green coloring didn't really get completely whipped together so it kinda looks like AstroTurf BUT it tasted great!

I made flags that said J is for Jackson and B is for Baby.
It was such a nice party and a great excuse to bake! :)

*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*